The Kingdom of Thailand

The kingdom of Thailand, where I will go sleeved lest the mandelbrot tattoo on my arm, looking very much like an image of the Buddha, gets me imprisoned (I can barely remember how to say “thank you” in Thai, let alone explain fractal geometry, so sleeves just seem easier…!!!), where to my western ear the tongue is harsh and it sounds like everyone’s mad all the time, where thunder shakes the sky from its skin and the rains have not ceased for hours.
This is where I have landed. It has been a period of transit, and as such, I have vowed to reserve judgement, or the formation of a First Impression, until I have my bearings and have explored this place. I am staying on the outskirts of Khanom, a cute little collection of different-colored bungalows recommended in Lonely Planet. There appear to be only 2 other people staying here right now - a couple (surprise!) - yet another older white man with a young Asian woman… again, I don't know their story, so I am trying to hold off on any assumptions, but I have seen many such a couple since Kuta, and I am going to admit; it creeps me out.
The kingdom of Thailand day 2
rain rain and more rain! like a beautiful lullaby, punctuated by a cacaphonous symphony of jungle birds and the whiz of 2 & 3 & 4-wheeled vehicles speeding by over wet tarmac.
My innate ability to Slow Down, while having perhaps precluded that career as a neurosurgeon or stock trader, serves me well here :)  I have a yoga mat and just enough space to unfurl it, I have guided meditations on my iPhone, and i have 2 good books - “Meditation in Action” by Chogyam Trungpa, and “West of Jesus - Surfing, Science, & the origins of belief” by Steven Kotler. The latter the Universe graciously dropped into my lap; I’d read a review of it in Surfer’s Journal some time ago, et voila, there it stared from the shelves of a laundry service-cum-bookstore I stumbled upon in some dank back alley in Kuta 2 days back.
All this to say that while “my tan” will not be improving here, it seems, I will be just fine - it’ll be a training period for the Inward Journey i will commence next week :)
PS here's how I managed to buy an umbrella...