Kitesurfing utopia

“Click”…”Do you really want to refresh this page?”…”Yes”…”11 knots”…”Another windless day” I sighed. Every day for past three weeks or so I was checking wind outside with hope. Kites ready under the office table and the board in the car. No luck and I started to feel kite sick.

“Click”…”You have new email”…”Because of the F1 Race week Envac site office will remain closed from 28.10 to 2.11.”…”Jiiipiiii” I cheered and immediately opened Windfinder in search of the windiest spot around where I could go for a week to heal my kite heart J Vietnam? No wind. Ibiza? Too far. Mauritius? Too expensive. Egypt? That’s the place!! So on 28.10. at 4am I was flying with my favorite orange 12m RRD to Hurghada.

Directly after landing at 11am I took a taxi to the nearest kite beach – Magawish. This time I was much better informed than in Thailand so I quickly negotiated the price from 80 Egyptian pounds to 30. Unfortunately I didn’t have exact money so I paid 40! Rule No. 1 J I rushed to the kite center already a bit worried because I didn’t see palms moving how they should be. And my worst fears came true. No wind now and for the rest of the week!!

I bought a beer and started to chat with Petr and Dominik, owners of Czech Harakiri kite school & shop and discovered this situation is real bad luck, because in previous years they didn’t have any problems. Pity! We sadly packed up and they showed me how to negotiate a taxi. For 15 pounds got to their hotel on the other side of the town and then the taxi was driving further using my GPS to the location of my Golden Rose hotel.

Finally we got into a district only full of half finished concrete building skeletons with no sign of any construction activity. “We should be here” I said looking to the GPS. The driver already a bit pissed of driving in circles stopped and angrily “Where now?” On the webpage where I booked the hotel there was a Google map location, but after calling to the hotel and after the guy explained to the driver the correct location, we had to go all the way back, much before where the guys lived J

I assembled the board, packed the kite bag, set the alarm for 7am because possible morning wind and fell asleep.

The next day was typical. I came to the beach, sat under the umbrella, bought two beers and was whole day watching bored spiritless people passing around with or without kite equipment. No wind, no fun! “I can’t stay like this another day” I thought.

So in search of some action I went to have a beer with Harakiri guys to their hotel. Around midnight and I was returning with a local minibus public transport. These old half broken Toyota Hiace 12-seaters are running through the city without any schedule and you can stop them in any place along the way, even if the stops would be after 10 meters! Anyway…after few minutes all Egyptians got off and I was alone, but now for long because a group of drunk Russian teenagers got in.

“Come with us to the disco?” said one of them. I didn’t feel going to sleep yet so I answered “OK…why not”. The disco itself assured me of what I noticed before. That there is a hell lot of Russians in this town!! I ordered a beer and asked one girl “Am I the only non-russian speaking person here?” She nodded with smile J And when they started playing Russian hip hop, I was so out of there!

The next day I went to the nearby city El Gouna at least to not to drink beer at the same place. I took a public minibus, bigger that the minivans, but running the same style. El Gouna is an artificial village only with tourist resorts, so there was a security gate. We stopped there and a policeman was checking ID’s. I didn’t have any, but it wasn’t necessary, because the cop just randomly checked the locals and randomly picked two guys and kept them at the gate. And we continued. Not for long, because at one stop the bus engine stalled. “Aasif… Seyyara tamaninat…” said the driver. “Ummm…Mabrook tahanina…emshi…” passengers angrily murmured and started leaving the bus. “Oh no…I’ll have to walk with all my gear” I thought. But when I was about to leave also, the bus started moving and right after that the engine started. “They were pushing the bus” I laughed when all returned and we continued J

When I got to the kite station, yesterday program repeated with only small difference. Beer was cheaper, there were a lot of Germans instead of Czech and I didn’t even put the board shorts on. Rest was the same. People sadly sitting bored in the shade silently suffering while thinking “Why me?...One week nothing. Such a waste!”

“I can’t stay like this another day” I said to myself and bought one day snorkeling trip to Utopia Island south of Hurghada. Russian story continued as I was the only non-russian speaking person in the minivan and on the 30 people boat was only one French family more. Even all the local guides spoke Russian and no English. In the agency they showed me a map where Utopia Island looked quite big and I was expecting stopping in 3-4 different places for snorkeling around the island and far from the mainland. But the reality was different. I should have expected that, because a proven fact is that no guided tourist tour ever paid off J

So accompanied by some Russian folklore we went one kilometer to the shore at the opposite side of the bay for the first dive. “Island…later…after lunch” said the guide when I asked him where is the Island. Second spot was 300 meters from the first. Still no island.

After lunch on the deck we finally came to the Island, but not for snorkeling. We were supposed to sit on the island, which was nothing more than a sand bank of the size of half the football field. I refused to go and share the tiny “Island” with another 100 people from the similar tour boats anchoring there at the same time.

Instead I started to read a book lying in my shelf for a long time and went to snorkel around. This was actually quite nice, because I saw a reasonably colorful coral reef and a lionfish. On pictures the reef looked better, but is probably with all tourist allurements!!

At the nearby kite center people were riding, but only two hours at the morning. “Uff…I would explode, if they had wind whole day while me sitting on the Russian boat!” I relieved.

When we returned I went full of energy to buy some cheap T-shirts and to have goulash with dumplings into one Czech restaurant I discovered. It was Czech food, cooked by Egyptians, served by Egyptians speaking Czech. Not a single Russian word J I felt almost like at home. After having a couple of beers with some Czech divers there, I was returning back to the hotel.

“Hmm…let’s check Ministry of Sound. How much they want” I got an idea. Famous music club was just 100 meter from my Hotel, so why not just to see. But I wasn’t in mood for hip hop and I didn’t want to pay 80 pounds entrance either, so I turned back. At that moment I heard some lovely dance sounds from the marina area. I turned right and walked closer to the music, which turned into a very nice melodic house. There was a wall, but the music was definitely coming from behind, so I sneaked around it on a sea cliff and I was in J

I sat into a comfortable armchair next to the pool and DJ and relaxed. There was hardly anybody in the club, but I spend the rest of the evening there anyway just chilling out and chatting with some Norwegians and club managers “on duty” J Nice end of the day!!

