Everything has a time and a place. And as we know, we all have to move on sometime. Everyone has their time to leave a place, and this seems to be mine.
At least I'm not doing it alone. Some of my dorm sisters are coming along too - Mai and I will take the night train to Bangkok while Maike and Jessie will travel to a National park where Jessie used to live once upon a time. So at least the jeep to the ferry terminal is filled with my friends. We leave with laughter and girlish energy and lots of goodbyes to those staying behind. I have so enjoyed connecting with so many amazing females on this trip so far - it's been something really special.
The boatride from Thong Sala to Surat Thani, the mainland, is beautiful. It's hot hot hot and we hang our legs over the side and stare into the greeny blue mass of sea below. I would dive in if I could, I'm so dehydrated. It's PACKED though, with full moon partiers all trying to sleep off their hangovers in their fluoro shorts and wristbands. I'm so glad I didn't go - why would I leave for horrible Haad Rin when Haad Tien was so amazing and had incredible dance parties every week anyway? Beats me... after a while a few drops of rain fall on my page and my parched skin, and I welcome it fully until we pass under a particularly grey cloud and get soaked to the skin. It's actually quite cold for a while, but soon enough the boat moves away from the grey and we are wringing out our sarongs and hanging them out to dry, keeping an eye on our 'laundry' so it doesn't get lost overboard.
But all too soon, the boatride is over and I say goodbye to my German and Dutch sisters with the intention of reunioning in Holland with them in July. As I sit and write this on the bus to the train station, it begins to hit me what I am leaving behind. Tropical paradise. Morning yoga on my platform by the sea. Papaya and watermelon fruit salad with fresh orange juice. The Sanctuary and so many open hearted like minded souls. Meditations, all that sweating, evening time dancing at 'Spice' bar, Saturday morning dance parties. Letting the ocean soothe my myriad of mosquito bites. Amazing amazing conversations with near strangers (not strangers for long...), morning hugs, workshops, open mic nights, Tuesday films under the stars. My SISTERS! Our dorm. Those beautiful black and bright red millipedes that you have to be careful not to squash and the striking lone hornbill in the tree outside. Spending so much money on delicious Sanctuary cocktails. On my last night I help prop up the bar with the Norwegians and it's so good. So good. And then there are the jungle walks, the rainstorms, the full moon reflecting off the water...
My heart is so open, and now it aches some as I leave it all behind. I never learn; I will always be a dreamer and a romantic. I listen to The Beatles on my i-pod and wonder if I'll ever find a place like Haad Tien again. Rain falls outside and I feel so many things. Everything is beautiful. And no, I'm not 'on' anything besides the prana in my charging heart. It's charging full power. I really feel like I will visit this place again soon. It justs feels too damn good not to. But as for now, there is stuff I gotta - and wanna - do, like visit my lovely friends in Saigon via a trip to Cambodia. There is much to look forward to. I'm just glad I went to Haad Tien first, so now I'm carrying this energy inside with me as I go. I have a feeling that everything is going to work out just fine...
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The People in My Neighbourhood
So, time to talk about some of the people I'm staying with in order to fill in some of the gaps.
I am staying in the 'Zorba' dormitory for 300 baht a night. This seems like a lot to stay in a dorm and it is I guess, but I love it. For a few days the people in the dorm don't change too much and it begins to feel like a family. There are 15 beds I think, and at one stage we are all women but for one lovely Dutch man, Ben, a gentle soul who doesn't seem to mind us sprawling over his mattress to talk to his neighbours and doesn't bat an eyelid at our various states of undress. We make jokes about the dorm being a harem, but really, there's never any question of it being anything other than awesome. He is the most unlikely harem dweller anyway!
I am connecting with so many beautiful women - must be something in the air at the moment. My closest friends of the moment are in the same room. I meet Maike first, a blonde blue eyed osteopath from Hamburg who is also one of the happiest people I've met in a long time. She is also an amazing therapist, giving me three sessions of cranio-sacral osteopathy which completely blow me away. Malibu Coke is her drink of choice and I love dancing with her. Then there is Jessie, all Dutch and cool and calm and wise, with beautiful eyes that remind me of a good friend from New Zealand. We plan a dorm reunion at her place in Zeeland for July, as all of the ladies are Eurpoean except me, and I will be there at that time anyway. Bring it on I say!
