Wow. After rereading the past six entries about my experience here on Koh Tao, I am really blown away. I am acutely aware what a blessing it is for me to be able to be here… that my time here is but just a dream for most people in this world...three weeks to relax and be surrounded by the beauty of a tropical island…for just dollars a day. I feel such a depth of gratitude that words to fully express my appreciation don’t even exist. I am on a romantic tropical island…yet I am here by myself.
This brings me to a point I want to mention. Part of the reason why this glorious time is even possible for me is because I am single…and don’t have any kids. I am thinking of all my married friends, whom are mom’s and dad’s, reading this as you turn green with envy. But I would like to make a point…we all make choices in our lives, which open doors while at the same time, close others. I have chosen to not get married (yet!!), and to not have kids (yet?). Thus, I have the money and the freedom to spend such glorious alone time here on this little island paradise. I also have very flexible standards of living that I am comfortable in…a tent in the jungle that I share with cockroaches and spiders, to luxurious 5-star resorts. So what is on the opposite side of this coin? Well, let me tell you. I haven’t mentioned all the ants that I have befriended in my bathroom, and I can’t tell you how many nights in the past 20 years that I have been sad about being single....let me tell you: Yes, I love 'grabbing life by the horns' and experiencing all of my many adventures...but having all of these amazing adventures without someone by my side to share them with (except for my beloved time with Rick!)....well, it just gets damn old.
At first, I wondered if being on this romantic island by myself… with its sensual sunsets, its aphrodisiac scents, its honeymoon suites… was going to be irritating for me. The couples walking hand in hand on the beach, chatting and laughing as they lay next to each other in the sand, sharing a glass of wine at sunset, lets not even mention what they do after dark…Usually, these are sights that can get me all riled up….and sad…and lonely…and pitiful. But I’m very glad to say that the only time it actually bugged me was, funny enough, when I saw all the ‘couples’ hanging out together while I was snorkeling (explained back in part 5)!
But hey, there are lots of cute men here too…so maybe one of them is single? Well lets see, on about day 7, one of them joined me for lunch. Late 20’s, blond, from Switzerland, traveling by himself …seemed like a really nice guy. So we decided to have dinner together that night. He liked chatting with me…but apparently also as much as with the two Austrian girls who were sitting at the table next to us. “Jody! Do you mind if they join us?!” So I say, “Well gee. That sounds wonderful.” But of course what I really meant was, “Are you an idiot?”
Then there was the perfectly sculpted, lusciously tanned skinned, dazzling green-eyed, wonder man. I noticed him one day as he was getting out of the water after snorkeling. I made a quick scan of the surroundings for any signs indicating I should abort my mission….a ring on his wedding finger, anyone on the beach he may be looking up at whom was wearing a bikini…Nope, all was in the clear. I wasted no time. I grabbed my snorkel and headed into the water. As I casually flipped my hair around, to tie it back in preparation for snorkeling of course, I smiled at him and simply asked, “How was it?” He looked at me kind of funny so perhaps he didn’t hear me. I tried to make myself more clear, “How was the snorkeling today?” “Oh, sorry. Me no speak Engleash.” …I have never cared so much about the French I studied back in high school in my entire life, until that moment. We exchanged smiles, made some awkward hand gestures about how big the fish are, and then I put my tail between my legs so to speak and swam out into the sea.
Then there was the cute massage guy. I must admit, the Thai men are generally not my type. But this guy is really cute and sweet. I started adopting a routine that every afternoon after my daily snorkel, I would get a massage from him, and then we would give each other language lessons for a while….I teaching him English and he teaching me Thai, of course. Well, each night, it seems like he was asking me if I wanted to join him for dinner. (Not speaking each other’s language certainly makes flirting challenging….smiling and smiling and smiling, without words with clear understanding, gets old after a while…) But, I had made some friends and always had dinner plans with them. (Toots and Angela from Germany, and the Swiss guy funny enough.) However, they were going to be leaving soon…and I knew I had plenty of time here, or so I thought….so I was just going to see if an opportunity to have dinner with him would come up once they left. This went on for I’d say at least about five or six days.
Well, the very night that Toots and Angela from Germany and the Swiss guy left, I headed over for my daily indulgence of being massaged for an hour from the cute local guy (did I mention it was in a beautiful hut…on the beach…for $9?!), and then the endless flirting session. Oh whoops, I mean, language lessons. But it looks like I was too late…
When I arrived, there was some other American girl sitting there with her Thai-English dictionary teaching him English. Apparently, she wasn’t aware that I was the English teacher, and thank you very much, but I was in no need of a substitute teacher today. I sat down and introduced myself and joined in. Apparently, she was only teaching him English but didn’t know a word of Thai. So I started to chat with my Thai friends…“Sabai dee mai? Khun bai nai wanee? Wanee dee mai?” Then I looked at my cute friend and impressed him even more, “Neung song sahm see hah hok jet pbad gow sip.” Since she didn’t speak a word of Thai, it didn’t concern me in the least bit that my complex sounding sentence was simply me counting to ten. I just wanted to make sure she knew who was boss…or so I thought….
As the no-longer-a-flirting-session-but-language-lesson-competition went on, I soon realized that no matter how much Thai I showed off with, I was clearly in second place…The story goes like this: Apparently this lady, Mindy is her name, was here three months ago…and she and the massage guy hit it off. (His name is Jaran by the way…or perhaps more like Jahrun, or Jaaruhn, or Chalun….You see, the Thai’s don’t use these same letters that I’m sitting here typing with. They have an entirely different alphabet…with entirely different sounds than are used in our language….So to write his name using these letters is simply my attempt at trying to match the sound that is produced when he says his name.) So Mindy and, lets say Jaran, hung out for days back in April and even ended up traveling around Thailand together for a week or so. Well, Mindy is a teacher in California and was on spring break, so she had to eventually head back home. But now she is on summer break and arrived back here on Koh Tao to do some more traveling with Jaran. Long story short, I quickly accepted my place in this triangle and have enjoyed the past week hanging out with Jaran AND Mindy, who both left today to do some more traveling around Thailand.
Do you see the lesson here? The lesson that I see is that, this month is not about me having a romantic, tropical island fling. This month, exactly as I intended it to be, is about me unwinding, letting go of residual stress of med school that has still been hanging around, resting my body, rejuvenating my mind…I’ve decided to call it: My Honeymoon with Myself. Throughout my trip here, I’ve been reading my fabulous Aunt Mary’s book, The Gift of Our Compulsions (which refers to not just the obvious ones but also a compulsion to over-think, over-work, over-struggle, over-stay-busy…). It’s all about learning to live peacefully within our own mind, regardless of what is going on on the outside. Today is my last full day here and I just finished the last page this morning at breakfast…such perfect timing. It has been my most perfect companion. Each day I have transformed old thoughts of struggle, into compassion and love for myself….So you see, the perfect title for my time here is: My Honeymoon with Myself.
And so now, for one last time before I leave tomorrow, I’m off to go nourish my body with some scrumptious delights at the beachside restaurant, be dazzled by the glorious sights of life in the sea, and then enjoy a nap in my ocean view hammock. Thank you for sharing my month long journey in paradise with me…Of course, more to come later on as my journey living and working in Thailand continues. Bye for now. ☺
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A Note From Paradise! (part 6 of 7): What about the Turtles on ‘Turtle Island?!’
“You are on ‘Turtle Island’ Jody! Tell us about all the wondrous TURTLES!!!” Well, I wish I could. A very sad thing about reality here is, guess what life from is not visible in the waters around ‘Turtle Island?’ Yep, you guessed it: turtles. To get a name like ‘Turtle Island,’ of course at one time there were hundreds of them frolicking around these waters. Well, turtles aren’t to be seen anywhere around the island anymore…not a one.
