Tales from Thailand- Part VII "Bests" from THE Beach

Time to make good use of my beach paradise! With only one and a half days left, I needed to really make my time there count. So, early in the morning, I got up and went to my appointment for rock-climbing. After finding the office closed and locked, I wandered into a nearby shop where the proprietor explained, through creative gestures, that the young Thai guy with the long hair had been out drinking very late last night... my guide. For a few seconds I pondered whether I should be upset about this; I decided instead to return later and tease him about it. I spent a leisurely few hours strolling on the beach, eating fried rice cooked in a pineapple (yum!) and reading. When I showed up back at the rock shop, my guide was there but not in a great condition; I advised coffee, but he smiled and shook his head and we boarded a long tail boat to take us around the bend. To his credit, the waves seemed to have no effect on his stomach and he introduced me to another guide on the next beach before taking off in the boat again.

My climbing experience was very enjoyable. I have rarely done anything so physically challenging, so I felt the full effect of the euphoria that apparently arises after having focused the mind and coordinated the body enough to accomplish so strenuous a task; in this case, a formidable stone summit. I had done two climbs and was halfway up the third when my strength suddenly gave out, the combined effect of my lack of fitness and experience and a very depleted level of energy owing to "Bangkok Belly" =/ I definitely intend to do some climbing again once I return home.

The next morning I was awakened abruptly to the sound of my bungalow being broken into... or so I thought. When I started to come to my senses more, I realized that some kind of animals were frolicking (or rather, lumbering!) on the tin roof and creating a tremendous banging sound. They sounded too heavy for squirrels, and cats would undoubtedly be more graceful. So I rolled out from under my mosquito net and opened my door. A monkey was staring me in the face! I recognized it as a Dusky Leaf Monkey, the white markings around the lips making it appear to have a milk mustache! (thank you Psych 402- Primate Behavior, lol).It was very cute! As I was getting ready to leave, I noticed the sky darkening. Thanks to previous experience with Thailand's monsoon rains, I knew I still had a bit of time.

As I walked across the beach with my backpack, I felt a gust of wind rush past me. That was the signal! I started to run, heading right towards the wall of water I could now clearly see in front of me. I reached my intended shelter, but not before getting thoroughly soaked. I was joined by several other people waiting for a boat. It took me several minutes before I realized that the Thai guy had a baby monkey sleeping on his lap! He explained that it had been injured and a troop of these primates had moved in to kill it. It was rescued, but sadly would grow up as a pet, never to return to his native wild habitat. (At least the monkey could look forward to having a steady supply of a certain "substance" on hand... although while I was present, he refused, even if only to keep up appearances, hahaha).