Our destination was Koh Phangan – a picturesque island in the Gulf of Thailand that is home to the wildly popular “Full Moon Party”. The trip from Bangkok to the island was uneventful: 11 hours on the train to Surat Thani, a 2 hour bus ride to the port at Donsak, and a 3 hour ferry trip to the island. We finally arrived at our hotel (Sunset Cove on Ao Chao Phao beach) at about 1pm. The room and location were perfect. Granted, I’m happy with the type of lodgings I had in Nicaragua (thatched roof cabana with no electricity), but this was exceptionally nice and I did appreciate the A/C in the 32 degree heat.

As far as the time I spent on the island…I really don’t know where to begin. I spent most of my time away from the group (I have no interest in shopping) and explored the island to the best of my ability. This meant long scooter drives, longtail boat trips to the east coast, and lots of time on the beach. I was happy. It was beautiful. That’s really all I can say. I was disappointed to have to return to Taiwan at the end of the trip, but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll be going back to Thailand at some point in the near future.

[View with PicLens]

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As of this week, I am officially in the market for a new place to live. The fact that I’m now working from home means that my 5 pings of living space is becoming incredibly claustrophobic. I also have an ongoing desire to have my own kitchen. Of course, the icing on the proverbial cake is the fact that listening to the near-constant noise from the two kindergartens next door is beginning to test my sanity. In fact, as I write this, I am being bombarded by the symphonic sounds of screeching children. Le sigh.

Aside from that, life is good. I’ve been working out regularly since I returned to Taiwan and have caught up on some much neglected reading. I’m also looking forward to my two major trips this year: Chinese New Year in Thailand and a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich this fall.

Till next time!
-Rachael

1. Start working out again. I used to be very athletic, but life intervened, and I haven’t found the time to work out/play sports in months. Maybe I’ll join a roller hockey team, or just continue to go hiking on the weekends. Even yoga would be better than nothing.

2. Find some sort of geographical home. Okay, so maybe this will take more than a year, but I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m sick of moving every 6-12 months. It’s time I actually settled down and *gasp* bought a couch and a TV. Maybe even a dog.

3. Continue working towards my goal of self-employment. Honestly, this one isn’t that difficult, since the alternative of a stable 9-5 position is tantamount to brain death for me.

So I did the responsible thing and spent years pursuing a career in IT. Not only did it pay well, but there were also many opportunities for career advancement. However, there was one problem:

I hated it.

No, I didn’t hate the subject matter. What I hated was the realization that I was basically relegating myself to working in an office for the rest of my life. At the time, I convinced myself that I was being overly idealistic and simply lacked discipline. After all, everyone else I knew worked very hard at (what I considered) boring jobs in order to provide their families with a high standard of living. Yet they were happy, right?

In the years that followed, I became increasingly uncomfortable with this philosophy. Why couldn’t I become self-employed and do something that I was honestly passionate about? The short answer is that I was too scared and guilt-ridden. Scared because, in order to do that, I would have to knowingly remove myself from the relative stability of corporate life and rely solely on myself. Guilt-ridden because I was preoccupied with prestige – the opinions of those around me.

Well, no longer. My move to Taiwan has already benefited me in several ways. Most importantly, it’s allowed me to remove myself from the professional and social constraints that made my goal of self-employment unachievable. I’ve run out of excuses about why I can’t do it….now it’s time to move forward and actually give it a go. I have no doubt that there will be many struggles ahead, but now that I’ve clearly identified what I love to do and how to do it, I’m already well on my way to success.