I'm alive and well

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January 3rd 2007

Published: January 3rd 2007

When I first landed on Ko Lanta I only wanted one thing, to be alone. People think that when you travel by yourself that you are alone often; you're not. In fact, you are almost always surrounded by people, and to be honest, I just wanted some quiet from this island. With this mindframe I entered the resort resturaunt. I sat alone. Ate alone. Then went to the bar alone. Then I went up to the lonliest corner of the bar and took a seat with a beer I had ordered. Then, while pulling out a block from jenga tower I was asked, so bluntly:

"What are you doing up there Man? Get down here."

Haha, oh Cho. It started right then. The name of the bar: Don't Worry, Be Happy. And that was the atmosphere of the two bartenders running the place, Cho and Wah eminated and encouraged. They urged me to be myself and relax. I hadn't even considered that I might not be relaxed, but they showed me otherwise and I appreciated it greatly. There were three other people in the Bar: Steven (who teaches in Vietnam), Pepe (A suave spaniard who can sing blues straight from the heart), Nina (From Denmark, with a great accent, a funny attitude, and who's uncle owned the resort). Together, we were, as Cho coined it, "The Community." We stayed up the first night until the sun rose, singing songs while Cho played the Guitar, cracking jokes, and sharing stories.

Several days later Steven and Pepe left....

For a moment I considered leaving as well, our community was crumbling.....

But then I just started to talk to every person who entered out bar, redefining out "community" and I (we; Me, Cho, and Wah), continued to do so until I left. I've never felt so great about a place in my life. Every person I talked to just seemed so interested in swapping stories and experiences. It just seemed like a place where everyone felt comfortable and felt they could be themselves. After a while, after continuing this sort of friendliness (this friendliness also lead to many a customer drinking many many many drinks), I was told I could have some drinks for free each night as long as I kept shooting the bull with customers.

So each night we'd hang out in the bar. In the day, sometimes I might go for a little swim, or go use the internet at a nearby resort, but generally I would just lay around in the hammock, learn Thai from the staff and read my book or listen to music. While I consider myself a backpacker, I consider these last two weeks as a Vacation. Christmas rolled around and the resort put on a little evening (on the 24th because the owners and a majority of people were dutch and this is when they celebrate Chistmas). The kids danced, we all played some fun games, and we had a delicious buffet dinner. That night we had fireworks ( I bought some in town earlier that day ) and there was definately a feeling of community from everyone at the resort from staff to random families. The next day, the 25th, we partied at the next resort over. Haha, it was a good party for sure. Although I told myself and everyone else with me: "Remember, Respect the Bucket." We didn't quite do so, and everyone got fairly drunk. Especially Wah's cousin Tam, who almost got molested by a giant lady boy. My problem with staying in a place for so long is that all your memories blur together. When you go to new places, it's easier to associate your memories with that area. So, all I can say, is that every night was the greatest night I've had in Thailand. Never have I had so much fun sharing and laughing with people. By the time I left I knew everyone on the staff and I felt quite sad when I had to leave.

Hmmmmm.....Lets see if I can find some interesting moments in the memory bank.

Right, well, I rode a motorbike for the first time since I was 5.

*Flashback* I was five years old. I'm sitting on a motorbike. I twist my wrist and accelerate. I drive into a fence.

*Fastforward* I'm 22 years old. I'm sitting on a motorbike. I twist my wrist and accelerate......

I honestly claimed to Cho, and our friend Kay who had arrived a few nights before, "Sorry girls, but I can't do this."
After a bit of cajouling and encouragement I was convinced I would take a ride with them to the nearby national park. Just as we reach the park entrance Cho says: If you can handle this road, you can handle any road in Thailand.
She was right. The road was very rugged, at one hill was pure powdered sand. But, after about 15 minutes I felt completely comforatable on the bike and we ended up biking all around the island (it's about an hour from end to end). We stopped in town, at a few beaches, and at some abandoned resorts. I've driven car for about 6 months now, and in that time, not sure if I've passed a single person. In a matter of 2 hours on the motorbike I passed more than 30 people. It's just the way it works around here.

