Yours truley...
Luc bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area
Rich bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area
Luc bouldering 'Access Denied' 6C
Luc on 'Sun Sloper' 7A at Access Denied areaWednesday, December 9, 2009
More Hampi pics...
Some more Hampi photos for you all :)
Yours truley...
Luc bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area
Rich bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area
Luc bouldering 'Access Denied' 6C
Luc on 'Sun Sloper' 7A at Access Denied area
Yours truley...Luc bouldering a 7A at Access Denied areaRich bouldering a 7A at Access Denied areaLuc bouldering 'Access Denied' 6CLuc on 'Sun Sloper' 7A at Access Denied area
Friday, December 4, 2009
India update - Finally!
04.12.09
So it's been a while since I have written and I feel bad for being so lazy... but here it is, my last month in India.
Life in Hampi keeps rolling along nicely. Bouldering, yoga, relaxing, playing guitar... loads of fun with lots of great people. I have been plagued further with injuries though which is far from fun. My shoulder is much much better now and I started to climb well again but then I got a little drunk on Old Monk Rum, fell in a hole and cut my foot and toe open. So another 2 weeks off climbing for me to heal my foot. And to add to that I have a tweaked an A2 pulley in my right hand so I have to be careful of that too, but all that aside I am psyched and enjoying the climbing here.
While my foot was injured I decided to go on a little adventure with my friends Matt and Kristie and head up to Pune to visit the Osho Ashram there. Now the Ashram is hard to explain. It is a meditation Ashram but in a 5 star setting that is so amazing it is hard to explain. But, the actual workings and meditations in there... well... pisture a perfect blend of Zen Bhuddist Meditations and Jane Fonda workout tapes all located on the set of a Star Trek episode and with all the participants in matching Maroon or White cult style robes... interesting to say the least!
So now I am back in the Goan Corner in Hampi, relaxing and bouldering again with all my friends here. slowly but surely more and more friends are turning up ready for what is going to be an AMAZING Christmas and New Years... I cant wait!
Also, on the news front, I have locked in my new job for next year. I am psyched! Starting early February I will be working for China Climb based in Yangshuo in China! Guiding outdoor adventure sports all over China and living in a limestone sports climbing paradise for the year... its going to be amazing!
Psyched!!!
Highballing at Cosmic Cave
Baba Cafe
Luca at the Cosmic Cave
Wolfgang at the Cosmic Cave
Lewis at the Baba Cafe Boulders
The Rajastani Puppet Show
Bouldering at the Baba
Serious Chess time with Zoro
Einav b&w portrait
Nightime flash photography session
So it's been a while since I have written and I feel bad for being so lazy... but here it is, my last month in India.
Life in Hampi keeps rolling along nicely. Bouldering, yoga, relaxing, playing guitar... loads of fun with lots of great people. I have been plagued further with injuries though which is far from fun. My shoulder is much much better now and I started to climb well again but then I got a little drunk on Old Monk Rum, fell in a hole and cut my foot and toe open. So another 2 weeks off climbing for me to heal my foot. And to add to that I have a tweaked an A2 pulley in my right hand so I have to be careful of that too, but all that aside I am psyched and enjoying the climbing here.
While my foot was injured I decided to go on a little adventure with my friends Matt and Kristie and head up to Pune to visit the Osho Ashram there. Now the Ashram is hard to explain. It is a meditation Ashram but in a 5 star setting that is so amazing it is hard to explain. But, the actual workings and meditations in there... well... pisture a perfect blend of Zen Bhuddist Meditations and Jane Fonda workout tapes all located on the set of a Star Trek episode and with all the participants in matching Maroon or White cult style robes... interesting to say the least!
So now I am back in the Goan Corner in Hampi, relaxing and bouldering again with all my friends here. slowly but surely more and more friends are turning up ready for what is going to be an AMAZING Christmas and New Years... I cant wait!
Also, on the news front, I have locked in my new job for next year. I am psyched! Starting early February I will be working for China Climb based in Yangshuo in China! Guiding outdoor adventure sports all over China and living in a limestone sports climbing paradise for the year... its going to be amazing!
Psyched!!!
Highballing at Cosmic Cave
Baba Cafe
Luca at the Cosmic Cave
Wolfgang at the Cosmic Cave
Lewis at the Baba Cafe Boulders
The Rajastani Puppet Show
Bouldering at the Baba
Serious Chess time with Zoro
Einav b&w portrait
Nightime flash photography sessionMonday, November 2, 2009
Some Halloween pics...
A couple of Halloween Photos...
