{"id":162,"date":"2009-03-04T00:57:33","date_gmt":"2009-03-03T15:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/?p=162"},"modified":"2009-03-08T21:32:42","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T12:32:42","slug":"decadence-in-a-difficult-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/2009\/03\/04\/decadence-in-a-difficult-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Decadence in a difficult time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this time of staggering economic troubles, I feel a little odd staying at a resort on an island in Thailand.  It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like I should be living so extravagantly, even if my extravagant is not that outlandish.  I hope I am getting the appropriate karma credits somehow and the karma police will not punish me.  Monday I was reading all sorts of super scary articles in the newspaper as my vacation began.<\/p>\n<p>Today was our first real day on Koh Samui.  Since it is an island resort on the beach, it seemed appropriate to go to the beach and swimming pool.  I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want the kind of tan that I sought as a youngster \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and as a matter of fact I am afraid my skin shows a little of that over-exuberance.  Still, I am at a beach, I do have free time, and it seems I should get a little bit of a suntan.  I lathered up with sunscreen though, telling myself that SPF 20 was more than adequate.  My sun block worked well in all the places that it reached.  Unfortunately, I have an archipelago of sunburn running from my left armpit down towards my navel.  If I had a body to die for I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d take a photo for your amusement.  Unfortunately I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have to do some photoshopping to get the body I desired so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll pass on posting (alternately, I could actually <em>work<\/em> for the body I desire).<\/p>\n<p>We decided to go to Chaweng in the afternoon for a visit to a spa that Tomo had read about as well as dinner at a restaurant there.  Transportation around the island is not easy and, quite honestly, the taxi rides are Tokyo \/ New York prices.  All taxis are metered and no taxi uses the meter.  All prices are negotiated but seemingly fixed.  Since our resort is fairly isolated, it was good to get into the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153city.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  Chaweng reminded me of a really clean India or a little bit more rundown Greek island.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/chaweng.jpg\" alt=\"The city of Chaweng in Koh Samui\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We went to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.siamspaguide.com\/is_spa.html\">Is Spa<\/a> where they specialize in hot stone massages.  Hey, if that is their specialty then why not go for it.  We ordered two hot stone massages and entered in to a peaceful world of oils and stones rubbed all over our bodies.  It was definitely a good experience.  I had, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hot, smooth, volcanic pebbles \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 placed on [my] various chakras (natural body-meridians) by two therapists who combine the use of essential oils and the movement of the stones to stimulate [my] lymphatic system, helping to detoxify [my] body.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d  It was moderately difficult to emerge back on to the hustle and bustle of Chaweng after the message.<\/p>\n<p>The Is Spa is associated with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelibrary.name\/index-2.html\">The Library<\/a>, a total boutique hotel in the middle of a mess.  We wanted to eat at The Page, the restaurant associated with the hotel.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelibrary.name\/samui-library-thepage-Main.html\">The Page<\/a> is right on the beach and tonight the air was comfortable and we had a nice breeze keeping us feeling good.  The food was good as well, and tonight we opted for western fare instead of Thai.  I felt like I was at a trendy LA restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the sign for The Page.  Note all the wires running above.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thepage.jpg\" alt=\"The sign for The Page\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the entrance to The Library.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thelibrary.jpg\" alt=\"Entering in to The Library compound\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the famous red pool (is it filled with blood?) at night.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thelibrary_2.jpg\" alt=\"The red pool at night.\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.marriott.com\/hotels\/travel\/usmbr-renaissance-koh-samui-resort-and-spa\/\">Our resort<\/a> isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t too shabby either and I took a few pictures this morning and when we checked in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thai_1.jpg\" alt=\"Renaissance Koh Samui\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thai_2.jpg\" alt=\"Renaissance Koh Samui\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And the door handle in our room.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/images\/thai_hand.jpg\" alt=\"Door handle in room\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all for now.  I want to relax!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this time of staggering economic troubles, I feel a little odd staying at a resort on an island in Thailand. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like I should be living so extravagantly, even if my extravagant is not that outlandish. I hope I am getting the appropriate karma credits somehow and the karma police will not &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/2009\/03\/04\/decadence-in-a-difficult-time\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Decadence in a difficult time&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo-content","category-vacations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.triplefstudio.com\/yokoso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}