Mia sleeps next to me and boy does she wake up early! Born in Madagascar, she lived in France for a long time but now resides in London and came over here spontaneously with 500 pounds, which sounds likea lot but doesn't actually go too far here in Haad Tien where things are so much more expensive. I've already given up caring however, as this place is so incredible I would continue to do so for a while longer... Across from Mia is Mai - all these M names! - and she is from Antwerp in Belgium. Mai is fun and always bouncing around with lots of energy and movement and brown bouncy locks that sprawl over her pillow in the morning like tentacles. She speaks Flemish, which goes well in this dorm room as Carolien is the third Dutchie along with Ben and Jessie. She has been fasting for 5 days and just begins to eat again before I leave. She does so with absolute glee! We seem to have similar taste in music also as she plays the same Bon Iver songs I love and introduces me to Bonobo - they are great!
So, those are the coolies in the dorm in which I live... there are others of course but I don't see them so often... Fabienne from Switzerland, Joanna the Engish girl with the incredible smile and Liz from Ireland who has the most amazing Maori tattoo I've seen in a while. In another dorm, the louder one above the Sanctuary restaurant, resides Laaura, another Londonite all long and lithe and beautiful. Seems to be a lot of Dutch and a lot of English at this time, and so many of them blonde! Go the blondes! I'm loving it... Laura gives me her pink shawl to wear in a rainstorm because foolishly, I have absolutely nothing warm to wear - wasn't really counting on thunderstorms, but they are beautiful so I don't mind. Erika is another beautiful blonde who lives in London, although she hails from Sweden originally. She is a life-coach and runs an incredible fre workshop about manifesting what you really want in life. We all sit around while it pours down outside and sip chai while we concoct sacred symbols to bring change into our lives. It is a powerful session actually, and I go out buzzing with good feelings about everything in particular.
Kari (previously referred to as Carrie) is yet another blondie, a yoga teacher from Norway & I meet her on my first evening when she is looking smokin' in a gorgeous red dress. I connect with her straight away and we talk about yoga whilst drinking cocktails. I love this abaility to balance a yogic life with a little bit of the party lifestyle also. It's important to me. Balance, you know? I may have mentioned already, but Kari gives Maike and I two amazing yoga sessions in which she rubs tiger balm into our temples while we lay in savasana and sings prayers to end the sessions. With the waves crashing below us on the yoga platform by the sea, it's truly blissful.
Fleassy hails from Brighton and is travelling around the world without taking planes, something which I admire lots. She's a muso and a truly ruling performance poet and runs body percussion workshops. I jump up on stage with her workshop crew for open mic night and we have something of an impromptu jam. It's fun. She's on her way to New Zealand eventually and I know she will meet many of my friends. Exciting!
Okay, so that's some of the sheilas (ha ha, don't mind the New Zealand-ism) I have met. I do meet some great fellas as well, although it's really the ladies I'm making deep connections with. But Sebastian, an English-German psychologist, and Will from Ireland are the first guys I meet. They are fun and always up for going out, although I refrain from doing so for a whole week due to my self-imposed yoga routines. Once the weekend comes I have a few drinks and it's great. These two nights are spent at 'Spice', an absoltuely beautiful resturant / bar which ticks all of my boxes - amazing smells, decor, food, tunes, staff... Curly haired Stu reminds me so much of my friend from Brighton that I am convinced that they must know each other (they don't). He bartends with Aaron who I have fun singing with and has heaps of New Zealand music on his computer which I get kinda excited about. And then we have Adam, a New York stand up comedian who hosts the open mic nights at the moment - a lovely guy. I first see Vincent on one of these open mic nights (well, my only open mic night to be honest - I wish I could stay for another one...). He plays lovely instrumental guitar and is an ex art-teacher so we have a great conversation in Spice about this as well as trying to sort out the world's problems in a night... good times.
There are so many other amazing people that this is but a few of them... I'm sad to leave this place after only 8 days and feel I could stay a lot longer, but this is how it is... I know I will be back one day though. It would be such a treat to get back up on that open mic stage again, and continue to prop up the bar with Kari and Edle, or to swim in the beautiful ocean with Maike after our morning yoga... sigh... but I move on. Onwards children! There is still more life to come...
