Yoga Retreat Pak Song Thailand

Pak Song

This week we went from Koh Tao to a little village called Pak Song in Chumphon Province, Thailand. Here we stayed at Ecologic Yoga Retreat (26 AUD pp pd). This retreat was established to give 100% of its proceeds to the Thai Child Development Foundation (TCDF). Their main goal is to allow TCDF to become self sufficient so they can run the school for disabled children without having to rely on continual donations. Because they are sister organisations the yoga retreat is linked to the school and you can choose to volunteer your time to help teach if you are that way inclined. The soul purpose of the retreat definitely isn't yoga (like we thought) but it is perfect in its own way.  But more of that in a minute.

Enjoying one of the only rain free days

Let's start with the story of our adventure across the ocean from Koh Tao to Chumphon by night ferry (19 AUD pp). It was a larger boat than the day ferry and big enough to hold a few trucks alongside the sleeping area for passengers. Inside the boat was bunk beds instead of seats, so we were able to sleep the night away. This being said we woke up multiple times due to the lumpy sea and stormy weather. We figured out that we could only sleep on our backs, if we were on our side we would roll into each other or off of the bed. Did I mention that this is what Luke got to wake up to on his birthday? 

When we arrived at Chumphon at 6am a taxi driver hopped onto the ferry and offered to take us to Ranong bus station via mini van (8.40 AUD pp). We were stoked as we thought we would have to catch a cab to the mini bus station in Chumphon and then get a mini bus to Ranong. But with Luke and his birthday luck we got rid of the middle man and headed straight for Ranong. Here we had breakfast at Kiwi Guest House whilst we waited until 10am to catch the local bus to Pak Song (3.50 AUD pp). We were picked up by a complimentary taxi and taken the 1 kilometre to the resort. We were very grateful that we didn't have to walk as it was raining cats and dogs.

Communal area hidden amongst the trees where we ate our meals and hung out

Whilst we were in Pak Song it was the wet season and we didn't realise that it meant rain 24/7. When I say rain I don't mean a light sprinkle I mean real rain. Luckily we were prepared for this and pulled out our hard core rain jackets- which ended up being wet the entire time we were there. These were necessary as there was a 150m walk in between the common area (large pergola surrounded by trees) and our room. It doesn't sound like much but the track we walked on turned into a bit of a creek with all the rain. 

Stairs from yoga chalet to dining room

What we loved about the terrible weather was that the power and water went out for two days (I'm actually not being sarcastic, we loved the reprieve from technology). This clearly happens quite frequently so they had prepared in all of the bathrooms huge vases filled with litres of water. We could use this to flush the toilet and to shower with. Let's just say it was the most refreshing shower we've had. Probably due to the fact that it was an outdoor bathroom (surrounded by rainforest) and freezing cold water. What was also beautiful was that they had candles in each of the rooms which we ended up using even once the electricity was back on because the ambience was so nice.

What wasn't so good about the rain was it meant that the children weren't able to come to school as there were land slides over the roads. This was a shame as these kids are the reason behind the whole resort. The other area you can volunteer in is the garden. But again because of the rain it wasn't ideal for us to show off our green thumbs.

The School

Instead we had a lot of time to relax. I will run through a typical day for you whilst it was raining:

• 7am Yoga class

• 8am Breakfast

• 9-12pm Reading, talking with new friends

• 12.30pm All you can eat vegetarian buffet

• 1.30-5pm Reading, could have massage, chilling out

• 5pm Yoga Class

• 7pm Dinner

This was amazing. We all got through multiple books, did lots of yoga and meditation as well as having plenty of down time. 

Yoga chalet

Now let's talk about the food. All meals were included and we had them at a communal table with other guests. These were vegan or vegetarian and all you could eat. The food was insanely delicious and the company was terrific. The food was made from vegetables grown in their own biodynamic farm (including their very own mushroom farm). The kids help to maintain and learn occupational skills in the farm. The resort also makes their own biogas from leftover food scraps. This biogas is then used to cook all of the food for the resort. It was so nice seeing the them make use of what they have and respect the environment so well. This is fantastic because all the kids are seeing this and learning how to produce in a responsible way.

Part of garden and compost area

Equine Therapy horse

On the last two days of the retreat the rain held up for portions of the day so we could enjoy the sunshine. One of these days we walked to rocky river, a swimming hole around 40 minutes away. As you can imagine the river was pretty strong with all the rain but we were able to find a portion of calm which we could enjoy a swim in. The most beautiful thing about this walk was that a dog from the resort leads you to the river and "protects" you (you don't need to be protected) from all the other dogs on the walk. It waited for us whilst we swam and then lead us back to the resort. It was incredible.

Walk to Rocky River

Our tour guide leading the way

Sally and I at Rocky River

Scoffing down our packed picnic lunch

The following day we were able to enjoy the sunshine again and have a picnic along the creek that runs through the property and frolic in the water.  It was a perfect end to the perfect week of relaxation. 

Picnic on the river bank

Blue sky at last

Next stop Chiang Mai. We will let you know how we go with the back to back buses. One 10 hour bus to Bangkok followed by a 12 hour bus to Chiang Mai (Yes I know we are crazy).

Until next time!

Love,

Claire and Luke (Luke was slurping on a smoothie whilst I wrote this blog, he counts as a co-author too right?)

Aum Vegetarian Cafe, Chiang Mai