Hampi Dec 2009

This is the entry I will be submitting to DYNO for the 'Win a LaSportiva Speedster' competition. Had loads of fun writing this entry in a narrative style anyways so it doesn't matter if I don't win the shoe.

Hampi Write Up

After months of deliberation, the time for exploration has finally arrived for five young adventurers. Weary from weeks of effort spent preparing for examinations, the five gutsy travellers were eager to break free from their shackles and unleash that youthful energy. Incredible India beckons!

Bouldering at Hampi (a Unesco World Heritage Site) was nothing short of amazing. The awe-inspiring feeling the place invokes is best explained by trekking 587 steps to the temple constructed on the top of highest hill there - Hanuman Temple. Hampi, when viewed from that height, is mind-boggling. Just imagine a full 360 degrees of boulder-strewn fields, for as far as the eye can see – truly a boulderer’s paradise. How the boulders come to be arranged in such a precocious manner across the undulating landscape defies geographical explanation. Give up your reason and succumb to your senses. Climbers have been known to make several return trips, and each time Hampi reveals yet more of her wonders. Two week of bouldering almost every other day, but we barely covered 1% of the area. This gives an inkling of its cosmic size; so vast is the locale that you feel humbled just standing amongst the boulders. Let the feeling of wonder tingle down your spine. When rays from the early morning sun envelope the land and bake the boulders in a golden-brown hue, Mother Nature reveals gigantic nuggets of gold to the observant climber. Thankfully, such treasures can only be experienced but not exploited. For the willing trekker, opportunities for first ascents are waiting just down the next corner.

The travelling climbers descended onto Hampi during the dry season in December. During the day, temperatures soar with the hot afternoon sun beating down relentlessly. But cool winds provide much welcomed relief. The best times for bouldering are in the morning and evening. Nevertheless, it is still possible to boulder the entire day if one sticks to the shaded bouldering spots.

When in Indian, do as the Indians do. Try eating with your right hand only. Try the local dishes like Masala Dosa, Idly Vada, Fried Ghee and Vegetable Manchurian. Try hoping onto an overnight sleeper train ride. But faint hearted travellers beware. The 4h budget flight and 8h off-road bus ride to Hampi was almost too much to stomach. Also, unsuspecting travellers will fall prey to the business middleman – omnipresent in all aspects of the tourist economy. A few nasty experiences will no doubt prove useful to a hardening of resolve against such touts.

The texture of the rock (granite) at Hampi is also grainy and rough. In short, do inject a dose of hard climbing before setting off, for hard skin (and finger tape) is one’s first line of defence against the rock that bites back. Baby soft skin is shredded here; only hard skin will live to climb another day.

The next section is for ladies only: Shopping! At the Hampi Bazaar, there is a myriad of stores ranging from tailors who can embellish clothes with frills and ribbons to artisans hawking pieces of intricately sewn embroidery or Indian art painted on silk with a fine brush. Such displays of opulence seduced the imagination of one of my female companions and enthralled her. She was often seen engaging in verbal jousts with tradesman eager to hawk their ware. Hone your bargaining skills before engaging in a battle of wills with the shopkeepers. Often you’ll find that the best buys are bought when you don’t want the item in the first place!

As it is with every country and every culture, adopt a beginner’s mind when travelling. Go there with no expectations and revel in the sights and sounds of India. Embrace the societal nuances of the locals and immerse yourself in their unique way of life. Travellers game for adventure, as well as a bouldering area with unmatched potential, will find that India has much to offer.

In the same way the Disney cartoon movie, Aladdin, has mesmerized children around the world to the beauty of India, Hampi has enchanted the five travellers. This brings to a mind an adage used in the movie to describe Aladdin: a diamond in the rough. Indeed, no better parallel can be drawn between the two. I can give no higher praise.

Beta for getting to Hampi

Before getting there

Take your usual vaccinations (Hep A, Hep B, Flu, Tetanus, H1N1)

Watch the Jackie Chan movie: The Myth (filmed in Hampi)

S$1 = 31-33RP

India time is 2.5h behind Singapore time.

Visa to India (get at Mustafa Air Travel at SPA Building): S$59 and 1 passport sized photo

Best time to visit: Nov – Feb. 15 degrees at night, 30 plus degrees in day

Dry season, no rain at all for the 2 weeks we were there, can climb all day

Airplane (Budget) return tix: S$440

In Bangalore

Taxi from Bangalore International Airport to Bangalore City: 1000RP

24hours lodging at KSRTC Bus Station (Yatri Lodge) for 2 ppl: 550RP

Overnight bus from Bangalore to Hampi (8h ride): 300RP

In Hampi

Boat to cross Hampi River: 15RP

Accommodation in Hampi (Goan Corner – place where most of the climbers stay): 200-450RP per night for a 2 person room

Meals: 150RP for a sumptuous meal, 15RP for 1L mineral water

Automatic motorbike to get around the area: 100RP for the bike and 70RP for 1L of petrol

Taxi from Hampi to Hospet: 500RP

2^nd class overnight sleeper train (no need aircon because the weather is already so cold) from Hospet to Bangalore: 250-400RP

Some pictures I particularly liked from the trip:

National Day Rally 2009 Racial & Religious Harmony

the increasing emphasis on secularization.

post philo exam

just had my philo exam. although writing an essay for the module is a pain in the ass, i really enjoyed doing the exam. 20 mcqs. all based on logic. the trick about logic is that no amount of mugging or reading will get you past the obstacle if you do not possess any modicum of logic. this point is best illustrated by hermoinie in the second harry potter book when she demonstrated the use of logic getting past the obstacles set by snape.

