Koh Samui Human Connections

I was wandering the walking street at Fisherman's Village in Bophut on a Friday night. Someone passing me said, very quietly, your fly, and kept walking. They did not stop. They did not turn around. By the time I looked up they were three stalls away. I fixed it in a doorway. It was the kindest possible way to deliver bad news, and I have thought about it every day since. I walked the rest of the street like a person who had been protected. I bought a lantern for no reason.

Did anyone find a grey zip pouch with a laptop charger and a small drive inside? I left it on a plastic stool at a noodle stall about a five minute walk from Lamai Beach, last Wednesday around lunchtime. I was thinking about the boat noodles, which is how it happened, and the broth was worth it. The charger is an odd shape that is hard to replace here, and the drive has my work on it. I will check this board again on Sunday.

A monitor lizard climbed out of a drain on the main road in Lamai at noon on Monday, crossed the road at its own speed and sat down in front of a shop. A man with a broom stood facing it. Neither of them moved for ten minutes. A line of scooters formed behind the lizard and nobody honked. When the lizard finally turned and left, the whole street clapped, and the man bowed to the broom. I do not know what was decided. I think both sides were satisfied.

I was riding the ring road from Chaweng to Lamai one October on a rented bicycle that was too small, and the three of you passed me on one tiny motorbike and then stopped at every viewpoint to wait. At the fourth one, one of you said, take your time, we are not going anywhere. The ride took four hours instead of one. I did not take your numbers. I am sorry. I would do it again with all of you, at the same speed, at the same viewpoint, with a bigger bicycle.

The rain came in at Lamai Beach just as I was setting up to read. A man with a big striped tarp walked over, propped it up on two sticks in the sand above my towel, and went back to his own table without a word. When the rain stopped he came back for it, nodded, and left. The whole thing took six minutes. I think about people who simply do things. My book stayed dry. I finished it that night. I do not remember the ending.

At Nathon pier a young man stood by a very large suitcase and said to his friend, "I thought the island would feel smaller." His friend looked at the suitcase and said, "It is. You are just carrying too much." Neither of them laughed, which made it better. I was waiting for a ferry myself and I will admit I agreed with the friend.

I was trying to choose between two lanterns at the Friday walking street in Fisherman's Village, Bophut, one on the left and one on the right, while you stood beside me eating mango sticky rice. You said, the left one, without looking up. I bought it. It is on my balcony now and when the wind comes it swings and I think of you. I never found out why you picked that one. I have tried to like the right one. I do not. You have good taste.

I came back to the family restaurant after some time away, and on the first Friday I walked out front at dusk to find the lane closed to traffic and full of people on foot. Fisherman's Village holds a walking street on Fridays, and I had forgotten how completely it takes over. The old buildings were the same. What had changed was how many people stood in the middle of the road looking at their phones. We served until late, and my feet noticed before I did.

I ran down the boards at Nathon pier on a Friday afternoon with a suitcase and a very tight bus connection, and the ferry worker saw me from the ramp. He held up one hand to the crew, picked up the end of my suitcase, and walked me on. I made the boat by about ten seconds. He did not wait for thanks. He was already looking at the next person. I would like him to know the connection worked, the bus waited, and I have not run for anything since.