Tuk tuckered out

Sad to leave this restaurant behind, we went to the jungle kitchen every day.

Another typical day in Ao Nang for us today, not much excitement. We had until 4:30pm to do as we please, then we were off to Bangkok. The evening came around a lot faster than expected and all of a sudden the minibus was out side the door waiting for us to get on. This minibus drove us to the same waiting station that we were brought to when we first arrived to Krabi, once here we had to wait 1 hour to be able to get onto the big bus. That hour just about felt like a lifetime, just like everything else these days with this old and dumb back injury that resurfaced about a week ago. 

BBQ flavoured banana chips??

When I was deep into snowboarding I was doing some tricks in the park and one time I was going too fast, slipped and hit my tailbone straight onto a rail. After this incident I wasn't able to play sports for a while and nothing or no one seemed to be able to help me with this pain, a few months past by and it just healed itself. I didn't have anymore back pain for a long time until a few years ago I was at my crossfit gym in Aurora, ON and we were doing the fit test which one of the exercises was max effort consecutive pull-ups. I was one pull-up away from a personal record, which basically meant that there was no fricken way I was letting go of that bar until I got one more. I was clearly very determined but this was one time that I wish I would have just gave up, I went for that last rep and on my way up my hands slipped right off like there was oil on the bar. 

It may not have been as bad if I would've been on a lower bar but of course I was on the high bar and I had used a 20" box to get up to this bar, so when I slipped I fell about 4 feet onto the box I used to get up. The lower right side of my back hit the corner of the box, followed by my body slamming the ground and leaving me unable to move for a good 20 minutes. When I finally got up with the help of my fellow crossfitters I tried to walk and this previously simple task wasn't so simple anymore...to say the least I was pissed. I was mainly mad that I didn't get that last rep and also because I knew that the crossfit open workouts (annual competition) were only 2 short weeks away and here I was walking bent to one side to try to relieve the pain that I felt when I stood up straight.

Just a itty bitty spider under the sink...

This pain stayed with me for a good week or so, prevented me from doing something as simple as sitting or laying down. Thankfully the following week I got better and was able to compete, maybe not at my full potential but it was better than nothing in my eyes. All to say that since this happened I back hasn't quite been the same, although it didn't stop me from doing anything after that one week of pain. But now for some reason since about a week ago it's only gotten worse and it feels like it originally did when I first fell, it doesn't make much sense to me that it would just come randomly come back like this. It has definitely slowed down our travels and it really sucks because we've wanted to do some fun stuff like kayaking and we can't because I have a hard time just walking up straight. I'm left unsure as to what to do about this now but I can only hope that it will go away soon so I can get back to being myself (I don't think Vee enjoys not being bugged every second of the day..;)).

View from the Tuk Tuk as the sun was rising in BKK.

Once on the big bus we were on there for about 2.5 hours then as usual the bus stops on the side of the road and the driver tells everyone to get off without telling us what's going on. From previous experience we knew that more often than not the bus fills up rather quick and sometimes some passengers are either left without a seat or force to make one up. Even by letting Vee deal with the bags and me going ahead to secure us some seats, we weren't quite fast enough, pretty much all the seats were taken, I ended up next to a snoring old man and Vee had to go to the lower cabin and sit in a non existent seat. To make matters even more enjoyable Vee had no head rest, she was in a middle seat which left her unable to move, the driver was smoking in his cabin and it was creeping through the cracks right to her and the was a noisy baby in the vicinity that wouldn't let her fall asleep. This bus ride was only 9 hours long though so it's not like it was long or anything... After 6 hours of uncomfortable on and off sleep, some passengers got off in Hua Hin so we were able to snag some seats together for the last 3 hours.

Riding in the Tuk Tuk, which did not help my back at all since these dudes drive like maniacs.

Vee and I made a family decision that that was by far the worst bus ride yet, only to arrive in Bangkok at 5:30 am and grab a Tuk Tuk (bike/car) that didn't know where he was going which took us another 45 minutes to get to our hostel. When we finally got there we were so tired and irritated at this point and although it felt good to put down our heavy bags, we couldn't check in until 2pm. Well this is where we're at now still waiting to check in.

A bientot,

Janelle Brine