Left Krabi late Friday morning the 14th and made it to Phuket several hrs later. The minivan I was traveling in took myself and some other travelers to a travel agency on the island. The largest in Thailand and connected by a bridge, they showed us a list of guests houses and accomodations to stay, mostly on the upper end. I had been thinking of staying in one of the more well known areas of Phuket on the western side, such as Patong Beach, but the prices they offered me were a bit more than I wanted to pay. I wound up getting a room in a guest house in Phuket City, located more on the southeastern section of the island. I still wound up paying a little more than I was hoping. However gets tiring after a while searching around trying to nickle and dime to find the cheapest place. I had been fortunate in Ko Phangan paying about $6 a night for my room, especially with it right off the beach.
I wasn't sure exactly where Sky and Soozie were staying on the island upon arriving but it turned out I was actually quite close to where they were staying. They were crashing in Sky's cousin's place who was living with his Thai girlfriend/fiancee. I talked to them a bit that evening and decided to meet up with them the next morning at the yoga studio where Soozie was guest teaching. She was teaching at a very nice upscale hot yoga studio in a mall called Central Festival, about 15 minutes from where I was staying.
Met up with them Saturday morning at a Starbucks beneath the yoga studio. Soozie was teaching an 11am and 4pm class on Sat and Sun. I decided to do the late afternoon class with Sky. In between then, we went on a ride to one of the local beaches in Phuket that had been devastated by the tsunami 3 yrs ago. While there was no residual damage left from the tsunami, that I could see at least, there were signs indicating tsunami zone as well as a marker indicating how high the water had been on that fateful day. Also appeared to be some towers with sirens to warn of incoming tsunami. I believe I read about 5000 tourists died in that particular tsunami.
Class at 4pm with Soozie was awesome. She is a very talented and devoted teacher and my body definitely needed the class. While I have been making an effort to practice on my own, it has been sporadic at times and it is still much easier practicing in a class room setting with other students. It's not always easy motivating myself to practice in the small guest rooms I have been staying at, squeezing my practice into a small cramped area. My body always feels so much better after practice, particularly my lower back which I have noticed lately has been getting a bit tight and achy from long busrides in cramped seats. My mind always feels much more peaceful and calm. I miss the daily yoga classes from over a month ago while practicing at Agama yoga on Ko Phangan. When I get to India in several months I will really get a chance to immerse myself in yoga and strengthen myself
After yoga the 3 of us went to a cool thai style seafood buffet. Basically one goes to a center area where all kinds of seafood and meat are laid out uncooked. No amazing cuts of expensive fish or meat were available, but one can take as much as they want. Once you grab what you want, u take it back to your table and cook it up yourself on a burner in the middle of the table. A really interesting concept that I had not seen previously in Thailand. Also an amazing price at $3.
Had a chance to finally trade massages with Soozie as well the night before I left. We had been meaning to trade for a while since meeting each other back in Denver several yrs ago. I would see her now and again in Denver at yoga, then she would be off out of town for a while. She had moved to Hawaii with Sky in the past yr to live. We didn't have a massage table or anything to practice on but managed on some sort of air mattress. She specializes in cranialsacral style massage, first time I had received it before. We only traded for about 45 mins apiece but I could feel that she has very good hands and really knows what she is doing. Look forward to trading with her again for a longer session.
Never made it over to Patong beach on the other side of the island, the most famous beach of Phuket having all the night life. Mostly heard that the beach is a bit dirty and overrated with all the mobs of people there. Otherwise I can pretty much imagine what it is like in regards to the night life, probably quite similar to Patpong in Bangkok with all the sex clubs and prostitutes available, although with more nightclubs for dancing. Figured I wouldn't really be missing out on too much by skipping on it. If it had been a bit closer to where I was staying perhaps I would have changed my mind. I didn't feel like traveling 30 mins or so by motorbike to get half drunk and then have to make my way back.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Krabi
Krabi was a cool and beautiful area I managed to stop in for about a day and a half. Was essentially on my way to Phuket to see Soozie and Sky but jumped on a bus taking me to Krabi, several hrs from Phuket. Got there around 6pm and found myself a pretty nice room. Just hung out for the evening and went riding my motorbike and walking around town. Not too much going on in the town except for the usual markets, some bars, and plenty of massage parlors. The best sights are outside of town including incredible rock climbing around the beach of Railey, as well as the touristy beach area of Ao Nang Beach. Also dozens of small, isolated islands including Ko Phi Phi, where parts of the movie 'The Beach' were filmed, and James Bonds island, where one of the James Bond movies was filmed. I rode my motor bike the next morning from the town of Krabi over to Ao Nang Beach, which took me about 30 minutes. The beaches were pretty nice, but extremely crowded compared to those on Ko Phangan. I would have liked to have gone for a swim but decided not to since I still have a bunch of small infections from mosquito bites and itching then swimming in the ocean every day. The bacteria in the water softens them up and makes it more difficult to heal.
