Ko Lanta

Three nights ago we sat on a dry beach and watched thunderheads bombard the ocean with innumerous lightning bolts. Lightning, striking against a tropical sunset backdrop, took on the color of a firestorm. Oranges and reds danced. It was a dramatic assult on the ocean, and for a moment the clashing thunder consolidated into one unbreakable boom. In that moment I was deeply thankful that it was so far off. Had the storm hit over Ko Lanta, I would not be writing of it fondly... Fear would permeate my words and leak from this page. But since the lightning was on the horizon, and not on our beach, it held no clout over me. So I sat in the sand armed with a mojito and acted tough because the storm was "there and not here".

In the midst of the sweltering April heat, early signs of the monsoon season have finally materialized. At exactly 3 oclock each day, blue gives way to black when clouds strip the sky of its vibrant blue. If you listen hard enough, you can almost hear the plummeting wall of water rushing downward. With crushing weight the monsoon, brings life to a stand still, and so for half an hour every afternoon, everything just stops. But it's not as though anything was moving at a roaring pace to begin with... Life crawls in Ko Lanta; Accordingly Brittany and I chosen to crawl with it.

In an earlier entery I said that traveling on $35 a day was unglamorous, and I will stand by that, but if you stop traveling and start vacationing, $35 buys all the glamor I can handle. Moving around is what eats a budget. If you find an underspoken resort that is off the beaten track, you can get cocktails by the pool and then a massage on the beach with the money that the "mover" would need to put into paying for a multi-hour bus ride. This reality inspired a dramatic change of pace for me this past week.

Here is a rough outline of my daily life in Ko Lanta:

9:15 Wake Up, brush teeth, walk to pool patio
9:30 Eat continental breakfast
10:15 Swim in the garden pool
10:30 Lay out in lounge chair
11:00 Roll over
11:30 Walk the beach to look for shells
12:30 Eat shrimp with red curry and steamed rice; drink a Singha
1:30 Swim/snorkle
2:30 Read and write in journal
3:00 Watch the rain
3:30 Take a nap
4:15 Play beach volleyball (poorly)
5:30 Shower
6:00 Eat Tom Yum Noog dinner and watch the sun set over neighboring islands
8:00 Get a massage
9:15 Have a drink by the pool
9:30 Read until I fall asleep

I sat pool side for almost a week. In that time, I read books. And when I wasn't reading, I passed the time by sauntering up and down the beach, getting massages and drinking cocktials. Life is rough!
I haven't written much... Probably beacuse resort life doesn't exactly inspire riveting narrative, but it was a much needed change of pace, and it has helped us recharge for the next undertaking. Vietnam!