Kate's Cycling Curiosity

It's tough cycling the world at times but I do my best to wade through!

I’m not suffering from writers block and I certainly have been collecting both adventure stories that would make Enid Blyton jealous and heart-warming moments that would melt the devils heart by the bucket load. However I almost have had as many hospital visits as adventures with my mystery leg ailment. I have now completed a full investigation into the South East Asia Medical system allowing myself to probed and poked like a voodoo doll and given more (wrongly diagnosed) medicine that an avid junkie. This is a case where I am not an advocate of the trial and error method. I think the breaking point for the trusting cyclist was when I kitted out with my bamboo pole plus coca cola bottle improvised drip combo failed to cure me and I was again given that “aaah” knowing look like the doctor has just received an epiphany and was administered another dolly mixture of drugs. After a quick google on these medicines I failed to see how a cure for heartburn and arthritis ( neither afflictions I suffer from) could help the protested leg. With that I chucked them in the bin where they belong and attempted a “I will not be beaten” limpabout downtown Angkor Wat while hesitantly limping past the AirAsia office brandishing flights to Bangkok …..but if it hasn’t killed me in 3 months I’ll see if time can be the healer but it seems this spider bite is a case for Dr. House!

The reason for my lack of entries is because of my fiend the HUMIDITY! It’s absolutely stifling with my phone displaying “temperature error” after 2 hours of cycling and not being a naturally early riser I’ve had to change my ways and join the pecking poultry on their way for breakfast as I cycle from my Guesthouse at 6am every morning. The siesta or “power nap” is more a necessity than a choice, as when seated at noon in the shade I smoothly drift into a coma on a hammock with a non performing coffee by my side. I emerge from my comatose state 2-3 hours later playing a game of spot the difference ….in typical SEA relaxed pace of life things rarely have changed! On reaching my destination for the day with the best intentions of making it before nightfall I have just enough time to snap a few frames in the best light of the day before embarking on a foot hunt…..in many towns/villages where the Central Business District consists of 4 bamboo huts this is indeed quite the challenge! As a point of note to avoid disappointment never judge the size of a town by the size of its dot on a map…it’s all comparative!

My endeavours at underwater photography. First one at 17m the second at 23m.

Being a sea lover I needed my salt water fix and set it my mission leaving one legged from Bangkok that the next island jumping off point was mine. Ko Tao was the lucky island where I spend a happy few days investigating the underwater world of turtles and sharks and giving my legs a new exercise as they performed a rather unique fin rotation which had an uncanny resemblance to a pedal rotation. With the renewed confidence of attaining my Advanced open water Certificate I hired an underwater camera for a day and tried an altogether new type of photography which as it turned out was slightly more technical than my compact camera in a zip lock bag which ended less that successfully…..sadly I’m talking about the camera and the photos! For fear of growing dreadlocks and reading Buddist philosophy on the beach for the rest of my days it was time to bandage the leg which funnily enough benefited little from unclean salt water and seated myself back in the saddle where I belong!

Another highlight came also in the form of exercise….how I get myself in these situations I will never know! Whilst in HatYai southern Thailand I got speaking to Zena the organizer of the HatYai marathon who unfortunately is a very persuasive person. Before I knew it I was standing at 3am at the starting ticker tape adorned in canvas shoes (enhanced with insoles for the occasion) and a marathon history of one……3 years ago and no training since. Apart from running from strange animals in jungles and more frequently those who find their way into my bathroom my running history has been zilch. But hey training is cheating right?….well that’s my manta for this expedition anyway so I may as well extend it to my running endeavours and keep everything on the one hymn sheet! So I’ll spare you all my usual rants and let you enjoy some photos instead! As for the future its goodbye to my second home Thailand for the past few months as I pedal with blistered feet to the melting pot of cultures that is Malaysia. Let the adventures continue.

Smiling with gritted teeth but I did it!

The lady responsible for persuading me to run!