It is absolutely pouring outside. The last few days have been pretty dreary by most standards, but I'm rather enjoying the rain and even if it rains tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the rain won't hinder our dives at the Similan Islands, which I've heard are amazing. We got all our gear fitted for the live-aboard and are set to disembark tomorrow morning.
The last few days on Phangan were relaxed, the weather started to catch up and restricted us a bit. Dakota headed home when we left Phangan, and Rachael and I took a long journey from the Gulf of Thailand to an island on the opposite body of water, the Andaman Sea - Phuket. This island is rather big, but we only stayed in one town called Patong. The place is pretty touristy, but in the same way that Th Sukumvit is touristy (think nightlife). The beach was really amazing, but much more crowded than we'd been used to on the islands, as in there were more than a handful of people there. We saw an absolutely amazing Muay Thai fight, ringside. 7 matches, 4 knockouts, and some wicked hits. It's a very unique feeling to watch someone writhe on the canvas in front of you, eyes in the back of their skull, and you just knowing that they see nothing but darkness for a good 20 seconds. That guy from Norway took a phantom left uppercut and was totally not expecting it and fell limp to the floor. Wow.
There's a big showing of Europeans out here, but hardly any Americans. Now, I've come to realize that in Thailand, if someone asks me where I'm from and I respond "US" or "The United States" or "USA,"they give me a blank stare until I come to "America," and all this time I was taught NOT to say that to give credit to the other countries in Southern and North America. Ah well. I'm sure it'll be a different story around all the Muslims in Malaysia, but we'll see!
The first day I was in Khao Lak I went on a walk to the bus station to find out the routes and means of hopping a ride down the peninsula toward Satun. I made it maybe 100m before a Thai man on a motorbike pulled over and gave me a ride up there. I did my research and caught a motorbike taxi back to town. The next day I was walking up to Rachael's resort, which is only like 15 mins, and he found me again and took me up to her place. Later that evening he spots me in town, he works at one of the tailor shops. We chat for a long while and he tells me about a festival up north of town at a wat (temple), and invites me to come with him after he gets off work. We ride up to his place to pick up his girlfriend and we go inside so he can change. His place is completely vacant. Soy sauce, a rice cooker, some dish soap and a handful of dishes are literally all that reside in his living room and kitchen. We sit on the floor and eat some food that his girlfriend had made and they had been eating for the past 9 days (aside from the rice that they make almost daily). The three of us pile onto his motorbike and ride to the wat and hundreds of Thais are all dressed in white ready to commence the last day of the Vegetarian Festival. Buddhist rituals, fireworks, chants, demonstrations, reenactments, more fireworks. I'll have to show you all the pictures and movies, they are great.
The rain has stopped for now, it's time to move on. Sorry for the choppy ramblings.
Oh yea. One of the last nights on Ko Phangan I fell asleep listening to my Ipod only to wake up to it completely missing. From plugged into the wall and my headphones to nowhere to be found when I woke up - my Ipod up and vanished. Thankfully nothing else was stolen, for some odd reason. O_o.
Muse - Soldier's Poem
Augustana - Boston
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