This morning as I trekked out of Sanom Beach, the cycle of the tides brought big waves sloshing underneath the bamboo path. Pi Jaeng warned Ra Wang Tanon Mai Pai be careful of the bamboo path (he actually used the word path in Thai which I’ve forgotten and replaced with road) and then Mai Keng Rang Lao Its not strong anymore. Its so nice to be learning more and more Thai. Progress is slower than it could be since so many of the key players here speak English, but I’m still learning and loving the opportunity to speak Thai.
I met a slim blond boy at Pee Pee Bakery, where I got a chocolate croissant for breakfast. I told him about the snorkeling trip and he was really keen to go. At Pooh’s place I met back up with Neils and Jessica, a honeymooning couple, who are also interested so the trip was a full booked go ahead!
At 11:00 Neils Jessica, and I went to meet Pi Tasha start a volunteering day to pick up trash on the road and beech. We got big black garbage bags, and walked down to the beech together and no sooner had we reached the beach and started putting things into bags, when a wonderful Thai couple (friends of Tasha and I) come along and start helping us out too: It was Pi Som (who in an earlier chapter sold the hotdogs on a stick) and her husband with a motorbike and sidecar. John came and joined, and then two more Dutch tourists came and joined in. Soon we had gotten more bags and rakes and were raking debris, and sorting recycling. Some construction workers on their break from the resort we were cleaning in front of came out to pitch in too. It was delightful to see the tourists, and the islanders cleaning and working together. I can’t say we weren’t having a really good time, actually.
We cleaned all the way around a Thai man lounging in a hammock by the sea, who watched us revealing little in his impassive face: perhaps he was equally balanced by no wanting us to disturb his relaxation or ask him to join, and not minding us cleaning his front yard. I thought it was a little funny, Neils was frustrated at first saying “look how they just watch us and do nothing!” I said, “maybe he’s working hard on a construction job and this is his one break in the day so he wants to relax not have some foreigners telling him what to do”. Beyond him, there were two guys who were sitting together, one got up to help and the other got up and left so as not to have to. The one who helped held the bag while I picked up bits of rubbage to toss in – bottle caps, crushed cups, the occasional diaper, bits of string and foam pieces (which crumble in your fingers frustratingly) and shards of broken glass and so many disposable lighters and water logged flip flops! We said we could start a shoe store, if you can find two of the same you don’t have to pay. Also, I don’t see how there could possibly be enough smokers to account for all of the disposable lighters I have found on beaches over my life. Beaches must be where disposable lighters go to die.
When we had done about maybe 5% of the kilometer beach a nice streach on either side of the Walking Street road, we went up onto the raod. Here we loaded up the side care on the motorcycle with the bags, and we’d got quite a system going for rubbage, and plastic, and glass and aluminum. At the first store, the woman store owner donated more plastic bags and offered us all a free drink from the cooler. We took a break, sitting on the front step and hanging around the motorcycle, chatted, joked, and felt very wonderful. It was so nice to be able to do something to help, and to pitch in alongside new friends. The new Holland couple introduced themselves as Onna and Grald. Neither looked like the kind of person I would have pegged to pick up trash for a whole day in the hot sun during their vacation: and that exactly why judging someone by looking at them is nuts. She had platinum blond hair, medium short length, and he was a big guy wearing a red t shirt. I can’t say, now, why I was so surprised and delighted when they joined in. Maybe it was how they picked up the trash at first; they looked like they were picking up trash. Holding it in small handfuls away from their bodies like it might smell on them or cut them or ooze on them at any moment. This, of course, was the rational way to handle it, but by the end we were all grubbing big handfuls of litter, picking little bits from the dirt, tossing and sorting into the motorcycle car like pros. We had quite an armada as we went down the street, receiving more donations of bags, and new helping hands as we went. We built a sort of crazy efficient machine, with Pi Som and Pi Newt, a Thai woman who works near the pharmacy, sweeping into pans, and Tasha wraking up piles that Jessica and I would pluck through, and Grald, Neils and John grabbing the bigger pieces, and Pi Newi driving the motorcycle slowly along to our new spot… and so on. Between the hilarious John and Neils we were laughing and joking all day long. At one point, by the hot and long end (three and a half hours later), Neils and John were skipping and singing an Australian version of 99 bottles of beer on the wall. We made it all the way down the walking street. We had some water and guava – the fruit that gives foreigners or Farang their name. this led enevitably to more echos of the joke “a foreigner eats a guava” “or Farang eats a Farang”
About half way, a little tiny girl with a giant rainbow umbrella came out and followed us. When we were busy trying to decide what to do with a huge pile of junk a family had just let accumulate in front of some currently out of commission bins by their home, the little girl came over and took a rake quietly from near the cart. She proceeded to start raking the leaves in the street behind us. Pi Tasha ran to get the rake back before I could snap a photo, but it almost broke my heart with happiness to see her copying our cleaning brigade.
