Most recently I've had little motivation to write a blog post. I sent an email home recently that I wanted to share with all of you. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a a brief look into life on Ko Lanta.
Dear Mama Pantalones,
It's all quite crazy, as you're waking up, I am finishing up my day. Our daily lives completely opposite. I wish I could send some heat across the oceans to you! The past couple of days, Jam and I have been walking everywhere, often times twenty minutes or more. The sun is so intense on these walks, finding any escape from it; a patch of sidewalk shaded by a clump of trees, a buildings overhang. Today we trekked to the beach, lounged for a bit, frolicked in the water then planned on walking to a gem of a cafe we found yesterday morning. We thought with a bit of configuring we would be able to walk a stretch of beach, cut through one of the resorts that pepper the shore, and pop out to the road where the restaurant would be. The first part of our plan worked, we quickly made our way through an upscale resort, came out onto a back road- found a path through the woods that led to another back road which lead to the main road. After walking about 10 minutes, we made it... only to find that the cafe was closed for the day. We dragged ourselves back to town, quite a pair; both soaked in sweat and grime. To say the least, we were overjoyed when we finally were able to sit down to a bowl of soup and iced coffee. We spent the rest of the afternoon hiding out in our air conditioned room- watching the news, practicing yoga, meditating. It's only now that we have crept back out, its cooled down drastically, perfect for strolling through the various food stalls to find dinner.
I'm writing this email in waves. I had intentions of sending it last night, but was too hungry to do so. Thankfully there are food carts right at the end of our block- everything is quite tempting when your stomach is growling. Jam and I found a favorite though. A young man whose stand is situated between 2 larger stands. He has a makeshift grill in which he cooks corn on the cob, when the corn is perfectly charred, he wraps it in paper, sprinkles it with a handful of salt- twirls it to make sure the salt evenly covers the corn, and hands it over- just a buck. We ended up strolling down the street to a restaurant. This older Thai fella stood happily at the entrance, the biggest smile plastered on his face, he was missing almost all of of his teeth, which only seemed to make him more endearing. After ordering he bounded back to the kitchen to retrieve water for us, I'm guessing it's just him and his wife running the show... every now and again, he would pop his head up, smile our way, as though to ask if everything was okay. The food was good, but I'm sure people return to his restaurant because of his sweet demeanor more than anything else.
In a few hours we will be hopping on a bus to Bangkok. It's a 10 hour ride- overnight. We've just returned from the market where we purchased fruit, bread, water- the essentials. We read that there are many guesthouses near the bus station in Bangkok as we will be arriving around 6am tomorrow. We've considered jumping on the first bus to Siem Reap so that we can get all the traveling out of the way in one go, seems a bit ambitious, but maybe!
Hokay mama! I love you lots and will write again soon.
oxoxoxoxo!
The biggest of big hugs and fat kisses too.
Love, Q
Dear Mama Pantalones,
It's all quite crazy, as you're waking up, I am finishing up my day. Our daily lives completely opposite. I wish I could send some heat across the oceans to you! The past couple of days, Jam and I have been walking everywhere, often times twenty minutes or more. The sun is so intense on these walks, finding any escape from it; a patch of sidewalk shaded by a clump of trees, a buildings overhang. Today we trekked to the beach, lounged for a bit, frolicked in the water then planned on walking to a gem of a cafe we found yesterday morning. We thought with a bit of configuring we would be able to walk a stretch of beach, cut through one of the resorts that pepper the shore, and pop out to the road where the restaurant would be. The first part of our plan worked, we quickly made our way through an upscale resort, came out onto a back road- found a path through the woods that led to another back road which lead to the main road. After walking about 10 minutes, we made it... only to find that the cafe was closed for the day. We dragged ourselves back to town, quite a pair; both soaked in sweat and grime. To say the least, we were overjoyed when we finally were able to sit down to a bowl of soup and iced coffee. We spent the rest of the afternoon hiding out in our air conditioned room- watching the news, practicing yoga, meditating. It's only now that we have crept back out, its cooled down drastically, perfect for strolling through the various food stalls to find dinner.
I'm writing this email in waves. I had intentions of sending it last night, but was too hungry to do so. Thankfully there are food carts right at the end of our block- everything is quite tempting when your stomach is growling. Jam and I found a favorite though. A young man whose stand is situated between 2 larger stands. He has a makeshift grill in which he cooks corn on the cob, when the corn is perfectly charred, he wraps it in paper, sprinkles it with a handful of salt- twirls it to make sure the salt evenly covers the corn, and hands it over- just a buck. We ended up strolling down the street to a restaurant. This older Thai fella stood happily at the entrance, the biggest smile plastered on his face, he was missing almost all of of his teeth, which only seemed to make him more endearing. After ordering he bounded back to the kitchen to retrieve water for us, I'm guessing it's just him and his wife running the show... every now and again, he would pop his head up, smile our way, as though to ask if everything was okay. The food was good, but I'm sure people return to his restaurant because of his sweet demeanor more than anything else.
In a few hours we will be hopping on a bus to Bangkok. It's a 10 hour ride- overnight. We've just returned from the market where we purchased fruit, bread, water- the essentials. We read that there are many guesthouses near the bus station in Bangkok as we will be arriving around 6am tomorrow. We've considered jumping on the first bus to Siem Reap so that we can get all the traveling out of the way in one go, seems a bit ambitious, but maybe!
Hokay mama! I love you lots and will write again soon.
oxoxoxoxo!
The biggest of big hugs and fat kisses too.
Love, Q
Iced coffee afternoons.
The local kids help Jam fill up:
Cabin in the woods.
Scootering.
Green.
Turmeric spiced rice with chicken.
Burger time.
Market day.
Koh Lanta.
On the menu as "no name."
The best chicken kebab in all the land.
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