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Published: December 3rd 2007
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Bungalow Living
Tanis and I have completely given up on wearing anything other than sarongs, they really are the way to go. I really feel like I have planted my feet into the traveling thing now. I'm not afraid to walk around town from Hostel to Hostel till I finally find somewhere that has a fair price and a good lock, (and its a good workout walking around with all that weight in my bag). I've sure made my way around Southern Thailand now and it has been a blast!
After Patong we went to Phangan for a week. We found ourselves a cute little Bungalow along the water and met some locals, who introduced us to the resident 'traveler's that never actually leave the Island...there is always another party tomorrow. For those that don't know, Phangan is where the Full Moon Party happens, crazy beach party, drinks are served in buckets where instead of measuring the alcohol they pour the whole mickey in. What we didn't know is that it is actually a beach party EVERY night on this beach. we arrived on Tuesday and by the time the Full Moon arrived on Saturday, we were about finished with the Beach party scene. we had a wicked time though and met a ton of other travelers. We did some hiking, were
The shoe circle
Dancing at the Beach Parties, you take you sandals off and put your bucket down, like a purse circle at the bar, lol. eaten alive by giant mosquitoes, rented a jeep and attempted to drive around the Island to check out the waterfalls....and if you ever think you have been 4 wheeling in BC, try again, the actual roads here are way crazier than anything I have seen back home.
After drinking ourselves silly with buckets, we headed over to a neighboring island, Kho Tao to do some diving. We signed up for the Open Water Course and spent the next 4 days swimming with the fish. Diving was such an amazing experience, a little weird adjusting to the mask and the equipment at first, but it really was magical to be floating around and staring fish in the eyes.
The day that the course finished, I hurried myself over to Champon to catch a train to Chaiya, which was 10 km from the Buddhist Meditation 'Retreat' I wanted to try out. After the fastest catamaran ride I have ever been on, (was pretty insane going that fast over the water, never mind it was a crazy wind storm) I rushed to the train station to find out what time it left for Chaiya and decided I would take the early train, (5am) instead of showing up in Chaiya at 10 pm pitch black, not knowing where I was going to stay, (your welcome Mom and Dad). I got a room at the sweetest little guest house and just as I fell asleep, my alarm to head to the train went off. Finally making it to Chaiya after first getting onto the wrong train and almost missing the right one, I now needed to get myself to the monestary. As soon as you leave the train station the are sitting there waiting for you, Pharan dollars they are thinking (pharagn is foreigner in Thai). The Tuk Tuk drivers all fight to give you a drive but they don't want to give you a deal. Walked into town a bit to meet another Canadian heading to the retreat and we grabbed a taxi together. The taxi ended up taking us about 20 minutes too far and then kicked us out on the side of the highway as he had other passengers that WERE going that way, (like it was our fault he missed our stop). We finally arrive in Suan Mok with the help of some helpful locals and register for the "Retreat', and this is the last time I am going to refer to it as that as I will now call it what it was.....Meditation boot camp! They woke us up at 4 am, we meditated and then did yoga till 8, when they fed us our first meal, a yummy concoction of rice soup.....not so yummy when that is all you get, EVERY morning. The rest of the day we either did standing mediation, sitting or if we were really lucky, walking meditation (I hope you can feel the sarcasm). Oh and did I mention it was a Silent retreat, we were only fed twice a day and our beds were a piece of wood with a WOODEN PILLOW!!! They did give us a real treat by providing a mosquito net, hahaha. Needless to say, when I realized that I can't sit cross legged for 17 hours a day I high tailed it out of there. (Andrea, kudos to you for sticking it out, you must have some very limber thighs).
So now I am in Sumui which I was told isn't the best of the 3 islands but I decided I might as well check it out. I met a fun Canadian girl that has lived in Thailand for 6 years so we came over together. I am going to make a plan to get myself to Cambodia as my Thai Visa runs out on the 13th.
Hope all is well back home and you are all enjoying the white blanket which I hear has recently covered home.
ps My camera was stolen out of my bag in Phangan so I will try and steal some pics from Tanis or Erik to post with this blog.
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