A Monkey and Her Backpack: a year in review (Part 2)

KOH PHANGAN

on the ferry to Koh Phangan

I arrived into Koh Phangan the end of September and I honestly didn't think I would be staying very long.  As fate would have it, I absolutely fell in love with the island and the opportunities that arose were ones I'd always wanted to explore: teaching contact improvisation, mediation, spirituality, diving, and so much more.  I felt the desire to immerse myself in this place and really explore the possibilities the island had to offer.  It was 7 months before I decided to leave the island and continue my travels.

In order to stay on the island, I of course needed some kind of income.  I didn't have much and I didn't need much; a roof over my head and food in my belly was sufficient.

who says you can't do CI at dinner??

The thing that inspired me to stay on the island was the ability to teach contact improvisation.  I ended up teaching an impromptu class when I met with Tatiana, the mutual friend of a friend.  The class loved what I'd done and asked if I could do more.  Tatiana was wonderful enough to let me stay in her place while I figured myself out on where I could teach and a job so I could live on the island.  I ended up teaching at two different locations as time allowed.  It's funny though, my first class was a disaster...no one came!!  I was frustrated but not discouraged and just took it as a learning experience.  Word spread and I had some lovely classes and jams while on the island.

my first poster I made as PR

working the bar on St. Patrick's Day

I ended up finding two very different job opportunities through two very different means.  I first found a bartending gig through a conversation Tatianta had with the owner of a resort while standing in line at the immigration office.  The only catch was I wasn't needed until the high season which started in the middle of December.  This was when I found the position of PR staff at a tantra/yoga school.  My job quickly became events manager and I took over bringing in and marketing new workshops and events at the school.  It was a rewarding and yet stressful job in major part because I was living at the school while I worked there.  As many of you know, I tend to take my work home with me as it is, so this was an even more difficult task.  I learned about many new types of meditation and healing and also about the lights and shadows of the spiritual community.  Unfortunately due to personality clashes, I cut my time at the school short and focused on self care and diving, a decision I don't regret.

Working at Seaflower Bungalows at their bar called Heaven (come on, who wouldn't love to say they get to work in Heaven every night?) located right on the beach, it was a relaxing and social job.  I met people from all over the world and perfected my caprinhia cocktail.  ::chuckle::  With beautiful beach sunsets every night and the occasional seafood BBQ, this was a dream job.  Like any bartending gig, the hours were crazy but I met so many people and built so many lasting relationships that staying up till 4am was well worth it.  I love my Seaflower family!!!

my first scooter!!

While on the island, I didn't just learn new things while on the job.  I also learned how to drive a scooter!!!  Cars aren't very popular in Thailand other than to transport goods and this is true even more so on the islands.  So Kira had to get on one of the back of these and eventually learn to drive so I wouldn't have to bum rides.  When I decided to stay on Koh Phangan for a while, I actually bought a scooter and then sold it at face value when I left again.  This is a pretty typical course of action for farangs staying long-term.

jellyfish sting my first day  :-(

motorbike accident and still smiling

Now an adventure wouldn't be an adventure without some physical mishaps on my part.  I tried to keep things on the down low until I'd recovered so as not to freak out the parents.  Shhhhh!!!  But they know I'd tell them if anything major was going on (right Mom and Dad??).  Anyway, true to form I was stung by a jellyfish my first day on Koh Phangan about 10 minutes after getting into the water for the first time.  Of course no one knew had to actually handle stings (including the locals running the front desk of my hostel) so I just waited it out and listened to music to distract from the pain.  NO, people!  I did NOT let anyone pee on me.  ::chuckle::  The air con at the 7/11 became my best friend and I actually went out dancing that night at the jungle party.  The jellyfish stings made for some pretty cool designs as it healed too.

