Thailand! (Bangkok and Koh Lanta)

After about 58 hours of travel and very little sleep, we finally were dropped off at the road where supposedly our hostel/workaway were. When we walked into the hostel area (which I'll attempt to describe below), we were told by Neng Neng, our workaway host, to drop our bags and go walk to the beach. We got there just in time or the sunset! As we were standing there, we both exclaimed that this is paradise! And then we instantly tried to think of ways we could extend our time here...
So, for the past 8 days now, we've been working (quite hard) for about 6 hrs a day, in exchange for free accommodation and 2 meals a day. The work ranges from doing large scale artwork on walls, to physical work in the field (under the hot sun), to bartending, to cleaning the sleeping bungalows, and much more. Since this is a laid back "hippy hostel", the organization is not slways the best, so some of us sometimes end up working hard for 8 hours, while others have a 2 hour shift at the bar.
It's a really cool environment here, and the ideas behind this place are absolutely brilliant, but as it's only 1 year running, the execution is often lacking...
The bech is only a 2 minute walk from the hostel, and is incredible! The water is warm enough to comfortably go swimming at night (to see the glowing plancton), yet still refreshing enough to cool me off after my daily, early morning run and gym workout! It is clean, and turquoise, and simply incredible...especially when covered in dirt and mud fromwork! The beach is lined with beach bars/restaurants, and massage places, both of which receive a good amount of business from tourists. At night everything is illuminated by big colorful lights, seemingly competing to get ones attention, and almost any night stroll will bring you across a fire poi spinner, and sometimes even some people sending off those beautiful lanterns that romantically float high over the ocean. It's quite an enchanting place, but I think that if I wasn't working for a large part of the day, I wouldn't appreciate the beach time as much and would start to get bored on this small island.
Some days we (or one of us) is only asked to work a few hours, then recieving only free accommodation, or maybe accommodation and one meal... So, everyday we have at least one meal to figure out for ourselves. We have a pretty amazing, cheap, pad thai stand just a few steps away from us which is often a go-to for us, and then there are plenty of restaurants and minimarts to choose from. For me, I love to just go and buy myself a 30baht fresh coconut, cut it open, and enjoy the natural goodness, on the beach, in the sun!
We've met so many great people here, and have made some connections that might not last forever, but surely have changed us. This hostel is a small comunity of unique peoole coming together from completely different places, backgrounds, and worlds, to share a memorable time. We've said countless exciting "hello!"s, and even more sad "see ya later!"s. The sad and unavoidable fact of our departure from this incredible place stays looming over us, but we are also starting to get ansy to move on and explore more of Thailand and Southeast Asia! 
The full moon is coming up, which is a big event here in Southern Thailand (not so much where we are though), and we plan on heading north after that!
Live in the moment!
~Iolani