"Sun, Sand, Song and Men 'Gay'-lore"

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Originally uploaded by Shuchi Mittal.

My rhymes were fading
In the sounds of the sea..
With the frolic around me..
When I tried to write
Brightness was all I felt..
And made the poet in me melt..
So I bid goodbye
To work and plans..
Leaving my mind in a holiday blank..
The rest of the trip
Turned out just fine..
No worries, no walking the line..

And that was the theme of my trip to scorching Thailand..till I ran into..

"Khon Diaw Hua Haai,
Sawng Khon Pheuan Taai"

..meaning..'A person alone loses his/her head, but two people die friends.'

Thai's think that traveling alone on holiday is rather strange and the above very macabre rhyme expresses how awful they find the prospect! How could I sleep well after learning about this...! For a single traveller wandering beach to beach I was skeptical to tell anyone I was on my own. The first two days with a couple friend were spent just fine, specially coz they let me throw my usual tantrums. After that I was left alone..with these words echo-ing in my head reminding me of my solitude..but in spite of it I did manage to have a great get-away.

Phi phi is a haven of gorgeous men, some of most scrumptious food and a world of massages to put you at total ease [and spoil you for life!]. A large percentage of the tourists, travelers rather, were [beg your pardon] gay looking [read breathtakingly handsome and well built] men! Well that was my interpretation of it all anyway. I spent hours contemplating a passerby [there was nothing better to do!] and if there was no acknowledgment of my salivating expression...he was assumed gay! simple! Of course, his friend adorned in white shoes only strengthened my assumption.

I am not homophobic. I'm only agitated. It is almost criminal to deprive us of such a large perfectly divine population of men. The ratio was only matched by the number of angelic [read hot] women floating around the beach in their little nothings. Did I forget to mention that before? Ah well, that could be another reason for no attention to my probably starving look. I don't like to think of it that way though. My ego has taught me well..

For the rest, and coming back to the reason for this post, Thailand. The holiday was about tourists from all over the world [ which made me feel rather ashamed of how far the travel bug flu had carried me!], learning how to twirl fire from my flame friendly 9 year old instructor, doing nothing new, not thinking much [ok thats a lie], talking all I could for 2 days coz I knew the third day I would be by myself and of course, improving my thai!

Finally..from the holiday hotlist..

Travelling alone in Asia - check
Absolutely exercise-free-lazy-lump-of-lard for 4 days- check
Lots of junk food *gulp*- check
No email/internet- errr..Guilty!- Failed
Fire twirling-check
New friends/ met people - check
Water sports- check
No work nightmares - depends on the definition of nightmare- ok failed.

I did it. Well almost...

Cheers to heaps of eye candy, torturous sun burns, feet in dire need of a good pedicure, addiction to the tough hands of a thai masseuse and a rejuvenating 'wan-yut'..

*beep-over and out*