2 passages (not related to logic at all) i particularly liked from the paper:

From Plato's Republic, (371; 347c-e):
This, (Socrates) said, is why good men are not willing to rule for the sake of money or honor. They dont wish to be seen openly demanding payment or service in government, as that would earn them the name of hired hand; nor do they wish to earn the name of thief, by dipping their hand in the public till. Not being ambitious, they do not care about honor. As a result of all this, a yoke of compulsion and penalty must be laid upon their necks, if they are to consent to rule. And this, I imagine, is the reason why willingly seeking office, when one might have waited to be compelled, has been deemed dishonorable. But the essence of the punishment is that he who refuses to rule is liable to end up being ruled by one worse than himself. The way I look at it, fear of this bad result makes the good take office, whenever they do, and then they approach it, not as something good or in the expectation of enjoying themselves, but as a necessary evil since they are unable to foist off the chore of ruling on anyone as good or better than themselves. Indeed, if there were a city entirely peopled by good men, we might well find men would content as eagerly to avoid public office as they do here to obtain it. In that place it would become quite clear that the nature of the true ruler is not to look after his own interests, but rather those of his subjects; and everyone who knew this would choose rather to receive a benefit from another, instead of being put to the trouble of conferring them all around.

From Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis (p. 21-22)
The point of these studies is that moral judgment is like aesthetic judgment. When you see a painting, you usually know instantly and automatically whether you like it. If someone asks you to explain your judgment, you confabulate. You dont really know why you think something is beautiful, but your interpreter module (the rider) is skilled at making up reasons.. You search for a plausible reason for liking the painting, and you latch on to the first reason that makes sense (maybe something vague about color, or light, or the reflection of the painter in the clown's shiny nose). Moral arguments are much the same: Two people feel strongly about an issue, their feelings come first, and their reasons are invented on the fly, to throw at each other. When you refute a person's argument, does she generally change her mind and agree with you? Of course not, because the argument you defeated was not the cause of her position; it was made up after the judgment was already made.

When i read these 2 passages i was like wow. I was reading them for the sake of gleaning insights from the words instead of reading them to attempt to answer the exam question =X

this post is dedicated to PCKK

had the talk with the team some mondays back. aired my (perhaps flawed) views and hope that some of it (the unflawed views) will hopefully be internalized in the coming semesters. and training will improve. otherwise, i'm walking. i am resolute.

throughout the entire particularly trying period, my brothers have been a pillar of strength. yixiong for meticulously and methodologically listing out the pros and cons of my course of action. zhijian for his ability to pierce the veil of fuzzy thinking and elucidate cogent observations. bernard for his ever dependable i-understand-what-you-are-going-through remarks.

we are made from the same paper (Bernard Kho, 2009). this particular statement struck a chord within me because it highlights just how much we have gone through together. from hard training together to post training bonding sessions slurping cheng teng; from gay-only climbing trips (not by choice) to cranking hard at climbing competitions, these are the people who have walked a sizeable spectrum of the climbing circle with me and understand my rationales best.

of course not forgetting felicia. for being ever patient. and for standing by a sometimes driven-till-unbearable extent boyfriend. for reading and re-reading draft 1,2...10 of my little talk. i penned it to make sure every word made an impact. i certainly hope they did.

the bottomline is truly this: i dont want to talk cock, i just want to climb hard.

glad that this entire rather uncomfortable saga is now a thing of the past. next up are exams and then it's off to hampi for a rocktrip! my first purely bouldering trip! am really looking forward to attempting the routes featured in pilgrimage.

on a sidenote, i qualified for my first open men difficulty climbing finals at rockon09! am psyched to work even harder.


Benjamin Franklin: If Passion drives, let Reason hold the reins.

yeah wadeva

Hello Team Training,

I am very angsty now. And very disappointed. Today I went down to training. We started off with 20 mins ARC. And then we went upstairs and stared into space for 1 hour. My last competition was ClimbOn just 4 days ago. I was severely aching all over from the competition (having slogged my ass out boulder circuiting everything). I can truly say that I really did this competition to the best of my ability. Everything that I couldn’t do, I really couldn’t do yet. I was really inspired by the competition. My prior training has paid off. I remember last year, a certain somebody was more than double my score. But this year, I am catching up. I have narrowed the gap. There is hope still.

