The beach...continued

On Tuesday morning, my friend Linda went back to Bangkok to be part of the real world again and to get some work done. I continued lounging, napping, and reading. My student, Pat, arrived the same morning with her mother who had come to discuss the hotel business with the family. Wednesday during breakfast they invited me to go out on a dolphin watching expedition. We waded out into the aquamarine water and climbed into a wooden boat that had a huge motor on the end of it. The ocean air, the weathered boatmen, the sun--all of it reminded me of my dear friend Mickey and I found myself wishing he could be there with me to enjoy it. Sigh. Pat's uncle handed me a sun hat (I had neglected to pack my big floppy hat so I had to sport the baseball cap) along with the snazzy life vest. I watched Pat put on her life vest like she was already drowning and I asked her if she could swim. She said she could but not well.

On our trek, we saw about five dolphins. They weren't exactly jumping out of the water the way you see at Sea World, more like skimming the surface with their backsides. I saw squid floating in the water and schools of shrimp jumping on top of the waves along with hundreds of other little fish flying through the air. Actually, a couple dozen of them flew right into the boat. They were small, no longer than three inches each, but there were so many of them it was like it was raining fish for a few moments. They floundered on the floor of the boat and we scooped them out and into the water, laughing the whole time.

Before we had gone out on the boat, Pat's family ordered lunch for us so when we made it back to the shore, a feast was waiting for us. Neptune's bounty was brought out to us several dishes at a time. It is pretty common in Asia for everyone to eat family style. This is bad juju for the picky eater but it allows me to try all sorts of entrees I would never order. I was a little nervous because I have only recently expanded my diet to include seafood other than hush puppies. I can do shrimp (although I prefer it already peeled), I like crab (but I usually buy it already picked for cheesy crab dips), and I only eat fish that I know the name of. This was going to be a challenge. Laid out before me was a crab curry with glass noodles (whole crabs), fish head soup (don't know what kind of fish), the biggest grilled shrimp I have ever seen (with the head and eyes still on), a fried fish in a pepper honey sauce (more fish eyes), a salad with fried shrimp and cuttlefish tossed in a tasty hot hot hot lime pepper dressing, and fried battered squid. I tried everything, even the fish head soup which was...different. I loved the salad although it 'bout near set my mouth on fire. The part that amazed me most was that all the seafood came right out of that glittering body of water a few paces off to my right. I don't think I had to eat for the rest of the day.

Now, I don't want you to think that my vacation was perfect in every way. It almost was, but there were a couple of creatures that marred the experience. Just a tad. If you don't know already, there are lizards everywhere in Thailand. I see them at school all the time--running and scurrying or stuck to the walls, waiting. I understand that lizards are a part of nature and they have their place. But I don't think that place should be in in my hotel room or anywhere near my canopy bed. I never saw a lizard in my room but I saw evidence of them in more places than I would like. And I heard them. Often. Geckos are loud little buggers. In the middle of the night I would be awakened by the loud sound of "gecko gecko gecko gecko gecko." Ugh.

The other creature was a little more traumatizing. Remember the Brady Bunch episode when one of the Brady boys wakes up and there is a tarantula on his chest? I used to not be able to go to sleep if that image even crossed my mind. So, here I am, in my cozy little lizard infested resort, taking a shower, and something large and dark lands on my face. ON MY FACE! My first thought was that it was a clump of hair, the kind you find on your drain after the shower. I don't know if I was thinking that the shower head was spitting up hairballs or what; that was just the first thing that crossed my mind. I casually batted it away and then looked at the floor to see that it was a humongous spider! HUGE! It reminded me of George that used to live in Jessica's bathtub in New Kent County. It was probably five inches in diameter. Paralyzed with fear, nekkid, in the shower with an arachnid that has obviously had a steady diet of miracle grow, I didn't know what to do. Times like this a strapping young man would come in handy. Or a lizard. A Gecko. "Here gecko gecko gecko..."