Letting the miracles flow

Leaving Khun Han is not that simple. I had the choice of taking a bus to Bangkok and then another to Phuket, which would have taken about 27 hours. So I chose to fly, which took almost the same time. The closest airport is in Ubon Ratchamani, the capital of the next province. To get there one has to take a bus to Sisaket, then another to Ubon, and then take a taxi to the airport. The whole process takes about 4 hours. Fortunately, a teacher at school lives in Ubon and gave me a ride on Friday afternoon. I arrived there at about 5 PM and checked in the hotel, which was probably very nice in the seventies but not currently, after four decades without renovations. The swimming pool that was advertised in the website looked more like a pond of green waters. I quit my idea of swimming and went for a walk. Well, let me tell you that Ubon has the charm of a concrete block. I came back to the hotel early and made myself go to bed by 9 PM.

I arrived to the airport way too early and sat at a coffee shop. An agent from Air Asia approached me about an hour later to tell me that my direct flight to Phuket had been canceled and that they had to reroute me through Bangkok. Moreover, I would arrive in Don Muang airport and leave from Suvarnabhumi airport, which is one hour away. Instead of arriving at 3 PM in Phuket I would arrive at about 9 PM. I almost got angry but reality is that I do not become easily aggravated any more. I guess that I am attaining some internal peace with so much meditation, yoga, and age.

 The rain was hitting Phuket hard when we landed. I checked in my 8^th hotel since arriving in Asia, talked to my Spanish students in DC over Skype, and went to bed. I woke up in super high spirits and went for a walk in sleepy Phuket Town. With the sun still down, people were slowly opening their restaurants and the air was starting to smell of lemongrass, chili, coconut milk, fish sauce, chicken broth, frying oil, fresh fruit, jasmine flowers, incense, laundry detergent… I walked easily through the almost empty roads, smiling.

Phuket Town from the Telecommunications Hill

 



Later in the morning I met Sam and Brian at Gallery Café for brunch. It is so great to see these two lovely boys again! They planned to go to the beach but I needed to go home hunting in the afternoon. I was going to see an apartment that I found online and a house that I found “by miracle”, thanks to my flight change.

While killing some time at Suvarnabhumi airport, in Bangkok, I approached an information desk to ask for a map of Phuket. The girl that helped me asked me how long my stay would be and was amused when I told her I would stay for a year. Her face brightened when I asked her what the best way was to find a long-term rental. As it happened, her aunt was renting her home out at a good price. She called her aunt and helped me arrange to meet her and see the place. This is the second home that I saw on Sunday. It turned out that her house is the most perfect place that I could ever imagine. It is a tiny three bedroom house in an enclosed neighborhood with a swimming pool. The owners are a Thai woman and an Indian man who are vegetarian and whose son lives in Mumbai, where I stayed with my auntie and Reiki teacher last year. I met the wife, Mrs. Yada, and we connected immediately. She is cleaning the house now for me to move in the next weekend.

As I am finding out, the more I lose my fear of doing the things I want and the less I struggle to get things done in my own limited ways, the more I see the miracles happening.