Day 53 - Wednesday, April 6 - Ko Pha Ngan

I had a pretty good night sleep and woke at 8AM - after all, I'm bound to go down for a nap a few times today so 5 hours was plenty to get me started. I don't remember what anyone even looked like from last night and no strangers came up to me telling me it was a SMINT night so I think I'm ok.

I took a walk on the beach - figured 2 days of exercise in a row wouldn't kill me but this time, unlike yesterday, I walked on the beach (a flat surface) and didn't intentionally try to inflict pain on myself. I actually felt pretty good under the circumstances. I'm also pretty sure that my liver was still tryng to process some of the libations of just a few hours ago.

I checked my e-mail and Logan informed me he was not meeting me on Ko Tao, rather heading north to Kanchanaburi which is where I had my romp with the tigers and saw the Bridge over River Kwai.

Therefore, I decided to stay on Ko Pha Ngan for yet another day, right here at Palita Lodge.

The morning was spent doing a lot of nothing - just loads of R&R - occasionally waking up to find I had taken an unintentional nap and then, at one point, something jolted my brain into thinking I should do something spontaneous and nothing I've planned to date. I went to one of the many used bookstores of Had Rin and bought a Lonely Planet for Cambodia. Maybe I'll catch a plane to Bangkok tomorrow and then to Siem Reap, and see Angkor Wat before leaving Southeast Asia. I sat in the hammock and read all about my new plan.

At 3PM, I took a songtheaw (remember, those are the pick-up trucks outfitted with the 2 benches in the back that act as a taxi) over the treacherous roads towards Thong Sala to Wat Pho. Also remember that Wat is "temple" in Thai but I wasn't going to see another Thai temple but rather to check out the Herbal Sauna they have on the grounds. This time, unlike Chiang Mai, it wasn't an individual room but one that maybe 7 or 8 people could fit in at one time as they pumped steam infused with a blend of white tumeric, kaffir lime, lemongrass, tamarind leaf, sugar cane tumeric, and salt to a temperature upwards of A LOT of degrees fahrenheit. After 10 minutes, I came out, doused myself with water from the giant urn that sits outside, cooled down a bit and did it all over again about 3 or 4 times. When I was all done, I smelled good enough to eat.

When almost all the fluids of my body had been sweated out, I then opted for an OIL massage (remember again, I hate Thai Massages). It was pretty good and at times had Thai elements to it, but I managed to survive and felt great afterward.

I found some guy in a pick-up truck heading in the direction of Had Rin and hopped in the back and successfully made it back to Palita without and bruises, broken bones, or whiplash. The road from Thong Sala to Had Rin is one of the worst on the island and certainly rivals the one from Thong Sala to Ao Nong Thai Pan Yai last week.

Back on my porch, I entertained the idea of Cambodia again but came to no decision. If I'm going to go ahead with this plan, I think I need to make a decision by tomorrow. I would take a boat over to Ko Samui on Friday morning and catch a plane to Bangkok immediately. I would spend a night in Bangkok and take a plane early Saturday AM to Cambodia and start my tour of Angkor. I can't imagine, even though it's not UNcommon for people to spend 5 or 6 days looking at temples, that I would need more than the rest of Saturday and 2 full days starting at sunrise on Sunday and going full force until sunset on Monday to see all I want to. After all, this is the same person who saw The Sistine Chapel in 36 seconds. At that point, I can bolt down to Phnom Penn for a few days and head back to Bangkok on Friday or Saturday morning to catch my plane to LA on Sunday at 11:55PM. Now that I've explained an itinerary that will change 36 times before I make any decisions, it's time to either act on it or come up with a new plan for the remaining 9 or 10 days before I need to be back in Bangkok.

I strolled around town for a bit, stopped for a little dinner at some chicken joint as I was Thai Fooded out and came back to Palita where I joined some other Palitians for the end of Ocean's 12. After the movie ended, we reconvened on the beach for a night swim and chat and I headed for bed near midnight.