Happy St. Patrick's Day - 03.18.2007

It's still St. Patty's Day in the States, so its still appropriate to wish you all a happy one.

I'm in Koh Tao in southern Thailand and I'm doing great if slightly burnt. First it was my forearms and wrists for some damned reason, then it was my face and neck, and after a day of kayaking around the island its my shins, thighs and the tops of my feet. Oh well. Bronzed Benn is just a thing of fantasy.

I got this free tourist map of Koh Tao back in Bangkok and I've been using it to explore the island. Two nights ago I found a spot marked on the map as "Sairee View" which sounded promising. All the bars, restaurants, and hotels are written in simple black font and the scenic spots and place names are written in bold-faced yellow. "Sairee View" was written in bold-faced yellow so I was picturing a look-out point kind of thing. I followed some street signs to "Sairee View" but got lost and confused. I walked up the side of one of the mountains here and three guys on the third floor of someone's house yelled down to me. I asked them if I could come up and ask them a question about Sairee View. Two Thai guys (one of whom owned the property), Talung and Cha, and a Japanese guy named Aki were drinking bottles of Asahi together. I pulled out my map and asked them where this spot was. They told me my map was bad and I was AT Sairee View, which is not a location but a guest house. Aki owns a bar right at that spot but its closed now as he's repairing some things. They invited me to sit down and the view from their balcony was incredible (like I said, they were in a 3-story building on the side of a mountain). I neglected to bring my camera but returned last night and got a few shots of the sunset. They were really nice and Aki sold me a beer when I asked him for something to drink. We watched the sun go down and the squid boats come out from the mainland. I talked with Aki, who's 45 and has been in Thailand for the past 4 years. He lived in Osaka and goes back and forth about 3 times a year but its pretty sporadic. He got divorced 4 years ago and decided to 'change his way of thinking.' He was then invited by one of the Thai guys to come live on the island with him. Aki said that leaving Japan was something he wanted to do and scouted other islands: Guam, Hawaii, and other islands in Thailand. He chose Koh Tao because it had a 'really strong power.' His Thai friend let him build a bar on his property and he's been there, more or less, since then. He's so tan now that he doesn't even look Japanese anymore. After the sunset I asked if it would be alright if I came back the next day (yesterday) for another beer and they enthusiastically said 'yes.' So I went back again yesterday just before sundown while Aki was working on his bar. He had jazz on in the background and was reading a book by an Indian Buddhist that he tried to explain to me. It was a lot of the same stuff that my dad has been interested in lately: meditation, Buddhist philosophy, and learning how to develop your own awareness. We chatted for a while and I asked, again, if it would be alright if I came back. He shook my hand and said I'd always be welcome. So tonight, after I finish snorkeling and whatever, I'll go back to watch the sunset again.

That's what I've been up to. Kayaking, swimming, blah blah blah. You can imagine what one does on a beach.

Also, I got bullied by a fucking dog. This isn't the first time on this trip that a dog (or pack of dogs) has scared me away from something. In northern Thailand I tried to visit a wat at dawn and two wild dogs chased me back onto my scooter and off the property while two monks just watched everything, and when I tried to visit an Akha village the local dogs AGAIN chased me away while the tribespeople just sat around and watched. The other day I was sitting in the sand and reading when a friendly dog came up and watched the ocean right by my side. I was about to start petting it when a much larger dog stood directly behind me and started this really guttural growling. I stood up and it was clear his beef was with the other dog. The smaller dog tried to ignore him but the bigger one got a lot more aggressive and eventually chased him away. I was still standing because this massive dog (wild, as all fucking dogs in Asia are wild) was still on edge, but then it plopped down in MY motherfucking seat. I stood there like an idiot while two German guys not too far away starting laughing. I said 'I guess I lost my seat' but they didn't understand. I sat down a few feet away, right next to a big sandcastle that someone had launched fireworks out of, but the dog wasn't happy just leaving me alone. It got up, walked right next to me, and then pissed all over the castle. I was close enough to the dog that the fact that it was pissing made me uncomfortable. Again, the German guys thought this was pretty funny so I got up again and went back to my old spot. I was able to laugh back at them though because the dog then walked towards them and one guy got so scared he jumped up and moved to let the dog pass through where he had just been sitting.

You have to just picture how fucking enormous and in-control this dog was. He owned that beach as far as me and two German guys were concerned.

I guess that's it.

Miss you all.