Anyway, I decided to rent out a kayak from Ao Nang and paddle myself over to the beach of Railey to see if I could see any of the rockclimbing formations popular with climbers. While i paddled around some huge limestone formations and the scenery was incredible, I didn't see any areas teeming with rockclimbers, at least along my route over to Railey. Was still a great workout 90 minutes of kayaking by myself.
I would have liked to have paid one of the tour guides to go rock climbing, but since I was heading to Phuket the next day I didn't have any time to do so. Perhaps it is something I can do on a future trip to southern Thailand.
Anyway, I decided to rent out a kayak from Ao Nang and paddle myself over to the beach of Railey to see if I could see any of the rockclimbing formations popular with climbers. While i paddled around some huge limestone formations and the scenery was incredible, I didn't see any areas teeming with rockclimbers, at least along my route over to Railey. Was still a great workout 90 minutes of kayaking by myself.
I would have liked to have paid one of the tour guides to go rock climbing, but since I was heading to Phuket the next day I didn't have any time to do so. Perhaps it is something I can do on a future trip to southern Thailand.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Visa Run and Phuket
Left Ko Tao on the 11th of March on an overnight visa run to the Burmese border, across from the Thai town of Ranong. While a typically high speed boat takes about 2 hrs to reach the town of ________ from Ko tao, the overnight barge was very slow and took about 5 hrs or so. There were cots and other places, mainly on the floor, to sleep on the barge. I was one of the last persons to make it too the barge as I had been getting a thai massage and almost missed the boat. Supposed to leave at 11pm, I got there about 10:50 as it was untying its ropes. Nevertheless, I was able to find a spot on the floor crammed in with everyone and their bags and attempt to sleep for a few hours. Wasn't the most comfortable but definitely alot cheaper than the other options. As the overnight boat rides are quite cheap they attract the usual crowd of backpackers and Thais looking to save money and not spend a fortune.
Upon arriving at __________, myself and others doing the visa run were escorted to a minivan for the several hr drive then to the border town. Arriving there, we were further taking to a river and had to carefully walk through several boats to get to a boat taking ourselves across the river to the Burma side. The river was extremely wide and took about 20-30 minutes on a pretty shitty motor boat to make it to the other side. Here we were able to go to the Immigration or Consulatate office to get stamped for being in Burma. Could have stayed there 2 wks which would have been an interesting experience as the Burmese town, I'm not sure of the name, had a different kind of vibe to itself. Lots of peddlers there trying to sell super cheap Burmese whiskey, pills, opium, and all other kinds of assorted stuff. After making this run across the border we were taking back across the river back to Thailand and to the Immigration office to get renewed Thai Visas. I was able to get 60 more days good till mid Mid.
While most of the other travelers I was with were intending to head back to Ko Tao and Ko Phangan, I myself had other plans and intended to head down to see friends Soozie and Sky in Phuket. After getting our visas stamped I had the driver of our minivan take me to the bus station where I was going to grab another bus to head down south on my way to Phuket. Right as I was arriving at the bus station there was a bus just getting ready to pull out and go to Krabi, an area of Thailand renowned for its limestone cliffs, amazing scenery, rock climbing, and also not too far from Phuket. I decided to hop on this bus and was immediately back on the road again heading south to Krabi. This trip took about 6 more hrs for me before I arrived in Krabi. In essence, I had been either on a boat or bus for about 17 hrs straight since leaving Ko Tao the night before. Was great to be able to get off the seats and stretch out a bit. Found a taxi and was able which took me to a decent guest house for the night.