James aka Darth Maul
The gang :)
Amanda and Tim aka Gypsy Girl and Lawrence of Arabia
Me and my local friend Moses from SanapurBloody Baksheesh
So what a crazy day / night yesterday was...
Halloween... you know the drill. Get dressed up, go somewhere with a bunch of fun folk, get smashed, good times right? Wrong! Well, partially wrong. It was fun but wow what an epic.
Let me paint you a picture...
Crocodile Dundee (Me), The Incredible Hulk, Princess Leia, Darth Maul, 2 Wood Nymphs, William Wallace AKA Braveheart, Alex DeLarge (Clockwork Orange), Evil Indian Baba and a six foot tall Smurf all walked down the main street of Hampi getting stared at in disbelief by the locals then piled into a truck/taxi thing, drove through some small Indian villages to more disbelieving stares then arrived at our party destination some miles away.
We settled into the party with many other stangley dressed characters including Laurence Of Arabia, a Gypsy and a Playboy Bunny. Everything was set to be great fun... but it was not to be... Before dinner was even started the Police turned up. Now Indian Police can do whatever they like and make people pay 'baksheesh' or bribes. The took the lot. All the beer. The soft drinks. The food. The stereo. And 4 of the owners and staff. We were all stunned.
Long story short it cost the owners 86,000 Rupees (about 2000 CAD...) to bail out SOME of the staff and it still has to go to court. But wait. Why did this happen I hear you say? Well we got a friend to pick us up in a truck to drive us there and the Rickshaw Walla's (drivers) found out and were pissed about us not getting 2 rickshaws to take us so they called the cops on us, and if they call the cops in on a juicy 'baksheesh' they get a 20% cut on the action... pretty sh*t huh? So baksheesh was paid, party resumed... with a slight cautious edge to begin with the music started, dancing was had, bonfire was enjoyed... brilliant.
We slept in the resteraunt for a few hours at dawn and woke to find that lo a behond our 2 friends that organised the party had had their camera's, cash and phones stolen... YAY! I mean what the? Insult to injury huh? Luck was on their side though and later in the day our Indian friends found the kid that stole the stuff, returned it and are putting the thief on the first bus to his family in Calcutta.
Epic. Not really. This Is India.
Halloween... you know the drill. Get dressed up, go somewhere with a bunch of fun folk, get smashed, good times right? Wrong! Well, partially wrong. It was fun but wow what an epic.
Let me paint you a picture...
Crocodile Dundee (Me), The Incredible Hulk, Princess Leia, Darth Maul, 2 Wood Nymphs, William Wallace AKA Braveheart, Alex DeLarge (Clockwork Orange), Evil Indian Baba and a six foot tall Smurf all walked down the main street of Hampi getting stared at in disbelief by the locals then piled into a truck/taxi thing, drove through some small Indian villages to more disbelieving stares then arrived at our party destination some miles away.
We settled into the party with many other stangley dressed characters including Laurence Of Arabia, a Gypsy and a Playboy Bunny. Everything was set to be great fun... but it was not to be... Before dinner was even started the Police turned up. Now Indian Police can do whatever they like and make people pay 'baksheesh' or bribes. The took the lot. All the beer. The soft drinks. The food. The stereo. And 4 of the owners and staff. We were all stunned.
Long story short it cost the owners 86,000 Rupees (about 2000 CAD...) to bail out SOME of the staff and it still has to go to court. But wait. Why did this happen I hear you say? Well we got a friend to pick us up in a truck to drive us there and the Rickshaw Walla's (drivers) found out and were pissed about us not getting 2 rickshaws to take us so they called the cops on us, and if they call the cops in on a juicy 'baksheesh' they get a 20% cut on the action... pretty sh*t huh? So baksheesh was paid, party resumed... with a slight cautious edge to begin with the music started, dancing was had, bonfire was enjoyed... brilliant.
We slept in the resteraunt for a few hours at dawn and woke to find that lo a behond our 2 friends that organised the party had had their camera's, cash and phones stolen... YAY! I mean what the? Insult to injury huh? Luck was on their side though and later in the day our Indian friends found the kid that stole the stuff, returned it and are putting the thief on the first bus to his family in Calcutta.
Epic. Not really. This Is India.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Some Hampi Photos...
Me and some babas
Sharon and a rest day bhang lassie ;)
Matt bouldering
Tom bouldering
Kate practicing Poi on the boulders
Lewis bouldering
Me bouldering
Amanda
Evenings in the Goan CornerMore soon... Promise!
25.10.09
So its been a while but to be fair theres not alot to write. I mean, every day is amazing but now that we have settled into a routine it is easy to let time slide by without realising.
