Full Moons and lazy beach days

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Where to start....



I think I'll start where I left off, the King's Birthday. Some may remember me making claims that I would treat myself like the King for a day, well, I did. For lunch Sarah and I ate at a bakery right outside out bungalow (lunch at like 3: pm.) At dusk we watched the sun set from "sunset" beach. There we lit some candles and inscense, for the king of course. Afterwards, I met up with some friends who we had been partying with for the few days we had been there. One girl from Finland, Sari, and another from Barcellona, Bart, (or Bartcellona as he called it), and a dude from Surrey in British Columbia. Together we went to a restraunt Sarah and I had been eying down. This place had live shark on ice in front of it. We both ordered up a shark steak and waited patiently. Shark. I'd say it lies somewhere between cod and chicken, which is right up my ally, because I'm not the biggest sea food fan. Sarah claimed it was a bit dry, but the sauces, oh the sauces! Tereyaki...peppercorn...chilli sauce...gravy...and more gravy! They more than compensated. We were served a baked potato and a salad on the side, which rounded out the meal nicely. We finished out meal and took to the beach. Now, that day being the King's birthday meant no alcohol was being served. So, when we finished our meal at almost 12 oclock in the evening, we decided to head to the beach to see how the party was shaping up. It wasn't. There was no music, a few buckets being served, and after about 15 minutes it began to pour. I have never seen so many people vacate an area so quickly. I thought it was a good turn of events. It built the anticipation for the next night, and changed things up from your typical dance all night evening. Sarah, Myself, Bart, and Sari hung out that evening chatting. But the next day......

Rain. I awoke to rain. A bad sign for the party people. The mood was mellow among the people in haad rin and there were many nay sayers. However, I wasn't about to be dismayed by the weather, and instead embraced it by lounging in my shorts and swimming all afternoon. By the evening it cleared, and Sarah and I walked down to what was known by a few as "Canadian Corner." I had a Chang. Then split a bucket. Oh, right, a bucket. A bucket is a sandcastle pale filled with a mickey (12 oz) of thai whiskey (Sang Som), a can of coke, and a vile of red bull (original thai red bull.) Quite the combo. There were probably close to 8 thousand people on the beach partying that night, which was absolutely amazing to experience. I recall walking down to the beach and being able to "feel" the party before I stepped on the beach. This was an increase of about 8x from a few nights before. Other than that it was just a party, people stumbled, people laughed, people drank, and people danced.....but maybe there were a few memorable moments......

None of which are appropriate for this blog unfortunately.

We danced all night and sleep finally came to me after a shnitzel munch out at 9:30 in the morning. The next day, I awoke feeling quite good. There were signs saying no swimming, but everyone else was doing it! So I did too. Ahhhhh, so refreshing, until 5 foot waves slam down upon you, tossig and turning you, until you wash up on shore with a bigger head ache than you started with. But I was still feeling good. I tried to wake up Sarah to come have Pad Thai, and it eventually worked. Delicious Pad Thai I must say. Pad Thai, have I mentioned it? It's like the Thai staple, like their bread and butter. Noodles, sometimes some egg, toss in some bean sprouts for good measure, and if you want have some meat in there. Right, so it was delicious, I think I'm getting good at spotting these authentic thai eateries.
I think there was a nap in there somewhere. Probably some petting of the puppies that lived near our bungalow. The mama was so cute, but these puppies, probably no more than 2 months old where soooo cute as well. I think my favorite might have been the biggest one. He'd push around all the others, but when I was around, I'd show him who was boss. He liked it. The next day, we decided, was a good time to leave Haad Rin.

(As a side note, after I left Haad Rin, I talked to a french girl who made a very good point. She was in disgust of the atmosphere of Haad Rin, and here is how she explained it.
"The people there, they just wanna f*ck, they want to f*ck each other, the want to f*ck
the beach, they want to f*ck themselves up, they just f*ck it all up."
Her vulgarities create a true emphasis on the vibe these people give off while partying. There were many attitudes that I sincerely did not appreciate.)

We packed up, but where to go. I was thinking about leaving Ko Pha Ngan, I had heard a hurricane Durian was coming through (but it had already come, the one that did all that damage in Vietnam and the Phillapines), I had also head that the weather was going to be quite bad for the next week or so. But, I decided to stay. We read our lonely planets, sarah and I, and decided on a beach on the north west of the island called "Haad Salad." Now, I never had salad while I was there, but I appreciated it for a few things. One, our secluded bungalows at the end of the beach were truely a scenic sight when being viewed from the beach. Also, the sand was nice and the sun was out for the 2 days we were there. We found an abandoned bar at the point of the bay, and we enjoyed the calm waters (the opposite of the wavey waters of Haad Rin.) The food was okay, but we enjoyed a cashew chicken dinner one night. There were bunk moments as well. For one, forgetting my passport in my short pockets, and then handing them over in a pile of laundry. I'll consider myself lucky to have it in the shape it's in. Also, we wanted to use the internet, so we went to one of the shops in the town. She said she was closed, but she'd let us in for 20 minutes. So, she turns the computers on, says "msn doesn't always work" and leaves the room. Well, none of the internet works. Within a minute I'm off the computer. I figure since she went to the "effort" of turning on 2 computers, and since I might have used a minute or two, I'd say "Would you like a few baht?" (usually 2 baht per minute). Instead, she points at her sign reading, "minimum 20 baht." and she was insistant. Sarah chimed in, explaining how the internet didn't even work, but this lady would not budge. Haha, spontaniously the thai words, "Peng Mahk Mahk" came out, a way of saying very very epensive, and I gaver her the 20 baht. Our bungalow bathroom wasn't a fun place to bed. There was a large spider that looked over the place from dusk till dawn, he was then replaced each day by a lizard about 3/4 of a foot long. I preferred the lizard for several reasons.

