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A recent article in the Sunday Times discussed a new treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea called the Pillar Procedure.Obstructive Sleep Apnoea is a condition where an individual stops breathing for a period of time during their sleep. This cycle repeats many times during the night interrupting a person’s sleep. The obstruction may be complete or partial but is usually sufficient to waken the sleeper for just a few seconds so that they resume breathing again. This interruption prevents a person from achieving the restful states of sleep, such as REM (rapid eye movement - the dream phase) sleep.

Although the exact causes is unclear, the site of obstruction is usually involves the soft tissues at the back of the mouth and nasal cavity. During the day, the muscles in this area help keeps the airway intact. At night, the muscles relax to a point where the airway collapses and breathing is obstructed.

Risk factors for developing Obstructive Sleep Apnoea are weight gain (especially in the neck area), individual’s anatomy (e.g. receding chin), enlarged tonsils and adenoids, family history (although it is not genetically linked), use of alcohol and sedating drugs, smoking (causes swelling and narrowing of the upper airway), certain medical conditions (such as hypothyroidism, acromegaly, amyloidosis, neuromuscular disorders, Marfan’s syndrome, Down’s syndrome) or nasal congestion.

Common symptoms are excessive sleepiness during the day, personality changes, depression, decreased memory, erectile dysfunction, morning headaches, frequent need to urinate. People who suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea are rarely aware that they wake up frequently during the night. The physical signs that suggest a person may have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea are obeisity, loud snoring, and a witnessed episode of apnoea by a sleep partner (e.g. the spouse). People with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea also often suffer from high blood pressure and tachycardia (rapid heart beat).

Five simple questions may be used to identify a person with sleep apnoea:

1. Do you fall asleep easily during the day (e.g. while driving) despite having an adequate amount of sleep?
2. Do you wake up with dry mouth?
3. Do you wake up frequently during the night to urinate?
4. Do you have high blood pressure?
5. Do you get tachycardia (rapid heart beat)?

If a person says “yes” to three or more of the above questions, they are most likely to have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. It has also been found that some 80-90% of cardiac patients suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. A sleep study may be required to properly diagnose the condition. Untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnoea increases the risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

The Pillar Procedure is a relatively simple surgical procedure for treating Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. It involves implanted three pins into the soft palate to maintain the airway during sleep. The procedure was first introduced in 2003, and has been hailed as somewhat of a breakthrough in the management of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

The studies so far are somewhat limited and the longevity of this procedure has only been tested up to 15 months. Success rate is about 50-60% in a study of about 20 odd. Although risk of infection from this procedure is low, irritation to the tissues and protruding implants are two post-operative issues cited.

After speaking to a cardiologist who has had quite a bit of experience in this area, he recommends treatment via a CPAP machine rather than undergoing surgery. Some of the reasons why he disagrees with surgery and the Pillar Procedure:

1. Airway obstruction occurs only at night when the muscles are relaxed and not during the day therefore surgery is overly aggressive.
2. What are the long term effects of surgery? Long term is defined as 10 years.
3. What are the effects of implants in the palate on eating and speech? The oral environment is a very dynamic environment, constantly undergoing change.
4. The Pillar Procedure only addresses the soft palate. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea involves other soft tissues as well.

So what is a CPAP machine and how does it work? CPAP is the abbreviation of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. A person with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea wears a mask which is hooked up to a machine that monitors the person’s breathing throughout the night. When the machine detects that breathing has stopped, it will send a pulse of air to open the airway so breathing may resume.

Here’s what the mask looks like worn:

Side profile:

The tubing will rotate easily as the sleeper turns in bed:

The machine is small and compact and can be easily carried on trips. For more information, check Resmed. Details for the local office:ResMed Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Suite E-10-20 Plaza Mon’t Kiara
No. 2, Jalan 1/70C, Mon’t Kiara
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +60 (3) 6201 7177
Fax: +60 (3) 6201 2177
reception@resmed.com.my
www.resmed.com.my

It is advisable to get a thorough check up with your ENT specialist before using a CPAP machine to ensure that blockage of the airway are not due to other physical obstructions, e.g. nasopharyngeal carcinoma (cancerous growth blocking the airway), enlarged adenoids/tongue, etc.

