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January 09, 2005
The Island Life
The islands will relax you to the point you think they're stealing your energy...it'll drain you till you have no energy left to leave. Is that a bad thing? No way. Koh Chang is beautiful. Many a lazy day spent on the porch of the bungalow, strumming a tune on the guitar, eating a fresh watermelon, a pomello, pineapples, coconut shakes...a quick dip in the aqua blue water that is the Khlong Prao Cove, swimming through the crowded schools of fish that hop out of the water in unison like swarms of insects across the surface.
News of the tsunami is unending, as is the sorrow but also unity of all affected. The newspaper and the television, undiluted and raw unlike those in America, are showing the truth of the suffering and death in it's truely brutal form. Those involved, families and friends from around the world, are making a choice either to return to their homes or test their fate and continue their holidays on other islands, Koh Chang included. The tourism industry is already encouraging people to come back to Phuket. Who knows what you might find in your sandcastle? It's going to take a long time for things to return to normal.
The v-day deadline is approaching. Visa Day. Every 30 days I have to cross an international border and return to Thailand with a new stamp in my passport and 10,000 baht to show means of travel. 10,000 keeps the bums out and the business men, pickpockets included, happy. Cambodia is just a 45 minute bus ride from the mainland near Koh Chang. How far should I go? The legendary Angkor Wat, massive temple ruins from many years past, lays in the jungle waiting. How do you decide when to leave paradise, even when you're headed for another?
Posted by Tom Bodhi at January 9, 2005 10:56 PM
Comments
water mellon in thialand, hahahahaha nice try brodhi
Posted by: Anonymous at January 14, 2005 06:25 PM
I dunno what you're implying, "anonymous" mcgee, but "water mellons" (haha) are plentiful and juicy in Thailand...if only a bit smaller. Everything in America is supersized you greedy bas----...... anyway, they're fantastic.
Posted by: Bodhi at January 15, 2005 05:54 AM
Hey BodhiNo wonder you love the lazy days on the beach-- you spent many months as a toddler on Spencer Beach on the Big Island of Hawaii which is a beautiful cove perfect for swimming. Being conscious of the beauty and transience of life-- that's what being human is all about! How lucky to be where you are. You make a good point that the tsunami has created unity as well as suffering, and because people all over the world can share the news and images of this tragedy on the Internet, a new paradigm of global consciousness is coming into being. Let's put our best efforts into creating a world that works for all.You're right about our American media-- the tsunami coverage carefully avoids any graphic imagery of individual people and concentrates on pictures of the wave itself and the ensuing flooding. The coverage of the Iraq War does not present any disturbing images at all. Gian and I watched "Control Room," a documentary about Al Jazeera, the most popular TV news network in the Arab world. It reminded me of 1970s style American TV journalism which presented horrific images of the Vietnam War, showing its human cost. Sadly, early in the war, our own military fired missiles at their Bagdad office (with the excuse that they had been fired upon), killing one of their journalists, but they are still there. Our media portrays them as rabid supporters of terrorism, but the network is based on an ideal of democratic journalism that presents all sides of a story. Unfortunately, the Arab world now links the oppression of Palestine by Israel with our actions in Iraq since the images of destruction and suffering caused by a technologically-superior power are virtually the same.I still wish they'd just pull out the troops in Iraq and send them to help with tsunami relief. What would the terrorists do without their usual targets? To regain the love of the world, the U.S. must start acting like a good neighbor, not a bully. Here in the belly of the beast, I'm celebrating "Not One Damn Dime Day," a national boycott of all spending on January 20th, the day Bush is inaugurated. Represent for us, Bodhi. Plant seeds of peace wherever you go.With love,Emma
Posted by: emma cornell at January 17, 2005 11:07 AM
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