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Published: November 13th 2008
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Before getting down to business working on Koh Ra, we celebrated Halloween with a night of jungle mayhem. We had a total of 40 guests that boated to Koh Ra and stayed the night with a costume theme of favorite jungle or sea animal.
Awe (and friends) made a huge dinner for us. Then after filling our bellies with squid spaghetti, we all headed back to our respective bungalows to change into costume. We were so impressed with the creativity of the costumes (especially as costume-making resources are limited in Kuraburi). No costume shops here! Jarod and I had a bit of an advantage after getting to shop in Bangkok and Pattaya.
We had everything from Jungle Jane, Manta Ray Charles (a manta with the characteristic Ray Charles sunglasses), Neptune God of the Sea, a coral reef, Awe was an adorable pink squid, Kung Fu Panda and even a guy who painted his entire body red and wore a loin cloth to be an aborigine. In true eco-lodge spirit, he used an old piece of styrofoam collected from a beach cleaning as a boomerang.
I won first prize with a jellyfish costume fashioned from an umbrella, balloons, and
assorted streamers. It was great because when I was tired of holding it, everyone took a turn dancing underneath it. Jarod was a white-bellied sea eagle (using his own white belly showing through a cut out T-shirt) and had white wings and a hat made into a bill.
We all hiked up to the waterfall after sleeping in for a relaxing swim. It was a lot of work getting everything ready, but the party was a blast. We were sad to see everyone head back to the mainland, but happy that we got to stay on Koh Ra.
Jarod and I worked for the next 2 weeks with our WWOOF (Willing Worker on Organic Farms) volunteer George building a compost bin for kitchen waste, setting up a trash sorting system, building and filling a leaf collecting bin for the compost, soaking coconut mats from old mattresses for the garden. Jarod and I even planned, flagged, and cleared a trail for guests. We were quite proud of ourselves, but worn out as we cleared about a mile of trail with a rake and pulling weeds on our hands and knees. No petro used to make it though! 😊
Our evenings were quiet after eating meals with George and Pi Bao (our Thai handyman and boat captain). George has been teaching us to play guitar and we are all practicing our Thai with Bao. We settled into a busy routine. Not using the generator when we don't have guests, we would cook and clean from dinner before dark and be in bed by 7:30 or 8:00. One night, Jarod was working and Pi Bao left for the night, so George ( a vegetarian) and I had to figure out how to clean and grill a squid. It was pretty funny as I was sprayed by the ink several times. I have a lot to learn about Thai cooking!
We also have a quite a collection of stray dogs from a nearby Thai settlement. Kim and I have arranged for a vet to come and spay and neuter at least 6 dogs in December. We currently also have 3 adorable puppies that are residing on our porch at Bungalow #8. Cute but they cry at about 5:30 as the sun comes up. They seem to think I'm their mama. Hoping to raise some money to help pay for the
surgeries from visiting guests. Hopefully it will help. As usual, I have taken on the job of taking care of strays. I guess, some things never change. 😊
I have now seen 3 snakes on Koh Ra (none of them highly venomous) and 2 of them were in and around our bungalow! A group of about 8 Buddhist monks from Bangkok stayed a few days at Koh Ra and reported seeing a cobra! Yikes! There are plenty of spiders and scorpians about to keep things interesting too. It is a truly wild and beautiful place. There is a young water monitor that likes to sun on one of the bridges and we often watch macaques gathering crabs at low tide. Hornbills are everywhere too! Great place to see wild Thailand. We have been feeling like we have our own private island!
We are back on the mainland for a few days to take a break and use the computer before heading back for our first Reef Check group. We indulged in a few icecreams and Nutrageous candy bars from 711 yesterday! Big treat!
We were also just in time to see small town Kuraburi looking like an
amusement park and carnival with games and rides, shops and foodstalls. We celebrated the Thai holiday of Loy Kratong by watching lanterns go up and buying our own kratong (made from banana tree stumps, leaves, and flowers) to release into the river. We bought a nice one for Kim and Awe to release shaped like a heart. We made a wish, lit our incence and candle and set our little float off. Hopefully it will bring us good luck in the coming year.
"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind, and another, his mother called him WILD THING!" - Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…” Ralph Waldo Emerson
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