A Peace Corps Moment: El Salvador vs Thailand

When we were in Ko Pangan (island off the eastern coast of southern Thailand) we stayed at this quaint little "resort" on the beach (see door to the left with two blue chairs). I remember waking up one morning and thinking while I stared at the cracked ceiling, "Oh gosh. We could be living in a house like this for 2 years....". I can't say what I was feeling at the moment, but I had already had my share of insect bites, stomach ailements and cold showers, so the feeling wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Back on the mainland, we stayed in a bungalow that was up a bit of a hike on a mountain side. We liked it there and both agreed it'd be "interesting" to live in a nice little place like this for two years--complete with cold bucket baths, a mosquito net, chickens outside and heaps of bloodthirsty mosquitos. The "terrace" was quite nice. And had we stayed there longer we'd have gotten a hammock. It had a western toilet, but you couldn't flush toilet paper down it and you had to pour buckets of water down it for the "flushing action" to occur. Ah, so much better than squat toilets.

Both the night of sleep in our soft bed after having arrived back in Melbourne and the hot shower I took the next morning, which probably used up the daily water supply for a large family in rural Thailand, were the best I'd had in two months.

Who would have that that I'd be craving a hot shower more than a proper slice of vegetarian pizza someday?