CPAP machine are also contraindicated for people who have suffered a pneumothorax previously. Encasing your lungs is a sack containing fluid. A pneumothorax is a condition where there is a communication between the lungs and that sack and air becomes trapped inside that sack.

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My first ever “roof” project was at Summit Gym. I believe this was one of the competition routes that was left up. Thin Man, Holdbreaker, Simian Boy and I were working on it in December 2003. I think Thin Man was the only one to red-point the project before the holds came down.

Roof climbs are great because you don’t smack into the wall when you take a lead fall. This one was also nice because the holds were so big, you could fit your whole hand inside them.

Check out the pictures which are unfortunately a bit dark because the lighting in the gym isn’t great and none of us had a camera that could illuminate the gym effectively for a good shot.

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A great story for inspiration to nail that difficult route…

This is a story about George Dantzig - the famed mathematician whose contributions to Operations Research and systems engineering have made him immortal.

As a college student, George studied very hard and often late into the night. So late, that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for Prof. Neyman’s class. He quickly copied the two maths problems on the board assuming they were the homework assignment.

It took him several hours to work through the two problems, but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on Neyman’s desk the next day.

George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn’t heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind-teasers that even Einstein hadn’t been able to answer.

But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years. Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn’t know he couldn’t.

You are not limited to the life you now live. It has been accepted by you as the best you can do at this moment. Any time you’re ready to go beyond the limitations currently in your life, you’re capable of doing that by choosing different thoughts. All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. And once you have made your mind up to do it, it’s amazing how your mind begins to figure out how.

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he/she chooses.”

I’ve often found that route grades tend to put one off trying them if it’s graded harder than something we’re used to. Even if we do try it, it’s often with a thought something along the lines of, “Well, I’ll give it a go, but I reckon it’ll be too hard.” Usually, a thought like that is the main reason why we don’t succeed. We expect not to succeed, therefore we fulfil what we believe.

During my climbing days, to overcome this problem, I would deliverately avoid asking the grade of a route and just go for it. It’s amazing how our preconceptions of certain things affect the way we approach them.

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I was talking to an online buddy the other day about rock climbing shoes. Coincidentally, I found this little piece I wrote way back in 2004 on the various rock climbing shoes I’ve tried and worn. A lot of the shoes listed here are probably obsolete by now.

No offense intended to the rock climbing shops here, but the people selling shoes don’t really give much advice on what’s a good pair for my feet. They just give me what I ask for and usually I ask for whatever they have that’s in my size.

My most recent pair of shoes is the Katana and I bought it by default - it was the only model in the shop at the time that was available in a UK size 2 and the next shipment of shoes weren’t arriving until ???

What else have I worn?

- Rock Pillar Fox (first pair)
- Rock Pillar Wall
- Boreal Zen
- Five Ten X-Ray
- Boreal Matrix
- La Sportiva Cobra

For the first three, I can’t say much because I didn’t know enough about climbing and what I was doing to have any real appreciation for my shoes. The shoe with the best fit would have to be the Matrix, but therubber feels really slippery. Can’t do resoles here unless I send them overseas and by then it costs about as much as a new pair anyway (maybe even more).

The first shoe I really noticed a difference with was the Five Ten X-Ray.Although it hurtreal bad when I first got it, it stretched out really nicely. The rubber was really sticky and it helped me learn how to use my feet. The only problem with this shoe was that it continued to stretch and I had to pull the velcro flaps tighter until the side ripped (or perhaps it ripped from too many foot jams).

I had been eyeing the Boreal Matrix ever since we tried to get it for the Thin Man for his birthday but since the shoe couldn’t fit and they didn’t have his size, he had to swopfor another shoe. The Boreal Matrix rubber is very soft and not recommended for a beginner climber who has a tendency to wear down the rubber quickly from too many incorrect foot placements. For that reason, I held off buying this shoe until I felt I was ready for it.

Aside from the nice snug fit of the shoe, I’m afraid I didn’t think too highly of the rubber. It was fine while it was still new but after a while, the rubber lost all stickiness. Smearing on the wall was like ice skating. I recall a mention that the Boreal’s rubber formulation had changed and it was no longer considered very good by this time. I do believe they’ve since changed the formulation and have heard it is much better now, although I never tried another Boreal shoe again after this experience.

