Here we have all kinds of freaks: Kitty (the Monsters Inc. character), a glow-in-the-dark alien, three pigs. These tiny creatures were picked up here and there. I couldn't say where each and every one was from but I know some came from Kinder Eggs (the crow that pulls the worm out of th ground, the strange bird with blue feathers, the yellow and orange worm, and the scary green smiling thing with yellow arms and suction cups, and the robo-cat with green arms), the pigs and the chicken came from a set of farm animals, Kitty came from a vending machine outside a Japanese toy store in NYC, and the turtle with the head my mother picked up on a trip to some place I can't remember.
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Monkey and (the 3-legged) Giraffe go everywhere together. They always have. It has always been this way. They enjoy going to nice restaurants, art openings, and the occasional opera or show. Everyone notices what a nice duo they are, what good friends they are, and a certain je ne sais quoi about the intimacy they share. No one asks questions, you wouldn't dare since they are so nice, but everyone wonders.
Piles and piles and piles of paper. Junk mail, old business cards, alumni newsletters, and more junk. Luckily curbside recycling in Philly accepts all this nonsense.
I was working for the Department of Residential Education at NYU, living in the East Village. I knew if I moved downtown the commute would be longer, but the apartment would be big, new, and possibly have a nice view. So, I moved to the Financial District. NYU @ the Seaport was an attempt to create solidarity among the staff of four residence halls: the massive Water Street dorm, Cliff Street, 99 John, and The Exchange. It was pretty short lived. A few months later Water was considered one staff, and the smaller staffs of Cliff, John, and Exchange were grouped into another.
This time as a member of NYU @ the Seaport was marked by a lot of frustration, confusion, and a lingering feeling of helplessness that made me bitter. I guess it paid off a bit in the end though. As a result of 9-11, the shifting staff, and the simple fact that I stuck around, I got the chance to reside in quite possibly the most fabulous place I'll ever live--RENT FREE. When I look back at the two years living at the Seaport, it was great working there. That was reason enough to hang on to the duck. It's also pretty cute.
I recently passed this on to a woman in Philadelphia who thought it was adorable. I had a moment of hesitation. Second thoughts were shooting through my mind; I didn't want to let it go. What would she do with it? Was I a making a bad choice for the duck? Abandoning it for no good reason? Yesterday she wrote me reporting, "[I] took a bath with my rubber ducky last night. LOL I have about 5 different duckies. I'm so silly." I had some mixed emotions at first to hear this, but resolved that I was happy to know that the Seaport duck will now have friends, be among his kind, instead of collecting dust on my shelf next to a pewter figurine of the peeing sculpture in Brussels.
I'm considering a wiki for the next owners of these items to add stories. I'm starting to see the interactive limitations of a blog format to archive the stories/lives of these objects.
I gave away the first piece of Koco. The ruby case has left my hands.
I was surprised by the quick response to the post. It went up at 2:33PM, I got a response at 2:38 asking to come pick it up. At 4:02 she was outside Philly Java Company, on 4th between South and Pine, where I was sitting having a cup of tea.
I was so excited about it I started sweating. She told me she loves sparkles. This made me so happy; so glad this object created a chance for me to meet this person even for this brief exchange; so glad I decided to give it to someone who I think will really enjoy it. I hope the stories she creates with it are fabulous and fantastic, brilliant and wonderful.
The other responses to the post were really great. Many of them seemed to be attracted to it mostly for the sparkles! One told me, "I have a very glittery friend who smokes who would love to have it." I didn't realize I'd have multiple people interested, or a slight feeling of burden from the responsibility of having to pick the best/most suitable/most interesting new owner, or how much timing would play into the selection process, OR the sad feeling of regret when I couldn't give something to all the interested parties. I'm left wondering, where or when do the stories end for me and these objects?
Toys are made to be played with, right? I never took these out of their boxes. One even still has the plastic packaging intact.
I have always liked them thought, So simple, yet so awe inspiring and mesmerizing to watch.
I currently have two. I'm going to list them on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
One of my good friends used to keep a cigarette case as his wallet. The way he flipped it open when he went to pay for something was so chic and graceful.
