Phuket

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.