After a memorable 10 days with Tim and Stacey where we shared the experience of everything Thailand has to offer we decided to drift to a Thai island in the Adaman Sea.  Pee Pee is how it’s pronounced but it is spelled Phi Phi.

The full name is Koh Phi Phi Don Island.  Beautiful and rebuilt since the 2004 tsunami that included 100ft waves and a 9.1 earthquake that killed 230,000 people in the region.  Phi Phi and the tiny set of islands was apparently wiped out with the infrastructure destroyed.  I remember watching TV and seeing this massive wave plowing through anything in its path like a snowplow pushing massive mounds of ice and snow right into your freshly shoveled driveway, only in this case it was taking houses and trucks with it through the streets miles inland.  Luckily for local fisherman who sensed it, many  lives were saved, even the elephants knew something was up.  There are stories of elephants breaking their foot chains or while on a trip with tourists on their back they took off to higher ground, really amazing.

Wax on, wax off

We had to be in the right place if it took us three boats to get there with no other access to this remote section of the island.  First a longboat from where Tim and Stacey left, then a ferry then another long boat into the shallower waters. The ferry is a whole other blog, in summary we were the second oldest on the boat and they packed this ancient barely sea worthy vessel with as many people as a square inch of deck and rail space could handle.  At about 100 feet long even the narrow outside walkway from front to back was packed with hippies and young tattooed Auzzies, Russians and Germans sitting on the floor with their feet hanging over the side of the rail.  Not an ideal safety scenario for us old overly cautious Americans but for under $15 dollars each it was hard to refuse and the experience was worth it.  A last minute decision, as in the day before, turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.  The island was the backdrop for “the beach” starting Leonardo DiCaprio.  Strangely enough I remember watching the movie and dreaming about the fantasy of going off to a foreign land and finding a remote untouched beautiful enclave in the middle of the ocean.  Much of my fantasy, or maybe vision of what SE Asia was like, came from this movie and other Vietnam war movies.

Today the island is far from uninhabited but still has a beautiful landscape of lush hill-side coves separating each other by massive rock formations, similar to many US west coast beaches.  If you try hard enough you can find a secluded quiet beach but it’s not the norm.  In the busy section the semi topless beach turns into a back packer party paradise at night, we didn’t attend as it was a 2 hour hike to get there (no cars or tuk tuks on the island) but heard about it.  We ended up staying in a tree house like villa complex that was so chill we didn’t put our shoes on except for one hike we took.  Something freeing and refreshing about waking up, eating, working out, swimming, eating dinner all in just a bathing suite and optional tee shirt.  The kicker for me and many of my manly man friends was the outdoor shower.  I haven’t figured it out yet but for some reasons us men love peeing and showering outside so being on pee pee island and having a shower outside was like a dream.  Maybe we are marking our territory like an animal or keeping a vigilant eye out for potential predators, or maybe it has to do with the whole caveman thing in the men are from mars and woman are from venus skits.

Our one hike was inspired by the movie. Remember when someone had to leave the remote pristine beach to head back into town to get supplies?  Well we were out of toothpaste and had to get to a bank to wire $10 to our bangkok hotel from three weeks ago because we left our only power cord to our only computer.  It was supposed to be two hours each way but we never even made the first leg, I calculated the timing wrong and once we ended up heading inland off the beach and into a jungle with a trail barely visible with no guide I basically freaked out and we turned back.  Stopping in a small beach village to eat lunch and making it home just before sunset was a good decision in hindsight.  A few more days of lounging around and we are recharged.  Beach time has come to and end.  We are heading to a five day meditation retreat but not before checking out in just a bathing suite, since there are no buildings just a few small huts and a desk for someone to work at on the beach, plus we have two more boat rides to get to our next stop…so, it didn’t really matter.

Longboats

Meditation Retreat…Linda jumping in…

Is this the calm before the storm or the storm before the calm? I’m hoping the latter. With a little apprehension, curiosity and an excited energy we arrive. The daily agenda starts out like many military days do…waking up at the crack of dawn.  We start each day with a 5:30 AM wake up call for a learning excursion and then the day continues with healthy breakfast, meditation time, healthy lunch, meditation time, yoga, meditation Q&A, healthy dinner, and then a final meditation time to end the day.  The meals are all vegetarian…nope, not even eggs or cheese. My buddies Irene and Brenda are both doing cleanses at the moment, so at least Greg and I feel like we’ve got some of our homies on the same page as us! However; all iPads, cells, Laptops, and even books and magazines are not allowed, so they will have to be with us in spirit since we can’t communicate. On top of this you are not supposed to speak to anyone, this includes not speaking to eachother.  Lastly, we had separate bedrooms.  Yes, it is a bit more restrictive than we thought it would be but if you are going to do something that has the potential to be life changing (as we kept hearing) might as well go all the way.

Greg in the pool meditating . We also did walking meditation…yes, with our eyes open.