Next was the UTI from hell which you can read in my other post Always an Adventure.  I then got in a motorbike accident a few weeks after buying my bike in late October.  Luckily it was just me involved but it was still a scary situation.  My brakes froze going down a steep hill that had a sharp turn and lots of gravel around a hole where construction had been happening earlier in the month.  Basically all the cards were stacked against me.  I was going down; it was just a question of when.  I had never been so grateful to contact improv with learning to fall correctly as I naturally protected my head and expanded my surface area when the bike finally tipped.  I had a lot more scratches but not nearly as deep if I'd had a small point of impact.  The worst was my side where the gravel shredded my skin.  I have a nice Koh Phangan tattoo now to show off when I wear my bikini.  ::chuckle::

birthday celebration at the Chocolate House

the closest I could get to a turkey on Thanksgiving

New Year's Eve buffet YUM!!!

Being abroad also meant celebrating the holidays island/Thai style.  I think the hardest part was not being around my friends and family during these different moments.  I made some wonderful friends but there is something to be said about family traditions at Christmas and a night on the town with my gals on New Year's Eve.

I also celebrated local festivals such as Loy Krathong, Songkran, the Colormoon Festival, and of course the infamous Full Moon Party.  You can read about my crazy experience in the bodypainting competition at the Colormoon festival HERE.

Many people confused Loy Krathong with the light festival which occurs in Chaing Mai around the same time.  This festival is also known as the floating lights festival, giving thanks to the ocean which provides so many gifts to the island.  We each light lanterns made from wood or coconut shells, decorated with banana leaves, flowers, and incense, and release them into the water.  You are supposed to leave a little of yourself with the lantern as part of the gift (a bit of hair, a fingernail).  With the intention to let go of the past and make a wish for the future, you set out the lantern in the present.  It was a beautiful experience both in having my own lantern and sharing this festival with locals and travelers alike.

Songkran is the Thai New Year and is celebrated with water... a lot of water.  I don't have many pictures from it.  In fact my camera had an unfortunate incident in which my dry bag sprung a leak.  ::sad face::  It still works but I can't use the display anymore.  Anyway, the water is meant to symbolize washing away the past year and starting fresh.  In present day, it has become an opportunity to use water guns, buckets, and hoses to soak those around you.  It doesn't matter if you're on a scooter or just walking down the street; NO ONE is safe!  ::laughs::  Locals will also mix water with a colored corn starch base and swipe on your face as a kind of blessing.  It was a great time even with the rain (the universe's joke on a day of water games).

my lantern for Loy Krathong

3rd Full Moon party

my first Full Moon party

body painting competition at the Colormoon Festival

Diving was something I've wanted to do for many years but despite my many wanderings, I've never lived near large bodies of water.  ::chuckle::  So living on a tropical island and near the top dive site in the Gulf of Thailand, I could finally take the plunge.  ::grin::  I went to Koh Tao for a week to get my Open Water certifcation.  It's known as the island to go if you want to dive and this monkey is always up for an extra adventure.  As recommended by a friend, I trained with French Kiss Divers.  I also want to send out a massive THANK YOU again to all of you who helped make this experience possible.  It was one of the most surreal, soul-inspiring experiences of my life.  To be underwater with a feeling of weightlessness, surrounded by brightly colored fish and coral, and the peaceful silence of only your breath in your ear....it was a practice in meditation I plan on doing as much as possible for as long as my body allows.  The dive shop was excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn to dive while on Koh Tao.  Will, Oz, and the rest of the gang made my stay truly special and I was sad to say goodbye, but my new bartending job was calling.

my group with French Kiss Divers

Photo courtesy of Ian Hamilton Photography

Back on Koh Phangan, I started diving with Haad Yao Divers.  I discovered micro diving; nudibranchs and shrimp get me about excited as a giant school of barracuda!!  My fellow divers just sometimes just shake their heads with a grin.   I eventually was also able to get up to my Rescue Diver certificate when money and time allowed.  The more I have been in the water and shared the experience with friends, I've realized I want to do this professionally and slowly (much slower than I'd like!) I am working towards owning all of my own equipment and getting the training I need to work in a dive shop.  Even a bad day of diving is better than a great day in the office.  ::grin::






I had many other adventures during my time on Koh Phangan.  A group of us climb to Khao Ra, the highest point on the island.  A 3 hour hike through a jungle and probably the most interesting aspect was wearing shoes for the first time in 4 months.  I had blisters for weeks!!  I also introduced locals and travelers alike to jello shots (or jelly shots as Europeans call them).  It's rather funny to share these during my travels and see each person's expression.  ::chuckle::

JELLO (JELLY) SHOTS!!!!

