JAZZY'S TRAVELS

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Right now Joslyn and I are on a ferry plodding it's way back towards the mainland. Our plan at the moment is to catch a bus from Surai Thani to Khao Lak...if God and bus schedules permit. About an hour ago we said our final goodbyes to Sheila and Natala as they set off for a day at the spa, and a flight back home; and to be honest, in some ways I wish I was going with them.

But, before I tell you why, let me tell you about the past 10 days...

Over a two day period, starting December 23rd, the Chase family arrived in Bangkok. Over the next two days we spent 6 hours in Chatuchuck Market and the other 42 sitting in taxis on the smoggy dingy streets of BKK...well at least it felt like that. We stayed at The Davis, a nice yet simplified boutique hotel which luckily had a gym for me and in-room internet for Sheila and Natala. These things were vital for 2 reasons:

1) So my fat ass could run
2) So Sheila and Natala could figure out the hotel situation (insert fatalistic "dun dun duune" music here)

This was the start of the ChaOse...(and no, I'm not spelling chaos incorrectly). Allow me to digress for a moment to explain...

ChaOse is a term I coined over the past year which basically describes our family relations. It's a combination of the word "chaos" and our family name on my mother's side "Chase". Thus we arrive at ChaOse.

To sum up the hotel related ChaOse that continued over the next 10 days:
Natala wanted to fly by the seat of her pants but stay in hotels which would dry clean them.
Sheila wanted to plan ahead so we could stay in places with dry cleaning but be in her swimsuit all day and not worry about pants.
Joslyn couldn't afford the places with dry cleaning, yet wanted to buy more pants.
I couldn't afford the resorts, was afraid they wouldn't let me in with my backpacker pants, and just wanted to make sure no one went naked.

I believe we all learned the following things about hotels in Thailand:

• Thailand is a popular place during Christmas and New Years
• If a hotel is booked online, it doesn't mean it's actually full
• Hot showers are a novelty, even at expensive resorts
• It's hard to get "western" quality service when you're not in the "west"

Inspite of these things, it all worked out for the best. We left BKK (Bangkok) on the 26th, spent 4 days in Kho Phangan on a nice beach on the eastern side of the island (Ao Thong Nai Pan Yai. For a map of the island click here...I'm all about the "click here"'s this entry), and then went on to Ko Samui for 2 nights including New Year's Eve, where we stayed at the Coral Bay Resort (it's nice, but crap...no time to explain).

Sawadee Pi Mai by the way (it means "Happy New Year" in Thai).

The past 10 days together have been amazing inspite of the ChaOse. New Year's Eve was a blast, the hotels have been beautiful, and the conversation has been stimulating. It's been wonderful to have family around and I truely believe we all bonded and learned things about each other that we never could have learned at home. So, even though I still have Joslyn for another 10 days I was really sad to see Tala and Sheila go. Which brings me back to why I kinda wish I was going with them.

On our 4th day in Kho Phangan I had a morning I believe relieved Pat Pong of it's champion title "Lowest Low". My camera ceased to work and I broke out like a 16 year old with overactive oil glands (no, it wasn't that bad, but it felt like it). I know you may laugh off the breakout but it's honestly the worst I had ever looked and to experience this for the first time at the age of 24 was a bit unsettling. As I stood looking in the mirror that morning I found myself understanding why so many kids with facial issues don't look people in the eyes and have low self confidence. All I wanted to do was put on a hat and crawl into a hole, a hole which would hopefully fit both me and my hat comfortably. Luckily the air conditioning at the resort in Samui helped considerably, but I'm still considering starting a support group at the local high school...

As for my camera... it's basically useless. When it's on, the screen is staticy, changes colors and blurs.

An obvious improvement from it's previous ability.

So here I am a filmographer without a camera in the middle of a trip of a lifetime. Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed in Bangkok for less than the price of the camera. If not I'm faced with the new dilemma of mailing it back to the company to be repaired under warrenty, and then sent to find it's way back to me somewhere on my travels.

Add to this my lack of excitement for Thailand because of the amount of "western" tourists which trod all over it's surface.

Plus the anguish caused by always having to eat at restaurants when all I want is a fridge I can open at will without a financial transaction.

Mix in the frustration of having an American Express Traveler's Check Card that for some unknown reason has decided not to work.

Top it all off with the mild depression which results from not being able to workout on a daily basis...

And you have met a backpacker who doesn't want to be backpacking.

It's not that I want to go home, it's just that I don't want to be here, and where exactly "here" is, I'm not sure. Thailand, the tourist track, my head...who knows. I guess I'm just a little homesick, and I need to get back into travel mode. I haven't had to "travel think" since before Chiang Mai (almost 21 days!), and I've been feeling really unproductive as a result. I figure I'm gonna take the next 10 days with Jos to get us both excited about travel. Wish me luck...