I am staying in the 'Zorba' dormitory for 300 baht a night. This seems like a lot to stay in a dorm and it is I guess, but I love it. For a few days the people in the dorm don't change too much and it begins to feel like a family. There are 15 beds I think, and at one stage we are all women but for one lovely Dutch man, Ben, a gentle soul who doesn't seem to mind us sprawling over his mattress to talk to his neighbours and doesn't bat an eyelid at our various states of undress. We make jokes about the dorm being a harem, but really, there's never any question of it being anything other than awesome. He is the most unlikely harem dweller anyway!
I am connecting with so many beautiful women - must be something in the air at the moment. My closest friends of the moment are in the same room. I meet Maike first, a blonde blue eyed osteopath from Hamburg who is also one of the happiest people I've met in a long time. She is also an amazing therapist, giving me three sessions of cranio-sacral osteopathy which completely blow me away. Malibu Coke is her drink of choice and I love dancing with her. Then there is Jessie, all Dutch and cool and calm and wise, with beautiful eyes that remind me of a good friend from New Zealand. We plan a dorm reunion at her place in Zeeland for July, as all of the ladies are Eurpoean except me, and I will be there at that time anyway. Bring it on I say!
Mia sleeps next to me and boy does she wake up early! Born in Madagascar, she lived in France for a long time but now resides in London and came over here spontaneously with 500 pounds, which sounds likea lot but doesn't actually go too far here in Haad Tien where things are so much more expensive. I've already given up caring however, as this place is so incredible I would continue to do so for a while longer... Across from Mia is Mai - all these M names! - and she is from Antwerp in Belgium. Mai is fun and always bouncing around with lots of energy and movement and brown bouncy locks that sprawl over her pillow in the morning like tentacles. She speaks Flemish, which goes well in this dorm room as Carolien is the third Dutchie along with Ben and Jessie. She has been fasting for 5 days and just begins to eat again before I leave. She does so with absolute glee! We seem to have similar taste in music also as she plays the same Bon Iver songs I love and introduces me to Bonobo - they are great!
So, those are the coolies in the dorm in which I live... there are others of course but I don't see them so often... Fabienne from Switzerland, Joanna the Engish girl with the incredible smile and Liz from Ireland who has the most amazing Maori tattoo I've seen in a while. In another dorm, the louder one above the Sanctuary restaurant, resides Laaura, another Londonite all long and lithe and beautiful. Seems to be a lot of Dutch and a lot of English at this time, and so many of them blonde! Go the blondes! I'm loving it... Laura gives me her pink shawl to wear in a rainstorm because foolishly, I have absolutely nothing warm to wear - wasn't really counting on thunderstorms, but they are beautiful so I don't mind. Erika is another beautiful blonde who lives in London, although she hails from Sweden originally. She is a life-coach and runs an incredible fre workshop about manifesting what you really want in life. We all sit around while it pours down outside and sip chai while we concoct sacred symbols to bring change into our lives. It is a powerful session actually, and I go out buzzing with good feelings about everything in particular.
Kari (previously referred to as Carrie) is yet another blondie, a yoga teacher from Norway & I meet her on my first evening when she is looking smokin' in a gorgeous red dress. I connect with her straight away and we talk about yoga whilst drinking cocktails. I love this abaility to balance a yogic life with a little bit of the party lifestyle also. It's important to me. Balance, you know? I may have mentioned already, but Kari gives Maike and I two amazing yoga sessions in which she rubs tiger balm into our temples while we lay in savasana and sings prayers to end the sessions. With the waves crashing below us on the yoga platform by the sea, it's truly blissful.
Fleassy hails from Brighton and is travelling around the world without taking planes, something which I admire lots. She's a muso and a truly ruling performance poet and runs body percussion workshops. I jump up on stage with her workshop crew for open mic night and we have something of an impromptu jam. It's fun. She's on her way to New Zealand eventually and I know she will meet many of my friends. Exciting!
Okay, so that's some of the sheilas (ha ha, don't mind the New Zealand-ism) I have met. I do meet some great fellas as well, although it's really the ladies I'm making deep connections with. But Sebastian, an English-German psychologist, and Will from Ireland are the first guys I meet. They are fun and always up for going out, although I refrain from doing so for a whole week due to my self-imposed yoga routines. Once the weekend comes I have a few drinks and it's great. These two nights are spent at 'Spice', an absoltuely beautiful resturant / bar which ticks all of my boxes - amazing smells, decor, food, tunes, staff... Curly haired Stu reminds me so much of my friend from Brighton that I am convinced that they must know each other (they don't). He bartends with Aaron who I have fun singing with and has heaps of New Zealand music on his computer which I get kinda excited about. And then we have Adam, a New York stand up comedian who hosts the open mic nights at the moment - a lovely guy. I first see Vincent on one of these open mic nights (well, my only open mic night to be honest - I wish I could stay for another one...). He plays lovely instrumental guitar and is an ex art-teacher so we have a great conversation in Spice about this as well as trying to sort out the world's problems in a night... good times.
