We searched for hours on the internet trying to figure out which island in Thailand to spend the last nine days of our trip. Should it be Ko Phi Phi, Ko Tao, Ko this Ko that. There are tons of them. We made a point to avoid the ones that mentioned full moon parties, techno music or buckets of whiskey in our guidebook.
It became a bit stressful because we wanted it to be perfect. It was to be a vacation from our travels. Before we left we thought this trip would be one long sabbatical, but this has not been the case. We had to always think about where to go next, how to get there, about finding a place to stay and fitting in all the cultural sights we could possibly handle. By the time the days were over we were usually so exhausted that we couldn't pick up the book we had been reading for a month. We were longing for a shady bungalow, white sand, blue clear water and, this last word being key....... a hammock.
We found all this on the island of Ko Lanta. There's not much to write about and our tons of photos are a bit repetitive because we made a point of doing the exact same thing everyday........ nothing and while doing nothing we rarely left our two hundred meters of sand. Our days went a little something like this.............
Wake up when ever we want. Eat a yummy breakfast. Go for a swim. Lounge on the beach. Read our books. Work on our journals. Go for a swim. Read our books. Lounge on the beach. Eat a late lunch. Get a massage. Order a fruity alcoholic beverage. Watch the sunset from the beach or our guesthouse patio. Read our books. Go to bed whenever we feel like it. Start it all over again the next day
One day we did decide to leave our quaint little Sanctuary, jump on a boat and go snorkeling on the island of Ko Rok. It was one of the coolest things we've ever done. There's a big strange, world underwater like nothing we had ever seen. We never knew fish came in those colors. We literally did find Nemo and he is happily married, living in a sea anemone with his wife and kids. Now we have to add scuba diving certification to our long list of things to
On our final day I finished the last thing on our To-Do List. Several years ago I took a poi class from the very talented Claire Fenner at Gypsy Hands to learn the art of fire poi One of the many reasons I took the class, besides the fact that spinning fire around your head is awesome, was to be able to do it on a beach in Thailand. I carried my poi with me around on the first part of the trip in the U.S. and in my backpack in SE Asia, hoping that I would get them out and practice with them. They have traveled thousands of miles with me and I had never removed them from their plastic bag until our 3rd day at Ko Lanta. I realized that I was rather rusty and almost decided not to do it. I had seen very talented people spinning poi here and did not want to embarrass myself. Every time I went into our bungalow, the burnt wicks on their silver chains taunted me and I swear I heard them call me a chicken. I would hide them under my clothes, but I still knew they were there. This taunting and a few encoraging words from a friend at home (Thanks Brandie) made me decide to do it. On our final night we bought some oil from an employee at our guesthouse and went to a secluded part of the beach. I put on my headphones and totally lost myself in it all and it was so much fun.......
