Just visiting Chumphon, Thailand – or do we live here now?

For two people supposed to be on a long trip through Southeast Asia to a bunch of different places, Masayo and I are sure spending a lot of time in one little town. It’s almost been a month since we arrived in Chumphon, Thailand from Trang and checked into Kae’s Guesthouse. The people here feel like family now, and our progress through Thailand has come to a halt.

So we are torn between continuing north further into Thailand and remaining here, hanging out with the interesting characters at the guesthouse and joining the various events in town. Even in the down times, I’m able to work online using Kae’s graciously free internet cable that she strung up to our room for me. (And my quick fix for my broken MacBook keyboard seems to still be working well enough.)

But it’s been a lot of fun – or we wouldn’t be doing it.

For example, we’ve had cookouts here. Kae, half wanting to earn some money and half wanting to just have fun with groups of people, gets out big grills for her and her Burmese assistant Aie to prepare squid, chicken, and vegetables. Groups of local people come by, get beers from Kae’s bar, and chow down on the tasty food. Everyone laughs and chats in the humid Saturday night air, watching the occasional show put on by the ladyboys who are staying at Kae’s.

Even I can tear myself away from the computer and sit with Masayo. The beer and food make it tough to handle blood sugar correctly, but I do my best. (My new vials of ActRapid insulin are kept in a refrigerator behind the bar area, and it’s easy enough to shoot up with a syringe even outside at a table during a cookout.)

Other nights I man the bar. I don’t know anything about making drinks or tending bar, but all they want is for me to open the occasional beer, or fill a glass with ice cubes, seltzer water, and whiskey. I don’t get paid, and it’s usually just Kae herself (who watches for who owes what to her) and two or three of the regulars who hang around. They speak various amounts of English, but we all talk about Japan and America and Thailand and traveling and whatever else pops into our minds.

Funny how unexpected this has all been. Nobody has ever really taken us in quite like this, and I’m just grouchy enough about finances to not want to hang out with anyone – I usually just want to work online and scrape together enough funds each day to get a few more miles down the road. But Chumphon has been fun. They’ve even drawn me out of my shell.

Masayo seems to be enjoying hanging out with everyone, reading in the afternoons, and following gossip about the ebbing and flowing relationships among the guesthouse gang. Days are full of sun, rain and relaxation; nights feature pad thai noodles from a local street stall ladyboys practicing dance routines or, after a few whiskeys, trying their hand at swinging flaming balls on chains around their heads in pretty patterns in the warm night air.

Chumphon Bike Week 5

One day Kae urged us to come with her and some of the others to a meeting in town for event planning. Masayo and I didn’t know what she was talking about, but we eventually agreed to go. We had to pay money, and went and sat in a room with several others. People would pass around microphones and explain various things to the seated group. It was all in Thai, and I didn’t know what was happening, but the upshot seemed to be that we were officially on the planning committee for a large biker rally taking place in central Chumphon over the next two days.

We got unique orange T-shirts for our trouble, which made the entrance fee fine with me. Travelers always like interesting new local clothes.

The next night was Day 1 of the bike rally. We went to a big central square in town and helped Kae set up: her guesthouse (our guesthouse!) was grilling out fish; it was a big food stall night, with dozens of tables set out for families to sit at and commune. I tried to contribute by making an sign for Kae’s shop: “K’S FISH” and a little fish icon carved into a banana leaf.

After helping grill fish for a little bit, Masayo and I walked around and bought some food from several of the other stalls for dinner. As usual, I had brought my syringes and vial of ActRapid which I took at a table. Judging the carb content of meals like this is tough: I was lucky and got it pretty good, as it turned out. But hot weather, alcohol, and unknown street food can make T1D a tough thing to handle. All you can do is do your best.

And I guess there were motorcycles and stuff around. Not being a biker myself, or quite understanding what this was all about or why Kae and her cohorts were involved, I only glanced casually at rows of two-wheeled vehicles with fancy paint jobs lining the edges of the area Appreciative bikers had come from all over Thailand and perhaps further afield to participate; evidently these “bike week” parties are held all over Thailand.

And anyway, it was the second night that was the real party. More adult in nature, this one was where we wore our distinctive orange shirts, and there was more drinking and a stage with rock bands and outrageous, risqué performances. All of us from the guesthouse sat at a table with snacks and beers. Even Masayo, traditionally a non-drinker, had a beer. It was that kind of night.

But for me, I couldn’t justify the time expense of all this. Having spent three nights in a row on bike rally-related matters, I was so distracted by online work I wanted to do that after a single beer I made my apologies and rode my bicycle back to the guesthouse early, leaving Masayo in the hands of the drunken, leather-clad revelers.

In the quiet of the guesthouse I grumpily but steadily did my work, making a few more dollars until Masayo and the gang returned. They kept the party going at Kae’s bar downstairs, and I joined them for a little while before it was time to hit the sack.

Our one-month Thai tourist visas are running out in a few days and we haven’t seen that much of the country yet. We will need to figure that out quickly. And anyway we really should be heading further north and exploring new areas, but with a relaxed and convivial life such as the one we’ve stumbled on here in Chumphon, why bother?

Have you ever fallen in with a group of locals while traveling?

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