Ko Samui,
Thailand
Monday, June 20, 2005
WOW! So today has already been quite an eventfull day, and its just 1:30... We woke up early as usual, i did some kata on the beach early this morning before Beth woke up... its the 10th anniversary of Grand Master Ruiz's passing, and i couldnt think of a better way to honor everything Grand Master Ruiz & Nisei Goju have done for me than some meditation and kata on the beach. Then it was off to eat some continental breakfast, whih was amazing again... we get our fill of fruit (dont worry mom's... the kind with a thick peel, no health risks here) and pancakes and bacon and juice etc... Then changing into bathing suits and the amphiba-sneakers and packing our tiny day pack to do some elephant trekking and bouldering up to the waterfalls at NuMuang. We caught our trusty 'local taxi' (the pickup again) and made our way to the base of the nature preserve where the falls are. We arranged a 30 minute elephant trek, which 'for you my friend' was only like 7 bucks or so. As im sure everyone knows I LOVE ELEPHANTS!!! So this day has been amazing. We rode thet elephant for about a half hour, our elephant 'driver'... is that what one calls him?... was from Chang Mai, and quite a sweet guy, living here to make money to send home to support his family. The trek through the jungle was amazing, i even got to sit right on the elephants neck and hang out there for a while... im not much a fan of the canopy thing they have you sit on, and i know it deff. freaked beth out. Then we got down from our elephant, and started the bouldering scaling the mountain bit of the trek. It was long, and steep, but i loved every minute of it. I feel so at home on rocks... that sounds really cliche, but oh well. This was beth's first ever hike... she was a champ. WE got up to the top, completely drenched in sweat, and exhausted... but it was quite a sight to see. The standing pool of water at the base was breath-taking, and i hopped in after a couple mintues (needed to catch my breath). IT was lovely swimming, and i voyaged deeper behing the waterfalls, and was quite happy. Beth was rather hesitant, she has never been in a lake, or fresh water, so not being able to see the bottom, and just the concept was a bit foreign. I banged my knee a bit, but scars add character right... no harm, all is well. Beth coaxed herself into the pool (im so proud of her!), and with minimal freaking out cruised around for a bit. Then we had to scale down the rocks... this i explained to beth would be more difficult than going up. And it was... she fell a couple of times, the second she hurt herself a bit, but more than anything just kinda freaked herself out. She "just wanted to get off the mountain"... i made her sit down and drink some water while i cleaned off her leg and hand and taped them up. When youre panicking is when you WILL fall and hurt yourself, so she needed to calm down. She collected herself like a true champ, and we made it down all in one piece. Im very impressed that she took herself out of her comfort zone and pushed herself. Now were sitting in central lamai, well just chill on the beach, and at our hotel till we make dinner (yummy yummy... no trip would be complete without bummble bee tuna... again.). On that note i must say its very tough to be in a place like this without dad. I have never been to a place like this and not been diving, and not been hanging around with him... it seems like so much is missing. But i wouldnt trade this experience for the world, and i can certainly be his eyes on this world to see all of these amazing places he never made it to, and i know i am blessed to have the opportunity to do this, there are so many people, like our elephant 'driver' who cannot even live with their family because they cannot make enough money there to support them, he tells me in a year his boss will give him a week off to make the 30 or so hour trip to chang mai to see his family... his daughter will be almost 4 by then. Count your blessings right, not your tradgedies. Tommorow we are going to chill all day, leave our things with our hotel, and make our way to Koh Phanang for the full moon party... ferry leaves at 9& 11 pm and returns at 4&6 am. Should be fun, and yes we will be VERY safe, no worries. Also, mom would like me to "Please reaquaint yourself with the apostrophe, however. It
is a fine punctuation mark and should not be neglected! You don't want to
make it cry, do you?"... i appologize for the lack of proper punctuation and grammer (said with a slightly sarcastic tone), but some of these computers lack even all of proper functioning keys, so it is what it is, sorry momma. Love to everyone!
