How to quit your job and travel around the world

Fast is over! I feel really great - and have lost about 6 pounds over the past few days. I ate a papaya with yogurt for breakfast and have had a pineapple juice and will have a raw salad tonight before going back to cooked food tomorrow. Went to check out a waterfall this afternoon, which was nice and then stopped on the road at the sweetest little guest house - Chompoo Coffee - on the way back. When I came in the woman said "Oh you alone!" and rubbed my arms in this grandmotherly way. After she made my juice she gave me a tour of her fruit tree garden (bananas) and made a little bag of fruit for me to take on my walk back from the waterfall.

One thing thing that's been really noticable to me is that so much of my interaction with Thai people has really been with women. Femininity clearly is treated so very differently here. Maybe this is an odd example, but it kind of summed it up for me. When I was in Bangkok I went to visit this royal compound in Dusit, which is now a park. Some of the smaller buildings had been turned into mini museums, which included among other things a the Queen's seashell collection. It was a beautiful room, filled from floor to ceiling with perfect, polished seashells. Thousands of them in all sizes and shapes. It was sort of like walking through what an eight-year-old girl might imagine the perfect seashell collection to be. Very pretty pretty princess. Things that are overtly girly and feminine are really championed here, which is why I suppose so many men come here to find female companionship. And while the femininity of the women is highly appreciated, I can't really tell to what extent their role in the larger society is. They are, by far, the backbone of the hospitality industry (at all levels), and that industry is one of the largest in Thailand, so by default they actually hold a lot of power. Whether that's considered by them I have no idea.

Another interesting thing is the lack of male attention I've been getting - far less than anywhere I have ever been, including almost anywhere in the states. The Thai men don't particularly interact with me unless it's some sort of transaction and the western men mostly are busy with Thai women. Not complaining one way or the other, but it's something that stands out to me. (Jesus christ, what is that stink?)

Enough deep thoughts...back to the spa scene. Well, not much is different at the spa scene except I can eat. I told myself I wouldn't have alcohol for a week (no beer) since I'm all cleaned out now. I'll let you know how that works out for me. I can't say I remember the last time I went 10 full days without a drop of beer or wine - this could be harder than the fast. And less fruitful. Stay tuned.

Tea ceremony on Feb. 23 with San Bao.


Sunset light with Lamai beach in background.

Late afternoon looking south across Lamai beach.

The spa's restaurant where most of the time is spent nursing coconut juices.

Still no photos, but will post some tomorrow. I am wrapping up day two of the fast and feeling ok. In addition to detox drinks, you are also allowed to drink fresh coconut water, carrot juice and these liver flush drinks, which are basically cayenne, lemon and garlic in OJ. Yucky. I'll spare everyone the details, but the colonics aren't so bad. I'll save the scattological humor for one-on-one emails, but it's some interesting shit, this fasting business. According to Dr. Bernard Jensen, who's the master on this sort of thing in his book "Guide to Better Bowel Care", everything begins and ends with pooper. All disease, all foul emotions, everything! It's beyond Freudian. Frankly, I just like making poop jokes for 24 hours straight.

After a two hour Thai massage I ventured out to the hillside encampment of this spa where I joined a tea ceremony. You want to know where all of the hippies went from the late 60s and 70s? They are chilling in Koh Samui still talking about their LSD days and Sun ceremonies. It's like being in an Oliver Stone movie. The tea ceremony, which is bascially a circle of people jawing about this and that, while the tea master mixes the brew up and serves it up. We tried about 7 or 8 different Oolong teas and a Jasmine Dragon Pearl. We literally got high on the tea (yes, it was just tea). Partly it was from fasting, but there's something else that makes you have giggle fits in the tea. Anyway, it was definitely hippie dippie, especially when one woman gravely related how she spoke to a tiger and everyone solemnly nodded in appreciation of her union with the wild thing. I was still giggling into my oolong. It's pretty far out.

To be honest after not eating for two days now, I am realizing that hunger (what we think of as hunger) is just another craving from an addiction, like that for a cigarette. Since I so recently quit smoking, I am using many of the same techniques to just not eat: distracting myself, remembering how good it is to give my intestines a break, envisioning how clean I am on the inside. Obviously, I love food almost more than anything, but it's been a really good experience so far to alter my perspective on it.

