Episode #198 - Thailand

Welcome to the Mastering Midlife podcast where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host, Heather London. Hola buffas. I know it's been a hot second, but usually what I was doing was I was recording my podcast right at the end of this whatever my destination was. And I had been in the last destination for a long time. and hadn't really recorded one.

And then I was just travel, travel, travel, travel. So I didn't have time to actually record one. So I wanna go back to the place that I spent the longest and my favorite place so far. It's actually really hard to say favorite places because everything has Such everything has something really special about it, a hundred percent. But the place where I was the longest I really enjoyed for so many reasons. First of all, I literally could walk out of my bungalow. Thirty seconds in a in the ocean.

I love that. And as I travel to all these different places I really have learned a lot more about myself and what I'm looking for when I'm traveling. I know I've done a lot of traveling over the past couple of years, but it was more like to a specific place for a specific reason. And this one I'm going through all Southeast Asia.

And I really notice when the place has or doesn't have something that I like. And so now I'm kind of like zeroing in on how I like to travel and what I'm looking for in my ideal places. And one is

A beach. So when I was in this last place, this is my small island off of Thailand. I stayed there for five or six weeks. I don't even know how long because time just kind of disappears on you. But I didn't want to leave there. I wanted to stay there forever. And uh the reason I loved it, one is because the beaches the whole island

So if you just went from one beach to the next, it was just another amazing, gorgeous beach. And where I was staying it had a really long beach and so I could get up, I could go swimming in the ocean. And it was clean. The water was clean. The beaches were clean. And that every day I would get up and I would go swimming in the ocean before the sun got up.

too crazy and then I would walk all the way down the beach and back and that to me is just connecting with nature and to be able to do that on a beach where it wasn't crazy busy, especially in the morning, so clean, the water was clear blue and the only thing you have to contend with are like some jellyfish here and there. Like my jellyfish story about that big one that scared the crap out of me.

Or the little baby ones. They're like little rectangle clear ice cubes with a dark Thing in the center, and it just happens like on a cycle where all of a sudden there's hundreds of thousands of these in the ocean. And they kinda freak you out because they're they're all bumping into you, but they're just

inanimate, they're they're bumping into you. So mentally if you get over that, you're okay and every once in a while you get stung, but it's not a big sting, it's just kind of like a little like did I just get But it's weird when you think about it because thousands of these jellyfish are hatching. That's what's happening. So uh besides that, I mean uh amazing and the beach

along the beach, there's hotels and restaurants and all that, but it doesn't overtake the beach. It's like from the beach line back. There there was a new regulation a year two years ago I think where

They couldn't put stuff on the beach. So damn if it isn't just like an amazing place. I loved it too because I could play tennis, and I told you in my last The craziness of how I got to play tennis. Um was just amazing. So I played every couple of days, every time I got invited by my Canadian friends who had their own had built their own tennis court on their own property. I was just so happy to do

And then I was playing, uh we had a four so it's this husband and wife, the so delightful husband and wife who just live and breathe tennis. So I'm like, uh like well I'm obsessed, you're obsessed, let's be friends. You're Canadian, I'm Canadian, let's be friends. And so that was amazing, but that was the only tennis in town, really. Um, I also love

I got into some paddle because I wanted to be active and playing all the time. So I found this really cool spot where I could go play paddle all the time. And it just happened to be in a suitish Like the Swedes love this little island. There's tons of them there, but Swedish are really nice people, so it's not a problem. But they had four paddle courts, and so I would get in on some fun games and learn how to.

The food was amazing. There were so many cool restaurants and cafes. What I loved about this place was that you you don't even know where the streets are. You have to find them by being there and exploring and experimenting. And you just go down this little road and all of a sudden there's all these cool restaurants. I found my favorite restaurants by talking to people who had been there or who live there and they would give me the best recommendations and then I would go try it out.

And one of my Canadian friends, she'd love she was a foodie, she'd loved going in and trying new places so she would always invite me and we'd go together and try new adventures. So the food was amazing. The people, the Thai people are just so freaking awesome. They're so kind and happy and It's a really nice community of Tourists and locals. Like I said before, you have a lot of Muslim people there but it's a Muslim where they co create with the locals and the tour.