When I was using the Cobra, I thought there was air in the heel because at the time I bought it, the smallest size they had in the shop was UK 2.5 and I really needed a new pair. The Cobra was overall a good shoe and I don’t really have much complaints except for the air in the heel (which seems to be a problem I have with a lot of shoes). It was a slipper and the problem with slippers is that after they stretch, there’s a tendency for them to slip off your heel.

I thought the problem would be fixed when I bought the Katana in a size 2, but that, too developed a bit of air in the heel after some wear. I liked the Katana because the sole was stiff. It was good for edging, but while it was new, I couldn’t smear to save my life.

Generally I find that even if the shoe fits nicely in the shop, it always seems to stretch after a bit of climbing. Even those that I bought that were really tight to the point of causing me pain will also stretch. At least that’s the problem with the all leather shoes.

I’ve been told that the synthetic shoes don’t stretch, but I find that they still do to a limited extent. I tried the Five Ten Anasazi (velcro) and V10 when I was shoe shopping in Singapore and felt like Cinderella’s ugly sister trying to wear the glass slipper. I wanted to cry from the pain and I couldn’t even stand up in them!

To update since I wrote that, I currently have in my cupboard:

-Five TenAnasazi Slipper (UK size 2 which I doubt I can wear now that my feet have swollen to the size of elephant trunks)
- La Sportiva Katana (UK size 2, but it feels bigger than the Anasazzi Slipper size 2)
- Saltic Mamba (slipper - courtesy of BlocX)
- SalticVampire (velcros- courtesy of BlocX)

I was using the Anasazi for indoor for a while, but I couldn’t get over the pain it caused to my heel so I stopped wearing it after a while. I can’t really say much about it because I don’t think I really wore the shoe enough to get a feel for it.

I like using the Mamba for indoors and I found the Vampir great for edging. After the increase in my foot size due to all the swelling, I think I may need to buy a new pair of climbing shoes if I want to get back into it again after the pregnancy.

Even though my feet are supposed to return to its prepregnancy size after delivery, my friend PLsays her shoe size now is still bigger now than they were before her pregnancy (her daughter is now about 15 months). I guess it’s wishful thinking to hope I’ll be able to wear my old shoes…

Check out this link for fitting rock climbing shoes.

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In January 2004, Simian Boy, Fearless Leader and the Thin Man took a trip to check out the boulders at Tebong Palm Oil. It’s located near the town Tampin in Negri Sembilan. I didn’t go along because I wasn’t into bouldering at that stage.

Check out Simian Boy’s TR on Tebong followed by some photos courtesy of the Thin Man.

Tebong was not what we’d expected. It wasn’t that much fun for us. Lots of walking, not much climbing because everything was so difficult and they killed our shoes and we fell onto tall spikey weeds and slopes.

Because of the test-pattern colours of the rock and almost-invisible size of the tiny holds, planning moves was almost pointless. If you were a large insect, you probably could have used the same handholds we tried to use. And, since we were among the first climbers there, many of these ‘holds’ (I’m really talking about those generously large pinky crimps here) snapped right off, and then it was time for another 10-minute hike to find a new potentially climbable problem.

If what we experienced was representative of natural bouldering, then I have got to say that I hate (hate hate) bouldering. I guess maybe I’m just spoilt. It was really nothing like what we do in the gym – not unless you removed all the holds, stuck a few bread-crumbs back on using Elmer’s paper glue, and used sharp rocks in place of crashpads.

When we got back to Nyamuk that day, everywhere I looked was of a friendly brown colour, full of deep pockets and shadowy holes, and I thought, “Shit! We shoulda been bouldering here instead!”

God, I love limestone

I’m not sure about the current status of climbing at this place. Here are the photos from Thin Man:

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Thin Man caught in the act of stepping on a bolt, caught by Simian Boy. The photo attached has been labelled “They Call Me Bolt Steppa” by Simian Boy:

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My third trip to Krabi was about as eventful as the first. During the first trip, SARS came up, but the entire gang still pressed on. On this third trip, there were some twenty-four of us lined up to go. We had rented two entire buses for our group to travel up to Hatyai. Just as D-day approached, the news on the skirmish in Southern Thailand started to heat up and there were concerns about whether we should be going.