1. He was not a spider.
2. No fangs. Only Tongue.
3. The spider didn't even have a web.
4. Tongues are good for catching mozzies.

Those are my reasons. I've never seen so many couples on one beach. If you are a couple (not a fake one like Sarah and I), a real couple, then you might like the scene here. Secluded, sandy, yeah, you just might like it. But we decided to leave. It was a good choice.

Haad Mae. For 100 baht a man in a truck would take us there. He offered me candy as we drove. Don't you remember? Never take candy from strangers. I forgot. Anyway, just as the candy was about to be popped in my mouth, I had a look down. Again, an ant infested treat! No thanks. I gave it over to him, he smiled, then popped it in his mouth. Gross. We arrived at Haad Mae a few minutes later. Nothing short of amazing. A cute little town that reminds me of a place called Shelter Point back in British Columbia. There are two beaches intersecting at a right angle, at that point, a sandbar stretches out to nearby island Ko Mah. We went out there last night when the tide was low and had a few drinks at their beachside bar. Other than that, we've been relaxing. We bought some snorkalling gear at some point and we went and checked out some of the marine life, which is quite active. Our bungalow costs us 3 canadian dollars a night, it's air tight (so no bugs) has a great fan and nice nice bathroom. Couldn't ask for more...but there's more. The people running the guesthouse are great and the food is fantastic. My plan was to leave today, but why. The weather is nice, our place is nice. So far I've done some reading, had some terrific home made onion rings, and walked up to a nearby waterfall. Tommorow though, I think tommorow I leave. Probably back to the mainland, a place called Surat Thani, then maybe over to the west coast. Either to Koh Lanta, or more likely a place called Krabi.

Hmmmmm...the little things. Hah, here's one: While boating over from the mainland to Koh Pha Ngan I met a german guy named Peter. When we first stepped on the boat we were approached by a guy claiming he had bungalows on the north of the island. I was almost sold, then I looked up and saw this dude (who later turned out to be my buddy Bart) shaking his head at me. Finally, I decided against this place, and chose to wait until we got to the island. I remember the guy saying "It's right on the beach" and Peter responding "How close?" Haha, well, we started talking with Bart, we waited at the docks on Ko Pha Ngan for a while, and eventually I got a hold of Sarah and we all went to Haad Rin. I saw Sarah's place, and for us to split it, we would be getting a great deal. However, Bart and Peter couldn;t work something out. Bart wanted Air Con and Peter wanted his beach bungalow Paradise. Peter eventually left. Seeming almost bitter. He called later that night and asked Sarah to possibly book a bungalow for him, cause he had to move out of his place the next day. Then that was it. No more peter for days. Then, at the full moon party, deep into the night, Bart and I saw him. Peter. Standing, alone, apparently very drunk. PETER! We yelled, smiles accross our faces. He almost didn't recognize us.
"what are you doing Peter?"
"I'm looking for my FRIENDS."
"We're your friends too Peter, remember us, Bart, Brodie."
"Yeah, I remember"

Anyway, Peter seemed a bit bitter, but I couldn't have been happier. He had found his beach paradise, and he had some friends there as well. Good for you peter!


Lets see....Oh right, on Haad Salad I went for a wander down the beach. There I spot a coconut. After some bashing and slashing I finally crack it open. I truely hope that isn't what all coconuts smell like, and that this one was rotten, cause that's the gross'st smell I've ever encountered. True story.

Here are the Thai people I've met: Dan (the lady who owned out bungalows in Haad Salad). and the people running our guesthouse: Led (guy), Tom (girl), On (girl) and Pim (girl, Led's wife) The bungalows are actually called Pim's Bungalows.

Ahhhhh Rambling. There truely is so much that happens, and so little remembered. I'll try to include some cultural insights in my next blog. There's many that get forgotten, or just plain overlooked since I've been here so long.

Well, I think this is it. I'm gonna go eat one of my favorite foods here: Fried pork and peanut sauce. Oh Yeah.

Till next time. Take Care.

P.S. I saw two crabs fight. Most intense fight ever.

p.p.s I promise I'll put some pictures up soon. I have some absolutely halarious ones.

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Comments

[dad and donna]

three more days to go
Hey Brodie.....great to hear you are having such a great time.....sounds like the party was out there.....we have three days left in our paradise....my god it is beautiful here...the wedding went off without a hitch all she ever dreamed of......a great time had by all...today we rest...tomorrow we are going on a cruise for the whole day to another Island to snorkel and see other sights.......just a tropical paradise.....well keep on having fun and we will be home soon .....stay safe .....Love Dad and Donna xox