I wanted to be that fancy and interesting. I wanted to be shiny and glittery. This reminded me of Dorothy's ruby slippers. I liked the idea of owning this item, but never even used it once. It became one of those things on my shelf to just look at.
I can remember buying it at Urban Outfitters. It cost $12.00. I know because the label is still on it! I also bought a flask that had pink faux snakeskin on it. The flask, unlike the ruby case, I've used quite a bit. These items were impulse buys that appealed to the diva, the adorable and cute very bad girl in me, the naughty princess who likes to look a little flashy well into a white night. They were props for a character that still exists in me, but I've stopped performing that show and forgot all the lines long ago.
This ruby cigarette case will be posted on Center City Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
Maybe you don't live in Philly, but you really want to look fancy. I can mail it to you are willing to pay me for the shipping via paypal. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
I went to the first Story Slam of 2008, presented by First Person Arts, at L'etage. What a great event and a wonderful organization. They come up with a theme, 10 people get 5 minutes to tell a story, the judges vote, a winner is declared. Then at the end of the year all the winners from the slams compete for the title of Best Storyteller in Philadelphia (for that year). Fabulous.
ALSO, I figured it was a good venue to release one of my books into the wild. I've recently become a bookcrosser. The idea behind bookcrossing.com is that books should be passed around and shared. You register a book on the site and then you can track where it goes, and discuss it with the people who found and read it through the journal posts. I'm going to release a couple books today at the Philly Java Company at 2nd and Christian.
I gave a homeless man a pair of fleece mittens. I've never worn them. They were brand new. I wrapped a red bow around them. He said he likes mittens.
I renewed my library card. I owed ten bucks in overdue charges from 2004. I don't think my books were ever overdue. But, I figured it was sort of like a donation. I forgot about how great the free library is.
I started studying Japanese. Wastashi wa koco des. Dozo yurishku.
I went to yoga at Practice. I'm getting more comfortable with trying to do headstands.
Lots of people have responded to my freecycle listings. My toys and things are going to find new homes!
The wikipedia entry for Barrel of Monkeys is great:
Barrel of Monkeys is a hyperbolistic idiom referring to good-natured pandemonium.
According to Charles E. Funk, word historian: "One monkey arouses a great deal of amusement. Two or more then double the interest and amusement. If one were to release a barrel full of monkeys, we must suppose that their antics would become hilariously comical."
For me a barrel of monkeys is all of that good stuff, and more.
I used to love playing this game as a kid. You take out one and try to interlock its strange hook of an arm into a second monkey's arm, then you pick up a third with the second monkey, and so on until you have picked them all up and created one long string of freaky red monkeys. It's not as easy as it sounds. It's tricky towards the end.
I don't actually remember loving Barrel of Monkeys--I was too little to remember--but I love the story or rather my mother's memory of me loving Barrel of Monkeys. According to her, I used to take my Barrel of Monkeys around with me everywhere.
Once I lost them and they had to make an announcement over the PA system to 500+ people. "A barrel of monkeys has gone missing. If you find them, please contact the office. Thank you." This made a lot of people laugh, I was still sad about my missing monkeys.
I currently have two Barrels of Monkeys, so I'm going to give one away and I'll list it on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
Maybe you don't live in Philly, but you really want to play with my monkeys. I can mail them to you if you are willing to pay me for the shipping via paypal. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
My mid-term project for my physical computing project was lots of fun. The concept: a tent that had little lights under the a layer of fabric. When you touched the walls you could "light up" stars and create your own constellations.
At the time I had a tent set up in my apartment. I slept in there sometimes, my friends came over and slept in there sometimes. Later, I turned it into a womb. Anyway, I made a model, and tent panels out of shower curtains. I did all the circuit stuff, but couldn't get the sensors to work properly. Like many of my physical computing projects, it never worked as I hoped.
These materials and left over pieces of this project have a bit of a sad history. I was sorting through all the panels, the LEDs, the circuits I had spent hours soldering, the patterns for the tent model, and the sketches I had made for the design, and I just started crying. I loved making this, I still think it was a fun idea, but all these things represent a lot of failure, a whole era of creative projects that just never worked... so, it's time to let these things go.