The influx of tourists over the last 20 years has made life here impossible for them. They’ve either been killed or scared away. Too many boats and all the people moving around in the sea send them away in search of more peaceful surroundings. Furthermore, all the action on the beaches deprives the turtles of the necessary peaceful areas in the sand in which to lay their eggs. And then there are the effects of toxins in the water and the prevalent use of my favorite friend: plastic (not!)…
On a good note, I have been very impressed with how many, ‘What You Can Do to Preserve the Reef,’ posters I have seen around, listing simple ecofriendly tips for travelers, such as: Avoid the use of plastic products and bags (nearly 90% of marine debris is plastic, which does NOT biodegrade; it just breaks apart into tiny pieces which the fish don’t realize is poison as they nibble away on it); Don’t throw your butts on the ground! (the filters in cigarettes are made of plastic and other toxins so when they make their way into the sea, fish and turtles mistake them for food and then unable to digest it, they die; not to mention the other toxins dissipating into the sea poisoning even more marine life); Buy locally made goods to support the livelihood of the locals (ie, avoid shopping at the ever pervasive 7-11’s on every corner…yes, even here in Thailand…I just read there are 3800 here in this little country); Dispose of trash properly (every year 6 million TONS of trash is deposited in our oceans, and 80% originates as litter which ends up there simply from being propelled from land via wind and water runoff; consequently, 100,000 marine animals such as dolphins, whales, seals, and turtles choke or become entangled every year)… This is Bad News people!!! PLEASE do your part to prevent this, even from where you live, today.
There is a wonderful collaboration amongst the many dive shops on the island to spread environmental awareness to all of their customers. Donation boxes abound for tourists to give towards the local’s efforts to preserve the reef. They are raising money to build a BioRock, an electronic reef structure that uses low voltage current to cause minerals to dissolve out of seawater. (Optimal conditions are thrown out of balance by the pollution and sewage that is dumped into the sea from all over the world.) This creates more optimal growth conditions; coral, sponges, and clams have been shown to grow 3-5 times faster when in close proximity to the BioRock structure. Growth has also been shown to be enhanced in areas with decreased water quality. For more info on this fabulous project, go to: www.MarineConservationKohTao.com
I’d like to take this moment to say YOORAH!! for the many worldwide efforts to preserve this wondrous, breath-taking beautiful planet that serves as home to ALL of us. What small positive difference can you make today?…Thank you!!!
The influx of tourists over the last 20 years has made life here impossible for them. They’ve either been killed or scared away. Too many boats and all the people moving around in the sea send them away in search of more peaceful surroundings. Furthermore, all the action on the beaches deprives the turtles of the necessary peaceful areas in the sand in which to lay their eggs. And then there are the effects of toxins in the water and the prevalent use of my favorite friend: plastic (not!)…
On a good note, I have been very impressed with how many, ‘What You Can Do to Preserve the Reef,’ posters I have seen around, listing simple ecofriendly tips for travelers, such as: Avoid the use of plastic products and bags (nearly 90% of marine debris is plastic, which does NOT biodegrade; it just breaks apart into tiny pieces which the fish don’t realize is poison as they nibble away on it); Don’t throw your butts on the ground! (the filters in cigarettes are made of plastic and other toxins so when they make their way into the sea, fish and turtles mistake them for food and then unable to digest it, they die; not to mention the other toxins dissipating into the sea poisoning even more marine life); Buy locally made goods to support the livelihood of the locals (ie, avoid shopping at the ever pervasive 7-11’s on every corner…yes, even here in Thailand…I just read there are 3800 here in this little country); Dispose of trash properly (every year 6 million TONS of trash is deposited in our oceans, and 80% originates as litter which ends up there simply from being propelled from land via wind and water runoff; consequently, 100,000 marine animals such as dolphins, whales, seals, and turtles choke or become entangled every year)… This is Bad News people!!! PLEASE do your part to prevent this, even from where you live, today.
There is a wonderful collaboration amongst the many dive shops on the island to spread environmental awareness to all of their customers. Donation boxes abound for tourists to give towards the local’s efforts to preserve the reef. They are raising money to build a BioRock, an electronic reef structure that uses low voltage current to cause minerals to dissolve out of seawater. (Optimal conditions are thrown out of balance by the pollution and sewage that is dumped into the sea from all over the world.) This creates more optimal growth conditions; coral, sponges, and clams have been shown to grow 3-5 times faster when in close proximity to the BioRock structure. Growth has also been shown to be enhanced in areas with decreased water quality. For more info on this fabulous project, go to: www.MarineConservationKohTao.com
I’d like to take this moment to say YOORAH!! for the many worldwide efforts to preserve this wondrous, breath-taking beautiful planet that serves as home to ALL of us. What small positive difference can you make today?…Thank you!!!
Monday, July 21, 2008
A Note From Paradise! (part 5 of 7): Swimming Amongst the Tropical Fish!
…Now onto describe the tropical fish! From the second I step foot into the ocean, I have swarms of fish circling around me. The ones at the beach are always the silver stripped mid-sized ones. Apparently, they are the smartest ones in the ‘school’… They have figured out that if, instead of darting away in fear from these big blobs of life clamoring around in their home, they actually befriend these clumsy, finless, buffoons, and swim close to them in the shallow water, they will be able to enjoy little nuggets of tasty delights thrown directly at them! One tip I learned the other day, from first hand experience nonetheless, was that I must be careful to not stand in the shallow water too long unless I have some of my own little nuggets to share with them, or else they start nibbling on me!
So I quickly swim past the smart kids and head out to see whom else I can meet. First of all, when I think of tropical fish, what comes to mind is all of those brilliantly colored little ones that I see swimming around in a fish tank in the lobby of some fancy restaurant. I had no idea that ‘tropical fish,’ in their vibrant reds, blues, and greens could be as big as salmon! I kid you not! Then, I even saw a school of these guys…about 20 of them swimming along next to me staring me down, asking each other if they should dart away or if it was cool to just stare at this strange beast for a while…Luck for me, they chose the later.
I have seen many ‘schools’ of fish in my days of snorkeling but today took my breath away. As I swam up to a school of my favorite dark-and-light-silver-stripped,-with-a-bit-of-yellow-on-the-top,-about-6-inches-long ones, I stopped just to watch them for a while. They seemed as interested in me as I was in them. One-by-one they would swim directly straight towards my mask and we would make eye contact for a moment, as if introducing ourselves, before he (or she? or are all fish ‘its?’) swam away to give the next guy a turn. Before I knew it, I wasn’t just looking at a school of fish, but I was entirely engulfed by them….I spun around and there were hundreds of them; to my left; to my right; underneath me…As they swam about, the sunlight shining down on them created the appearance of a field of sparkling diamonds. Wow. I was in such awe… I just stayed there for ages, floating, and floating, and floating...amongst a sea of tropical fish. Before my mind could decide that it had found its new home and that I was never going to leave the presence of this magical life in the sea, I swam on.
Ahead of me was another school of fish but these guys were tadpole size. Instead of the outer boundaries of their ‘school’ morphing into a range of circular shapes (such as resembling a whale, to fool any potential predators that that is exactly what they were, camouflaging the reality of their perfect little snack sized body), these little guys were packed together like a freight train moving along in front of me. I literally stopped, as if waiting at a railroad crossing, before swimming onward. I waited…and waited…and waited….I started to count the seconds!…25 seconds…35 seconds…45 seconds…I started to wonder if this freight train of tadpoles even had a caboose!! Amazingly, an end appeared and the lights turned from red to green, the barriers were lifted, and I swam on.