Today I went to training feeling really psyched. I haven’t climbed in 4 days since the competition. Am looking forward to training hard again to reap even more rewards. I have Rock On next weekend and really should be doing boulder endurance/high wall/anything that will boost my performance within these 2 weeks. BUT NO. I WENT TO TRAINING JUST NOW AND SPENT 1 HOUR STARING INTO SPACE. after which i rushed through my boulder endurance and kena flashpumped.

I understand the inter and novice girls need some psyche in their lives. I know they need training. But to take up the entire wall at the expense of the men?!

Since I’ve entered NUS, it has always been, “open men arh. You all go upstairs, do whatever you want, later come down free climb.” DU LANZ. Open men need training one also leh. I don’t understand why open men always expected to give in to the other categories. I don’t understand why open men is always left to their own devices.

I am a YEAR 2 OPEN MEN. I don’t know about the other open men. But I HAVE POTENTIAL. I AM NOT A LOST CAUSE IN OPEN MEN. I NEED TRAINING TOO. I WANT TO CATCH UP TO MY CLIMBING HEROES OF THE PAST AND COMPETE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THEM. I don’t want to play big brother all the time and expect to help little brother here, help this brother there. I am in fact, a little brother, too.

Ever since Year 1, I’ve come to realise that this training is not doing me any good at all. I’ve had long discussions with many seniors and seriously contemplated screwing NUS training. But I give in. Social gathering. Team bonding. Yeah whatever. DUDE, laughing and gossiping during training is NOT training. Enjoy the route yes. Climb hard and have fun yes. But sitting around gossiping and chit chatting?? I don’t know about the rest. But my goals are different. I want to TRY MY BEST. I want to attain a podium finish. I don’t know why, but I’m driven about my climbing. Maybe it’s because I HAVE A FRIEND WHO LOVED CLIMBING SO MUCH BUT DIDNT LIVE TO ENJOY IT? I feel like I have to carry on his legacy? It just irks me that I go to training and I WASTE TIME. I could have better spent that time finishing up my essay/tut/project OR doing clinical training.

Thanks team training. You have been a great help to me. Really.

K Thanks Bye,
Jansen

Natalija Gros in Histerija 8C+

Natalija Gros from Jure Breceljnik on Vimeo.

watched this video some time back before. but watching it again still evokes the same sense of tranquility. of power tempered with courtesy. of stoic calm.

posted this up here for my easy reference.

more climbaprix thoughts

people keep coming up to me to congratulate me for getting 2nd. but deep down inside, i'm not truly happy. they do not truly understand. yes i am content. but i am not happy. not satisfied. of course i know that we should take pleasure in all the little things in life that pops up in our path. but take pleasure in all the little things to the extent that we do not forge ahead? i could write an entire essay on this topic.. but not here.. sometimes i really envy those carefree people, who take delight in the little things that make them happy. but i am not like that.

the mental image of myself losing concentration and then falling off the easy part keeps haunting me. it flashes across my mind before i go to bed. it's like a fuzzy video put on permanent replay in my brain. it is a bitter reminder to myself that all the training is useless if i cannot channel it into that one moment. i am going to translate all this angst into harder and tougher training.

i would like to end off with a little disclaimer. of course i know that climbing is not all about competitions. i love the great outdoors too. you should see how much fun i have going for the onsight on routes. the many a happy hour doing hard routes beyond my ability and then finally surmounting them. for beginners, i advocate having so much fun at the sport that you forget the time. revel in the company of your peers.

unfortunately, in Singapore, we do not have majestic crags/cliffs to inspire us. in Europe, the climbers there cant climb in winter. unless you are starved and deprived like john and pengyang. european climbers usually climb in spring/summer/autumn. a good analogy is imagining us having winter all year round, and only a short window period of 'summer' before school/work starts. then it's back to winter again. cold turkey. as such, the only outlet for singaporean climbers to release some steam is through competitions. i know people who dislike competitions. for them, my best advice would be perhaps to just stay away from what you do not derive pleasure from.

but i've been in this business for 6 years already. naturally, my goals are different from those who just started climbing. i WANT to do well for competitions. and competitions are a different ball game from rock. the pressure is intense. the mind games you have to content with. you have to power up in an instant without much warm up. you have to learn how to climb with pumped forearms. the best competition climbers are the ones who have excellent route reading skills and the ones who have best learned how to climb with lactic-acid flooded forearms. in my (perhaps flawed) opinion, if you want to do well for competitions, then you have to train specifically for it. unless of course, you are talented like chris sharma. and at least at this moment, i do not have the necessary credentials to support my claim. we'll see what the future holds.

time to let my dark side consume me..

climbaprix

things i didnt like about the comp:
1. lack of punctuality.
the comp was supposed to end by 8pm on saturday but dragged till 12am.
the comp was supposed to end by 4pm on sunday but dragged till 6pm plus. all that time... wasted... i dont mean to be sarcastic, but time is precious, and being part of the mugging community in nus, we really need to study. 2 days burnt. still got 2 X 30% essays to finish, and this is tutorial week, plus deadlines for 3 assignments are looming. ugh.

