We saw a German Bakery at the beach and were already excited to see Bretzeln on the menu. Unfortunately there was a guy in the morning who bought all of them before we came! So we had some good bread rolls instead. With fresh energy we took a taxi to one of the beaches on the north west coast, which was famous for it's yoga places. I know, most of the people on this world know this island for it's Parties like: Jungle party, waterfall party, shiva party, half moon party, pool party and most famous the "Full Moon Party".
After dropping of our bags on the porch of a guest house, we wanted to walk and visit a couple of different yoga places to compare. After 20min walking we decided it was far too hot to walk and we rented a scooter from one of the many places which offered them. So we drove around over half of the island to different places. On one of the steep hills with unsealed and washed out road it happened: the front wheel slid away and the scooter slowly gave way under us. I was able to keep unharmed. Chrisy however got a "Thai Tattoo"! Her leg got caught by the exhaust and left a bad burn! I think she still thinks I tried to kill her! (no, I don't thinks so)
As we were still not sure to which yoga place to go, we went back to the "Sun Hut Bungalow" where we had left our luggage earlier that day and checked in room no.5. We enjoyed a refreshing fruit shake and did more research on the Internet and found on TripAdvisor some information about the "Monte Vista Center" and the fact that they also took volunteers. As it wasn't too far away, we jumped back on the scooter to go and visit them personally. The last bit of the path to get to them was a steep hill, which our scooter barely made. We talked to Andy and got a little feeling for this magical place. He asked us to apply online and he would let us know shortly afterwards if we would be able to come, but the chances were good.
So we went back and wrote an application for a job to volunteer.
Until the late evening we didn't hear back. So we went to bed. As of Chrisy didn't already had enough suffered with the burn, next day we found little bugs and blood all over our sheet. There were so many and we even were able to squeeze some to show it to the owner and to see what they are on the internet. Outcome: Huge bedbugs. Shortly after we found swollen bites all over Chrisy! Poor thing! And didn't she got told by a sales rep back in the states that this was a myth? Well, this doesn't look like a myth to me!
After breakfast we finally heard back from Andy and we successfully passed our application and could start immediately. So we drove back to the "Monte Vista Retreat". I left Chrisy there, where she could start working immediately, whilst I went back to get our big backpacks. I thought I might need to do 2 trips, however I managed to put one in front of my legs and took one on my back and started my journey. Luckily I didn't have any challenges with all the bulky items on the scooter.
We were lucky and got this beautiful bungalow for the duration of our stay. We planned to stay for 2 weeks and work and receive free accommodation, yoga in the morning and meditation in the afternoon in return. Look for yourself on their website http://www.montevistathailand.com/ what they offer.
Every evening we had a different sunset to experience from the porch of the main house, which was also the spot where we had yoga and had all our meals.
On the first evening the nights sky was illuminated by green lights on the horizon. The squid fisher boats were the most intense of the entire time we stayed there.
The two cats loved each other and usually had their afternoon nap together on top of the freezer. Only the last few days we had kitty (red) sitting on the porch of our bungalow the entire time.
Here is another romantic sunset for your pleasure.
The first 3 days we had Lisa and Marelyn with us and enjoyed their company.
All the food we got served was fresh, healthy vegetarian dishes. Jacky had a good hand and loved cooking with Thai influence.
Our work included opening the kitchen and main area in the morning. We opened all the windows, swept all the dust from the termites away and prepared the porch for yoga. After yoga and breakfast we would do things like: sweeping leafs away so snakes and scorpions don't have a place to hide. (I saw one scorpion and 3 snakes in total). Chrisy did mostly cleaning tasks in the kitchen, the bungalows and doing the laundry. I also did a lot of handy man work including harvesting bananas and coconuts. Even though it was very hot, we enjoyed working and the fact to be able to stay at one place for 2 weeks at a time. This is the longest since we started back in August.
Chrisy did an outstanding job in bringing the rooms into a spotless condition and even wrote an "ABC of Bungalow Keeping"
Jacky, Andy and their son Kian (alias "Spiderman" or superhero) were absolutely lovely. Their friend from their time back in Mexico, Lucy was an incredible person and we enjoyed eating her food and her company.
We went on one of our days off and rented a scooter together with Yugesh and went visiting a couple of different places. First though we had to drink a fresh fruit shake for 20 Baht ($0.7).
We were on the search for a waterfall where we could go swimming in. At the place where the "Waterfall Party" is hosted, we found a 20cm high waterfall and decided this wasn't that impressive and moved on. The roads got worse and worse. Especially downhill on washed out parts Chrisy insisted on walking. I wonder why?
Finally we found a waterfall called "Than Sadet" with flowing water and a beautiful surrounding. I think even the king has visited this spot, so it must be good. The dip in the water was just the right thing to wash the dust and the sweat away.
On the way we saw even some elephants. This particular one was dancing for us when we saw him.
The next day we went to the "Had Rin" beach were the "Full Moon Party" takes place. What a wonderful beach! Can you imagine to have 20 to 30.000 people here in the main season for the party?
For dinner we went to the local market in Tonsala. A wide range of delicious food was offered on mobil food stalls.
Afterwards we went for our first Thai Massage. Chrisy was afterwards able to sit in the "Lotus Seat" I was in pain!
Later we went to visit one of the "Muay Thai" rinks,which hosted a fight evening. We were able to get a good introduction into the sport and many interesting and useful information about the island and the upcoming full moon party by one of the commentators. We were able to see some very good fights from the young and older fighters. Even a girl fight of two 12 year old girls was on the agenda. It was an experience I wouldn't miss!
We had a great time on the island and as a treat for our second last day we were able to visit the famous party ourselves together with 10.000 other people. There were amazing fire shows and hundreds of food stalls and bars which sold "buckets" with alcohol. So we had a bucket of "mojito" and walked back and forth at the beach to intake the atmosphere. A lot of people had neon colored shirts on, eighties sweat bands, crazy glasses and body paint. It was all very colorful and every few meters another bar had big speakers blasting their music out. You found all different kinds of electronic and other music along the beach. For those who liked mushrooms, there were places which offered "Happy Shakes". Supposedly there were other things offered as well, however I didn't observe anything and the risk that it might have been an undercover cop trying to bust you are just too big. So by 4.30am we were back at home after a fun evening. With such an incredible finale, we enjoyed our last day on the island before packing our backpacks again and heading towards Kho Toa next.
More pictures from Kho Pagn Nagn.
See our TripAdvisor review A magical time.
No comments:
Post a Comment