Escape from Haad Yuan

I spent a total of 35 days over three visits on Haad Yuan, by far longer than in any other place I have visited. Now the time has come to move on and continue with my journey. I was cautious to come back here on the second visit, as I was afraid I would spend all my Thai visa here completely paralyzing my journey. But as things have their own way to get in order, I actually looked forward into leaving this time.  Next on the agenda is Koh Tao and an open water diving course.

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One important difference of Haad Yuan to other places is that I actually lived here and not just visited. I tried to stay in a dorm in Sanctuary on my second visit, but it did not feel right. Own bungalow is a must, never mind the higher price. However, the Sanctuary dorm had its own charm with its thin mattresses equipped with mosquito nets on wooden floor. Sort of like posh asceticism.  I also had to come up with a daily routine here, unlike in most places where daily schedule is just chaotic. Early wake-up, meditation, ashtanga and swimming to kick off a day. Even earlier start on Saturday because of Guy’s Bar. Wake-up before the sunrise, a coconut for breakfast, 6-8 hours of dancing and a lunch break. Just like an ordinary work day. Open mic night on Thursdays, a movie night on the beach and an occasional concert on Sundays, all in Sanctuary. Fanuzzi live last Sunday was phenomenal. The guy had all the place dancing by the end of the night.

It will be surely missed. Things like continuous low-maintenance beach mode. Falling asleep lulled by the constant sound of the ocean and jungle. Absence of cars and motorcycles. Walking everywhere barefoot (thus solving the problem of missing flip-flops). Walks from Haad Yuan to Haad Tien, which would take a ridiculous amount of time because of all the people I met on the way. Morning swims in the rough sea. Secret menu items in Bamboo Hut (e.g. Benjamin’s breakfast or Mike’s salad)  Dinners on their platform around the sunset. Dance jams in Blooming Lotus. Exhausting hikes to Had Rin through the jungle just to get some groceries. And amazing people.

Until next season…

1460km to see a DJ

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There is one feature common to nightlife everywhere. Anywhere you go, there is a club playing crap music and serving overpriced drinks. In Ulan Bator there is this club, Metropolis, that looks like a standard European megaclub with trendy, but soulless design, decent PA and a big screen. All this is enough to forget that you are in the heart of Mongolia and not an European capital. Naturally they play generic radio hits and serve overpriced drinks. Going out in China was not any better. Much more variety and polish, but the baseline rule was applicable to most places I visited. No variety on the music front unfortunately, more or less same selection of  radio hits and “evergreen” classics as in Mongolia. After several nights out, I got the feeling that going out in most places seems pointless, as you will get this surrogate generic experience, which is no different from one place to another. Sanlitun in Beijing or Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong – different cities, different cultures, different clubs, but the experience is eerily similar. Finding something different while traveling can be challenging to downright impossible. In Beijing it took three attempts to locate a club which would not play all the latest radio hits, but something more substantial – Yue Club, an underground club with no frills decoration, but good music. In Shanghai I was more prepared and avoided the game of “let’s try our luck going out by a guidebook recommendation”. I did my research beforehand and ended up in Cotton Club for amazing live jazz and Shelter for fine minimal techno. Singapore’s very own Zouk is a prominent exception to this baseline rule. Exquisite interior design, spacious dance-floor, massive sound-system and most importantly quality music make Zouk really stand out on the worldwide clubbing arena. Zouk’s reputation attracts globetrotting DJs on a bi-weekly basis, so every weekend offers something fresh. I heard about Sven Väth playing in Zouk by a sheer accident, while being in Penang completely lost in plans and having no direction in my travel. First I discarded the idea to travel a ridiculous distance to a completely opposite direction to see a DJ . Then I started toying with it. And finally it made a perfect sense. 730 km there and an equal amount to get back all by land, well why not, I’ve got time and having seen Sven Väth already twice I knew what to expect.  Sven Väth is one of those names, which hardly ever disappoints, nor this time was an exception. This year marks 30 years of Sven Väth’s career as a DJ and the man is still full of energy and enthusiasm for quality music. He delivered a four hour set filled with techno and minimal verging into a plain weird territory and finishing with some neo-trance. Personal highlight of the night was Peter Dundav’s brilliant Distant Shores that was one the finishing tracks. Superb music from start to finish and furious dancing all night long, until feet started to ache. Just what doctor ordered. 1460 km by land to visit Zouk and see Sven Väth? Yes, totally worth it.