On Sunday I wanted to take a trip to Luxor, but I decided better to not take any chances. Idea of spending 10 hours in the certainly Russian bus to see some ancient ruins and tombs was not that attractive. So I spend another day in Magawish unsuccessfully praying for the wind.

My last morning I got up early, because of a good forecast, checked out and went to Magawish with all my stuff. And then it came. At 10 am gusty 14 knot wind hit the beach and I finally could borrow a 14m Naish Torch c-kite to try something new. Riding on a sand bank 500 meters from the shore was gusty and weird, probably because I’ve never been riding c-shape kite. I did some rather small jumps wondering why I don’t fly higher than guys on 12 and 11 meters!!

After an hour and a half, as suddenly as it came, wind dropped to zero and all kites fell from the sky like apples from a tree. There is a rescue service at the kite center, so me and some others got back with a boat. The others caught a gust after 10 minutes of swimming in the sea and reached the shore on their own.

I returned the kite and went back to my umbrella. “Nice…but too late and too little” I said to a couple of Slovak kiters Anci and Vlado. They were there already one week so they didn’t even nod.

Around 2pm gusty 15 knots returned and many kiters went back and were having fun with on their 12m. My orange express were sadly looking out of my already packed luggage. “I’m not lucky. I knew that the wind would be here. That’s why I arrived today!” said one German with a big portion of self-confidence. “Bullshit…forecast everywhere was crap until yesterday” I thought slowly sinking into the mood of bad luck, jealousy and sadness, that the next day I go to the office after one week, which I definitely could have spent better.

If I knew. If I wasn’t so into kitesurfing J

Small trip, big thoughts

Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, when you find that you’re down, just look around…

I was really getting into climbing lately. Doing 6c’s and practicing one 7a+ where I was getting further every week. As a stable part of UAE climbing community I’ve been given a chance to set up one route in The Wall. “Awesome. That would be my first route ever” I thanked to Feras and directly next Friday I spent 4 hours hanging on the sun and creating the green-hold monster. Because I didn’t have enough time I only hastily finished the last part and I tried to climb it for the first time next Monday. And exactly there above the overhang it was a bit harder than I thought. Motivated by others watching my first ascent of my route, I pulled hard on a small piece with my left hand and after a light crack in the finger I fell down. A typical climbing finger injury…stretched or partially ruptured tendon or ligaments and my days of climbing were over for a couple of weeks.

No climbing, no kiting also because no wind these days and I was getting restless. Tidy up the apartment, go shopping food supply, play some Magic Online are all important things, but not a proper replacement. And what to do at the weekend? Even bigger problem! OK then, let’s take the Metro and do Downtown and Dubai Mall, make some pictures and explore Dubai itself.

Weird, but you agree with me. If you live in one place, you always want to go outside saying that you can see the local stuff always. But after some time you realize that you didn’t go J

I like and admire the will and determination of the sheikhs to use all the oil money for being independent on them one day by trying to built an international commercial, business, tourist and transport hub. But their bad luck is that they have to build it from scratch and they don’t know how to build anything else than a mosque or villa. They want to change that fact by sending Emiratis abroad to gain experience and learn that there is more than one world. “I used public transport for a first time in my life. I’m so proud of myself” said in and interview one Emirati woman sent to Paris. But it will definitely take time ;)

The sheikhs have only a vision. So they pay foreign companies with know-how to make their vision come true. And new companies are founded with local top management to keep an eye on the vision and top level decisions, expats to do the thinking and cheap Indian labor to do the work. Sometimes not all the visions are technically possible!! But that is not what sheikhs want to hear. “What the heck! It’s not worth the hustle. In three years I’m gone anyway” says fixed contact bound expat engineer and makes it nice on the paper, but knowing that it will cause problems sooner or later. And everybody is happy J For now.

So a lot of beautiful projects with smaller or bigger flaws are created, like that there is not enough electricity to power up the lights, there are not enough access routes causing everyday traffic jams, sewerage network in underdesigned causing that the whole development stinks like shit or that your stay five minutes in the line for a ticket and five minutes to get to the train through counters.

Like almost everything here, the new Dubai metro finished on September has several superlatives. It is a longest metro built in one go, first metro in middle east region or the longest computer operated metro. So that beautiful sunny Friday afternoon I walked through a sandy construction site to the nearest metro station: Nakheel Harbour & Tower. Just for info, Nakheel is the biggest government connected Dubai property developer and Nakheel tower is the new projected highest building in the world surrounded by a brand new harbour of course. Nothing of that has even started. Sheikhs vision is wider than I thought J

I bought pre-paid ticket to avoid at least one queue and joined several tens of Indian and Pakistani families going to Mall of Emirates. I don’t know if the Metro was planned for people going to work from overcrowded and permanently jammed old town, for tourists to see all the Dubai prides or just to be the first who has done it…I don’t know, but the majority of passengers are Indians who have been given a cheap way to travel longer distances and enjoy the life more. Enjoying life in this case means going to a different mall or restaurant. A lot of passengers these days are also curious people willing to only experience this miracle for one day instead of taking the car. I was probably from a small third group using it for reason. I didn’t want to stay jammed in the center. Time will tell, after they finish all the stations and the second line, how many people are really using it.

It was for a first time I used it during the day. I have to say that I enjoyed it. I had time to see all the buildings and things from the flying fish’s view, because I didn’t have to pay attention to the steering wheel. I gained a better picture of what Dubai has, like all the villa and industrial areas hidden behind billboards. When walking to the mall I made some pictures of Burj Dubai and I actually for the first time in a year was closer to that 800m tower and could confirm that it is really high J The biggest mall in the world was as I expected. Huge building with tons of luxurious and expensive shops with basically no goods for me. No outdoor, no fantasy, no kites. I felt bored as fish in the big aquarium in the center.

