Koh Pangan Moon Party Madness

Oh my is Koh Pangan absurd! So when we first arrived we stayed at a very small, quiet resort on Haad Son and relaxed for a few days. The beach was beautiful, although it rained off and on the entire week or so we were on Koh Pangan. For those of you who don't know, Koh Pangan is famous for its moon parties: full, half, black, shiva, etc. Generally, as most parties made for people on holiday, it consisted of a bunch of foreigners and some Thais getting blasted with buckets of alcohol, soda and red bull. There were fire dancers and glow-in-the-dark paint along with black lights and house music.

We paid 300 Baht for the Half and Black Moon Parties. The Christmas Party, however, was free. Usually the Full Moon Parties are on Haad Rin, one of the biggest cities on the island. Absolute chaos, to say the least.

At just a random night on Haad Rin, Thais were dancing with fire poi and staffs. We were talking to and dancing with these two Aussie girls on holiday when all of a sudden we feel the heat of a nearby fire on our backs. Two Thais were dousing a long rope in butane and setting it on fire. They through it across the crowd and the partiers scattered like cockroaches. We ran to one side and watched them swing the rope round and round. Three words: fire jump rope! I had to try it. It was a lot of fun, although I did get a small burn on my leg from the rope. I suppose that I've lost some weight since the skirt I was wearing that used to be tight was then starting to slip. So in attempt to keep it on, I got burnt - the lesser of two evils, in my opinion. Regardless, I got some great pictures out of the whole thing.

On the Christmas Party there was fire Limbo, which I didn't try. Anyway, many of the parties we went to we went with several people we had met at our bungalow in Baan Thai, just south of Thongsala. There was a Canadian from Toronto, two Chileans that live in Australia, two British boys (one who lives in Qatar) and a German.

We wanted to leave the island to go to Koh Tao the 26, but overslept and missed the ferry. Luckily, we hadn't bought tickets yet. So we spent our last night in Koh Pangan watching movies with our new friends. We must have watched at least four because we didn't get to bed until 2am.

Anyway, we are on Koh Tao right now and have been just been doing some relaxing and some partying as well. We met up with one of our friends, Brian, whom we met in Vang Vieng. He was the one that split his head open on the rocks and then got gauze stitched to his head so that he couldn't change it! We started calling him Bo Peep after awhile. We were on the same ferry and have been hanging out with him a lot, luckily he's healed so no more Bo Peep. We also met an Aussie in Bangkok on our way down and we've been spending time with him and his friend who lives on Koh Tao for the moment since he is an underwater wielder (one of the top five most dangerous jobs!). Well, that's all for now. We've booked PADI course at Baan for Jan 2 and will be officially diving certified.

Happy New Year everyone!

Last Days in Laos and Moving Down to Koh Pangan

So it's been awhile, I know. Our last days in Laos were amazing. We went down to Champasak and Si Pha Don (aka 4000 Islands). Since we overslept, we spent about a day getting to Champasak and stayed the night in a guest house by the river. At 5 am we woke up and went to Wat Phu Champasak just after sunrise. It was breath taking. On the drive up we saw the locals give food offerings to the monks as the sun peaked it's glowing eye over the palm trees. We arrived to the castle/wat which looked a lot like a cross between the Secret Garden and Hogwarts. It was great. We climbed up the old, steep and uneven steps about 1km away from the entrance to get a view of the whole land. After about 100 pictures later, we went back to the hotel, grabbed our packs and hopped in a minibus down to Don Det island. On the ferry there we met up with Matt, one of the boys we met tubing in Vang Vieng. He was with a German guy named Til. We stayed together in the same guest house. I think it was called Thonden, but not sure.

We met some other Germans at the guest house and took a canoe boat over to a small piece of island in the middle of the Mekong. We hung out on the beach there and played some cards. Basically the whole time we were there we just chilled and enjoyed the sunsets. Not to mention watching one German get wasted and start singing Bob Marley's "Jamming" but replacing "jamming" with "German." A rendition that when something like: "We're German and I hope you like Germans too... We're German in the name of the Lord."

Unfortunately for us, we had no money and the nearest ATM was a 2 hour drive away. We cashed one of Alison's travelers checks. Then went up to Pakse, got sick from some bad noodle soup and spent a grueling day getting to the border then to the train and all night to Bangkok.

We stayed at the D&D, met up with Taz. Checked out the Grand Palace and disappeared on the bus the next night to Koh Pangan. We arrived at Chumpon at 5am and had to wait 2 hours for the bumpiest ferry ever. Half the boat was puking. We met a Mick Jagger type character named Ian. He was taking swigs from a bottle of Cointreau and shouting to me, "It's like a mad dance floor, but you don't have to move to feel the party." He was friggin ridiculous. Funny guy though, some sort of DJ. He played me some of his music from his ipod and took mine. He was so stoked on all my music. "Angelic Upstarts, mate, that's from when I was a kid oi!" I guess he's some sort of DJ. Kind of reminded me of a movie I saw with Wes called Everything's Gone Pete Tong or something like that. Anyway, it'd be pretty hilarious to run into him again. Strange old dude from South London who looked like Mick and started drinking at 7am on the rockin' ferry... pun totally intended.Do

A Life Made of Buses

We were on another bus this morning from Vientiane to Pakse. This was a long one, about 14 hours. It was night and the giant VIP bus was softly humming along the roads, at least this time they were paved. The roads in Lao are like the board of a game, like Chutes and Ladders. They are windy with random patches of gravel. On the way down from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, I had thought at some point we were going to land on the spot that will push us back three spaces. It’s possible, especially since the bus wouldn’t start when we first got on.

