Saturday, late afternoon, December 28th

The beach at Koh Samui

The ten days on Koh Samui slid by like water, an effortless time of the most excellent Thai food, long sun drenched walks on the scarcely populated beach, intermittent swims and motorbike excursions around and about the island, all lubricated as necessary by the iced fruit shakes common to the island. Banana, coconut, lime and watermelon---to drink one is to fairly dissolve into the essence of the fruit and we drank many.

On a rented motorbike we wander the backroads, poking into fishing villages and seeing what there is of the island away from the single main circling road. We stop to watch trained monkeys work the coconut palms and a young monkey climbs on Misha's shoulder, playing with her hair and wanting not to be put down. We are told that a fully trained monkey is worth as much or more to its owner than an elephant and watch as one climbs the long curved trunk of a palm to sort through the nuts at the top, pulling down those that are ripe enough for harvest. They work six or seven years, then one day think of it as no longer fun and and just quit, a sort of self-retirement program. Once quit, they can't be made to climb again and the investment, no matter its worth, is played out.

We seek out Wats, the religious compounds that include any cluster of Buddhist buildings and may be quite simple or elaborate in the extreme. The Wats of Koh Samui are for the most part quite modest, asking nothing more of the visitor than the removal of shoes in temples. Pulling into one of the more modest but extensive Wats, we were greeted by a smiling Thai of indeterminate age and barely elemental English, who took us from building to building, pointing out the collected artifacts with reverence and making known the age and origin of the major pieces. So we came to know what he told us was the identifying style of certain Buddhas: Indian with one hand down, one resting in the lap; Chinese with both hands up, palms out; Thai with both hands folded palms up across the lap. There is more to it than this, many Buddha positions, some reclining and some standing, signifying many things unknown to us, yet fascinating.

This would be a religion to study, as many westerners have, a religion that gives rather than takes and celebrates the possibility of man, rather than his inadequacy in comparison to a higher being, that reveals all living creatures to be sacred. Wats seem constantly in a state of reconstruction, the work being done by monks themselves, saffron-robed and wielding a plasterer's trowel or paintbrush. After the tour, our volunteer guide offers us seats on a shaded terrace, bringing us fruit and bread and something to drink, refusing offers of payment and wishing us good health and a pleasant journey, happy that we have come.