There are so many other amazing people that this is but a few of them... I'm sad to leave this place after only 8 days and feel I could stay a lot longer, but this is how it is... I know I will be back one day though. It would be such a treat to get back up on that open mic stage again, and continue to prop up the bar with Kari and Edle, or to swim in the beautiful ocean with Maike after our morning yoga... sigh... but I move on. Onwards children! There is still more life to come...
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Life at The Sanctuary... still in Haad Tien!
They do say that this is a place that you can never leave and it turns out to be true. Most people I meet have been here for at least a month, but I know I have only a week at the most as my flight to India leaves in two weeks or so. I curse my forward planning... I don't like being limited like this, but at least I can get a small taste of paradise so I know where to come back next time...
My life has pretty much been like this for the past week:
Awake around 7 for my own yoga practise on an aforementioned yoga platform overlooking the sea. Carrie, a new Norwegian friend offers to take a couple of free classes for Maike and I, which are really lovely. While we lie in savasana, she rubs tiger balm into our temples and forehead and sings prayers. SIGH - god it's nice to reconnect with yoga.... pure sattvic bliss!
After yoga, jump in the aqua sea. Make mental note to find out whether or not the baby blue jellyfish are poisonous or not.
Drink a juice or eat fruit salad and share life stories with some of the amazing women I keep meeting here. There are so many of them! And so many are blond as well for some reason - maybe cause most of them come from Holland, Germany or Norway... go figure...
Sunbathe in the pebbly sand
Eat Thai coconut soup / massaman curry / one of the delectable salads from 'The Sanctuary' menu
Climb hill back to dormitory for afternoon nap
Afternoon pilates class
Swim in the aqua sea again
Every evening there is something happening at The Sanctuary or surrounding guesthouses. There is "Mixed tape Monday" which is perfect for music junkies like me who take their i-pods in and play their favourite songs to other music enthusiasts. We hear some Russian bluegrass and Israeli gypsy tunes as well as local musos from Brighton, and of course, New Zealand...
On Tuesday we watch "Exit Through the Gift Shop" from a projector, lying under the stars. I've seen this documentary about Banksy and other graffitti artists before, but it's even better the second time around.
Wednesday... I'm sure there is something happening but I don't leave the dorm, instead having an amazing in depth conversation with my new sisters from Holland, Germany and Belgium.
Thursday.. open mic night. I'm loving it... I momentarily fall in love with someone called Lars who plays the harmonium... listen to Asaf play the melodica... play some songs myself... take part in a human percussion impromptu workshop on stage and listen to some 7 year olds tell jokes about cows. It's a great night...
And now it's Friday, the night of the weekly all night party in Haad Tien. No alcohol has touched my lips in a while now, so perhaps it's time to let loose with a Sanctuary mohito or two. So long as the music is good and the people are grooving, I'll be right in there. Full moon tonight also - bonus!
I don't know how I'm going to leave on Sunday... at least I have my ticket now... but there have been so many beautiful moments here, it will stay with me for a long time I know...
xxxxxx
My life has pretty much been like this for the past week:
Awake around 7 for my own yoga practise on an aforementioned yoga platform overlooking the sea. Carrie, a new Norwegian friend offers to take a couple of free classes for Maike and I, which are really lovely. While we lie in savasana, she rubs tiger balm into our temples and forehead and sings prayers. SIGH - god it's nice to reconnect with yoga.... pure sattvic bliss!
After yoga, jump in the aqua sea. Make mental note to find out whether or not the baby blue jellyfish are poisonous or not.
Drink a juice or eat fruit salad and share life stories with some of the amazing women I keep meeting here. There are so many of them! And so many are blond as well for some reason - maybe cause most of them come from Holland, Germany or Norway... go figure...