As I looked straight down, it seemed that the ‘floor’ was moving. But then I realized that once again, I was witnessing one of the largest schools of fish I had ever seen. They were sand colored so without a close focus, it literally looked like the ground was vibrating with movement. In actuality, it was hundreds of fish all swimming along together, forming a blanket covering the ocean floor.
Then there are the brilliant yellow butterfly fish that flit about all day long, except at about 5pm. Apparently ‘Couple’s Hour’ is around then…because every day that I snorkel at that time, I see pairs of these guys just floating lovingly next to each other…not trying to dart here or there, not nibbling on the coral…just admiring each other as they float motionless. When I first saw this, I felt like I was invading their privacy and wanted to say, “ Oh, pardon me.” But when they didn’t seem to mind, I decided to join in…so I just stop and float along with them for a while whenever I see this. But then one day, when my self-pity voice seemingly had a lot to say, as I floated along with my butterfly fish couple like a third wheel, it told me “Geez Jody, here you are on a romantic tropical island…by yourself, yet even the yellow colored fish in the sea can get a date. Where’s yours?!” Hmm, maybe if I ‘hang’ around long enough, these guys will split up and I could catch one on the rebound…
Anyway, then there are the little, fluorescent blue ones that are so bright I have to wonder where in their body they store their battery pack….and the little black ones that look like they crashed into a rock and now their face is shaped like a box... and the ones that float around looking like ghosts with their black outline and translucent bodies…and the brightly colored polka dotted ones…and ones that have so many colors going in so many directions they resemble a piece of modern art…and the little 3 inch long squid scrambling around with all their many legs…and the ones that dart about chasing each other like little kids playing tag on the playground…and the Crocodile-Needle fish that are as scary looking as their name suggests and can often be up to two or three feet long (yet I have been assured both times that I’ve asked that they are harmless… but then I read in a fish book that they have caused fatalities to fisherman that scare them at night with their bright lights…hmm…)… and then there are the elegant white, yellow, and black ‘ladies’ that strut around with their long, elegant, white ‘scarf’ extending from the top of their head to beyond the end of their body, with it swaying here and there as they shimmer by…and then…and then…and then…
To be swimming along so peacefully as a visitor in this vibrant underworld takes my breath away everyday. So let me take a moment to put a plug in…for those of you whom have never gone snorkeling or scuba diving, I strong suggest you make a point of doing so sometime in your lifetime. It’s like visiting another planet, vibrantly alive with hundreds of different, colorful, and exciting life forms…that come in so many various shapes, and sizes…incomparable to any life form seen here above sea level….yet, its not another planet; it’s life right here on earth.
All of this wonder and amazement is visible to me within seconds of stepping off this beach that I have been blessed to be at for the last two weeks. At times, I dive down deep below the surface and pretend I am at home; that I am just one of the many creatures that live in the sea. It’s trippy to look up at the surface of the ocean and watch the ripples from the underside. Yesterday, the water was so crystal clear blue that at times, I literally forgot I was immersed in the sea… I seriously had the thought jump into my mind a few times when admiring a fish, ‘Wow, he is floating in thin air.’ Furthermore, it was a perfect day for snorkeling…The sun was beaming down through the surface of the water which made absolutely everything sparkle. I became witness to the most organic laser light show in the world, fueled by nothing more than the light of the sun and the vibrant colors of sea life.
So here I am, in this very moment, looking down upon the sea from the deck of my little bungalow, exposing to all of you the wonders of its treasures that lie beneath while swinging in this hammock…and I’m realizing, ‘What am I doing up here, in air? It’s time to go dive down, into the sea!’ So more stories to come tomorrow…Bye for now!
So I quickly swim past the smart kids and head out to see whom else I can meet. First of all, when I think of tropical fish, what comes to mind is all of those brilliantly colored little ones that I see swimming around in a fish tank in the lobby of some fancy restaurant. I had no idea that ‘tropical fish,’ in their vibrant reds, blues, and greens could be as big as salmon! I kid you not! Then, I even saw a school of these guys…about 20 of them swimming along next to me staring me down, asking each other if they should dart away or if it was cool to just stare at this strange beast for a while…Luck for me, they chose the later.
I have seen many ‘schools’ of fish in my days of snorkeling but today took my breath away. As I swam up to a school of my favorite dark-and-light-silver-stripped,-with-a-bit-of-yellow-on-the-top,-about-6-inches-long ones, I stopped just to watch them for a while. They seemed as interested in me as I was in them. One-by-one they would swim directly straight towards my mask and we would make eye contact for a moment, as if introducing ourselves, before he (or she? or are all fish ‘its?’) swam away to give the next guy a turn. Before I knew it, I wasn’t just looking at a school of fish, but I was entirely engulfed by them….I spun around and there were hundreds of them; to my left; to my right; underneath me…As they swam about, the sunlight shining down on them created the appearance of a field of sparkling diamonds. Wow. I was in such awe… I just stayed there for ages, floating, and floating, and floating...amongst a sea of tropical fish. Before my mind could decide that it had found its new home and that I was never going to leave the presence of this magical life in the sea, I swam on.
Ahead of me was another school of fish but these guys were tadpole size. Instead of the outer boundaries of their ‘school’ morphing into a range of circular shapes (such as resembling a whale, to fool any potential predators that that is exactly what they were, camouflaging the reality of their perfect little snack sized body), these little guys were packed together like a freight train moving along in front of me. I literally stopped, as if waiting at a railroad crossing, before swimming onward. I waited…and waited…and waited….I started to count the seconds!…25 seconds…35 seconds…45 seconds…I started to wonder if this freight train of tadpoles even had a caboose!! Amazingly, an end appeared and the lights turned from red to green, the barriers were lifted, and I swam on.
As I looked straight down, it seemed that the ‘floor’ was moving. But then I realized that once again, I was witnessing one of the largest schools of fish I had ever seen. They were sand colored so without a close focus, it literally looked like the ground was vibrating with movement. In actuality, it was hundreds of fish all swimming along together, forming a blanket covering the ocean floor.
Then there are the brilliant yellow butterfly fish that flit about all day long, except at about 5pm. Apparently ‘Couple’s Hour’ is around then…because every day that I snorkel at that time, I see pairs of these guys just floating lovingly next to each other…not trying to dart here or there, not nibbling on the coral…just admiring each other as they float motionless. When I first saw this, I felt like I was invading their privacy and wanted to say, “ Oh, pardon me.” But when they didn’t seem to mind, I decided to join in…so I just stop and float along with them for a while whenever I see this. But then one day, when my self-pity voice seemingly had a lot to say, as I floated along with my butterfly fish couple like a third wheel, it told me “Geez Jody, here you are on a romantic tropical island…by yourself, yet even the yellow colored fish in the sea can get a date. Where’s yours?!” Hmm, maybe if I ‘hang’ around long enough, these guys will split up and I could catch one on the rebound…
Anyway, then there are the little, fluorescent blue ones that are so bright I have to wonder where in their body they store their battery pack….and the little black ones that look like they crashed into a rock and now their face is shaped like a box... and the ones that float around looking like ghosts with their black outline and translucent bodies…and the brightly colored polka dotted ones…and ones that have so many colors going in so many directions they resemble a piece of modern art…and the little 3 inch long squid scrambling around with all their many legs…and the ones that dart about chasing each other like little kids playing tag on the playground…and the Crocodile-Needle fish that are as scary looking as their name suggests and can often be up to two or three feet long (yet I have been assured both times that I’ve asked that they are harmless… but then I read in a fish book that they have caused fatalities to fisherman that scare them at night with their bright lights…hmm…)… and then there are the elegant white, yellow, and black ‘ladies’ that strut around with their long, elegant, white ‘scarf’ extending from the top of their head to beyond the end of their body, with it swaying here and there as they shimmer by…and then…and then…and then…
To be swimming along so peacefully as a visitor in this vibrant underworld takes my breath away everyday. So let me take a moment to put a plug in…for those of you whom have never gone snorkeling or scuba diving, I strong suggest you make a point of doing so sometime in your lifetime. It’s like visiting another planet, vibrantly alive with hundreds of different, colorful, and exciting life forms…that come in so many various shapes, and sizes…incomparable to any life form seen here above sea level….yet, its not another planet; it’s life right here on earth.
