Chalong

Sometimes things change, and I think it's for the better. Always...whether it seems like it at the time or not. I ended up getting dumped off on the beach with no more than a forced 'Take Care' and a split-second side glance, due to a growing butting of heads between myself and the power-hungry cap-ee-TAHN. Needless to say, I was elated to be on my merry way to something bigger and better, although what that was, I had not a clue. Down the beach I walked, the totality of my belongings strapped to my front and back, drawing as much attention as a streaker with a neon-painted body charging down center field during a Superbowl kickoff. Passing a small, open-aired bar overflowing with "falang" (what the Thais call foreigners), I was again noticed and interrogated by a few tables full of men. After reciting my life story, which, after numerous recitations, can be summed up in about 45 seconds or less, depending on my interest in the addressed audience. I was directed just down the beach to "The Sand Bar/ Phuket Cruising Yacht Club," a Thai-style set-up of 3 adjacent rooms over-looking Chalong Bay with an atmosphere so laid back that one would almost pass by the place, assuming it was merely the home of another beach bum..which it is. The Aussie owner and Thai girlfriend live in one room, sell beer, offer showers, chart, map, and notice board usage, and rent out the third, or in my case, offer some paid work on the owner's boat, the rental room, and use of the motorbike. Sometimes I even manage the bar. Similar set up as I had at the Reggae bar, just a few kilometers south a few weeks ago.
Sailors come and go, and there's a pretty regular crowd that comes and goes and treats this little home-away-from-home as just that. A good majority of the crowd happens to be older men with no urgent obligations, a lifestyle that so fittingly resembles that of many Thai people. Books are read, conversations are had, guitars are strummed, and time passes by as the tide works its way into and out of the beach and the sun takes on its daily course in accordance. It's places like these where I find life the most reassuring. The times when there's nothing that beckons my efforts or brain power, yet I feel charged and inspired enough to move mountains. I love it here, 'here' being moments like these where the so-called 'real world' is non-existent, and the only thing that matters is MY world and how I want to go about it for myself. This is how things should be. In my opinion, of course. For the moment, I am content with thoughts of my future and a clear head in which to toss them about.