11/06/2011,,,, Yo!
Back in Reality & back on the GRID... The 10 Day meditation course at Wat Suan Mok was Great... The
first couple of days were rough, getting up at 4am, no cigarettes & no 'cup of tea' ,, LOL, but soon got into the swing of it, :-) . The 1 hour of yoga at 5 am was nice to get
back into and doing a Meditation watching the sunrise was Great !!!! The food was great especially the lunch menue, then No food between noon and sunrise the next morning,, LOL,, Not had a cig for 10 days and not been toooo bad as it was a silent retreat, there was no one to shout at or get angry with, not like the last time I gave up smoking and lost a Girlfriend & a Truck... LOL... The problem is that I still want one so not sure how much longer it will last.. :-( ,, LOL.LOL.. Didn't last very long :-( ....Had a cig the next day then back to smoking again, but smoking less ,, :-) ,,..
Met a really nice American woman traveller called Susan.
Mon 13/06 found me on a bus to Surat Thani then a pickup truck to the Port, 220 baht ferry ride, (2 1/2 hrs)
to Kho Pha Nagan. The ferry was FULL of 18-25 yrs old English party people, LOL, Damn the place has changed.... Now Full ON Party Island, travellers squeezed into the Far North. Stayed at 'Easy Beach Bungalows', 200 bh/night, nice food & staff but music from surrounding bars went on till 4 am.. LOL. Good for the younger ones, BUT not for me :-( so moved to the far North, to, 'Coconut beach bungalows', again nice, 200 baht, QUIET :-) but expensive food :-(.. but 
some nice snorkeling.. Finally found a compromise at Chaloklum, where I rented a bungalow on the Beach for 200 baht/day. Rented a 100cc Honda scooter at 2 quid/day and 
went riding around the Island, was fun being back on 2 wheels and the scooters do 100 kph, (60mph), which is more than enough for the Island roads, :-) Bought some local Greenery for 10 quid/Quarter and chilled by the beach for a few days. Finally got bored with that, LOL, It can be difficult sometimes, traveling alone,and frustrating as almost all the 
accommodations here in Asia are Double rooms, so I end up paying for a double room, (double or twin single beds), and wasting the extra space. But no-one wants to travel with me for free,,,,,, POOR ME... LOL..20/06 and it's off to Koh Samui to do another meditation retreat at: http://www.dipabhavan.org/ to have a thing on the concept of '' being alone Vs being lonely''. >
>> Had a nice time at the retreat, nice place, nice food & nice people. The stay is on a donation basis so 1 quid (100 baht)/day for full board + meditation lessons, seems good value to me. Again I stopped smoking for the 7 days, then bloody started again when I left, :-( , spank me with a wet fish..... Thought for a few years about doing some Monastic studies, (LOL), so now back at Suan Mok Forest Monastery to chat with the Western Monks......
Stayed at Suan Mok for a couple of days then caught the train to Chumpon to visit Wat Tungpie, a watt recomended by Kevin & Werner from the retreat course. Wat Tungpie is a nice but bit run down, forest Monestary. Great place and the locals over-contribute to the small number of resident monks there. I stayed for 4 days and loved the place... :-)
Then it was onto the overnight sleeper train to BANGKOK,,, (600 miles & a Bed for 6 quid :-),,,) so am now hanging around Koh san rd for a few days......
A NICE FUN MONTH FOR ME..... <3
