Beautiful sunsets

Yoga Thailand is right on the beach on the north side of Koh Samui, so we get great sunrises and sunsets. This photo is from last nights sunset.

As you might imagine, the locals live off of the sea. This morning I went for a swim after yoga practice and saw this man and his wife walking around out in the water. I assumed they were looking for clams or something similar. After I came in and got showered off for breakfast, they were almost in front of Yoga Thailand and I watched them for a while to see what they were doing. They were spearing fish with a long pointed stick. You can see this man has a string of them that he is dragging along side. I never saw him spear one, but saw him attempt several times.

Yoga is really hard! Especially for someone as out of shape as I am. I am able to do the practice, but today am really sore. Partly from the yoga and partly because Michael & Beverly gave me a deep tissue massage yesterday to help my shoulder which has been bothering me for some time. As they say "it will feel much better when it quits hurting!" Come to find out it's the dreaded "mouse shoulder" which comes from using a mouse at the computer. Hopefully I'll be able to correct that now that I'm not mousing as much! I was able to loosen up some after yoga this morning, and hopefully it will get better as the days go by.

It's very peaceful and restful here. I haven't put on shoes for two days! It is a custom in Thailand not to wear shoes inside or in the dining area which is open air overlooking the beach, and my bungalow is just steps from everything, so I just haven't seen the need to wear shoes at all. The food here is awesome! It's all vegetarian, but is excellent. There are an assortment of fresh, mostly organic fruits and vegetables at every meal, and last night we had an amazing vegetarian chili. The best part is that I don't have to do any of the preparation or dishes!

I made it to Thailand

Yesterday I finally made it to Koh Samui and Yoga Thailand. It was a REALLY long trip - I think I figured it was about 28 hours from the time I left my house until the time I got to my hotel in Bangkok! Fortunately, I made it into Business Elite on the flight from ATL to Tokyo and was able to sleep some. Then I was able to get a bit of a cat nap in the Tokyo airport, and a little sleep on the flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. But I was very happy to finally get to the hotel in Bangkok to rest my weary body.

I got to Yoga Thailand yesterday and it's a beautiful place. It looks just like the photo in my first post, but haven't seen anyone do those yoga poses yet. Tomorrow is our first day of yoga class. Today, my friends Michael & Beverly went with me to tour the island temples. We went to see the Big Budda and several others. The Big Budda is as you might guess, really big! He sits atop a big hill with lots of steps going up to it. There a big bells all around the outside that you can ring. And all of this overlooks the ocean which is a beautiful turquoise blue. There I was blessed by a monk which includes him putting a string bracelet on my wrist, blowing on it 3 times, and saying a blessing, then sprinkling water on my head and hands. And finally he wished me good luck. We also had our fortunes told by some sticks. You hold a container of sticks (kinda like a pencil holder), say a prayer and then begin shaking the sticks in the container until one falls out. There is a number on each stick and you then find the corresponding fortune. Mine was all good and said I was going to have good lucks. Yes, that's lucks with an "s". I'm thinking multiple good luck! We went to several other temples, and also went to the new location for Yoga Thailand. They are building a whole new compound on the other side of the island and it's being built in a sustainable way. They are putting solar panels on the roofs, and rainwater catchment systems. It was very interesting to see how they build things here. We happened to run into the building contractor and he showed us everything. It's going to be very nice!

I have already met several nice people and all is going well. I hope it continues as I start my yoga practice which I think will probably be very strenuous. But thank goodness I'm traveling with my personal massage therapists! They are taking good care of me.

I'm retiring!!!

Tomorrow, Friday, June 20, 2008, I officially retire from Delta Air Lines! After 11 years, I'm very ready! The last few years have been a series of budget cuts, layoffs, voluntary labor reductions, fuel cost increases and a host of other issues that have just slap worn me out. So when the retirement package was offered and I met the criteria (just barely), I jumped at the chance. I get 5 months of pay and flight benefits for life - FOR LIFE!!!!! So I see this as a great opportunity to take some time off and travel the world. I will definitely have to go back to work, but I don't expect to have this kind of opportunity again in the near future.

About the time I decided to take the retirement package, my friends Mike & Beverly told me about a trip they were planning to Thailand. Their nephew is a yogi and was invited to teach at Yoga Thailand (http://www.yoga-thailand.com/) on the island of Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand. And he invited them (both massage therapists) to join him there. The timing coincided with my retirement date, and I quickly asked if they might have a little space on their floor for me to join them. And they welcomed me to do so. Well after reading about Yoga Thailand and their nephew, I decided I may as well join in the yoga practice too, however, I doubt I'll be doing the leg behind the neck pose! So I leave next Wed. for Thailand, and I decided this blog was a great way to chronicle my travels.

My itinerary is something like this:

• Leave ATL and fly to NRT (Tokyo), then NRT to BKK (Bangkok), then BKK to Koh Samui. Only takes 2 days to get there (ouch!), and I arrive on Friday!


• Yoga classes start Sat afternoon and end the following Sat morning. We will do yoga in the mornings and then after breakfast we have the day to ourselves. There are great beaches, temples, and snorkeling there to occupy our time. Then more yoga teaching in the late afternoon followed by meditation.


• At the end of the yoga retreat, Mike, Bev & I are heading up to the north of Thailand to Chiang Mai. I'm not sure what all is there, but from what I've read, I want to ride an elephant, do a zip line trip, and I'm sure we'll visit more temples.


• Then it's back to Bangkok, on to Tokyo and back to ATL - another 2 days and I'm back home.

Stay tuned for my take on the experience.