No photos today, as the computer is from the stone age. I arrived yesterday morning on the island of Koh Samui, about one hour south of Bangkok by air. I have to say flying in was a bit disturbing because you can see large swaths of cut trees and hillsides dug out presumably for development. On the ground isn't terrifically better - at least on the coast. It's a bit depressing. I am sure that up in the hills overlooking the ocean is nicer, but right along the water, I can't say that this is the best beach I've been to. Ok, but that's like complaining between great and greater...I am at the Spa Samui, sort of this new age fasting retreat, where I am doing a three-and-a-half day fast.

First observations - I think I am the only American, but the place is loaded with Brits and a lot of whom look pretty unhealthy, which leads to me to think some are here to really detox a winter's worth of pints. The woman I met this morning was like "I don't have a problem, but I do drink a lot. I mean, they had champagne cocktail on the flight. FRENCH champagne. How could I resist?" Her flight was at 6 a.m. by the way. I told the nice lady she was preaching to the choir.

Anyway, it's a bit of a new age boarding school since most people are here for a minimum of 5 days, and most are here for 10 days. The restaurant is great - or at least the the two meals I tried, since I am now on the fast. The fast has this pretty rigourous schedule of detox drinks, supplement tablets, coconut juice and liver flush drinks. In between basically you nap, read or get massages. Oh and get colonics! I haven't done mine yet, and I am totally freaked out and I will spare everyone the details. Or not. People are really hard core about it - there is a testimonial notebook, where people write down what their experiences have been. As sort of progressive and new age as I have ever been (which is basically limited to anything they sell at Whole Foods), I am practically a Calvinist compared to some people here. I can't even explain. (Much like I can't explain why German women, not young ones either, insist on getting corn rows when they come to the beach. It is a mystery of the highest order.)

So, yeah, that's the deal. I want to explore the island more but they really have you tethered to the spa with all the things you have to do for the fast. Poops, have to run - the colonics seminar is about to begin. And there's a video. Lucky me.

Best Fish Ball Soup Ever in Bangkok's Chinatown.

A vendor scoops dried shrimp in Chinatown.

I have been saved from the backpacker ghetto! Through a friend in New York, I had the number of young Thai guy, who has been so great. He took me with his friends to a microbrewery/music venue last night, where we saw some amazing Thai music followed by the most rocking version of "I love rock and roll" ever. Today, I brought all my stuff to Neng's apartment and then headed out to Chinatown, which is such a sensory overload in the best way. By way of the world's largest golden Buddha, where I tossed in a few bhat for an amulet for good luck, I worked my way into the labyrinth. Basically each street is a one-trick pony as far as merch - all flip flops on one, all sink faucets on another, pig lips here and fresh ground pepper there. I did walk by one disturbing thing as I wandered into an inner inner alley to check out a Chinese shrine of some sort: boxes of cages full-grown cats stacked. Now, most of the cats I have seen are roaming freely around, so I am not really sure why these were caged...

Next stop was a street vendor for freshly fried egg rolls. As I pointed to some the other customer, an older Chinese woman, made a big thumbs up. Anyway, I realized after a few bites why she was so happy with me - it was a chitling egg roll. I managed to eat one and most of a second before I had had enough guts for the day. Still hungry, I pulled into another food stand and had a bowl of fish ball soup, which was quite possibly the best thing I've had yet.

On my way back to Thong Lo I decided to stop in for a bikini wax, since I am heading to the beack tomorrow. Let's just say they really have an eye for detail! I wouldn't call it a wax, so much as a tweeze, and it takes more than an hour. Yoweeee! We must suffer so for beauty. That, by the way ladies, cost me $4.

One more thing - when I was packing I was really confused about electronics here. Here's the deal, the plug prongs are the same as the US but the voltage is 220. However, a lot of electronics have built-in converters in the plug unit, like the iPod and HP digital cameras. So basically, I haven't had a problem here. Other countries I am heading to may be different, so I'll update as I find out.

Preserved White Elephant skin at the National Elephant Museum in Dusit.


Outside of Jim Thompson House. Like almost everywhere, you must take your shoes off before entering an inside space. Going to the JT house is a dream for barefeet: the teak floors feel like walking on velvet. In fact I visited another historic mansion (the Vansamek Royal residence) and it was the same. Clean polished teak is so amazingly heavenly to walk on. Make like a cat and tread your feet in place.



The khlong outside JT House.

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Detail of garden at Jim Thompson House.


Catherine in garden at Jim Thompson House. This house was the most beautiful teak compound owned by Thailand's most famous farang. According to the legend he was CIA who then retired here and established the Thai Silk Company and was basically man about town, hosting all the notables including Ethel Mermen. He dissapeared mysteriously in Malaysia in 1967.