But there were plenty of people walking around with bags full of clothes, just walking there because didn’t figure out anything better to do during the weekend or eating in one of several food courts. Weird was that they didn’t look bored as me. They liked that!

“Excuse me. Where is the bus stop to the Metro station? I don’t want to walk there again” I asked a Filipino receptionist. “Walking!!...” she replied in disbelief as she didn’t know what it was. After 10 minutes I found the bus, after 15 minutes the bus came and after 20 minutes we reached the metro, 1.5 kilometers further from the place where I asked for directions. “Damn…I could have been here twice already!!” I swore.

It was dark already when I was heading back. Seeing only street lights going to infinity, people going to have a nice dinner after whole day of resting at the pool or laughing while carrying bags full of new souvenirs, I thought about one thing. I can very well make the best of all the opportunities and options UAE offers to make myself happy and satisfied, but the way how I do it…”I somehow feel that I don’t fit here!”

Ferry story

Two windless weeks after I came back from Thai climbing which I spend with more climbing and writing about climbing, I felt that I desperately needed some kite action. With finishing project and closeout documentation which I have to manage, the days were busy and a single thought about splashing water under the board wanted me to escape.

Unfortunately the monsoon kite season in Oman is almost over and in Dubai is also nothing special. But I wasn’t the only one person feeling desperate so me and Marcin, after a tough decision because of the forecast not being very positive, we took a risk a decided to try our luck in 900 km far Masirah island in Oman. The place where is super strong wind…at least in the high season ;)

So we met on Thursday 10.9. after work at petrol station after Abu Dhabi and drove to Al Ain Omani border where we left Marcin’s car and continued with my blue lightning to the south. We took the inland route, where there are only few stretches watched by cameras and drove easy 160km/h most of the time though silent night desert with a village every 100km. Time flew quickly and around 2:30am we parked in a ferry port to Masirah with only one speeding fine!! Last time I got four, so there was an improvement ;) There was around 20 knots, so we hid behind the car, covered the gap under it with boards and kite bags and fell asleep on soft sand with hope that tomorrow could be the same as now.

We woke up at 7am when the first ferry from the island came and when Omani fishermen parked next to us and started to watch some fools sleeping in the dirt on the ground. The wind wasn’t that strong anymore, but it was still ok. We saw a ferry standing at the pier so we drove in. “When do we go?” we asked the captain. “We go when we are full or when another ferry from the other side comes” boringly replied the Pakistani guy. “It will take at least one hour” I said when looking on the deck where we stood almost alone. Wind kept dropping so we actually weren’t in hurry. We had a breakfast hidden behind the pier because of Ramadan and then watched a movie on my computer.

At 9:30 finally came a ferry from the other side so left. Maybe they were saving petrol when we weren’t completely full, but we rode quite slow so it took another 1.5 hour to get to the island. On Masirah island there is only one village, military base and few fishermen’s shacks spread along the coast…and desert, small dry hills and rocky shore with small sandy beaches…and wind. If you are lucky!!! We weren’t so we had to drive around the island a bit trying to find some windier spot. At 1pm we parked at the spot Marcin knew from before, sat down and were sadly looking on the flat sea.

But we didn’t that unlucky and with first stronger blows about an hour later we immediately revived, pumped our 12m kites and jumped in. The wind was quite gusty with long strong gusts and long gusts of low wind which was quite annoying, because these weak gusts were not enough for 12 meters we had. The most annoying, for Marcin, was that he ripped a strut of his 12 after one hour of riding and was left only with 8, which was way too small for the wind. Fortunately I had also my 14 so Marcin wasn’t left on the beach. It was funny to watch Marcin riding for a first time something that big, slow and different than his F-One J Nice riding until the dark.

After going back to the village for a shawarma dinner we put our sleeping bags behind a wind barrier on the beach made by windsurfers and went to sleep with a wish for stronger wind. 17 knots is ok, but 25 is much more fun. And you don’t want to drive 2000km for two evenings of Dubai like wind!!

But our apprehensions came true when the next day the peak wind was 15 knots for half an hour, which is almost not enough for my 12, so I spend the afternoon riding the 14 and Marcin was reading some papers for the office. Sad!!

And even for me was weird. Before I thought that I my new second hand 12m RRD is bad and useless, but after riding it the day before I realized that it is the 14m Slingshot I have to replace. Its slow speed, heavy bar pressure, nothing special upwind riding and tendency to fly only straight downwind and not up when in the air were in big contrast with the 12m RRD. So when we packed up at 4pm and were driving back to port, I was really thinking about how I solve my equipment J

We came to the pier and saw a ferry on the horizon which left 30 minutes ago. There were three another ferries docked, but empty. “When do you go mainland?” Marcin asked one guy on the boat. “We are done for today. Ask the next one”. “No more ferries today. 3am tomorrow I go” was the other captain’s response. “I need 10 cars and I go” said the last one. And then we were fucked!!

There were a lot of cars coming to the pier, but those were only Omanis doing Dar-Dar. Dar-Dar is an expression for a favorite activity performed by the locals and it consists just driving extremely slowly around the city without any destination and just wasting the time. And combined with another quality of Arabic people to talk about something that they have no clue of, like that they knew everything. So we ended up standing next to our car, foolishly hoping for somebody coming to share a ferry, because we didn’t want to pay for ten cars, and talking to locals driving by. “No worries..at 6pm a ferry goes. I am taking it every day” or “After Iftar (big dinner after sunset during Ramadan when all fasting Muslims can finally eat and drink) people will come. Now they will be eating. I will call me friend. He knows…” were some guaranteed information we had been given. So after our Iftar shawarma dinner we returned around 7pm to the port just to see ferry crews leaving to the village. “That is so funny J” we smiled and drove behind the village and slept covered by boards and kites in the dirt one more night.

