Resting here in Thailand with my father and his wife Sandra. Very nice and tranquil here, which is just what the doctor ordered. Sleeping deeply at night, except for last night where I was pleasantly awakened by a strong downpour on the tin roof of the sweet guest house of theirs where I’m staying. I’ll be here for about 5 more days before heading back to the US. This place is a nice transition zone. While I loved India deeply, it can also be a very tiring place to travel. The bumpy and winding roads by bus would be tiring enough, but also living in a much more open and porous way in a country which can have an invasiveness about it also can be tiring on the soul. In addition to that, there is the sadness of disconnecting from a place that I really loved. Part of my heart is still there, wandering the streets pre-dawn, photographing the early morning light as it plays across life as it begins a new day, smelling the scents of food in the streets, seeing terraces carved from the stony soil over thousands of years and perhaps a hundred generations to the point where standing in one place you can see perhaps 250 total kilometers of terraces growing wheat, rice, garlic, or other vegetables or spices. Missing Shanti too in a sweet and simple way, as we shared a very simple life there in the north of India together, So much to say goodbye to. It all became so woven into my own fabric that in a way I feel a little naked away from there.
Funny how it was difficult to leave America in the beginning and now it’s even harder to return. It feels like a nice shift for me, towards being more of a world citizen rather than a coastal northern Californian. I still want to go home and be in my familiar surroundings and spend time with loved ones, but the urge or necessity to do so has declined substantially. Nice change.
I’m slightly guarded as to what might await me there. Mostly I expect to feel bombarded by the energies of others who are in a much more frenetic and accomplishment frame of mind, with the expectations they may have. I’m slower now, and for some of you, that may be difficult to comprehend. I’m much more content now to just go with the flow, so long as it’s a meandering flow and not a raging rapid. Even a raging rapid doesn’t scare me much, just don’t expect me to react much to it. I just want to walk on my beach, smell the sea, feel the sand between my toes, listen to the crash of the surf, and just sit there. Can’t wait to pull out the blue chairs that my friend BJ gave me and share some simple time at the beach there with special friends. You all are welcome to come and share some time there with me, so please let me know.
I’m also open to a lift from the airport on the morning of the 17th if someone reading this is free and wants to take me to my truck in Oakland and perhaps share a lunch.