My shoulder is getting better slowly and I am climbing a fair bit now and have even bouldered up to 7A so there is hope for some hard sends yet! The climbing here is amazing. Sharp, crimpy, powerful, proud... awesome. Most days here are spent doing a lot of relaxing, blazing, swimming in the lake and then throw in some bouldering on the occasional sunrise or sunset and life is pretty darn good. More and more people are turning up here every day and the crew is growing and growing so its happy days. I will try and write a little story about life here in Hampi soon... promise!
So its been a while but to be fair theres not alot to write. I mean, every day is amazing but now that we have settled into a routine it is easy to let time slide by without realising.
My shoulder is getting better slowly and I am climbing a fair bit now and have even bouldered up to 7A so there is hope for some hard sends yet! The climbing here is amazing. Sharp, crimpy, powerful, proud... awesome. Most days here are spent doing a lot of relaxing, blazing, swimming in the lake and then throw in some bouldering on the occasional sunrise or sunset and life is pretty darn good. More and more people are turning up here every day and the crew is growing and growing so its happy days. I will try and write a little story about life here in Hampi soon... promise!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Epics!
08.10.09
You know those moments where you just stop for a second and think either 'what the hell am I doing here?' or 'god I love my life!'...? Well it seems to happen about every 5 minutes here for me. Let me tell you about my last week or so.
We have a good little team here. Me and Dave down in the Goan Corner, Nick, Scott and Ellie up in Shanthi and Elka up the hill... apart from the locals and a small band of Israelis thats the whole population of Hampi Island at the minute. The monsoon floods cut us off from the rest of humanity and with constant rain, no electricity and food running out things were getting everyone down on our little inland island. But a little bouldering in between the rain and some good company keeps the smiles on our faces.
Then, mid floods, my friend Camille and her friend Sandy arrived on the other side of the river. After 2 days of their arrival and no communication being possible I sucked it up and escaped the island to the Hampi bazaar on the other side of the river... 1 coracle ride (A little round boat), 1 car rooftop ride and 2 buses later I got there and after bumping into Elka, also stranded now on the main side of the river, we found Camille and Sandy and had a nice night in the town. Next day Camille and Sandy were heading to Goa, so a short lived reunion but a nice one, then after meeting some nice new Israeli friends Elka and I changed our plans of trying to get back to the island and took up an offer of our local friend Kieran to come spend the night out at his house in the banana plantation.
About 10 of us all told headed out to the plantation, watched sunset from ontop of some huge boulders, ate a great dinner off banana leaves under the stars by candle light, played and sang music then slept under the stars. What an amazing night. I spent one more night in Hampi Bazaar with my friends Roni and Gal, sleeping again under the stars on a rooftop in the centre of town under a clear sky and full moon then I headed back to our island which was still flooded in requiring a 3 hour round trip to get to a place only 500 metres across the flooded river. Epic. One night in my own bed then last night we headed off to the Monkey Temple.
A week ago it was Ellie's birthday but she was sick and it was raining so the festivities were postponed. With nicer weather and the river finally down we all grabbed some gear and headed up to the Monkey Temple, a temple perched on boulders atop a mountain, to camp for the night under the stars. The Baba's told us we could stay in the boulders so we watched the sun go down across one of the most stunning views in the world then found a little niche between boulders to camp in. A little fire, some music and great company and we were all having a great time.
Then it rained. Rubbish.
The rain forced us all to seek shelter under the front of the hut the Baba's sleep in. The Baba's didn't seem to excited about their new guests but they didn't seem to mind too much once one that spoke english chatted with us. So an uncomfortable nights sleep being slightly damp and occasionally waking to find a half naked Baba standing over us watching us sleep which caused us all to wake terrified everytime someone opened their eyes, saw the watchful Baba and screamed in fear only for the Baba to chuckle, say sorry then amble off into the night time boulders leaning on his walking staff. So this morning we made it back to our once again accessible island ready for some rest and relaxation.
Stop. Hammock Time.
Ellie before walking up to the Monkey Temple
Dave on the walk up
Its called the Monkey Temple for a reason
Yoga in the sunset on a mountain top... does it get better?
Sunset over paradise
You know those moments where you just stop for a second and think either 'what the hell am I doing here?' or 'god I love my life!'...? Well it seems to happen about every 5 minutes here for me. Let me tell you about my last week or so.
We have a good little team here. Me and Dave down in the Goan Corner, Nick, Scott and Ellie up in Shanthi and Elka up the hill... apart from the locals and a small band of Israelis thats the whole population of Hampi Island at the minute. The monsoon floods cut us off from the rest of humanity and with constant rain, no electricity and food running out things were getting everyone down on our little inland island. But a little bouldering in between the rain and some good company keeps the smiles on our faces.
