Escaped from the Sanctuary.

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  Ko Phangan, Thailand
Monday, October 15, 2007

Sunday, October 14th- 9 pm

Today ended my seven day vacation within my trip. The past week at The Sanctuary was the ideal environment for me to relax and make myself at home.  Haad Thian turned out to be a tiny secluded beach, with white sand and bright blue waters. Perfect for days lost to sunbathing and naps in the hammock. The resort itself was cleverly built into the side of a mountain covered with lush tropical jungle. The bungalows were built up on stilts to get clear views of the ocean from your lounge chair on the porch. There was several yoga halls and they offered three yoga classes daily plus evening medtation sessions. The vegetarian restaurant's menu was like a book, and I always had trouble deciding what to eat! Simply put: Francine in paradise!

I spent most days attending at least one yoga class per day, swimming and hanging out with other travellers in the restaurant

My room at the Sanctaury

. The other people that I met there were amoung the best I've met during my travels. A solid bunch of genuine, like-minded individuals with memorable personalities and great travelling stories. During my time there, I really did make myself comfortable and consider staying for a longer term. I just enjoyed myself that much! :)

A few highlights worth mentioning:
I shared my room with this gigantic turantula spider! I've never seen one so huge! At home, I've always considered myself tough and unfaltering when it came to dealing with squirmy things, like spiders, reptiles and bugs. But here, man alive, did I sure whimper and yelp everytime that thing moved! Haha. After trying to put up with it (chanting the mantra 'it's just as scared of me as I am of it') and trying to share the space with it, I eventually went and got a guy from reception. He reluctantly came, I showed him the beast, his eyes widened and said the clearest english word her knew: "danger, danger!" And then ran to get a broom to kill it with! Haha! I was more at ease after that.

On one of the first afternoons there, I had spent the day swimming and suntanning and was heading back to my room to shower and freshen up for dinner. I was staying in a dorm style building, which had private rooms on the top floor and one of the yoga studios underneath. As I was walking down the path approaching my building, I thought I could smell something buring. Turns out my nose wasn't lying, because when I arrived at the dorm I could see throught the sliding door that the yoga studio was on fire! I had a quick moment of panic before relizing I had to act fast. First, I started yelling at the top of my lungs "fire, fire, help, help!" over and over again, but it turns out there was nobody around

Had Thian beach in the morning

. No reaction from the jungle. So I got to work. The toilets were sperate from the dorm rooms and a little ways down the path, so I ran there first. Thai washrooms are a story in themselves, usually having squat toilets that do not flush the same way westerns do. Instead you have to pour water into them using a pail, from a large basin of water provided. This feature actually helps you if you ever need to put out a fire. I grab several pails of water, run back to the yoga hall and start to put out the flames. The fire was in three parts. It seemed as if some sort of electrical appliance that was on a table had overheated. So the table top was on fire, as well as the aplpiacne that had fallen on the floor, plus the electrical panel and part of the wall. It took about four trips back and forth to the toilets in order to put out the flames, the whole time I was screaming for help, apparently to no one. However, that was not the end. I had noticed in my trips to the toilets, that the fire had also spread under the floor to the mosquito netting and the beams underneath the hall. This part was actually harder for me to put out beacuse I had to keep throwing the pails of water up, to put out the flames. What excitement! After about another dozen trips back and forth, the fire was out and I could make the journey back to reception to let them know. It turns out, it was one of the yoga teachers who was boiling water for tea in some type of coffee maker type contraption, and had forgotten about it. To thank me, he treated me to dinner that night, which I thought was very nice, as anyone would have done the same thing in my position, I'm sure

Had Thian beach

.

Besides that, one afternoon I went on a challenging, steep, two hour hike through the jungle on a hot sunny day. I'm still not entirely used to the heat and humidity here and break into a sweat anytime I have to exert myself physically. It's going to be a shock coming back to Winnipeg in January! :)

So now, I am again Ryanless and have made plans to head to the northern region of Thailand. I am spending tonight again in crazy Hadrin (party town) and am catching a ferry to Surat Thani and then a bus to Bangkok tomorrow. I wanted to take the sleeper train, but it turns out that all the trains to Bangkok are full for the next three days. Serves me right for making plans and buying tickets last minute. So now I get to experience the wonderful 13 hour journey from the comfortable, seated position on a bus. Yipee! I just hope that when I get to Bangkok, that I can catch I train up north  to Chiang Mai. Oh boy, I have a lot of ground to cover in the next few days!!

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Family Dinner at the Sanctuary

Francine enjoying the feast

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