~when the rocking, rolling music meets the rising, shining sun~

When I told Jose she was the second person I met who's raved to me about the meditation retreat she replied that I'd probably meet a third since things happen in threes. Those insights have no place in my worldview so I shrugged it off and left it on the backburner.

The journey to Suan Mokkh International Dhamma Hermitage first brought me to Krabi for three days to spend with friends. The first night, Henry biked down to catch up on a month's worth of our respective travels. (Now him and Luke are in the land down under seeking employment). Before we knew it we'd managed to entice a couple Torontites (an econ major teaching eng and a marine biologist working in IT) into a discussion of whether free market economics or a politically corrupt oligarchy under the guise of capitalism has crumbled societal and ecological balance and how to get off this disasterous crash course. The two econ nerds maintained that carefully regulated but ultimately free markets can reverse the downward spiral while Henry and the marine biologist argued for a more heavy handed suffocation of corporate power by a benevolent government. Martial law in Thailand cut our debate short as places to buy beer closed early and everyone knows meaningful discourse is empty without booz.

The next morning I hopped a ferry to the Railey peninsula to meet my Chiang Mai hostelmate, Mike. Railey is separated from the mainland by a sizeable mountain making it one of the best places in Thailand for rock climbing amd base jumping.

Mike and I followed a couple American girls, English teachers playing hooky, to Ton Sai, the secluded north side of the penninsula. We were greated by this giant peace sign,

more beach art and happy shake solicitations. I immediately realized this was the Pai of Southern Thailand (an overhearing sun-bather confirmed my view). We lounged sipping beers watching the most incredible slackliners and jugglers

while geeking out about good music with a couple Nova Scotians. I was pleased to learn that Nova Scotia is exactly as depicted in Trailer Park Boys (which if you haven't watched you should); it has a reputation of being the white trash of Canada but is populated by kind, welcoming, simple, nature-loving folk. I'd love to visit someday.

We later met Mike's college buddy up and tresspassed  around a blocked off cave before heading to East Railey, the party side. We watched a quiet lounge with an acoustic guitar blossomi nto an open mic event before developing into a crowded bar, raging Poi show,
 and finally devolving into a mindless grindfest of trashy european techno. We opted to recede into the deserted ocean landscape alive with phytoplankton (which for obvious reasons I could not photograph).

The next day and half I flopped around Ton Sai, eating, resting, and even finding creative solutions to my chess-pieces-but-no-board problem.

It met another chick from St. Louis, a marquette grad who's been abroad four years now floating between teaching jobs.

So besides Mike being a fellow Jewish travel junkie keen on chess, making decisions by flipping coins and having wallets with coin pockets, it was interesting meeting him for another reason. He fulfilled Jose's prophesy by also doing an anapanasiti meditation retreat in India. He HATED it. He said that though it was a transformative experience he could not tolerate the Buddhist dogma that they tried to jam down his skull. He took issue with the Buddhist's closed minded approach to mind altering substances and pointed out that the strict mandate of sexual abstinance would lead to the annihilation of humanity. It planted a seed of caution in my mind but I was not to be deterred.