stairway to heaven......

Once again, it has been over a week since I last made an entry here…I am beginning to realize more and more that I am really just “living” my life right now and am not always in “tourist mode” with the need to constantly report back with stories…

nevertheless, I still get a great deal of pleasure to report what news/stories I do have so here are just a few …

every day is full for me here….i am never bored;there is always some work for me to do with school, emails to check and/or write, someone to go visit for a coffee or a meal..and, of course, there is always a new island/city/beach to discover when I have a free day or two…

this past week was filled with 2 main “events for me” :..One was that I organized an “international beach volleyball” tournament at my bungalow….several nations were represented including Sweden, France, Holland, and Thailand.




I was also the official announcer of the tournament so for 5 ½ hours I sat “courtside” announcing the “play-by-play” and was the overall MC of the day, making people laugh, clap, etc….I had forgotten I much I love to talk in front of a crowd ! This experience was also a great reminder how fortunate I am to speak English as it is still such a universally understood language. We (English speakers) are all so fortunate to have this luxury of knowing a language that so many people abroad also know…




The Swedes were the champion of the tournament….and when they received their coconut trophies (painted by yours truly…), they announced that their secret to success was eating porridge (aka :oatmeal) every morning !….it also didn’t hurt that one of the players was actually a professional champion volleyball player with sponsors and all in Sweden.




A great time was had by all …..and as I sat and mingled with the players and audience members after the tournament , I was again reminded of how wonderful it is to have so many cultures gathered in one place celebrating both differences and similarities…..I don’t think I will ever tire of this type of celebration.












Yesterday also provided me another wonderful adventure where I was no longer a spectator but a participant in a more personal athletic “event”.
I climbed 1237 steps (some incredibly large and steep) up a mountain to a very famous temple called Wat Tham Sua (Tiger Cave temple). Legend has it that a large tiger once lived here and its footsteps are reported to adorn the temple’s entrance….It is also said that Buddha’s footprints are at this temple but for some reason, all I saw were Nike imprints in the cement as I climbed.. Somehow, I think Buddha would appreciate the slogan “just do it” as this climb was grueling and was definitely not for the faint of heart and mind…..



a pic of me and my Dutch friend Jan at the top of the temple...we were both very happy to be sitting down at last !



the view from the top of the temple- hopefully, you can get a sense of how steep the steps were !




the face of Buddha greated us all after a long climb up....somehow his smile took on a new meaning for me as I sensed is always pleased to see people make the effort to come see him up here....



It was also the first day of the Chinese new year so I was fortunate to see so many of the local Chinese come to pay reverence with flowers, incense, and fruit- a feast for the senses, indeed !










Later this week, I am off to Chiang Mai for a few days to reunite with some friends (mostly Greek !) that I met there last year….it should be nice to see some old familiar faces and celebrate at my favorite Greek restaurant there- Zorbas ! I will then fly to the island of Penang (Malaysia) a few days later to do a visa run and enjoy the rich mix of Chinese, Indian, British, and Malay cultures…..I look forward to sharing you my reports of this next adventure…

until then, I hope you are well…I am already at about the halfway mark of my journey..hard to believe time moves so quickly. But I am constantly feeling such gratitude for the lifestyle I am leading right now ….I know I am blessed and hope I will be able to give more to others because of this experience….

Bye for now…

melina