Ziray Studio Labs

As part of our trip to Thailand, we stayed on a small island for 3 full days. They had rock climbing, snorkeling, kayaking and lots of relaxation. We did a lot of rock climbing in the afternoons since it was too hot to climb during the day. Probably the most memorable part of the trip.

Koh Laoliang, Thailand

The river to take us out to the island

 

On the island, we did some rock climbing. That's me at the top

A little better view

I'm near the tree line, center top.

 

View of our beach as we leave for a snorkeling trip

Side of our island

 

 

 

 

Our island is on the left. We're going to explore the island on the right

 

 

Humans on the second island

 

Our boat

 

 

Random dog on the island

Our island in the distance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These fish formed a dark cloud just under the water near the shore.

Sunrise

 

 

Sunrise on the island

As part of our much belated honeymoon, we ventured to Thailand with two goals in mind: rock climbing and scuba.

The first night we were there, we found a tiny rock climbing shop down from our hotel, the Haleeva (which I’d recommend, though a bit up from the beach, but we didn’t care). They took us on their boat to Railay Beach, a peninsula accessible only by  boat since the top is bordered by large mountains. We climbed for the first half of the day, ate lunch on the beach with two girls from Germany (we met so many Germans on this trip) that we met rock climbing and walked over to West Railay Beach where it was filled with people enjoying the beach.

Our goal however was to find a cave that was recommended to us. A bit of a ways up the beach, we found more rock climbers and eventually found a cave with fixed ropes and ladders inside. A flashlight was definitely needed (one was lent to us by a local climbing shop) as we traversed back and up inside this cave. It eventually came out 50 feet above the rock climbers we had previously encountered with a gorgeous view of one of the beaches.

Railay Beach, Thailand

Top of the climb in Railay, Thailand

 

 

Ana at the top of the route

After a little while, it started to get crowded

 

 

Low tide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the boat back to Aonang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aonang Boardwalk

 

Sunset

We visited the City of Rocks National Reserve in southern Idaho and camped there for two days. We also got our first real rock climbing experience.

City of Rocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The past few months have been one great thing after another.

I got the opportunity to spend New Year’s Day in Colombia, which is better than any fourth of July celebration in any American city. In the US, where there’s an hour of fireworks displays, in Medellín, Colombia, the fireworks last the entire evening, night and into early morning. If one didn’t know any better, you’d swear you were living in a war zone with constant gun fire. It was truly amazing. The same thing happens on Christmas.

I also got married in Colombia, so that was kind of a big deal. We rented out a extremely fancy club and  partied until 4AM; then, we went to an after party. Also, my family got to see the amazing landscape that happens in no other place in the world except Colombia.

Too many things have happened since, so I have to keep this short, or not post it at all

Enjoy the photos:

If you have a library card to the local Blacksburg library, across the street from Rocket Music and the police station, you can access a pretty good online tutor called Mango Languages. Just search for Mango on this page. Both the card and the subscription to Mango Languages are free.

Also, here’s a list of some websites to learn Spanish and other languages. Don’t pay for anything online. They’re all a waste of money. There’s a lot of great content online for free and most people don’t follow through long enough for it to be worth it.

Language Podcasts

Podcasts are also a great, free option. Go to the iTunes store, and search for Spanish or which ever language you want to learn and subscribe to as many teaching podcasts as you can handle. For Spanish, I recommend:

Learn to Speak Spanish with Discover Spanish
Coffee Break Spanish

Some language podcasts are taught by English speakers who have horrible accents, but they’re worth a listen, but don’t put much effort into replicating their pronunciation.

Books

After you go through those for a while, you should get a book if you decide to continue learning it, otherwise I’d stick with the online content until you’re positive you want to learn it. I personally have a good reason to try to learn these languages, but if it’s just for fun you might find yourself getting tired of it.

Books provide a level of intensity and authority that you’ll need, but only after you’re sure you want to get that far into it. Almost any book with an accompanying CD should be good, but make sure to look through the book to see if it matches up with the way you learn. By going through the free content first, you should understand which technique best suites you.