After being back in Bangkok for a couple of weeks and then having a brief meet up with one of my brothers for a short while, I was again undecided as to what next, extending my stay at a conveniently placed, moderately priced hotel to allow for some new ideas to form. I was still unsure what was holding me back, I seemed unable to pick up and push on again in a similar manner to how I had managed in the past. Maybe it was a case the a simple, single answer did not exist and searching for the reason was an endeavor to nowhere useful. Perhaps it was more that a series of unfortunate events had led to a rift in the space time continuem, or that my mind had been turned into gravy. Ultimately though I began to lean into the thought that I no longer had any real confidence in myself or my ability to hold together in testing circumstances. The diabetes had been a consideration in the past, but now there was a temperamental eye to contend with and a bypassed heart with less than perfect wiring holding it in place. I don't know why I was letting it get to me, but I decided that the time was right for a long overdue return to Krabi town to put what was left of me to the test.
Thankfully the flight down from Bangkok this time wasn't as eventful as the one that I had taken a decade before. This time there was no prolonged drop at XX thousand feet part way through the flight, with the only lump sticking in the throat was one that caused by the cost of the checked in luggage I had been stung with at the airport, I had booked the fights through the AirAsia website, but the carrier it turned out was ThaiVietjet. There had been no option to add luggage at the booking stage, itself is not exactly unusual. More problematic was that following the bookings being made, the reference that AirAsia could not be used on the AirAsia website to add any more luggage and the same reference on the ThaiVietjet webpage returned a message stating that this option was "only available for direct bookings". Cost of flight about 1880 Thai Baht. Cost of checked luggage at the airport, 1060 Thai Baht. Not exactly a rip off overall but more that it should have been in an ideal world.
At Krabi Airport the checked luggage was onto the collection carousel in only a short few minutes after we had debarked and it was a very short walk from there to the exit where I bought a ticked for a minibus into the town, and which also dropped me at hotel itself The room although simple, offered all that I needed for a short stay. It was spacious, had a kettle for a hot drink or two, air-conditioning, a window to the outside world and a balcony for when the window wasn't enough. Next to the door balcony was the door to the en-suite en-suite bathroom, so I made a mental note to try to not confuse the two if tired or a little tipsy. I rarely drink when travelling on my own as I feel that I need to keep myself tunes into my surroundings and the state of my health as a whole. In this climate however and away from the more intense environments I had been, I felt that I could relax a little more and just enjoy a moment. There are few things nicer than a very cold lager, or possibly three after a hot day, but I tried to not allow myself to get too carried away. In the morning still had I had a temple that I wanted to climb up to.
I woke early with the slightest of sore throats, which I cursed about a little before taking the yoghurt drink from the fridge in order to take off its edge. A very short internal debate the commenced as to whether I should be doing this today given the newest ailment and how much of additional it might cause when added to the other metaphorical monkeys I was already carrying. I showered and thought a little more before then drying myself down (almost pointless given what was to come) and then prepared and packed my a daypack with enough supplies to cover the journey to come and any foreseeable challenges (primarily diabetes and fluid based). I didn't know if I would be feeling better or worse the following day so reasoned that it was a good a time as any to get it done with my self imposed caveat that if I felt at any point over the next few hours that anything was really amiss, I would put the brakes on everything and then return at a later date to try again if feasible. As of yet I had not given myself any strict deadlines to adhere to, and this was not going to be a challenge with any kind of timescale attached. I just felt the need to know whether my body was going to let me down or not when put to a test, and if id did not perform so well, could that be or not be something that could be addressed. I walked out from the hotel reception and grabbed the first tuktuk I saw and took the 5 mile / 8 kilometers trip to the complex of shops and shrines that lay at the bottom of the Tiger Cave Temple steps.
