Reflections regarding Friday April 18, 2025 in Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand
On the last day of chol hamoed – the intermediate days of Passover that fall between the holiday’s more restrictive first and last days – and our final opportunity to do something in and around Koh Pha Ngan, Chaim and I scheduled a ziplining day for the boys.
The safest zipline option was Tree Bridge Climb back on Koh Samui. After a thirty-minute drive to Thong Sala, a forty-five minute ferry ride to Koh Samui, and a twenty-five minute drive on Koh Samui, we reached the pickup spot. From there, an open drove us another ten minutes up the mountain to Tree Bridge Climb.
Tree Bridge Climb is situated on top of the jungle and offers stunning views of its surroundings. In addition to ziplining trails, it hosts a beautiful café set into the mountainside and an optional thirty-minute hike to see a waterfall.
When it was our turn to gear up, the Thai guides called to us in Hebrew first: “Ima, bo/Mom, come” and “Abba, bo/Dad come!” Quickly, we realized that so many Israelis pass through that they assume Hebrew is most visitors’ first language. They soon switched to using a mix of limited Hebrew and English to communicate with us. One guide reminded us of Bumblebee from Transformers, communicating through short phrases and snippets of songs. He frequently yelled things like “Oh! Imaleh!” and “Mama! Mama!” and mimicked animal sounds, occasionally startling the boys with monkey or big cat calls.
At first, the boys thought it was hilarious. After twenty minutes they found it irritating. When they shared their annoyance, we had a good conversation about cultural expectations and the challenges of communicating without a shared language. This was the guide’s way of building connecting and keeping things fun. The conversation landed, and the boys shifted their mindsets.
The boys were excited about ziplining, but nervous. Shai decided he was brave and jumped off the platform as soon as he was hooked in. Matanel, as usual, was very nervous to go at first. Eventually, he went on his own. However, ziplining independently was only allowed on the first two lines. The boys couldn’t go by themselves on the rest of the lines. Our guide explained, “Too small. Small monkey.” They either had to be hooked to one another or hooked to guide. This bothered Amichai and Shai, but they learned to deal with it.
About halfway through the course, I checked in with Amichai to find out if he was still having fun. He shrugged and said “After a while it kind of gets boring.” Ah, yes, my adrenaline junky. Ziplining is fun, but it can create more calm than an adrenaline high for many people. I had tried explaining this to him ahead of time because I feared this would happen, given my own experiences ziplining. Something things you just have to experience to understand.
When we finished, we hung out in the café until it was time to leave. The boys were hungry, so I handed out apples, dates, and some more Bissli. They were bummed that we couldn’t get food because of Pesach but handled it well.
Back at the pier waiting for the ferry we knew we’d have a few hours to spend before sailing back to Koh Pha Ngan. We planned it that way so Chaim could try, again, to wire money to our Laos host who promised to send Matanel’s Kindle to Japan. It turned out to be shockingly difficult. No options existed on Koh Pha Ngan, and none of the suggested alternatives worked. Western Union was our last hope.
While Chaim searched in vain for an open Western Union, the boys and I went to a Ninja Water park next to the ferry pier. We hadn’t come prepared to spend time in the water, so we decided their shorts counted as bathing suits. The boys had a great time, and I enjoyed a brief moment to myself until Eitan fully scorpioned and Amichai banged his head hard on an inflatable as they fell into the water. I forced myself not to rush over, waiting for the thumbs up signals when they surfaced. That wait was more nerve-wracking than the zipline.
Chaim returned visibly annoyed. One Western Union was on break; the other needed a passport, which he didn’t have. As we walked to the ferry, Eitan, shirtless by choice, announced, “I’m in Thailand. On an island. I don’t need a shirt.”
We returned to Koh Pha Ngan with one hour left to prepare for Shabbat. We showered, prepped food quickly, and brought in Shabbat at home. It was our first Friday night dinner at home with just the six of us and homemade food since Prague. We blessed, ate, blessed again, and played games. Even after spending so much time together this year, everyone commented on how nice it felt to have a Shabbat dinner with just our family. It’s true. No matter how much time we spend together during the week, Friday night feels different.
One would think that after a day in the sun, ziplining, and bouncing off water inflatables, the boys would be tired. But no. Not our children. Our boys had lots of energy to spare.
Exhausted, Chaim and I tried something new. We gave the boys instructions on how to put themselves to bed, locked our door, and got into bed at 9:00PM. I couldn’t fall asleep right away and stayed awake eavesdropping on them. Impressively, they all brushed their teeth and went to bed by 10:30PM.