Becoming a yogi

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No, I have not got certified as a yoga teacher, but the transformation is more subtle Рmy possessions slowly leave me by giving away, losing and breaking. Whether I like it or now. At some point in Yangshuo I took a look at my beloved hoodie and made a realization that I had had for many years and maybe, just maybe it is time for a new one. Bah, the next day it is gone. No idea where or how. Same fate waited for my faux Billabong swimming shorts, which I had had for more than six years. They were still in one piece, but I got this idea in the back of my mind that all things come to their end sooner or later. Approximately one month later they were gone. Again, no idea where or how. Just gone. Mono no aware in action. A microfiber towel left me at some point too (I did not like colours anyway). After several unsuccessful tries to find a similar towel in Thailand and Malaysia, I eventually replaced it with a sarong, which is much more versatile and useful than a towel. My Lumix LX5 camera fell victim to sea water and eventually got replaced by Canon Powershot S95, which coincidentally I like much more. I lost two water/tea bottles, both in Thailand. It is most certainly not a time or a place for drinking tea here. Singapore greeted me with a loss of one Hagl̦fs shoe. They were securely attached to my backpack, but somehow when I made it to the hostel, I could not find one of the shoes. I bought them last summer or more like it felt like we found each other. Heavily discounted, my favorite colors, last pair and just my size. One of the most comfortable shoes I have ever used in fact. No blisters at any point too. They will be surely missed. The last in the series of losses is a broken blade of Leatherman Skeletool. I was opening a coconut with Skeletool yesterday and some point the blade just snapped in two. An interesting thing that I experienced no anger, no regret or no disappointment of any kind. No reaction at all in fact, just silent observation of the fact. The most important thing that I got the coconut opened and if to believe a local restaurant owner I am of the few persons who got a coconut open with an ordinary knife. Even though it cost me a broken blade. Fair game I guess.

So there you go all this damage in the span of almost five months. I used to think that I know how to take care of my things, but travelling in this mode seems to be very destructive. Looking back at the history of my stuff, I got this idea that most of lost things I did not like that much or did not need, so in a way they did me a favor by finding a new owner. The only regret is the shoes, but it might be a blessing in disguise which I cannot yet see. The time will tell.

The smartest ATM in the world

As a traveller I get to use ATMs of different banks in different countries a lot. As a geek I like to pay attention to small details and especially usability. The most common problem with ATMs is that they give you money before returning your card, thus opening a door for forgetting your card in the ATM. Some ATMs try to solve this problem by beeping after you get your money thus reminding you about the card. The solution which makes no sense whatsoever, when it would be much more logical just to return card first. Another problem worth mentioning is an over-confusing user interface requiring unnecessary user actions. Why do you need to answer mundane questions all over again every time when you are about to get cash. It is like most installers in the Windows world, making you press buttons with no purpose. Anyway, In Singapore I had a pleasure to use a Citibank ATM, which blew my mind in terms of usability. The money withdraw process goes something like this.

  1. You insert your card. First, it greets you by your name. Now this is a small, but very nice detail. I bet it is technically trivial to extract information about your name from your card, but how many ATMs actually bother to do that.
  2. It checks the card and then asks you to remove the card to continue. This way there is absolutely no way ATM would snatch your card. Simple and effective.
  3. You select withdrawal amount
  4. You enter PIN code as the last step.
  5. You get your cash.

There you go, no tedious questions, nor unnecessary actions. There are only two steps which require your action: withdrawal amount and PIN code. As minimal as it can get. Compare with most ATMs where you at least four-five steps for the same procedure. Well done, Citibank.