The time had already hit 8.15 am by the time I arrived and although I wasn't in any rush to get to the top, I did want to get as far up as I could before the temperatures rose too sharply and made the climb more laborious than it needed to be. This was the second time I had go through this endeavor before, but ones memory can prove itself to be a fickle or selective thing at times. There were bits I remembered from previous that I hadn't been looking forward to facing again. The abtual monkeys (not metaphorical) that had acted aggressively towards me all of the way up, the feeling of altitude sickness that took all but incapacitated me for a short while as I stepped over that final step in 2013. These kind of things I remembered. What I had managed to block out however was exactly how steep and brutal many parts of the route were, with some of the more challenging parts (of which there were many) requiring a large step and push up to be taken in order to get to next. I could feel that the legs had needed to start working very early on, with quadriceps, calves and knees called to do a duty far above and beyond their usual requisite just to get me up and over those 1260 steps. I took my time, stopping often and where appropriate sparking up a conversation with others going both up and down to take my mind off of the task, surprised to learn that more than a few had also been on the receiving end of heart related issues. Much to my relief the monkeys were not in a bothersome mood during my visit (perhaps they were still at breakfast), however I did start to feel nauseous after I had about 800 steps underneath me. At this point I slowed my pace a little more and the the stops also became a little more prolonged and frequent as I tried to stave off this sensation from causing problems further up. The last few flights felt shorter as the summit neared touching distance and other seemed eager to offer words of encouragement to those whose trial was nearly at an end. Or at least the first bit was
The view from the top was as stunning as I remembered, also managing to be of the few places that I had revisited on this trip that hadn't immediately struck me as being significantly different this time around. I'm sure there had been tweaks. The gap in one part of outer wall where I had taken up the recovery position as I tried to keep my insides inside had been dutifully filled, but thankfully for me, this time the sickly feeling had not become as disabling as on that occasion, undoubtably helped by me earlier awareness and management of it during its earlier stages. The air at the top was was nice and fresh with a breeze that tried to mask the suns power as beat down from above, but I was aware enough to not allow my ever thinning hair be exposed to its effects for too long. Factor 50 I hoped would help protect me me from the worst with bouts of bouts cap wearing when things go too intense. I removed the cap from time to time and packed it away to avoid another captastrophe, well away that if I put it down when taking a photograph from time to time, history has proved that I may not remember to pick it back up again. As much as I liked having it since donated to me by my brother in Bangkok, it wasn't "another trip to the top" kind of "like" if it happened to get left there.
I stayed at the top for well over an hour, which considering the limited space that is available at the peak is more than enough time to admire the views, take in the atmosphere and try to capture a little of it photographically. The decent I remember being tough, but whether it was the passing of time or the withering of muscles, it was tougher this time that I was aniticipating. The are railings that run alongside the path are there for a reason, and whilst a couple of hours before they had used to help haul my frame upwards, now they were being used to try to prevent a "John Wick 4" style steep step roll from taking place. Unlike that characters events though that acted as a precursor to the culmination of that particular film, any such reenactments on my part lead on towards a thrilling climax. I would not be able to brush off such a tumble with my previous medical history attesting to my inability to bounce off of hard services without suffering ill effect. However maybe it could be argues that that I may have been less likely so suffer any injuries to the legs as those had already mostly turned to jelly. My MacGyvered heart for its part had not caused any real reason for concern, a post match analysis showing nothing irregular had been recorded during the activity itself, just an increase in the pulse-rate which was obviously to be expected. It did became clear soon after however, that my legs were not going to be shaking this one off so easily.
It took a day and a half for me to find my way to get a message from the shop located a few doors down from the hotel. I had hoped that the aches that I had felt coming on in initially would become easier on their own, but by the time that the night had fallen at the end of that day, my mobility was being seriously hampered. The following day it had become excruciatingly painful to navigate the shallow stairs either to or from my first floor room and my attempt at coming back down the the steps at the nearby shopping plaza would have looked to any onlookers as though I was preparing to demonstrate some new kind of extreme sport.
It didn't help me that the Krabi kerbs (great name for a band) are at least 2 or 3 times the height of those that you would ordinarily happen across when back in the UK. I am starting to question as to whether this is just a way to take the piss out of the tourists who have managed to overexert themselves in one way pr another since they had arrived at the sleep town. There is obviously no proof of this.
Unless there is.
It might be a lifetime until the next one.
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