Upon arriving at __________, myself and others doing the visa run were escorted to a minivan for the several hr drive then to the border town. Arriving there, we were further taking to a river and had to carefully walk through several boats to get to a boat taking ourselves across the river to the Burma side. The river was extremely wide and took about 20-30 minutes on a pretty shitty motor boat to make it to the other side. Here we were able to go to the Immigration or Consulatate office to get stamped for being in Burma. Could have stayed there 2 wks which would have been an interesting experience as the Burmese town, I'm not sure of the name, had a different kind of vibe to itself. Lots of peddlers there trying to sell super cheap Burmese whiskey, pills, opium, and all other kinds of assorted stuff. After making this run across the border we were taking back across the river back to Thailand and to the Immigration office to get renewed Thai Visas. I was able to get 60 more days good till mid Mid.
While most of the other travelers I was with were intending to head back to Ko Tao and Ko Phangan, I myself had other plans and intended to head down to see friends Soozie and Sky in Phuket. After getting our visas stamped I had the driver of our minivan take me to the bus station where I was going to grab another bus to head down south on my way to Phuket. Right as I was arriving at the bus station there was a bus just getting ready to pull out and go to Krabi, an area of Thailand renowned for its limestone cliffs, amazing scenery, rock climbing, and also not too far from Phuket. I decided to hop on this bus and was immediately back on the road again heading south to Krabi. This trip took about 6 more hrs for me before I arrived in Krabi. In essence, I had been either on a boat or bus for about 17 hrs straight since leaving Ko Tao the night before. Was great to be able to get off the seats and stretch out a bit. Found a taxi and was able which took me to a decent guest house for the night.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Back to Ko Tao
Victoria and I left Ko Tao mid afternoon on Monday to make our way back to Ko Phangan. Tuesday we went and checked out a different yoga studio on the island called Pyramid yoga. High up on a hill with a nice walk through the woods to get to, I had heard that the yoga studio was in the shape of a pyramid and quite interesting looking. However, they must have several studios on their property as the studio we had class in was not quite the shape of a pyramid. It was still a very nice studio and it was amusing listening to a bunch of rustling in the roof, constructed of leaves and other natural components from the environment. A moment later a medium sized rat came bursting through onto one of the beams up high, making its way across the room and disappearing back into the roof. Also sitting up high in the beams were a couple of large sized geckos relaxing and perhaps waiting for a meal to come their way.
On Wed, after having packed up my two bags, I was on the road again and back up to Ko Tao. I really enjoyed my time there, and wanted to experience the island a little more and perhaps do the scuba certification. My first day there I returned to Shark Bay to snorkle but didn't have any luck in seeing a black tipped shark. The next day, Thursday, Victoria rejoined me on the island. I was unable to talk her into doing the scuba certification with me, but we still had a great time together for the next 4-5 days. I decided to postpone doing my own scuba cert. as I preferred to spend my time with her while holding off on the cert. The next day we went snorkling on Shark bay together. The coral reefs weren't as stunning on the bay as I had seen in other locations, but it was nice being in a new spot and antipicating what may come up next. We had swam out a distance when Victoria decided she wanted to head back to the beach. I swam out a little further then decided to make my own way back to the beach. Upon arriving back I found Victoria in a shocked state as she had the luck to have one of the black tipped reef sharks swim by her on her swim back. Still a bit shaken and trembling, she commented how it happened so quick as the shark cruised right by her, paying no attention to her whatsever.
While I went back to Shark Bay several times in the next times to press my luck in seeing a shark, I had no such luck as the weather was on and off rainy and windy during the next several days. The visibility was terrible and only in certain spots could one see much of anything. One other beach we visited that was quite nice was Tanote Beach on the eastern coast of the island. While not possessing a huge beach, the snorkeling was supposed to be great with more chances of seeing non-dangerous sharks. However, like Shark Bay, the visibility was not very great due to the weather of the past few days. I would love to go back to the beach on a day of clear visibility as areas of visilibility I did observe were quite nice.
Our last day together was on Monday as Victoria was leaving that afternoon. Waking up that morning I spotted one of the large thai centipedes crawling along the baseboards of the room. About 3 or 4 inches long with sizable legs, they are supposed to pack a nasty bite and be a bit venomous. Thanks goodness it hadn't made its way onto the bed. I snapped a few pics of it and swept it out the door and off the porch, safe distance from the door. We were praying for good weather and lots of sun as the previous days weather had been so erratic. We were blessed with a beautiful day and headed back to our favorite beach, Shark Bay. It appeared as nearly everyone else on the island had the same idea from having been couped up from the foul beach weather in recent days. We arrived at the beach around 10 am and it was still relatively free from people. However, by noon prime beach space became scarce due to the influx of beach goers. I felt like I was on the French Riviera or Miami Beach observing on the beautiful European women sunbathing and swimming topless. I felt very lucky myself to be sitting alongside Victoria, very beautiful herself but a bit modest to be walking around and swimming topless.
