koh lanta

i spent the last three days couchsurfing with suriya chuichom, sleeping on his floor (concrete), riding around on a motorbike i rented from him, and using his expert advice to explore the island. he has two full-time jobs, one working nights at the reception desk of a resort, the other running a tourist booking agency out of his home.

i've been fasting for the last three days, so i had to fill my days with something besides eating. i spent one day up above a waterfall and one day perched up on top of a hill in the rotting frame of an abandoned restaurant overlooking the sea, islands, and the thai mainland in the background. the whole hillside was basically abandoned, just me and big raptor birds floating on the updrafts.

i went swimming, rode motorbike to every corner of the island, and watched the sun set from a different beach each night. i got lots of reading done, lots of sitting, stretching, singing, dancing and exercising. i get to cut loose when traveling alone and hiding out in the jungle.

i'm fasting for many reasons, but partly because eating was dominating so much of my time and thoughts, and partly because everything here is either fried in partially-hydrogenated oils (loaded with trans fats, i would die early living here) or loaded with coconut milk. i think i need whole grains and wheat bread to feel healthy and normal.

but i've really enjoyed this. hopefully it will help me have more will power over hunger and get me to appreciate food in small portions, which i generally fail to do (i'm the live to eat type, not the other way round). i'll start eating again tomorrow.

i'm about to catch the night-bus back to bangkok, where i will stay with couchsurfer fang again and meet eli, so that we can arrange travel out of southeast asia, finally, after staying two weeks longer than expected. no amount of time is really enough to be satisfied with this region. oh well, i'll just have to come back.