All of this wonder and amazement is visible to me within seconds of stepping off this beach that I have been blessed to be at for the last two weeks. At times, I dive down deep below the surface and pretend I am at home; that I am just one of the many creatures that live in the sea. It’s trippy to look up at the surface of the ocean and watch the ripples from the underside. Yesterday, the water was so crystal clear blue that at times, I literally forgot I was immersed in the sea… I seriously had the thought jump into my mind a few times when admiring a fish, ‘Wow, he is floating in thin air.’ Furthermore, it was a perfect day for snorkeling…The sun was beaming down through the surface of the water which made absolutely everything sparkle. I became witness to the most organic laser light show in the world, fueled by nothing more than the light of the sun and the vibrant colors of sea life.
So here I am, in this very moment, looking down upon the sea from the deck of my little bungalow, exposing to all of you the wonders of its treasures that lie beneath while swinging in this hammock…and I’m realizing, ‘What am I doing up here, in air? It’s time to go dive down, into the sea!’ So more stories to come tomorrow…Bye for now!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
A Note From Paradise! (part 4 of 7): The Exquisite Coral!
…So after ‘breakfast,’ it’s often about noon, which is the heat of the day. Going to the beach would be a very hot and potentially burning option…so I usually opt to head back to swing in the shade of my hammock and read. I’m reading my fabulous Aunt Mary’s book, The Gift of Our Compulsions. She teaches the most brilliant approach to living peacefully within our bodies and minds that I have ever come across… (but I’m trying to stay on task, so more about that later).
As I sway in my hammock, I periodically close my eyes and visualize letting go of the stress I have been carrying around in my body for who knows how many years….the tightness in my neck and shoulders, the knot in my shoulder blades that burns now and then, the ache in my low back, the tension in my belly… Now some of you may be thinking, ‘Geez Jody, its not like you’ve been a soldier at war.’ Yes, you are correct. I have not been living my life on a battlefield. But I’m not interested in living my life comparing myself to others. Each person’s experience of life is made up of an exquisitely unique string of events that shape one’s perspective of absolutely everything one encounters. Also, one’s insides rarely match that which shows on the outside, so we rarely know the truth of another’s experience in reality anyway. And lastly, one’s experience of ‘easy’ might be another’s experience of ‘hard,’ and vice versa…. So what good is comparing anything to anyone, anyway? (Hmm, did that sound defensive? Perhaps it was a bit of my own self-doubt coming out…or that voice so common in our society that says, ‘You don’t deserve that, given the many people less fortunate then you in the world.’…Yah, that makes sense. So lets just all make sure we don’t enjoy life too much.)
Interesting…the word ‘digression’ just came to mind. That’s seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? I wonder where that came from? Hmm… Anyway, as I was saying. I spend the early afternoon swaying in my hammock, reading, watching, napping… By about 2 pm, my body is ready to move. I stroll down the stairs until my feet land in the sand, spit into my snorkel mask and rinse it in the sea, (a fabulous tip from my brilliant Grandfather Irving to keep my mask from fogging up, taught to me during our many precious years vacationing together in Hawaii throughout my childhood), and then jump in and off I go, to explore the beauty of life in the sea!
The coral is stunning! So many different shapes and sizes… The huge round balls covered entirely with little squiggly, colorful lines creating the appearance of a gigantic brain; the bright green, circular ‘platters,’ stretching 6 feet in diameter with every inch of their surface covered by ‘fingers’ that stick straight up; the purple ‘cauliflower’ heads that range from tiny to gargantuan; the various shapes that look like a furry terry cloth bathrobe that has been thrown into a pile on the floor; the piles of ‘deer antlers’ with their sharp projections pointing in every which way; the humble ‘plants’ with broad, flat ‘leaves’ that curve around a single united core; the ‘flower bouquets’ with their intricately designed ‘flowers.’… And the vista of it all together!
When I first leave the beach, I see a flat expanse of various shapes and colors. But then as I continue to swim out, I come to a point where I suddenly feel like I’ve just peeked over the edge of a ten-story building and down below is an entire city of life! Big, multicolored boulders standing tall like proud castles; stunning coral that fans out from a vertical edge like a perplexing piece of modern art; barren parts of white sand acting like the city’s central park; bright green ‘branches’ that are stacked on top of each other and branch out, resembling a magnificent bonsai tree; the green splatter that looks like it was created by being shot out of a paint gun… The amazing thing about coral is that to the untrained eye, it just looks like colored rocks. Not true!! Coral is ALIVE! When you look closely at one of these magnificent pieces of life, you realize that its actually covered in thousands of tiny spores, pulsating with life. (It is not to be touched however, because the transfer of bacteria from human touch can actually kill it.)…But that’s just the coral!
Other various life forms abound!…Vibrantly colored ‘clams’ somehow buried deep into the coral so that the only part that comes into view is their fluorescent colored ‘lips’ opening and closing upon the surface of the coral; the one to two foot long, jumbo sized ‘hot dogs’ in their various colors and textures that basically look exactly like huge terds, but are fondly known as sea cucumbers; edges of ‘buildings’ decorated with these tiny bright red, bright blue, and bright green fuzzy balls, seemingly with 2 little black ‘eyes’ (reminiscent of those fuzzy ended pencils with eye balls amongst their frizz) that suddenly somehow retract and disappear into the rock when I come close; the ‘floating spider webs’ that just hang around as if Spiderman had just cast his net out creating them (I’m told its plankton); individual pieces of deep purple colored ‘spaghetti,’ all sticking straight up from the base of a rock floating back and forth in unison like Bob Marley’s dreadlocks, swaying to the beat of their favorite song, “What a Glorious Day in the Sea;” …but that’s not even the half of it! Let me tell you about all the tropical fish!
…But as you all well know by now, I am very empathetic to those of you with short attention spans and I think this entry is getting a bit long. So I will delight you with the rest of this amazing experience, in my next entry…Until then!
As I sway in my hammock, I periodically close my eyes and visualize letting go of the stress I have been carrying around in my body for who knows how many years….the tightness in my neck and shoulders, the knot in my shoulder blades that burns now and then, the ache in my low back, the tension in my belly… Now some of you may be thinking, ‘Geez Jody, its not like you’ve been a soldier at war.’ Yes, you are correct. I have not been living my life on a battlefield. But I’m not interested in living my life comparing myself to others. Each person’s experience of life is made up of an exquisitely unique string of events that shape one’s perspective of absolutely everything one encounters. Also, one’s insides rarely match that which shows on the outside, so we rarely know the truth of another’s experience in reality anyway. And lastly, one’s experience of ‘easy’ might be another’s experience of ‘hard,’ and vice versa…. So what good is comparing anything to anyone, anyway? (Hmm, did that sound defensive? Perhaps it was a bit of my own self-doubt coming out…or that voice so common in our society that says, ‘You don’t deserve that, given the many people less fortunate then you in the world.’…Yah, that makes sense. So lets just all make sure we don’t enjoy life too much.)
Interesting…the word ‘digression’ just came to mind. That’s seems a bit strange, doesn’t it? I wonder where that came from? Hmm… Anyway, as I was saying. I spend the early afternoon swaying in my hammock, reading, watching, napping… By about 2 pm, my body is ready to move. I stroll down the stairs until my feet land in the sand, spit into my snorkel mask and rinse it in the sea, (a fabulous tip from my brilliant Grandfather Irving to keep my mask from fogging up, taught to me during our many precious years vacationing together in Hawaii throughout my childhood), and then jump in and off I go, to explore the beauty of life in the sea!
