Krabi
Beaches, Bunk-mates and Philosophy
(I find out the true purpose of a
toilet hose and lose my best friend)
Dear friends,
When I last left you I was settling
into my hostel and making friends with the young Scandinavian women
sharing the other bunks. We spent that night talking and having
drinks and playing Jenga at the bar that occupies the top of the
hostel. The local musician who entertained us played a lot of
western classics (everything from Van Morrison to Oasis). Being
tired from my travels, I turned in early.
END SUNDAY
MONDAY
I had promised to meet Ashley and her
mother for lunch at noon. But I learned pretty quickly to schedule
all meetings according to Thai time. Instead I ended up going to the
local market with Jo (pronounced “Yoo”) and having a coffee. Jo
is from Norway, he's been traveling around most of SE Asia for 8
weeks. A very nice person with an affection for the phrase, “That's
pretty good”
Eventually, I did meet Ashley and
Donna, but for dinner, not lunch. We order a fresh fish and watch it
grilled to perfection. It is delicious. Ashley, Jo and I signed up
for a half day of rock climbing. Donna signed up for a cooking
class. Today was a holiday in Thailand, though I didn't get the
details. The difference between Thai holidays and American holidays:
it is considered inappropriate to drink on Thai holidays. So we took
our beers back to our room and I shambled through the catalog of
songs I know by heart. Ashley and Donna seemed impressed (smiles).
Anna, Kristina and Jo less so (wry grins).
END MONDAY
TUESDAY
The Rock Climbing crew wakes up early
and prepares for whatever it is we'll be climbing. The journey to
the cliffs is itself an adventure. We ride in the back of a truck to
a ferry and then motor our way around the peninsula to the beach
resort of Au Nong. Stepping into Au Nong is like stepping out of
Thailand. White people everywhere. I have to check the huge looming
cliffs rising out of the sea to reorient myself. The rock in Krabi
makes for fantastic climbing. Its all volcanic rock pitted with great
finger holes which the tide of centuries has worn smooth. Half day
of climbing turns out to be an ideal. By noon our arms are sore and
our knuckles are bruised. We find a little coffee cabana on the
beach and watch the tide roll out. The sudden showers drive the
local cats to the safety of our hideaway. Ashley is smitten with a
playful kitten (whom she names Aria). Ashley and Aria promptly fall
asleep. Jo makes some sketches. I do a handstand.
At 5:30 its time to unstick ourselves
from the beach and make our way back to the ferry and our hostel.
The other climbers agree to meet at our hostel (since it's the most
awesome) for drinks. Another fun fact about Thailand: Liquor is
served and measured in buckets. We put away a few buckets of
something (I kid not) called “Black Cock”. Eventually, like all
good things, the bar has to close. But Ashley and I, not quite ready
to call it a night, stay up and hold the fort.
Our discussion swings away from the
events of the day and broaches more esoteric waters.
At this point in my narrative I had
intended to insert a truncated version of our discussion. However, I
have procrastinated in writing this post so long for the reason that
I wanted to do our discussion justice. I save that particular debate
for another post. Suffice to say that our conversation ranged from
the existence of the soul to the existence of god, the nature of love
and free will, personality and the effect of social interchange on
our daily lives.
We stayed on the
roof all night and watched the sun come up.
WEDNESDAY
It had been my
original plan to leave Krabi on Wednesday, but I was so tired that I
paid for another night and spent the whole morning in bed. Ashley
and her mother left at noon for Chaing Mai. I later decided to go to
the beach with my new Scandinavian friends. An hour of two at the
beach. We buy an overpriced lunch and come back to the hostel before
it starts raining. I spend the rest of the day in bed, but make
another appearance for dinner.
I had some pretty
bad food poisoning sometime between Wednesday and Thursday. I will
spare you the gruesome details expecting two. When you are on the
toilet in your underpants holding the waste bin to your head being
violently sick it is near impossible to keep the mosquitoes away.
And two: the real purpose of the toilet hose is to spay down soiled
waste bins.
THURSDAY
As soon as the
pharmacies opened I bought some nausea medication and ibuprofen.
Feeling much better but still very weak I buy a bus ticket back
Krabi. Joo and I kill the time before my bus playing pool and
drinking coconut shakes (best cure for food poisoning hangover). I
had a blast in Krabi, but I was eager to get back to my own bed and
sleep for about 30 hours.
Bus from Krabi to
Suratthani
Bus from Suratthani
to Bangkok bus terminal
Motorcycle taxi
from Bangkok bus terminal to Bangkok train station
Train from Bangkok
to Ayutthaya
Somewhere along the
way I realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had my hat.
The bus to Bangkok I think. Three night without sleep and you start
to lose your grip. You would have had to known me for some time to
understand the importance of the hat, but to illustrate I had the hat
for ten years and if you saw me I was probably wearing it.
A yoga instructor
once imparted this wisdom.
“To catch a
raccoon, place a shiny marble inside a box with a narrow hole cut
into it. The raccoon will see the marble, reach in an grab it.
However, the hole in the box is now too small for the raccoon's hand.
He cannot pull his hand and the marble out of the box and he is too
stupid to let go.”
The lesson of
course being, “If you're a creature of a higher order than a
raccoon you won't have a problem letting go of material possessions
when their time comes”
I've been curious
as to whether or not I really understood the “Open Hand” lesson.
I pass.
FRIDAY
I finally make it
back to my own bed and sleep for a good 10 hours. Later that night I
meet my friend Taiyou for dinner.
SATURDAY
Ditto Friday.
Taiyou is a cool guy. He's a great friend to have in Thailand. He
is super posh and speaks English with the most baffling accent. I
don't think he has many straight male friends so he really enjoys my
company as well.
SUNDAY
I don't remember
what happened on Sunday. Taiyou left for Australia. He'll be back
in a few weeks.
MONDAY
Ashley and Donna
come to Ayutthaya. They get here early and after getting settled we
take a bike tour around the island. We visit Wat Mahatat, famous for
the Buddha head in the tree. It starts to rain so we make our way
back to the guesthouse. Later that day, after the rain has cleared
up we go the boat tour of the island's well know temples. I Judith
and we, along with some of our boat tour friends, have dinner at a
really good restaurant (Judith's suggestion).
TUESDAY
Tuesday was a bit
of a slow day. Roy, one of my bosses, asked me to come in in the
evening to have a conversation with some of their private students in
order to judge their level of English. Ten minute chat with some
women.
WEDNESDAY
Back to work. We
had a camp in the countryside around Ayutthaya. Seriously, one of
the best lunches I've ever had here.
