The Final Post....?

With the suddeness of a thunderstorm, we find our trip coming to a close. We've been lazy for the last ten days, remaining on the same isolated beach on the island of Ko Phnagnan. There is a group of 8 or so of us who have been hanging out together. It's a very neighborly kind of feel here. There are 3 Dutch Military officers on holiday, a German couple who rarely leave their hammocks during the day, and an Englishwoman who teaches psychology in London. It's quite a group, and we've had many fun times. We'll be heading up Bangkok tomorrow, and from there we'll take our chances on a flight to Tokyo, and then eventually home. It's been a great trip, but we're definitely looking forward to coming home and catching up with everyone! Thanks to all who have been following the blog. We hope we've kept it interesting enough.

Ko Phnagan - Bottle Beach

We find ourselves in the closest thing we've been to paradise: Bottle Beach in Ko Phnagan Thailand. Ko Phnagan is one of the three islands off the Southeastern peninsula of Thailand. The smaller Ko Toh is to the north, which is primarily a diving and snorkeling destination. To the south is the similarly large sized island of Ko Samui, known more for its package tourism and family resorts. We took a ferry here after almost two full days of traveling from the north (Chiang Mai). The ferry took us to the port in the southwest of the island, and we took a taxi up to the northern coast. From there, we paid a local man to take us by boat around a curve in the island to a place called Bottle Beach. It's a very small beach that can only be reached by boat. If you get a chance, google image it. It's incredible. The only downside is it's isolation makes everything more expensive (internet, food, etc.) Still not that bad compared to back home. Mike took a boat to the nearest town yesterday, where there was a 7 Eleven. We stocked up on basic necessitites (bread, jelly, water, candy, etc.) That's allowed us to save some money. We've been here about 3 days, and might stay for another 3 more. Then we'll have to start thinking about leaving Thailand and making the final push to Singapore, where we will finally make our way back home. Hope all is well back home with everyone! Thanks for following the blog.

Insight Meditation Retreat

We're back from the temple Wat Ram Proeng (did we say 10 day retreat? We meant 7). We left a few days early for a couple of reasons. Our visa's are running short again and we need to make a run for the border, and by the 6th day we both agreed (at this point we broke our pact of silence) that we had accomplished what we set out to do. The meditation is a really personal experience. Even learning it, you're on your own. The first day there, all the foreigner meditators coming in were acclimated to the temple complex (where our rooms were, where to practice meditation, where to report to our teacher everyday). That 1st night we learned the actual technique of Vipassana Meditation, the meditation used at this particular Buddhist Temple. Two seemingly easy concepts: walking meditation (which is basically walking in slow motion), and sitting meditation (what most people probably think of meditation, sitting cross-legged on the ground). It doesn't seem like too difficult to learn, but doing these techniques in 30 min increments for 7-9 hours a day can be very tough. We ate our second meal (lunch) at 11, and after that weren't allowed to eat until 6:30 the next morning. I'm sure you can imagine my skeleton frame right now (I'm down to around 180 lbs). For the first four days, I was able to go without talking to anyone (I don't think I've gone more than three hours without talking to someone before). Mike and I communicated with each other on the 5th day by writing pad. One thing we were surprised about was that we were the only foreign meditators there without any prior meditating experience. The program was pretty heavy for beginners, but very rewarding. When we got out we enjoyed the usual spoils of the real world; pizza, beer, music, TV, etc. We're headed down to Bangkok tonight, then head south. We'll have to make another border crossing into Burma before we head to our final destination in Thailand: the beaches. Can't wait. We're on the final leg of our trip! Sooner than later we'll be seeing everyone. Hope all is well!