Railay Number 4 - Princess Lagoon
As the morning sun starts to bake the red earth of these hills, we set out. Clasping rock and rope, we embed our digits into this land as the mud embeds beneath our finger-nails. I am shoeless and bare chested, to let the clay paint my skin with the story of this journey. This climb is not about a summit, but an isolated depth, an interior sea-level inside this peninsula's ribcage . So we re-descend the steep trachea walls, and listen to the breathing path whistle and giggle in playful respiration. If you are fascinated with the echo of this palaeolithic chamber, that vocal selfie-stick, the waters of the lagoon will freeze in interrupted stillness, shy of the volume of trespassing tourists. But, if you listen in silence, long enough for your feet to sink beneath the surface the heart beneath the water begins to beat, and the lagoon will rouse unto its pious dance, with darting fish, red-breasted birds and