Catch Up Pt. I

Oh me, oh my, it’s been a long time since this blog has seen new material. Several reasons from L’s end anyway: craziness of trying to wrap up loose ends in Thailand, meeting the 20 kg luggage limit after one year of accumulating things, jet lag, reverse/genuinely new culture shock in Europe, traveling to see friends, plus the big one: being reunited with D!

But there are still stories that need to be told, and after finally finding my camera battery charger this morning, I sat down to try and cover some of them.

1. The Similan Islands

I organized a group trip with 10 of my favorite people and we headed out towards surreal beauty in a speed boat, jouncing along on the waves and avoiding the spiky bamboo fish traps.

The Similan islands are gorgeous. They are considered a Thai national park and efforts are being made to keep them healthy despite the daily plague of tourists (myself included) that are allowed to visit 7 months out of the year. The park closed two dive locations this past year due to coral bleaching, and even snorkeling, as we were doing, revealed a declining underwater landscape, BUT the fish are still beautiful and vibrant. We even saw a sea turtle and some box puffers. My favorite was an incredibly ugly and human-looking fish that I watched dig a hole with its big, human-looking teeth.

The sand there has the consistency of powdered sugar, and yes, the water really is that clear and blue. Amazing Thailand.

Afterward, I went to the Rusty Pelican with S and B, where we dined on mussels steamed in white wine…!!!

2. Last Weeks of School

As the semester came to a close and with different grades taking exams at different times, teaching became much less structured and to my joy I found myself spending entire periods hanging out outside with my students, chatting in English and Thai, reviewing, singing and playing volleyball.

3. One Last Taste…

A few weeks before I left I made a list of all the Thai foods and snacks I would miss and set out to have one last taste of every one of them. This was very enjoyable.

I visited my favorite mango sticky rice (khao niao mamuang) lady:

She can peel a mango with the precision and artistry of a ninja.

And my favorite papaya salad (som tam) lady:

4. Goodbye Beach

5. Octopus Hunting

Not for babies. I thought one of my colleagues had invited me to go crab hunting, but I misunderstood. We hunted on the Point at low tide in the evening.

High tide:

Low tide:

The bottom is a little murky and slimy.

I helped one of my students by keeping an eye on the prawn-tipped bamboo stick he wedged into the entrance of the octopus hole while he scouted for other entrances. Once I saw wispy tendrils emerge from the hole and begin to pull the prawn in, I would frantically begin to yell “geen!” (eat) and grab the other end of the stick. One octopus was so big I had to employ both hands for an all out tug of war with it. My student would come sprinting back with a two-pronged metal rod and spear the rocks right below the visible part of the octopus.

If we were lucky, the prongs would reappear with a pissed off octopus attached.

Live octopus suckers feel very strange on your skin and when you pull them off it sounds like popping bubble wrap. I thought my student and my colleague were selling the day’s catch at the market, but no, they were just bringing home the octopus for their families’ dinners.