Then, mid floods, my friend Camille and her friend Sandy arrived on the other side of the river. After 2 days of their arrival and no communication being possible I sucked it up and escaped the island to the Hampi bazaar on the other side of the river... 1 coracle ride (A little round boat), 1 car rooftop ride and 2 buses later I got there and after bumping into Elka, also stranded now on the main side of the river, we found Camille and Sandy and had a nice night in the town. Next day Camille and Sandy were heading to Goa, so a short lived reunion but a nice one, then after meeting some nice new Israeli friends Elka and I changed our plans of trying to get back to the island and took up an offer of our local friend Kieran to come spend the night out at his house in the banana plantation.
About 10 of us all told headed out to the plantation, watched sunset from ontop of some huge boulders, ate a great dinner off banana leaves under the stars by candle light, played and sang music then slept under the stars. What an amazing night. I spent one more night in Hampi Bazaar with my friends Roni and Gal, sleeping again under the stars on a rooftop in the centre of town under a clear sky and full moon then I headed back to our island which was still flooded in requiring a 3 hour round trip to get to a place only 500 metres across the flooded river. Epic. One night in my own bed then last night we headed off to the Monkey Temple.
A week ago it was Ellie's birthday but she was sick and it was raining so the festivities were postponed. With nicer weather and the river finally down we all grabbed some gear and headed up to the Monkey Temple, a temple perched on boulders atop a mountain, to camp for the night under the stars. The Baba's told us we could stay in the boulders so we watched the sun go down across one of the most stunning views in the world then found a little niche between boulders to camp in. A little fire, some music and great company and we were all having a great time.
Then it rained. Rubbish.
The rain forced us all to seek shelter under the front of the hut the Baba's sleep in. The Baba's didn't seem to excited about their new guests but they didn't seem to mind too much once one that spoke english chatted with us. So an uncomfortable nights sleep being slightly damp and occasionally waking to find a half naked Baba standing over us watching us sleep which caused us all to wake terrified everytime someone opened their eyes, saw the watchful Baba and screamed in fear only for the Baba to chuckle, say sorry then amble off into the night time boulders leaning on his walking staff. So this morning we made it back to our once again accessible island ready for some rest and relaxation.
Stop. Hammock Time.
Ellie before walking up to the Monkey Temple
Dave on the walk up
Its called the Monkey Temple for a reason 
Yoga in the sunset on a mountain top... does it get better?
Sunset over paradiseTuesday, September 29, 2009
Hampi...
28.09.09
What an amazing place Hampi is! The crew and I stayed on the main bazaar side of the river for a few days and checked out the town then crossed the river to the Hampi Island side where I promptly fell in love with the place and have decide3d not to leave at all and just stay here and boulder for 4 months. Being seperated from the rest of the holy city by the river that can only be crossed in 1 boat (if it is running at all) makes things a bit more relaxed over here. We moved into the Goan Corner which is open but only partially while they finish renovations for the busy season, so we have a nice newly renovated room with an amazing view but for the moment have to walk a mile or so to go get food, but its not so bad. I have managed to get out bouldering a few times and my shoulder is feeling good! I am bouldering one session every second day and still doing rehab work and other stuff in the interim and hopefully that will help build up the strength in it well so I can boulder hard in another month or so, just need to take care of it and not rush myself. But all signs are pointing to Hampi being great fun all round... between the bouldering, the amazing views, the great people, the swimming hole, the rafting with the crocodiles and the adventurous mid monsoon storm rickshaw racing, things are looking to be a blast here!!!
What an amazing place Hampi is! The crew and I stayed on the main bazaar side of the river for a few days and checked out the town then crossed the river to the Hampi Island side where I promptly fell in love with the place and have decide3d not to leave at all and just stay here and boulder for 4 months. Being seperated from the rest of the holy city by the river that can only be crossed in 1 boat (if it is running at all) makes things a bit more relaxed over here. We moved into the Goan Corner which is open but only partially while they finish renovations for the busy season, so we have a nice newly renovated room with an amazing view but for the moment have to walk a mile or so to go get food, but its not so bad. I have managed to get out bouldering a few times and my shoulder is feeling good! I am bouldering one session every second day and still doing rehab work and other stuff in the interim and hopefully that will help build up the strength in it well so I can boulder hard in another month or so, just need to take care of it and not rush myself. But all signs are pointing to Hampi being great fun all round... between the bouldering, the amazing views, the great people, the swimming hole, the rafting with the crocodiles and the adventurous mid monsoon storm rickshaw racing, things are looking to be a blast here!!!
