Day 15
Reggie Hobbs ’00
Carleton Women’s Basketball Student Coach

June 27th

Overall, today with the sun, beach, water, food, massage and parasailing was most definitely a day to remember. Before I get into all the glorious details I would like to take a brief moment to wish our assistant women’s basketball coach, Andy Jaynes and his wife, Heidi, a Happy Anniversary. Today is their first anniversary and I can think of no better way to spend it than on the beaches of Thailand.

The day started bright and early, like most of our days here, with a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel. From there we quickly split up into two boats and headed for a private beach on an island about a 35-minute boat ride from the hotel. However, before we got there we stopped at a large barge to embark on what for most of us was our first parasailing experience.

Awesome. Simply awesome. First, you get strapped into this harness that attaches around your shoulders and then around your waist so you are almost in a sitting position. It took a while for some of us bigger members of the group to go because they only had a few harnesses that would fit us. Immediately after you are hooked in, up you go flying into the air. You could request to be dipped, which amounted to the driver of the boat stopping so that you could go down into the water and then speeding up so you were pulled quickly from the water up into the air. The whole ride, including being dipped twice lasted only about seven or eight minutes, but it was tremendous experience. After getting deposited gently (some people more gently than others) I was pumped and stayed pumped for about half an hour. It was awesome to see the parents parasail, and watched their pleased facial expressions once they landed. In the landing, a couple of people in our group almost missed the barge and the workers had to tackle them to prevent them from falling off into the ocean.

Next it was on to the island. We were given a private section of beach. The options here were endless. Some people, waterskied, jetskied, took a banana boat ride, had their nails done, and Kathleen and Claire got their hair braided. Others just decided to relax and swim on the beach. Karen was one of these people but unfortunately for her, one time as she sat back down in her chair, the fabric on the seat of the chair ripped and she was left sitting in the sand with a astonished smile on her face. Don’t worry though she was okay and escaped without injury. I along with Lori, John Willete, Sara, and Renee took a banana boat ride. The ride consisted of a long tube shaped like a banana that the five of us sat on. A Jet Ski pulled the tube and periodically you would be dumped off into the ocean. As we weaved in and out among the other boat traffic around the island the rush was intense. In about a fifteen-minute ride we were neatly deposited into the ocean four times. For me the most difficult and fun part of the experience was attempting to pull yourself back onto the raft from the water without having it tip back over onto you.

Lunch like most of our meals this trip was served family style, and consisted of fried rice, fried vegetables, fruit, and garlic sea bass. The afternoon was spent lounging around, looking at the various shops along the beach and tossing the football around. We left the island around 2:30 to have a smooth ride back before the rains came. The ride back was smooth for the most part with only a couple of hard bumps.

Yum. Dinner was Italian-style and it was as good as the food I have eaten in the North End (Italian section) of Boston. It was buffet style complete with salad, lasagna, dessert, and appetizers. The best part of the meal was the pasta bar. You got to pick which of five types of pasta you wanted. Then you could choose what type of sauce you wanted along with what vegetables or meat to put in the sauce. For me by far it was the best meal of the trip.

After dinner, some people decided to have a manicure and pedicure while most of us headed off for our two-hour massage experience. We walked into what seemed to be a rather seedy establishment and were handed a bottle of water. Then it felt like we were herded upstairs to various rooms. Initially, I was in a room by myself which was rather scary considering it was small and dimly lit with white stained walls and only a massage table in the middle of the room. Luckily I was moved upstairs to an open room with Eric, Tim, Lori, and Claire. We all lay on mattresses, the men without their shirts on and with pants that they provided for us, the women with shirts and loose pants on. The five masseurs appeared and began to immediately work on our feet. The moved then to massaging one leg and then the other. At first, the experience and was painful but as they continued it was completely relaxing. From the legs, they moved from the arms, to the back and shoulders, and then to the face. The two-hours flew by and at the end I was so relaxed I had no desire to get up. Having the massage done in the same room as a bunch of people was fun because we got talk and giggle to each other as well as the masseurs. My body was twisted and contorted in ways I didn’t think it would move, but it all felt great. The masseurs with their limited English appeared to take great pleasure in making fun of us and I got called a “ladies boy” about ten times in the two hours. My first massage experience was a memorable one and I can see why some people believe that there is no better experience than getting a massage.

So to recap the day. I now understand what the rainy season involves as tonight the rain came down in sheets for about 3 hours and the streets and gutters were just filled with water. I understand what it is like to swim in the Indian Ocean (it appeared more salty than the Atlantic). And most exciting for me I had my first parasailing and massage experiences. This was a great day for everyone. It allowed the group to relax and enjoy the sun and water, but I believe that most people are looking forward to getting home and seeing their friends and family again. Although I believe that very few of us are looking forward to the long travel day that awaits us on Thursday.

Hi Mom and Dad I will see you both on Thursday night.