This moment is your Life. Be happy.

October 09, 2012

On the fourth day of the island, after yet another sleepless night, I woke up before sunrise and went for a long swim. It was very refreshing and a great way to start the morning. When the first colors of sunrise started peaking through the clouds over the mountains, I could tell that it was going to be a lovely day.

After eating my jelly and banana sandwich and a cup of cereal, I packed my bag for a hike which I've been wanting to do since I found out it was possible. I got ready to go trekking to Bottle beach. This beach is only accesible by boat or through the jungle. I took the jungle route. The trek through the steep hills of the hills separating Chaloklum Village with Bottle beach is a 5km hike one way. With winding paths up steep hills, through dense jungle vegetation, and down a very steep hill at the very end of the trek, right before the end of the trek lies beautiful vistas of this tropical paradise.

Before I could start the trek, I had to get to where it starts which is at the end of the paved road going through Haad Kanh. That was about another 2km added to the walk one way.

Although I started early, before 8am, the sun was already burning hot. The views that were unfolding before me after managing each steep hill were absolutely priceless.

The trek itself was not easy, with lots of lose gravel (dangerous when the path was a steel slope) but it was doable and a great way to burn some energy. The path was marked by empty water bottles hung on tree branches every few meters. Getting lost was not an option. A great thing since my sense of direction sometimes can lead me in a complete opposite way. Like my first morning on the island when I did a 5km loop instead of getting to the beach which I was trying to reach.

Oh did I mention? I was doing this trek in my flip flops. Yeah, the same ones that I have walked on in Europe, South America, North America and now all over Asia. Needless to say, those flip flops have seen many things and have become so worn out that my toes touch the ground everytime I take a step. Not the best choice of footwear but I had no choice. I didn't keep any shoes with me since the last time I shipped stuff home. No biggie.

So I reached the infamous Bottle Beach at around 10:30am and was the first one there. It seemed like a couple of the bungalows were occupied but there was no one in sight. I changed into my bathingsuit and hurried into the inviting crystal blue water. That was the best feeling ever after dripping sweat (literally!!) for hours.

I plopped down on the sand and took a little nap, feeling the breeze over my tired limbs. After about an hour of me getting there, long boats started coming delivering day tourists to the highly coveted beach. At that time, the beach lost its charm as a secret paradise and I decided to start making my looong way back home.

I changed out of my bathingsuit, threw my backpack on and headed for the hills. The trek back was much harder than I thought it would be. Although I had plenty of water left, I was a bit dehydrated from the sun and tired from the walk there. The hardest part was braving the steep hill up for about 30 minutes. That part sucked because I wanted to stop and rest after every few steps, because I was so tired and my legs were giving up, but everytime I stopped, about twenty mosquitoes were ready to attack. So I pushed through and finally got to the top, after which it was mostly all the way down. It rained a bit which definitely helped and freshened me up.

I was so happy to see the road where I started the hike. I felt on top of the world! It looked like I was, because after climbing up the road a little, I could see the whole bay in front of me. It was lovely and it was so worth it!

When I finally go into town, I went into 7/11, the Thai staple, and got myself and nice cold Coke in a glass bottle. It never tasted so good! Then across the street I got myself a nice noodle soup with some Som Tum (papay salad).

What a day that was... In the evening I had a movie date in my bed with an Aussie flick, Gettin' Square. It was a recommendation by someone great so I didn't expect anything less but a great film, which it was.
I slept a bit better that night. Although woke up many times from some crazy dreams... Oh well, such is life.