Day 2: Haad Rin, Koh Phagnan, Thailand
Caught the early ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phagnan this morning, was a beautiful day and I finally worked out how to download new podcasts onto the iPOD touch so I got to listen to Hamish and Andy as I crossed the strait.
I will post again in the near future in how awesome these devices are.
Met a Guatemalan gentleman at breakfast who has taken out a hefty bank loan then quit his job because he believes the world will end in 2012, as prophesised by the ancient Mayan civilisation when they devised the calendar in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
It got me thinking whether I could last if I kept travelling until then, I did a few sums and discovered that if I tightened the belt I would have just enough to last me until the December deadline, but I would have to do away with my daily espresso. But would you call that living?
I will ask the monks when I visit them in October....
Though I was being marked for a con when I enquired on the price of getting to my destination of Thongsala, the lady at the resort said it would be 500baht to get there, and I would need to take a boat. When I called my destination she advised me to take a cab, it would cost me 100baht. When I was making some enquiries on planning a dive trip for the weekend I mentioned this to one of the workers in a local backpacker hub who made a not of this in her notebook, presumably to warn other travellers to say away from this guest house but when I looked around for a ride to Thongsala it actually did cost me 500baht to get there, 100baht was the price if you travelled in a group of 5. Pretty poor form on my part slagging off this poor place, they were extremely welcoming and friendly (as I have found most Thais to be) and even returned my thumbdrive when I left it behind (I am forever forgetting things).
Never did find why she wanted me to go by boat though...
One thing that is really nice about Thailand is to have dogs back on the scene, and cats as well for that matter. In Malaysia dogs are not welcome, when I lived in Australia dogs were highly valued, some went on to be hugely respected members of the community (Dog on the tuckerbox, Dog from Footrot Flats etc) so i am enjoying having them around again.
Got a workout in at the Jungle Gym at Haad Rin (the harbour where the ferry lands), put a treadmill into a sauna and you get the gist of what the conditions were like.
Had a nice dinner in a restaurant which was playing the new Bruno movie on a big screen, sipping a Singha and enjoying a brilliant Chicken Parmagiana (on a bed of Spaghetti).
Bliss.
Found one of the best cult bookshops I been to since Planet Books in Perth, picked up a copy of Goodfellas and Gangsters by Henry Hill, the guy who wrote Wiseguys which was made into Goodfellas by Martin Scorcese. You can even return the book when you are finished it and they give you 30% back, I am off to Muay Thai camp tomorrow so I will need something to read to pass the time between training sessions, apart from the podcasts.
Caught the early ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Phagnan this morning, was a beautiful day and I finally worked out how to download new podcasts onto the iPOD touch so I got to listen to Hamish and Andy as I crossed the strait.
I will post again in the near future in how awesome these devices are.
Met a Guatemalan gentleman at breakfast who has taken out a hefty bank loan then quit his job because he believes the world will end in 2012, as prophesised by the ancient Mayan civilisation when they devised the calendar in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
It got me thinking whether I could last if I kept travelling until then, I did a few sums and discovered that if I tightened the belt I would have just enough to last me until the December deadline, but I would have to do away with my daily espresso. But would you call that living?
I will ask the monks when I visit them in October....
Though I was being marked for a con when I enquired on the price of getting to my destination of Thongsala, the lady at the resort said it would be 500baht to get there, and I would need to take a boat. When I called my destination she advised me to take a cab, it would cost me 100baht. When I was making some enquiries on planning a dive trip for the weekend I mentioned this to one of the workers in a local backpacker hub who made a not of this in her notebook, presumably to warn other travellers to say away from this guest house but when I looked around for a ride to Thongsala it actually did cost me 500baht to get there, 100baht was the price if you travelled in a group of 5. Pretty poor form on my part slagging off this poor place, they were extremely welcoming and friendly (as I have found most Thais to be) and even returned my thumbdrive when I left it behind (I am forever forgetting things).
Never did find why she wanted me to go by boat though...
One thing that is really nice about Thailand is to have dogs back on the scene, and cats as well for that matter. In Malaysia dogs are not welcome, when I lived in Australia dogs were highly valued, some went on to be hugely respected members of the community (Dog on the tuckerbox, Dog from Footrot Flats etc) so i am enjoying having them around again.
Got a workout in at the Jungle Gym at Haad Rin (the harbour where the ferry lands), put a treadmill into a sauna and you get the gist of what the conditions were like.
Had a nice dinner in a restaurant which was playing the new Bruno movie on a big screen, sipping a Singha and enjoying a brilliant Chicken Parmagiana (on a bed of Spaghetti).
Bliss.
Found one of the best cult bookshops I been to since Planet Books in Perth, picked up a copy of Goodfellas and Gangsters by Henry Hill, the guy who wrote Wiseguys which was made into Goodfellas by Martin Scorcese. You can even return the book when you are finished it and they give you 30% back, I am off to Muay Thai camp tomorrow so I will need something to read to pass the time between training sessions, apart from the podcasts.
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