A Quick Six

At least our optimistic spin on things is improving.

After a four day break, Tiff was too frustrated not to climb and so jumped on a moderate warm-up climb which proved painful but not agonising. Over lunch she debated the pros and cons of climbing with injury and decided not to climb again, though when they got to the after-lunch crag it was another story.

All of Tiff's students ignore this next bit: DO NOT CLIMB WHEN INJURED!!!

So Tiff taped up and jumped on the hardest climb she'd ever tried (Gaeng Som Plaa 7c+/28). She worked all the start moves, but at the halfway point crux move (a large one-armed throw off a three finger pocket), she tweaked her wrist on the same arm as the elbow injury. John threw her up the tape and everything held nicely in place by fabric and adhesive, she finished off the climb with a minimum of fuss. She then RESTED for a week (until today).

Tiff has therefore been John's belay slave for the last week. She is getting VERY good at belaying (even John thinks so), and has had the privilege of watching John work some 8as (29/30).

Five days ago Dan (Australian climbing friend who lives in Trang with his wife Lit) came to Tonsai to do the first climbing he'd done in six months. That happened on the day that Tiff was sick (for the second time since we've been here) after four days of build up, and the start of John's build up with the same virus. John's new name for Tiff is 'Iron-gutted Bitch' because even when she gets sick, all she has to do is throw up once and she feels on top of the world again.

So in between toilet runs, only a little climbing was done (Dan did four climbs while at Tonsai), and this brings me to the present.

John is currently immovable due to toilet proximity in the cabin at Tonsai while Tiff has journeyed with Dan and Lit to their place at Trang (three hours from Tonsai) to see the sights over the next couple of days. I hear all of you out there gasp - for various reasons. Primarily, anyone who knows us will understand how momentous it is that we have separated for a night (not done since the Asian X Games in Feb 2004), and also that Tiff has left John alone and untended while sick.

Well, it was at John's machinations that this has occurred. Sick of being sick and feeling like he is holding back parts of the trip that at least one of us could enjoy, he has sent Tiff forth into the world with pad, pen and camera with instructions to give him the experiences he could not have due to his silly tummy. He will try and join us tomorrow, and we are optimistic. Anyone watching us part on the beach would have thought Tiff was going thousands of kilometres away for a very long time the way we carried on. But it's so hard to leave the one(s) you love - even for a little distance and short period of time.

On a good note, the rain has cleared well and although we are getting some overcast days (which actually mostly keep the temperature down), the rock is dry and our clothes don't smell like cheese. YAY! The poo smell is less in the drier weather also, and we are learning when not to breathe (i.e. passing certain parts of the community).

So Tiff is up for a few more rest days (which will be good as the tweaks are still there, albeit improving), and hopefully John's bouts of sickness will improve his gut's immunity to bugs in areas when we are travelling around more (e.g. India and Nepal) and it is of greater import to be well.

During the general malaise that has been resting upon us, we have spent more relaxed time on the beach, unable to climb. And although Noosa and Peregian are cleaner, the Andaman breezes and picturesque scenes have made us happy we are here, for everything we gain from the experience. Thanks to those we know and those we don't who keep it in perspective (read 'My Forbidden Face' by Latifa or 'How I Live Now' by ???), and again, tell us what is happening back home. We then know we are not forgotten. For what is life, if not memory in the hearts of friends?

In each others arms, on a beach, under a cliff in Thailand, watching a sunset,

Tiff and John
saintrinity