Rock Climbing

We started the day at 5:30 AM, getting up early to watch the monks walk through the streets with their bowls to collect food. We bought some crackers and rice to give to them. Every morning, the locals wake up to offer food to the monks. They sit on a small mat at the side of the road, and then a long line of monks passes by with their little pots. The food they collect in the morning has to last them all day, which means it serves as breakfast and lunch. They don’t eat dinner; it’s just water for them. Many people choose to become monks. The shortest time you can be a monk is a week. A lot of people take this path for a while, especially if their father was also a monk. Otherwise, the reason for becoming a monk is that it gives you more time to study. It can often be hard to find a place to stay in the city where you want to study. By becoming a monk, you get free accommodation, free food, and peace to study. After giving food to the monks, we managed to sneak in another hour of sleep before we had to get up and attempt to climb some mountains. For 20 dollars per person, you can be a mountain climber for a day, lunch included. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to climb, but I went along to support Honny. We were a group of five, and we were the only ones who hadn’t tried it before. We learned how to tie knots… so they hold. There were three routes we could try. The first was about 15 meters, the next around 20 meters, and the last one was about 30 meters. Honny tackled all three routes. The 30-meter one was by far the hardest, but he made it up and down with style. His knees were bleeding when he came down. Climbing is incredibly tough on the body. Especially the legs can quickly start to burn. I wasn’t as good. I attempted the easiest route. I got about 10 meters up, and then I just couldn’t see the logic in where to place my feet. You get tipsy faster when you’re on malaria pills. So we quickly noticed that we were feeling a bit buzzed after a couple of drinks in the evening. There’s often a happy hour: buy two drinks, pay for one. Who can say no to that deal when a drink costs 2 dollars and a beer is 1.5 dollars? :)