Much like expected Phuket was full of many revelations hidden among easy frustrating circumstances. I decided to leave Bangkok on Thai’s New Year, Songkram, where it is tradition to splash water on each other. The water is supposed to renew you, and bless you. It’s the Thai’s version of an instant cleansing, where all sins are forgotten and you are able to start new again. In concept, it’s a beautiful idea, when traveling for 24 hours with a backpack and your laptop via bus and tuk tuk taxi in the hot sun; it can prove to be very frustrating.
As I entered Phuket town, I was fatigued, under fed and hot! I was however blessed to have met new friends who instantly became my allies as we tried to get to Patong, a 30 minute ride from Phuket town. But a seemingly easy feat turned nearly impossible with the huge water gun fight being held in Patong. Literally, lady boys, children and their parents all throwing buckets of water to any incoming innocent bystander, with luggage, laptop or not! And if you were to put into the mix, alcohol, cheesy fararng (the non-Thai) tourists and a poor lost taxi driver you can easily see how my patience was tested nearly too many times. Revelation number one: Be in the moment, allow yourself to be soaked and trust that you will eventually get to your destination.
As I arrive soaked, tired and now cold, I was told that the water had been shut. My Thai Guesthouse had apparently run out of water and for the next three days, I would have to use water bottles to shower. Revelation number two: All comforts can easily be taken away from you. Be one with the unexpected. Feel blessed you can afford to buy bottled water.
The following day, I was off to the beach. The famous Patong beach was just as expected full of cheesy tourists, and beautiful lady boys. I cannot complain, I was after all near the ocean. I cleansed my crystals and was grateful to taste the salt of the Andaman Sea. I have tasted the Red, Indian, Pacific, and now another part of the whole the Andaman Sea. The ocean, the great mother that nearly destroyed this town during the Tsunami of 2004 has eased my frustrations. And as quickly as I mourned the loss of life during the Thai Red Shirt revolution, I am quickly reborn. I stop to think: Perhaps that Songkram water did work its magic?
I am now more open as I walk among the seedy surnburnt tourists looking for an easy good time, in a land full of exhibitionism and neon lights. Tomorrow I will go to Ko Phi Phi, to face another island, where I will see yet another beach, meet new people and say goodbye to these friends that have come to teach me brief lessons full of Vipassana meditation wisdom, basic Thai cultural understanding and openness to relationships where yes, a seemingly straight man can love a lady boy and treat her like his queen. Love is blind.
Ah Yes, did I fail to mention that I have been running around Paton with 3 Buddhist Spanish and Italian boys and one Thai Lady Boy, who like me, follow the Mayan Calendar?! The universe is certainly very interesting. I have enjoyed making my friends’ love interest into a beautiful lady, making her up and dancing to the wee hours in seedy Patong’s bar district with her. Patong gives South Beach and Ventura Beach a run for its money.
I leave Patong, with only one thought: Can the cycle of an easy good escapist time at the sacrifice of another’s happiness ever be broken, when will we allow ourselves to fall out of the cycle of addiction. I hope these tourists wake up someday and learn to embrace their shadow instead of always flocking to places like Thailand to live in their shadow. Final lesson: I cannot change other people’s business, only mine. I must live by example. I cannot be attached to my ego, to what I think is right. As I sit here writing this, I look down at my new tattoo where the “Om Namah Shivayah” mantra is written. Perhaps I not only honor the Divine teacher in others that is also within me, but I also honor the Shadow that is within all of us. May we continue to walk into the light and allow our shadows to be exposed for all to see. It is only in the darkness of our shadow after all, that we can see the light.
I meant to write Venice beach not Ventura beach and of course it "Farang" for non thai tourist.
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