Seeking Tuff Roots: Phuket, Ko Panyi

Phuket City surprised us. We got there on the 8th, thinking it was the 11th. Oops. We stayed for a few nights and tried to decide, "What next?" incidentally, we discovered that Phuket has a nice art scene, and really interesting architecture. We took arty photos, ate cheap food, and browsed in galleries around town.

But that gets boring, and we move on, deciding on a cultural experience. We travel north to Phang-nga and hop a longtail boat out to Ko Panyi, a Muslim stilt village perched in the middle of a bay. Here are my thoughts:

Where did these teeth come from... They push my lips apart as if my mouth is too small. Its embarrassing- they are show-offs, clowns, performers. Maybe they belong to a braver woman, someone who craves attention. Why won't they be more modest? I can't even play at being mysterious, not with these white gossips popping out of their hiding holes and spreading this silly grin across my face. It would be one thing to chose to be an open book, but it's quite another to have your teeth decide for you. "We want to be seen!" they sing. "I want to disappear!" I cry.

But it is hard for me to do that here. Even if I taped my mouth shut, silenced my giggling teeth. My hair waves its golden flag above my head in silent solidarity with my muted teeth. "I am only passing through," it signals. "I came here, and I will leave here, and you will stay."

I want these people to invite me into their lives, but why would they? To them I am a drop in the sea of pale faces that get herded through the town.

Tino and I sit reading, watching the tours come and go. How desperately we want to be different! We aren't on a tour. We are staying here, overnight, over TWO nights! We only paid 190 Bhat to get here all the way from Phuket. How much did YOU pay? No we aren't going to James Bond Island!

The feeling of superiority, the self-indulgent smirk slips from my grasp. We aren't any better. What more do I know about the lives in this village than I knew within hours of getting off the boat?

Communication is difficult. It is almost impossible to negotiate for a room, to buy a cold bottle of water, to figure out who you need to know to get to wherever you should go.

But the sunset pours golden light over the rock finger that anchors Ko Panyi to planet Earth, and we see rain clouds speeding towards us along the mangrove channel, turning distant limestone cliffs into watercolor paintings, we hold glowing phosflorescents in our hands on a dark night in the company of Orion with his jeweled belt and sturdy bow, A little girl smiles and giggles as we pass, the kittens follow us through a maze of pathways, we see crabs with claws like medieval swords and fish that can walk on land with flippers like feet...