2. loud booming fever-inducing (at least for me) music. i understand such music is supposed to bring out the competition atmosphere, make the event more lively, etc, but too much is really bleah.

3. the whole point of a point system is to make every move equally hard, so that the competitor has to fight for each hold, and in essence, fight for the win. unfortunately for climbaprix, the routes are set in such a way that the bonus-top system would be more suitable. if they fancy crux moves where every participant falls off at the same place then they might as well revert to the bonus top system.

things i liked about this climbaprix.
1. the prizes are really quite good considering the small scale of this event. $30 cash prize and $30 prana voucher. but if i count in the registration fee, the lunch and dinner money and the negative externalities associated with the wasted time, i'm seriously in the red.

anyways although i got 2nd i must say i'm rather disappointed with my performance. i wasnt psyched when i went out on my first route and fell off an easy part. had to do the same moves a second time which pumped me out, and then fell off the last hold. wtf. all the hard training, gone to waste with just one mistake. one teeny attention lapse. i feel robbed.

i attribute my failure to my climbing style. i'm too conservative. too static. i prefer to feel very secure first before locking off for the next hold. i need to learn how to flow with the route. fast and clinical when need arises, and slow and static for the appropriate occasions. for this reason i am determined to adapt my climbing style. of course it's easy for the passer-by to say, 'jansen, it's okay you tried your best.' but my best is not good enough. not winning is as good as losing.

you must think i am a crazy/extreme person who beats myself up for no good reason. but no. i prefer to see myself as an athlete who refuses to rest on his laurels, and will do what it takes to reach the top.

shut up and train. back to more training systematic abuse of my body.

childhood memories

it is sad that some of my peers are unable to speak fluent chinese despite their ethnicity. having been rudimentary schooled in some basic linguistic studies, i realised that each language is a supreme achievement of a collective human genius. having not used chinese on a day to day basis for close to 6 years now, my command of spoken chinese has become rusty. the alarm bells went off when i couldnt converse properly with a taiwanese climber when i was in krabi. time to revisit my roots.

these songs had a soothing effect on me. reminded me of childhood days. enjoy. or not.

man on a mission

I’m sorry that I’m so stupid. I take 6 modules. I’m more stupid than most people so I make up for it by studying extra hard. I’m so stupid I have to study every single day of the week. That means not being able to do ‘normal’ people stuff.

I’m sorry that I’m so weak. I climb at such a low level. I’m weaker than most other climbers so I make up for it by training extra hard. I’m pathetic, so I have to rely on a fixed training programme to boost all that little ability that I have. I made a promise to myself, and I’ll become less of a man if I fall short.

I’m sorry that I prefer to spend my time not doing ‘normal’ people stuff. I’m stupid and I’m weak and I don’t have work-life balance.

training matters

i've been doing a condensed periodization training for 4 weeks now and i must say i'm really gratified to see results! i got a little tired of just doing training and heading straight back instead of slowly climbing and chilling with rest. so i decided to sneak one hour of bouldering today. and after some evaluation i realised that i've improved quite substantially! any improvement at all psyches me like crazy! prior to the training i feel like i've plateau-ed, am not able to pull harder despite sufficient rest. i recall not being able to hold onto some tiles at all, e.g. the bar on the 38 degree wall. now i can hold that tile and make moves off it! hooray!

now i finally understand the training i went through in TJ. i remember doing very little fun climb at all, and training was mostly monotonous and tough. sometimes i got frustrated at not having time to slowly milk the climbs. now i understand. i remember i somehow magically ban-kaied at my last and final comp and managed to win inter men. behold the power of periodization. all the magic of training is slowly revealed to my eyes. looking back at my 6 years of climbing, i realised that my quickest improvement rate was during my first 2 years!

this training opens up a world of possibilities for me!

ROCKLANDS: Black Diamond Climber Nalle Hukkataival visits South Africa's famed boulders from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

'i would say that climbing is my life; at least it is my lifestyle'

'this lifestyle that i've been living for the past few years has been awesome and i wouldnt change it for anything'

'you can really see him digging deep and for me that's really inspiring'

'to reach my personal best'

holistic university education

Statement A: When good things happen to you, you praise the lord.
Statement B: Good things happen to you.
Conclusion : You praise the lord.

Over here, we have a logical (not necessarily true, but logical) argument. A+B = C.

So if we agree to the above syllogism, we can move onto the next series of statements.

Statement A: When bad things happen to you, you do not praise the lord.
Statement B: Bad things happen to you.
Conclusion : You do not praise the lord.

once again, A + B = C

following the rational train of thought of this argument, when given A and when B happens, C will follow. i.e. when bad things happen to you, you do not praise the lord.
however, often we find that when bad things happen to religious believers, instead of not praising the lord, they blame satan! there happens to be a distinct difference between praising the lord and blaming satan.

an awkward consequence:
Statement A: When bad things happen to you, you do not praise the lord.
Statement B: Bad things happen to you.
Conclusion: You blame satan. (?)

