Ban Khanon Luang

On Monday we arrived at Nam Pha Pa Yai, a climbing camp in Thailand. We took a 2.5 hour non-air conditioned train from Bangkok to Kaeng Khoi Junction in 30+C heat, and from there we got a ride in the back of someone's pick-up truck. It was a half hour ride going pretty fast over bumpy roads filled with holes. For the last 3km, it was the road leading into the camp. The road was even more bumpy and had huge holes in it. We didn't have seat belts and had to hold on the sides of the truck so we didn't fall out the back.

The camp is very remote and in the jungle. There are huge insects and geckos that crawl into your hut. We are staying in one bamboo hut with an attached bathroom and my sister and mom are sleeping in a tree house. There were 17 people here one day including us, but today there are only 9 people including us.

There are lots of different climbing areas, some of which are across the river. To get across the river, you have to take the zipline across. There aren't really any platforms to land on, you just have to grab onto a tree or something or you'll go halfway back and get stuck in the middle of the zipline. If you get stuck in the middle, you have to pull yourself uphill along the line until you get to the other side. Hopfully, there will be someone on the other side to pull you up the last couple of feet. That happened to most of us at least once and it's a lot of work having to pull yourself up. Usually the first person to go across will catch the other people and hold onto them so they don't get stuck in the middle. The first time I went across, I landed on my back on the other side, but my backpack protected me so it didn't really hurt and my shoe fell off. I caught it before it fell in the water, but it almost fell in. My mom tried twice to get across the river on the zipline, but was unable to because she was too scared.

The river under the zipline is all green and dark, and it has a fast current. I think it's filled with alligators or crocodiles.

There's a little restaurant outside that we eat at. We order breakfast and lunch and for dinner it's a buffet.

There's also a sitting area with lots of hammocks, a couch, a table and a few chairs. There are two slack lines and an area to do yoga with mats too.

Normally, we climb a few routes in the morning, come back and have lunch, read for a bit, go climb a bit more, come back and play cards or read and then have dinner. This is because it gets really hot here in the afternoon; we have seen temperatures up to 35C in the afternoon, and you can't climb when the sun is directly on you.

There are a few dogs around camp too. Every night at around 7:30, they all start howling and barking for a few minutes. When my parents went on their run Tuesday and today, three of the dogs followed them and went with them. My mom likes the dogs as she says they make good running partners and make her feel safe while running in the jungle.

SophieRead more