Dot Dot Dot...
Anadi and I have been out all day; we left here just before 11am on foot and returned at 5pm still on foot...
I now have the tan I have, for vanities sake, been trying to avoid! 'The runners tan'... Crop top shoulder strap marks and a line where my shorts reach to on my thigh; so when I stand naked I am still wearing running kit...:)
It was Anadi's turn to stop suddenly on the road today; there was a monkey looking right at us... It was eating some fruit in a very relaxed manner. This little monkey displayed no fear, it was very curious; suddenly another swung through the trees and joined her.
We looked right into its eyes; they were both very interested in us, and started to come nearer...
'Perhaps we should cross the road' Anadi said, 'they are getting a bit too curious'... They were, they kept approaching; even when we crossed the road it looked like they might follow...!
We kept walking, and thn looked back and saw that three had gathered ...
'The three wise monkeys on the path again' I said, 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...' Another joined them...
'That one is think no evil' Anadi said...
The road to Haad rin beach is a hilly one; a hot hilly one today, but the beach was worth the trek... We ran along it, watching all the people already in action making preparations for the full moon party tonight...
We had been told by our friend Pete that there is a beautiful quiet beach right beside it, and so we clambered high high up a steep path that resulted in a dead end. We then ran a loop that looked like it took us further along; it took us up and down a sandy path and then returned us in a complete circle back onto Haad rin beach...!
We stopped for a drink in a bar and the young woman there said we could clamber over the rocks and find a path that way...
Later on when we returned to the same bar for some lunch, having not found the path, she said 'oh, it has probably got over grown...!'
Anadi was up for exploring the rock route to the beach before lunch, so we set off...
It felt good to be adventuring together, today is a special day; Anadi and I have four anniversary dates!
We have the day we met, the day we got engaged, the day we got married, and for any of you who have seen 'Mama Mia' we have the day we 'dot dot dot...'!
Today is that day!
And so we celebrated by scrambling over rocks together.
It was very wonderful to be on these huge lumps of granite, but it was also very challenging, and at times, for me, very scary...
I understand that rock climbing is a source of real connection and aliveness for many. But it isn't for me!
Anadi is like a mountain leaping goat... I have a 'going forward on my bottom' technique, in dire straits, that served me well today a few times!
There were occasions when it felt 'too much', but then I would find a 'second wind' and really felt a sense of satisfaction and triumph at getting a bit further along... Maybe I do have more of the rock climber within me than I thought...
'There are two guys coming towards us', Anadi called from the top of a bolder...
It renewed me, as I reckoned if they were on their way back, they must have got there...
There must be a way....
I reckoned wrong!
They told us there was no way, they had reached a cliff edge with a twenty foot drop into the sea
'You could jump in and swim round' they said...
I said to Anadi 'let's turn around'. I remembered then the wisdom of my friend Andrew who is a surfer; he told me once a good surfing rule... 'If a wave feels too big, paddle back in... There will always be another wave'
I felt then, at that moment, that there will be another adventure to find a beach, we had travelled far enough... and I was hungry!
Of the two young men approaching us, one was doing just fine, one not so well.
'Are you afraid' I asked him, 'yes' he said... 'I am too', but he's not' I said and I pointed to Anadi
'He's not either' he said nodding towards his friend... 'I spent two years in the Austrian army in the mountaineering regiment' his friend explained...
Anadi and I lead the way and our fellow travellers on the path followed us...
'Terra Firma' Anadi said to the scared young man as we eventually leapt off the last bolder and were back to the steps I had enthusiastically raced up earlier!
'Have you been friends for a long time, or have you just met?' I asked them....
'We met five days ago in the hostel' the Austrian said, then he looked at his new friend and said...
'This will be something to tell the girls...'
