Yes, it's all her fault. Amira's. She wasn't quite ready to knuckle under in the graduate program in psychology at Antioch and she needed an adventure after her year of working at an adolescent treatment center following college graduation. So last fall she boldly chose a UK gap-year program, and has been here in Thailand since then.
Thus we're here on Koh Samet, with our sweet girl, and we're in utter bliss.
We weren't entirely sure we would make it, in between the insanity of Thai land travel and the insanity of its water travel. The 20-minute motorboat ride we took at warp speed was piloted by a very cheerful but evidently 14-year old Thai boy who only should have been at the controls of a video game. The ocean seemed to be as pocked with cavernous potholes as the roads; the boat shuddered as if it was about to disassemble. It was so jolting and thunderously loud I was convinced we were transporting an entire quarry's worth of boulders below deck.
I would include the video but you might get seasick. Here's a photo, however.
Sheer but exhilarating terror, and then suddenly it was over. Before I knew it we were sweetly drifting toward what appeared to be the shores of Paradise. From monster truck mayhem to utter tranquility in a heartbeat. The engine was cut, the anchor was thrown on the beach, and we disembarked, stepping right into an ocean so warm and gentle it immediately brought to mind amniotic fluid (an analogy to which Meresy said, "Ewwww.").
But we were reborn. Safe in the sweet harbor of Ao Prao, at Le Vimarn Cottages and Spa.
It is Paradise, but you haven't heard the half of how hard it was getting here. For that we shall have to go back in "thaime."
No comments:
Post a Comment