A + B =/ C
inconclusive conclusion. irrational argument. logos violation.

fools rush in where angels fear to tread

the more i read, the more cautious am i to voice my opinions.
the more i find out about both sides of the story, the more unwilling i am to take a stand.
the more i ask, the more confounded i get.

for the process of decision-making, should you put yourself in someone else's shoes or stay emotionally detached?

thought begets conclusion. so then, is the solution to simply walk the middle path? interestingly, to walk the middle path is one of the core facets of the Buddhism religion.

i often find my actions being guided by the 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread' adage, but then this often leads to inaction and indecisiveness. eat in moderation. so i guess the same should work for my thought process?

True Love?

clever use of words to persuade readers to your point of view. a useful skill indeed.

why do i climb?

often i have people come up to me and ask me, "what? you are still in climbing? not sian arh?". this statement is often the source of my angst. the most recent time this phrase was voiced to me was during the climbing open house we had for the sports camp. jups the slavedriver put me and yixiong through our paces and converted us into 'showhorses' for the freshies.

alas, my reply is still the same. a nonchalant smile. a shrug of the shoulder. the shuffle of the feet. with the passing of age, it has dawned on me that it's useless to launch into a tirade to defend your personal pursuit of happiness.

i'm lucky to have found my passion. others are not so fortunate. 10,000 hours; and i'll be a master. a true master, as opposed to being a mediocre jack-of-all-trades.

i daydream about the next climbing trip. more of climbing's secrets are revealed to me with every expedition to the great outdoors. i relish that crux on the route that stumps me. for me, that moment when i'm gasping for air; when my arms are flooded with lactic acid but i'm still fighting for the next hold; when my ears block out and block up; when i enter the zone and take total control over my body - are moments that make me feel ever so alive. i'm addicted to that feeling. and i always go back for more.

for me, there is no good route or bad route. routes that suit my style or routes that don't. all that matters is whether i can send the route or not. how i coerce my body to fill that void in the rock. how i meld into the craftily created cracks and crevices. how i subtly tease the route into accommodating one more climber to reach her crown.

start of a new sem

am beginning on year 2 now. hoping that 6 modules this sem wont kill me.

this sem i'm taking:
RE2801 Urban Planning
RE2802 Real Estate Economics
SC1101E Making Sense of Society
WP2201A Expository Writing: Language Death
PH1101E Reason and Persuasion
ES2007D Professional Communication

having 3 arts modules makes me feel more like an arts student rather than a real estate student. some people have asked me why have i taken a real estate degree, when i should really take an arts degree because of my love for reading and writing. i guess it's because i find more practical use in a real estate degree. i could always pursue the arts at a leisurely pace on my own accord.

frankly, i'm a little intimidated by my WP2201A class. it is a pilot project run by USP. the workload is rather heavy - 2 seminar style lessons a week 2 hours each time plus all the readings. furthermore, my other 14 peers come from fields like sociology, philosophy and political science. but whatever. the first lesson was really fun. the tutor is vastly experienced in linguistics and language. he helped broaden my perspective on language and also taught us how to avoid disastrously boring sentences in our writing. so far so good.

climbing has been good for me. staying at okr is a god send (just metaphorical). the spacious and airy room, and its proximity to the climbing gym will go a long way into helping me pull my CAP up. i'm able to get down to the gym for a dose of bouldering before hitting the books without the hassle of waiting for the freaking shuttle bus which comes at 30mins intervals at night. i can feel my bouldering improving slightly already.

i may not know what i want eventually out of my university education. but this i know. i know that i want to be that frog which crawls out of the bottom of his well. i want to travel to crags all over the world and climb my hardest. i want to climb up to the 8b level in the future. and i also want to get top 3 for an opens men bouldering competition in singapore. after all, if dreams arent far fetched and proposterous at first glance, then are such dreams worth chasing?

krabi round 4

hello blog

i havent filled in your pages lately. possibly because i'm busy with this and busy with that. possibly because i couldnt find the inspiration for a decent post. but whatever. here i am now enjoying reflecting and penning down my thoughts.

what better way to begin than by describing my experiences at krabi round 4 from 19th july-3rd august?

the trip started out rather eventfully with a conman taxi out to cheat us. the plan was to take the airport bus from phuket airport to phuket bus terminal. a bus from phuket bus terminal to krabi bus terminal. and a song theao from krabi bus terminal to aonang. we had already rejected the advances of countless taxi drivers who hounded us at phuket airport. there was this particular driver who kept hounding us and eventually offered to send us to krabi bus terminal for 200baht. i should have known that it was too good to be true . that conman dropped us off at some ulu bus stop and told us to give him more money to drive us to krabi bus terminal. wtf. we decided to just sit at that bus stop and just wait for the bus. the rickety crickety bus came 30mins later. i curse the taxi driver have all his teeth drop out for lying to us. but this is not the end of the story. three quarters through the journey, the rear wheel of the bus popped. ME AND FEL WERE SITTING ABOVE THAT WHEEL. the entire vehicle vibrated like crazy. and the driver continued driving! i must say that thais are some really garang people.

