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.