Gilligan Had a Good Life

Full relaxation. That's the best way to describe what I've been doing for the past week and a half on the Thai island Koh Tao. This will probably be the only blog entry of this nature for a while as we prepare to embark on a motorbike adventure through the Rajhastan region in India. We will be going from zen to full on heart racing (heart attack) excitement.

While on the island, I've been getting reconnected to my yoga practise at the excellent Shambhala Yoga led by Kester, Tracy, and Ina. They teach a hatha practise that has a flow twist. The classes have been no less than awesome! I highly recommend trying their classes if you are in the area.

We've also been enjoying the snorkelling. The island has undergone some pretty significant development since our visit 3 years ago. Development at the benefit of local wealth but at the cost of nature; it's a dilemma that resonates everywhere on our planet these days. However, it is reassuring to see that the sea life has not gotten worse nor better. Beautiful huge parrot fishes and pairs of angel fish still grace the coral, some of which is astoundingly vibrant and shaped like bonsai trees. One day I was hanging out on our balcony when this guy decided that it was okay to walk half a kilometer on the coral in his crocs. I was seething. Walking on or touching live coral kills it and the sea life that it sustains. I told the man nicely and he responded that "he" was okay since he was wearing his shoes. After some explanation, I hope that his scope has expanded beyond himself. Following that incident, today, I saw a whole group of people stepping on live coral. Seriously, how would they if King Kong stepped on their house or if some donkey just stepped on their dinner?? If fish have feelings, I'd bet that they'd be pretty pissed off.

On the unfortunate side of things, both of us have had some bad luck with our health. I had a killer cough that I tried really hard to supress for fear that I would be cast aside for having H1N1. The media really took precautions with it and I would say that it was maybe a bit much. The news stories about thermal scanners at the airports were completely non-existent to us. Thankfully I don't have the virus and it has since gone away with excessive doses (overdoses, the bottle is shaped like a mini-jager bottle!) of cough syrup. Nico on the other hand is still plagued with an eye infection. He visited a hospital in Bangkok which had super professional service and was very much on par (even beyond) with our health services. From the sounds of it, he will be just fine.

That's about as interesting as island life gets. Next entry...the enchanting and mysterious India!