Phuket and Bangkok are exactly what you'd expect so we can skip over them. Minus to say that they were nice cheap stopping points (filled with con artists, drunken Europeans and every venereal disease known to man... and probably a few that are yet to be named.) However, Faasai to the East of Bangkok is a different place - a world unto its own. We have finally left the "Lonely Planet" guide and ventured off into somewhere actually remote. The resort we are staying at is beautiful, filled with all types of flowers and, again (and I think this is going to be a reoccuring theme) the food is amazing - prepared by a sweet lady named Sula (I'm 100% positive that's not how it's spelled but that's the best way we've figured out to pronounce it thus far.
We wake up in the morning around 6 and sit on our porch and drink coffee. Around 6:30 we head to fields to work... and I mean work. We either work on the farm clearing land, working in rice paddies or planting things (today it was Mango trees.) Or we work around the resort weeding, trimming bushes or making compost. Around 8:30 Sula makes us a wonderful breakfast that we take our time eating and then it's off to work again until noon. The work may seem boring but from the Buddhists I've spoken with around here there is a key to it.... just smile and breathe. It's amazing how much that really can change your attitude when you're bent over in a rice paddy pulling weeds for hours.
Since we're done with work at noon everyday we have the rest of the time to lounge and do as we please. So far our favorite activity has been to hop on one of the scooters and drive the beautiful curving beachfront roads - Mo hugging onto Richard... Richard remembering to drive on the left side of the road. We've really been able to explore a lot of the country side this way and if it were easier to navigate and read the road signs we would seriously consider just buying a motorcycle and side car for the remainder of the trip (it's amazing how cheap they are) and get to explore more of the "true" SE Asia (ie, not what's in the guide books.)
In any event, we couldn't be happier here and will be uploading pictures very soon. Remember, friends, smile and breathe.
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