Can't drink the water but you can drink the air

This morning we left our island, Koh Kood. We'd had a properly beachy, sunny, relaxing time. I was grateful to be in this peaceful place of lapping surf and tender seafood, but we are on a bicycle trip and are ready to once again pedal forth. Last night, a Mr. French Man With Crinkly Eyes joined our little group of Mr. Tan Poland and the two American girls. We ate dinner together, overwhelmed by the unimaginably tremendous platters of food we were each served, but relished all of it. Then we all padded, without needing lights, under the smiling half moon to the beach. Mr. Poland joined later, clinking gently, and presented us each with bottles of cold Thai beer.

What simple pleasure it is, to sit under the moon, with the ocean and beer, and company of comfortable strangers. We talked sometimes and were silent sometimes, just all enjoying the night. Mindsets of fellow travelers in isolated locations can so often be the same--curious, relaxed, educated, observant--that conglomerating like this is natural and very rewarding. At one point I looked at my watch, "it's 9:30", I announced. "Oughh!" exclaimed Mr. Crinkly Eyes in his French accent, "I must go bed!"

And so we all retired. Our hut had been appropriated and so Buddy Lissy and I had moved up the street (literally: UP) to a little cabin, in which we could stand. What a novelty! Although I had thoroughly enjoyed the cozy bed-fort feel of the other hut. We flopped ourselves in bed, yet another of the unobligingly hard Thai mattresses; so far this country has had the hardest collection of mattresses I've ever experienced.

"I feel like I'm sleeping on a brick," observed Buddy Lissy.

It's usually not a problem because I fall asleep gratefully and quickly, but occasionally wake up with my hands or arms a-tingly from lack of blood flow. I sat up the other night, to remedy this, and involuntarily punched myself in the lips.

I'd written earlier about the roaster of a hill-grueling ride to get from the ferry dock to our guest house on the island. This morning, after much deliberation on whether or not to lug our bikes onto a non-frugal taxi for the return, we woke in the dark for a dawn pedal-driven departure.

Biking up walls in the morning is much easier than biking walls in the heat of the day. We started our ride with the local community choirs of birds and frogs: I love the morning, the freshness of it, the possibilities to come, how personal it can feel.

Our guest house was in a rather food-secluded location and, besides, there were few food options open that early anyway. I had three bananas (one rather battered) and two spongy cookies, and hoped, with the hope of a hungry Wayman, that I would find some body petrol along the way.

Sweeping around a curve, and a woman was frying something doughy. Little fritters, shaped inexplicably like X-chromosomes. Manna! "Fried fry" (as I saw on a menu here once) and carbs and a little sweetness, unhealthy, but for me very healthy. I had a plentiful bag of them for 63 cents and now the prospect of climbing any steep things was much more manageable.

Our road took us through the singing, chirping, leafing, greening, vining, climbing rain forest. This, plus the X-chromosomes, made me feel like singing.

But wow, even at 6:45 am, was it muggy! My rear-view mirror (incidentally, on the wrong side here because Thailand drives on the left) was all fogged up. You can't drink the water but you can sure drink the air.

A bit of extra zoomful pedaling effort coming down the buggers gave me and my heavy bicycle delicious momentum to keep zooming part way up the next roller. I only had to push and walk once I think. Poor Buddy Lissy though, is on a cranky bike with fewer gears, and she stoically stood and pushed and beasted her way up. In some places it was so steep that going down with even full pressure on my brakes was not enough to bring me to a complete stop.

We are spending the night in the charming town of Trat again, before riding tomorrow to our last night in Thailand.


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P.S. I was hoping to post photos, but my memory card doesn't want to be accepted by the computers anymore. Boo.
P.P.S. Always love hearing from you! Thanks for the comments!