The pattern, made from paper, I recycled. I dumped the model with all the electronic bits. I will probably make envelopes out of the enlarged star locator maps and show curtain panels. As for the original Edmund Scientific star locator (and instruction book), I'd like the next chapter in their history to be more positive, much better, and brighter. Maybe I'll take up star gazing.
The Star Locator will be listed on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
OR maybe you are reading this now and you want to star gaze. Maybe you want to make a star tent. Maybe you just want to attach better memories. BUT, maybe you don't live in Philly. I can mail it to you. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
I've started to sort through my bookshelf and I've decided to release the books my uncle doesn't want into the wild using bookcrossing.com. I went through my closet and found items I'll absolutely never wear, so I'm going to take those to Buffalo Exchange. The things they probably won't take I'm going to drop off at Philadelphia AIDS Thrift. Some articles of clothing I can't even give away, for example a pair blue flannel pants with torn hems. I have about 20 pairs of comfy pants to sleep in, so I'm going to cut the salvageable material into long one-inch strips and crochet a bag. My old glasses and costume jewelry I'm sending to New Eyes for the Needy.
My old room in my parent's house seems to have turned into a place where old electronics go to die, so I'm working on figuring out the best options for giving these away or places to take them to be properly recycled. I've discovered through rbrc.org that Radio Shack will take the nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd) battery from the dead cordless phone. But I don't know what to do with the dead cordless phone.
I'm also trying to figure out what to do with my excess cell phones. Right now I have three fully functioning phones. Oy vey.
The amount of paper accumulated from mail, mostly junk, sent to me just in the past couple of months is INSANE. I used to take all the material sent, including the original envelope, and stuff it all in the pre-paid mailing envelope. I'd write on the front, "Don't send me junk!" or something like that and then drop it in the post. I know, I know, probably not very effective, but it made me feel a little better. Luckily, Philadelphia will accept all of that in their curbside recycling program. The information architecture on their site is a disaster, it's like impossible to find the most basic things like what can I recycle, or what week am I? Blue? or Green?
Music wasn't something I had money for in that era. I remember making tapes by recording songs off the radio. I didn't have any cds for ages, but occasionally I bought tapes. This collection includes:
Like A Prayer, Madonna
Are You Gonna Go My Way, Lenny Kravitz
Diamonds and Pearls, Prince & the N.P.G.
Affection, Lisa Stansfield
Cooleyhighharmony, Boyz II Men
World Clique, Deee-Lite
Singles
Playground, Another Bad Creation
Pump Up th Jam, Technotronic
Good Vibrations/So What Chu Sayin, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
What About Your Friends, TLC
You can't Play With My Yo-Yo, Yo-Yo
We Got a Love Thang, Ce Ce Peniston
I'm Too Sexy/I'm Too Sexy (Spanish version), Right Said Fred
Ease My Mind/Shell, Arrested Development
United Front/Southern Fried Funk, Arrested Development
Slow Motion, Color Me Badd
Cream/Horny Pony, Prince & the N.P.G.
Oh man, the memories! I'm directly transported to specific emotions in the past. Totally shocked that I own some of this stuff, so excited to listen to others. As the boombox I dug up acts as my time machine, I continue to dig through my collection. I came across tape after tape of 90's house (with lots of divalicious vocals), an ancient looking thing with neon all over it labeled "THE COOL MIX", and recordings of me an my sisters from when we were kids. In this clip, at the age of 4ish, I wish chicken beedie a happy birthday... I don't know. "The Tapes" will be listed on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
OR maybe you are reading this now and you want to hold you very own 90's dance party so you can show everybody how you do the Cabbage Patch. Maybe you still listen to tapes in your car and this could just brighten your commute. Maybe you collect this stuff. BUT, maybe you don't live in Philly. I can mail them to you if you are willing to pay for the shipping via paypal. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
"The Tapes" are part of Pieces of Koco.
--- Objects hold stories and memories. This is what gives them intrinsic value and why I have immense difficulty throwing away or getting rid of things. Discarding the item removes the reminder. And, until recently I believed that disposal dissolves the significance and the evidence of the memory, and my existence.
My fascination with the history of objects and the way things can map time, place, and experience led me to study art history and anthropology. My thesis projects in undergrad and graduate school focused on documentation as art. This project, Pieces of Koco, attempts to continue that work and looks to incorporate as many opportunities as possible to make connections to members of my community, to donate, and to recycle.
