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.