Later in the day I had to drive Victoria to the pier to drop her off on her way back to Ko Phangan. She only had about 3 days left in her trip before she had to head back to Munich. I felt very blessed to have met her and have been able to spend about 3 wks with her. I will always remember the times I had with her on Ko Tao and Ko Phangan. She totally made my stay more memorable and worthwhile and I was quite sad to be seeing her leave. We will keep in touch through email and perhaps I will get a chance in the future to visit her in Munich if I get a chance to make it too Germany.
On Wed, after having packed up my two bags, I was on the road again and back up to Ko Tao. I really enjoyed my time there, and wanted to experience the island a little more and perhaps do the scuba certification. My first day there I returned to Shark Bay to snorkle but didn't have any luck in seeing a black tipped shark. The next day, Thursday, Victoria rejoined me on the island. I was unable to talk her into doing the scuba certification with me, but we still had a great time together for the next 4-5 days. I decided to postpone doing my own scuba cert. as I preferred to spend my time with her while holding off on the cert. The next day we went snorkling on Shark bay together. The coral reefs weren't as stunning on the bay as I had seen in other locations, but it was nice being in a new spot and antipicating what may come up next. We had swam out a distance when Victoria decided she wanted to head back to the beach. I swam out a little further then decided to make my own way back to the beach. Upon arriving back I found Victoria in a shocked state as she had the luck to have one of the black tipped reef sharks swim by her on her swim back. Still a bit shaken and trembling, she commented how it happened so quick as the shark cruised right by her, paying no attention to her whatsever.
While I went back to Shark Bay several times in the next times to press my luck in seeing a shark, I had no such luck as the weather was on and off rainy and windy during the next several days. The visibility was terrible and only in certain spots could one see much of anything. One other beach we visited that was quite nice was Tanote Beach on the eastern coast of the island. While not possessing a huge beach, the snorkeling was supposed to be great with more chances of seeing non-dangerous sharks. However, like Shark Bay, the visibility was not very great due to the weather of the past few days. I would love to go back to the beach on a day of clear visibility as areas of visilibility I did observe were quite nice.
Our last day together was on Monday as Victoria was leaving that afternoon. Waking up that morning I spotted one of the large thai centipedes crawling along the baseboards of the room. About 3 or 4 inches long with sizable legs, they are supposed to pack a nasty bite and be a bit venomous. Thanks goodness it hadn't made its way onto the bed. I snapped a few pics of it and swept it out the door and off the porch, safe distance from the door. We were praying for good weather and lots of sun as the previous days weather had been so erratic. We were blessed with a beautiful day and headed back to our favorite beach, Shark Bay. It appeared as nearly everyone else on the island had the same idea from having been couped up from the foul beach weather in recent days. We arrived at the beach around 10 am and it was still relatively free from people. However, by noon prime beach space became scarce due to the influx of beach goers. I felt like I was on the French Riviera or Miami Beach observing on the beautiful European women sunbathing and swimming topless. I felt very lucky myself to be sitting alongside Victoria, very beautiful herself but a bit modest to be walking around and swimming topless.
Later in the day I had to drive Victoria to the pier to drop her off on her way back to Ko Phangan. She only had about 3 days left in her trip before she had to head back to Munich. I felt very blessed to have met her and have been able to spend about 3 wks with her. I will always remember the times I had with her on Ko Tao and Ko Phangan. She totally made my stay more memorable and worthwhile and I was quite sad to be seeing her leave. We will keep in touch through email and perhaps I will get a chance in the future to visit her in Munich if I get a chance to make it too Germany.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Ko Tao
On Sunday March 2, Victoria and I boarded a boat north to check out the small island of Ko Tao, world renowned for its coral reefs and scuba diving. After having been on Ko Phangan for the most part of two months, I was itching to get moving and visit some new places. Victoria had recently arrived 2 wks ago for yoga at Agama but had Sunday and Monday off from class and wanted to explore with me. We got ourselves a ticket for that morning and arrived on Ko Tao around 10 am, after a boat ride of a little more than 1 hr. Upon arriving at the main dock of the island and working ourselves through the usual melange of in your face and annoying taxi drivers and other associated solicitors, we made ourselves to a little restaurant to get something to eat and rent a motorbike. After inquiring with several scuba outlets about good coral reef and snorkeling spots on the island, they recommended heading to the southern portion of the island to several of the main bays, Chalok Baan Kao Bay and Thiang Og Bay, also referred to as Shark Bay.