Sunbathe in the pebbly sand
Eat Thai coconut soup / massaman curry / one of the delectable salads from 'The Sanctuary' menu
Climb hill back to dormitory for afternoon nap
Afternoon pilates class
Swim in the aqua sea again
Every evening there is something happening at The Sanctuary or surrounding guesthouses. There is "Mixed tape Monday" which is perfect for music junkies like me who take their i-pods in and play their favourite songs to other music enthusiasts. We hear some Russian bluegrass and Israeli gypsy tunes as well as local musos from Brighton, and of course, New Zealand...
On Tuesday we watch "Exit Through the Gift Shop" from a projector, lying under the stars. I've seen this documentary about Banksy and other graffitti artists before, but it's even better the second time around.
Wednesday... I'm sure there is something happening but I don't leave the dorm, instead having an amazing in depth conversation with my new sisters from Holland, Germany and Belgium.
Thursday.. open mic night. I'm loving it... I momentarily fall in love with someone called Lars who plays the harmonium... listen to Asaf play the melodica... play some songs myself... take part in a human percussion impromptu workshop on stage and listen to some 7 year olds tell jokes about cows. It's a great night...
And now it's Friday, the night of the weekly all night party in Haad Tien. No alcohol has touched my lips in a while now, so perhaps it's time to let loose with a Sanctuary mohito or two. So long as the music is good and the people are grooving, I'll be right in there. Full moon tonight also - bonus!
I don't know how I'm going to leave on Sunday... at least I have my ticket now... but there have been so many beautiful moments here, it will stay with me for a long time I know...
xxxxxx
Haad Tien, Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand.
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...
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...
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Just a quick update...
Sawadee Kaa! From Ko Pha Ngan... this is just a super quick update to say I won't be writing anything until I get back to Bangkok as email is so ridiculously expensive here - about 9 NZD an hour!!! Insane-ness... but as we are on a private beach I guess they can charge what the hell they want as there is nowhere else to go... so more from me soon! xxxx
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Kickin' back in Bangkok
Bangkok smells exactly as I remember: slightly rancid. Sour milk comes to mind for some reason, or something else unwashed. Although of course it depends which alleyways you wander down. In the more bohemian quarters of Khao San, incense wafts alongside an array of Indian-esque tunes, which is music to my ears compared to the hideous blockbusters blaring at top volume from various cafes next door; ones I will never visit. Then there are the food smells: Pad Thai sizzling on hotplates all along the main touristic drag, or deep fried stick insects behind the temple area where I'm staying. And as soon as you step onto the roads of course, you can't escape the exhaust fumes fighting to be sniffed. Most people learn to assertively charge on across the road, otherwise they'd be waiting there and getting tuk-tuked at for a looong time.
After a longwinded, sleepless journey (two plane rides separated by a layover) I am refreshed almost straight away by an incredible hour long massage from a place right next door to my guesthouse (how convenient!). For a mere 8 bucks (200 baht) it feels pretty damn swell, and it hits me that I have ARRIVED. Finally! I had been feeling somewhat anxious on the plane and perhaps purposeless, wondering whether or not it was enough for me to just drift in Asia for a while. Now that I'm here I know that my answer is... YUSS! And not even purposeless, but opportune and a perfect chance for me to get back into yoga, meditation, papaya juices and all the other things that make me my strongest bestest self, but that for some reason or another I have neglected over the past few years (all my own doing I might add).
After my massage it strikes me I haven't eaten anything since my questionable in-flight dining experience of lentil and potato mash, so I decide to wander down the drag to see whether May Kai Dee's vegetarian oasis is still running from the same premises. After all, some things do change in seven years - there is no longer a free internet cafe on the corner, although the sign is still there and when I enquire about it, an Israeli dude from a travel agency gives me free internet anyway, bless him. But back to the story - I am in luck! At May Kai Dee's the food is even better than I remember and I'm soon too full of a carrot salad with an unidentifiablly delicious dressing and a coconut, seaweed and seitan (mock meat) curry. Yuuuummmm! Along with a papaya, guave and watermelon juice mix it pretty much tops my day off and I venture back to the Bella Bella Guesthouse almost ready for bed to find out it's only 4.30 Blimmen jetlag...
