What a fabulous trip with no email, no writing, no blogging, no phone - and I didn't miss it for a moment. Always nice to return home but as nice to be away.
Bangkok
I had two days in Bangkok and I used the time to do a lot of walking around checking out temples. I bought a map of the city and did some good mileage between t
he Grand Palace, Khaosan Road,
the Golden Mount, a food market and a half dozen other temples. Two days was enough.
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Loads of buddhas (interesting to learn of the seven hand gestures), cloud trees in the Grand Palace gardens, deep-fried chicken heads and necks (top centre) and other sights. |
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Khaosan Road at night - taken from bus as we were leaving Bangkok |
A bus and ferry trip took me overnight from the city to the island of Koh Phangan (pronounced ko-puh-nung - ko as in 'cough').
Koh Phangan
I stayed in the quieter North-west of the island in Haad Salad. I was booked for a Thai massage course so I made this my base so that I could walk to class. I got to the island on the Sunday noon and started the course the next morning, finishing 10 days later - straight through the weekend (all days are very much the same here, whether weekend or week day). Over this time I did a few runs, a yoga class, and acroyoga session, three cooking classes and I went to a festival thing at a recently opened temple.
The rest of the time - lots of reading.
I loved the massage course - so much to learn and remember. Very rewarding. I'm now in practice mode and needing bodies. Take a number - the queue is long! After the course I went for two Thai massages (different places) to compare what we learned with what is done in practice - I prefer what we learned ;) Athicha is good, really, really good.
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My massage class (photo unfortunately out of focus).
Back - Taki (Leslie's husband - he was a 'body' on our last day).
Front: Tanya (she did the class previously and lives nearby - she was a 'body' for us on most days), Leslie, me, Athicha (our teacher) and Pasha. Photo taken by Athicha's long-suffering husband, Ted, who was also a regular 'body'.
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View of Haad Salad from Athicha's place. I stayed down below, almost on the beach (to the right of the photo). |
I didn't run as much as I thought I would (only four one-hour runs); although I did a lot of walking around every day.
I didn't do as much yoga as I'd intended. A guru dude (Sri V. Sheshadri) was out from Mysore, India (home of Ashtanga) for two weeks (exactly over the time I was there) so instead of being 300 baht a class (little over R100) it was 1000 Baht (R400) a class. Craz-e! I went to one class (the one guy I know said, "Come, come" - but he didn't say the price so I went thinking it was 300B!). Class at 7am was packed - about 35 students.
Sheshadri is totally charming and I'd be hard pressed to find anyone on this planet who didn't take a shine to him immediately. I thoroughly enjoyed the class; one was enough for my budget. Yes, yoga is indeed all about money, just like so many other things.
I also attended an acroyoga session - I do so enjoy acroyoga.
I did one cooking class at a cooking school. Very neat and tidy and professional (
www.mywokandme.com). A highlight was definitely the trip to the market in town to get ingredients.
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The three dishes that I made at MyWokandMe, with Chef Oi. In the back (purple plate) is a stir-fry veg with tofu; next is a phad thai (traditional and popular dish) and in the front, deep-fried fish cakes - the first time in my life that I have deep fried anything! |
I did another cooking class with Jang (she has a small restaurant) just down the beach in Haad Salad from where I was staying. This was one-on-one with her (I was the only one there on the day) and we made four dishes. I cooked in her restaurant kitchen and learned so many little tricks. Fabulous. Two nights later I went there for dinner so Jang asks, "Do you want to cook your own dinner?". We chose something and she taught me how to cook it. A total treat and superb fun.
And then I went back to My Wok and Me for a 'fruit and vegetable carving' class with Chef Oi. Helluva tricky. I spent five hours there! I was expecting some simple, novelty-type carvings. Not a chance! These were difficult and complicated.
I took the melon and watermelon 'home'. I gave the melon to the sweet lady that I bought a fruit shake from every day, after massage class, to use as a display; and I shared the watermelon with people at the place where I stayed.
Would I be able to replicate these again at home? Oh goodness! I bought a melon this week to carve up this weekend so we'll see...
Sweat
I spent two weeks sweating non-stop! Hot and humid. It's fine if you're sitting still, in front of a fan, but if you move... The route up to my massage class was a walk along the road and then a steep stairway up a steep hill. By the time I got to the top I was drenched and would sit in front of the fan for five minutes to dry off!
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Five-minute walk - lots of sweat! |
Sunsets
Not quite as good as we have here but still fun to catch for photos in the evening. The sun rarely touches the sea as it usually disappears behind a bank of cloud.
It was a good trip and I really needed the time away for a good break, which this was. Nice to have learned a number of new things and to have had a lot of time to walk around, read many books and to enjoy a number of afternoon naps. Just right.