Surprisingly at 3:30am the ferry was already full and going so at 5am we started our time pursuit drive back to UAE. “I hope that there are enough petrol stations on the way” I said and floored the throttle!! On completely straight and flat desert roads we almost didn’t feel that we were driving 200km/h and kilometers were flying fast. We even by coincidence discovered the fastest way through Oman by missing one turn and heading deeper to the desert making use of even more abandoned desert roads and zero cameras J We did 800km to the border in less than 6 hours and at 12:30am I was sitting in the office, nicely showered, in clean shirt and thinking that, when we go next year again for Masirah kiting we will “accidentally” miss the ferry againJ But for now…monsoon season is over so we stay in Dubai. And what will happen until the next season…who knows J

Thai typhoon week

To let you know how why this all happened I have to go back again to the source of all things…to Magic the Gathering J This game gave me a chance to win a ticket to Bangkok to Grand Prix tournament, so I kind of had to go. And once I am there, why not to take one week of and explore possibilities of South East Asia, where I’ve never been!

Day D – Packing typhoon

My deal with Rune, who was flying with me to Grand Prix, was that I meet him at 4am and we go together to the airport and fly at 6:25am. Easy task…

Phone ringing at 4am: “Jiri where are you?” Oh shit!! I was still at my friend’s apartment warming-up party. My plan was going from the party directly, but when there is alcohol involved plans often change J So we, with Jan and Jana quickly took a cab home, I grabbed my badly packed bag, briefly thought about what I need more, said good bye and left.

When leaving the plane in Bangkok I realized only my fashion sandals, no rain jacket, nothing warmer than pair of t-shirts, no mobile phone charger and basically no information about Thailand, what I will do here and how!! Maybe just that Thailand is cheap, which turned out to be more harmful than beneficial!!

Day 1 – Calm before the typhoon

This cheap problem I face since I got my first salary in Dubai. Somebody tells me a price…”Hmm that’s quite cheap” because higher UAE salaries give you feeling that a lot of things are quite cheap. Especially in foreign countries. But this is completely wrong principle, because you shouldn’t be buying anything overprized, no matter how much you gain!! Unfortunately it’s very easy to slip and it annoys me when I do it L

Directly after landing we faced for the first time the “cheap” information. “Taxi…taxi” we heard from all sides. “1200 bath” was the first offer. 50m further “1100 bath” was another from different guy, but same company. “450 bath” told us in the info center. At the end we ended up in public taxi for 250 and went to Radisson hotel where Rune, Imke and Trevor was staying, to decide what to do with the rest of the evening. I also had a hostel reservation for 5USD somewhere in the city, which I needed to get my visa, but I don’t really wanted to go there, because I had only rough idea where it is, no map, only rough address and I wasn’t sure if the taxi can find it.

So I really welcomed an idea to see the famous Khao San road, where all the life and party was going on and where all budget travelers go. But I didn’t waste time with my bed even there and we hit the bars right away J At 1am closed almost all the bars, Rune and company went to Radisson and I want to find some cheap place to stay. Rune was paying 2000 so my goal was around 400. Luckily the first guesthouse I went to was for 250, so at 1:15am I was already sleeping. Much earlier than the others.

Day 2 – Play & party typhoon

At 8am I took a taxi to GP site in Bang Kapi mall, my “workplace”, because playing was my only “obligation” in Thailand.

How to say…Nobody from UAE qualified to second day, but I got kicked out with my head up, because my last loss I had against Tomoharu Saitou, one of the top top players right now. The game with Saitou showed me that there is definitely a lot to learn even after 10 years and how Magic should be played!! From next edition I’ll focus on it and I will retake the position of the highest ranked UAE player again ;)

So we hit the bars in Khao San road again. The last day we swore that if we don’t qualify for the second day, we would party whole night. We started your quest in one of many Khao San bars. One beer tower later a Canadian guy joined our table. After another two American girls took place at our table. After another tower we joined two Mexican girls at the next table. One more tower later we took a Tuk-tuk, a typical Thai three wheel open taxi, and with words “Take us to Patpong” we were driving fast on the left side of the road through night Bangkok streets, not knowing where we were going, but shouting and shaking hands with the guys in the other Tuk-tuk in the next lane!!

Patpong is Bangkok red light district. The place where the driver took us was not exactly what we wanted to see but anyway…We saw some Thai strip, some vaginal magic and some live sex…boring J And then we became tourists on the stick. Seeking I already don’t remember what we were riding Tuk-tuks from place to place dependent on the driver, because we had no idea and they always took us to a place where they got paid for bringing people. These places were always shit and only created more driving, confusion and lostness.

After a while, me and Rune, we found ourselves in a place where we’ve already been, but without Trevor and the rest, which we lost in the process. Sick of driving we just went in, had a drink and noodle soup and went for a full body massage next door.

Quite drunk, pissed off, cheated and desperate a bit, but overall happy, I split and went back to Khao San where I’ve booked the same hostel as before. As I always try to do, I bought one last beer and sat down deeply thinking in the bar where we had started and watched the sun rising over the street. Quest completed J

Day 3 – Tourist typhoon

At 1pm I had still with light headache and a weird feeling of a person whos body was treated well with Singha beer. First thing I did was that I bought “The real Red Bull”. Original Red Bull recipe was developed in Thailand and Austrians just stole it, added gas and made money! Thai one is without gas, thick, concentrated and should help me to focus and survive in the city full of tourist traps.

“Need a taxi…Where do you go my friend?” I heard while standing at the end of Khao San trying to figure out which one it is, where is north and where do I actually want to go. I wanted to see some temples, some culture, but I didn’t read anything about what is here and what is good to see. Bad preparation = tourist on the stick. Get information = go to information center. But when you are tourist on the stick it’s hard to get what you want, as I learned last night!! So that guy took me only to Travel & Tour agency. There for a last time I recalled some basic rules of budget traveling and walked away without even asking what & how much.