The coral is stunning! So many different shapes and sizes… The huge round balls covered entirely with little squiggly, colorful lines creating the appearance of a gigantic brain; the bright green, circular ‘platters,’ stretching 6 feet in diameter with every inch of their surface covered by ‘fingers’ that stick straight up; the purple ‘cauliflower’ heads that range from tiny to gargantuan; the various shapes that look like a furry terry cloth bathrobe that has been thrown into a pile on the floor; the piles of ‘deer antlers’ with their sharp projections pointing in every which way; the humble ‘plants’ with broad, flat ‘leaves’ that curve around a single united core; the ‘flower bouquets’ with their intricately designed ‘flowers.’… And the vista of it all together!
When I first leave the beach, I see a flat expanse of various shapes and colors. But then as I continue to swim out, I come to a point where I suddenly feel like I’ve just peeked over the edge of a ten-story building and down below is an entire city of life! Big, multicolored boulders standing tall like proud castles; stunning coral that fans out from a vertical edge like a perplexing piece of modern art; barren parts of white sand acting like the city’s central park; bright green ‘branches’ that are stacked on top of each other and branch out, resembling a magnificent bonsai tree; the green splatter that looks like it was created by being shot out of a paint gun… The amazing thing about coral is that to the untrained eye, it just looks like colored rocks. Not true!! Coral is ALIVE! When you look closely at one of these magnificent pieces of life, you realize that its actually covered in thousands of tiny spores, pulsating with life. (It is not to be touched however, because the transfer of bacteria from human touch can actually kill it.)…But that’s just the coral!
Other various life forms abound!…Vibrantly colored ‘clams’ somehow buried deep into the coral so that the only part that comes into view is their fluorescent colored ‘lips’ opening and closing upon the surface of the coral; the one to two foot long, jumbo sized ‘hot dogs’ in their various colors and textures that basically look exactly like huge terds, but are fondly known as sea cucumbers; edges of ‘buildings’ decorated with these tiny bright red, bright blue, and bright green fuzzy balls, seemingly with 2 little black ‘eyes’ (reminiscent of those fuzzy ended pencils with eye balls amongst their frizz) that suddenly somehow retract and disappear into the rock when I come close; the ‘floating spider webs’ that just hang around as if Spiderman had just cast his net out creating them (I’m told its plankton); individual pieces of deep purple colored ‘spaghetti,’ all sticking straight up from the base of a rock floating back and forth in unison like Bob Marley’s dreadlocks, swaying to the beat of their favorite song, “What a Glorious Day in the Sea;” …but that’s not even the half of it! Let me tell you about all the tropical fish!
…But as you all well know by now, I am very empathetic to those of you with short attention spans and I think this entry is getting a bit long. So I will delight you with the rest of this amazing experience, in my next entry…Until then!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
A Note From Paradise! (part 3 of 7): A Day in the Life
…So, what do I do each day, here in paradise? Well, let me tell you…
I open my eyes in the morning whenever my body deems it to be the appropriate time…on some mornings its at 10 am, after 12 hours of sleep, and on some days its at 6 am, which is the perfect time to see the sunrise. I roll out of bed, open the door and then flop into the hammock on my deck and watch the goings on out in the sea. The sun has been sparkling on the water every morning for the last two weeks, except for my first two days here when it was lightly cloudy with warm rain. I watch the waves crash against the rocks, the birds soar through the bay, the trees dance in the wind. I then close my eyes and meditate for an hour… “Jody, you do what? Meditate?” Let me digress….
Meditation has slowly become more popular in the past few decades. It certainly isn’t anything new given the fact that it has been a part of numerous world religions since the dawn of time. I wanted to digress and explain myself because this word ‘meditation’ likely means something different to each one of you reading this, similar to that of the word ‘God’ and its many interpretations. So what does ‘meditation’ mean to me? It simply means being still for an hour with my eyes closed. I watch sensations that arise in my body without reacting to them, (such as a fly landing on my nose, or a strand of hair tickling my neck… which is a practice for reducing reactions to the bigger things in life) and I focus my attention on my breath. With as busy as our minds and bodies are from day to day….talking to him, listening to her, running here, driving there, planning this, organizing that, starting the project, finishing the project, emailing this, faxing that, text-messaging dad, skype-ing mom, making a mess, cleaning the house, changing this, fixing that, cooking food, eating meals, buying garbage, throwing away garbage, working, working, and working some more…I’ve realized that my mind and body are hungry to BE STILL!…which is the whole purpose of my time off here!
Well let me tell you, lassoing the focus of my mind to simply focus on my breath for an hour is no easy task….If I get a few solid minutes without thoughts floating in, its been a good session. Thus the majority of my time is actually spent watching how busy my mind likes to be, and then countless times throughout the hour, kindly refocusing my attention on my breath. ‘Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in…’ Try it for yourself right now and see how long you can keep your focus solely on your breath…and then try again… By the end of the hour, my body has let go of various pockets of tightness and a calm sense of ease washes over me. It’s a great way to start the day.
Anyway, thanks for reading my digression. Back to my day in paradise… After meditating, I head down the curvy path, passing the fragrant plumeria tree, the vibrant red hibiscus plant, and countless other flowering bundles of joy to the beachside restaurant for ‘breakfast.’ Why the ‘parentheses’, you might ask? Well, let me tell you a bit about my experience of the food in Thailand…
In Thailand, lunch usually consists of rice, vegetables, and then chicken, pork, fish, or perhaps some squid. Dinner usually consists of rice, vegetables, and then chicken, pork, fish, or perhaps some squid. Or you could also have some chicken with your rice, and some vegetables on the side. I prefer to have vegetables with my chicken, and some rice on the side. I almost forgot another option, which is chicken-vegetable SOUP, which is usually served with rice. Then of course, there is also the pork with vegetables and NOODLES option as well. As for ‘breakfast,’ rice with vegetables along with some fish ball soup seems to be the most popular option…. at least at the cafeteria at my work, anyway.…So thus my reasoning for writing, ‘breakfast.’
All of you Thai food lovers out there, I can hear your cries of protest!! “How dare you simplify and minimize how glorious the Thai cuisine is?!” Ok, Ok. I must say, I absolutely love the use of all the fresh herbs…basil, ginger, lemon grass….and the freshness of everything, having likely been picked locally that very same day. But in my defense, I just want to remind you that everything I write about my experience here in Thailand is simply that….one single woman’s experience.
Speaking of being single….Well actually, let me save that for my next entry. Back to my day in paradise. (See why meditation is a good idea for me?! It’s hard for me to even keep my focus on something as glorious as describing what I do each day in paradise!) Actually, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I’ve just changed my mind again… I think this entry is long enough and that perhaps its time to take a dip in the ocean. (I can’t help it! I was born changing my mind. I’m quite sure that in the first few minutes of my life, I was thinking to myself, “I’m hungry. No, I think I need a nap. I’m confused. I think I’ll cry. Actually no, I’d just like some milk…) Needless to say, I’ll save the next part for tomorrow! I’m off to the beach!
I open my eyes in the morning whenever my body deems it to be the appropriate time…on some mornings its at 10 am, after 12 hours of sleep, and on some days its at 6 am, which is the perfect time to see the sunrise. I roll out of bed, open the door and then flop into the hammock on my deck and watch the goings on out in the sea. The sun has been sparkling on the water every morning for the last two weeks, except for my first two days here when it was lightly cloudy with warm rain. I watch the waves crash against the rocks, the birds soar through the bay, the trees dance in the wind. I then close my eyes and meditate for an hour… “Jody, you do what? Meditate?” Let me digress….