I was going for a theme here: to get from point A to point B.
The Boat dimensions: 6.5 x 5.8 x 1.7 cm materials: plastic date acquired: March 26th, 2002
This item may seem like the least exciting of the bunch, but it has a great history. Once I took a guy I was dating to see De La Guarda, a off-Broadway show that was playing in Union Square, for his birthday. According to my 2001-2002 date book the date was March 26th, 2002. The performance involved people in harnesses flying around, running on walls, lots of water, dancing, balloons, and no sitting down. If you haven't seen it, watch the following clip and you'll see what I mean.
There were points in the performance when it basically rained balloons, confetti, and even little TOYS! This was like my favorite day. I had to take one to keep, some kind of vessel to carry the memories of that event with me. There were many to pick, but I settled on the boat. I remember that the birthday boy didn't seem to enjoy himself as much as I did. He said he wanted to sit, I thought it was tons of fun.
This boat traveled with me from my apartment at Cliff Street, to my apartment at John Street, then it came to Philadelphia and has been living here since then.
The Kinder Eggs Toys: The Chariot & The Car materials: plastic date acquired: no idea. car dimensions: 6 x 2.1 x 1.8 cm chariot dimensions: 8 x 2.5 x 2.7 cm
I have a thing for Kinder Eggs. I find it amazingly entertaining to put these things together following mini-instructions. The more pieces the better. Oh my god, I'm such a nerd. WARNING: These are very small and probably NOT suitable for small children. That's why Kinder Eggs are difficult (though not impossible) to find in the states. There is concern that the toys or parts might be "swallowed or inhaled" by some crazy child that likes to eat "plastic candy" and/or snort playthings ...joking, I like children! Anytime someone was going on a trip out of the states I'd tell them to pick me up a couple Kinder Eggs. That left me with a ridiculous collection of toys.
This chariot as originally had a warrior that rode in it, but somewhere along the road he went missing. He wasn't cute anyway. He was flat. The exciting bit about this and some other kinder toys is that you can make it move. When you push the wheels along one horse moves in front of the other then back again.
The car was far too easy to put together, but cute. As a side note: I've noticed a decline in the quality and intricacy of the toys over the years. What a disappointment--just like the lame Cracker Jack prizes of my lifetime (they were significantly more worthy of the word "prize" back in the day).
The Plane dimensions: 10.5 x 5.5 x 4 cm materials: plastic and metal date acquired: 2002ish
In the early ohs, whenever I used to wander around town with guys I knew, we'd often end up checking out toy stores. I picked up this plane somewhere in Chinatown. I'm pretty sure I tried congee for the first time that night, but didn't really like it. The Truck dimensions: 8 x 4 x 3.1 cm materials: plastic, paper, and metal date acquired: 2000
The Alumni Truck was made by my boss at NYU when I lived at Alumni Hall. He was crafty and fabulous. Later he went on to become an interior designer, which suited him much more. He was always making something that looked just adorable, or like it came right out of a Pottery Barn catalog.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Whistle dimensions: 5.5 x 2 x 2.5 cm materials: plastic and paper
Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
That is what I truly want to be
'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer wiener
Everyone would be in love with me.
Oh Yeah! The best sound comes from this when you hold it sideways and there is a hole on the top that you can leave open or put your finger over to create a higher pitched sound. I couldn't help but love this little thing when it came into my world. It's so heavy with nostalgia. What would a transportation series be without a weinermobile?!
The Transportation Series will be listed on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
OR maybe you are reading this now and you want to start a new chapter in the history of these fun toys. Maybe you want to make a full-length Kinder Egg toy stop action movie. Maybe you'd like to blow a Oscar Mayer wiener (whistle) all around town. BUT, maybe you don't live in Philly. I can mail them to you if you are willing to pay for the shipping via paypal. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
The Transportation Series is part of Pieces of Koco.
--- Pieces of Koco Objects hold stories and memories. This is what gives them intrinsic value and why I have immense difficulty throwing away or getting rid of things. Ticket stubs to museums represent a whole series of inspiring ideas, a plastic spider ring is the first gift received from a first love, an old biology book actually is the hours spent studying, the smell of the massive library, and the knowledge gained. Discarding the item removes the reminder. And, until recently I believed that disposal dissolves the significance and the evidence of the memory, and my existence.
