the world for more than it simply is

Silence might drive some people mad, or it might provide the time one needs to think. I am the latter type–I employ moments of silence to contemplate many things. This so-called useless and idle time today was during the bus ride from Ban Phe back to Bangkok. Of the things I came to realize, one that I will note here is it is inconsiderate to censor my own words when there is so much more to say. My original post on this travel blog, which I will undoubtedly re-modify to include the full text, had so much more in the two sentences I removed in order to be what I deemed at the time more considerate towards my greater audience. This is after all the world for more than it simply is. With this said, I will make the attempt to include more than just the events with more insight on the discussions and situations which I experience on this trip.

 
The three days in Ko Samet were superb overall, yet without the individuals I encountered it would have been just any other island. The drama of human life, which I usually try to remove myself from at times, is what separates the great moments from the dull. At the bungalow I was staying at, Naga, my cousin and I met Theresa on the way back to our place to get a snack after some drinks over at Jep’s on our second night there. Theresa, an individual with potential to stand out from the usual others, discussed among other things her experience living the life of solitude at a monastery in North Thailand for two weeks. Later that night, her acquaintance Christine, who was quite a liar who thought herself better than us, asked Theresa to accompany her to the restroom only never to return. At the Silver Sand Bar, I ran into Christine once again, where she admitted she did not in fact have a hearing problem. To her disappointment, I reversed the statement which she made about embarrassing me into one that she should be the embarrassed one for lying in the first place. I imagine that she was dumbfounded as she had nothing to say in response.

The next day at the beaches before my great Thai massage on the beach for 200 baht ($5USD), I was greeted briefly by Theresa once again who seemed to had not fallen into the self-obsessed trap of Christine from Holland. That evening, Theresa actually was at the restaurant we had asked her to meet us at the previous night. I should probably include that seeing Christine again was somewhat awkward, yet she did say hello. That evening after a delicious meal of fried egg with shrimp and tomatoes at the restaurant across from Seven Eleven, I watched The Constant Gardener and played ping pong with Hac as we were taking a break from drinking. During our ping pong match, Corina who I had met two nights prior at the Naga bar along with a group of girls from England, stopped by to say hello. We had a brief discussion on travels along with religion on which I shared the similiar view of hers that it was a far wiser idea to see the world than to be fearful of it.

Well enough for now; I will probably be going to Chinatown tonight for dinner. Before I forget, Khao San road is the place to be if you’re craving the backpacker crowd.

This morning we took a bus from Northern Bus Terminal in Bangkok over to the city of Rayong. From there we caught a speedboat at noon over to Ko Samet–the 3 mi (or was it km?) island. The beaches here seem nice; I’ll be going for a swim in a few. Remember how I said there were Seven Elevens all over Bangkok? Well, I’ve seen two so far here.

 
Khok-di! (Cheers!)