I sat down under the tree and wrote to Rune “Take care, enjoy and see you home…I go to Krabi”. Goal set. I looked into my free airport map with more advertisement than roads, guessed where I could be, because I saw a bridge and temple, whose pictures were in the map and started walking.

“Hello my friend…Where are you from?” stopped me an older Thai man.”Where are you going…You lucky…Today holiday…all tuk-tuk for 20 bath…only yellow plate tuk-tuk…Must see Buddha…” and he started to draw into my map where I should go. He also stopped a tuk-tuk, told the driver where to go and that it will be only 20. Best guide ever!!

And with getting in I forgot what I’ve learned while traveling and became like a brainless typhoon!! First temple was very nice. Peaceful place with giant golden Buddha. At the second I met a Singaporean guy who was basically only talking about that today is a last day of a government promotion when you can buy sapphire jewelry without tax and sell it outside the country for double. My “tourist guide” told me the same, but I only didn’t pay attention. At the third temple I met another Singaporean guy and when I asked him jokingly “Have you also bought some jewelry?” he immediately replied “Of course…I come every year for this…200% tax you don’t pay today…You are nuts if you don’t do it!!” He gave me also the shop name and his business card. He worked as a bartender in Reading. What would you do? J

Before my personal tuk-tuk took me the last item in the list, to Golden Mount, he asked me if he could take me to Thai fashion factory, where he would get free food and gasoline. I said “Why not”…I wanted to buy some t-shirts anyway. Half an hour later I came out with a bill for three custom made shirts from a questionable thin Egyptian cotton for a double price than in Pakistani shop in Dubai!!

Golden Mount was also really nice peaceful place and I tried to calm down, focus and think, which resulted only in not buying a small bag of fried worms, frogs, cockroaches and grasshoppers for 20, because in Khao San I saw it for 10 and not buying noodle soup for 40 for same reason. Silly!! So without actually eating anything whole day I walked towards the river. By chance I ended up at a nice monument, where I felt that there was enough stupidities today and that it would be better to leave and I took a taxi to the bus station. I got lucky and in 30 minutes I was in the night bus to Krabi having 5 seat rear bench for me for next 12 hours.

Day 4 – Taming the typhoon

“Sir, take your bag” told me the driver. “What?...” I replied still sleeping, exhausted and still kind of brainless. “Yes, yes…Krabi bus station”.

“Good morning my friend…where do you go?” I heard the familiar sentence. “I don’t know…” was my smartest answer. And then he took the stick on which I was still skewered and sold me two nights in a “cheapest” bungalows, “very close” to the climbing area and the bus there goes “soon”. “At the climbing beach is too expensive, because you can go there only by boat” he added. I wanted to check the time, but I realized that at the Golden Mount I was trying to calm down that badly, that I lost my mobile phone!! But fortunately I met a Canadian and English couple of budget travelers going climbing also, who opened my eyes and I finally was on the right vibe and focus. So I hopped in the taxi with them and went directly to the port and by boat to the beach.

Railay beach is just an amazing place with towering rocks reaching out of the green jungle, cozy bungalows under palm trees, cool rasta bars on the beach, long-tail boats and plenty of climbing and climbers. But it all could have been like a bad joke, because I almost broke my arm when I slipped and fell on the back on a slippery pavement in the sea right when I arrived!!

The Canadians had Lonely planet so I easily found a nice bungalow for 200 and had to get over the loss of 400 gave to the agent. Until now I don’t understand why I did that!! J

I didn’t find anybody to go climbing with me in Dubai so I had to find somebody here. “Shouldn’t be a problem” I thought when packing shoes and harness at home. The climbing areas are all over the village, so I just picked one and went there looking for somebody who came with his own rope and who is not climbing with paid Thai rasta guide as most of the people in Railay. “

“Hey guys…Are you climbing alone or with a guide?” I asked three promising climbers after 3 minutes of standing under the wall. “No guide…We are on our own” they replied. “And do you think you could belay me for a one route?” I tried. “Yeah sure mate, let’s go”. Later turned out that Javi from Spain needs climbing buddy, because Parvis from England was leaving the next day and his friend Rafa wasn’t into climbing that much. Just perfect. They even were same level as me and by chance I spoke Spanish, because they didn’t speak English that much!! So finally I could make a thick line after those a bit messed up days and start to enjoy thing I came here for J

Whole day of exotic climbing finished by a live concert of the most famous Thai reggae band in cool jungle rasta bar dancing, drinking strong Chang beer and smoking joints. Just perfect!!

Day 5 – Hangover typhoon

I had an agreement with Javi that I meet them at 12am at their cabins and we go to Tonsai beach just next to Railay, where is cheaper living and more climbing. But because I didn’t have my mobile to wake me up and I went to bed around 6am, I woke up at 3pm!!

But I somehow wasn’t worried. “This place is so small, that I’ll find them even if they already left” I thought. And that was exactly what happened. They were gone. I walked to the places where we were the last day, but I found only Niki from the party. She is also a lonely traveler from California, she was there with a guide climbing and leaving the next day to some other place.

And such a people you meet all the time. Couples, lonely ones. Lots of them are traveling for months. You just need to quit the job and go. And especially on that concert, in this village, when sitting at the terrace of the bungalow and drinking beer, I realized that this is what I want to/have to/will do one day. Like Merce, one Spanish girl I met there. Civil engineer with a good job, she was even contracting Envac for a project in Madrid J, but she just wanted to do something else, so she quit and now is more than a year on the way!!

Anyway…I didn’t find Javi in Railay, so I took a short jungle trail to Tonsai. I almost didn’t wonder when I saw Javi there on the beach talking to climbers Petit and Anna from Barcelona, he just met there. He and Rafa were still tired from the party so we agreed to meet at 9am next day and they went to sleep. I took a luxurious bamboo cabin for 100 and went for a beer and Pud-Thai noodles.