Totally relaxing. Or as our yoga teacher kept saying…”feeeeel relaaaaxing” – which I just loved! 😉

Slowing down and learning how to effectively meditate and find the zen space has always been a goal of ours. Every so often we try to do some Deepak and Oprah meditation learning sessions we’ve downloaded a while back. They are 15 mins in length and usually within the 2nd minute I’m thinking…

“Ok…focus…repeat the mantra. Breathe! Mantra.

– I wonder what Taz is doing?

– Does Wiley think about us ever or is he too in love with Lindsay?

– Did Kelley name her soon to be new pug yet?

– I can’t believe an elephant chased the Mouls and us!

Oops, back to my meditation….mantra. Do the mantra!

– Has Keith ever slept on a kitchen counter before?

– Have the Lindy’s ever made a beer martini?

Focus…breathe and concentrate

– I miss refried beans and cheese dip.

– I wonder if the Lyles will show me how to make a garden?

– That’d be cool if the Wills got a place in Railay Beach, Thailand!

MEDITATE please! Breathe! Repeat the mantra. What was the mantra?”

..skip ahead 5 days…

Retreat accomplished!  We did speak occasionally and even fired up our ipads one day.  However even with a few breaks per day from our silence and practice it was very intense. Ever spend a day with yourself without talking or any other distractions? The silence alone will change your perspective on life and one will undoubtedly learn something about themselves in this one day, now throw in three more days and you will either hate yourself or love yourself when it is all said and done. Day one and two were great, day three I wanted to run for the hills and days 4 and 5 were very productive.  I’m pretty sure Greg loved the entre thing as the first stage of meditation is relaxation and we all know how Gregory loves his naps, so he was a professional at stage one before we walked in the door! 🙂

Our goal in attending this meditation retreat was not to become Monks (well, a chick can’t be a monk anyway…as a matter of fact in the most strict sense monks can’t talk to or touch a woman) but it was to learn to be more present and mindful, which isn’t easy in the day and age of always having a constant barrage of stimuli thrown at us.

In a nutshell, here is the deal with meditation…it is all about being present. You will enjoy everything you do more if you pay attention to what you are doing. You do this by facing reality; you can’t change the past, so let it go and live in the moment. Our teacher called it throwing out the trash because it only stinks and doesn’t have any other use.  Very practical if you think about it.  Also, the future isn’t here yet and no matter how much you plan you can’t control it, so why stress and miss what’s going on here and now.  Try it!  During your next drive to work or to pick up the kids at school really enjoy the drive. Notice the trees, flowers, enjoy the heat in your car since it’s cold outside.  It’s amazing! Or your next meal, really think about each bite.  When eating Serge’s Mom’s hummus…I hope those Khoury kids are really thinking about each bite.  Mrs Khoury’s hummus is a perfect delicate balance between zesty garlic and fresh lemon juice with a dreamy creamy consistency.  (I’m now drooling down my face.) When you slow down and take time to smell the roses, well….you smell the roses!  Sounds simple but we usually spend our time over thinking things from the past and obsessing about the future and we miss out on the present!  As our teacher said, “thinking never solved any problems so just do.” Life is happening right in front of our eyes, so hop on it before it is gone because it will be gone before you know it.

Greg jumping in-Now for the stuff most won’t believe.  You always hear about how powerful and amazing the mind is, so is it meant to only have the cushy job of holding a conversation or remembering things you have to do each day?  I don’t think so, the mind when trained and applied, does amazing things in support of our body and being happy.  Happy is in the conversation because it’s believed that happiness is our core purpose in life and once you are happy with yourself you can be happy for and help others.  As the teachings told us, I am referring to happy from the inside, nothing external other than you in this example.   So once you train the mind by meditating and learning to focus amazing things can happen.  So I have not left the reservation but three experiences I had while meditating have left me eager to get to the next level of the practice.  1) You can control your pain, since pain is only electrical currents that your nervous system sends to your brain, a trained brain can stop these currents or not pay attention to the signal.   2) Another stage of meditation is loosing the feeling of your physical body; kind of like your body just disappears in your mind and it’s just you without a physical presence.  I know what you are thinking but it’s real, it happened and I can’t explain it any further since it just doesn’t make sense on paper.  3) Lastly there is a stage of your meditation training called piti (google it) where there is an overwhelming flushing feeling of happiness.  Imagine being so so so so happy, like a nirvana and you are grinning ear to ear and cry or get very emotional because you are so thrilled with what you are feeling.  This is all happening while you are sitting, eyes closed, totally relaxed, slowly breathing so it’s truly all in your mind.

Supposedly this is just the beginning of happiness or as the east calls it enlightenment.  See, this is why monks don’t have to talk or have any material possessions and can just walk around all day and meditate because the meditation brings so much happiness they don’t need anything else.  If this interests you there are plenty of studies and medically accepted occurrences like a monk being able to produce body heat to dry a wet towel in freezing temperatures or actually being able to stop breathing for long periods of time……crazy shit and we are intrigued.

This is from Harvard…it is legit!

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

Next stop Laos then Vietnam.  Later!

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