we reached aonang some time in the afternoon but the adventure was only just beginning. we were the only 2 people waiting for the long tail boat to bring us to tonsai but the boat doesnt leave till there are 8 passengers. just as we are resigned to either stay over a night at aonang or pay for the difference for the boat ride, some angmohs joined us and made up the number. the boat ride began. but boy were the waves CHOPPY. i've been to tonsai 3 times and i've not experienced waves that were choppy to this extent. the current lifted the boat almost 70 degrees up and slammed us down back to the water. this was the scenario for the entire duration of the journey. we were freaking drenched. next time no need go disneyland for a roller coaster ride. an aonang to tonsai boat ride is a much cheaper and more nausea-inducing alternative.

we stayed at krabi mountain view resort for the first part of the trip and did all the crags along the side of tonsai - the nest/wild kingdom, fire wall, melting wall. i brought fel multi-pitching up groovetube and we abseiled down. she kept moaning that she didnt want to die. haha.
i sent britishly white. but the rope drag almost killed me. luckily felicia helped me to second up the route to clear clips. i had to heave at the rope with my entire body weight to pull it down like 1 metre. repeat that process to get the rope down that 20plus metre route and you have a seriously pissed jansen ko.
i also tried cross eyed at melting wall. this is one seriously 'balls' route. need to multipitch up 2 clips first and have fel belay me off a precarious position to even start the route. the route is a fight all the way to the top. halfway through i stuck my hand into a jug and lo and behold! a furry bat flew up and batted angrily around my head. in my opinion, this route is WAY harder than tidal wave in terms of 'balls' and mental strength. singaporeans who travel all the way to krabi and spend all their time on tidal wave dont know what they are missing out. i must say i am guilty of this too. for my first 2 trips i spent countless attempts on tidal wave. i always feel like i cannot move on unless i finish it. i now realise that if you are not ready, do not go and jump on a route. i crushed tidal wave on my 3rd trip and even campused up the 4th to 5th clip. but i suppose this is a growing up phase. i certainly hope i've grown wiser.

for the second part of the trip we shifted over to tonsai bay resort. we stayed in the aircon hot water bungalow for the first night and it was perfect. my body was aching for hot water. the next 2 nights we stayed in the V2 house and it was horrendous. first of all, the tap wasnt working properly. whatever residue you spit into the sink leaks onto your feet. secondly, BED BUGS! the scars on my back are an enduring reminder to myself to scutinise the freaking room first before accepting it. sleepless nights. cold nights spent on the beach instead of inside of the room wrapped under a warm blanket. crappy feeling.
we spent these 3 days climbing along the beach.
i sent society of gravitational studies. this route taught me an important life lesson. i finished the route but didnt feel happy at all. i better write it all down here to remind myself not to make the same mistake again. i brought the clips up the route. because of the nature of the route - the intensity of the moves and the 'gek-sai' clipping positions, i needed very precise belaying. i needed the belayer to give me rope quickly when i needed to clip in and to take in rope quickly when i dropped it and brace swiftly when i fall. i guess i should have discussed the finer details with fel before jumping on the route. guess i was anxious to send the route - this having been my long term project. i kinda vented my frustration at her a little when she didnt give me rope fast enough and made her upset. i am a freaking idiot. what's the point of sending a route if the important person at the other end of the belay line isnt happy? on hindsight i should have just kept my cool. i eventually sent the route but it was no biggie. send and move on. if i'm too pent up about it i'll never move on to bigger and badder routes.
i sent cafe andaman. some 7b route that feels more like a 6c.
i flashed tiger queen. watched some taiwan climber of 20 years do the route first and gathered enough beta to flash it. i learned alot from this climber. he has taught me the importance of humility. life is a series of experiences, each of which makes you wiser.
i tried tantrum. my best attempt was to lead all the way up to the 5th clip. on that final and best try, everything just clicked together. the dyno, the figure 4, the campusing across the roof. now i just need to work on my endurance to send that route. unfinished business, yet again. i look forward to the day when i am strong enough to go to each crag and send all the 7s there in one day. and then at the end of the trip compare the varying difficulties of the 7s at all the different crags in krabi - which is exactly what that taiwanese climber was able to do. respeckt.
and for those who are interested, an extension has been added to jai dum.

the last leg of the trip was spent at yaya resort in railay.
i sent quarks. nothing much to say about the route. short and savage would have been a more apt name for it.
i sent narsillion at low tide on my second attempt. very nice and long route featuring a variety of moves. need to keep your head together if you want to onsight this, which is something i failed to achieve. i will work on my weakness. sometimes you need a certain amount of daredevil-ness and derring-do to amuerte with the route. jansen ko is still too weak and has much to learn.
i worked on knights in white satin. this route is seriously a balls route. when i said that cross eyed is scary, i was exaggerating. the fear factor of cross eyed pales in comparism to knights in white satin; given the longer run outs and the very well placed bolts. i give this route 2 thumbs up. this was the only route which i had to scream to clear clips. i needed to scream to shut out the fear and enter the zone. i'm glad to have finally tried this classic. the old birds tell me that you cannot say that you have truly been climbing in krabi if you didnt try this route. i certainly cannot dispute the truth of that statement. i am psyched to finish this route on my next trip.

after the stay in krabi we went to bkk for some shopping. chatuchak weekend market and platinum fashion mall kinda settled my clothing needs for the entire year. we shipped back 10kg because our luggage was bursting at the seams. fel infected me with her shopping genes. cheap cheap shopping there. i never ever want to shop in singapore again.

ok that's all for this post. till we share again, dear blog.

