Fili’s world

Arriving at Ko-Phangan a day after the full moon party was probably a bad idea. Stepping down from the ferry I’ve started looking for a place to stay but everything was just packed with the party guys from last night. Tired and frustrated I went to an Israeli place named “Ha-bite” (Home in Hebrew) and met 3 nice Israeli gals that were having the same problem – two Kerens (A and B) and an Orit. We’ve decided to head to “The Cocohut” together and try to find some sort of cheap accommodation by sharing a room, but plan didn’t work out as well as we’ve hoped. Though our room was really nice and right on the beach it wasn’t a room set for 4 people and the price was the highest I’ve paid this whole trip. As it turned out, we really didn’t need it, since we haven’t slept that whole night. The gals were celebrating KerenB’s 30th birthday till late morning. Later, (slick guy) Ziv turned out from nowhere and joined’em and I turned to enjoy my hammock on the balcony. Good thing about this Ziv guy, which I was not fond of, is that he showed us what turned out to be the best room on the island. Sea breeze was built high on the cliff rocks between Leela and Sunset beach and my shared room with Orit had a balcony with a spectacular view and a non stop wind breeze. I haven’t seen anything like it in all my life, truly - a site to remember.

Going from traveling alone the past two weeks to living with the 3 Israeli gals was weird, to say the least, and I don’t think I ever got used to that. I got to hand it to the girls - they lasted more than most people I’ve traveled with - and I enjoyed their company. Yet, not surprising, there were moments - long moments - when I felt like I needed my space back so I just took off to explore around and meet with other people.

Unlike other places I’ve been to now, Ko-Phangan is exactly what I was looking for. An amazing suite-room… the beach Zoom club with psychedelic-trance music I dance to every night till my feet fall off… good restaurants running popular movies/series all days around… good times indeed.

“The Beach” had me descend to a slight melancholy for about two days. Reading what was supposed to be just another cliché book had me going places I’ve tried to avoid up till now. I couldn’t let it down, since every page seemed to confront me with strange thoughts about how I’ve been living my life and experiencing this trip. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about the book that made it that way, but the more I thought about it the more it became apparent. The Kerens were giving me a hard time about how serious I was, but it’s not something I could explain to them. I admired about the way KerenA could just set aside her work dilemmas and the university rush not thinking about anything but the sun-bake and the cute Israeli guys around. I had some long talks with Orit, reflecting on endless issues that were bothering me. I guess that’s just me. I move around from highs to lows in a split second, not being able to act out when something bothers me and searching for someone to share this with who seems to be in my frame of mind.

So now the girls are off to Bangkok and I’m on my own again. I might head off with Segev and Vicki to a different beach tomorrow. Donno… I’ll go have a drink watching Friends, check what some girls I know are up to, and see what happens…