Phuket... retreats and time apart

Last moment together before Ewa left for her detox, we would be appart for two weeks

We left our friends in Ko Tao and headed back on the ferry to Ko Samui for our flight to Phuket. Little did we know, but the rain that we had over the last few days at the coral view was the tail end of another hurricane in the Philippines. We got to enjoy 3-4 meter swells on the catamaran that we took between Ko Tao and Ko Samui - it was quite the ride! We arrived in Phuket after our short flight to find out that Phuket is run by a Taxi / Tuk-Tuk mafia – there’s no way to get a fair deal for a ride on Phuket island. They over charged significantly, (compared to what it should cost in Thailand) so it’s best to take the public bus, which runs only until 17:30. Just be careful, it may not run from or to where you would like to go.

We settled into our little guest house, where we paid 1000 Baht ($33 cdn) for the night. Turns out we paid this for a little tiny room that was literally only the width of our bed and had ~3.5 feet of clearance at the end of the bed before it ended in the stall sized bathroom, where you get to shower over the toilet (the norm in Asia). Awesome. Later we checked out the city went to the diving shop and wandered about the city. The Patong area is really just a beach, two main streets filled with touristy shops selling all the same same, restaurants, dive shops and old white guys toting Thai women on their arms. We had no time before the live a board to enjoy the city and really only had a few days after the diving before we were leaving for our retreats, so we may have missed some of the finer points of the area. We needed a place to use as a home base for coming back to before/after our diving and our retreats, and with Patong so central to it all, it just made sense to spend the extra time here.

Lounging at the Pool at Atsumi

One thing we learned finally is why the Asian men walk around with their shirts pulled exposing their stomachs. Even though this looks incredibly stupid, it has practical real-world applications. In hot humid countries you sweat. Turns out the longer you are here, the more you sweat from strange places. By the time we reached Thailand, Chad had discovered that he can sweat A LOT from his stomach. Strange fact – you would have never learned this living in Canada. But… not once did Chad partake in the Asian custom of pulling his shirt up over his stomach, to a point just below the nipples, simply to cool down.

Our hotel room at the Fairmont

Before we left for our diving live a board, we managed to get a great walk-in deal on the hotel Aspery, where we paid 1000 Baht a night for a proper hotel, with a decent bed, a semi-normal bathroom and access to the roof-top swimming pool. A much better upgrade than the guesthouse we just left. The rest of the time we wandered the streets, tasting local dishes from the street vendors (Pad Thai, mango sticky rice, fried chicken, tom yum soup, spicy papaya salad, fresh fruit / veggie juices, more coconut coated peanuts) going to the movies, working out and just wasting away the days. After all of our back and forth from Patong we were off to Singapore to relax in major comfort at the Fairmont and to see Mark and Sara (Chad’s friends) from Innisfail!

OUR RETREATS!

The Detox Center

Ewa -

I left for my detox retreat on November 28th and was coming back to Phuket on Dec 5th, a full week before Chad was due back. A car picked me up at the hotel and it was a scenic half an hour drive to where the retreat was. The detox was fasting for one week with half a week or more as a pre-fast that I did on our live a board, as much as I could. No meat, eating as raw food as possible, no coffee, no alcohol and no sugar. The morning I got there they took an alkaline test on my saliva to determine how acidic my system was. I couldn’t drink or eat anything before that. I was really looking forward to this retreat, to relax, get away from the stress of travelling- haha just kidding. It was time to do something nice for my body and my mind. I didn’t eat any solid food for a week. I had 4 fibre shakes, 4 sets of vitamins, 2 coconut waters every day and a vegetable broth at night. For the first few days it was a bit difficult but also interesting because of the fibre shakes I wasn’t very hungry. The staff planned activities every morning evening you could do, but if you didn’t feel like it you could just nap or do your own thing. I chose to do as many as I could, there were a few that I struggled through because I didn’t have the energy but I did them anyway. We did beach walks, mountain walks and yoga in the mornings. The evening activities were all over the place from guided meditation, tai chi, yoga, Muay Tai boxing and talks on nutrition. I enjoyed it so much. After seven days though, I was ready to get back to reality and to the eating world. After seven days of nothing, you start dreaming of all of the things you want. Simple things like solids! A salad, some chilli peppers, a tom yum soup! The only thing I could have for three days after the fast was pure raw food so most of my cravings were off limits, including coffee  . That is one thing I missed a lot! An Americano….mmmm. I waited the three days to have it, and it was delicious.

Tiny little Buddhas meditating in the grass at Atsumi

Chad -

I have thought of doing a silent retreat for a very long time, and Ewa surprised me with arranging our trip to make sure we would be in Thailand in time for me to go to one of the more renowned retreats. I was up early in the morning to catch my minivan to head back East across Thailand to Chaya, which is 2/3 of the way back to Ko Tao. The minivan was an excellent experience, getting to spend 4 hours in an over-stuffed mini-van next to a vomiting woman - a great introduction to extreme patience. The first night I changed my plans and stayed at the main monastery in Suan Mok, rather than in a hotel in Surat Thani. This first night, I slept in a large communal room, on a concrete slab as my bed and with a wooden pillow. We were allowed a small bamboo mat to sleep on, and we all were given a blanket. The next day, early in the morning, the retreat started at the International Hermitage, just 1.5 km from the main monastery. There were about 90 other participants who were doing the silent retreat as well. The accommodation was the same as at the monastery, but at the hermitage, we each got our own room. There were no showers, only a large cistern filled with water, from which you took a ladle and poured the water onto yourself. The daily routine started with a 4am wake-up bell followed by a rotation of sitting meditations, walking meditations and Dhamma talks (Buddhist lessons). Breakfast at 8am and lunch at noon were thrown into the mix, along with one morning yoga session, all for 10 days straight. There was no conversation what so ever. Toss in the introduction day and the day after the retreat and you have practically 12 days of silent meditation time for yourself. The retreat was an amazing experience. I was able to learn a lot about my physical and mental limits. More importantly, I was able to explore some deep thoughts…. by Jack Handy (… hahaha, Mom and Dad that’s a Saturday Night Live reference for you) and it allowed me time to re-evaluate the path my life had been leading me down. By the end of the retreat, I was more than ready to head back to Phuket to scoop my bride back into my arms. We’ve been living inseparable for the past 9 months and the 2 weeks apart were beginning to be a little too much, especially not having any contact with each other in a different country.

written by

ECRadventure on November 28, 2009 from Phuket, Thailand

from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog

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