Fire show on Sairee Beach, Koh Tao

Khao Ra, the highest point on Koh Phangan

While on Koh Phangan, I also had to do 2 visa runs to Penang and 2 visa extensions on Koh Samui.  You can read about my first adventure to Penang HERE My second time was eventful in a different kind of way.  By a random series of events, I missed getting to the visa office on the first day by 2 minutes and so had to stay almost a week instead of the planned 3 days.  On the bright side, it gave me an opportunity to explore Georgetown a bit more.  I also met some wonderful locals who took me for a few nights on the town.  Let me know if you want more details on those crazy nights.  ::wink::

Trying to figure out where we are.   Penang, Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

Unfortunately my time on Koh Phangan drew to a close in April as the high season ended.  I had found a new love of diving and wanted to pursue it further.  I was also ready to move on and experience more of what the world had to offer.  It was a hard decision as I'd made many dear friends on the island.  My final night was a celebration of getting my rescue diver certificate, another diver getting his DM, and my goodbye to the island.  There were a lot of drinks, seafood to put in the belly, and even some slightly drunken tap dancing (I still need to put up the video).  ;-)  And as tradition of the island, I lit my first and last paper lantern.  And in typical Kira-fashion, I also broke tradition by having all the friends around me help to send it off.

my "goodbye lantern"

And so my stay on Koh Phangan ended.  I was off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to figure out my next move.  The world was once again my oyster and Monkey was hungry!!  Stay tuned for Part 3 to catch up on the remainder of my first year abroad.

**Please Note: All Photos are Property of Kira Zebroski**
unless credited otherwise

Malaysia: There and Back Again

It's hard to believe I've been in Thailand 4 months already.  And I've got another 3 months to go...at least.  ::grin::  People keep asking what my plans are after the end of March (when my bartending gig is up) and honestly, I have no idea.  I'm keeping my options open because so much can happen until then and I imagine I'll change my mind half a dozen times or so.

Right now I'm preparing for my next journey to Penang.  I have to head to Malaysia to get a new tourist visa as mine expires in a few days.  And I can't help but remember what the first trip was like.  I meant to write a blog post about it (picture almost a therapeutic release because trust me, we needed it).  So here it is.

I was supposed to be doing my first visa run by myself but I suddenly found myself with two travel buddies last minute as they discovered they also needed to head to Malaysia on the same dates.  I'm used to traveling alone so I'll admit I was a little wary at first, but the universe knew what it was doing when it put the three of us together.  The trip to Penang was fairly uneventful.  We had a crabby minivan driver who didn't want to put the AC on and yelled at us when we opened the windows.

When we switched vans just before the border, the driver and staff tried to tell us we needed to pay 10B each in order to cross the border.  One of the gals had done this run before and informed us this was untrue.  We spent about 10 minutes arguing with the locals as they told us it was first for overtime for the driver, to pay for parking, and then that it was just required to pass out of Thailand.  When we continued to refuse, they threatened to leave us at the border and we'd only have 10 minutes to get through the border before they'd drive away.  If it wasn't for our gal, we all probably would have caved out of pure naivety.

