#greenleafguesthouse

[jamesjuliust]

Ao Nang, Krabbi Province - medium-to-heavy drunk

Jan 19, 2015

Currently, I am sitting at a table that appears to be constructed out of driftwood.  I am at the Green Leaf guesthouse in Ao Nang.  I’m currently enjoying an ice-cold soon to be tepid Chang.

There are more staff than guests at this establishment, and they are either milling about looking for something to do or sitting in chairs staring into the middle distance.  It appears that in South East Asia where the temperature floats around 30 degrees celsius staring blankly is a common pastime. Doing anything else would just be too exhausting.  I’ll be joining them presently.

The trip here was a lengthy one, starting with a 10-hour train ride (the novelty of which quickly dissipated) followed by a 3-hour bus ride and 1 hour of stumbling around the town trying to locate our guesthouse.  I’m hoping that by maintaining a marginal (okay, medium-to-heavy) level of drunkenness I can stay awake past 10 pm, but things aren’t looking good.

We are on the outskirts of Ao Nang in the Krabbi province.  This place has a distinctly beachtown feel.  Turns out the beachtown archetype is identical in every culture.  I feel like I’m at bizarro Thai Winnipeg Beach.  

Being that it is quite a lengthy walk to get to the beach, we usually give up and call a tuk tuk, where I will consequently argue about the price for too long.  I think I’m having trouble keeping things in perspective.  I often catch myself haggling what would be a $2 (CAD) tuk tuk ride into a $1.75 tuk tuk ride.  Jesus, I’m a turd.

Speaking of turds, I purchased the touristiest shirt I could find.  A sleeveless shirt that says “Same Same But Different”.  This is a common saying in Thailand and I’m sure that 9 out of 10 american homeboys in Phuket are wearing this very shirt.  My reasoning was to try to blend in and stop trying to assert my coolness and unique snowflakeness all the time.  So, obviously, buying a stupid shirt is a step in the right direction...  One of the chief self-improvements I’m working on while in Thailand is to be okay blending into the crowd.  In large cities your programmed at a young age to accept that you are literally a “nobody” and this is totally fine.  I’ve always been the opposite.  I’m the guy that would be half-grinning into the camera if I were on a reality TV show.  I blame this on a combination of good parenting (”you are such a special boy”) and growing up in a place straddling the line of small town and big city.  

“Same Same But Different” seemed to capture my mood perfectly.  Too bad my gun show is too distracting for people to appreciate the appropriateness of my purchase.  (you will also notice my badass crocks and sunhat #yolo)

There’s a word for accepting your anonymousness and acknowledging that everyone is living their own life.  The word is “Sonder”.  John Koenig coined it and it housed in his compendium of made up words called The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.  The definition of Sonder is:

“the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own - populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness - an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passes on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk”

This is a video by John Koenig.  I take no credit whatsoever.  However, 100 of those views are from me, so I probably deserve some royalties...

The problem with reflecting on this for too long is that I work myself into an agoraphobic frenzy whereby I refuse to come out from under my blankets without at least a bottle of wine in my tummy.  And then there’s space!  Don’t get me started on space...

Anyway, I should go.  The aforementioned staff have all spun around in unison and just gave me a weird, synchronized smile.  Either they are bringing me out a birthday cake or I have overstayed my welcome.   Maybe they think I’m writing for a travel magazine or something.  In any case, I will take my leave now.  I think I’ll try a papaya salad.  

An amazing night market by our place.  I’m pretty sure there was illegal gambling on the premises because we were promptly told to put away our cameras. 

The view from our guesthouse.