Meditation has slowly become more popular in the past few decades. It certainly isn’t anything new given the fact that it has been a part of numerous world religions since the dawn of time. I wanted to digress and explain myself because this word ‘meditation’ likely means something different to each one of you reading this, similar to that of the word ‘God’ and its many interpretations. So what does ‘meditation’ mean to me? It simply means being still for an hour with my eyes closed. I watch sensations that arise in my body without reacting to them, (such as a fly landing on my nose, or a strand of hair tickling my neck… which is a practice for reducing reactions to the bigger things in life) and I focus my attention on my breath. With as busy as our minds and bodies are from day to day….talking to him, listening to her, running here, driving there, planning this, organizing that, starting the project, finishing the project, emailing this, faxing that, text-messaging dad, skype-ing mom, making a mess, cleaning the house, changing this, fixing that, cooking food, eating meals, buying garbage, throwing away garbage, working, working, and working some more…I’ve realized that my mind and body are hungry to BE STILL!…which is the whole purpose of my time off here!
Well let me tell you, lassoing the focus of my mind to simply focus on my breath for an hour is no easy task….If I get a few solid minutes without thoughts floating in, its been a good session. Thus the majority of my time is actually spent watching how busy my mind likes to be, and then countless times throughout the hour, kindly refocusing my attention on my breath. ‘Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in…’ Try it for yourself right now and see how long you can keep your focus solely on your breath…and then try again… By the end of the hour, my body has let go of various pockets of tightness and a calm sense of ease washes over me. It’s a great way to start the day.
Anyway, thanks for reading my digression. Back to my day in paradise… After meditating, I head down the curvy path, passing the fragrant plumeria tree, the vibrant red hibiscus plant, and countless other flowering bundles of joy to the beachside restaurant for ‘breakfast.’ Why the ‘parentheses’, you might ask? Well, let me tell you a bit about my experience of the food in Thailand…
In Thailand, lunch usually consists of rice, vegetables, and then chicken, pork, fish, or perhaps some squid. Dinner usually consists of rice, vegetables, and then chicken, pork, fish, or perhaps some squid. Or you could also have some chicken with your rice, and some vegetables on the side. I prefer to have vegetables with my chicken, and some rice on the side. I almost forgot another option, which is chicken-vegetable SOUP, which is usually served with rice. Then of course, there is also the pork with vegetables and NOODLES option as well. As for ‘breakfast,’ rice with vegetables along with some fish ball soup seems to be the most popular option…. at least at the cafeteria at my work, anyway.…So thus my reasoning for writing, ‘breakfast.’
All of you Thai food lovers out there, I can hear your cries of protest!! “How dare you simplify and minimize how glorious the Thai cuisine is?!” Ok, Ok. I must say, I absolutely love the use of all the fresh herbs…basil, ginger, lemon grass….and the freshness of everything, having likely been picked locally that very same day. But in my defense, I just want to remind you that everything I write about my experience here in Thailand is simply that….one single woman’s experience.
Speaking of being single….Well actually, let me save that for my next entry. Back to my day in paradise. (See why meditation is a good idea for me?! It’s hard for me to even keep my focus on something as glorious as describing what I do each day in paradise!) Actually, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I’ve just changed my mind again… I think this entry is long enough and that perhaps its time to take a dip in the ocean. (I can’t help it! I was born changing my mind. I’m quite sure that in the first few minutes of my life, I was thinking to myself, “I’m hungry. No, I think I need a nap. I’m confused. I think I’ll cry. Actually no, I’d just like some milk…) Needless to say, I’ll save the next part for tomorrow! I’m off to the beach!
Friday, July 18, 2008
A Note From Paradise! (part 2 of 7): Lovely Tanote Bay on Koh Tao
…The island’s population, as you would suspect from a beautiful tropical island with crystal clear water, is concentrated around the beaches. The center of the island is lush, rocky, and hilly. Infrastructure is still pretty basic but 75% of the island now has 24-hour electricity. Many of the beaches are only accessible by 4 wheel drives along one of the few overland roads, and if by chance you are venturing onto one of these ‘roads,’ you better hang on….The roads are unpaved, have huge ruts, and are probably about as steep as the hills of San Francisco… and unless you get lucky enough to sit inside the cab of the pick-up-truck taxi, you’re sitting in the back, with just your neighbor to hold on to.
Before arriving, I researched different islands, different cities, different beaches…With my love for the water, being on the beach was a must. I wanted a place rather remote but not totally isolated. I wanted a little bit of variety in the daily goings-on, but not much necessary. I wanted a place where my money could be comfortably stretched out for a month. I wanted to stay far away from the party-going, music-blaring, back-packer scene (very common throughout Asia and if I ended up near a place like this, I would need a vacation after my vacation to catch up on lost sleep). I wanted a quiet beach, but with enough people around to have someone to talk to. With how amazing the snorkeling is purported to be here in Thailand, I definitely wanted to experience swimming with the colorful coral and the endless schools of tropical fish....Koh Tao fit all of the above criteria…perfectly.
Of the ten or so different beaches around the island…some with only one isolated accommodation on the beach versus others packed with numerous back-packer targeted audiences…I found just the right one, Ao Tanote, or as we would say in English, Tanote Bay.
I arrived here at Ao Tanote on July 6th. Today is July 18th. At this moment, I am on my little deck of my little bungalow, swinging in my little hammock, looking out at the beautiful sights of this bay...I see the sparkling blue ocean, the shiny white sand beach, the swaying palm trees, a few dive boats anchored in the bay…. The ocean breeze is tickling my face and is a welcomed gift to balance out the heat of the glorious sunshine. My bungalow sits up nestled into the hillside, about a one minute walk down an artistically curved path to the beach. I’d say it takes me about 10 minutes, if that, to walk from one end of the beach to the other. (Albeit, ‘beach walking’ speed.) Proud boulders sit like bookends at each end, extending out from the beach along the seashore until they disappear around the curve of the island.
There are 5 different accommodation options on this beach, all sporting relatively similar little bungalow style accommodation, two dive schools, and a little massage shack on the beach (as I mentioned in my previous entry, an hour long massage from the cute local boy will cost you a whooping $9…I’ve had one almost everyday)….and that’s it. No town. No shops. No dance clubs. Each place has its own quaint little beachside restaurant, which allows for a nice variety when going out for dinner each night…which if I splurge and buy the ‘expensive items,’ will cost me about $10.
So what do I do each day you might ask? Well, let me tell you! …in my next entry…
Before arriving, I researched different islands, different cities, different beaches…With my love for the water, being on the beach was a must. I wanted a place rather remote but not totally isolated. I wanted a little bit of variety in the daily goings-on, but not much necessary. I wanted a place where my money could be comfortably stretched out for a month. I wanted to stay far away from the party-going, music-blaring, back-packer scene (very common throughout Asia and if I ended up near a place like this, I would need a vacation after my vacation to catch up on lost sleep). I wanted a quiet beach, but with enough people around to have someone to talk to. With how amazing the snorkeling is purported to be here in Thailand, I definitely wanted to experience swimming with the colorful coral and the endless schools of tropical fish....Koh Tao fit all of the above criteria…perfectly.
Of the ten or so different beaches around the island…some with only one isolated accommodation on the beach versus others packed with numerous back-packer targeted audiences…I found just the right one, Ao Tanote, or as we would say in English, Tanote Bay.
