Day 7 – Sunday

Weather: Very stormy: crazy winds with buckets of rain. Forecast says it’ll stop on Tuesday (can you see a trend?).
Yoga: Taking the day off.
Other activity:
– Deal with my room getting flooded by the excessive rain.
– The power went out, so during a brief break in the storm, I tried to find electricity (I was told some resorts run on generators) and possibly internet…
– I find electricity at a restaurant, but my computer doesn’t want to turn on… hmm.
– I see the restaurant has a computer, but internet doesn’t work (it was working 10 minutes ago for that little boy to Skype his Dad!…)
– Ok, I ask about getting a massage, but they are “too busy”
– I could tell my non-rain window was pretty slim, so I try to go see a waterfall, but the road was a complete muddy mess with branches all over and giant water-filled potholes. I give up.
– Back at the retreat, the power is still out and I still can’t get a hold of Justin.
Spirits/comments:
– Everything that day was meant to not happen. I took it without too much frustration and let it be.

Day 8 – Monday

Weather: Storm hell. Insane gusts of winds, torrential downpour. Forecast says it’ll stop on Wednesday (I don’t believe the forecasts anymore!!)
Yoga: Small classes… people are stranded in their bungalows because of flooded roads. Distracted by storm, but good classes. I feel stronger.
Other activity:None, too stormy.
Spirits/comments:
– No power most of the day and evening
– Room super flooded (only have a dry pathway around my bed and to my bathroom)
– My room was right below the yoga platform which had big plastic shades weighed down with metal rodes to protect from the rain. These shades would fly and bang into the outside walls such that I would continuously think they would pierce through my bedroom wall and knock me dead.
Good luck relaxing in a room with such a racket, no electricity (thank goodness for my headlamp!) and potential giant spiders creeping up anytime (I only had to deal with a teenage giant spider once).
– We heard that no boats left the island today.
– I finally talk to Justin who was back in Chiang Mai, in signal range, yay! That made me very happy except I explain to him the weather situation down here and that I would try and get on a boat Tuesday instead of Wednesday to make sure I’d make it in time for my flight early Thursday morning on Koh Samui.

Day 9 – Tuesday

Weather: Still stormy, slightly less than Monday. Forecast says there’s no hope. All roads to beaches (and commodities) are flooded, some mid-thigh high. I felt lucky we were up on a hill at least.
Yoga: Morning class felt ok. Distracted by weather. Evening class was the best I have ever performed. I did everything and it felt great. Yay!
Other activity:
– Return the scooter… Or scoot down in the storm to the nearest non-flooded beach because not even land-lines are working, find the only 4×4 taxi (or dude who owns a 4×4) to bring me to the scooter rental place to give the keys back (but not the scooter because roads are so freakin’ flooded) and recoup my passport.
– Call all possible boat companies to see if any are leaving today. When ever the phone would actually work, all answers were “no boats today”. Even from the big car ferry that always runs no matter what the weather: no boats today.
– We overhear at dinner someone saying that a Navy ship was sent to pick up stranded tourists on the islands. I thought it was just a rumor… what kind of drastic measure would that be?
Spirits/comments:
– Now I’m wondering if I’ll be able to make it off the island at all.
– This is supposed to be the dry season… talk about witnessing climate change!

To be continued…