“The Return” to the real world is a masala, a mix of exotic spices. It’s the here and now of Bangkok with dreams and memories of Mustang with its clean air, no electronics, blue sky, star filled nights right down to the horizon, being challenged every day to the depths of my soul and the limits of my body, the endless beauty, and a surprisingly long lasting state of joy: this was my Mustang world. I found more of who I am while trekking through these mountains with those sweet people and their beautiful culture.
Yet I have returned. I’m currently sitting in my favorite restaurant in this part of Bangkok. Sometimes writing flows when surrounded by the intense energy of life, like at this moment. Sometimes I need the peace of a retreat to hear myself think. Half an hour ago a table of 27 gorgeous twenty-something year old women, dressed to the nines, walked in to sit at the table across from me. every one of them a knock-out. When I was seated at the only available table in the restaurant so close to an empty table set for 27, I wanted to run, but it was this table or nothing. It’s been a treat, I keep looking at all of them! A masala of Far Eastern beauty and grace. I’ve asked three staff members who they are. The first said they were from Australia. Ha! Black hair, trim, brown, and beautiful. The second said China. The third, beauty contestants. I just talked to the Australian owner and he claims they are Australian, though they ain’t speakin’ Aussie! I never enjoyed a large group at a restaurant so much. The eight gay guys at the table next to me are more distracted by the waiter than by the girls.
Yes, a return to people, human animals. Lots and lots of them. From perhaps the most remote place on earth, from a Himalayan kingdom of thousands of square miles with only 8,000 inhabitants, to Bangkok with its teeming millions. Shockingly, the city and its people are beautiful to me, my preferences for peaceful places aside for now.
