Thursday, November 15, 2007

Jungle Beach




Travelling, travelling and thinking. Time to wonder about life and what it is I actually like and want to do with it. And I want to create, I want to make things out of nothing. Make ideas come alive in the mind and imagination of myself, and also those who will read them. I want to love and be loved and to rediscover the joy and wonder of my very existence. There is a young girl here from Australia on her gap year. She still has a sense of wonder about everything around her, the certainty of opinion of the young but also the sheer joy at the sun, at the rain , at the electric in the air as it seemed a storm was building. It’s refreshing to be around that naïve but wonderful joy at her own existence.

Jungle Beach is a good place to contemplate these things. It’s a little no-frills resort at the end of a peninsula. Accommodation is wonderfully basic beach huts. One side more or less open to the elements and your bed is a mattress on a bamboo platform. The sound of waves crashing on the beach gently lulls you to sleep. There is nothing to do here but relax, walk on the beach and eat the fantastic food on offer. Its about £9 a night and that includes three meals a day and all the coffee, lemon water and drinking water you can handle. Tomorrow I may feel adventurous and climb the mountain to find the waterfall and go swimming. Or I may sit and continue reading a book that I am disciplining myself not to read too fast. It’s “The Shadow of the Wind,” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and he writes with an unrestrained beauty and the whole story displays his love of literature and storytelling. Its mesmerising. Buy it. Read it . Love it .

And so what next in my own story ? Am thinking a lot about culture , reading the Psalms and a lot of other stuff but cant quite articulate where it is taking me yet. Maybe tomorrow. Right Now I'm getting the overnight Bus to Saigon because the train was cancelled. And there are some new photos on the flickr .

M

3 comments:

mister tumnus said...

oh, ian has that book and recommended it to me a while ago.... must get round it to...

hey man, the beach looks nice! how about that all over tan?!

PS v much looking forward to your creations!

The Father said...

Hmm what is it with the all over tan ...your as bad as cs .......

Not creating much- more thinking but next post will be about culture. Hows things in the rural paradise of Maghera and how much time are you spending in the shed ?

m

mister tumnus said...

lordy. the shed has been neglected! i haven't visited my own little sanctuary for weeks and weeks! i think teaching is one of those jobs where no matter how many days you work you end up working far too much and just when you're at breaking point you get loads of days off on holiday and decide it's not so bad after all.... the shed will be mine again at christmas! but i too am thinking lots about being creative!!

actually been musing today about starting a doctor who club in school....

maghera is wet and windy, pretty much like everywhere here at the minute! we have started attending st anne's cathedral on sundays and i have to say i am pretty happy about it. first bout of regular church-going in seven years. is going ok.

monsieur CS and i miiiiiight have discussed your all-over body tan...