A New Home For Ten Days
I have just been swimming in a pool with little elephant statues placed on the edge...
I love elephants and they are everywhere here of course, an enduring symbol of Thailand; they also hold spiritual significance because of their connected with the birth of the Buddha... Queen Maya, the mother of Buddha was only said to be able to conceive after she dreamed that she was taken by a white elephant...
It is a lovely pool, I swam up and down for awhile and then I did some running on the spot and lots of stretching in the water...
I had initially gone down to the beach to swim in the sea; we are now in Koh Pangan. The sea had looked inviting and beckoned me, so I had left Anadi working on his computer to 'go for a swim', but when I waded into the water, I didn't like the seaweed that kept wrapping itself around my ankles and I couldn't see what was in the water...!
It was nearly 6pm when I went down to the beach, a blue grey misty limpid light hung just above the sea, and all was still... Across on another little beach three guys were knocking a ball about in a leisurely manner; a man stood smoking a cigarette and looking out over the view, he was over on the rocks just across from me; he glanced at me and then back at the view...
I stood calf deep in the water and felt the change in energy of another island...
I looked about and really drank it in; I was standing in Thailand...
I decided after a few minutes to leave the uncharted territory of this new water to go for a swim in the pool....!
We were not sure that we would come here, to Koh Pangan... Thai tum and the weakness that accompanied meant that the idea of a full moon New Year's Eve party on the beach - the reason for being on this island - had momentarily lost its appeal...!
We thought we would maybe just stay on Koh Samui in a more tranquil setting for the whole time....
Before we came away, Amy my amazing PA, Anadi and I had thought a New Year's Eve full moon party sounded a great idea... And last night as we sat sipping passion fruit cocktail - we are well and truly better! - with the sea lapping below us and the bright arc of a magical moon casting its silvery light as it appeared high in the sky from behind gathering clouds we said ...
'We have planned to go to a full moon party, so to a full moon party we will go...'
We had flown into Koh Samui in the dark last night; and after our cocktails and a re commitment to our trip to Pangan, we had slept the night in a little studio room close to the lapping waves beach and woken this morning to a bright sunny day. We went down to explore the beach, and discovered to be another one that stretched for miles; there were occasional sections where deep wading or rock scrambling were necessary to keep going... but essentially it was long and sandy...
And the best bit of all was that we ran along it... Barefoot in the sand, I could run!
I love to run barefoot but I haven't considered it recently whilst my achilles has been mending; but this morning my body ran all on its own, we set of walking and suddenly I started to run and just kept going.... We were out for fifty minutes in all; we only turned back because wisdom prevailed.
I stopped and surveyed the beach bending round a big curve, going on and on into the distance and said to Anadi...
'I could keep going, but are you okay to turn back now..? I want to be building and not taking any back steps...'
'I'm just going with whatever you are doing' he said 'but I think that a wise idea'
And so we turned back...
It was a breakthrough. My body feels ready to run, really ready to run...
If I can run barefoot it demonstrates I am really strong again in my ankles...
But as always 'softly softly catchee monkey...!'
After breakfast this morning we caught a taxi to the port and joined in with the colourful mass of activity and mayhem and much journeying that is this port! Crowds and crowds of people were disembarking off boats or queuing to get on them...
The trip across to Pangan took 20 minutes, we sat on the top deck with a warm wind blowing in our faces all the way...
As we filed off the boat rain started to fall, we found a little mini bus going our way gave the driver 100b each and clambered aboard; he continued to pack in as many people as he possibly could, until we were like a tin of sardines and our luggage was piled precariously...
The rain came down heavier and heavier and we arrived here in what felt like a torrential warm shower....
But here we are... I like it here.
We 'upgraded' to a room with a sea view... Rather than a view of the dirt track that leads here... !
And now we have a new home for ten days...
The Internet is good. The food is wholesome and we are nearly up to eating Thai cuisine again... ! The family who run the show here are very friendly... We have handed our laundry in to be Laundried! There is a friendly youngish crowd staying here, it seems we are all full moon party goers, as the island is filling up with us all...
We like our new home!
