simple

one of my closest friend`s in japan is on break from teaching university, and like every year for about as long as i`ve known him, he is headed toff o thailand to the jungle of a tiny island where he will languish for a few months in a hammock doing little more than smoking cuban cigars and playing the occasional game of volleyball or bathing an elephant or something.

i`ve been to bangkok and ayutthaya and some rural areas in between, about eight years ago now. we were shown around by a thai friend who is a professor of thai architecture so we got to see lots of traditional two story riverside dwellings.  i had the time of my life, but it was spent crawling to and fro through thai traffic in the back of a barely road-worthy volkswagen that would quit at the most inopportune times.  the wild dogs running alongside the highway would outpace us. we drank beer and ate packets of jasmine rice, thai donuts and street noodles.  we enjoyed six hour lunches at rural riverside cafes and three hour iced coffees at highway rest stops   on our own we cruised in river taxis and tuk tuks through the big city to places like the indian market and wat arun,  it was an incredible trip that ended in a loving bum pinch and an armful of mangos.

but, but…. i have to hand it to my friend, the hammock thing, he knows how to live.