In the end, I was the only one who ended up going. I took an Air Asia flight up to Phuket which was delayed by an hour (how typical of Air Asia). It cost me 2000 baht to get a taxi to Ao Nang since there were no direct boats to Railay during the low season. The cab driver was terrific - he made sure I got straight to a long boat. I never realised how close Railay West was to Ao Nang - I was barely in the boat for five minutes before I started to recognise the familiar rock formations of Tonsai.

Excerpts from my journal:

Contrary to all the media reports, I encountered no incidences along the way. The peninsula was as serene as I remembered, the cool breeze gently teasing the pages of my diary with a hint of the heat beating down upon the golden sands of the Sunset Beach.

I sent a couple of messages to Ken and gang but received no reply. I guess they must be climbing. I’m waiting for my banana pancake to be served but I think I’ll take a stroll around after I’m done.

I found out later that they had spent the previous day climbing Humanality (which I have some photos from Ken in the slide show below).

My little stroll to East Railay cost me 1500 baht because I couldn’t resist buying myself a couple of t-shirts, a pair of slippers, a mat and a new chalk bag. Before I managed to do any further damage, I received Ken’s message to join them out at Muai Tai Wall.

I caught up with them just as Ken was beginning to lead a 6A+ route called Nuat Hin (or Massage the Rock). I seconded the route since it was my first outdoor trip in four weeks and I wasn’t sure I still had it in me. My feet felt a lot less steady than I remembered and the smooth, polished rock offered little grip to my La Sportiva rubber making me panic a little at the crux.

Ken lead another route called “Kratoy” (or Lady Boy). It was graded a 6C and started inside a cave. The route was fairly easy with some interesting stemming required at the crux. Coming out of the cave was also pretty cool but not as difficult as I had imagined it would be. I took a leaf out of Thin Man’s book and managed to rest on the crux with a drop knee to the right.

I was keen to climb some more but the guys wanted to break for dinner so we called it a day. At least I got a couple of climbs in, which I didn’t even think I would on my first day at Railay.

After a nice shower and dinner, I took a stroll along the beach and took some happy snaps of the sunset. Dinner was a much anticipated Pad Thai noodles. While wandering around in the evening, we bumped into Supermei, Lil’ Mei and Kerk. The evenings during low season are quite subdued so there’s really not much to do except watch the movies they played or sit around the table and chat.

After Day 1, I had a few resolutions for myself:

1. Start training again to:

• improve my foot work
• improve my “overhang” climbing
• gain strength
• overcome the fear of leading (which was progressing well until I had to lay off climbing due to work commitments)
• build my stamina
• regain my endurance

2. Consider picking up yoga

3. Work on my cardiovascular endurance

4. Read my climbing books (Mind Gym)

Day 2

We headed out to Firewall and climbed the “Groove Tube”. Ken was determined to tick off as many recommended “must climb” routes as possible. I seconded the first pitch and lead the second pitch. Although it wasn’t that difficult, it felt as though my familiarity and confidence in climbing has dropped a lot. I think I’m too comfortable on top ropes and seem to have developed a reluctance to lead. After nearly bailing, I made it to the anchor. It was a nice climb over all.

With the sun heating up the wall, we quickly retreated to Tonsai for lunch and waited for the tide to retreat. While having lunch, we watched a pair of climbers working their way up Humanality. Before we could make it onto Cowabungalow, another group had beaten us to it, so we waded out to Dum’s Kitchen instead.

Ken lead Schlinger Moritz - which I still had trouble with the starting since my upper body strength is lacking and I somewhat vertically challenged on this route to use height to my advantage. The hand holds felt better than the last time I was on this route, though. Ken also commented that my technique is there, but my power is seriously lacking.

Later Ken lead “The Lion King”, a 6C+. I attempted to climb it after him. OMG! What a pumpy climb! I did some serious hang-dogging that would have made Fearless Leader’s climbing on “Stupid with Manners” seem like a normal part of climbing. Ken had to “help” me complete the crux at the end with some rope assistance - thankfully he didn’t have to haul my behind up!

There are some routes that you know are way out of your league and some routes you know you could eventually complete if you trained a little harder. I think “The Lion King” is one of the latter. It had some pretty funky moves and a beautiful flake for knee bars and laybacks. I definitely felt that with a bit more strength and endurance, I could complete this route.