My fascination with the history of objects and the way things can map time, place, and experience led me to study art history and anthropology. My thesis projects in undergrad and graduate school focused on documentation as art. This project, Pieces of Koco, attempts to continue that work and looks to incorporate as many opportunities as possible to make connections to members of my community, to donate, and to recycle.
I used to arrange and exhibit all my toys and chatchkies as if I was a curator of a collection of priceless objects. These were not toys to be played with. I guess I would allow it, but most of them were arranged just so, with intention, or they were in their original packaging. The nerdy tween boy in me developed this set after a trip to the American Museum of Natural History and generous gifts from Alex and my mother.
Rex dimensions: 12x12x20 cm materials: synthetic fiber, plastic pellets. date acquired: 2002-3
The Toy Story stuffed animal was given to me by a guy named Alex. He was a pretty wild dude--creative, intelligent, spontaneous, and even a bike messenger in NYC for a bit. Once upon a time he came to class after a run-in with a manhole or a taxi, and showed me where part of his nipple and a section of his flesh used to be. He was at the Disney Store in Times Square and decided, as a gesture of his distaste for the company, to take Rex hostage. I'm not by any means a fan of Disney, and was a full supporter of Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping since the late 1990's; HOWEVER, I didn't think stealing was okay. I've held onto his contraband all this time for many reasons I don't want to admit. I shouldn't have accepted it in the first place, but this piece, and the story that went with it, was a nice addition to the Dinosaur Collection.
Skeletons materials: plastic date acquired: 2001/2 Brontosaurus dimensions: 4x5x23 cm T-Rex dimensions: 15x14x4
The bone figurines are from the gift shop at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. They are great for creating funny dioramas.
Dinosaur Rummy Cards dimensions: 11x7.5x2 cm materials: plastic, paper date acquired: 2001
The dinosaur rummy cards are visually stimulating, informative, and promote group interactions. My mother, a middle-school science teacher, looks for opportunities to educate or inform at every moment. There was always some kind of quiz about the clouds and the water cycle, flowers, the PHpH scale. These cards were one of her purchases.
Grow-in-Water Dinos materials: superabsorbent polymers (?) additional comments: probably best for kids over 4ish date acquired: 2003(?) T-Rex dimensions (when dry):4.5x2.5x.7 cm Stegosaurus dimensions (when dry):4.5x1.7x.6 cm
Lastly, the yellow and purple mini-dinos in the picture. They look like nothing now, just little plastic whatevers. But, put them in water... AND THEY GROW! They get all slimey and big, and if you leave them out and don't touch them, they shrink back down into mini-dinos. Apparently, I never got past the age of 6, maybe 8 at the oldest... I LOVE THESE. The novelty hasn't worn off yet.
The Dinosaur Collection will be listed on Philadelphia's freecycle network. Freecycle, as they state on their site, is all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. I like that.
OR maybe you are reading this now and you want to start a new chapter in the history of these dinosaurs. Maybe you know a cool kid who loves prehistoric creatures. Maybe you'd like to play dinosaur rummy with your kid. BUT, maybe you don't live in Philly. I can mail them to you if you are willing to pay for the shipping via paypal. Email me: koco(at)misskoco.com
The Dinosaur Collection is part of Pieces of Koco.
--- Pieces of Koco Objects hold stories and memories. This is what gives them intrinsic value and why I have immense difficulty throwing away or getting rid of things. Ticket stubs to museums represent a whole series of inspiring ideas, a plastic spider ring is the first gift received from a first love, an old biology book actually is the hours spent studying, the smell of the massive library, and the knowledge gained. Discarding the item removes the reminder. And, until recently I believed that disposal dissolves the significance and the evidence of the memory, and my existence.
My fascination with the history of objects and the way things can map time, place, and experience led me to study art history and anthropology. My thesis projects in undergrad and graduate school focused on documentation as art. This project, Pieces of Koco, attempts to continue that work and looks to incorporate as many opportunities as possible to make connections to members of my community, to donate, and to recycle.