3rd krabi trip

for this 2 week roc trip i feel that i've improved tremendously. i've grown alot since my maiden trip there in jc 2. still there is so much unfinished business. there's always something harder. something to look forward to. something to obsess about then despair then cherish. the roller coaster ride of emotions which accompanies the entire life cycle of a project. for the sake of keeping record lest i become an old man and lose my memories, i shall list down the routes i either sent or attempted to send this trip.

sent
hang ten - this route seriously almost pissed me off. took 5 tries a day for 3 days in a row to send it. which makes the send even more precious because all that hard work paid off. i celebrated like a mad man on the beach for 5mins.
tidal wave - crushed this pissing route which gave me problems for my first 2 trips
baby gorilla
voodoo doll - lots of hard work but well worth it
mai mee fahn
humanality

attempted
old chicken makes good soup/dragonball
phet mak - yixiong made this route look easy
society of gravitational studies - am much stronger since my pathetic attempts on this route during my second trip. almost sent it. will send it in the near future.
reminiscence - the crux at the top is quite something
asia shadow play
blind, deaf, dumb
lars and lars

being a house husband

for the past few days i experienced how it feels like to be a house husband.

i woke up early in the morning to prepare breakfast for felicia. after which i sent her to the bus stop and then i went back home to make the bed and do the chores. mundane chores like hanging out the clothes, vacuuming and mopping the floor are a good time for reflections, hence this post. at the end of day i went to pick her up at the bus stop before heading to her house for dinner. on the bus she was in a foul mood because of the incessant demands of work. (i had to approach her with a 10-yard stick for fear of getting a venomous bite =p)

i really respect the men who are willing and able to set aside their careers and play second fiddle to their wives. the arena of bringing home the dough and putting food on the table is no longer a male dominated sanctity. of course i have been working through school and through the hols to earn some spare cash, but these 2 days of no work had really put the gears of thought into motion. how are house husbands able to meekly take orders from their earning wives? does this reversal of gender roles make the man any less capable? i suppose it takes a lot of trust and a whole load of love for the relationship to work.

a poem i wished i have chanced upon at a younger age:

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
- W B Yeats

pumpfest 09 - bouldering comp for climbers by non-climbers

the above statement pretty much sums up everything about the competition.

disclaimer: i am about to embark on a barrage of criticisms against pumpfest 09. what right do i have to critique this annual bouldering competition? well, i am a member of the rockclimbing community in singapore, and i am concerned about the level of professionalism displayed during events like this which showcase our sport. a well organised event could hopefully help raise the bar for the aspiring young generation of climbers .

in this post, you will see me using 'lame-ass' quite often. lame ass is my personal synonym for 'seriously fucked up'. i am trying to cut the use of vulgarities but sometimes, it is perhaps the best word to use to describe some seriously screwed up occasions of pumpfest 09.

first and foremost of my grouses, the reception was a disaster. we had to stand around like cocks waiting for the registration booth to sort out whatever they needed to sort out. only a few people were working while the others were basically vases. only useful for looking pretty. the girl attending to me also had a bad attitude. when i registered for the school team event on friday, this were the exact words i received,
Girl: "you open climber?".
Me: "yes"
Girl: "only can take one shirt you understand? cannot take 2!"
Me: "erm.. ok.. whatever"
it's like wadeva man. i didnt even ask for 2 shirts in the first place! the girl just jumped to the conclusion that i was going to take 2 shirts for wadeva misconstrued reason of hers. spare me. i just want to boulder.

there was also this isolation girl with some lame-ass attitude. initially i thought it was only me being overly sensitive. but when i overheard some people complaining about her too...

i also dont understand why they decided to put the ntu fun climb on a sunday. seeing new climbers(i do not have anything against new climbers) wearing sport shoes/not wearing shoes to climb on a sunday afternoon is a waste of precious time. the committee should sideline this nondescript event to a friday instead of putting it on a sunday - the day when the traffic is the heaviest and most of the climbing community in singapore is there. my point is further evidenced by the fact that there was virtually nobody watching the event. the crowd dispersed after the intermediate mens finals at 1pm only to gather again for the open womens competition at 6pm. these 5 hours could have been put to better use. like for example having more finalists in each event, or allocating more time to the open womens and mens competition (which undisputedly is the main crowd drawer). or use this time to train their route judges, which brings me to my next complaint.