Arriving at the beach, we walked around a bit, talking with some of the scuba diving schools and found ourselves a nice place to stay for the night. After settling in to our accomodation, we went out to the beach and had ourselves a nice swim and returned back to land where an awesome thai cuisine and seafood barbeque was starting up. We feasted for a bit and chatted with some others enjoying the BBQ. We decided not to drink too much that evening as we wanted to get up at a quality time the next morning and do some kayaking.
After breakfast the next morning we acquired ourselves a kayak and took off into the ocean on the way to Shark Bay. Within 10 minutes of paddling we managed to capsized the kayak and my snorkel set sank, along with VictorÃa's sunglasses. I was pretty annoyed as I had spent good money on the set and was planning on using them for a bit more. It was impossible to find the items as it had rained a bit lately and the water visibility was not great, in about 6 ft high water. Making it over to Shark bay around a bit of a peninsula called Ar Mae Rock took about 30 minutes. Shark Bay was beautiful and is known for having black tipped reef sharks swimming along the coasts not too far from the shore. There is also a chance for a rare sighting of sea turtles. As I didn't have my snorkel set I was unable to swim around snorkeling and observe the beautiful marine life under the surface of the ocean. However, shark bay made for good swimming and laying in the tropical sunshine. Having the kayak for about 4 hrs, eventually we had to make our ways back to the pier to catch our boat back to Ko Phangan in the mid afternoon. A very beautiful island with definitely a different feel and scene than Ko Phangan. Not as much of party or yoga scene like Ko Phangan, but essentially all about scuba diving, with dozens of companies promoting different levels of certification. The most basic certification offered is the 4 day Open Water Scuba Certification, going for about 9000 baht, or $300 US dollars. In addition, many of the schools throw in free basic lodging if you sign on with them. After graduating and receiving the certification, one is certified for life and can scuba anywhere in the world. The prices are then quite reasonable on Ko Tao for additional dives, with dives at the various sites around the island and region generally starting around $20-25 per 45 min-1 hr dive. After one completes the Open Water Scuba Certification they are also eligible to go on for more advanced scuba programs, including deeper sea diving, adventure diving, rescue diving, etc on way up to becoming scuba master and scuba instructor.
Arriving at the beach, we walked around a bit, talking with some of the scuba diving schools and found ourselves a nice place to stay for the night. After settling in to our accomodation, we went out to the beach and had ourselves a nice swim and returned back to land where an awesome thai cuisine and seafood barbeque was starting up. We feasted for a bit and chatted with some others enjoying the BBQ. We decided not to drink too much that evening as we wanted to get up at a quality time the next morning and do some kayaking.
