Pressure

We’ve left the little raw food oasis at The Spa on Koh Chang now and we’re back on the Thai mainland, at a beach-side resort where the beach is about 10 strides from our room. Yummy :) We’ve had some wonderful adventures in the last few days. A couple of days back, we had Thai massage for the first time since we got here. WOW. It was INTENSE. I was absolutely amazed at the power hidden in these teeny-tiny, petite little Thai women ;) LOL...in terms of intensity, I think this actually rivalled a massage I had once from Igor Boutenko (Dad in the Boutenko family) – and anyone who has ever had a massage from this huge Russian powerhouse knows how hardcore his technique is... Well, I asked the Thai massagist for ‘medium’ pressure and I was literally squealing at times...I can only imagine what Mr Monarch was experiencing beside me, as he asked for ‘strong pressure’...eeeeeeeeeeeek ;O They use this VERY potent herbal balm on the back, which acts like ‘deep heat’, penetrating deep into the tissues. Aside from that, they also seem remarkably adept at pinpointing the exact points of most tension if a body and NAILING those areas with vice-like pressure...eeeeeeeek ;) I think I’ll ask for ‘soft pressure’ next time... ;)

on May the 8th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass and water of a young coconut
bowl of mango/banana raw ice cream, ‘raw chocolate pie’ and a raw spirulina energy ball
2 cups water
½ a deliciously ripe pineapple
shot of gotukola juice and a glass of carrot/celery juice
2 cups water
bowl of papaya/coconut meat/spirulina smoothie with some seaweed on the side (sounds odd, tasted GREAT ;)
3 cups water

on May the 9th I had:

1 quart water
shot of wheatgrass juice and water of 2 young coconuts
3 cups water
cup of warm water with lime juice and honey
big bowl of banana/mango ice cream with honey/cinnamon sauce and bee pollen
2 cups water
1 tbsp wheatgrass powder
½ an incredible pineapple,1lb rambutan
a few pods of yummy durian, a few mangosteen
1 quart water

We were also delighted to go on a beautiful elephant trek in the jungle. REALLY yummy experience. It seems there’s not many places for elephants to live anymore here – humans have taken everything over. Many elephants now live in sanctuaries instead. We visited one of these sanctuaries on Koh Chang (which actually means ‘Elephant Island ;) We got to swim in a river with the elephants & scrub them down, then we climbed up ontop of them and trekked through the jungle. Naturally we were on the elephant who stopped to eat durian on the way – it was absolutely classic. I love their big huge round padded feet, which they use to just squish the durian open, then pull the pieces out to enjoy – nice style :) We also got to hand-feed them masses of bananas afterwards too. They seem so gentle to me. They also apparently have the biggest brains of all land animals – very intelligent and responsive. One of my favourite stories that I heard in recent years was that after the Tsunami here in the India/Thailand area in 2004,
in some areas, the elephants who had fled to higher ground before the tsunami struck then came back down and carried human children up to higher ground. WOW. I don’t know if that happened in this reality or not – I’d like to think it did though...and if it did, then what an incredible act of compassion, after all that humans seem to have done to take over elephant areas...

on May the 10th I had:
1 quart water
water of 2 big young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
1.5 lbs rambutan
3 cups water
an entire AMAZING little jack fruit – absolutely incredible, one of the best meals I’ve ever had – perfectly ripe, sweet like candy and DIVINE
3 cups water
water of 2 big young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
bowl of blended yum: bananas, pineapple, coconut meat, spirulina
3 cups water

on May the 11th I had:

1 quart water
water of 2 large young coconuts with wheatgrass powder
a few rambutan and half a fresh pineapple
3 cups water
another entire little amazing jack fruit
2 cups water
bowl of blended yum: bananas, coconut meat, spirulina, with a few gojis swirled in
1 quart water

While we’re on the topic of large ‘natural disasters’, I’m sure it hasn’t escaped your notice that Burma is in a state of crisis right now after the cyclone that hit last weekend. Some of you have written in asking if we were affected by the cyclone. Physically, no – we were far away from Burma when the cyclone hit – on the east side of Thailand. We do however feel concern and compassion for the current situation there. As I write this, I believe the amount of aid being permitted into the country is still very small. However, one organisation I’ve received information from this week – Avaaz - is collecting and sending money directly to the monks IN Burma, who are providing people directly with shelter and help. Avaaz has received over $1million in aid this last week from worldwide donations. You can see their site HERE if you’d like to contribute. I presume there are also many other organisations collecting and channeling aid money in a similar way to this too – Avaaz is just one that I’m aware of, if you’d like to send some financial support for our brethren in Burma...

One love,
Angela. xxx