So I think I'll go to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow on the night bus and beach it up for a spell. After another massage of course - the best 200 baht I could think of spending. Already my body is thanking me after a couple of years of being pretty much ignored! So bring on the health kick... although I am tempted by the cafe fridges full of Chang beers, they will just have to wait. Yoga, yoga, yoga...
xxxx
After a longwinded, sleepless journey (two plane rides separated by a layover) I am refreshed almost straight away by an incredible hour long massage from a place right next door to my guesthouse (how convenient!). For a mere 8 bucks (200 baht) it feels pretty damn swell, and it hits me that I have ARRIVED. Finally! I had been feeling somewhat anxious on the plane and perhaps purposeless, wondering whether or not it was enough for me to just drift in Asia for a while. Now that I'm here I know that my answer is... YUSS! And not even purposeless, but opportune and a perfect chance for me to get back into yoga, meditation, papaya juices and all the other things that make me my strongest bestest self, but that for some reason or another I have neglected over the past few years (all my own doing I might add).
After my massage it strikes me I haven't eaten anything since my questionable in-flight dining experience of lentil and potato mash, so I decide to wander down the drag to see whether May Kai Dee's vegetarian oasis is still running from the same premises. After all, some things do change in seven years - there is no longer a free internet cafe on the corner, although the sign is still there and when I enquire about it, an Israeli dude from a travel agency gives me free internet anyway, bless him. But back to the story - I am in luck! At May Kai Dee's the food is even better than I remember and I'm soon too full of a carrot salad with an unidentifiablly delicious dressing and a coconut, seaweed and seitan (mock meat) curry. Yuuuummmm! Along with a papaya, guave and watermelon juice mix it pretty much tops my day off and I venture back to the Bella Bella Guesthouse almost ready for bed to find out it's only 4.30 Blimmen jetlag...
So I think I'll go to Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow on the night bus and beach it up for a spell. After another massage of course - the best 200 baht I could think of spending. Already my body is thanking me after a couple of years of being pretty much ignored! So bring on the health kick... although I am tempted by the cafe fridges full of Chang beers, they will just have to wait. Yoga, yoga, yoga...
xxxx
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Coffs Harbour, Australia
It's getting near that time where I should really start writing properly. I've been on the road for a few weeks now, in New Zealand until a couple of days ago, but all of that time has been spent with friends, reconnecting and celebrating, which didn't leave me much time for reflecting on the journey, so to speak...
So I'm in Coffs Harbour with my brother's family - Him, his partner and their two kidlets (2 1/2 and 8 months). Lovely family time, much humidity and hopefully some learn to surf lessons! Wooohoooo.... however, the writing is not flowing at all so perhaps it will take a trip to Bangkok and beyond (beginning next Wednesday) for that to occur... who knows?
In brief, here's what's been on my mind and in my consciousness lately...
Devastaed by the ChCh earthquake... all my friends safe which is an immense relief, but so sad for others losses... quite unbelievable really... a sad sad time... have cuahg tup with lots of old friends up and down the North island which was amazing... went to a beautiful love-fest of a wedding in Raglan which was truly inspiring and an amazing place from which to leav Aotearoa ( I flew out the following day). I feel like I've fitted a lot into the last few weeks which has been awesome... I'm just getting back into writing so at the moment my words are sporadic and somewhat unflowing. This too will pass. I better go, not because it's late, but because I'm bound to be woken by an eager 2 1/2 year old with armloads of stories in the morning, bless....
Much love everyone
xxxx
So I'm in Coffs Harbour with my brother's family - Him, his partner and their two kidlets (2 1/2 and 8 months). Lovely family time, much humidity and hopefully some learn to surf lessons! Wooohoooo.... however, the writing is not flowing at all so perhaps it will take a trip to Bangkok and beyond (beginning next Wednesday) for that to occur... who knows?
In brief, here's what's been on my mind and in my consciousness lately...
Devastaed by the ChCh earthquake... all my friends safe which is an immense relief, but so sad for others losses... quite unbelievable really... a sad sad time... have cuahg tup with lots of old friends up and down the North island which was amazing... went to a beautiful love-fest of a wedding in Raglan which was truly inspiring and an amazing place from which to leav Aotearoa ( I flew out the following day). I feel like I've fitted a lot into the last few weeks which has been awesome... I'm just getting back into writing so at the moment my words are sporadic and somewhat unflowing. This too will pass. I better go, not because it's late, but because I'm bound to be woken by an eager 2 1/2 year old with armloads of stories in the morning, bless....
Much love everyone
xxxx
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