After breakfast the next morning we acquired ourselves a kayak and took off into the ocean on the way to Shark Bay. Within 10 minutes of paddling we managed to capsized the kayak and my snorkel set sank, along with VictorÃa's sunglasses. I was pretty annoyed as I had spent good money on the set and was planning on using them for a bit more. It was impossible to find the items as it had rained a bit lately and the water visibility was not great, in about 6 ft high water. Making it over to Shark bay around a bit of a peninsula called Ar Mae Rock took about 30 minutes. Shark Bay was beautiful and is known for having black tipped reef sharks swimming along the coasts not too far from the shore. There is also a chance for a rare sighting of sea turtles. As I didn't have my snorkel set I was unable to swim around snorkeling and observe the beautiful marine life under the surface of the ocean. However, shark bay made for good swimming and laying in the tropical sunshine. Having the kayak for about 4 hrs, eventually we had to make our ways back to the pier to catch our boat back to Ko Phangan in the mid afternoon. A very beautiful island with definitely a different feel and scene than Ko Phangan. Not as much of party or yoga scene like Ko Phangan, but essentially all about scuba diving, with dozens of companies promoting different levels of certification. The most basic certification offered is the 4 day Open Water Scuba Certification, going for about 9000 baht, or $300 US dollars. In addition, many of the schools throw in free basic lodging if you sign on with them. After graduating and receiving the certification, one is certified for life and can scuba anywhere in the world. The prices are then quite reasonable on Ko Tao for additional dives, with dives at the various sites around the island and region generally starting around $20-25 per 45 min-1 hr dive. After one completes the Open Water Scuba Certification they are also eligible to go on for more advanced scuba programs, including deeper sea diving, adventure diving, rescue diving, etc on way up to becoming scuba master and scuba instructor.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Soozie and Sky
Feb 29 2008
Was able to see some friends from Denver on the island of Ko Phangan. Soozie and Sky had been staying in Phuket for 2 months staying at Sky's cousins place. Initially I had met Soozie several yrs ago after I had attended one of her yoga classes at corepoweryoga. Later on I was at Dana's bday party at Opal restaurant in Denver and bumped into her there and introduced myself. She is also a massage therapist, however we have not been able to find a time to trade with each other. In addition to living in Denver part of the yr, Soozie and Sky also live on the island of Hawaii. I attended one of Soozie's yoga classes last Dec several wks before I was to leave to Thailand and discovered that she and Sky were going to be in Thailand the same time I was.
We finally we able to meet up Friday night as they made their way over to Ko Phangan for the Halfmoon party in the jungle. Was great to be able to hang out with them and see some familiar faces from back home. The Halfmoon party was very cool. We arrived around midnight or so as crowds were starting to pile in. We stuck around for several hrs before deciding to head out, right around the time the party was pulling into full gear. The moon parties here really don't start peaking till around 2 or 3 in the morning. Anyway, several hrs were enough for me and I didn't really need to be partying on night long till dawn. I just winding sleeping too late the next day and wasting half the day.
Planning on making my way over to Phuket within the wk to see them. Soozie is teaching yoga classes at a studio in Phuket so looking forward to attending one of her classes. Probably won't stick around for too long as I have to do a visa run and then start heading on up to Chiang Mai to take some more thai massage classes from local teachers and masters. I had been planning to attend a very cool sounding thai masage workshop entitled 'Thai Massage meets Osteopathy'. However I recently received news that the workshop is waitlisted and I am number 12 on the list. I had no idea that the workshops fill up so quick. A bit disappointing but I will undoubably find other valuable classes and workshops to attend.
Was able to see some friends from Denver on the island of Ko Phangan. Soozie and Sky had been staying in Phuket for 2 months staying at Sky's cousins place. Initially I had met Soozie several yrs ago after I had attended one of her yoga classes at corepoweryoga. Later on I was at Dana's bday party at Opal restaurant in Denver and bumped into her there and introduced myself. She is also a massage therapist, however we have not been able to find a time to trade with each other. In addition to living in Denver part of the yr, Soozie and Sky also live on the island of Hawaii. I attended one of Soozie's yoga classes last Dec several wks before I was to leave to Thailand and discovered that she and Sky were going to be in Thailand the same time I was.
We finally we able to meet up Friday night as they made their way over to Ko Phangan for the Halfmoon party in the jungle. Was great to be able to hang out with them and see some familiar faces from back home. The Halfmoon party was very cool. We arrived around midnight or so as crowds were starting to pile in. We stuck around for several hrs before deciding to head out, right around the time the party was pulling into full gear. The moon parties here really don't start peaking till around 2 or 3 in the morning. Anyway, several hrs were enough for me and I didn't really need to be partying on night long till dawn. I just winding sleeping too late the next day and wasting half the day.
Planning on making my way over to Phuket within the wk to see them. Soozie is teaching yoga classes at a studio in Phuket so looking forward to attending one of her classes. Probably won't stick around for too long as I have to do a visa run and then start heading on up to Chiang Mai to take some more thai massage classes from local teachers and masters. I had been planning to attend a very cool sounding thai masage workshop entitled 'Thai Massage meets Osteopathy'. However I recently received news that the workshop is waitlisted and I am number 12 on the list. I had no idea that the workshops fill up so quick. A bit disappointing but I will undoubably find other valuable classes and workshops to attend.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
neighbor, cats, spider
Have another interesting neighbor next to me at Jinda Bay on Ko Phangan. She is a lovely Korean girl, I don't remember her name, who is visiting the island and heading back to Korea within the week to resume her studies in Economics. Only 23 yrs old, she is here by herself and has already traveled to around 30 countries in her short time. She has already been to India 3 times, twice by herself, as well as many of the middle eastern countries. I was able to persuade her to check out the yoga center and take in some classes. The 2nd day she was here she decided to walk to the yoga center and back in the morning, a 3 or 4 mile walk each way. Then in the afternoon I noticed her walking back a second time to make it to class at 4pm. I picked her up on my motorbike and gave her a lift, saving her legs a full 2nd trip.
