I was heading off on my daily walk over the hill when I stopped in on Dominic, a 46 year old Brit who owns a couple of houses on the bluff above our bungalows. He's a trip, has traveled extensively, a million stories and each one, pretty damned entertaining, total raconteur. Turns out he was heading on a shopping run into Tong Sala, the main town on the island, so I made a quick change of plans and grabbed a ride into town. My only plan was to score some anti biotics due to this earache that I've developed, and Dominic knows the 'locals place' where the prices are a fourth of what they'd be around the corner. Sure enough, I got a 5 day dose of pennicillin for about $5, and man, that's pretty cool, especially compared with what you have to go through in the states to get your meds. (doctor visit, overpriced, prescription then a trip to the pharmacy, overpriced)
Dom speaks Thai quite well, and we made some stops at the market, at the supermarket, at the welding shop etc, so I got a sense of the town, where the good places are, the best Thai massage, best expat bar etc. It's great to get the local knowledge and we find ourselves having a good time together. He's gonna get some dental work done and I'll wait with my book until we're ready to return to the serenity of Than Sadet on the beach. It's different now, what with the departure of Neale and Asta who are off to Bangkok and then Myanmar. That was a phenomenal connection that we made, and now they are suddenly musicians with songs to practice and a whole new slant on traveling.
I taught them a lot of music, he on the uke, and she on the vocals. Asta is an incredible singer, she just has that 'thing' that you can't teach, an irresistible charisma, sense of humor, joie de vivre, that everyone loves. She could win Lithuanian Idol, if there is such a thing. I taught them about 5 or 6 songs, and they are loving this new wrinkle in their travel. I hope we meet again. We made a recording of 'Glory of Love', me on guitar and she on vocals and it is tremendous. She just has the knack for delivering a song. And it's so cool to see how much she loves it. :-) And her eastern European accent on top of an American song is pretty special. Hopefully I'll get a copy of it and post it to Facebook. We shall see.
I'm a tad forlorn at having to say goodbye, as the connection was one of the best I've ever experienced on the road, but c'est la vie, (la vie), that's the way it goes. I've got a guitar, good health and a gorgeous, economical place to call home, and I'm content with that.
Short post today, not a lot to say....