There is no separation. It's just everybody is good. We're all good. That's the vibe. It's just like it's all good. You know, like I had said before, you I went into a shop to buy a bikini with Uh in the shop were two Muslim girls and full hijabs and then some other guy came in to buy pot. Mm the store the store sells bikinis and pots. So it's all good. Um that's the kind of vibe it is. But the c cafes, the restaurants, the food

The I went to a meditation center. There's a uh national park there. You're just always meeting new people and everybody is always it's good, chill, no problem, life. And so I really, really liked this place. This is my favorite place where I would stay longer for for sure.

Um now I found a couple of things really interesting here. What I notice when I'm just travelling for a couple of days, I'm in and out, so I'm so busy. It's like I'm good to go. But when you find a place where you're staying for a little bit, that's when you can kind of get Feel alone. Well, maybe be maybe it's be lonely. You can feel lonely sometimes because you're there for a long time.

And so it's more you get into a daily routine and you're looking for something more than just uh I'm not passing through, so I'm looking to make some connections with people. So that's when I started to feel like, oh, I need to make more effort into finding friends. So that I can do stuff with people.

and have that connection and not feel lonely. Now, I do like to spend time by myself. So because I'm alone doesn't mean I'm lonely. But when I'm in a place for a longer period of time, that's when I notice the loneliness. And that's when I'm looking for more Friendships like really really deep connections with people.

I hope that makes sense. So I started to always be like, okay, where am I gonna find people that are like me that where I can make connections? And I found a whole bunch of I had a whole bunch of different groups of friends that I was hanging out. And by far the the best group that I made were my Canadian friends because there ended up being two couples. One was the tennis couple.

And the other one who I met through them were a non tennis couple, but they were the ones who we would go out and discover the restaurants with and that kind of thing. And I don't know if it's just because we're all Canadians, but there was just really It just felt so good. It felt like home. It was

They're just such lovely human beings and they were happy to share their lives with me and their community and introduce me to people. It was just so welcoming. And then after tennis, I love this. We would always go for coffee. So sometimes the other couple would join us, sometimes other people would join us and we would go they would um introduce me to the dice game that they played and we'd go out for dinner and play bocce. It was just so

welcoming and I love that. And I feel like I want to say that that was because they're Canadians and Canadians, that's what Canadians do. That's who Canadians are. They're so lovely and kind and warm and welcoming. Maybe that's just me. I'm not sure though. I'm not sure. But we had So much fun together when we played tennis.

There was another a Swedish girl, so we would have a foursome and the husband wife would split up. They didn't want to play together, so I would play with the wife and the and Svetlana, my new Swedish friend, she would play with Harry, the husband. And then she le went back to Sweden so we we had another Swedish girl fill in for her and she was also so lovely.

It was just really nice thing. Like it was so fun. It just made my day to go play tennis in this gorgeous oasis like in the the jungle almost and just it was so magical.

so ma I can't even put into words how magical it was and they had the perfect setup. They thought of everything you could ever possibly want. I went without any tennis stuff. I brought my runners and I brought some uh like shorts and shirt and I didn't I couldn't hold balls'cause I didn't have pockets and so the Sweatlanna, the Swedish girls, she gave me an old skirt, a tennis skirt of hers and then my Canadian friend.

Harry and Janice, they let me use their racket and like because they had a whole bunch of racks a whole bunch of rackets because they're used to this. So it just all came together. It was so lovely. And at the end of my stay I actually found a tennis skirt in one of the night markets. It was the craziest thing. I'm like, why would they have but they have all the things if you go and look and find these

things. Just the town is so beautiful. Well one of my favorite things too was the outdoor movie theater. That was next level. You're there's they had this huge space and it was just so well set up and you're under the stars watching because I love movies and so it's my favorite movie theater movie experience by far. It was just so magical. It was so magical.

Um the food I the longer I stayed, the more I discovered the food, the more I made more friends. Sorry I got sidetracked by my friend making. Um and I was like, how do I make more friends? How do I meet more people? It's a catch twenty-two because if you're meeting people that are there for a short period of time they're usually partiers and they're going out drinking and that's fine, but they're just on vacation for a week. And for me I c I can't sustain that. That's not really my jab.

