colors of the island wind

Tonight, after a long journey to arrive on Koh Lanta, I rewarded myself with a fantastic dinner.  Since I was on an island, it had to be seafood.

The manager of my guesthouse, Lanta Mermaid, directed me to a packed restaurant called Lanta Seafood.  It was one of those place that display fresh seafood out in the front.  You put your finger out for a little pointing here and there, you do the Hokey Pokey, and that's what it's all about.

I had a big dinner of sauteed clams, stir fried prawns with turmeric, grilled jumbo prawn, fried squid, and stir fried kale.  Have you seen "Last Holiday"?  I felt like Queen Latifah at that five star resort in the Alps, except that my restaurant was built with straws and bamboo.  Besides that, I was a million-dollar black woman with the prefect combination of sass and kindness.

Strangely enough, besides the fresh taste and smell of the sea on my table, I was also enjoying a rhythmic vibration from the floor, which was composed of large planks.  Each time a waiter passed by carrying a plate of deliciousness which I thought I needed to have, the sensation from the movement of the planks provided a intriguing sense of calm and solidity.

As my eyes swept across the room (can it be a room without walls?), I noticed something else surprising.  Every customer in the restaurant was white except me.  Thinking back to my afternoon on the beach, that was also the case.  I seem to be the only Asian tourist on this island.  I don't know why, but this bothered me, maybe something about Europeans always wanting to colonize the rest of the world.  Gasp - what a politically incorrect thing to say!  Based on the languages I've heard around me, I would estimate that the tourists are about 40% French, 20% German, 20% Scandinavian, and 20% others (American, Aussie, Canadian).

view from my room

I wondered why I only saw white tourists, or why I even noticed that.  I think our brains have been taught by society to immediately notice two things about people - skin color and gender.  If you disagree and these two qualities never occur to you when you see random people on the street, good for you.  Me, I'm a different story, particularly as a person of color living in a predominantly white country.  Sure, one can argue that San Francisco is an exception, but your world isn't just the place you live in, it is also the television programs and movies you watch, the news you hear, the advertisements you see.

Back in medical school (my dark ages), we were often taught to carefully interpret statistics about patient populations, as there exists a significant difference between white and black people's body systems.  Okay, but how about Hispanics, Asians, Native Indians, and many others?  We didn't even deserve an honorable mention?

Sure, of course I knew that our numbers nationwide were not large enough to provide statistically sound analyses, but still.  Even when the super duper cookies that you made with love from your deceased great-grandmother's prized secret recipe don't take home the blue ribbon, you would still like to be recognized as having participated.  Wouldn't you?

Whatever the reason, non-white tourists choose not to come to Koh Lanta.  That's fine.

I alone am fabulous enough to add just a little bit of color to the tourist scene.