what's lost...

24 hours into my stay at Ao Nang, and I've found those missing Asian tourists I had mentioned a couple of days ago.

They're here, in Krabi, and also on Phuket, so I hear.

So why don't they visit Koh Lanta?  Let me first state that I haven't spend every waking minute pondering this issue; it really isn't as important to me as how I'll have my eggs in the morning.  It's just that when I came across a chartered air-conditioned bus full of Chinese tourists last night, I said "A-ha," as if I just discovered a secret to tame my hair in this awful humidity.

I can come up with just one theory regarding their absence on Koh Lanta:  they don't take risks.

Phuket?  That beautiful island that my neighbor's child's second grade teacher's mom went to last year?  Yeah, I've heard of it.  I've been thinking about going too.

Ao Nang?  Don't think I've heard of it.  Oh, right next to Krabi, with lots of tourists?  There's a tour group going next month?  That sounds like fun.

Koh Lanta?  Never heard of it.  You have to take a ferry about your flight lands?  No groups going?  Forget it.

Something like that.  Some people are like that.  Some people want a trip that brings to life images they've seen, and nothing else.

I want a trip that brings me to life, and nothing else.