I am Siam, Siam I am

Life has slipped into the “mai ni pen ha” (no problem) zone and taken on the slow pace and endless proportions of vacation time. Sometimes the minutes seem to come to a standstill, especially in the stifling heat of early afternoon, when the air is so hot that the beach sand takes on the hazy wavering effect of a desert mirage. It is the only time of day that I wish I had air-conditioning, but nothing here is air-conditioned except the rooms of tourists who pay for it (and most of them do). My thatched wall bungalow feels much more authentic, I love being able to hear the raucous sounds of the wild life in the jungle outside. There are so many colorful birds here and I believe the frogs and lizards are the culprits behind the a cappella wildly rhythmic soundtrack that seems to play constantly in the background after dusk and randomly during the day.

Writer's paradise?

The days fall into a pattern of my own design, broken occasionally by a rare and delightful interlude with some other traveler. Freshly ground and brewed coffee with breakfast and internet in the hotel pavilion, off to the beach while the air is still pleasant and the casurina trees provide shade until the sun gets too high in the sky, swim, sun, read, have some Pad Thai and tea at the beach bar, and then stagger back in the heat to shower and fill the afternoon hours with writing, a massage or other activities, when the hot sand just gets too intense for me. Back to the beach for the sunset ritual, a giant glass of surprisingly good cheap wine or a cold beer and then fresh fish or prawns grilled right there in front of you on the beach…back to Lanta Pearl for another drink and internet before bed and maybe treat myself to a movie or show on the Netbook under the mosquito net.

Often in this heat the computer gets too hot to touch – like right now….

Last night I talked to a couple of Australian women on the beach and one of them, Shanyn, asked me to have lunch with her day (what an incredibly civilized invitation!) at a place “a few beaches away” which turned out to be a journey down the whole western coast of Koh Lanta so it was a great adventure for me to get to out of rut and see what the rest of the island looked like. The landscape was quite a bit more dramatic and damn if we didn’t even see a baby elephant. Hard to imagine how elephants got here (okay, here is a link to their history http://www.thaizer.com/culture-shock/the-elephant-in-thailand/) – apparently originally used in battle and then as beasts of burden. Interesting origin of the term “white elephant” also.

Shanyn was great – I am very appreciative of any younger travelers who can get past the age barrier and befriend me. A silver jewelry smith from the Melbourne part of Australia, she has been to Koh Lanta several times, this time recovering from a relationship with a gorgeous bi-polar boyfriend, and although a stunner herself, she assured me she was pretty eclectic in her relationship taste which ranged from men and women 18 years older than herself to an Israeli midget. I love meeting interesting people! Most of the people here are European couples, and half of the ones staying here having young children (which I like because it means they go to bed early) but the beach this morning had so many babies on it that it reminded me summers at Baby Beach in Franconia.

A real Siamese cat!

I was surprised yesterday to find that, unlike other countries, there were few local people at the beach on Sunday, which leads me to believe this part of Koh Lanta is rather segregated specifically for the tourists. Walking 500 meters the other direction brings you to the main road which all Thai stores, local restaurants and businesses and it is noisy and not very clean and extremely hot and makes me realize it is not any place I want to be. There are plenty of local businesses by the beach and they have much more ambience and big hard-working extendedThai families to socialize with. The Thai people are all so slightly built that sometimes it is hard to tell the adults from the children. I am robust here.