When sitting on the beach and watching sunset over stone towers I wished I could stay longer in this peaceful, cool place with same minded people around and far from trouble of crowded touristic destinations.

Day 6 – Climbing typhoon

The night when I wanted to sleep really hard to be ready for climbing action was a bad dream. Ten meters away of my cabin with super thin walls were a live concert with afeterparty, so because I wasn’t drunk or stoned enough, I felt at 9am when Javi knocked on my door quite tired and sleepy. But anyway…no more excuses…we met Petit and Anna in one of the many restaurants on the beach, had some breakfast and Petit led us to one of many stone walls around.

If you look into climbing guide of Thailand, 90% of all routes are in Krabi area, 70% of them are in Tonsai and 90% of those are grade 6c and higher. So when I saw it, I was a bit worried what I would do here, but only until I led one 6b+ in one go. Then I realized that I haven’t been trying anything harder than 6b, so I didn’t know J So at the end of the day I put couple of 6c and 6c+ to my record and because it was getting dark already I didn’t try one 7a+, which looked doable.

These rocks in Tonsai are simply amazing. Almost all routes are more or less overhanging, but with plenty of good pockets so the grade is made by steepness and length. There are also a lot of stalactites with some funny “stalactite jump” routes. And if it rains, you just hide under a gigantic natural roof and keep climbing!! I really wanted to stay longer to train and climb some 7a+, but my week was getting short and I knew that when I felt asleep under the influence of that green stuff and easy chillout flowing from my bar.

The rest of the days – No more typhoons

I had one and half day left in Tonsai. I spent it climbing, eating nice Thai food, drinking beer in beach bars with different people we met there. Like one Czech girl Martina. She recognized that I was Czech because of climbing pants and backpack brand. And after some talking recognized in her a girl from a village next to mine back in Czech Republic, which I knew when we did orienteering run 10 years ago J Such a coincidence!! But typical. She was almost a year traveling with her boyfriend back home from New Zealand where they were working half a year.

On Friday midday I tried one beautiful 7a+, which I unfortunately didn’t finish, wished nice climbing to all my Spanish friends and followed the beach to Railay to catch a boat to mainland and a night bus to Bangkok. We arrived 7am Saturday to Khao San, I quickly took a cab to the airport and 9:25 I was already flying back to Dubai. I only had to get over the loss of those shirts I paid and didn’t have time to pick up, because I preferred to stay one day longer in Tonsai!! Whatever…it’s just money…experience is more important and I’ll at least learn from this for next time J

And how was it? It was great!! Thailand has definitely a lot of potential for budget backpacker traveling style I like, if you don’t act like an idiot J, and not only in Krabi, but everywhere. And also the other countries of SE Asia like Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia…are equally beautiful places worth to explore. One thing I learned for sure…I will once do as a lot of people did…just pack up and go to travel…and see where it leads me…only that now I feel that it’s not a right time to do that J But there is time…”Everything with moderation, even moderation”

First holidays

I’ve been working in Dubai already 9 months and apart from two or three days at the beginning, because driving school or so, I haven’t had proper holidays. So when my brother Jan told me that he had time to come for two weeks, I said what everybody in my position should say “Screw the job, there are more important things and anyway…they will handle a week without me J”

On Thursday I managed with some extra effort to finish everything, instruct everybody what to do and I left with a good conscience, which made sure I would enjoy my vacations.

The plan was clear. Both Jan and his girlfriend Jana were seeking active relaxation and adventure, so right the first day I took them to my secret beach to learn kitesurfing. Jan showed up as a natural talent so he could be on the board right the first afternoon, but the “nice” UAE weather was just too much for them. Even Jan’s giant enthusiasm wasn’t enough to overpower the heat so he spent a big while under the umbrella thinking “Do I die today or tomorrow?”J

Next two days also on the beach nobody died, because as it is all the time, they enjoyed it that much, that they got quickly used to desert conditions. A bit pity was that Jana didn’t try that much, because with her 55 kilos she always felt a bit overpowered and she didn’t have the confidence…also because her injured ankle. But I think it was because I’m bad kite instructor L

Anyway…after three days of kiting we were enough toasted that we had to change the subject. So we started a road trip around UAE. First we went to Umm Al Quwain to buy some refreshment, because three Czechs have a high consumption of certain refreshing drinks!!

We hid everything to smuggling boxes inside the car and hit the road to Wadi Tawaian. Somewhere there should have been some nice climbing, but the only information I had about it was a rough location on Google maps!! With GPS we ended up in a mountain road with high rocks on one side and deep wadi on the other. There was no chance to find it unless we would explore the surroundings in 45°C.”Even if we find it, do we actually want to climb there?” we asked ourselves and then hopped back into air-conditioned car and continued to Dibba and Wadi Bih in Oman.

We had to embarrassingly cross the border three times, because I cleverly forgot to take petrol and in that part of Oman there is no gas station! But after a couple of amused smiles from border soldiers we continued to wilderness. Same direction as with my mom when she was here, same stunning passage and view, only there was no rain in the air and we went deeper into the wadi after the Omani border post.

We drove up the Emirati border post just to see what we already knew, that nobody can pass, except locals of course J and returned to camp back to the wadi. We found a nice spot with some bouldering possibilities, but nobody was really eager to climb in 40°C. “Let’s have a beer until it’s still cold” I said, “And more beers we drink, better sleep we’ll have” added Jan and opened one smuggled Indian 7.2% Kingfisher lager. After a while became dark and boulder was no longer an option. But as we kept drinking our supplies around midnight we got an excellent idea “Let’s shine with the car on the wall and climb!!”. Because of still 38°C outside nobody was thinking about sleeping so getting tired by physical activity sounded like the best option.