the route judges were NON-climbers. which means they know next-to-nothing about the adrenaline-pumping, faint-inducing sport that is bouldering. instances of poor judging are listed down below:
1. jiawei's video replay clearly showing that he held onto the bonus tile TWICE for his novice men's finals, but the route judge decided otherwise. if that was counted he would have shot up the rankings to 3rd place. he decided against appealing. i cannot decide whether i agree with his decision. but i have to agree that given his poor judging, the inept route judge would have probably bungled jiawei's appeal. at the end of the day, we climbers just want to climb and have fun, not partake in some senseless dispute as to whether we held the tile or not.
2. there was this indian girl for the open womens route 2. xiaoxian is really the victim of this unfortunate series of events. she was the first up for a route that climbers will clearly see as a jump start. however the route judge insisted that she had to set on the hold WITH 2 HANDS. which is impossible. if i were xiaoxian, there and then i would have told her in her face to show me how to start with 2 hands on that small tile that is obviously a foothold which is placed below knee level. luckily for xiaoxian she eventually redeemed herself with a fairytale ending.
3. ben saw this fiasco and immediately insisted that xiaoxian be allowed to try the route again. however the lame-ass chief judge insisted that this major oversight on his part be carried on FOR THE REST OF THE OPEN WOMENS. bouldering is a spectator sport. it would be senseless to see 8 grown women fumbling with the FREAKING STARTING TILE. the chief route judge should immediately recognize the problem and address it. instead, his heated argument with ben carried over to felicia's turn and wasted close to 40 seconds of her time. i was there and just told her to do the jump start, because i am a climber and i can certainly discern correct route judging from wrong. when the rules are wrong you screw them and make up your own ones.
4. after which all the other participants did the jump start. until it came to shuang e's turn. for some reason only known to that indian girl, she allowed shuang e to start on the second hold. so shuang e just locked off on that hold while stepping on the first foothold to reach the higher tiles, without needing to jump at all! RIDICULOUS. any competent route judge or chief route judge would resolve this issue instantaneously by asking the competitor to come down from the wall and giving her one attempt. however, this is not done. in the eyes of the spectators this actually amounts to blatant cheating. i saw this and immediately reported it to the chief route judge. below is an excerpt of his mind-blowing, preposterous, absurd and irresponsible reply:
"i will settle this issue later. any appeals you do through your coach. i will handle this later."
imagine a similar setting at the olympic games. if the athletes contravened some rule, THERE AND THEN they are disqualified or at least penalised. why is this age-old rule inconsistent with the judging at pumpfest 09?
disclaimer: i admire shuang e for climbing with an injured ankle and for bravely finishing most of the routes. the route judge should have stopped her when she started with the incorrect hold. but as a national climber, she should have known better. if the reason for allowing her to start on the second hold was because of her injured ankle, then perhaps for the next comp i will scratch myself and ask for the same allowances. although i probably wouldnt get the same set of incompetent judges which ironically complemented each other!

climbing is a spectator sport. the whole point of the competition is for the viewing pleasure of the spectators. however, the double whammy of a high barricade coupled with a low tentage made it such that the spectators could only see the middle portion of the walls. whatever happened at the bottom and at the the top(which is the climax of each climb) is unknown to them. and is there really a need to place the boundaries so far back? as a spectator, i want to catch all the action. i want to see my climbing heroes in action. i do not want to have to kneel or stoop and shift myself around to catch the feats of strength and dexterity.

the new format of the competition, whereby the competitors climbed on one wall while the other wall was prepared for the next route is also messy and distracting. the flurry of activity at the mainstage area meant that the spectators attention is diverted from watching the action. the blaring noise of the impact drivers also distracts the competitors from focusing on their climbs.

my last and final grouse is the lame-ass 'spotting' at the competition. is this the epitome of lame-ass. in bouldering, because of the nature of the spot, we have 'spotters' in charge of guiding the competitors safely to the mats, hence the phrase 'spotting'. they are not supposed to SLAM THE GENITALS of the competitors. here i am forced to sucuumb to my desire to use expletives. i FUCKING dont care whether it was an FUCKING accident or not. the damage is FUCKING done already. i got hit in my balls and i crumpled to the mattress. the moment you get hit in your manhood the first reaction is to be FUCKING PISSED. the 'spotter' (i wonder if you can still call him that) is lucky that the injury is not serious. this is no laughing matter. i was seriously FUCKING TEMPTED to box him in the face. luckily i controlled myself. in this case i would rather i fall to the ground and sprain my ankles then get a dent, or rather a 'zham', to my chances to celebrate fathers' day. sometimes it is better to express your displeasure rather than keep it bottled up. i feel better after voicing out my angst. as of now i am still undecided as to whether i should repay that fellow the same pleasure with the effects magnified ten times.

the spotter in the football tee for the open mens final route is also a joke. he would spread his arms out sidewards and then drop his hands when the competitor fell instead of rushing out to guide him down.

the only gratifying thing about this competition is that we at nus central helped voiced popular opinion and made a dig at the emcees.