March 20, 2019 – My Inner Peace

Getting lost in a Thai forest by night

After walking twice the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) in Spain and Portugal, I know very well that when you start your journey with another person, you accept the challenge of sharing his / her experiences as well. So, I accepted to do this trip with a friend and after a full day on the Ocean visiting the Islands, we decided to build a more adventurous day, walking to see another beach, approximately 4 km away from Patong.

Freedom Beach Forest, Patong, Thailand, 2019

The journey was not easy, as we started walking around midday, after having a late breakfast. And when I say “not easy”, I mean it. I love walking when it’s hot outside, but the 90% of the way was without shadow at all, and we had 38 degrees Celsius, feeling like 45. 😳

We were walking up and down on the mountains, under the heet, but the beautiful scenary was like a fresh breeze helping us to go ahead.

Outside Patong on the main way to Freedom Beach, Thailand, 2019

Exhausted, we reached Freedom Beach around 1 pm, after crossing a small and beautiful forest and escalating some rocks to be able to reach the most beautiful part of the beach.

We’ve spent the entire day there, till almost the sunset. The water had an emerald color and was extremely inviting, so the first thing we did was to take a swimm. After so much heet, that bath in the Ocean feeled like a real divine blessing. Later, the palms offered us the perfect shadow and protected us from the hungry sun rays.

While we were walking on the beach, we found this small and cute crab crossing the beach and making his own way towards the shadow.

Around 6 pm, we decided to hit the road back to Patong. Following my friend’s idea, we tried a new path along the forest. We’ve noticed the way was heading in the other direction, but my friend kept hoping the new path will meet the one we did when we arrived at Freedom Beach. The nicest thing was walking bare foot and feeling the dust and the small rocks under your own feet.

At a certain point we were sweting while climbing the mountain and we transformed our bodies into a great luxurious dinner for the mosquitos. Awful feeling! Soon everything was dark around us and the sound of the forest changed into a new song while the leafs starting to move like in a horror movie. We put our shoes on, and proceed quickly towards the light.

Soon we reached the first local houses in the forest, and 20 minutes after we were back on the main road to Patong, walking along with cars, tuk-tuks, motorbike and all kind of local vehicles.

Morale of the day: when you are looking for an adventure, you may find it right over the corner. So, always be careful what you wish for! 😜

To be continued…

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When you say Thailand, you say ”The Beach”

When you say Thailand, you suddenly think about beautiful white sand islands. Everyone remembers the famous movie “The beach” with Leonardo di Caprio and is sending you messages like: Your pictures made me remember “The Beach”!

I must confess I did not see the movie, but I had to see the beach itself. So, I booked a tour with a speed boat to see: Phi Phi Islands, Khai Island, Monkey Beach, The Vikings Cave, and Maya Bay, where the movie was done.

The nice thing is that when you book a trip, they are coming to pick you up from the hotel, even if you book a shuttle bus to get you back to the airport.

So, my adventures started at 8 am, when the driver pick me and other people up from the hotel, to drive us to the boat in Phuket where we had a snack before starting our journey on the Ocean.

After half an hour, our first stop was on Khai Island, where I tried snorkeling for the first time in my life. Once you try it, you will fall in love with the sea life! It was so amazing to see the fishes swimming near me. They were curious and they really looked playful. Khai is a very small Island, but looks like a real Paradise and I almost forgot I cut my hand and my leg in the slippery rocks, following the fishes. 🤪

After an hour and a half, we reached Maya Bay, and we’ve seen the beach where the famous movie was shot. The beach is now a restricted area, closed by the government, so you cannot go on the beach. However, the boats can stop and you can swim in the Bay or do snorkeling.

Another “first time of my life” happened there. I tried to swim and to have a look at the sea life there, and it was amazing. Scary, but amazing! Scary at the beginning, because I have this fear of profound water higher than my own height. The good news is that after winning the battle with my mind, I was able to put on my snorkeling mask and have tale a look. The water was so clear, and the fishes so colorful, so this experience made my day!

Vikings Cave was the next story. It’s a cave where even today some gypses are still living there, harvesting birds’ nests. The cave received this name based on the paintings that were found on the walls of the cave: different kind of boats, some of them representing a Scandiavian boat.

Next stop was at the Monkey Beach, where we had the chance to see and feed some monkeys near the boat. We were not allowed to jump on the beach as they me be unpredictable and if they bite you, you can get infected. However, witnessing one of them eating the bananas we were throwing from the boat, was a great experience.

The last stop was on the Phi Phi Don Island, where we had lunch and I had the most delicious potatoes with some red sweet sauce. We had almost 2 hours to visit the island, which I did and I had the chance to discover the mighty forests and especially the mangroves. For one that was crazy about world geography, it was great seeing them and adding another “checked” to the list of my dreams as a child. I had a good walk on the Island discovering new things, and after that I returned to the boat.

Another hour of “flying” on the water and my day ended gloriously with some dreams coming true and some mind blockages overcome.

Morale of the day: beyond the thinkable is the unthinkable. Take a step towards it and your deepest fear will become your greatest success!

To be continued…

I am an independent writter, so if you like my stories, I invite you to support my activity with a donation.