And it really was after an hour and the last cold beer we hit the ground where we stood slept until morning. Well…morning...up to 6am, because it was already too hot for further sleeping. So we quickly packed ourselves to the car and back to Dibba. On the way to our planned destination was clear that we cannot do this another day and that we have to break our 3 day roadtrip to more 1 day rides and sleep in Dubai. When we got back to UAE, sweat, dusty and tired we just parked under the tree and got two hours of missing sleep with engine whispering and AC running J

With a bit clearer heads minds we continued our quiet journey to Madam where we rented quadbikes and cheered us up by riding up and down ok high dunes. Definitely exciting experience for engine lovers like us, but driving without destination gets a nit boring after a while, so next time…from A to B 10km through the desert J

The next day was already Thursday and after a decent sleep up to like 11am we started our massive drive west. First to Jebel Hafeet. Emiratis evidently like to built paved roads to nowhere just for local people to have a destination when Land Cruising. Same is Jebel Hafeet. 1100m high, dry mountain with three lane access road, hotel and gardens, huge parking lot and lousy kiosk on he top. View basically none because of fog, but during winter has to be cool…why would they build all this then, right? J

After that our goal was some light desert driving, so we took a long road along Oman border to a point where a desert sand road to Liwa should be. After 100km we came to a lost city of …… before a police station 90km further where the track starts. We filled the tank and it took us 40 minutes to get to a gate there. Of course it was closed, of course I didn’t have pink UAE soldier ID card and of course we had to go back. 30 minutes later…”Full special please” I asked the guy at the petrol station and he replied with a smile “Yes sir”.

We couldn’t go the shortest way, so we had to take another shortcut through the desert. This time we were lucky and no gate stopped us from an easy warm-up at 10m wide maintained dirt road. The thing which stopped us was the road 10km further! Maintained road stopped at a camel farm and further continued only a track in the sand winding between the dunes interrupted be short pieces of hard salt plains.

And a dilemma came. “Should we go forward or turn back?”, “Let’s drive a bit and see how it goes” I said. We drove another 100 meters, stopped at the salt plain and started to think again. We didn’t know how far we have to go like this. The track looked easy, but we could quickly get into some tricky part and get stuck. We were alone, with a not real 4x4 in summer, when I’ve been told that the sand is dry and softer than in winter. Also I didn’t have yet much experience, what all I can do with my Tiguan. “I would go back” Jan said. I wasn’t sure, because I saw another camel farm 2km away. “I would go” Jana voted and that was the impulse I neededJ. We drove to another salt plain and checked the terrain ahead. I wanted to go a small piece again, but I didn’t trust the road to stop so I drove more and more up to a high dune. Poor scout Jan was left behind, because of lack of my patience J. “I would kill you if you had stopped and got stuck because of me. I don’t mind to walk” smiled Jan.

And we were there at the second camel farm, where there was another dirt road from the other side. We played a small safari photographing camels and moved on. It was getting dark when we found another dirt road we wanted to take, but it was actually not built yet and we saw no tracks going that way. This time it was an easy decision and we followed our previous road 50km to Abu Dhabi and home.

And my first holidays were almost over. On Friday we went climbing to Hatta Crag. Climbing all inclusive. Bit of off-road drive to the base, 500m of steep uphill walk, doing some 6b overhangs and finishing in a typical Pakistani cafeteria in a small town having shawarmas (gyros with salad wrapped in Arabic bread) and tee with milk and sugar. “It was the best place where I have ever climbed” said Jan when driving home. And I felt somehow proud and flattered J

On Saturday we went once more kiting. Jan as easily as he started, that easily he finished his training and was doing long runs across the whole beach. My best student so far!! I also finally got some pictures of me kiting, so I can prove that I haven’t been making all this up ;)

And that was it. My first holidays were over. But I wasn’t sad at all, because after one week in the office I was leaving to Thailand for another week of deserved rest.

It was a good week and everybody enjoyed. I've already heard Jan saying "If in Dubai there is a vehicles oriented university I go to study here right away".

And that's Dubai. It opens your eyes to see that there are different paths you can follow ;)

Cliffhangers

  Kiting and climbing. Like fire and water if it is about getting my free time in their favor. Kiting is still in a slight advantage, but because here are mostly the same uncertain wind conditions during the whole year, it can lose it very quickly, because rocks are always there J They are there, that’s true, but what is around is also important. Up to April, May there was nice 35 degrees and fresh breeze up the hill. But now there is 45 and hot wind. The rocks could be in shade but it is just not enough. Fortunately Mike thought about another strong feature that UAE can offer. Indian ocean with dry cliffs steeply falling into the water. DWS paradise in these furnace days.

          Deep Water Solo is a type of climbing on vertical or better overhanging sea cliffs without any ropes or belaying. After swimming to the rock you start climbing up and if you are out of power of you slip, you just fall softly into the water J And if you reach the top, you jump down again. No slow roping down!!

          So one sunny Friday 13 climbers of all levels boarded an Omani speed boat with Omani pilot and following captain Mike’s orders we knocked off from Dibba port to have some active relaxation after busy week.

          But the first stop wasn’t a climbing spot but a strangely white rock like made of chalk. “Who wants to jump from the 16 meter cliff let’s go” commanded Mike and a group of five brave ones start climbing up to the highest point. The trick in jumping from really high spots is that you start from 3 meters, then from 5, then 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, …and somehow after this sequence of jumps the last one just doesn’t look that high. But this wasn’t unfortunately the case. 

My last high jump, true… it was higher than this, was almost one year ago in Croatia, so this 16 meters looked really high and scary. But Mike is passing this place almost every weekend so he jumped with perfect technique without hesitation. That was the impulse I needed, “If you don’t jump you will look like a coward” I heard the strongest motivation I know inside my head, which always works on me and I jumped also. Nasim probably heard the same thing, but problem was that she has never jumped from such a height, so her jump/fall was quite scary. But fortunately everybody survived and we could continue to the real purpose of our trip.

