Mandalai Boutique Hotel Surat Thani

... lentum tar i steikjandi hita a stoppustod var karl sem byrjadi ad spyrja hvert vid aetludum naest og var ad gera okkur dil.. vid vissum tad varla sjalfar og bara stopp stopp.. verid ad gefa okkur allof hatt verd. Urdum ad skrufa okkur nidur, finna okkur Taelenskan gjaldmidil og atta okkur a naestu skrefum. A medan kom HELLIDEMBA, okkur var bodid inn i bud med allar toskurnar, ah loftkaeling og klosett med klosettpappir!! Hefdi viljad vera tarna allan ...

... spotted the night ferry, but we could not find any kind of ticket office for any other boat. We had read that the night ferry leaves at 23:00 and takes about 7 hours to make the journey to Koh Phagnan, which meant arriving at 6:00; too early for us. However it is also the cheapest way to go especially when you consider the savings of a hotel for a night. Anyhow despite asking around, we were unable to figure out how to get on any other boat from the Surat Thani ...

... must admit, I felt like I was on some kind of strange pilgrimmage where I was searching for Utopia and even stranger still that I could actually find Utopia... I relish these days of having my independence, my own little bungalow near the beach. I can stay up late eating Oreo cookies in bed, watching whatever movie is on. I can unwind as I choose and go where I please. Koh Samui is a good place to be at the end of my trip, a place to save up ...

... and grunted for us to pass our bags up to him to put on the roof racks. Not seeing any ropes or other securing devices on board you could imagine our concern. So up our bags went and in we jumped to this cramped, poorly ventilated 'mini-bus' and out of the carpark we turned. We conferred with our newly acquainted German companions that they would watch out the back while we kept an eye on the sides to make sure no belongings ...

... to England and he's truly going out with a bang, in style. And fair play to him, the lad's on holiday. As for me, well I met someone. It was purely a chance encounter, and a lucky encounter, as I was beginning to think everyone here was of the same ilk - of the kind that I mentioned in the last entry. The past week has been amazing, really amazing. And she ...

... beach Chaweng Beach , located on Koh Samui's east coast, is the most developed area on the island. It attracts many young travelers and families alike, and remains good value for the money. The beach is approximately 7 Km long, with powdery white sand. It is bordered by dreamy, emerald-blue waters and a coral reef where waves break, leaving the bay quite peaceful. Two small islands are ...

... the price to Bangkok which I knew was about 500 baht higher than the government bus and it wasn't even leaving for 3 hours and I knew the government buses ran hourly.  I told her no and we went back and forth before I finally retrieved my bag and walked out.  I stopped several taxi's and asked them to take me to the government bus stop, no one would.  They all kept directing me back to the street with all the travel agents.  I took out my guide book and found the ...

... development or rice farming, seeing thousands of square kilometers being used for low intensity agriculture was shocking to me. After three hours, we arrived at the company's bus depot near Surrant Thani which was way out of town. Most of the passengers transfered to other buses to go to other locations. I met some Canadians who were also going by train so company called in a truck and we all piled in the back with a family (from Poland?) with our bags ...

... feelings, and do not stir up new ones. Thereby, the process of life goes on. Blameless, at ease and in peace. Then when you're done enjoying your rice soup, clean your dishes in the kitchen and it was time for chores. On day zero, you had to sign up for a chore that you would perform twice everyday for the whole retreat. I signed up to sweep meditation hall 2, where women's yoga was done. I really let mysel get into this, finding the most efficient way of getting the task ...

... length, and then sliped and fell about 10ft :oS it looked prettyy nasty. luckily shes fine, but she has a hamster cheek adn some nasty scratchs on her face, plus a massive scratch and bruise on her leg running the full length from below her knee up to the top of her thigh. ouch! Oh yes, and before that we went on an early morning safari - out in the boat around the lake, and we saw monkeys! And gibbons! They were so cute :o) And we saw a King Cobra swimming, and some ...