Ko Pha Ngan
Southern Thailand
late may


saved, brought back to life, given things that i am
not yet really aware of.

woke up to the morning call of no less than 4
roosters. bred for cockfighting, i understand.

cold shower washed away the jungle, the DEET, the
indescribable smell of pure frustration.

she is washing my clothes, feeding me muesli,
massaging my back in the brisk, almost violent Thai
style.

deeply happy to be off the west coast, off the dirty
little beach called Ao Ton Sai, away from the shit
flinging and room trashing monkeys, mosquitos, the
too-fit hippies and dreadlocked all night dancers, and
now -

-now she makes magnificant meals, effortlessly and
with humor, that i would trade a full shifts pay for.

"she" is a beautiful and trilingual german woman named
Sabine who lives on a remote corner of Ko Pha-Ngan and
runs a guesthouse/hotel. it is the most amazing and
most hidden hotel i have ever encountered.

it is composed of only 3 bungalows, high on Dali-style
stilts partially over the sea, over a large garden
filled with basil and papaya bushes, other fruits and
vegetables, chickens and anxious dogs that
terrorize/protect (sound familiar?) the chickens. all
three orbit her own beautiful house.

the bungalows are unusual and attractive - and all
all hand made by the owners. made with driftwood, and
wood pulled off of old (colorful) Thai boats. they
are filled with basic but nice (rustic?) amneties, and
strange nonsensical artifacts that carry less meaning
the more you look at them. by this i mean for example
the picture of Krishna in my room cut from a magazine,
stuck to a piece of driftwoodwood and bordered by a
collection of shells and what appears to be random
flotsam; a small, rusty, half shattered mirror,
useless in function.

Sabine cooks masterful Thai food fresh everynight from
scratch, with fish caught by her husband and
ingredients just plucked from the garden. she is
showing me how to cook in the central Thai style, for
free.

her husband, Sa-Pon, is a happy, ganja smoking
fisherman with stringy hair and several teeth. a
polite savage, he feeds me only home-made liquids;
ones that seem to allow us to communicate despite my
inability to speak Thai.

their child, a half german half thai half rabid
jungleboy, has taken an interest in teaching me how
skip coral shards correctly, as well as mimic farting
noises in what i am sure is the ..authentical thai
style.

i dont know when i can leave this place.


to the beach.
cheers for now,

cem