The Journey Continues

Last night, after a day of longtail boat excursion, my twin bed in the guesthouse on Koh Phi Phi rocked me to sleep. Or at least it felt that way. It was relaxing - something that I'm learning a lot about here in Thailand. For example, over the last couple of weeks I've gotten so relaxed that I forgot I had a blog. Seriously, for about 16 days there I thought of nothing other than whether to go snorkeling or take a cooking course the next day. Then at nighttime there have been the usual dilemmas of dinner out vs. muay thai boxing vs.beach party vs. pool party - or sometimes all four in one night! Although just for the record, muay thai was not completely a barrel of laughs -  I'll try to writemore on that later. And then of course I've had the occaisional night in to just take things slow. And in this time period I've read a couple of books, seen some of the craziest bugs I could have immagined, met more international people than you can shake a stick at, and been introduced to some places I never even knew existed.

Some of the highlights:

Motorbiking around Chiang Mai - it was great to get away from the tourist crowds and find our own way.

Sailing on Koh Pha Ngan - There's is nothing like silently skimming across the bay of Thailand with waves and a couple of voices as the only sounds. And naturally trapeez-ing from the mast was one for the record books.

The full moon party on Koh Pha Ngan - While an early evening storm kept some of the partiers from other islands away, the celebration was still an entertaining, albeit not unusual, night of beach dancing, singing, bodypainting, fire-jumping (not me, the usual idiots/daredevils - depends on how you look at it) and just general cavorting. I would say a good time was had by almost all. Maybe not that guy who lost his flip-flops.

Lake tour at Khao Sok - I was not at all prepared for what 70 km2 (or somewhere therabouts) would look like. Amazing. Clear blueish green water, I could see all the way down, way past my toes, something I had never experienced before in a lake. And then there was the jungle trek, which at least felt more authentic than the ones I had done before, especially as it ended with spelunking and then finally swimming through a darkened cave.

Snorkeling near Koh Phi Phi - Who knew there were so many colors underwater?

And then of course, there's still the mystery of the next three weeks! Which, at the halfway point in the journey, ranks right up there as one of the best parts.