So I'm so I gotta be more creative in this. So playing paddle I met this really nice who just is a has solo travelled so he knows what it's like to solo travel. And he invited me out for dinner with his friends and so I went out with his friends who had brought other friends and then we made this awesome connection and the next time I went out with my friends so I invited him and he brought his friends. So that was a really good connection. Just somebody who's a solid

good human being, you know? Like just mmm really good human being. And I one of the best things that I did to make the s um the mo most amount of friends that were similar in the thinking of how we travel was going to a uh A co working space. Had I known this co working space was so frickin' awesome, I would have gone there earlier because it was full of telling you there were like

fifty people working there. And it the setup was so beautiful. You could be inside or you could be outside looking at the jungle. It was just so beautiful. And every night they had something that games night or watching the sunset or family dinner, whatever it was. And I met some really good, solid connections there. Unfortunately it was later in my stay, like it was within the last two weeks. I met some really good connections and we had so much. Um

And and then there was people that I just met for a short time. Okay, I just put in a Facebook group. That's another great way to meet football. Like, hey, where are the people who are my age? Where where are they hanging out? And this one woman Marta was like

Oh we're you know, I have a group of people and we're we're hanging out here. Come and meet us. And so it turns out like she comes back every year for three months. And so she's connected to all the other people that come back for three months. And they've been friends for a very long time. But this woman was one of my favorite people that I met because she was from so passionate. She did everything with Uh her whole heart, her whole entire heart.

And she's just so loving and kind and welcoming. And she introduced me to her group and we went it she's like, Heather, every night we there's something going on on the island. And tonight it's at this place and it's sunset. So I went there and it was like Feet in the sand, the bar was right on the beach and there was a DJ and so you could dance and she introduced me to her friends and It was cool and I stayed there for a while, danced, had a couple of drinks and then

And then I left and then she's like, Oh Heather, tonight we're going to this place. But it starts at eleven and I'm like, eleven in the afternoon. She's like, no, this is the the only early one is the sunset one. All the other ones don't start till ten o'clock and I'm like Okay. I'm gonna have to be your daytime friend because that's just not my jam and it doesn't matter, like that's totally fine. And that group was harder to break into because they're they've been friends for a very long

But Marta was just every time I saw her, she was just like heart and arms wide open. So I fell in love with her and just the passion of. The Spanish part of her. Just mmm, so so delicious. And it was funny, I'm like, hey, let's go for coffee. And so she met me for coffee one day and she's like She's always uh she was always like I d I don't want to say looking rough but you know like

You could tell that she went out the night before every time. And so I said, Let's meet for coffee. Let's be let me be your daytime friend. Let's hang out and she's like, Oh, let's go for coffee. I know this great local place So we go to this local place and she shows up and she's like, Heather, I had I had such a crazy night last night. I'm like she said, I don't even know what happened to my shoes. Now that's how you know you had a good time is when you lose your shoes and you don't even

And she was very hungover and she doesn't even know what she did. Which is awesome because she's just such a fantastic person and that's she comes to this island to do that, like just to let loose and and be free. And be shoe and lose her shoes at the parking And so we went and bought new shoes and I bought a little skirt and we had uh fun day and then she's just and then she's just gone. She just disappears and that's how she rolls. She's just in and out, but just such a lovely human being for

bringing me into her group. And so some nights she'll party hard and the other nights she'll just sit I don't know if she can sit quietly, but she she knows she'll just be Chillin. Anyway, I can't sustain that, but love, love, love this woman. Another thing about

this island that I went to was like you could just jump on a scooter and boot around. It was so freeing. I love riding on a scooter, but I would never ever do it anywhere but on this island because It's crazy out there. And these tra like where I am right now, scooter crazy.

So much so that I just re I just do a grab scooter. If I want to jump like hop around somewhere, grab scooter. It's a dollar, two dollars. And that way they're the expert drivers because the traffic is crazy where Um but there I felt like I could just drive on my scooter and boot around. And one day I was going to my favorite restaurant. Tuesday morning? No, it was called the restaurant was called Tuesday morning.

