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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Man, it's been a while since I last posted. School has finally caught up to me a little bit, so I'm actually busy doing something other than having fun. I'm going to try to catch up a little bit, but I don't really have enough time to do all of it tonight.

Alright, so where I left off last time. I took the ferry from Ko Phangan to Ko Samui, a 45 minute ferry that is ridiculously overpriced, at least by Thai prices (I always have to justify that it's only expensive by Thai prices. The ferry cost me 200 baht, about $6, instead of a dollar like it would in less touristy areas). When I got off, I had no clue where I was going to go or where I was going to stay. Luckily I had a guidebook with me, so I decided to go to the beach closest to the airport since I had to be there at 5AM and just look around for a cheap bungalow. A motorcycle taxi took me to Big Buddha Beach and I started walking down the beach looking for a cheap place. I sat down with a couple Thai women who were trying to learn english for about 20 minutes, but their english was way worse than my thai (which is saying a lot) and the conversation quickly began to fade away.

I finally got up and told them I needed to find a place to stay, and continued walking down the beach. Everything seemed really expensive. It's a quieter beach, so most of the people staying there were older and could afford to spend 30 or 40 bucks a night for a hot shower, air conditioning, and a pool to read by. All I needed was a bed and some sort of shelter that locked. I finally walked up to the street and asked a motorcycle taxi driver if he knew of anything around 300 baht per night. After a couple places, he took me to the same place where the two Thai women were staying and, low and behold, they had a room for 300 baht per night.

So like I said in my last post, I thought that the night was going to be an early to bed night. I had been going out pretty hard the last few nights in Phangan and Danny was coming the next day, so I was kind of looking forward to it having to get up so early. I went and got some dinner, chilled in an internet cafe for an hour or so, and then headed back to the bungalow. Then, I had to break a 1000 baht bill to pay the motorcycle taxi to take me to the airport in the morning, so I walked down to a bar. It was probably 8:30 or 9:00 at this point.

On my way back to my bungalow, I passed a guy about 3 rooms down from mine sitting by himself on his porch. I had seen him a couple times already walking around, and I think we had acknowledged each other at least once. He was older, but he didn't really look old. He had long hair, and looked like the kind of guy that had spent his entire life traveling. I figured, what the hell, it's still early and I have nothing to do, so I decided to go up and introduce myself. Turned out I couldn't have been more right.

We quickly got into a conversation that seemed to go in every direction at once, but always seemed to come back around. He had spent most of his early life in England, so we talked about the differences between British and American culture, politics, economics, etc. I learned that he is 46 and has been living on either Samui or Phangan off and on for the last 20 years or so. He used to work for a big global marketing company and was making tons of money, but when he got demoted by a new boss, he decided that was it, quit, and has never looked back. He had a serious accident a couple years ago that, if it wasn't for a great Thai masseuse, would have put him in surgery and his leg may never have been the same again. We talked for maybe 45 minutes and then 2 other Brits joined us on the porch: a 41 year old guy all tattooed up who plays music for a living and a 29 year old woman who I think is just taking time off between school and work. None of them had met each other until they met at these bungalows a few days before.

It's the epitome of traveling. Being in a situation like this is what traveling by yourself is all about. They said that they were going to go get some whiskey and asked if I wanted to join in on it. At first I declined, but they said they just wanted to have a chill night so I obliged. The band member told jokes, Jon (the first guy) told some of his crazy traveling stories, and a couple pints later it was pushing 3 in the morning. We all said our goodbyes and retired to our rooms. I exchanged numbers with Jon and said I would call him if I ever come back down to Phangan. Turns out I'm going back to the Phangan for the full moon this month too to meet Unger, Pogue, and Kramer.

I don't know if writing this really captured the night. It would obviously take a lot more than a few paragraphs to describe the whole night. But there's nothing quite like sitting out on the porch of a bungalow on the beach under the Thai moon with people I never knew and may never know again. Everyone is eager to tell their stories, not because of some loneliness or desperateness, but because they want to share their adventures with whoever will listen. It's hard to find people who will listen to endless stories back home where there's little cultural connection, but when everyone has that common goal of finding the next adventure and experience in the same place, the conversations open up. Some stories were personal, some were scary, others were fun, and still others seemed boring if you looked at them individually. But when you see them as a continuous life, as one long adventure, they are all stimulating and exciting. Our stories and experiences are what mold us into who we are, and I bet they know me as well as a lot of people who have known me for years. I feel like I know them pretty well, that's for sure.

2 comments:

Coop said...

Jake, that night sounds like exactly the kind of thing you went off to Thailand looking for. Wish I could have been there to experience it with you man, you're missed back here.

Alan

Casey said...

Doesn't it always seem like the nights you expect to be boring or ordinary, turn out to be some of the best times? Sounds like you're having an amazing experience in Thailand!

Thanks for the credit card info - I will definitely check out Schwab!

Casey