The border crossing went smoothly, much to the cringe of our bus driver.  When we arrived at the Thai border, he tried one last time to get us to pay, pointing to a sign and then getting a border officer involved, continuing to say we needed to pay.  When we still refused, he then dragged us over to the immigration office.  They took one look at our passports and sent us back to the line to get our exit stamps.  ::fist pump to the air::

They gave us an automatic 90 day pass upon entering into Malaysia.  I also learned that wearing my shorts and tank top were even more so frowned up in Malasyia with the very strong Muslim population.  Oops!!  When you only have 2 pairs of shorts and a couple of tank tops to your name, the selection is rather limited.  Our driver continued to be miffed the rest of the drive; however, we managed to direct him to Georgetown and approximately near our hostel.   About 13 hours later, we were there...sort of.

We had to figure out where our hostel was and we learned people in Malaysia aren't nearly as helpful as those in Thailand.  Or at least not where we were at the moment.  We found our way eventually and stayed at Love Lane Inn, a pretty basic hostel.  If you're looking for cheap and total hippie-esque, I recommend this place.  They're laid back and helpful.  Great owner with a sense of humor.

We got our visas applied and picked up same day with the only hick up being trying to find the damn place.  ::chuckles::  So much walking!!! Getting our visas!! We thought the hard part was over and celebrated with some drinks back at the hostel.

Waiting for our Thai visas

Photo property of Kira Zebroski

The trip back was the issue.  First we couldn't find a ride.  All the seats were booked.  Note: if you know when you're leaving, book the tickets ASAP, don't wait.  We finally managed to get a tickets, but only as far as Surat Thani, the port city that would then take us to Koh Phangan.  We left at 8am the next morning and all went well until we hit the Thai border.

The driver once again asked for 10B to cross the border and we rolled our eyes and refused.  The two other travelers in the van paid and hurried away with the driver.  We got in line with our tourist visas, secure in our ability to pass the border.  I noticed drivers cutting in lines with stacks of passports and the border patrol quickly stamping through them.  I also noticed people having what looked like money tucked into their passports which they then handed over.  This was my first moment of nervousness.

I was the first of my three girls to come to the counter.  When I handed the passport over, the man took a brief look at it, looked at me for a moment and then asked to see 20,000B in cash.  WHAT!?  I stuttered...what was he talking about.  And here's the deal with crossing into Thailand.  The border reserves the right to see 20,000B in cash and an exit ticket, a traveling ticket proving you will be leaving the country before your visa is up (most often in the form of an airline ticket).

I had neither of these.  No entry stamp into Thailand.  The girls tried next with one having no luck, but the other was prepared with 10,000B in cash, a copy of her bank statement to prove she had more, and an airline ticket that may have been a word document forwarded by a friend.  She secured a stamp.  1 outta 3 isn't bad, right?

So then we headed to the Immigration Bureau office to plead our case.  Both of us had sufficient funds in our accounts to reach the 20,000B requirement (that's about 667 USD), but I only had my laptop and she had a smartphone.  They gave us the password to WiFi rather begrudgingly but it wouldn't work.  The smartphone was out of minutes so she couldn't login on her own either.  They kept shaking their heads and saying they wanted to see the money in cash when we repeated that we had the money in our accounts.  The third gal told us the bus driver wouldn't wait any longer and as she needed to be back in Koh Phangan for the start of her Yoga TTC training the next day, we told her to go.

We wandered the Thailand border, unsure of what to do.  We found the one ATM my card works at and I was able to withdraw 10,000B in cash but I also learned that was the max I can withdraw in a single day.  Her card wouldn't work at all.  We went from ATM to ATM trying to get her card to work with no better results.  The next thing to do was try and print out our bank statements but no one had a functional printer.  So then she had to find a place that was able to put credit on her phone so she could access the internet.  Success, finally!

Back to the office we go and she goes first, showing them her bank account with sufficient funds.  They then ask for an exit ticket.  Okay, just a sec.  She quickly booked a flight to Australia, the first she could find and showed them on her phone.  Alright, I guess we can give her a stamp.  At this point, I've got money but no ticket and no way to book one.  My gal was a doll and let me book through her phone (She assured me we could cancel with no cost.  I had to hush her so the staff wouldn't hear).  They didn't even ask to see the money, just the ticket.  Here!!  Aaaaaanndd....stamped!!!  All this took about 2 hours.