Monday, September 28, 2009
More Hampi Pics...
Some more Hampi photos for your viewing pleasure folks :)
Laura and Lois looking out over the Hanuman Temple
Laxmi the holy elephant
Will waiting for the river crossing
Waiting for the river crossing
Typical Hampi view
Lois walking to the boulders
Hampi bouldering
Will slacklining
A 24 hour what? Just what I needed!
Read the sign... we haven't seen crocodiles yet, but the locals reckon they dont bother you when your swimming... I hope they are right!
The swimming hole
Love this shot of Will haha
Laura and Lois looking out over the Hanuman Temple
Laxmi the holy elephant
Will waiting for the river crossing
Waiting for the river crossing
Typical Hampi view
Lois walking to the boulders
Hampi bouldering
Will slacklining
A 24 hour what? Just what I needed!
Read the sign... we haven't seen crocodiles yet, but the locals reckon they dont bother you when your swimming... I hope they are right!
The swimming hole
Love this shot of Will hahaSunday, September 20, 2009
Heading East
20.09.09
It's funny how your opinion of a place is entirely dependant on your experience. You can have a bad experience in an amazing place and form a bad opinion of it or have a good experience in a terrible place and have a high opinion of it. Goa was half half. It was a nice enough place and I had a good time with nice people. Day trips to different beaches, fun nights playing guitar and drinking Rum on my rooftop, general good times. But all good things must come to an end and with my friends Laura and Lois making a last minute extension to their time in India by changing flights we joined our other friends Dave and Will on a very last minute overnight bus to Hampi. Things started poorly.We all bused it with the locals from Anjuna to Mapusa then in some typical Indian style chaos Lois, Laura, Will and I ended up losing Dave and got herded onto a bus to Panjim where our overnight to Hampi would leave from. With all the bags aboard and no Dave in sight as the bus headed out of town Will lept from the bus as it slowed down at a round about to go find Dave and get him to Panjim while Laura, Lois and I were left with 5 peoples luggage to carry around then guard in the dark at the random back street bus station in Panjim. Finally the two boys turned up and reunited we all got aboard the sleeper bus to Hampi. Now I know I will be in Hampi bouldering for some months from November but this is just a fun 'tourist' stop with friends and a bit of a reconnosaince mission so I am familiar with the area when I come back. Today we have done sweet nothing apart from wander around town, register at the police station and buy the girls appropriate clothes... being a Holy City they cant really wear their skirts and singlet tops they wore in Goa without getting arrested haha.We will all hang out here for a week or so then I will head to the East coast to Chennai for a possible mission to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands! So much choice of destinations I dont know what to do!
Anjuna sunsets
Will on the sleeper bus
Dave getting cut throat shaved in Hampi
India, land of colour
The Hampi Bazaar
It's funny how your opinion of a place is entirely dependant on your experience. You can have a bad experience in an amazing place and form a bad opinion of it or have a good experience in a terrible place and have a high opinion of it. Goa was half half. It was a nice enough place and I had a good time with nice people. Day trips to different beaches, fun nights playing guitar and drinking Rum on my rooftop, general good times. But all good things must come to an end and with my friends Laura and Lois making a last minute extension to their time in India by changing flights we joined our other friends Dave and Will on a very last minute overnight bus to Hampi. Things started poorly.We all bused it with the locals from Anjuna to Mapusa then in some typical Indian style chaos Lois, Laura, Will and I ended up losing Dave and got herded onto a bus to Panjim where our overnight to Hampi would leave from. With all the bags aboard and no Dave in sight as the bus headed out of town Will lept from the bus as it slowed down at a round about to go find Dave and get him to Panjim while Laura, Lois and I were left with 5 peoples luggage to carry around then guard in the dark at the random back street bus station in Panjim. Finally the two boys turned up and reunited we all got aboard the sleeper bus to Hampi. Now I know I will be in Hampi bouldering for some months from November but this is just a fun 'tourist' stop with friends and a bit of a reconnosaince mission so I am familiar with the area when I come back. Today we have done sweet nothing apart from wander around town, register at the police station and buy the girls appropriate clothes... being a Holy City they cant really wear their skirts and singlet tops they wore in Goa without getting arrested haha.We will all hang out here for a week or so then I will head to the East coast to Chennai for a possible mission to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands! So much choice of destinations I dont know what to do!
Anjuna sunsets
Will on the sleeper bus
Dave getting cut throat shaved in Hampi
India, land of colour
The Hampi Bazaar
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)