Vagabonding : 2009 August |

Back to Kuala Lumpur

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Knock. Knock. Knock.

Bang! Bang Bang!

I woke up like many times before with no idea where I was. When you live a transient life, it can be very disorienting to wake up in the dark thinking your bed and room is oriented the same as it was last week - but its not.

I reached down with my right hand fumbling for a weapon near the bed, but all I could come up with was my IPOD which had fallen during the night.

Bang! Bang Bang!

It was coming from the door….the headphones were still in a tangled mess around my neck when I went to answer.

“Mister - your taxi is waiting - get up!” In the blinding sunlight I recognized the Thai guy through the crack in the door (no luck finding my boxer shorts either) from reception at my guesthouse. Behind him stood a not-so-happy guy with crossed arms and a scowl…..

The taxi truck driver.

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Posted in Malaysia, Thailand |

Island life Thailand style

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Thousands of strangers from all over the world, meeting under a moon to dance in the sand. Drums pounding.

People have done this for thousands of years, sometimes on beaches, sometimes at stone circles……sure, the circumstances have changed but the way the excitement affects us as human beings hasn’t.

The smells…salt from the Gulf of Thailand just a few meters away, burning kerosene from the shirtless fireshow guys doing their thing in front of an excited crowd sat on the beach. The humid air alive with energy, the cold condensation dripping down the side of my Thai bucket….the Redbull using my heart as a punching bag. This will always be island life in Thailand for me.

Call me a “bad traveler” but damn….I love it!

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Posted in Thailand |

To the party!

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Typical Ko Phangan Beach Party

Imagine this…

You get off a boat onto an island that the average person couldn’t find on a map. No one knows you, you have no peers, no past, no reputation to maintain, and if there is any one place in the world where you will not be judged - this is it. You can basically ditch every social protocol that you have ever been constricted to as soon as your feet hit the perfect sand.

You are practically rich by local standards. If you want power, you can have power. If you want to be a hippy for the first time in your life, a tyrant, a sexual tyrannosaurus, all can be accommodated.

There are basically very few rules in this hedonistic paradise. Dancing until sunrise. Sex (in the water, on the beach). Drugs. You can be as primal as you want and you’ll have lots of company.

An island like this is basically a real test of character. No one knows your name here and what happens on the island, will not only stay on the island but will probably happen again and again and again. Some people fail that test miserably, you can spot them passed out face down in the sand wearing nothing but body paint. Others dance as close to the sticky web of doing things they have to live with later and don’t get caught.

One such island exists…..

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