Some excited and relieved ladies

photo property of Kira Zebroski

Alright, we're allowed in Thailand.  Now how the heck do we get back to Koh Phangan?!  Back to wandering the streets of Thailand.  This is what we discovered: No one could get us to Koh Phangan or Surat Thani, but a minibus could get us to Hat Yai, a small town about an hour north of the border and with more buses that could get us back to our island.  As we were traveling, our third gal was texting and let us know her bus had been delayed in Hat Yai and wouldn't be leaving until 3pm.  We didn't think we'd make it in time, but what the heck, might as well try.

We got in just after 3 and immediately started scouring for the travel agency she said she was at.  If I heard one more guy ask me if I wanted a ride, I seriously was going to flip on someone.  We were on a mission!  As time passed and we still couldn't find her, we realized they'd probably left.  We then began searching for our own way back.  And suddenly there she was!!  She'd been left to sit for the last 3 hours, waiting for a non-existent bus.  Horray!  We could rejoin.  Only problem is the guy at the office wouldn't let us on.  He said that only she'd been dropped off and there was no proof we'd paid.  I had the ticket we'd bought and showed the "3 passengers" and was told we could have forged it.  We pieced together that she'd been dropped off at one agency and the woman there paid this current agency to take her when something happened to the minibus.  So we had to go talk to the original lady.

I tried channeling love and patience to this woman as we walked over.  One thing I picked up is to never yell at Thais.  They will shut down and stonewall you.  If you continue to talk calmly, oftentimes they'll compromise with you eventually.  I met the woman at our agency and explained the situation and she said the same thing.  She didn't know anything, couldn't do anything, and we should call the person we'd originally booked with back in Malaysia.  I honestly don't know how I kept my cool but after getting stonewalled for about 15-20 minutes, she started making a call (without telling us what it was about) and apparently talked to the gal who originally booked us and confirmed we had in fact booked for 3 people for today's travel.  All we were told (the conversation had been in Thai) was to Wait.  I was completely wrung out and defeated at this point.

Suddenly a bus showed up and the lady told us to get in.  We saw money exchange hands, but I wasn't going to stop and check.  And guess who was inside?!  Our third gal!  She was in a tirade.  Apparently while we'd been fighting our own battle, she'd been having her own.  Shortly after we left, the van showed up but when she attempted to get in, the man told her she wasn't allowed on (he hadn't like us other two showing up and attempting to rejoin the group).  Yelling ensued with the result being her left behind.  Another man showed up (the same who'd dropped her off in the first place) and asked why she was still here.  He had her get on the van when she explained and it just happened to be the same one we boarded.  Everything happens for a reason, right?

We all swore at that point to never use another travel agency and find our own way from here on out.  We got into Surat Thani around 9:30pm at....you guessed it, another travel agency.  They wanted to book the ferry for us but didn't have one leaving until 11pm and wanted 500B for each of us.  Umm, nope!  I found us a tuk tuk driver who brought us to the pier.  We caught the same ferry for only 400B each, wandered a little night market until it was time to go.  Guess what?!  The boat had beds!  Or rather, mats and little pillows.  I picked one near an open window to catch the breeze.  Wouldn't have been so bad if it only hadn't started to downpour later that night.  That's when I discovered the reason the window was open was because it had no window.  I couldn't move closer to the girls because of the direction of the wind, so I snuggled up closer to some sleeping Thais and put up my umbrella to ward off the remaining rain.

We arrived back on Koh Phangan at 7am (8am Malaysian time) and so a full 24 hours had lapsed during this crazy trip.  I don't think any of us expected to be as happy as we were to see that island again.  We took a taxi cab back to Sri Thanu and that was that.

End of the road

Photo property of Kira Zebroski