2002-03-29 - 4:58 p.m.
Here it is Passover, and I'm on a tropical island in Asia surrounded by sunburned Germans, not a matzah in sight. Apart from being in Thailand, I certainly am in Euro-central. If I saw a man wearing any form of bathing costume other than a Speedo, I think I'd fall out of my chair. And while MY guidebook tells me not to sunbathe topless out of respect for the locals -- many of whom are Muslim -- apparently the French and German editions don't contain that piece of advice. At my bungalow they even have that knob-turning table soccer game that the Europeans love so much.
The island is so small that I when I compare where I am sitting to where the map tells me I am sitting, I can pinpoint my location among the topographical features. Looking up the eastern shore of the beach, I can see how the land stretches northward to a point in the distance. It's as if one could see the tippy-top of Maine, looking north-eastward from Indiana.
I bought a bottle of Nivea sunscreen the other day and then realized that it cost more than the Thai daily minimum wage, which is 200 bhat a day, less than five dollars. In front of the bungalows and hotels, there is an informal economy of vendors who sell their wares on the beach. Young men with sunglasses and big smiles hawk sarongs, hammocks, jewelry, pirated CD's, and fresh-cut mangoes, pineapples, and coconuts. Older women, their hair covered with scarves under their wide-brimmed straw hats, sell food from portable kitchens. They carry a long stick over one shoulder, weighed down on either end with a large basket. When dismantled, this apparatus contains a small grill, a mortar and pestle, several knives, unshucked corn, fresh fish, fruits, chillies, and countless other spices and devices which the women use to craft entire meals, right there on the sand. It looks like back breaking work. I'm glad to see that irrespective of the tourists, the vendors feel free to avail themselves of the beach's gifts, namely the shade of the palms and the cool water. I couldn't help but think that if THEY had to flee Pharoh, they'd have a lot more than unlevened bread on their backs.