I arrived here at Ao Tanote on July 6th. Today is July 18th. At this moment, I am on my little deck of my little bungalow, swinging in my little hammock, looking out at the beautiful sights of this bay...I see the sparkling blue ocean, the shiny white sand beach, the swaying palm trees, a few dive boats anchored in the bay…. The ocean breeze is tickling my face and is a welcomed gift to balance out the heat of the glorious sunshine. My bungalow sits up nestled into the hillside, about a one minute walk down an artistically curved path to the beach. I’d say it takes me about 10 minutes, if that, to walk from one end of the beach to the other. (Albeit, ‘beach walking’ speed.) Proud boulders sit like bookends at each end, extending out from the beach along the seashore until they disappear around the curve of the island.
There are 5 different accommodation options on this beach, all sporting relatively similar little bungalow style accommodation, two dive schools, and a little massage shack on the beach (as I mentioned in my previous entry, an hour long massage from the cute local boy will cost you a whooping $9…I’ve had one almost everyday)….and that’s it. No town. No shops. No dance clubs. Each place has its own quaint little beachside restaurant, which allows for a nice variety when going out for dinner each night…which if I splurge and buy the ‘expensive items,’ will cost me about $10.
So what do I do each day you might ask? Well, let me tell you! …in my next entry…
A Note From Paradise! (part 1 of 7): Discovering the Tropical Island of Koh Tao
July 18, 2008
Blue skies for as far as the eye can see...The glistening ocean dancing in the wind...Patches of clear blue water acting as little windows into the glorious colors of the underworld...Brightly colored fishing boats decorating the sea...Monumental boulders rising up from the sea extending up the steep hillsides, decorated by lush greenery of the local flora...Swaying palm trees dancing throughout the hillsides...The glorious fragrance of the plumeria trees...The vibrant red of the hibiscus flowers...The luscious taste of the freshly fallen papayas….This is what is in my field of vision at this very moment.
Lovely little Koh Tao, also known as ‘Turtle Island,’ is a tropical island off the east coast of Thailand. It's claim to fame is scuba diving similar to that found at the Great Barrier Reef. For my month off, I was looking for the idyllic place to slow down, let go, and completely unwind from too many years of pushing myself through exhaustion….and, I can confidently say, I found it. I have been staying in a little hillside bungalow at a beach called Tanote Bay…which, get this, I’m paying a whooping $11 a night for! Unbelievable! It’s a pay-each-day system here so every morning when I walk down the windy cement path, decorated with flowers singing in their bright colors about how beautiful they are, I always shake my head in joyful disbelief.
Tiny Koh Tao measures just 21 square kilometers and has a fulltime population of only 5500. It’s basically just this little tropical island, way out on its own, in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Given its physical isolation, its history lays claim to a chequered past and has been a favorite hideout for pirates, a lay-over point for weary fisherman, and even a detention center for political prisoners. The descendants of the original inmates still make up a large part of the local community…. but the vibe on the island is so laid back that apparently the locals have let go of their inherited criminal ways and, from my perspective, have become smart business people instead. I think they’ve realized the answer to the question, ‘Why be a criminal when one could be even wealthier from running a legal business instead?’
Any sort of business that caters to the flocks of white people who arrive from all over the world with fat wallets and a, Why-not-buy-it?-I’m-on-vacation! mentality, is likely to thrive here…a fruit stand selling the fruit that grows in your back yard, a souvenir shop, a street side restaurant, shacks on the beach, a taxi service with your own car...or boat for that matter, local snacks that you sell from your basket as you walk along the streets, knock-off sunglasses and random nick-knacks that you sell from atop your blanket under a tree, a massage stand from your collapsible table you’ve set up in the shade…With just the slightest bit of entrepreneurial spirit, from what it seems to me, most locals could create their own revenue stream. (Albeit, I have not tried to start a business here myself so this is just one outsider’s perspective.)
When you are operating from a small island with few competitors, you can pretty much charge any price you want. Furthermore, when your clients come from countries where salaries are at the minimum 10-20 times as great as the typical salaries here in Thailand, you could charge prices that would be considered obscene to any of the locals…(and would actually still be pricing things way under what us tourists would deem expensive….which I’d say only about half have figured out.) Speaking of, I’m going to take a break and go get my daily, hour-long massage on the beach….for $9. So, more to come tomorrow!
Blue skies for as far as the eye can see...The glistening ocean dancing in the wind...Patches of clear blue water acting as little windows into the glorious colors of the underworld...Brightly colored fishing boats decorating the sea...Monumental boulders rising up from the sea extending up the steep hillsides, decorated by lush greenery of the local flora...Swaying palm trees dancing throughout the hillsides...The glorious fragrance of the plumeria trees...The vibrant red of the hibiscus flowers...The luscious taste of the freshly fallen papayas….This is what is in my field of vision at this very moment.
Lovely little Koh Tao, also known as ‘Turtle Island,’ is a tropical island off the east coast of Thailand. It's claim to fame is scuba diving similar to that found at the Great Barrier Reef. For my month off, I was looking for the idyllic place to slow down, let go, and completely unwind from too many years of pushing myself through exhaustion….and, I can confidently say, I found it. I have been staying in a little hillside bungalow at a beach called Tanote Bay…which, get this, I’m paying a whooping $11 a night for! Unbelievable! It’s a pay-each-day system here so every morning when I walk down the windy cement path, decorated with flowers singing in their bright colors about how beautiful they are, I always shake my head in joyful disbelief.
Tiny Koh Tao measures just 21 square kilometers and has a fulltime population of only 5500. It’s basically just this little tropical island, way out on its own, in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. Given its physical isolation, its history lays claim to a chequered past and has been a favorite hideout for pirates, a lay-over point for weary fisherman, and even a detention center for political prisoners. The descendants of the original inmates still make up a large part of the local community…. but the vibe on the island is so laid back that apparently the locals have let go of their inherited criminal ways and, from my perspective, have become smart business people instead. I think they’ve realized the answer to the question, ‘Why be a criminal when one could be even wealthier from running a legal business instead?’
Any sort of business that caters to the flocks of white people who arrive from all over the world with fat wallets and a, Why-not-buy-it?-I’m-on-vacation! mentality, is likely to thrive here…a fruit stand selling the fruit that grows in your back yard, a souvenir shop, a street side restaurant, shacks on the beach, a taxi service with your own car...or boat for that matter, local snacks that you sell from your basket as you walk along the streets, knock-off sunglasses and random nick-knacks that you sell from atop your blanket under a tree, a massage stand from your collapsible table you’ve set up in the shade…With just the slightest bit of entrepreneurial spirit, from what it seems to me, most locals could create their own revenue stream. (Albeit, I have not tried to start a business here myself so this is just one outsider’s perspective.)
When you are operating from a small island with few competitors, you can pretty much charge any price you want. Furthermore, when your clients come from countries where salaries are at the minimum 10-20 times as great as the typical salaries here in Thailand, you could charge prices that would be considered obscene to any of the locals…(and would actually still be pricing things way under what us tourists would deem expensive….which I’d say only about half have figured out.) Speaking of, I’m going to take a break and go get my daily, hour-long massage on the beach….for $9. So, more to come tomorrow!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Sitting At Starbucks...
July 2, 2008
Exactly 6 months ago tomorrow, being July 3rd 2008, I boarded a plane in Seattle, which carried me half way across the globe to my new home country of Thailand. For those of you closely following my adventures, you know that its been quite an exotic, educational, exciting, exhilarating, eye opening (wow, that’s a lot of adjectives that start with ‘e’…wasn’t even trying), challenging, growing, and quite the once-in-a-lifetime experience. I almost threw in the towel, as they say, a few weeks ago but here I am, still here. Not feeling well really shook me up and made me feel that I needed to head home. As with everything in life, I made it through that time, and now I’m out the other end and proud to say, I’m still here.
