Bangkok and home.

Well, I guess I kind of bailed on this little project - days of laying on the beach with out anything to report got me out the habit of blogging and I totally missed reporting on our last days in Bangkok. Koh Chang was wonderfully laid back and, strangely, was difficult. After 10 weeks of hard traveling it was wierd to not travel every couple of days. We did, however, manage. 

Bangkok was, well, Bangkok. We shopped a bit, went for one small trip on the water buses, ate, drank and lay around the pool at our hotel. Getting from Koh Chang to Bangkok was without problems, as was the trip to the airport, so you didn't miss much in that regard.

And now we are back in Canada. I hope we conveyed a bit or how much fun and adventure we had, but now we are back to the real world. So 'til next time......

That's all, folks!

Koh Chang

Two weeks on Koh Chang, after flitting all over Southeast Asia, about 28 different places altogether, so two weeks in one place has me (Kim) about one step up from comatose and I have to admit I did fight it initially. Never having been an avid bird watcher, I wondered how do they do it, siting in the forest or jungle all day, looking for birds, my only real source of bird watching info had come from reading a book several years ago, called Rare Birds and it was a comical farce albeit a good read nothing really about specifics on bird watching. Yet sitting on the hammock, yes sitting, it took me a few days actually the better part of a week to master "laying " on the hammock. Oh ya birds, I discovered that in fact it is quite entertaining and interesting watching the birds yet more enthrallling is listening to them. The birdsong  out our front door is so alive and varied and incredibly beautiful and constant that I find myself sitting listening for hours, like I would a new cd.

Being able to get into a book and read it from cover to cover in one day is a treat unto itself, you don't have to be in an exotic place to enjoy that.... But it helps.

To walk a white sand beach and float on your back in an ocean as warm as a bath, indulge in a Thai massage...daily..... Right out your front door, for 2full weeks.....there is even a food stand with fabulous coconut shakes, yes, served in the coconut that are so delicious and I've had so many I'm starting to look like a coconut......sounding hard to take, I have to admit after being so "on the road" it took me a bit to settle in, however I think I've done it. 

And that's been about it other than cleaning Lou at crib, yes I have to admit he has been cleaning me in Bananas ( a scrabble like game) 

Going to the market for groceries, we have a make shift kitchen and it's been nice to market shop and do meals on our own.

I forgot to mention the sun sets right in front of us, if we are at the beach and it is a bewitching hour,watching day turn to night, each night it is different, the sea is different, the clouds are formed differently or non existent on a certain day and the life around you varies, yet the sun shifts it's colour gently at first then starts falling and before I know it, it's a ball of fire sinking into the sea and I think to myself that was so mystical and in theory I know what just happened, yet I better make sure I watch again tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that.....

I know our adventure as we named it is coming to an end...this time next week we will be on a plane and heading home, I'm barely ready, but ready. Upon arrival home I look so forward to seeing my family and all my close friends, because I have missed the intimacies I share with you, what I will miss most here is having to share Lou with all of you again, I didn't think I would ever be able to be 24/7 as the saying goes, with anyone, and we have had brief bits on own, yet my most remarkable memories are just that here we were.....

Souveniers

Each one of these bracelets represents a town or city we spent at least one night in,28 in total, I think. Unfortunately swimming and perspiring led them to smell abit thus now are just a memory.......it was fun while it lasted

Koh Chang images

 

Disclaimer

I imagine that when I write about our days of travel, with everything that goes sideways, the services that are anything but, the long hours and frustrations, readers must think I complain, am unhappy, disgusted with the time we are spending here. Anything but. To be sure, it can be trying. But in fact I am expressing my amazement that what I have seen to this point in my North American life as a simple, everyday experience - public transit - can be so completely fucked up. The towns we have visited, the people we have met, the lessons communities have revealed, and yes, the crazy, offensive, haphazard way in which the locals deem to move we Farang around in their countries are all part of a piece. At the end of these travel days I am in a funk. It is stressful. Though as I reflect, the memories of this trip that stand out most, and are the most humorous, are those days on which I have dwelt in this blog the longest. Not pretty, but without a doubt, some of the best. If what I have written would deter anyone from coming this way, then I have missed the mark. It all has been a total hoot. 

Koh Chang

It's pretty nice. The 12' wide French doors of our one room cottage face west, out past our deck over the water and across the lagoon. While this side of the water is a scattering of cottages in a managed garden that looks very much like a jungle, the other is the real thing. With first light the Cicadas roar. The din will only last 20 minutes, but it is an impressive 20 minutes. Leaving our rooms there is a sand path leading toward the ocean which gives way to a boardwalk over the lagoon, and finally a pontoon bridge across the lagoon to the sea side. The first thing you notice when you hit the beach is that the white sand is so fine, it doesn't feel like sand, it feels more like talc, a bundle of silk at your feet. As I write, I sit beneath an almond tree, who's small, white, lilac scented blossoms litter the beach around me. At six in the morning the air is just slightly cooler than the 29 degree water, but that will not last long - by midday the air wil be in the mid thirties. The avian life here is stunning and at this time of day virtually the only sounds you will hear are bird song and surf. Along the 4 km of beach no more than a dozen souls have stirred. The Gulf of Thailand laps gently at the shore. On either side of the Blue Lagoon beach are larger, European built resorts and their patrons seem to find the bustle of the town more appealing. The few who do come to the beach pretty much remain on the sand in front of their rooms. For the few of us who stay a Blue Lagoon, the beach is often wonderfully lonely.

Blue Lagoon is owned and run by a welcoming Thai family who - compared to all the other family run guest houses we have patronized this trip - totally get what westerners expect in a resort vacation. They are open and accommodating. The cottages, while rustic, are clean and well furnished and spaced about the grounds so that one never feels that they imposing on, or being imposed on by, their neighbour. The grounds are a beautiful jungle garden - tall banana, banyan, betal and tamarind trees, many in bloom, shade flowering undergrowth. Even in the midday heat it is wonderfully cool under the canopy and there is a constant whisper of staff sweeping away the jungle litter. All the paths are simple dirt tracks in the wood.

Days are spent reading and swimming on the beach - where there is a canteen selling simple foods and frosty beverages - kayaks are available, there is a shaded bocci court and any island recreation can be booked at reception. While I agree that those are fairly standard offerings, there are others that are not. Every Friday evening a BBQ is held at the restaurant. All the staff and guests gather, prepare a meal and eat together. The market cost of the food is shared by all who participate. Two of the current guests are professional musician and this Sunday will perform for all to enjoy.

It may be difficult to find material for this blog over the next couple of weeks - I mean, who in Canada right now wants to read, over and over, "yes, another honey scented day mooched in off the gulf.....", but should anything of note arise, I'll be sure to report it.