I recently returned to Philadelphia, my home town, and was presented with 10+ years worth of photos, art, letters, clothes, books, journals, files, and, well, STUFF. I have documented and stored the last decade of my life extraordinarily well. I'm enjoying going through some of the stuff and looking all that has happened to me in the recent years of my life--NYC, grad school, living in Korea, traveling--but also very cautious not to sink into over-examination of the past. I've been so excited about what's next, and how not knowing exactly what that is feels like an adventure, and I want to stay in that state of mind. In attempts to live less in the moments captured in my documents I've started a project, Pieces of Koco. I'll document, I'll purge, I'll give things away, I'll recycle! I'll organize, hopefully I'm meet and help people along the way and I'll create new things from the old pieces of me.
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Objects hold stories and memories. This is what gives them intrinsic value and why I have immense difficulty throwing away or getting rid of things. Ticket stubs to museums represent a whole series of inspiring ideas, a plastic spider ring is the first gift received from a first love, an old biology book actually is the hours spent studying, the smell of the massive library, and the knowledge gained. Discarding the item removes the reminder. And, until recently I believed that disposal dissolves the significance and the evidence of the memory... and of my existence.
My fascination with the history of objects and the way things can map time, place, and experience led me to study art history and anthropology. My thesis project in undergrad and graduate school focused on documentation as art. Pieces of Koco, attempts to continue that work and looks to incorporate as many opportunities as possible to make connections with members of my local community, to donate, and to recycle.
I go weak at the knees over a good tofu panang curry. Mango sticky rice and I are bff. Tom yum makes me sweat like I'm making love in a sauna, and I love it. I'll kill your first born for a nice Thai iced tea on a hot day. Ok, not really, but you get what I mean. Thus, I expected the highlights of my trip to be focused mostly around the food I ate. And while I did have lots of exquisite meals, my breathtaking bungalows trumped the gastronomic adventures. I imagined I'd be roughin' it through Thailand, but instead I found myself feeling like royalty.
In Pai I stayed at Belle Villa. It's beautiful, but it's a 20 minute walk out of town and they are trying to be an upscale resort, but their service is not quite there. I had a handful of issues with them, the first one being that they lost my reservation. That was just fine with me though, since it resulted in getting bumped up to a deluxe cottage. I had my own little house, with a bathroom that was larger than the bedroom! The porch area was really nice with a table, chairs, a couch, and a bed type thing with those Thai pyramid pillows on it. Very luxurious!
I enjoyed the quiet out there, but after a couple of days I decided to move closer to the action and found myself at Rim Pai Cottage. The garden at this place was like out of a Jim Henson movie--it felt magical, filled with butterflies that fluttered in the breeze, explosions of color, twisting pathways, funny creatures, and unidentifiable but gorgeous flora. My bungalow was super romantic, mostly because it was overlooking the river, and had a big cozy bed with the mosquito net draped around it giving it a princess chambers feel.
My next beautiful bungalow was at The Sanctuary. I arrived late in the day, but was lucky enough to snatch the last house, Finn House, also known as the Elfin House. The first floor had an open air kitchen and a chill area with a hammock. Upstairs (steep stairs) was a front room with a futon and a hammock, and shelves with books left by previous guests. There was a sitting room with a TV and DVD player, both of which I'm sure very few people ever use. The bedroom was the smallest and darkest room, but seemed to keep the mosquitoes out nicely. And then... there was the outdoor bathroom. It's rare to be outside, surrounded by jungle foliage, and brushing my teeth or nude, rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, but I dug it. My last two nights on Koh Phangan I stayed at the Padma House at the Sanctuary. It's deep in the jungle far off from all the other bungalows, but I loved it. It was spacious, open, perfect. And it had a great view. I would be happy living in any of these places for extended periods of time. I'm already thinking about going back.
I'm not a Full Moon Party kind of girl, at least not these days, but I went to Koh Phangan to see what all the talk about islands in Thailand is all about. Well, it was nothing less than paradise.
