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I am writing this post from the lounge area in my new hostel in Krabi. I got here at about 1030am this morning and it is now 330pm and I am bored :( Travelling alone can have its advantages but its times like this where I really wish I had a buddy. (That being said, Bryan; get here ASAP!!! Quit your job and stay longer with me!!!)
Since I got here I checked into my hostel right away, dropped my bags off in my room and then started to walk around the town centre just to check things out! It's frighten hot here and I can't stop sweating. I think it's generally just a super hot day because everywhere I go the locals have been commenting on how hot it is today! I wish I had just booked a longboat to Railay as soon as I got here and could of just spent the day on the beach! It's about a 45 minute ferrie ride but I wanted to make the most out of y time there and spend a FULL day! I'm planning on booking the first ferrie out tomorrow morning or meet someone tonight who will want to make the trek with me so I can have a beach buddy at least!
After walking around for about an hour and a half, I headed back to the hostel so I could take a shower and freshen up a little before going back out to grab some lunch. The showers here are amazing!!! They have hot water and good water pressure which is an upgrade from Vikasa and my last stop. This whole place is really nice actually. Suck a cool hostel. I am staying in a mixed dorm room with 4 bunk beds. Everything is really clean and trendy looking. They have wifi and two bars, one of which is a roof top patio. Might just head up there in a bit to check it out! I have only booked for one night but think I will stay for a second and just do a day trip to Railay and come back here to sleep since I've heard it's pretty pricey to stay on the island. I am paying 200baht/night which is about $8. There seems to be a decent amount of people staying here so I just need to make the effort to open myself up more and make some friends. I talked to a girl who is staying in the same room as me right when I got here but I think she took off to Railey for the day. She's from Portland, Oregon and is studying in Chaing Mai and is here during her reading week! Hopefully I will bump into her later on since she was also travelling alone.
After my shower I headed back out to find somewhere to eat. It was about 130pm at this time and almost every restaurant I walked by, had Thais who looked like the staff sitting at a table and just talking amongst themselves. When I would ask if they were open they would just look at me and smile and shake their heads no and say sorry. I was starting to think this was something they do mid-day; close up shop to either rest or have lunch or something. I finally came across a restaurant with guests dining and a big Open sign out front. I ordered a coconut shake and papaya salad. Not sure if I've mentioned anything about the fruit shakes they have here but they are awesome!!! They
just blend fresh fruit with ice and it is soooo yummy and usually only cost about a dollar. It's either 70 cents for a bottle of water or a dollar for a delicious fruit shake. No free water in Thailand :( Lunch was a little lonely eating all by my lonesome but they had free wifi which was nice to keep me busy while I ate alone! I think eating alone a lot is going to be one of the hardest parts. I rarely sit at a restaurant and eat alone when I'm back home so it's been a whole new experience since dining out has always been a very social and pleasurable experience.
After lunch I began to walk around again. I decided to go down to the ferry dock and sit under a tree in the shade and read for a bit. I did this for a bit but got tired of being asked where I wanted to go by the local longboat drivers. They would all try and sell me yours around the lake, to different caves or over to Railay, Koh Phi Phi or Ko Lanta. I walked around some more and got a little lost for a few minutes until I spotted a familiar landmark and found my way back to the hostel! And here I am now, updating my blog and trying to stay busy. While walking I came across a hot yoga studio around the corner from where I am staying. They have a class at 6pm tonight which I may try to make but at the same time I don't want to spend the money on a hot class when I can do my own practice somewhere outside and probably sweat just as much! We'll see though. I'm starting to miss Vikasa already because of the convenience. It was easy to do yoga all the time because it was like school. I didn't have to go if I really didn't feel like it but I would no matter what because I didn't want to miss learning anything plus it was paid for. Now that I am backpacking its hard to find a place where I can actually do my own self practice and even bringing myself to practice daily is a challenge. I want to do and I think my body is craving it but its the inconvenience factor that makes it hard. Hopefully once I'm back at the beach it will be easier to just wake up early and practice right on the beach!
As for the rest of my time in Khao Sok, I spend my only full day taking a longboat across this gorgeous lake full of limestone cliffs to a little restaurant where we ate lunch and then headed off on a jungle tour. The longboat ride and the lake were amazing, the views were breathtaking and it was one of those moments in which I dreamed of when I first started planning my trip to SE Asia. The jungle trek on the other hand was a little over rated. We didn't see any crazy animals or reptiles or anything like that. There was a very very small waterfall and a cave which was barely accessible because the water was so high and would be up to your neck if you went in. Some people in my tour went in but I opted not to along with others because I knew it wasn't really my thing especially after hearing how high the water level was and 8 people died at these caves a couple years ago because the water was so high. Even one of our guides wouldn't go in because it was too high so I was glad I chose not to. Those who went said it was pretty cool but you basically had to swim the whole time and it was really dark. After the whole cave thing, we went back the way we came to the restaurant where we swam again before heading back to the mainland before taking a tuk tuk back to our hotels. The group I was with was a little disappointing. They were all very nice but I was the only young and solo traveler. There were two families; one Dutch and one American and a Dutch couple who looked to be in their early 50s. The Dutch family had a two year old son who was so adorable and the American family had a 7 year old son. Instead of feeling like I was backpacking while in my twenties I felt like I was tagging along on a giant family vacation. I enjoyed my day but it made me a little sad that I am here alone. Everyone on the trip had someone they cared about with this to share this incredible experience and there I was all alone. I was also hoping to meet some other backpackers who were my age to hangout with and feel less of an outcast!!
When we returned I grabbed some dinner in the hostel restaurant and just ate alone while instagraming my pictures from the day. One of the couples I was with during the tour was also staying in the same huts and asked if I wanted to join them for dinner but at that point I just wanted some time to myself. It's funny how last night when I had people to eat with I wanted to eat alone and today when I was eating alone I was wishing I had someone with me. We always want what we can't have and I'm working on letting go of my desires in all sense. We talked a lot about freeing yourself from desires in order to be happy and live an enlightened life when we were discussion Buddhism at Vikasa. Buddhism also touches on the thought that life is suffering and that all human beings suffer. Suffering comes from unmet desires and attachment. If we are able to let go our our desires and attachments in life there should be little suffering and if so you just need to let it be, it's part of life. It's so true because the things that usually make us unhappy are what we don't have. It's rare that we are unhappy about things we actually have, it's always wanting what we don't have or wanting to meet our needs and desires in a different way. I am trying to enjoy my time alone and really just be comfortable with being by myself. I am not suffering in any means and just letting things be the way they are! I think knowing and accepting the truth of this is whats helping me keep it together and be strong even when times are tough. When I traveled to Whistler alone (those of you who know me well, know what i am talking about) I had a much harder time when dealing with very similar situations and emotions! So Yayyyy but Oh Man! Life sometimes!!!! It's great but there is always something our ego is desiring, but I'm getting there :)
Now that that rant is out of my system ill leave you with the though of desire and suffering, how can you make your life better? End all your desires, accept that life is full of suffering but it's how we deal with it that truly builds our character. If we accept this and reach an enlightened state, we should be happy!!
Om shanti shanti shanti (meaning Let there be peace peace peace. Peace three times for all it's realms; Physical, Divine and Internal)
Now to go have fun with me, myself and I for the rest of the day :D
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