After a quick top rope on Schlinger Max, the rain came in, forcing us to take shelter at the Last Bar in Tonsai. I think I must have been quite tired because I fell asleep while lounging at the bar.

Classic lines for the day:

David: Hey look! Mist! (pointing into the distance)
Ken: (following David’s gaze) That’s not mist! That’s rain!

More resolutions at the end of Day 2:

• Take up Power Yoga for strength training
• Push ups to balance muscle development and avoid overuse injuries
• Crunches for upper abs, leg lifts for lower abs - which will assist in overhang climbing
• Chin-ups for upper body power
• Work on climbing more dynamically (my climbing is currently too static)

Day 3

Ao Nang Tower and The Defile Exit

The morning was a slow one. I crawled out of bed by 8:45 despite an early night. Ken had an “Ao Nang Tower” breakfast to ensure his stomach would last until we got back to dry land. David was even later out of bed, to Ken’s annoyance.

We caught a boat to Ao Nang Tower and paid the boatman to return two hours later to pick us up again. Ao Nang Tower was a magnificent peak standing alone again a mass of blue sky and sea. Upon landing, we had to traverse to the belay station of “Orange Chandeliers” - a three pitch route.

David started on the first pitch which was graded 6B. He took a fall from the second bolt and after subsequent tries, decided to call it quits. I was praying real hard that he would make it because I wasn’t looking forward to leading it. Despite the nervousness building up inside me as I watched him struggle, I put on a brave face and ascending up to the second bolt. After several attempts of “up climb”, “down climb” and loads of hanging in between, I finally made it to the third bolt.

It’s interesting how fear can make everything else in the world seem inconsequential and unimportant. My new equipment bought with such pride and so lovingly cared for was quickly forgotten, despite the sound of metal grating on rock as I pressed my hip into a crack between the stalactite and the wall. All thoughts of precise foot placement were ignored as my foot desperately scraped around hoping to latch on to a positive foothold.

Even though this route was graded a 6B, I think it was probably about the equivalent of a 6A at Nyamuk. Aside from the fact that I was gripped with fear, it was a relatively easy route to climb. Poor Ken was forced to baby-sit David and myself who were either not physically or mentally up for the challenge of leading the next two pitches, one of which was a 6C. I made it to the top with Ken, but David bailed on the last pitch.

There is a book at the top of Ao Nang Tower that you can write in if you remember to bring a pen or pencil. We unfortunately did not, so all we have are just photo memories that we’d actually made it up the tower. The way down was an abseil on two 60m ropes all the way into the boat. We were lucky that there was another group of climbers after us because they helped us drop our rope into the boat. If it weren’t for that, I’m pretty sure the ropes would have landed in the water.

We finished off the day with a couple of routes at The Defile Exit. The first route I climbed was called “Monkey Goes to Heaven”. Even though I felt quite comfortable on this route, I didn’t have the courage to go for the on sight. I know it could have been an on sight and I’m a little disappointed I allowed my mind to give way. I attempted to lead another route called “Baboon’s Ass” but I couldn’t make it past the start. The rest of the route was well within my ability, though. The third route I climbed, led by Ken was called “Baboon’s Lagoon”. All three routes were graded 6B or 6B+.

We lazed around at Prahnang beach before heading back for dinner at a little stall near Diamond Cave. The night was wiled away with Lord of the Rings. The plan was to hang out at the bars until late but the music wasn’t too inspiring so we ended up at the bar next to Railay Village where I ordered a “Real Coffee” which tasted like any other coffee I’ve ordered before.

Day 4

The Keep

First route - Monkey’s Bum, 6B. This was supposed to be a warm up lead climb. I chickened out at the last bolt just before the anchor and came back to clean it on top rope. I don’t know what was wrong with me - it wasn’t difficult at all.

Second route - Gengis Bond, 6B. It was a long route but a 60m rope managed to cover it. Ken led and I cleaned up.

Third route - Babo Does Thailand, 6C. I attempted to lead it but I bailed at the third bolt and cleaned up after Ken’s flash.

Fourth route - Medusa’s Lover, 6C. Free pointed after Ken’s onsight.

Fifth route - Nut Cracker, 6C. Free pointed after Ken’s onsight.

All 6C routes were nice slab climbs - my style of climbing. The biggest disappointment of this day was the fact that I didn’t complete any lead climbs.

