People of Koh Y, I have Returned
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2006
1
74
148
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Koh Y,
Thailand
Friday, October 12, 2007
Sunset Side
. Last night and tonight, it seemed like the heavens completely opened up and dumped everything it had all at once. The thunderstorms and gale force winds quickly kicked up and brought in horizontal rain, but thankfully blew the storms right through as well. Last night I had to pull my towel, clothes and hammock inside to keep them from getting soaked. Tonight, I left before the rains started and foolishly didn't think it was gonna rain and left everything hanging and the windows open. Fortunately, only my hammock and clothes got wet, but not my bed. It would have sucked if I would have had to move again. After spending a couple days fixing up #11, I had to move this morning when I woke up to a sea of termites eating my bungalow and little piles of sawdust all around the floor and on the bed. I spent the morning cleaning up #9 and clearing the broken glass and debris around it. They were good enough to move the electrical plug they installed for me so I could use my laptop in the room and in my hammock on the balcony. It's been great being the only one here on this side of the island. I have my own private beach which allows me to go for naked swims in the ocean steps from my porch. The only problem is there are a lot of mosquitoes around and that's not the kind of sucking I enjoy while lying in my hammock. The only thing worse than teeth is a stinger sucking out blood and pumping in poison. There's not much to do on this island other than marathon hammock sitting, eating and snorkeling
Firey Sunset
. I'm very happy I have a laptop with me so I can watch all the movies I've been downloading for the past few months, manage my music on my Zen Micro and write my blog entries in real time. I've watched the entire season of Nip/Tuck since I arrived. Everyone has been really great welcoming me back especially since I'm staying with Nung this year instead of his sister's place around the jetty. I know I have a flight out in about 10 days, but I don't really want to leave at all. I have managed to snorkel pretty much this entire side of the island after Grop, Nung's wife, realized that I didn't have any flippers and gave me a pair. It's so much easier and I have so much more confidence to go out farther with them. It's hard to believe that I've explored most of the coast of this side of the island and last year I couldn't even swim. Not that I can really swim now, but between the air in my mask and the salinity of the water making me so positively buoyant, I could hardly sink even if I wanted. It's still a bit of a concern for me snorkeling around in the ocean by myself, but I still love it. Out at the point, I saw a 3ft+ barracuda with sharp pointy teeth and it wasn't giving any "ground". As I started to back away slowly through the rocks, I turned around to see his 2 buddies just as big as he was but within a foot of my head. Just then I got hit with a wave and my snorkel filled with water
Whispy Clouds
. I had to pop up for a breath of air but quickly went back under to see what the barracudas were doing. Fortunately they weren't hungry or aggressive and left me alone. With my heart pounding, I thought it best to head back in after my excitement for the day. Today the winds picked up early and I woke up around 5am for the sunrise. I must have adjusted my hammock another 30 times trying to get it just right. I can't seem to make it as comfortable as I had it set up in #11, but I was able to enjoy it almost completely mozzie free today since the breeze has kept up all day. Unfortunately, when the winds pick up, so do the waves and it's difficult for me to snorkel when the waves are this choppy and the visibility drops down to about zero. I pretty much spent the whole day reading in my hammock minus the hour and half massage that I got. Lek does an interesting massage where she only concentrates on pressure points and does relatively little work on the muscles. It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it was very relaxing. Just another shitty day in paradise, but it's been a strange day in paradise. On my way to lunch, I saw 4 people from a tour boat had ventured over to my beach instead of the main beach at Paradise and 2 of them decided to sit directly in front of my bungalow. I guess when you can't snorkel; people get a bit more adventurous. Not only that, but an American couple decided to stay in the bungalow right next to mine even though there are 11 others they could have chosen
Orange Glow
. I only got in 1 skinny dip before the strange people arrived. So much for my own private beach! They don't seem like the type to stay long though so I should have my private beach back in a few days. Let's see if it rains again tonight. It probably won't because I've taken everything inside and brought my umbrella.I'm not sure if real time blogging is any better than writing just what I remember months later. Oh well, just an experiment. It sorta feels like one of those TV shows that after 12 years on the air and most of their audience has stopped watching, they decide to do a show live instead of taping it to add some spice and generate some interest from their old fans. Any of my friends and family still reading this or are the thousand+ hits I get a month only travelers?
Comments
Re: Real-time blogging
Ahh... You obviously haven't read my disclaimer on the front page of my blog. I guess real time has it's ups and downs. When I reread my post, I thought that the real time blog was a bit more mundane and boring. But we'll see what people think after these next few real time blog entries. Thanks for the input Julie.
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'I'm not sure if real time blogging is any better than writing just what I remember months later.'
Well, it is definitely different! I hadn't realized, until you said so, that so many of your posts were posted post-adventure.
The difference? You're much more positive in the post-adventure posts than in the real-time post. It's like you only remember the good parts, the best parts and rest falls by the wayside.
On the flip side, the real-time post shows a degree of realism that is missing from the others. The detail is so much more vivid and it's definitely more of what I, as a traveler, would want to know if I were going to visit the same place.
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