Japanese Songs, Latin Dance, 'Wir Sprechen Deutsch'..must be Thailand..

Sawatdi Kha from Khao Lak! Thus far loving life here and enjoying ample amounts of sun and sea. Managed to find one of the few remaining cheap and simple rooms run by a nice family (my place doesn't even have a name, i just know I reside behind 7-11). It seems a few more of these establishments exist, but unfortunately the beach is now lined with the more upmarket bungalows which were the ones to be built up after the Tsunami.

And after many years, got to spend some time with 'Next', a Thai friend from Phi Phi, back in the day. we took off on the moped for the beach, and a market where we grabbed a few Thai snacks to eat on the terrace of his travel shop. and being as evil as he is, booked me on the boat trip to the Similan Islands, and took me drinking the night before. We hit the Singha beer with a vengeance, first taking in some Thai live music and then heading to the more raucous 'farang' bar, also with live music. and just as i was about to say..this is THE last beer, another round was on teh table. uff. We danced, we sang, and en route out of the toilets I was grabbed by a random Mexican (who had previously sung 'La Bamba' on stage) and flung into some variation of Salsa , or whatever it was, on the stage (!), and enough to have him saying 'you are really a dancer!' and it took numerous minutes after to convince him there is NO latin in me (Canadian, Japense, Scottish, Norwegian....yuh) and that I actually dont even like latin dance (no surprise, i take issue with the whole man must lead thingie)...adding to my randomness which he couldnt get his head around I got a skewed face for the fact I dive and do yoga. Ended up semi-drunkenly going into the tree pose, as in no way was i doing a sun salutation on a bar floor...

made for a rough start as i lugged my bag into Next's shop in the morning and headed out to the Similans. Which, I must say are the most beautiful islands I've seen here. Its been kept pretty basic and I had a little tent to call home for the night with the sounds of the sea to lull me to sleep. Unfortunately though, as package tourists start to invade even this little corner, the group..well, they kinda sucked. And it IS an expensive trip. Basically what I did was what they call this open ended tour/ticket - it costs 2000 baht. one can take a regular boat for this price and then have to pay the 400 baht park fee. Whereas by doing this tour you get to stop at snorkelling sites, viewpoints, a lunch and the fee is included. the tent goes fora whopping 570 baht, but the bungalows far more. you could do the 2 day tour, but this is considerably more expensive..4200 baht which gets you an afternoon boat tour with dinner and a morning one with breakfast and lunch. i preferred my option which gave me the chance to explore the island on my own. i think these trips are also more expensive from Phuket..

and again..teh company..ehhh...save for a cool finnish lad, and 2 germans, Stefan and Christoph. I still had a wonderful time though, exploring on my own, snorkeling in crystal clear waters with an array of tropical fish chasing each other, and hiking up to the viewpoint which apparently few seem to know about - meant i was on my own for the entire thing and I found one of the best meditation spots yet. Of course I took advantage and it was a beautiful start to the day.

Had a rather fun evening back in Khao Lak last night with Next and the German lads, in a low key little thai place - the ones I miss, built with bamboo, lined with fairy lights and where you sit on the floor sipping your mai tai. They also had some live music and Next..I thought he was joking. We made an agreement that if he went up and sang a Thai song, I would go up and do a Japanese one (as its pretty sad, i'm not sure i know any english ones start to finish!). And lo and behold..he was up there singing it, so next I had to keep up my end of the bargain. had a quick run through with the guitarist and he got the tune..too bad I couldnt sing in tune but at least there were no Japanese about so if I stuffed up the words no one would know. hah! so again my rendition of 'Ashita ga Aru sa' went off alright and the barmaid even thanked me after for it..though presumably she was thanking me for leaving the stage (!).

So getting into the groove here, and enjoying life simply..waking smiling each day, and starting the day by either practising yoga or running on the beach, then breakfasting outside whilst watching the world go by. It's like I've been sleeping for years, and I'm finally waking up!