Phuket, Thailand

(Our Phuket hosts in their Thai-style side car in front of their home)
(Matt, Ao-Sane beach)

(August 30-September 11) It was early and already hot. The A/C had been on all night and I was a bit chilled but relieved not to get eaten alive. The mosquitos are relentless. They are silent stalkers. They strike where I am weakest to scratch the most. My ankles and knuckles are the worst spots and those tiny man-eaters know that. Eric and Debbie, former Peace Corps volunteer friends of mine from Senegal and our trusty guides around Phuket, took us to one of their favorite beach getaways up on the northwest side of the island. From our deserted beach we can see mainland Thailand to the north of us and the ocean to the left of us. With bright billowing clouds ocassionally giving us repreive from the blazing sun we sipped on cold Singha's and bobbed in the brackish inlet.

Matt and I got up early one morning for a dip in the water. Even though the water is the temperature of bath water, it still gives you the shivers just to immerse yourself at 8 am. The day before as I had been walking along the beach snaping photos at anything and everything and I stumbled upon a small temple hidden in the bushes. The brush was jungly with drapping branches and thick leaves. Just before the small temple there was a circular designs with tiny mounds with incense and candles, a sand temple if you will. I felt like I was a trespasser, and in many ways I was, but I couldnt' pull myself away from this discovered place of worship. The morning we went for our walk four bunches of incense were burning down to their red wicks on the beach in front of the entrance to the hidden temple. Depressed in the sand were imprints of knees and two feet together as if they just knelt down right there to offer thanks. I inquired with my friends and they said it must have been an offering to Buddha for a bountiful catch of fish. I am humbled by these small acts of reverence by the Buddhist.

Our days in Phuket, more specially in Rawai at the southern tip of the island, have been spent living as shadows to Debbie & Eric. Aside from following them to school where they work we do what they do, swim where they swim and eat and eat and eat where they eat. It is nice to live in someone elses shoes especially in such a scenic and laid back place like Phuket. Their knowledge of the island is invaluable.

On mornings that Debbie & Eric go to work we play surrogate parents to their two dogs, Pippa and Maddie. Any exposed skin becomes prime licking ground for Maddie. We let the pooches out of the yard to do their business and to sniff the neighborhood dogs. Invariably they know when we want to go for an outing and they are clever to keep their distance. Rounding up the dogs is just another way to kill time which thankfully we have plenty of. The side car is more like a metal cage with a wooden bottom, two wood benches and an open top. It was their primary means to transport their doggies until they got a car. Our hosts trust us with their other scooter which we take on little errands to the store or down to the beach for a picnic and a swim. The scooter takes me back to my days of riding through the bush in Senegal on my motorcycle except here the roads are paved and there's no horse drawn carriages and random goats to compete with on the road.

One of my favorite spots that Debbie & Eric have taken us to is Ao-Sane beach right around the bend from Nai Harn beach. It's a quiet little locals cove with a coral reef teaming with colorful fish. Burned my booty one day snorkeling as the sea sirens sang to me. Under the shade of a palm tree we sit and watch the tiny hermit crabs amble over the sand. Sometimes we cool off with a fresh fruit shake. Life is good, very good.