Perhaps my favorite place to relax when I get the chance is down here at Sunflower. The atmosphere is super chill, the music never makes me want to leave, the view doesn’t suck and they have hammocks and other lounge furnishings. And it seems that it’s always 10 degrees cooler here.
Even at night, when the beach becomes a Rave, Sunflower stays super mellow.
(See, the view doesn't suck.)
I’ve just had a massage up at the Viewpoint Resort. I popped in on Ryan who’s sat at the shop doing theory with an open water student and surfing CalGuns.
I wrenched my back earlier this week being at the bent-over-receiving-end of a box full of dive gear that was way too heavy. I dove for two more days and then could barely move. So I decided to take it seriously and was recommended to go see the Barefoot Doctor who rubbed red tiger balm-smelling crap all over my back then trod on me and dug his heels into me. All the while hanging from bamboo bars on his ceiling. Then he rolled me over and prodded my belly and told me that the root of all my problems was too much gas. I left 600 bahts lighter and an hour later I had the worse bellyache and my back was stiffer than ever. I was really really disappointed as I earnestly hoped I’d found a real healer. I won’t go so far as to call him a quack, but hell, if it walks and talks, you fill in the rest…
This was Wednesday.
Thursday we went to Phuket to get our stamps in our passports. Four hours on the ferry and a short minibus ride and taxi ride assuredly did not improve my situation. And yesterday I spent all day lying down reading “The Hour I First Believed” by Wally Lamb that Jenny brought me when she visited. I did this for about 10 hours, minus about 1 hour of hanging with Chris up until the barbeque at Barakuda where Carlien once again outdid herself!
As with all Wally Lamb books, it's not the most uplifting story, but boy is it ever the page-turner - I am absolutely loving it.
Which brings me to today’s no-joke approach to getting myself all good to be back in the water for my two French DSDs tomorrow afternoon. Oil massage up at Viewpoint and tonight – light yoga with Keira.
It’s too hot to be on land. I’m fairly certain I’ve said this before, but honest, it’s 35 celsius in the shade, never mind in the sun! I was “thrilled” to hear that this was “unseasonably warm” because I’d heard that April and May are the hottest months. So to hear that this is what it’s normally like in April either means that this is the hottest it gets or that come April we’re screwed! But the heat is unbearable – just imagine the worst summer heat with humidity and no break from it. And all you can do is complain about it. The cold shower thing is a joke – because come mid-day when the sun is at its hottest, it’s had all morning to beat down on the water containers and turn your nice cool shower into a warm shower – the last thing you want. So the only release from the heat is two hours daily submerged beneath the sea.
So I’ve not written for a while you say. It’s been a weird couple of months. I have been prisoner of my own head which is never good and spent a little too much time post the whole Adventure Club mess followed by a small mess of my own completely focused on the negative and making very little effort to change, ergo feeling like I really had nothing to write about. It’s the fight or flight conundrum. Since I’ve decided that I don’t want to be subject to other people’s bullshit anymore, I’m tending more towards the removing myself from situations I don’t like approach which may not always be the best solution.
And honesly, Island Fever is not a joke!
A bright spot in all that crap was Jenny’s week long visit. While both of us worked, it sure was nice to hang out with her, enjoy meals and chats. And I had the privilege to take her diving.
Changes are upon us as we’re shifting from high season back towards low season. While technically we are still well in high season, seasonal locals are starting to leave Phi Phi for their next high season location. The island will start to thin out.
(Aside – I’ve just enjoyed a tuna, cheese and chili toastie on baguette – otherwise known as a tuna melt – and had to pick a couple of the chilies out so I’d actually still be able to breath after finishing it. So now my fingers are covered in chili nematocysts and I’m trying to be careful not to get them near my eyes, but I’ve already rubbed my nose with them a number of times and now my nostrils have this funny tingly sensation.)
Well folks, I’m off to yoga!