To get there was a bit of a bitch though. Many people take a bus or the over night train, then a boat. However, as a so called "flash tracker" I'm absolutely not interested in long bus rides, so I flew to Surat Thani. I figured it would be a nice short little flight and a quick boat ride. I could have flown to Koh Samui, but Bangkok Airways has a monopoly on it, and I thought that was rather cheeky of them so I decided I wouldn't support that. When I got to Surat Thani there was one company (the only one there) with a booth set up just outside the baggage pickup that sold me a bus and ferry combination ticket for 550 baht. I jumped on the bus and I thought we were on our way to the pier, but we went to the company's office in town instead. I had to get off the bus and wait 30 minutes for another bus to come and take me to the pier. And that's when the fun started.
The second bus was ridiculous. First of all, the deep pink and blue decor on the inside made it look like a cheap motel in Ocean City, New Jersey. The second and most irritating part of this bus was that they had the TV on with the volume cranked up. They were showing this awful gag comedy show where they broke up the acts with musical numbers. This one skit featuring a guy with his butt crack hanging out of a track suit several sizes too small for him went on and on. He'd sing rubbing his hand in a circular motion down the back of his pants, and then he'd stop, and everyone in the audience would laugh. Then he'd do it again. The woman large Thai woman sitting next to me really got a kick out of it. She wiggled and wobbled in the seat joyfully, completely unable to control her wild giggling fits. Third (yes, there's more), there were more people on the bus than there were seats, so a few were standing in the aisle next to me. The giggler seemed to suggest that I scoot over and let another woman join us in the already cramped space of our two seats. I acted in a completely unsympathetic manner and covered up my bad impression of a person having no idea what she was trying to communicate by focusing my attention back up at the awful comedy show as if I understood and truly enjoyed it. I stayed his way for about an hour until we got to Don Sak Pier.
The ferry was huge. It was not the tourist's boat. Oh no, no, no. There were people with trucks, full of this and that, two floors of people, TVs that played a loop of short videos of the King and his recently deceased sister, and quite possibly the nastiest bathrooms of all time. It took 2 and half hours to get to Thong Sala Pier on Koh Phangan.
From there I hopped in the back of a pickup truck taxi that drove me over to Haad Rin, home of the Full Moon Party, for 150 baht. The driver (who was quite nice) told me I would have to catch a boat to to Haad Thien because there was no road to the sanctuary. I rolled up on the pier near Haad Rin and met a very shady looking shoeless character, named Lee, who said he'd drive me there, for a mere 200 baht, after a few more people showed up. The only reason that I was able to convince myself to go with this somewhat questionable man was the woman there with him who worked at The Sanctuary's spa. I had told myself he was a decent fellow, but that faded pretty quickly when I climbed into the back seat of this guy's 4-wheel drive pickup truck, next to his shotgun, which he referred to as his "friend". OOOOOkay.
After a couple stops to pick up more passengers, and a chicken, we went on a dirt "road" over the hills and through the jungle, past grandma's house, and finally to Haad Thien. Quite a journey! It was all worth it though. I immediately felt like I had come to the right place. I got there just at the right moment, and got the last bungalow, and even somehow got myself on the list for the family dinner--and pizza was on the menu!
After my adventures up north I flew back to Bangkok and met up with a few of the ITP crew. We packed ourselves into a ten person mini-bus, put on some old school tunes and set out on a 5 hour drive toward Trat.
We took a speed boat to KohMak, an island off KohSamet that's very close to Cambodia. We were part of a big destination wedding party that looked like a Benetton ad being shot on location in paradise. The people in attendance were beautiful--multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, fascinating professionals and creative folk--all having a ball being part of this wonderful celebration of this couple. Even for people who don't believe in marriage & weddings this was one to look at in awe.
The best bits included: snorkeling, hanging out on the beach, the great food from the grill, and our 2-hour Thai massages. The not so great bits: sand fleas, sea urchins, salt water in your eyes, a nasty long ass not-so-glam ferry ride back. Overall: absolutely the best NYE holiday ever! I know where I wanna be next year.
Monkey and (the 3-legged) Giraffe go everywhere together. They always have. It has always been this way. They enjoy going to nice restaurants, art openings, and the occasional opera or show. Everyone notices what a nice duo they are, what good friends they are, and a certain je ne sais quoi about the intimacy they share. No one asks questions, you wouldn't dare since they are so nice, but everyone wonders.
