Hey guys. How goes it?
Holy shit is it September already? The middle of September!? Where does the time go?
Actually, I won’t lie, time has been drudging a bit lately. The lockdown here in Bangkok has been a fucking fester-fuck of epic proportions. I saw that Thailand was ranked as one of the worst countries to be during the pandemic. Who gave it that ranking, I don’t know, some fucking magazine. But I couldn’t imagine things being much worse elsewhere in the world.
Thailand is a country that prides itself on having amazing food. And being unable to congregate indoors to eat said food is a fucking hate crime. Getting the food to-go just isn’t the same. That’s why, when restaurants opened back up last week, and I joined some Thai friends for an outdoor lunch at some fancy restaurant, I felt like I had a fucking rebirth or some shit. Like Jean Grey becoming the Phoenix. That was me. Just from eating food.
Which makes it somewhat bittersweet then, that just as things are showing shades of a return to normalcy, I will bow down and bow out of the place. So long, Thailand.
Nothing’s set in stone, but I already told my school that I won’t be coming back to for second semester. That’ll leave me with a short little window to voyage through the country and make a few travel vids come October. And before the month concludes, I’m pretty sure I’ll be returning to Europe.
And as much as I adore Europe, there is this tinge of disappointment that I’ll be held back from exploring the Asian continent. The Olympics in Japan; BBQ in Korea; motorbikes in Vietnam. It all slipped through my fingers. But I’ve been left with no choice, as Asia is completely closed for travel. They are behind the rest of the world in opening their borders. But what can I do about it, except adapt and refocus.
Another thing I’ve got going on is that I’m in the middle of a body detox for in the first time of my life. You heard right. I am willingly subjecting myself to a full abstention of drugs and alcohol for the spine-chillingly long period of fourteen days. This detox began last Tuesday, which would make today… DAY EIGHT, and I gotta tell you: it… isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Is my brain working better? It feels like it. But I’m not doing it for my brain, or my body, or because I joined a cult. I’m doing it because I have a novel to put the finishing touches on, and the most progress I ever made on the book was when I was in an 11-day mandatory quarantine when I arrived in this country. I was able to write with ease, with a unclouded mind. So I’m hoping to return to that state of consciousness and put a touch of finality to the novel which I’ve named after this blog.
I’ve got just over a month left in Thailand. Make it count, Darby! This could be the last time I’ll ever live here, marking 18 months of my total lifetime spent here. Incidentally, the very same amount I spent in Vietnam. Two wonderful places. Southeast Asia is the shit. But right now is not Thailand’s time to flourish. It will be Thai-time again, but that time is not now, not in the covid-era. Here’s to hoping that now is Albania’s time. I know nothing about the place. Which is precisely why I must go…
Love, peace, and BOOTY GREASE!