Lets see....went snorkelling a few times. Liking that more each time I go about it.

I met at least 3 people, if not more, who were staying on this very beach during the time of the Tsumani in 2004. It was so amazing to hear the stories of what happend when they were here. Everyone involed went to the highest point and 250 people stayed in the owners residence. Much of the resort was whiped out, and where there was a honeymoon sweet the bar that we hung out in was built. People seemed to react to the experience in different ways. A couple would often steal glancs at the ocean when there were any waves at all. but I was like "You could see all those well lit fisherboats in the distance raise if it was coming" I was told otherwise. In fact, the wave didn't start to raise until it began to hit beach line. One guy told me about how his friends were diving off the coast when the Tsumani came. They felt a bit of a push underwater, but nothing else. (Oh, the well lit boats are Squid boats that attract all the squid with the lights then snag them with nets.)

On new years we hung out at the bar for a while. Then Kay and myself went next door with a german couple to party because they weren't serving buckets at the Don't Worry Be Happy Bar. There were fireworks all night and we danced at the other bar for most the evening. At 12 we came back to my resort and did a countdown.

"Hah"
See"
"Saam"
"Song"
"Ngung"

"Sawatdee Pee Krai Kap!", I exclaim.

Which translates roughly into a polite question of: "Hello, who is my older brother!?"

( I had obviously forgotten what the Thai peeps had told me to say )

Kay had shouted: "Sawatdee Dai Mai"

Which translates roughly into: "Can I say hello?"

Haha, after this the fireworks began and we hung out at the bar until it started to die down a little. At that point we decided we'd head to the largest, most popular, bar on the island, ibark. So 6 people piled into the back of the truck, 4 into the cab and we headed up the hill leading out of the resort. Maybe the steepest hill I've ever seen. We start going....

the truck is struggling.....

"COME OOOOOONNNNNN"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
"YOU CAN DO IT SIAM"

*the truck stalls*

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

*starts again*

"YOU CAN DO IT SIEM"
"WE BELIEVE IN YOU MAN, COME ON!"

*slowly it creeps*

*Cheering*

*Sputter, sput, sputter, sput, dead.*

What's the problem? The tucks out of gas.

So, no ibark, but instead the group heads back down to the bar and we have some drinks on the house, and continue to party into the night. All in all a good evening with a good group of people.

Too many good times.

Of course I was sad to leave, but it had to happen. My visa for Thailand is up on the 6th and I need to be out of the country by then. I left Ko Lanta yesterday, on the 2nd, and I arrived in Bangkok this morning at 4:30. I was gonna stay at a town inbetween, but I'm glad I just made the whole journey. Believe me, even Bangkok is dead at 4:30 in the morning, but we found a restraunt that's always open (on my favorite road, rambutri) and I and a girl I met on the bus waited there for some breakfast. While waiting (at 4:30 in the morning) I see my friend Jay, who, who knows, was maybe partying all night. Anyway, she sits down and we start chatting. I spend a good chunck of the morning with her and by noon I have found a place to stay at (the same place I stay at each time i come to Bangkok) and I'm out and about eating food and buying some necessities (and commodities) for my trip out of the country. After a few hours of consideration I've developed a bit of a "plan." This consists of: Go to Cambodia first. And, make sure you see Lao and Vietnam. That's it. So, tommorow I do some more preperations and maybe the next day I will leave. After I finish up this blog I'm gonna give Jay a call and go see the new "Tom Yum Goon" movie. You may know him as Tony Jaa (his name just came to me now). He actually has a few movies here, and he just release a new one a few weeks ago. So, yup, that's it. I was backpacker gone vacationer. I celebrated a great Chistmas and New Years among friends. I did some things everyone once in a while and I'm back where I started, Bangkok, Khao San Road. I'll keep ya'll up to date from here on in. Take Care.

(Oh, and I do have a few pictures around here somewhere, I'll see if I can upload them sometime soon.)

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