Cooling Off

Things continue to go well. It has been overcast for several days in a row and the temperature is dropping a bit. It’s a welcome relief. It has also been pretty windy at times, which is great. I’m down to two showers a day, one following each yoga session.

We had Sunday off from yoga, and my plan was to spend it exploring the island with Margarita. I woke to torrential rains, so had a nice lie-in with a newly purchased Ian McEwan (On Chesil Beach). It was an extravagance, but well worth it. What a treat – he is so good. The weather had cleared by noon so I managed to get some touring in. I went down to the southernmost tip of the island to a town called Haad Rin. It is host to the monthly full moon party, which is famous among backpackers all over the world. During every full moon, thousands of backpackers arrive on the island to intoxicate themselves into a frenzy on the beach at Haad Rin. I have deliberately avoided this party to date, but felt that I should at least see the venue since I was so close. The town is a replica of Khaosan Road in Bangkok (see previous post). I’m glad to have seen it and even more so that it wasn’t during a full moon. I have to admit to a morbid curiosity to see the party in full swing; kind of like the pull to watch a car wreck.

The drive down was pleasant for the most part, however the last three kilometres before the town are an strip of insanely steep hills, the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen. They certainly couldn’t exist on a road in Canada and would be totally impassable in winter. I found out after the fact that it is recommended to take a taxi rather than a scooter when travelling to the peninsula. I managed to get there and back in one piece, but not without chanting mantras to myself to keep the panic at bay. Seriously, this was a terrifying drive. Again, it was a blessing that it was at the half moon and there was virtually no other traffic on the road.

After that I explored the interior of the island a bit. It’s interesting to note that the roads are in much better shape where tourism is at a minimum. I would like to think that the Thai government is consciously spending its money on its citizens rather than on tourists, but I’m guessing it’s more a testament to the income bracket of the tourists on this particular island. Backpackers, especially in Thailand, are notorious skinflints, and given that they’re not contributing a whole lot to the economy, the Thais aren’t particularly interested in spending any money on them. This is all guesswork on my part, but if there’s any truth to it, I say “hooray!”.

I don’t have much else to report that isn’t yoga news, so I’ll let it go at that.

P.S. For those of you with any concerns about the state of emergency in Bangkok, I didn’t even know it was going on until I got to the island and someone asked me about it. I haven’t really checked out the news, but I think the demonstrations are very localised. This is all very reminiscent of that last time I left home and flew into a military coup in Bangkok. I couldn’t find any evidence of that either. I think the media tends to exaggerate a bit.