By three o’clock we were exhausted, and Lipe’s main street was shinning. We took a break, but all agreed to meet back up at 7 pm at Tasha’s for a big bar-b-que dinner together. We showered, snacked, and recovered. I met with Tasha and helped make salad in the tiny kitchen behind her place. He place is actually… this a storage garage. Many of the stores along walkingstreet are like storage garages, and Tasha bought one and sells tickets, and snorkeling equipment and stuff in the front, has a table and chairs on the side, and built a little tiny room for a bed room and bathroom int eh back. Then there is a mini add on kitchen behind the unit in another little room, and her chili pepper and lemon grass garden that fills her “sideyard,” –a garden that would also fit in a bathtub.
Tasha is an unbelievable cook. Neils and Jessica came by early too, and we made a beautiful long table outside under the afternoon sky, with table clothes and huge platter of fruits (lychee, Long Kong (brown balls like hard grapes, but with grapefruit flavored jellies on the inside) and some spiky brown tear shapped fruits, with stiff brown inside sections that were sour and sweet). We made a heaping salad a cubbed fruist and veg and cheese, and had many drinks Tasha marinaded the chicken. The guests came along and night fell and we lit the table with candles and cheer, and ate and ate and laughed and laughed and made very very good friends. Tasha brought out the pinapple chicken, and it was actually probably the best chicken I have ever eaten. And Neils said so and Tasha got so embarrassed and angry (from too may compliments) that John and Neils had a ball continuing to get her goat about how good it was, and it was every bit as good as they said, which made it even funnier. I was almost crying with laughter.
I met up with the skinny blond boy and his girl friend who were having a fabulous time at Time to Chill bar. You couldn’t meet nicer people than I’ve met today. They were extremely excited to go. We sat under the rasta lights laughing and talking for a bit. When I got back, it turns out our snorkel group grew to nine persons, as everyone except the Thai’s who had to work, wanted to come along. I had asked Pi Boonchu, our boatman, is 8 was ok earlier, or if 6 was better for one boat (thinking this might happen) and he said two boats was better for 8, but Tasha said “no!” we all go together so everybody pays less! But refused to call him and tell him that. I got kind of annoyed that she was acting like this. It was already only 7 dollars or so per person for the whole day, and if she was going to challenge him on how he ran his boat she better actually tell him not expect me to! But John said he saw how for my money, I was happy to support another of Boonchu’s friends for another boat he but he agreed with Tasha saying in Thailand he’d learned to sticking out for your own interests first. I said we could talk to him about it tomorrow, all of us, and eitherway we would all go so that was that I guess. Neils very helpfully kept running out to Pooh’s place to increase the number of lunches we would be ordering to bring along.
((turned out Tasha didn't show up at all, and the eight of us went and just payed a few extra bhat for the extra people. The day was great fun, although the conditions wern't great in the morning:the tide was high and the water foggy so it was kinda hard to see. .. we ate on a beach looking out over the mountians, and snorkeled over giant clams that sloshed their jaws shut when our shadows crossed their colorful lips.)
I was proud of our volunteer group. It definatly made an impression on people on the island because people kept bringing it up when i went by. Some people teased saying things like "oh when there is more trash can i call you to come pick it up?" or asked why we were doing it or said "more will come anyway". It was a little sad to see how even the next day waves had brought more trash back to the beach, and the street (which we now watched with eagel eyes as we walked around) had new empty cups and cigarette butts and wrappers even the next morning -- an there are no excuses for the street: thats people here not waves.
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