Back in Ho Chi Minh City (February) when we planned out our whole Southeast Asia leg, I really wanted to do a yoga retreat somewhere. After reading a blog post from a blogger whom we later bumped into in Chiang Mai, I decided to try out The Yoga Retreat on the island of Koh Phangan, South Thailand. I signed up for a 10 day Chakra healing retreat while Justin would be taking care of elephants in Chiang Mai.

To get there, I flew from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui (the nearest island with an airport), stayed overnight in an awesome resort and took a fast boat to Koh Phangan the next day.

Day 0 – Sunday

Weather: Gorgeous
Yoga: Met the yoga teacher, Olivier (yay, I can speak French!). Got a briefing about the schedule:
– 9-11am Hatha Yoga + Pranayama (breathing techniques)
– 11:30am-noon Lecture
– 4-6pm Ashtanga Yoga
Other activity:
– Rent scooter for the 10 days stay… take it for a spin to the beach, get oriented.
– Call Justin with my feet in the warm sea water.

Haad Salad was the nearest beach to the retreat. So lovely!

– FUNNY story: I broke my room’s sink! Yep, the sink. Let me explain. I brush my teeth in the bathroom and it turns out it’s one of those sinks that just evacuates water onto the bathroom floor to then be directed to the main drain. So lots of water was just stagnating around my toilet with a bunch of toothpaste foam. Yuk. So I thought I’d clean it up by using the shower nozzle to push the water into the drain. I put a hand on the sink and reach for the nozzle when I hear BABAAAAMMMM! This is what I see:

Oopsie! I look down and double check I have all 10 toes. They’re all there, phew! Everyone went to bed already so once I could get my heartbeat to calm down, I decided to let it be and deal with it the next morning.

Spirits/comments:
– Pre breaking the sink, all I could think of was: SWEET!
– Post breaking the sink, all I could think of was: “Hello, my name is Stephanie. We just met… you won’t believe me but I broke your sink!” Great way to make a first impression. Ok, now go to sleep!

To be continued…