But it's 20 minutes down the island. And I saw this scooter accident right in front of me. It happened. Literally, I was almost part of the accident. And I could see how how it was happening in slow motion. And I'm like, So as it's happening and they run into each other and she falls down and the other scooter doesn't and it was just Craziness. Caused by just this person having no clue how to ride a scooter, like none. That's what caused it. Like she was trying to cross the road.

I know there's a joke in there, but she was with her friends on one side and she looked and she just went anyway and just ran into this person and she ended up hitting the round. This is crazy. This is like bumper cars for scooters. The whole island is like this. The whole time I was there, I noticed that all the tourists had um white bandages on their elbows and their knees. Those were all scooter accidents. One of the guys who lives there said, We have our clinic.

strictly for scooter accidents. If you have a s if you have scooters, people renting scooters, you need clinics just for that. And then after so I I saw that accident on my way to meet my friend at my favorite restaurant like the day before I was leaving. And they have this thing called a tie tattoo. That's when you wipe out on your scooter and you get wicked road rash that's the thing.

tattoo and I'm like no I'm not getting a tie tattoo I'm because I'm a good scooter driver and I'm aware and I know everybody's crazy so I'm gonna be like a good driver and I'm gonna leave here without the tie tattoo. So I was so proud of myself. And it's like my last day, and this girl almost takes me out. Almost. But I avoided it. And then on the way back, there was another scooter accident. I didn't see that accident.

in the bushes, like he went flying into the bushes. And then what I noticed when I was driving was this girl who was there, jumped on her scooter, went to the clinic, got the ambulance and brought them back. Because my Canadian friends told me if you see a scooter accident, you cannot stop because you're gonna get in the middle of chaos. Suing mayhem. Do not stop. And of course

because that's in my nature. So I stopped at the first one. I'm like, this is craziness. Nonetheless, I saw a ton of scooter accidents. Ton. So

The moral of that story is I don't know, just be a good scooter driver or get a get a grab. But the to sum it up, because I I like to keep these things about twenty minutes. I've in that place, that island, that tiny island, and I don't even want to say it'cause it's so amazing, I don't want it to be like

ruined by everybody knowing about it. But it's in Thailand, just off Krabby. So beautiful. Favorite place. It I had so many crazy adventures. So many. Meeting new people, going out to different parties, going to Weird places, meeting all these people, eating all this food. Just oh so good. I and I'm trying to think of even a note to end on. I didn't want to leave there but I was running out of time and I wanted to get to other places in Southeast Asia before my trip ended. So I'm like

I gotta make a move, I gotta get out of here. Or I'll never leave. Like never leave because it was so amazing. Um But I will go back there for sure. That's the that's one of the places. That's the only place so far that I would go back to. There actually there was another place that I went to after that where I'm like, oh this is nice, but for a different reason. That place is beach life play tennis. Be live in your bare feet with your toes in the sand and in this totally laid back.

Life is simple and basic, connected to nature, eating good food, hanging out with amazing people, locals and otherwise. Just it all came together for me. So I will go back to this place a hundred percent. And that's why I haven't um done my podcast in a while, so sorry about that. I was uh, you know, on a mission to not get a tie tattoo and have awesome adventures. I had a lot of awesome adventures.

And ha uh last night oh the last night I went to this uh beach bar and met these really cool people who helped me on my travels. They're like, go here, do this. And that's another way to meet people. That's uh one more thing I wanna add. um is when I am wanting to meet like if I'm feeling lonely, I will go to a bar and sit at the bar and that's how you meet people.

It doesn't always work, but it's one of the most universal ways and so on my last my my last night at on that island I'm like I'm just gonna go sit at this bar and it was like the just down the beach from where I was and I had never gone there before'cause like I said I don't wanna'cause the people that sit at the bar are usually big drinkers. And on vacation. But that night I did and I met all I that was a fun night and I met a lot of really cool people. Anyway, we'll just leave it.

So that was my latest adventure on a small tiny island in Thailand and I've had so many from there I gotta catch up on But I hope you guys are doing well and I hope you are finding these highly entertaining and maybe even motivational to get your butt out the door. This is one thing that I've learned. You gotta get outside. You gotta get out of your

You gotta get out and live life because it's so short. Get out there and just be adventurous. Alright, I will leave you with that. Always, always, always love yourself first and have an amazing day.