The Island is run on an eco-friendly basis for example the coconut milk we drank was from the coconuts gathered that day from around the camp, the jam we ate at breakfast was made from the local Hibiscus trees, fish we ate was caught by the locals from the surrounding seas.
Hibiscus flowers drying
There's a central reception/lounge/restaurant area that is owned by an American who's lived in Thailand for the last 30 years. Surrounding the main reception congregation area are cabins which stretch out along the gorgeous beach. All the cabins are built with native wood, bamboo and have Thai thatched roofs. The bathroom is an attachment to each cabin but is actually outdoors and surrounded by nice thick bamboo walls. Nothing beats having a cold water shower at 6:00am in the morning watching the sunrise.
I shared my cabin with some other residents, though I was supposed to have a single room. There was Larry the Lizard, Harry the Bullfrog, George the grasshopper and his extended family and finally Hermin the Ferret House (rat really). Hermin had this habit of stealing my little bars of soap so kindly provided by the cleaning staff every day. He only liked the manufactured soap, natural soaps were not to his taste. And on occasion a curious macac monkey would hang around the cabin at night, it's green eyes glowing in the dark.
Cottage #3, also called Hibiscus, before tsunami
Cottage #3 after tsunami
Electricity was available during the day between 6:00pm and 11:00pm, provided by 2 generators on the island. The generators were old and cranky and had fits where they simply stopped working, so everyone carries torches just in case, and repairs were inventive as access to spare parts or a store to replace a broken piece is not an option. Goods deliveries were once a day by local longtail boat.
Internet access and phone connections were all via satellite, which is a little unreliable and extremely expensive to use. Besides the fact that there was only 1 laptop connected for guests to use email.
The island has a Sea Turtle Conservation project which monitors for turtle laying very early each morning. One of the volunteers, Rebecca, gave me a great introduction to what her work and the Project was all about. In the little pool under attached to the Conservation Project 3 baby turtles were being reared, and would later be released to the sea.
Sea Turtle Project
Yoga classes ran from 7:30am - 10:00am and from 4:00pm - 5:30pm and were held on the outdoor yoga deck which faced the beach. Each morning we faced Sunrise to start our yogic day :-)
Yoga Sala where yoga sessions were conducted morning and evening
Long-tailed macac monkeys, who are native to this island, seemed to find us a curious sight. Each day they came down close to the yoga deck and sat a little way off 'watching' us while eating their early morning breakfast of coconuts. They ran up the coconut trees to throw coconuts to the ground, then they peeled off the outer layer of straw and used a rock or stump of a tree to crack open the coconut for it's delicious milk and flesh.
In the center is Savannagh like area. Originally it was tropical forest like the rest of the island, but it had been mined for tin, leaving a flat landscape which now looks like the African Savannagh with sand so white and fine it's nearly blinding in the mid-day sunlight.
Savannah region in the center of the island
One day off from Yoga took us to the Surin island where snorkelling is about the best in the world. I'm sure I found the Garden of Eden, it's under the water in the Surin Islands. The coral is absolutely magnificent, with gardens of all different kinds popping up everywhere you look. Reef life is abundant and it's fascinating to watch fish fight for their terrirtory, defend their young or simply feed off the corals.
I saw my first black tipped reef shark - about a meter long but still just awesome. I'd been hoping to see one and had come close a few weeks earlier when we were snorkelling around the Ko Phi Phi are, but though I saw after that one I missed seeing it.
Around the Surin islands are small villages of Moken Sea Gypsies. These people are a seafaring culture, about 1000 years old who live on their boats. Only coming ashore to temporary stilt villages by the oceans edge when there are storms or it's not the fishing season. They have a distinct language and roam around Thailand and Burma as they have always done. As a result they really don't have any citizenship. However Thailand recently has begun issuing those Moken who can speak fluent Thai with residency cards.
Visiting one of the few remaining Moken villages on the Surin islands was a humbling experience. People survive here with even less than I carry in my backpack. As their lifestyle is threatened by the approaching tourism Thailand has created a barrier by creating the Surin National Park, stopping local Thai from fishing these waters so that the Moken can continue their traditional lifestyle. We were one of only a very few visitors who go to this particular island to visit with the Moken.
Moken village Ko Surin Island
After ohm'ing and yoga'ing for 8 days I don't think I've ever been so flexible or relaxed in all my life. Now if only I can keep that feeling going ;-)
So for now, Namaste, Happy XMas, New Year, Hannuka and all other celebrations.
UPDATE: I wrote this from Patong Beach shortly after the Retreat ended. I stayed on Patong Beach until 22nd December, going to Bangkok on that day. On December 25th Jeff and I flew to San Francisco. Needless the ensuing weeks were terrible. The tsunami had taken everything I had experienced away in it's wake.
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