Luckily, I was at a window seat so when the day passed into night, I was able to see the stars. Not just a few, but billions like I was on the outside of a giant lantern. It reminded me of a Native American legend my second grade teacher told me, the one of the bird that flies up to peck the sky in order to help the dear get home. Well, I’m not sure how it goes, but from what I remember the bird keeps flying up and down to peck the darkness out of the sky. The first peck is the North Star and so on.

Being from Los Angeles, you really don’t get to see stars like this even if you hike up the canyons. The only constellation I can really point out through the smog and lights of LA is Orion, or rather his belt. He was there on the road, big and beautiful. It was dark enough that I could see his bow and sword. The funny thing is that he was on the other side of the sky than when I was home. I took comfort in knowing that that was the direction home, at least to me.

My eyes continued to scan the sky for other constellations. Instead they fell upon the moon. It was shaped like a smile. The bird had sense of humor. There were two bright stars above it, so the combination made it look exactly like a face. I thought God is in the stars. Then I thought of Nietzsche, who wrote not only “God is Dead,” but also “I want to pray to a god who laughs.” This god of moon and two stars had definitely been laughing.

This new bus we were on was much more comfortable and the roads were paved. I had picked up a new book before we left Vientiane, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read about 50 pages and loved it. I suppose it sparked this memory of buses. We’ve been on so many and have many more to come. I feel like I was supposed to read this book a long time ago. The truth is I was.

I remember one day when I was in high school I was at my best friend Keren’s house. This was the time when she was living in Canoga Park, right next to the Mission Burrito. We were sitting in her room pulling up old photos. She was leaving to Canada, for real this time. I pulled out the book, “I’ve heard this was great.”

I’ve come across the book many times before, but never picked it up to read. But really, this isn’t about a book or a memory. It’s about embracing moments and feelings, despite the fact you can’t put your arms around them. Thank you Johnny Thunders.

One thing I’ve learned on this trip so far is to take in life, whatever that means to you or me or anyone else. We spend so much time suppressing everything in order to stay comfortable or happy in a unified society, but it’s not unified and it’s not happy.

I’ve been told many times that this trip is an excuse, a fear, a reason to run away from what’s really bothering me. The truth is that’s a load of crap. But, then again, it’s not. If I think about the two men who told me this and if I look at each individual relationship I have with both, I can see that it’s not me that’s running. It’s them. I’m doing what they want to do, what they can’t do, or rather won’t let themselves do. They are afraid of being uncomfortable, I’m afraid of being comfortable.

I don’t know what the future holds, or if this trip is a good or bad idea, or what the hell I’m going to do when it’s time to go back to this “real world” I keep hearing about. I feel like I’m already here in the world, taking in what it has to give me. Whether what it gives is good, bad or indifferent, it is still a gift and a part of me. I’m not trying to be new or unique in anyway, I’m just living and exploring in whatever way I see fit for now, because all I have is my mind and my now.

As a monk told me in Chiang Mai, “Tomorrow never comes. It’s always today, always now.” Life is suffering according to the Buddhist ideology. Want is one of the main causes of human suffering. I suppose it’s a good thing that I don’t know what I want...

Tubing in Vang Vieng

Tubing is amazing! We had so much fun. It's bar hopping down the Nam Song river. You float down on an tractor tire inner tube. Some bars have swings where you can jump into the water and most give you free Lao Whiskey with every drink. So you can imagine how ridiculous it gets. One place had a mud pit where people were playing (we skipped that one) and the last place we went to had a fire pit and everyone dancing. We did not make it to the last bar, because it was just too much and we didn't want to float down the river drunker than skunks. An Irish guy hit his head on a rock and had to get stitches... not so much a good idea. He's in good spirits and doing just fine. Unfortunately, we have no pictures to document this event because we didn't get a waterproof camera. Maybe next time.

Since then, we've just been chillin. Said goodbye to Charlene and recovered from tubing. Yesterday we rented a motorcycle to go to the caves. We made a wrong turn and went up a hill. My foot slipped off the break and we fell. Just a few scrapes, but the exhaust hit Alison and she got a burn. She'll be fine, but I don't think we'll be riding on motorcycles for a while. (even though it was so much fun.)

Tat Kuang Si

We went with some friends from the boat to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall about 32km outside of Luang Prabang. It was incredible. Charlene and I jumped off some of the smaller ones into the aqua blue swimming pond. We hiked up to the big waterfall and walked across the top, got lost and found our way back again. Ate and bought some stuff at the night market and went to bed. Sorry guys, I'm a little distracted so this is short and boring. I'll write more later. Today I think we are going to Vieng Vien.