Wondering...

 You might be wondering how long will I be here in Bangkok and what I will be doing? Two very good questions and the answers to both are unknown at this point. Initially I was planning on getting a longer term visa (up to 9 months) but logistics and the situation on the ground and in my heart changed  since leaving Bermuda, so my visa is for two months with the option of extending a month...we'll see how it goes in the next few weeks.

As to what I'll be doing...for sure continuing to work on my Thai, I've (re)taught myself to read and write again over the past few months - just finished working through this page here - but at times it's laborious at times and my brain feels like mud...so many rules to remember!! Maybe this is age, maybe jetlag...

I originally planned to spend most of my time up north where I did the fields two years ago and will probably get up there for a few days but most of my time will be spent in Bangkok and hopefully getting to the beach and visiting places I've never been, but some of this will be determined by Covid and individual province regulations and quarantines. Despite my wandering status this year, I really do want and need to have some semblance of community around me and I am hopeful for that here in Bangkok and being able to reconnect with friends and make new ones.

Part Two of the answer to what will I be doing...is perhaps a little deeper...

I woke up at 2:30 in the morning of my second night here (thank you again jet lag) to a terrific thunderstorm and lightning show and suddenly realized that I am on the second leg of my 'eat pray love' tour. Though my story and journey is not the same as Elizabeth Gilbert's, I appreciate the categories to play and work with.

Bermuda was less about literal eating, but it was about paying attention to and nourishing my body and my senses. I needed to be surrounded by water and sky. I needed to be able to plunge under the water and disappear. I needed the crashing waves that could end my life if I wasn't careful. I needed the challenge of currents, of the cold and the deep. I needed to encounter 'the other' in the form of underwater beauty, creatures, colorful, watchful, usually not but sometimes dangerous... I also needed to be surrounded by asparagus ferns and spice tree forests, sea grapes, hibiscus and so many other plants that covered the hillsides. I needed the wind and the salty air. I needed to run up and down hills and fill my lungs with Atlantic air, I needed to watch the blue sky and hear the rain. I needed to hear the little frogs singing at night. All of this calmed my body, strengthening it and I hope providing some healing.

Thailand is about attending to my spirit and my soul. As soon as I arrive in Thailand I am calm and content and at peace. I don't understand this but it's always been that way. I won't be hanging out in an ashram ala Elizabeth Gilbert but I will be with community that challenges and encourages my faith even through language and cultural differences and often an inability to understand.

Don't ask about the love  portion of the trip (how about we use the word friendship or community??) but the tickets are booked for that too - later on this year. Hopefully I will see a few of you on that third leg of the journey!

Duncan