The Island Days

Our super Asian Power Poses

All our days on the island pretty much combined into one giant retreat because we were so relaxed.  We moved into a more basic bungalow the second day and stayed there for the duration of our time on the island.  It was a rustic bungalow which had the basics--a toilet (western style, but not the flushing one--you had to throw a bucket of water into it to make it flush), simple shower, bed with mosquito net, bookshelf and shelf, and hammock...that was all we needed.  Now, this older bungalow which was built right before the tsunami was fine for us, even though there were slight gaps between the floorboards (miraculously we only once lost the house of air bracelet through the cracks) I believe this kept a lot of the sand outside :)

Our Bungalow

I enjoyed having the exchange library (which most backpacker destinations have) and finished 5 books during the course of my stay.  I kept a pretty detailed journal and just let myself enjoy the quiet that surrounded me.  I was pretty partial to the hammock that hung on our lanai and very much enjoyed going to bed and waking up to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach.  I imagine this is the type of place that people get sent to when they have nervous breakdowns--just a very sleepy place where you can keep to yourself or go out and meet the others on the island and participate in whatever is going on.

Our bungalow community was a pretty friendly group, with many people coming and going after a few days--however, being as shy as Scott and I are, we made some pretty good friends and already have some travel  and meet ups planned.  Since we stayed longer than the "normal" stint, we were pretty much adopted into the "long timers" group with all the tricks of the trade of the island handed to us.  

Scott was very excited that we made the acquaintance of  some Finns who also wanted to go jungle trekking and they took off with machetes and...well Scott will have more on that story...I had managed to cut my feet a bit on the rocks and decided to heal up instead.  

Sometimes we found ourselves at the local watering hole--Thai Bar--which had some pretty amazing music and all the people from all the bungalows met here. It was sure to be a good time and it would continue to be beautiful entertainment to try to watch people climb this pole in the middle of the bar.

Eero, Simone, Harri, Scott

We met a beautiful German couple--Hans and Simone--who had been coming here for years for a few months at a time.  We had some great times with them and hopefully will be meeting back up with them in Kanchanaburi.

The spunky Simone and Hans

It seemed all the bungalow "mini villages" had a feel about them based in part about the long term patrons--but everyone was friendly.  It was nice to walk past and everyone seemed to greet each other (minus many of the German retirees--apparently in German guides the island now had a 4 page write up--but they stayed at the more posh and "better equipped" bungalows farther down from us). 


One of the first nights I had asked Scott to check the bathroom in our bungalow to see if there was anything there--just to be aware of.  He took a quick glance around and said no. There was nothing there--no spiders.  I went in and looked up on the wall and called him back in because there was a foot and a half  "too-kay" lizard he apparently missed seeing.  Now, the first evening in our bungalow he was startled awake by a very loud sound--one we had explained to him in Hua Hin--but this was loud enough and near enough by that he shone the flashlight to see if he could see anything.  However, the torch doesn't really go through the mosquito net so well, so he couldn't see it, but could hear it scamper away.  At least now he knew what it looked like--I had explained big lizard with red dots...and that was what was in our bathroom.  We quickly learned that our lizard would be somewhere in the bungalow every night, but from then on pretty much stuck to the ceiling when we came in until we crawled under the mosquito net. It was a pretty nice mutual arrangement.

--On a side note, our friend Alex had told us about a time he was staying in Koh Phangan. He was sleeping and one of those lizards fell from the ceiling, through the mosquito net and the both of them were running circles trying to get out.  That is pretty much what I thought about when I saw the lizard the first time--that he may fall off the wall and towards me...oh well.


Apparently there are also pythons and cobras that are on the island but I managed to miss them all.  I did see the jumping fish and many crabs and various birds...next time the jungle trek is in order for me to attend and maybe next time I will see more wildlife...

Mama Elle helped us arrange our bus tickets and answer pretty much any question we had.

She told us how much it would be if we called in advance and booked for a while because I think she knew we would be coming back.  Her Kitty named Tofu had just had 3 kittens which were a joy to watch and have around.

  I didn't realize but her Pup Pancake was pregnant.  

The other Pup Bacon did see us off...it was nice to have the tame animals around us.  There were quite a few dogs on the island and there would be times where the fights between them were a bit much, but someone would normally discourage them, at least for a while.  

From the Lanai

It was such a great, relaxing time on a quiet little island--I hope it remains that way for us to visit again soon.  I enjoyed the sporadic fires and music.  It was great to just grab a table to eat at where people would just come and join you.  It was hard to say goodbye to the atmosphere, to the people and that slice of paradise that we had shared.  All the goodbyes however were not goodbye but see you soon--but it was hard to leave.  When that boat pulled up in the morning to take some of our friends, we knew that this time was coming to an end.

Leaving the Island

Away they go

Scott and Henri

  Our boat came a few hours after that and we gave hugs and waved until we could no longer see our friends on the shore.  

I remembered our first days on the island where you would see hoards of people knee-deep in the water helping others on the boats and waving goodbye--we were now those people.  And we sailed away...back to the city, though a small city, back to the responsibilities of communications by internet and phone and the job search.  

That little vacation was a great little break from all the responsibilities other than just being there--being present there and then with no distractions.  It was a little bit heartbreaking to leave, though I knew I would very much be looking forward to showers with hot water--in lit bathrooms.  I was looking forward to feeling clean and not washing my clothes by hand.  I was looking forward to wearing different clothes than I had been wearing every day in rotation.  I was looking forward to not having sand on everything and checking my email, facebook and applying for jobs.  I thought it would be great to charge all my electronics at once--all the way through instead of in rotation for a few hours a night.  I was glad to have many conveniences near at hand, not having to use a torch to get home at night...yet it would be different.


I really enjoyed having a running tab, just writing down the beverages we would take through the day in our ledger as well as our meals with Mama Elle just checking them over and tallying them up each night.  I loved having some of my biggest decisions of the day including: which swimsuit to wear; what I should eat that meal; should I read on the beach, in the hammock or the common area; and should I go for a walk or a swim? Ah, and I suppose that is why it is vacation.  I will be back there and I hope it won't have changed too much.