My Ko Pha Ngan experience really begins with a boat ride. Of course, I could talk about the 18 hour bus/boat/jeep journey to Haad Rin, but it's best left forgotten I think, particularly as I'll have to do it all over again to get back to Bangkok soon. And Haad Rin itself is best left forgotten - the sheer amount of beauty lost in the strips of beachside nightclubs promising to "fuck you up on a bucket". A 'bucket' is just that - a bucket of red bull, whiskey and coke, drunken through straws by willing participants. Something I took part in in my first trip to Thailand many years ago, but nothing I want to be part of now.
BUT across from the grossly over-developed Haad Rin beach lies an island paradise at Haad Tien. You can get to it by boat or by road - and as I'm by the sea, my choice is obvious. After unsuccessfully trying to lower the sea taxi price for about 3/4 of an hour with two Frenchies, we all give in and decide to suck it up and pay the extra 100 baht each as we're all dying for a shower after our insanely long journey from Bangkok. Turns out we don't even have to wait until we get there, as the waves are intense and soak us all. I'm mostly loving it, besides the jolting of my tailbone everytime the boat rises and falls, CRASHING into the waves. The two Thai sailors are laughing their heads off, deliberately tipping the boat to scare us, saying "you pay extra for free shower!". It's pretty funny, but we're all glad when we get there, throwing our luggage and my guitar overboard onto the sand and preparing to find somewhere to stay.
I check into "The Sanctuary", an upmarket guesthouse with an emphasis on fasting / detoxing / yoga / tantra / meditation... along with a bar menu with expensive cocktails too! Such are the contrasts on this island - some come to drink clayshakes and analyse what comes out of their colonics (I'm serious! Once you meet the fasters, expect to be drawn into a conversation about their poos!) while others are buying drugs from the dodgy guy down the road and partying all night, every night. Ah well. I've already decided I'm here to reconnect with yoga, so I pay 300 baht to stay in a dorm room and accept that I'm going to be spending a lot more money here than I would usually. You get what you pay for I guess... it sure turns out to be worth it anyway, although I just don't know it yet...
The dorm is lovely, and soon I meet my first friend Maike from Hamburg, Germany. She shows me around the island and we drink our first smoothies from the impressive (and expensive) Sanctuary menu. Hhmmm.. for some crazy reason I choose spirulina, cucumber and mint and it's pretty disgusting actually... I'm laughing at myself and my self-imposed health kick.
I have this 'moment' while Maike and I are exploring the coconut palm fronded island. We discover a yoga platform overlooking the sea where waves throw themselves onto huge rocks below, and I get the feeling that THIS IS IT!!! This is life and it's beautiful, and I've waited so long for this trip, and I feel that I always want life to be this beautiful, wherever I am... and that we all DESERVE to live lives as wonderful as this... I have a similar conversation about this later at a table with some new friends, crosslegged and eating our curries, the ocean in the distance providing the perfect soundtrack to our evening. As we eat, a Californian gypsy comes over and impresses us with his magic tricks, turning a red ball into three while it's inside my closed fist and I have no qualms about reaching into my wallet to help pay for his dinner. I admire his ingenuity, and remember that this will be me in a few months on the streets of Europe, singing for my supper...
My first day coming to an end, I drag my aching tailbone off to an early bed, crawling under my mosquito net and listening to the rhythmic breathing of all the other bodies in the dorm, each with their own story. I feel completely safe here, and comforted, and at home...
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