In Nokia Ovi Suite days I was responsible for implementing UI of the software. Even that we had a comprehensible specification describing all parts of the UI, there were many open issues and just things that could not be specified. I got into a habit of thinking things through and how UI would be used by end-user instead of how it should be implemented from a technical point of view. At that time I had an epiphany that most of user interfaces we had to deal with on a daily basis are simply implemented without any thought on how it would be used. The result is often an over-complex UI with unnecessary information overload and too many parts requiring user attention. To see something like this Citibank ATM is always a pleasure. Something that is not simply copied making same mistakes all over again, but seeing a thought and effort behind the end result.

Joyful participation in the sorrows of life

I initially planned to do a vipassana retreat last month in Penang, Malaysia. But as it goes with plans it did not feel right, some things came forward and plans changed dramatically. Instead I ended up going to Singapore to see Sven Väth in Zouk. Vipassana and loud minimal techno, well almost the same thing anyway. However, three weeks later I found myself in a 10-days vipassana retreat taught by Steve and Rosemary Weissmann in Wat Kow Tahm on Koh Phangan. This time I was tempted to go to Koh Tao to see LTJ Bukem, but thankfully opted for meditation.

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This is my second 10-days retreat merely half a year later after Goenka’s retreat in Ödeshög, Sweden and this retreat was not as intense as the previous one. First of all, I knew what to expect. Massiveness of this project did not scare me off and I had a strong determination to use my time in the most efficient way. No slacking and no excuses, I came here to meditate and learn, take no prisoners attitude, period. Second, the retreat is really 8 full days, plus one orientation and one wrapping up day. Furthermore, it is really easy on your body, as it is a combination of sitting, walking, standing and working meditation. Tasks include sweeping, cleaning, doing dishes, preparing food, ringing a gong (mine was cleaning up and doing dishes after the evening dinner). And third, the structure of the daily schedule is designed to avoid building up too strong concentration, but rather the main emphasis is on building up mindfulness and compassion in daily life.

The meditation technique taught is mental noting and basic meditation period is 45 minutes and the longest you are allowed to spend in one meditation form is one hour. I attempted once to extend a half an hour of sitting to one hour instead of switching to the standing meditation, but was quickly handed a no-no written note. One one hand, these factors make it easy for your body, but on the other hand it makes difficult to achieve deep concentration states. In contrast Goenka’s retreats are 10+2 days, offer only sitting meditation and you may spend as much time in one sitting as you want. The retreat last August was an extremely intense full blown spiritual high experience glowing with rather profound psychedelic concentration states. People were crying, going through a mental drama, having emotional breakdowns all over the place. Good stuff. No blissful raptures or dark nights of soul in Wat Kow Tahm apart from short periods of jhana states, but it was very beneficial in many other ways. I learnt way more here than in my first retreat, mainly thanks to versatility of the practice and excellent lectures packed with useful and practical information combined with top-notch performance and subtle humor. One of the main themes was to how to apply mindfulness and compassion in everyday life, not only in the context of the retreat. The content of the lectures is practice oriented with very little ideology related talk. Among discussed topics were compassion, five hindrances, dealing with physical pain, different meditation postures and other practical considerations. A personal highlight was the lecture on Kalama Sutta, which can be summarized as “do not believe anything blindly no matter where information comes from, but find out truth through your experience”. In contrast Goenka went into lengths dissing other spiritual practices, yoga and meditation techniques and stressing numerous times that his teaching was not sectarian or dogmatic, but rather the fact of life. This produced a rather unpleasant aftertaste of cult-like mentality and put me into the state of a cognitive dissonance for many days after the retreat. Me being part of a cult, which I can actually enjoy? Inconceivable! None of this type of talk was found in Wat Kow Tahm and finishing with Kalama sutta was a very nice touch.

I had no after-retreat plans and was torn between several choices, but by chance found out that LTJ Bukem was playing in Had Rin the same day. This set plans in stone and I went partying the same day the retreat ended. This is what I call intense. Had Rin beach around 11PM was a bit too hectic for me, but thankfully the gig took place in an actual club far away from fear and loathing of the Had Rin beach. Quality drum & bass and nice atmosphere set things straight and was a nice and unexpected way to finish off the retreat. All in all, it was an excellent and beneficial experience and very different to what I expected before the retreat, which shows once again that plans and expectations are basically useless. The actual experience no matter what is most certainly going to be something completely else.