Katie came from Mumbai via Delhi. Amelie came from New York. I came from Hanoi. We converged in Bangkok for one night, then took off for points south, lolling at a tres gay, absolutely beautiful beach where we did little but sun and eat for three days. The thing that’s excellent about the beach is that one’s neurons go into heat hibernation, firing perhaps once or twice a minute. Traveling solo around the world requires the capacity to function in sensory overload mode pretty much all the time. Having my brain on holiday was a welcome change.
Here are shots from our fabulous sojourn. Part one, not because I’m being clever, but because I’m having uploading issues. What else is new. This is the developing world, after all.
Happy Katie – always a lovely sight.
Amelie’s legs – another lovely sight.
Siam, resident heartbreaker, will show you to your table at the restaurant straight ahead.
Where the cream in your curry comes from.
Cutealicious boys love to mug for the camera the world over.
The hotel’s longtail anchored in a lagoon in the center of an island. We snorkeled nearby.
 My bed draped in mosquito net and sunlight. Limestone islands through the gauze.
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More to come.
I miss Siam, warm weather, and neuron hibernation. Can we go back now?
The next time we’re in Asia, it’s Kerala, India, we’re going to beach at. I’m in a town called Varkhala on the Arabian Sea.
Dolphin sightings at breakfast.
300 rupees for an umbrella and a rusty loungechair.
Warm surf with a cool edge that cuts the heat. Strong currents but blue-suited lifeguards keep an eye.
Brilliant storms and supersticky humidity.
Power outages and outrageously large insects.
Red ants outside my door devoured a salamander to its bones in less than two hours.
Tropical mosques, men in dhotis, way too much “Tibetan” crap for sale.
Westerners in questionable pants.
I don’t want to leave.
I’m all over Kerala like sweat on a cold Kingfisher. Someday, someday not so far away, I will watch red ants devour a salamander (sure it wasn’t a gecko?). Sigh.