Resolutions from Day 4:

• Work on my mental for lead climbing

Day 5

We decided to take it easy and spent the day at Ao Nang just chilling. So much for ending our trip to Krabi with a big bang on the four pitch Circus Oz…

Day 6

I took the boat back to Ao Nang with the two Mei’s and Kerk. We spent the night at Phuket and caught our Air Asia plane back to KL the next morning.

Here are the photos from the trip:

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I made a return trip to Krabi in the month of November with Thin Man, Joel and newbie LY. A little wiser from Fearless Leader’s experience, we took the bus from Kuala Lumpur up to Hatyai which took about 9 hours as opposed to the train ride which took about 13 hours.

My only gripes about the bus was the unreliability of the service. We weren’t sure up until the day we were leaving whether we were departing from Pudu Station or Jalan Duta. If you know anything about the traffic between those those places at the hour we were leaving, you’d realise that if you’re in the wrong station, there’s no way you’ll make it to the other station in time before the bus left.

There was a second group taking the bus departing after ours. It was supposed to leave the station half an hour after us but by the time they started moving, we had already been on the road for a couple of hours. So much for sticking to the schedule. I still can’t say which was better - the train that takes four more hours to get to Hatyai or the bus service that is about as reliable as our taxi services…

When we arrived at Hatyai, there were no vans leaving so we had to wait a while before we could get one. We took a short tour of the city which was still mostly shut at that hour and decided to make a breakfast of Bakuteh. The van took us to Krabi town where we had to take a 45 minute long boat to East Railay. This was a stupid move on our part because we were staying at Tonsai. In low tide, it is a very long walk from East Railay to Tonsai.

What we should have done was take a van to Ao Nang and a 10 minute long boat ride from Ao Nang straight to Tonsai. Since I’d only been there once before, I didn’t realise this was an option until I made my third trip out to Railay in February the following year.

By the time we got to our cabins, there wasn’t sunlight left to do much but look around for places to have dinner and chill until the rest of the crew arrived.

During the November period, the high tide is usually in the morning and low tide in the afternoon. Most of the climbing walls at Tonsai are not really accessible during high tide. We headed for dry land at Firewall on our second day and did the classic route - “The Groove Tube”. A nice and easy chimney, it’ll get anyone warmed up and in the groove.

I led two more routes in the area, both of which have no name in Wee’s climbing guide book. The 6b was poorly bolted because I found myself in a tangled web of rope by the time I got to the anchor. There is a nice little head jam halfway up that provides a no-hands rest, although it’s much better if you’re wearing a helmet. I discovered it by accident when I was studying the holds above me and heard the resounding echo of my helmet clanging against a hollow stalagtite just behind my head.

“White Hot Hernias” was quite a pumpy route, but I felt it was something I could have projected, given a few more attempts at it.

The highlight of climbing at Railay in November is the opportunity to see some really great climbers projecting routes in the 7s and 8s. We saw an American guy working the “roof” routes at Tonsai and it certainly looked like he was eating the 7s for breakfast. We saw him there again the next morning working on a project, which I think was either the 8b route without a name or “Old Chicken Makes a Good Soup”.

We joined the rest of the crew on Day 3 to climb at Escher wall. There were a couple of interesting routes in the cave and a few easy ones along the main wall. We had a mini accident when LY decked on his first attempt to lead climb. Our mistake was in allowing a newbie belayer and newbie leader to be at opposite ends of the rope. LY came out okay because he landed on BQ who didn’t look so good after the fall.

When everyone checked out okay, LY asked Thin Man the name of the route he had decked on. Thin Man hesitated, “Erm, are you sure you want to know?” Since LY was insisted, Thin Man replied, “Er, it was called ‘Short ‘n’ Easy’.” May it was better if he hadn’t asked.

Escher Wall was also my first shot ever on a 7a+. Joel lead “Don’t Grab the Krabi” and left the top rope up for the rest of us to try. Most of the route was probably about a 6b grade and the crux sequence was a few moves before the anchor. WIth loads of rope assistance from Thin Man, I finally made it up my first 7a+. It was a combined effort of my climbing and Thin Man’s pulling.

