24/05/217 - 31/05/2017
Koh Phangan, Thailand
I flew out of KL to a small Thai town called Surat Thani where I took a one hour bus ride to a port then a two hour ferry to arrive in Koh Phangan (it took me several try's to pronounce the name correctly, "g" sounds like. "Y").
Koh Phangan is one of a three islands off the southeast cost of Thailand, south of the gulf. The larger island, Koh Samui, I avoided due to a lot of tourism. However, little did I know, Koh Phangan is home to the monthly Full Moon Party. Thousands (no joke) of people on every full moon invade the island and party. I did not attend due to excessive use of drugs, alcohol, and techno music with rave style dancing. Been there, done that (but not really, mom).
I had set up a modified Homestay where I would stay in an adorable jungle house for a month and watch this woman's dogs while she is in India. When I arrived I walked into the beautiful house but immediately got a strange intuitive vibe. I gave it a night, then spoke to the current caretaker and found out the gig was a little more than watching/feeding the dogs, and I felt misled. In addition, it was very far from the beach with no restaurants or markets near by; I was more than distraught by this situation. I thought the situation would allow me to chill out and meet people. I promptly left and moved to a place I found directly on the beach. The place was on the beach!! I mean on the beach, the sand shore was about 100 meters (325 ft) from my front door. I could hear high tide crashing on the retaining wall every night. I gladly suffered in the heat under a fan just to fall asleep to the waves sounds. Bliss! When I think back to my anticipation of the other housing gig, then the bad intuition and let down for having to leave, I had a moment of clarity while at the beach house. (The following thought process is nothing knew to any logical mind but to see it up close and personal was like a reset button). The initial house that I thought held some peace ended up bringing complete inner personal chaos. Only after was I able see it more clearly, it was a stepping stone to a place that was right for me. In general, sometimes bad things happen in order to redirect you toward the right path. I then questioned, how do practice the patience and foresight to navigate future stressful events in life? You know, the ones that completely consume you.
I spent one week on the island. I ate Pad Thai which tastes nothing like Pad Thai in the states. I sat on the beach every night. I went on a scuba diving trip. Although hazy skies that week made the sunsets hard to see, on my last day the sky became blue. I hiked about one hour to a jungle bar, called the Amsterdam Bar, that had a treehouse like porch overlooking the Haad Chao bay. I waited for the sunset to come and amaze me. Just a half hour before sunset, cumulus clouds formed and the sky darkened. I watch a rapidly moving rain storm move across the bay, a curtain of rain, it was breathtaking. I didn't see a sunset but rather something just as beautiful. That night while I slept I awoke to a loud thunder like sound. I went outside to see the cause and it was the largest high tide I had see yet, just crashing violently on the shore, beautiful. I went back to bed and was lulled to sleep.
