Paradise, Pure and Simple!

For Malin and I, sunset sessions became synonymous with Treehouse at Lonely Beach, for their rickety wooden terrace which jutted out over the sea, and included lounge chairs, funky lights and a nice chilled out atmosphere.

It was here that their poster for a second location on Long Beach caught my eye, as I thought this may be the place I'm looking for - FINALLY the possibility I could fall asleep and not have bass pounding all night. Places that unfortunately seem to be fewer and further between in Thailand. plus at 200 - 300 baht a night, the price was right. Malin was set to leave in 2 days time from the day I'd made this discovery and thus thought I would time it with her departure as I felt a bit ready to move on, though not yet ready for Bangkok and the reality of job hunting in Vientiane, but also it would have been slightly strange...lonely even (bad pun, yarr) to stay at lonely beach when Malin left. Even though Marco of massage course fame had rocked up in his Italian style..I get an sms saying he is thikning of coming to koh chang, the next day a call to say he is on Lonely beach.

and inevitably, sat in our usual spot each night we were always chatted up by randoms. ok, random men. Kept life interesting, and this particular night's taker was a newly arrived Dutch lad Marnix also in search of no bass, so it seemed I might have company over on Long Beach.

It also seemed a good place to recover from my new set of ailments (skin infection and a cold. who gets a cold in THAILAND?)..I tell you at this stage I was a walking Thai pharmacy and could probably do a guidebook about Thai clinics! I liked nature beach - we had a fair deal, Malin and I with a hut for 400 set in a nice tropical garden. ours was the cheapest of the lot. I was in a way glad to leave as 'Soda', one of the local workers, had taken to Malin, and was slightly creepy - and with Malin gone, well...I was glad to be as well. He asked here I was going, i said long beach 'no people go there!'. GOOD!!!

Anyway, of course the treehouse I had a taxi to treehouse II, leaving at 10am (or thereabouts) and making the reverse trip at 8 am (or thereabouts). oh so convenient travelling in Thailand. even if it did have to go round the better part of the island to get there. I didn't time exactly but estimate about 2 hours or so, including the shopping stops - I recommend taking advantage of these if heading out to Long Beach for any period of time as there really is not a lot out there.

Which, was grand. One night was spent at Treehouse, after which was discovered a small set of huts owned by a small French guy - official name is 'Zion' but over at Treehouse its called 'the French Connection', who had beachfront huts for 300 - 400 baht, which were much nicer than Treehouse. Number 1 is the best one, straight on the beach, at the end. distinguished by having the only covered shower of the lot, haha. They offer a lot more privacy and peace, but the atmosphere can be a bit antisocial and couply. Granted Treehouse is still there for your social interaction and it seemed at that time to be a relatively good crowd - As such along the way another dutchie joined the group (Tim) and he soon made his way down to the French Connection as well, and yup, this was it. This was the Thailand I once knew.

Oh, and one very exciting note: Tim was my first paying massage customer! Well, the first one I actually did ALL the steps on and he thought worthy of a 100 baht donation! yay!!!!! Also having regular correspondence with Tim to this day leads me to believe he is alive and well and survived his first Thai massage. given by a Canadian. Albeit, a Wat Po certified one! :-)

Of course, its not for everybody; if you are looking for the party with bass, pass on by. Electricity at the treehouse runs only from 6pm until 1 am, and at the french connection it shuts off even earlier. the accomodation is simple little beach huts - at Treehouse the common showers are actually a large basin of water with the little scoop, and at french connection, there is a severe lack of water pressure...so if you've a large crop of Japanese hair as I do, remember to practice patience. or at least try to ;-). the toilets there are also thai style. There is very limited reception, if any, on mobile phones and until recently, no internet although I believe Treehouse is giong to change that (of course only at night though!)

but it is peaceful and uncrowded and beautiful. enough so to make me overstay my visa and just be lost in paradise. We also took a wander 300 m to the end of the road where sat a simple restaurant who hired out kayaks, which we then took to another small island - currently a tad deserted but of course a resort is going to open there in March. nonetheless we enjoyed having the beach to ourselves, and Tim and I had a right blast blasting out tunes of all sorts (never a full song though!) while rowing away. the kayaks cost 300 baht for the day and are built for 2 people..we would haev liked a tri-yak but such upmarket things are only available on lonely beach it seems!

However, reality called, and I timed it that I left with Tim en route to Bangkok - I think its a good thing that we did this so we had the support group otherwise I reckon we might still be out there..me going further into debt, Tim missing his flight and a year later something out of Robinson Crusoe!

I love being in Laos but think often of this little paradise, and Tim and I had a little nostalgia whilst partying in Bangkok to drown our sorrows after! Too bad also that Malin missed out on that bit owing to her flight back home. All the cool people always leave too soon!