After dinner, Joel and BQ made an attempt at night climbing on “Tidal Wave” at Tonsai wall. I wondered at the wisdom of that considering it was a project route. Needless to say, neither of them made it very far that night. Eager to give it another shot, Joel woke up early the next morning but the route remained as elusive. I think Fai was the only climber in our group that completed the route before we left for home.

Day 4 saw us climbing at Dum’s Kitchen. We did a total of about three routes (Schlinger Moritz, 6a; Schlinger Max, 6b; and a third with no name, 6c) before the rain came in. We waited out the rain at the bar next to Tonsai (I think it was called The Last Bar) before tackling “Stalagasaurus”, 6a+. Last I heard, this route is no longer a 6a+ because the stalagtite that made it easy broke off while someone was climbing it.

This was probably the first day I noticed improvements in my climbing since I was last in Krabi 6 months earlier. It had taken me forever to climb “Stalagasaurus” back then, and I had also cheated by skipping the overhang at the start. This time, I did it all the way through and it felt “easy”.

On Day 5, we climbed at Thaiwand Wall. It was another exhilarating day for me. “Circus Oz” that had freaked me out so badly the first time I led it, was a breeze. I also managed to red-point “Primal Fear” which I wasn’t even able to complete the previous trip because I couldn’t make it over the ledge near the anchor. It felt strange that I was now giving beta on this route.

I also top-roped the route to the right of “Primal Fear” called “Solution 41″ and nearly free-pointed it if not for the final moves at the crux just before the anchor. “Solution 41″ was a route I posed on during the previous trip, pretending to climb it when I was struggling to hold myself in position just for the photo! To think I had improved so much during 6 months that I could now climb it!

On our last night there, we decided to check out the nightlife at East Railay. The place had changed dramatically in 6 months. There were new stalls and bars that weren’t there the last time I visited.

There was also a coconut tree climbing competition where you could win a free beer if you could make it up to the top. A lot of people tried the “hugging” technique but didn’t have the staying power to make it to the top. Thin Man made it up using his climbing shoes and scored himself a free beer.

Here are the photos from the trip:

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Since I started back on my pilates classes at Fitfor2, I’ve noticed that my carpal tunnel syndrome seems to have eased up at night. I don’t know if there’s any correlation between the exercise, but I’ve also been sleeping a little better. For a while there, I was almost thinking of stopping my exercises altogether, but now I think perhaps I should continue to attend class after all.

Much against my body’s protest this morning, I attended another class and I’m glad to say that I do feel somewhat more energised after the workout. I think I will observe my progress this week and reassess whether to continue after Friday’s class.

I am thinking of stopping Yoga, though. As much as I’d like to think I still have it, I really think I’m kidding myself to think I’m up for one of Melissa’s class. Once again, I’ll see how I feel on Friday and decide then if I feel up for next Monday’s yoga class. It’s a pity that pilates is only running once a week. Today’s class was an exception because there were no yoga instructors to conduct the session so Joanne gave a pilates class instead.

Although it’s hard to imagine, I think my belly has grown since last Friday. It was brushing against the floor when I went into “child’s pose” in pilates this morning. I had to shift my position a little to accommodate the bump…

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I’m still attending my classes at Fitfor2 in Bangsar, although I did take a two week break over Christmas and the New Year when there were no classes. Yesterday was my first class after the long break. It was Pilates - the easiest of the lot, or so it ordinarily is. It certainly felt far from easy when I was performing the exercises yesterday.

I woke up feeling lethargic and listless, but I forced myself to attend. The usual “relaxing” stretches felt somewhat more taxing that I remembered. My hands were turning red from all the floor work and I wondered if it was the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) that was exacerbating it. I’ve signed up for Monday’s class - which will be another Pilates class just for next week - and for next Friday’s Pilates class. I think I will have to reassess after the next two classes whether to continue or to stop depending on how my hands feel.

Given how I felt during Pilates, I’m not sure if I will up be up for Yoga when classes recommence on Monday week.

I feel like my strength is diminishing as the weeks go by and I’m not quite sure how much of this to attribute to the pregnancy. I also hope that the reason I feel so weak and easily fatigued is because I’m carrying an extra 18kgs on my frame. I know the weakness in my arms is definitely due to CTS. I now wake up almost every night with pins and needles in my hands. At its worst, I can’t even make a fist. They say that this will return to normal after delivery. I hope so.

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