Today we climbed, met locals, and drank excessively. It was a great day.
The plan today was to go back to Butterfly Valley for some more EPIC climbing. I was planning on doing a 10c that I had seen that looked doable.
We went to Asia outdoors to get rope and rent bikes again. We returned both yesterday because we had done the boat tour.
While we were there, Sean The Magnificent, with his eagle-hawk eyes, saw ad ad for a climber looking for a climbing partner. Her name was Beckie, and she said to look her up on FB. I did, and I found out she lived in SF, and I had a mutual friend with me! She seemed to climb the same level as us. So I decided to message her. Hopefully she’d respond…
After that, we headed off to the valley. My bike was much worse then before. It would die if I stopped or wasn’t giving it any power. I feel like I was in the movie Speed with Keanu Reeves, where if I went below a certain speed my bike would blow up.
So we make it to the valley, and everything is MUDDY as hell. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to do any climbing. We went off to find a route called Roots Reggae, a 4+ something. We had a lot of trouble finding it, and we realized a giant root that had originally been there had snapped off. But eventually we found it.
While we were climbing, there was a farm across the valley that was playing some pretty hardcore EDM.
Here’s a video. It might be a bit hard to hear:
We joked that they played this every morning when slaughtering the livestock.
So next I lead the 4+(which was actually a 5b because we were off route). This might have been one of the scarier leads I did this trip, not because of the rating, but because it was muddy as hell. My shoes were covered in a thick layer of mud, a lot of the holds had mud that had slipped down from above, the holds were slippery, and all in all a bit of a shitshow. But I made it to the top.
Here’s Sean at the top of the route:
You can barely make him out with his tiny orange helmet. Here’s a closeup:
Next, we did a 5c to the right. Also a really fun lead! Here’s a pic:
It traversed a bit left, and then back to the right. Really fun.
Next, it was time to push some grades. I lead a 6a(5.10a). It had a really hard mantle near the 2nd to last bolt. Here’s sean at the top of the route:
You can see the mantle to the left after the 2nd to last bolt. This angle makes it a bit deceiving, it was pretty vertical.
Next, came the most fun route of the day: time for a looooong 10b. This one was 110 feet.
First off, I want to make a note about ants. Ants were EVERYWHERE on these routes on both days we were out here. This route in particular. There was one point where I was holding on with one hand and trying to clip with the other, and the ants were just crawling all over my jacket, shoes, shirt, ect. And a few were biting. But you just gotta power through and clip, or you fall. lol…
Anyways, I really struggled on this route. There was one traverse move where I committed with a slightly dyno move without seeing where my hands were going. Luckily there was a wonderful undercling that I could grab as soon as I moved.
Then later up the route, there were a few times were I had to climb PAST the bolt, and then reach down and clip. A good 10 feet run out. with a 20-25 feet fall factor. My heart was RACING, probabily akin to what people feel when they get a panic attack. I was able to clip two of these scary falls, and calm myself down after.
Looking back on the route after another guy lead it after me, I could see if I feel there it wouldn’t have been a bad fall, as it fell mostly into air. Though it would still have been scary!
Anyways, here’s a pic of Sean at the top of the route. He’s hiding in the little cave at the top:
Here’s a closeup:
After that, we planned to do one more easy route. But the sun was setting, so we headed back home.
When we got home, it seemed that Beckie had responded to my text! She said she would be down to climb the next day, and we should meet up to figure out logistics.
Me and Sean went out to dinner at Oasis. There were two girls and a dude sitting next to us that were drinking out of this giant coconut. I asked them what it was. First I asked the girl on the left; she gave me a disgusted look. Then I turned to the girl on the right, “it looks really good. What is it?” another disgusted look. Finally I turn to the guy and he tells me it’s just party bucket that they put in a coconut to drink out of.
Thanks dude. And fuck you girls. They were clearly European, and very attractive by anyone’s standard. Maybe that’s why they thought they could be so mean, but whatever.
The food we ordered here was DELICIOUS. Here’s my southern noodles:
And some ice cream to top it off:
Beckie then texts me that she’s on her way. She shows up with a friend, I think her name was Jessica. Jessica and Beckie had known each other for a looong time, and they were hanging out in Vietnam for a couple days. Jessica was going back tomorrow, so it was just going to be Beckie climbing with us. Cool. They said they were going to a spa and would meet up with us later. Sounds good.
After dinner, we headed to our favorite bar, “The good bar”. There we played some pool. Here’s a great pic of me doing my “special face” shot:
I learned during this that Sean sucks at pool. I kicked his ass twice. Sorry Sean 😛
While we were playing pool, some Vietnamese dude came up and asked if he could play with us. Sure sounds good. He kicked my ass easily, and I could tell he played at lot. But that’s not all he did with my ass. A couple times he brushed past me a little too close, or pressed himself onto me. I didn’t really think anything of it, and kinda forgot about it until Sean mentioned a similar experience. Cool, so it wasn’t all in my head. Me and Sean left before he could use the pool cue for more than pool.
That’s the second time people have gotten handsy with me here on Cat Ba. Remember girls, guys can be harassed too!
Next we joined Beckie and her friend at Rose Bar. This is probably my favorite bar on Cat Ba; it’s got loud music, cheap drinks, and a “fun” atmosphere.
This is where the night also starts to get a bit wild.
There was some really cute french girl that didn’t speak any English. She was clearly plastered, and she remained that way for the entirety of the night(until we left at 3am). We started out with a couple beers, mixed drinks, did some more laughing gas. Beckie and her friend Jessica went outside to talk with some other people.
Remember how I said I wanted to buy a whole bar a round of shots at some point? Well that point was today. I counted the patrons in the bar, something like 18. Thats about 36 worth of shots, easy. So I turn off the music, and I shout
ALL YOU MOTHERFUCKERS GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE, I BOUGHT YOU ALL SHOTS
or something along those lines. I got to ring a giant bell a few times which was fun. A couple people came up and shook my head, I kissed a few babies on the head, you know, people were taking pictures and video. I felt like a famous politician.
Here’s a video of them pouring the shots. I apologize I don’t have better footage:
At this point, I’m pretty drunk. The drunk french girl is going dance crazy, and I decide to join her. I put on bachata song(you’re allowed to control the music in these bars, and everyone takes turns putting something on). I dance with her for a song, realize she’s too drunk to dance properly, and call it at that. Still fun though!
After that I head outside to join Beckie and friends. Sean stays inside and hangs out with the friend girl, putting on his moves.
Beckie and friend had found a group of Kiwi’s. They were all dressed in pajama onsies. Apparently one of them was getting married, and this was their bachelor party. We talked for HOURS apparently; I don’t remember much, I was pretty drunk. Stuff about climbing, biking, other outdoorsy shit. Music and stuff. I don’t recall. At one point I buy a sandwhich from a guy right outside the bar, and then the sandwhich guy joined us a bit to chat as well.
I go back inside for a bit to check on Sean, he’s still working on the french girl. I saw this guy in the bar which was pretty funny:
This basically continues until 2-3 am, when we decide it’s time to go home. Me and Sean leave; Sean’s pretty grumpy(probably because he’s going home with me :P), and we go to bed, ready to start the next morning.