Vacation All Around the Mountain

Who else has always thought that the Go Go's song Vacation said "Vacation all around the mountain" instead of "Vacation all I ever wanted"? Was it just me? I also recently found out that the the lyrics to the Pretenders's Middle of the Road say "and I'm standing in the middle of the road with my pains behind me," not "and I'm standing in the middle of the road with my pants behind me" as I've always thought. You learn something new everyday don't you?

We've left Asia! Our Bali/Thailand vacation was lots of fun so I figured I'd write a bit about it before I forget the details. We went first to Ubud, Bali and stayed at the Cendana Spa and Resort for 10 days. It was absolutely wonderful! The hotel has a salt water swimming pool overlooking rice paddies and we had our own beautiful bungalow to sleep in. Banana pancakes every morning for breakfast, inexpensive massages and spa treatments everyday (about $6 for a one hour massage!), what more can you ask for?  Ubud was truly a magical place.

Next we headed to Kamala Beach in Phuket, Thailand where we stayed for another 10 days. In Phuket I came to the belated conclusion that I'm actually not really much of a beach person and thus had chosen the entirely wrong place in which to vacation. It dawned on me at the age of 31 that I don't actually like being in the sun. I do not like sand and swimming in salt water makes my eyes sting. I cried miserably the first day we arrived and announced to Mr. D that I wanted to leave the next day and get on the first plane back to Tokyo. Luckily I woke up the next morning feeling somewhat more cheery and we actually managed to have a nice time while we were there. FInding out the the Thai people could also make a mean banana pancake went a long way towards soothing my overly emotional and sleep-deprived feelings.

One thing that I wasn't expecting was to have the entire beach absolutely filled with Scandinavian tourists. I really did feel as though I were attending some sort of giant seaside ABBA convention and I'll be honest with you, I found that Scandinavian people are not the best people to be on the beach with. While it's true that about 50% of them were sort of beefy and red and wore unflattering Speedo swimsuits, the other 50% all seemed to be nubile toe-headed teenage girls with legs that went up to their eyebrows and cute little outfits which exposed their little tanned belly buttons. The kind of girls that leave you thinking

A. that compared to their outfits, the loose hanging traditional clothes you bought in Bali leave you looking not all relaxed and bohemian as you'd previously imagined but rather as though you'd borrowed something out of the closet of Dorothy from the Golden Girls.

B. that the color and consistency of your skin is more akin to that of an egg white omelette than to a perfectly browned pancake.

C. that you are no longer 17

D. that since you are no longer 17 you should at least have fewer zits than those little Swedish and Norwegian upstarts

and E. that most unfairly, this is not the case.

Still, there is something to be said for the experience of eating breakfast in a beachside cafe in Thailand with 500 Swedes while listening to Home Home on the Range on the restaurant sound system.

I am now in San Francisco visiting my best friend from high school after spending 3 days in L.A. with my little bro. I'll be writing about that experience next so stay tuned!

Comments

[Anne Cecilia]

I think it's great that you called them toe-headed, instead of tow headed. Tow head comes from the word for light colored flax, but thinking of these adorable little, tanned Scandinavians as "toe" headed is especially funny.

Glad you guys have had a good time. Can't wait to hear more.

[Sar]

'Never Let me Go' is an amazing, gentle and chilling book. It will stay with you for a long time.

[Sar]

Hahahaha. I remember when I was 24 I went to Cyprus and there were loads of gorgeous Scandanavian girls there too. Or 'SBBs' as we called them (skinny brown bitches) We were a bunch of lumpy Brits in our old bikinis. At one point we were lined up like a row of rustic sausages all different shapes sizes and colors, topless, and a couple of guys walked past and thinking we were asleep, one of them turned to the other and nudged him, pointed to us and said 'uuuuh' like you might if you saw some puke on the platform on the station. How we laughed.

[Thrusher]

So happy to get an update! Isn't Ubud wonderful? I'm going to try out the place you stayed. Glad you're having a good time!

[sushi]

hilarity
glad to hear you are on track and back home
funny times for you as always - bet Nico loved the beach though
jealous of all the talk of massage - you must b loose as a goose
hi to your bro and your men
take care
xx d and masao

[gleek]

hahaha, my trip to koh samed was filled with australians! they were all tanned and buff and boy did i feel out of place. but i love the beach. i could stay at the beach for ages with a good book.

by the way, i see you're reading "never let me go"! i just started that the other day and i'm loving it so far!

[Jessica]

Aren't D and E a cruel shock? You'd think there would at least be some perks to getting older, but it seems not.
Glad you had a fun vacay, despite the hordes of nubile Scandinavians. ;)

[PeachTree]

Mmm, I remember those banana pancakes! Thais also make the best homemade yogurt, did you have some? Oh, and remember the lyrics from that Jimmy Hendrix song "Excuse me while I kiss the sky", not, "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"...teehee!

[Veronique]

I had a similar experience in Koh Tao, which was inexplicably populated with Irish teenagers...
Banana pancakes sound yummy!
Have fun in SF.