A normal life on Koh Tao
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
44
62
Trip End
Aug 07, 2008
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Ko Tao,
Thailand
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
I had got a joint taxi-boat arrangement the prior day, so I waited outside of that very convenient 7-11 to be picked up. Admittedly, yes, it is strange to see a 7-11 in Thailand, but really, they're all over the country. The taxi came a bit late and then as we were waiting at the next stop to pick up others, a girl came by and asked if she could also get a ride up the road. She was just then going back to her hotel from the Full Moon Party-by this time it was 2:15pm. Finally, the other group of people got into the taxi: 6 British boys, all still with their body paint on. Clearly no one had had time for a shower. :)
I waited, tired, in the sun, for the boat to come (it was late) with hundreds of other tired Full Moon farang (westerners). A boat came, so everyone crossed over to the other side of the parking lot, but they were only letting people with Bangkok destination stickers on. Another boat came, the remaining 75% backpackers trudged crossed back to the original pier. Finally I got on and sat in one of the only available seats, under an a/c vent. I really enjoyed it for the first 2 minutes and shivered for the next 88.
Abby's house
I sat near a girl who had 2 mismatched flip flops on-one had been lost the night before. Really, everyone was just a disaster.Boat docks, I get off and see Abby! It had been 6 years since I last saw her, or really, since we even really talked. She looked very much the same, but more tan. We get on her motorbike (in my 3 days on Koh Tao, I saw 3 cars, maybe. It's an island with only a few streets, and tiny ones at that, not all paved) and moto to her house. It's a bit precarious with my heavy backpack, but we made it.
Very cute house! 2 bedrooms, living room, bathroom, kitchen etc all the regular parts that a house has. I haven't been in a real house since I left California in early June. Air conditioning unit, hot water, refrigerator where people won't throw my food out (as it happened at the sanctuary once). Clean couch I can sit on. A computer I don't have to pay for. Out of all my hotels, hostels, guest houses, so-called "mansions," and bungalows, this is the only real home of my 8 weeks. Abby, a scuba dive instructor, lives in this house with her boyfriend Jeroen, who is Dutch and also an instructor.
Abby and I sit on the aforementioned comfy couch and just talked for quite a while about our youth and our youthful relationships. Then the conversation continued and moved to Fizz beach lounge where we had a few sunset drinks.
The conversations this whole time with Abby have been so real. It wasn't about where I'm from, what my travel plans are, what I do back home, why Thailand, etc (or it was a little bit of that, but 99% more).
Koh Tao beachy
It was soooo nice to sit and talk about real things with someone who I've known since the beginning of 2000. I almost cried just about six times, mostly when we were discussing some sad issues in regards to our group of friends, but also when she was telling me a story of how she was able to teach a man paralyzed from the waist down for the past 20 years how to scuba dive. Not to mention, through speaking with her, I get to learn a lot about Thailand that Lonely Planet doesn't tell me, such as what the current relationship is between Thais and Burmese people who all live on Koh Tao, and the short answer is no good at all. A longer answer would go into really surprising information about how the Thais in charge impose a curfew on the Burmese and prohibit Burmese from owning things like mobile phones. Such ugly discrimination carefully hidden amid the beautiful island.Some background: Abby and I met over 8 years ago, actually I know the exact date: February 14, 2000, on Valentine's day. I was on my very first date with Evan, the guy who is referred to as my "high school boyfriend" and still my longest relationship to date. Evan is friends with Abby and also Max. After dinner, Evan and I went to the hip Evanston coffeehouse Kaffein, where Abby and Max were also having coffee after their first date. Such was the beginning of several important relationships. Abby and I spent the next 2.5 years knowing and spending time with each other, but mainly within the larger group. We actually hadn't talked much since Evan and I stopped dating in 2002, but when I told Evan earlier this year that I was going to Thailand, he reminded me that Abby lives here! Thus, I am now using her laptop on her couch.
Sunset drinks lasted until it was dark, and then Jeroen calls and says his bike isn't working, so for a moment we think we have to go pick him up and then ride 3 to a bike, aka "Thai style." Then the problem gets solved and Abby and I ride only as a duo to another part of the island, which is really almost completely in the dark, to a friend's house.
We go to Giles' house and meet up with Jeroen, Mathilda, Vic, and later Helena and Andy. They are all scuba friends and their varied backgrounds include Dutch, Welsh, British and Bosnian. We have the most normal night a group of 20-30somethings could have: we drink beer and cocktails, order in some really great pizza, and play girls-against-boys Pictionary. On a tiny Thai island with an international crew of friends, this is Abby's typical life: so "normal!"
The only noticeable difference is that it's a British version of Pictionary, so there are phrases to draw like "full of beans" (someone who has a lot of energy), "Manchester United" (soccer/football team), and "piggy in the middle" (aka monkey in the middle to Americans). Anyway. It's hilarious and a really fun night, I definitely enjoy seeing Abby again and meeting her friends, and we go back to the house all tired out to go to sleep. Lovely Koh Tao.
