Ao Phrao

Laptopper again in the am, cloudy today and a few raindrops tapping on the roof. I can focus on my projects here, it's like the writer who moves into a hotel room for a few days to isolate themselves from the daily distractions. Here I can do it for a whole month.

Time for my 2:00 p.m. swim, this time I go the furthest south possible. It takes three 10 percent grade climbs. I walk on to a very wide sandy bay and there are no three, four or five star resorts, just a few cabins and a couple of restaurants. The vibe strikes me right away, this is utter simplicity and quiet, like you would find in the 1930s and just as you sink into that feeling you hear the sweet and bluesy licks by Peter Green from the late '60s. This place is a time warp.

The swim doesn't disappoint either, so far all corals are dead and covered by brown algae, but today I saw three heads of live white coral full of polyps. How these three heads are thriving in this warm sea is a mystery, but it brought me excitement and jubilation for their being. In a flurry an enormous school of a thousand bright yellow sardines zipped by all around me.

I'm having a sunset dinner and I'll definitely be back for breakfast with my laptop. This place gives me warm fuzzies. As the sun sets I know I am livng a dream.Les mer