Rest from climbing

After two full days of rock-climbing, today I decided to pause my three-day course, and to relax and have a rest day. Three days in a row is simply too much: I'm tired and aching all over just from two; and I can't go on without a bit of time to catch my breath.

I chilled on Ton Sai beach in the morning — what with morning being high tide and all, a.k.a. the best time to enjoy the beach without all the ugly rocks above-water. Apart from jumping in the water and sunbaking, I also finished an excellent book — Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer — which I bought back at the Jewish Museum in Venice, and which I highly recommend for its wit and its ultra-original style.

In the afternoon, I wandered over to Phra Nang beach (the gorgeous one that I first visited yesterday), where I did more of the same. I saw my instructor friend Let on the beach, where he said that he too had gotten the day off (since there weren't enough other customers today). And what was he doing during his rest day? Climbing, of course — he reckons that he needs to "practice", in order to work on his technique. Does the man never take a break?!

This evening was so similar to yesterday evening, it may as well have been déjà vu. Same bunch of Germans and Austrians (plus same Stewie. Same restaurant-slash-bar (The Kasbah). Same 2-for-1 happy hour Sang Soms. And same suspense-filled, alcohol-induced games of Jenga. As they say here in Thailand: "same same, but different". Only real difference was, the food took longer to arrive tonight: the braindead waiter at The Kasbah only managed to bring our meals after 1½ hours of waiting, repeating our order 3 times, and walking into the kitchen ourselves and demanding that they cook our daym curry, and that they cook it pronto. Ah, well — hippie bars, what can you do? It's not just the patrons that are stoned — it's the staff, too.