Damn, this blogging stuff is hard. Here I am sitting in paradise and I feel obligated to tell all of yall about it. Funny thing is, there’s probably no one else reading it besides my mom…and she’s in Honduras so I wouldn’t count on that. Not to mention we just taught her the art of the text message, but that’s a whole different story.
I’ll try my best to include the highlights, but they might not always meet your expectations. After all, Thailand, I have learned, is the Land of Big Smiles and Duplicity. Nothing is exactly how it seems. At least that’s the impression I’ve got so far from the expats and students around Phuket. This weekend our buddy Kai, who works at the Viking Resort in Kho Phi Phi for gin buckets (literally), hooked us up with an incredible tree house bungalow, pictures of which will be updated when I get around to it.
Other points of interest in Kho Phi Phi include the absolutely incredible snorkeling (and I imagine scuba diving) where we got up close and personal with everything from puffer fish to black tip reef sharks. Don’t worry, my camera works underwater so all you people living vicariously through me can see what it looked like underneath the water. From there we ventured over to the steep limestone cliffs where an indigenous tribal people with their own language and customs have been living for centuries. They harvest the incredibly valuable swallow nests from the top of these sheer cliffs (swallow nest soup is a delicacy in the region and especially in China). These people live their entire lives amidst and inside of these incredibly intricate and sometimes completely inaccessible caves. Now how do you feel about reading Hollywood gossip magazines? I hope not well.
We then took our longboat along with Kai and his boss over to a place where monkeys are fed and hydrated by the multiple boats hugging the shore. It struck all of us just how much of an impact we have had as a human race on the inherent beauty of special locations. Here the monkeys took all sorts of fruit, water, and even a beer which it chugged impressively for all to see. Unfortunately the monkeys just drop their trash on the ground because no one decided to give them trash cans (they’re pissed) and now I feel like just another tourist, ruining what will no longer be left by the time our children are able to appreciate them.
Stoked yet? Oh yeah, and this is still all in one day. From there we headed to “the beach” famed for its starring role in Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie of the same name and…damn that place is nice. More than nice. Inspiring. Beautiful. Awesome. Until you turn around and some overweight hairy Portuguese guys’s ass is hanging out of his speedo as he gawks in what I can only imagine is something along the lines of, “Gosh, I really hope this Speedo fits and my ass crack isn’t showing.” He also might have been talking about the beach.
Anyways, after this came the cliff diving (don’ t tell the doc), but I went head first so I think I took at least some precautionary measures (right, Mom?). Incredible way to finish the day and I remember thinking to myself why people don’t just pack up and leave more often. Most of the people I’ve met here have less than I do, yet they’ve seemed to find the joy I sometimes lack. The carefree nature that your pillow provides letting you know that it’ll all be OK in the morning.
We’re now back in Phuket town and one of my taxi drivers named Nop has agreed to take me around to the best tailors in the town to gather up some textiles so we’ll see where my adventures take me next. Until then, listen to good music, read something that makes you think, and live—actually live.
In the meantime, get your hands on a copy of Stephen Leather’s book Private Dancer and Vagabonding by Ralph Potts. The following is a quote from the beginning of Potts’ book on travel:
“Vagabonding is an attitude—a friendly interest in people, places, and things that makes a person an explorer in the truest, most vivid sense of the word…. This is a book about living that choice.” (Potts, 6-7)
Next up look for a post on the fascinating contradictions and dualities of life in Thailand. Look forward to it…
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