The best time is right now

I’m wondering what the next step is - but in the meantime I’m sitting here in Higgaduwa on the southern coast of sri lanka - the surf is rolling in continually and there’s not much else to do but sit and listen, or surf, or eat - or sleep, or read, or think - thinking might be a bit over rated - I’ve been doing a lot of it lately and it’s not proving to be a great use of time - doing seems to offer better rewards.

Anyway - considering taking low season in thailand (which is relatively soon) and making a move to Ibiza for the high season there - selling some clothes, some other bits and pieces and seeing what happens.

It’s odd this end of one carreer and not yet deciding what another one might be - it sure is strange….

As a side note to anyone thats interested - The southern coast of Sri Lanka is without hands down the most relaxed place I think I’ve ever been. People are fantastic, gentle, good natured and friendly. The surf is exceptional, the accomadation cheap and fun, the beaches beautiful - the only drawback I can find is the insane bus drivers that roar past on the little road all day and night. And as it’s the only road from Colombo to the south there is no way to avoid them - other than that I can’t talk more highly of the place.

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As promised - here’s a picture of the coolest incense in the world and it smells fantastic -

I know I posted once before about this, but I was chatting with someone this morning about taking a long motorcycle ride across Asia and I thought about these bikes I’d seen in China - reproductions of old BMW’s from the 30’s and 40’s - made with tooling that came from Germany to China pre WWII so the machining is all from the original factory - I doubt the steel or alloys are as good as the original German but none the less they look fantastic. Anyway there’s an owners club in Bejing and there is a ride they do from Bejing to Lhasa in Tibet - these bikes are not fast but they’re damn cool and that would be a really incredible journey to make the long trek to the forgotten kingdom….one of these days I’ll try and make that trip.

Yesterday i was talking to a good friend in LA that runs/owns a really sucsessful production company - shooting fashion - he works all the time - I mean all the time - which of course is a good thing on the one hand - however the real translation of that is - no time to live, not much downtime for fun or simple life activities, hours and hours in the car or van or truck or RV, money, but not enough money to really get above the endless stream of bills, car insurance,health insurance, tax, cable, phone, gas, rent, car payments, office rent the list goes on, and on…anyway at the end of the day I said what is life about?

And then I thought about my day - I have to go into town today - which is always a little bit of a chore, mixed with a little bit of adventure - but the day here is always a bit like that - I had coffee this morning and was listening to a guy tell a friend of mine about his business taking people rock climbing - he lives in Tibet - a westerner with a little business in Lhasa - pretty damn amazing - that was after I’d sat with my friend who was talking to me about being in Uganda last year with the mountain gorillas, they live at around 6000 feet, apparently an arduous walk through very thick jungle for about 8 hours.  I asked him how the Gorillas react to humans - he told me that the rangers spend 3 years spending time near to a group, getting them use to the smell and sight of humans before any outsiders can get close to them - he said that it was the most amazing wild-life experience of his life and that was right on the tail end of a safari for 3 weeks in Kenya - I can only imagine.

After that I went and opened the shop - fumbled through some half thai half english conversation with my staff guy - who’s really great - and we muddle through things like that most mornings, me picking up a few more thai words and him picking up a few more english ones.

So anyway here’s a picture of how I start my commute into town - it starts on the boat - 15 mins or so over to the mainland, then I usually rent a scooter for the day (about $5.00) and take the 30min ride into Krabi town - go about what ever business I have to take care of - stop by the market and grab a papaya or 2 to bring back for breakfast ( these are the best tasting papaya’s I ever ate, like heaven nectar) they’re usually about .50 a piece, pop into the pharmancy and stock up on valium, xanex or what ever else might be useful for the next couple of weeks, ride home, drop into the bamboo guys who’re working on some prototypes for me and then drop the scooter off, grab the next boat and wander back over the the beach, check on the shop - that’s an average day when I have to commute….

I have some new friends that have almost completed building their house here - in this area of Thailand there is a mix of Buddhist and Islamic people - it tends to be more Buddhist the further north you go and more Islamic the further south you are.

As is the typical way round these parts, the completion or moving into date on a house, or a business etc is often determined by religous scholars of your chosen religion - as my friends are not Thai - nor Buddhist or Moslem there was only once choice - have both schools make a blessing of the new house - I went to both.

The Islamic people came on a friday and did a 30 minute slow chanting prayer together - sitting in a circle on the floor - in low tones all 5 men make a chorus together in what language I have no idea - but it certainly sounded good - and then after a selection of food is brought to the floor - the main ingredient being a goat curry - every time I hear of a celebration - or a wedding, or a big meeting there is always goat curry made, a goat is killed and then cooked - I’m not sure of the significance but I am intending on asking one of my friends here to get to the bottom of it - more on that to follow.

A couple of days later - the Buddhist house blessing was performed - similar sort of - the monks sit elevated on a higher step than everyone else - and they chant for maybe 45 mins - also low tones, foreign toungue, in unison - old words and old prayers. Incense is lit, food is brought and the monks eat first - curries, rice, fish, fruits - and then when they’re finished everyone else is able to eat.

And thus the house was blessed.

This is what the shop looks like at night - a little exterior and a little interior - this week will be another trip to Bangkok for more stock - dress’s keep selling and I can see that a larger stock is going to be advantageous.

I’m planning a little trip to Kathmandu in the next few weeks - take a few of my shirt designs with me and have them remade up there with embroidery - kathmandu for some reason has always had an industry of embroidery - and they always have great colors and still do it by hand - i mean with a machine but not a computerised machine - so there is a sort of perfect imperfection in the end product - a human touch and I particularly like that - I found these 50 year old labels from an Indian/Thai dye company and each label is different, but all very colorful cool looking scenes of animals, or spirits - I’m using them as the inspiration for the embroidered pieces I’m going to get made…and sell at the shop.

the shop is open - G2 internet boutique railey beach west, krabi, thailand and so far seems to be working just fine - the low season after all the tourists go home is a little daunting blip on the horizon - but i guess thats to be dealt with when the time comes.

it’s been hot as hell here the last few days 36 degrees celcius and high humidity so feels even hotter - sweat is  a constant companion - and as i’ve been  busy in the shop havent had much time to swim or get into the sea - so i’m learning to live in the tropics - and as luck should have it - it gets hotter towards april….

i’ll post a picture in the next few days - been lazy about the camera…

So this little fellow lives in my bathroom - it’s a Tookay - a large Gecko that is a resident of Thailand - they’re meat eaters and have a bed temper if annoyed - but there’s really no reason to annoy them, so you never see the bad side - they also chirp during the night, and sound just like some type of bird.  The first time I heard the chirping I was convinced that some nocturnal bird had got itself trapped inside the bedroom, flash light in hand trying to figure out where the damn thing was. Of course the next morning I explained my strange singing night time visitor, and of course after a few laughs at my expense was told about the Tookay.  That was years ago, but I found this new fellow the other day and had a camera handy so….