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Published: January 4th 2009
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I want to find a beach or island somewhere with that postcard-perfect weather I've been dreaming about. As the monsoon is beginning, I’m hoping that the weather in Krabi will be different than in Ko Phangan. In Malaysia, if it’s raining on the west coast, it’s almost guaranteed to be sunny on the east coast. Thailand is a different story though. The monsoon hits the mainland from all directions.
The sun is disappearing and I’m still an hour away from my destination. It’s looking good though, as there’s no sign of rain yet. On arrival I book straight into a guest house and with an optimistic outlook, I go to sleep early hoping for a full day of beach time tomorrow.
I awake to the sound of a train going past my window. No, that’s not it. What’s that sound then? Did someone put the kettle on? No. Is it the noise of thousands of tiny rats running across the tin roof? No. It’s bloody rain. Ok, I accept the reality of the present rainy moment and take this time to catch up on some reading and general sorting of papers. Oh, and eating. My movements consist of short
trips between the guesthouse and the food stalls at the night markets. Meals, like noodles with vegetables or fried rice with shrimp, cost about 30 baht ($1.50 Aus). My attempt to be vegetarian isn’t going very well, those tasty little prawns keep jumping onto my plate. At least I've been able to avoid the chicken, the cow and of course the pig (which I haven't eaten for many few years now). I don’t wish to contribute to the suffering that those animals go through at their time of death. Fish and prawns of course also suffer in death and I have no justification for eating them.
Some kids see me with my camera and hassle me to take photos of them. They hold up the menu as a prop, I take a few snaps then call their mother over to show her. She laughs and explains that the one whom I thought was a boy is actually a girl. Everyone finds this amusing and the kids run away smiling.
After five days in Krabi, I take a pick-up taxi to Ao Nong Beach. It’s been raining all morning but I decide to go see what all the hype
is about anyway. Wandering around, I walk past a
‘Mcdonald's' and a '
Burger King'. That says it all. I watch a beautiful sunset with a pink sky that fades to black.
"That's it...", I tell myself,
“no more touristy places. I don't care how beautiful the beaches are!" We shall see. I stay up late, taking advantage of the free wi-fi, and researching where I might go next.
Only sleeping for a few hours before I’m woken by an itchy scalp.
”What the fuck?” I jump out of bed and rip the sheets back revealing about four bed bugs scurrying for safety across the sheets. My nemesis. They're back! Breaking my precepts of
‘not killing any living being’ I press them firmly against the mattress, popping their soft bodies and making them explode. Leaving tiny scenes of murder on the bed. The blood stain left is
my blood. I’d been sleeping in this bed for the past three nights so how is it they went undetected? Stealth bed bugs? Are they evolving? Different from the bed bugs in Malaysia. There, they attack in droves with such fervour as to wake the unexpectant recipient instantaneously.
"That's it ...I'm outta here!”.
I fall back to sleep.
In the morning I leave, letting hotel management know that at least one room, in their otherwise nice guest-house, has a parasitical alien life form living amongst them. While having to wait three hours for the next bus going north, I waste some time meandering around the village market. Markets in Thailand can be an adventure in itself. I find a tub full of catfish slowly suffocating to death, pig faces hanging on hooks and the faint feathered smell of chicken dust floating in the air. As in many of the markets I have visited, I think to myself,
”bird flu city!”. It's time to go.
"All aboard… Ranong… we’re off to Ranong!”
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irishgirl
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sychronicity
Frankie how nice to here from you funnily enough a couple nights ago i had a random dream i was in thailand and funnily enough in my dream i remember thinking this is odd why is it so overcast and empty on this Thailand beach and then yesterday i was recording my songs for the first time it was such a happy day for me and i was remembering or little jam sessions wonderful love and light and blessings to you namaste ps are you making any music