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Was spending the night at Victoria's place the other night when we were awakened by some incredibly noisy cats nearby going at it with each other. At first we weren't sure if it was some human babies crying or if it was actually cats getting ready to fight with we each other. The sounds of the cats didn't sound distinctly feline at the beginning but almost more like babies. However, after a while it became obvious that it was cats making the noise. It was the most bizarre sounding cats that I had ever heard in my life. At one point it was going on for about 10 minutes or so and we could here some of the neighbors yelling to shut them up but it didn't faze them. It was quite amusing at first listening to the cats but after a while it became apparent it wasn't going to stop. I had to go outside and and throw something in the cats vicinity over a fence to get the things to shut up and run off.
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One night after the incident with the cats I got a call from Victoria immediately after she had arrived back at her bungalow. She was totally freaked out as there was a huge spider on the mosquito netting surrounding her bed. Typically she is quite ok with insects and spiders as they are all over the place and a part of everyday life. They are in one's bathrooms and on walls everywhere. She requested that I come over to her place at once and get rid of the thing. I was more than happy to oblige and interested to get a look at the thing. Upon arriving at her place and finding her keeping a safe distance away on her porch, I walked into her place and found the huge specimen calmly sitting on her net. I decided to get some toilet paper to pick the spider up and take it outdoors. My first several attempts to snare the spider were unsuccessful as I was a bit reluctant to put all effort into grabbing it due to its size. However, there was no way I was going to let the thing get away. Just as it was getting close to escaping and making its way around the corner of the netting to the wall. I was able to pick it up successfully in the tissue. I took it outside to a light to get a better look at it. I'm not sure exactly what kind of spider it was but i'm sure it could definitely do some damage biting somone. In examining the tissue after letting the spider go, I could see some moist spots permeating the paper. I would imagine it was venom from its fangs as it was probably trying to bite me when I was picking it up and squeezing it tightly in the paper.
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Was spending the night at Victoria's place the other night when we were awakened by some incredibly noisy cats nearby going at it with each other. At first we weren't sure if it was some human babies crying or if it was actually cats getting ready to fight with we each other. The sounds of the cats didn't sound distinctly feline at the beginning but almost more like babies. However, after a while it became obvious that it was cats making the noise. It was the most bizarre sounding cats that I had ever heard in my life. At one point it was going on for about 10 minutes or so and we could here some of the neighbors yelling to shut them up but it didn't faze them. It was quite amusing at first listening to the cats but after a while it became apparent it wasn't going to stop. I had to go outside and and throw something in the cats vicinity over a fence to get the things to shut up and run off.
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One night after the incident with the cats I got a call from Victoria immediately after she had arrived back at her bungalow. She was totally freaked out as there was a huge spider on the mosquito netting surrounding her bed. Typically she is quite ok with insects and spiders as they are all over the place and a part of everyday life. They are in one's bathrooms and on walls everywhere. She requested that I come over to her place at once and get rid of the thing. I was more than happy to oblige and interested to get a look at the thing. Upon arriving at her place and finding her keeping a safe distance away on her porch, I walked into her place and found the huge specimen calmly sitting on her net. I decided to get some toilet paper to pick the spider up and take it outdoors. My first several attempts to snare the spider were unsuccessful as I was a bit reluctant to put all effort into grabbing it due to its size. However, there was no way I was going to let the thing get away. Just as it was getting close to escaping and making its way around the corner of the netting to the wall. I was able to pick it up successfully in the tissue. I took it outside to a light to get a better look at it. I'm not sure exactly what kind of spider it was but i'm sure it could definitely do some damage biting somone. In examining the tissue after letting the spider go, I could see some moist spots permeating the paper. I would imagine it was venom from its fangs as it was probably trying to bite me when I was picking it up and squeezing it tightly in the paper.
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