You could take it easy and mount the mountain slowly. Not my style though. Planning for the morning when it is not so hot, good running shoes and very little clothes, I managed to get below 23 minutes the last time I tried. But still a very humiliating experience:
At about 400 steps I passed a Thai family on the way up. Their 7 year old girl found the speed of the farang more exiting than the speed of the family, so she followed me. Always some 20 steps behind. Whenever I stopped to tug my lungs back into the inside of my body, she stopped too waiting for me to continue. Looking very much not tired, which made it all so much worse.
Finally I reached the top and half a minute later she came. She did look a little tired by now, which was very comforting. Until I saw her foot wear.
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