          There are many spots for climbing along the coast and every good one has a name. Unfortunately I am not familiar with all of them so the first rock we visited was just “The first rock” J 

I saw some DWS videos on YouTube so I knew what to do. I jumped into the water among the first eager climbers, swam to the cliff and wanted to start going up. But then I immediately found out something what hasn’t been shown on internet!! The hardest is actually the move from the water onto the rock. You are swimming in deep water next to the rock undermined by tide, with legs nowhere to put other than where your eyes are. So you use a wave to lift you up, you grab a hold and then the returning wave is literally sucking you down, so unless you have the hand in a good pocket you are back where you started with a few scratches from sharp shells lurking on the edge.

          But I managed to find a spot where it was quite easy to get from the water and then it was easy J Nice, free climbing on natural rock up and same soft free fall down. We did all possible routes on this rather small stack and moved to one low area where you climb traverse maximum two meters above the water.

         Mildly cooling sea temperature, challenging climbing, beer in the fridge, warm sun above, comfortable boat and same like-minded people around made sure that I forgot about all unpleasant things that lately were starting to emerge and enjoyed to the last piece the moment of perfect active relaxation already looking forward to next Friday J

          Why we didn’t go for two days and didn’t camp on one of many isolated and idyllic beaches in deep bays? Because probably not only me is working six days a week!! But hopefully only up to the end of July. Maybe some other day!

          Next Friday we boarded more people, took a bigger boat and did almost the same circle. We only changed “The First rock” for ‘The Sea stack”. Same weather, same people, only slower boat which brings more time chilling out on the deck J  

          What to say more…Somebody could rise a typical question “Is it worth it to drive 200 kilometers to the port and one hour in the boat each way for couple of hours of sweating on the hot stone?” “Why do you do that? Look at your hands..full of scratches!” Simple question of priorities J Picture of climbing JIRI on Facebook or picture of Brad Pitt on DVD cover in the shelf? And trust me…there is nobody asking such questions where we go J

Thanks a lot to all the photographers for all those beautiful pics (especially to Peter). But without climbers it wouldn't be possible either :) 

More on: http://www.pbase.com/andreh/deep_water_soloing

Making history

In one of my first posts almost eight months ago I wrote a story about how I met five years ago one lonely Danish wizard sitting in one old stony store in the middle of one ancient Spanish city and how our magical journeys continued more or less in parallel up to one future like megacity in the middle of Arabian desert. Our more than ten year lasting passion, dedication and love to magical plays brought us at the end to into an epic battle for eternal honor and glory!!

“What the hell am I talking about?” Of course that about Magic the Gathering!! Collectible card game played all over the world, having its own professionals, Worlds, Pro Tours or National championships.

When I came to Dubai of course one of my first steps went to Rydges hotel where all Magic addicts were hanging out to play, win and lose J Dubai has only about 30 active players so the community is too small to have official qualifications for World championship or Pro circuit tournaments. Fortunately couple of months ago one enterprising French guy Olivier, decided to quit his job and do business in fantasy and card sector in UAE. One of his first initiatives was focused to expand the community. More people are good for the company and for the players also, because we could have bigger tournaments which bring more challenge and more fun from the gameJ It will be a long journey, but we are optimistic and support the gaming by going twice a week to try to grab some fruit from top J

When I came and change my Magic nationality from Czech to Emirates, I instantly became a top ranked player in UAE!! It’s a nice warm feeling, but also brings enemies having more motivation to beat me and have the scalp. But I resisted, competed, conquered and managed in a fierce competition to stay on top till now J

And then the DAY D came. Olivier organized The First Open UAE Championship. For this ear still unofficial, but it didn’t change anything on the fact that no matter what was your ranking, there would be only one champion who takes all the glory!! So on Friday 26.6.2009 22 players registered and the biggest battle in history of UAE could begin J

For me it started in the worst possible way. I thought I had an ok draft deck able to go at least 2:1 (2 win: 1 loss). But I somehow was distracted, unfocused and drinking beer from 12am probably didn’t help it at all, so I lost first two rounds to Trey and Omar!! Tournament didn’t even start and I was one loss from elimination. A disaster, supported by thoughts of two mistakes that could have had cost me two games, which did further work on my diminishing concentration. With a defeatist mood I entered third round. I don’t remember if the game was equal or not, but I managed to win against James.

And then it broke!! With my own design Red/White creature slaughter control hell and probably like fourth beer I miraculously found the lost concentration, my mind cleared, eyes focused and I started to fight back from bottom ranks with new blood. I won the fourth round against Emir. In fifth I drew against my biggest enemies, blue tiny flying bugs (Faeries piloted by Mark) and won the last round over Jay-ar.

“You are playing for Top 8” said the head judge Olivier during last round. “No…really!! The winner will probably advance to Top 8” added Zak already warming up a chair there. “Please…don’t give any false hopes!! We could have only 10 points. It’s not enough!!”         And what was my surprise when I saw standings and my name at the last advancing eight spot J My joy was incredible. The day was saved, expectations made. Everything more would be a bonus. I relieved J Only the tiny piece my mind at the back of my head was quietly pointing out that my odds are actually quite good, because burning forests and shaking plains under dull armies of elephants, elves, soldiers and spirits is my specialtyJ

And it really happened. I easily killed all Tamy’s monsters in quarters, the same Victor’s monsters in semis and I stood in finals facing again…my biggest enemy MARK J Real epic story writing history. If we have played!!

Cards and fun is one thing. But money and prices is another. Winner gets ticket to Bangkok to Grand Prix tournament and the second a box of boosters. The problem was that Mark didn’t want to go, so he conceded because for some reason which I don’t remember now we couldn’t play only for the victory.

So I became the first UAE champion in Magic the Gathering ever. I achieved my biggest victory ever, I won the most valuable prize ever and I won my first trophy ever J Beautiful…but probably only from 90% because we didn’t play. We probably should have for such an important thing L Next year will be different!!

Anyway…history doesn’t ask. But history knows!! See you in Thailand in August 22-24 J

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