Albeit, I’ve asked for a few weeks off….27 days to be exact. I am using a 50/50 combination of vacation time and unpaid leave. My boss is extremely appreciative of the work I do and gladly granted me the time off. (I feel very blessed!) It’s the low season here so it’s the ideal time to take time off. As of the day after tomorrow, I’m jumping on a 6 hour train and heading down to one of the picturesque southern islands. (Think: San Juan Islands yet in the tropics…swaying palm trees, clear blue water, pearly white sand beaches, amazing snorkeling, and cozy beach side bungalows for dollars a day…ahhh.)
But, I’m not on the train yet. My time off was officially supposed to start as of yesterday but my co-worker Monica had a horrible bout of food poisoning last week. (Not even from the local food though! She accidentally drank some of her own out-dated soy milk…yikes! She ended up spending a night in our local hospital to rehydrate herself with fluids via an IV.) Needless to say, doing our job of being ‘wellness’ experts is a bit challenging when you’re not feeling so well yourself! Thank goodness, she is almost back to feeling 100% but I took her clients for her yesterday and then went in this morning to save her from an energy sucking client she was scheduled to see at 10am. (A mother who is here with her 26 year old daughter. I met them on their first day and listened to the mother tell me how unwell her daughter is, as her daughter sat there not even able to get in a word for herself. As the mom continued to speak for her daughter for about an hour, the mother then tells me, “She needs to be more independent!”…gee, maybe allowing her to speak for herself would be a good start, I thought to myself. There was no point in actually verbalizing this thought because anything I did try to say seemed to just bounce around on the walls like a little rubber bouncy ball that eventually just ended up ignored in some corner somewhere, forever to be forgotten.) Anyway, needless to say, I knew that if Monica had to see her, she might wish she was back in bed sick with food poisoning again….so I came into to save her. Murphy’s law…I set my alarm, put my uniform on, went into work…and the crazy lady had cancelled the appointment.
That was this morning. Then I went to the gym. Took a nap. And now…I’m sitting at Starbucks. When I first arrived here in my town of Hua Hin and discovered that there were two Starbucks here, I thought to myself, ‘Well, if I ever get homesick, I could come hang out at Starbucks, drink coffee, and work on my computer.’ And here it is, exactly 6 months into my life here, and the time has arrived. I’m drinking an Americano (the most apropos of choices of course), in the same white-mug-with-Starbucks-logo mug I would using be if at home, sitting at Starbucks, working on my computer. And this is hilarious…its raining. I kid you not. I’m sitting at Starbucks in Thailand, drinking coffee, and its raining.
The rainy season has arrived and will be around for the next few months, which means it rains for at least an hour or so almost everyday (and sometimes accompanied by the most earth shaking thunder I’ve ever heard!!). But today, Seattle weather is in full bloom. I woke up to clouds, and they haven’t budged all day. Now of course, there is one thing that’s a switch…. At first, I was sitting inside in the exact same cozy brown chairs and little wood table that I would be sitting at if at home….but the air conditioning was on so strong that I got TOO COLD TO STAY INSIDE….so I had to COME OUTSIDE TO WARM UP. “I don’t think we’re in Seattle anymore, Toto!”
So as I sit here in my shorts and flip flops in the rain, I am being entertained by the events in the street in front of me. I am watching all the locals driving on their motorbikes, (the main source of transportation here; if you drive a car, you better get out of the way...) holding umbrellas as they drive. They somehow manage to do so without the umbrellas flipping inside-out from the wind. I’m very impressed.
What else? Well, tomorrow I’ll pack, do a few other odds-and-ends things and then head south. More to come from the pristine islands of Thailand over the next month! Until then!
Exactly 6 months ago tomorrow, being July 3rd 2008, I boarded a plane in Seattle, which carried me half way across the globe to my new home country of Thailand. For those of you closely following my adventures, you know that its been quite an exotic, educational, exciting, exhilarating, eye opening (wow, that’s a lot of adjectives that start with ‘e’…wasn’t even trying), challenging, growing, and quite the once-in-a-lifetime experience. I almost threw in the towel, as they say, a few weeks ago but here I am, still here. Not feeling well really shook me up and made me feel that I needed to head home. As with everything in life, I made it through that time, and now I’m out the other end and proud to say, I’m still here.
Albeit, I’ve asked for a few weeks off….27 days to be exact. I am using a 50/50 combination of vacation time and unpaid leave. My boss is extremely appreciative of the work I do and gladly granted me the time off. (I feel very blessed!) It’s the low season here so it’s the ideal time to take time off. As of the day after tomorrow, I’m jumping on a 6 hour train and heading down to one of the picturesque southern islands. (Think: San Juan Islands yet in the tropics…swaying palm trees, clear blue water, pearly white sand beaches, amazing snorkeling, and cozy beach side bungalows for dollars a day…ahhh.)
But, I’m not on the train yet. My time off was officially supposed to start as of yesterday but my co-worker Monica had a horrible bout of food poisoning last week. (Not even from the local food though! She accidentally drank some of her own out-dated soy milk…yikes! She ended up spending a night in our local hospital to rehydrate herself with fluids via an IV.) Needless to say, doing our job of being ‘wellness’ experts is a bit challenging when you’re not feeling so well yourself! Thank goodness, she is almost back to feeling 100% but I took her clients for her yesterday and then went in this morning to save her from an energy sucking client she was scheduled to see at 10am. (A mother who is here with her 26 year old daughter. I met them on their first day and listened to the mother tell me how unwell her daughter is, as her daughter sat there not even able to get in a word for herself. As the mom continued to speak for her daughter for about an hour, the mother then tells me, “She needs to be more independent!”…gee, maybe allowing her to speak for herself would be a good start, I thought to myself. There was no point in actually verbalizing this thought because anything I did try to say seemed to just bounce around on the walls like a little rubber bouncy ball that eventually just ended up ignored in some corner somewhere, forever to be forgotten.) Anyway, needless to say, I knew that if Monica had to see her, she might wish she was back in bed sick with food poisoning again….so I came into to save her. Murphy’s law…I set my alarm, put my uniform on, went into work…and the crazy lady had cancelled the appointment.
That was this morning. Then I went to the gym. Took a nap. And now…I’m sitting at Starbucks. When I first arrived here in my town of Hua Hin and discovered that there were two Starbucks here, I thought to myself, ‘Well, if I ever get homesick, I could come hang out at Starbucks, drink coffee, and work on my computer.’ And here it is, exactly 6 months into my life here, and the time has arrived. I’m drinking an Americano (the most apropos of choices of course), in the same white-mug-with-Starbucks-logo mug I would using be if at home, sitting at Starbucks, working on my computer. And this is hilarious…its raining. I kid you not. I’m sitting at Starbucks in Thailand, drinking coffee, and its raining.
The rainy season has arrived and will be around for the next few months, which means it rains for at least an hour or so almost everyday (and sometimes accompanied by the most earth shaking thunder I’ve ever heard!!). But today, Seattle weather is in full bloom. I woke up to clouds, and they haven’t budged all day. Now of course, there is one thing that’s a switch…. At first, I was sitting inside in the exact same cozy brown chairs and little wood table that I would be sitting at if at home….but the air conditioning was on so strong that I got TOO COLD TO STAY INSIDE….so I had to COME OUTSIDE TO WARM UP. “I don’t think we’re in Seattle anymore, Toto!”
So as I sit here in my shorts and flip flops in the rain, I am being entertained by the events in the street in front of me. I am watching all the locals driving on their motorbikes, (the main source of transportation here; if you drive a car, you better get out of the way...) holding umbrellas as they drive. They somehow manage to do so without the umbrellas flipping inside-out from the wind. I’m very impressed.
What else? Well, tomorrow I’ll pack, do a few other odds-and-ends things and then head south. More to come from the pristine islands of Thailand over the next month! Until then!
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