Life in Paradise

I have to pinch myself everyday when I wake up to make sure that this isn't just a wonderful dream. I am actually here! The first week is almost gone already, but it seems like the cold of Berlin happened in another life. It feels like I'm home: cooking meals in our open air kitchen, driving around with my scooter, soaking up the spiritual and tranquil vibe. I had a possibility to do a first tantra workshop already this week, but after meditating on it I decided against it. First I need peace and quiet and the sense of not rushing. Which I have reached. Today is a lovely proof of it: I haven't left my house the whole day and haven't felt like I'm missing out on anything. I started the morning slow, eating breakfast that my lovely friend G prepared before dashing off to do his course. Did some yoga and workout and meditated afterwards. I cleaned the house a bit and then settled on my computer to edit some photos. Prepared lunch when I got hungry (Lilje's Experimental Kitchen proudly presents: boiled eggs with a veggie stew made of daikon radish, some leafy greens, tomato, cashews, onion, ginger and a surprise guest star: dates. Seasoned with garam masala and coriander powder, Weird but yummy). Edited some more photos with the clumsy touchpad and some cursing, since a wireless mouse does not work with a wireless keyboard dongle apparently, what a shocker. Mental note: a dongle is not the same as a dongle. Check which ones you're taking with you.

Om, peace and quiet <3

I've also been fortunate to spend some lovely times with a German friend Claudia who's also travelling at the moment and came to visit me on Koh Phangan. Girl talk, sunset photos, partying in the Blackmoon afterparty Ban Sabaii on Baan Tai beach and lots of good food (also really good Indian! If you're on KPG and craving some Indian chow, check out Haad Chao Phao resort's Indian restaurant. Smallish portions but really delish.) So grateful for these couple of days with her <3

De ja vu: Teaching Claudia to ride a scooter in the same place I first grabbed the handles of a two-wheeler in 2012

Mama Pooh's: from Srithanu with love 

It was so wonderful to get to dance again as well, I'd really really missed the full-on energy that psytrance gives me. I'm not a night time party animal, never really was, so a day party in a beautiful, laid-back beach location with wonderful company and good music ticks so many boxes in the "how to have a good time" category. And the possibility to dash off to a nearby cafe to have a refreshing watermelon shake to cool down for less than one euro doesn't exactly ruin the mood either.

Party girls <3

Baan Sabai. Sabai sabai <3

To top off the evening, G, the friend I'm sharing the house with, joined me for a stroll along the Saturday night walking street in the "main village" of the island, Thong Sala. We munched our way through the delicacies that were on offer (Home made rice cakes drizzled with Thai brown sugar! Mango with sticky rice! Deep fried stuff and more deep fried stuff! Corn coconut pancakes! Mango papaya shake! Yes, not the healthiest of dinners but OMG so delicious). And ended the night with a little more time on the dance floor plus one of my absolutely favourite things in the world: a ride through the deserted nighttime streets of the island. There's just something about sleeping cities which appeals to me on so many levels that I always try to book transport that leaves at an ungodly weird hour so that I get to travel through the dark streets and pretend the place is mine and mine alone. Scootering through a sleeping island would be a heaven on earth if there wasn't the risk of getting chased by territorial dogs. But even with the risk it's pretty sweet.

It's not all unicorns and cotton candy and rainbows, though. I'm living in the jungle, and I am not alone. I've already met with our household cockroach (quite cute and not so icky as his city-living brethren) and the first spider over 10 cm in diameter. It is a sobering moment (and a good do-it-yourself cure for arachnophobia) to make oneself just stand and look at the creature and not shirk away in disgust or horror. I managed. And I'm sure we'll get along. G also told me about a dead scorpion that he found on our front stairs last week and a mysterious brown thing coiled around a tree that wasn't there anymore in the morning, so most probably a snake (or the infamous Vanishing Epiphyte of Koh Phangan, who knows! It's a magical island). But for some reason I still don't find it unnerving to be plunged into pitch black after switching off my scooter and spending a couple of moments in deep darkness while rummaging for my headlamp in my black hole of a bag. And the jungle noises are comforting, not scary. There are also amazingly few ants in our house compared to the multitude and variety we had in our previous one back in 2012 when we lived here with the ex.

There are also the minor inconveniences of a trickle of water that pretends to be a shower (water is cold, of course), a toilet flushing system consisting of a jar of water and drinking water supply that doesn't involve a tap but a canister that weighs a ton, but I will happily take all of that in exchange for the balmy warmth, jungle inhabitant chirping and buzzing and whispering around me and blogging on the balcony at 11 PM in oil lamp light wearing a top and a skirt. Not a bad life, this.

Jungle home <3

Tomorrow I have been here exactly one week. And although I'm here just for two weeks this time, I know I will be back and there are wonderful adventures waiting for me in between. It will be heartbreaking to leave Koh Phangan though, and I know if I hadn't already paid for the retreat in India and the plane tickets, I would probably somehow end up staying here for the whole time. Which is exactly why I did book the retreat and tickets, since I do want so see something else of the world for a change than only the paradise I know. Even though it is one of the best places to be in this universe.

Did I mention that the sunsets can get pretty spectacular?