Hi team
Thanks for sticking with me. Much on which to report, and caffeine on which to report it.
A week ago today – on 4 May 2024 – I finished a 24-day massage therapy course at TTC Massage, Bangkok, under the tutelage of Brendan, Alissa, Duang and Nita. Launching into this was fairly premeditated, but also, you know, it was one of those things that lined various stars up with each other. I love a project. And now I have a certificate, and a string to my bow, and something I can do with my hands besides typing on a keyboard, kneading dough and strumming a gee-tar. Anyone considering learning this skill would do well to check out TTC. They are absolutely lovely, teach in English, laugh readily, and (I guess most importantly) know what the heck they are doing.
Besides kneading folks’ backs and legs, numerous fun things occupied my time in Bangkok. I caught up with old Chengdu friends, which has been a dear thing. Made one or two more along the way, too. I have been climbing, and learning how to play padel tennis – it’s awesome, you should try it. But if you do it during the hottest month central Thailand has ever known, in a warehouse without air conditioning, know that you will lose half your bodyweight in perspiration during the course of a single hour.
I boogied, several times; made actual bread in an actual oven, and cookies galore, the sum of which led the Frenchmen whose flat I’m staying in to jest that I should replace, as a full time resident, the man whose room I’m staying in. Eugene, a man I’m glad I know, and not just because his bed became available at a most convenient time. I’m very fond of my French flatmates, too. I did not do much of the tourist stuff I thought I might. I went to one temple complex. But I did watch a series of nationally syndicated muay thai fights, one of which was over after no more than 15 seconds. KO. Kid on the floor. Kid helping him up. Kids fighting, tooth and claw. Blood and sniffing salts. My face was on telly at least twice, in sharp focus.
I interviewed an Australian poet whom I like very much for The Friday Poem. We’ll publish that in a few weeks’ time. Before that, I wrote a piece about a small handful of poets using social media to their advantage. Like Rupi Kaur, but more contemporary and (I think) more creative. Darby, whom I interviewed, is one of those poets. And yesterday, my (sort of) review of Taylor Swift’s new double album The Tortured Poets Department went up. I pitched it half as a joke, but my dear editor took the bait. For a while I felt like I’d bitten off more than I could chew, like I was out of my depth in music criticism and pop sugar land. But actually I think it turned out all right. You may not need to be a Swiftie to enjoy reading it.
I have also been working sporadically on a poetry pamphlet and my Substack, but can’t offer much new information on either of those at this stage.
This week, I have mostly been eating: tofu massaman curry. I’ve been on the island of Koh Tao. Or, since koh, sometimes written ko, is a transliteration of the Thai word for “island”, I’ve been on the island of Tao. I came to learn freediving. Did a basic course. Did an apnea clinic, which is the first day of the advanced course. Held my breath for 3 minutes and 15 seconds, a Personal Best. Advanced course was fully booked by the time I’d finished that, so yesterday I went snorkelling in choppy, low-visibility waters. No sweat. Plenty of Dorys and a big silver-pink fish I would’ve called something like Marvin, or Graham. I have a low CO2 tolerance, apparently, but while holding my breath for 2 minutes and 40 seconds my oxygen level didn’t drop below 96%, which means I should, in theory, be able to hold my breath for a long time if I can train my body to chill the F out about CO2 buildup.
At some point I would like to return to Ko Tao to continue my underwater studies. There’s something very beautiful about the stillness of the line – the line you dive down – and the oblivion you enter when you leave the surface. I’m hardly in a position to wax poetic about the joys of underwater life, I know, but my brief exposure was enough to motivate me to want to continue on that journey. All in the fullness of time. On the first day, there was a wicked storm. Rain lashed the seas. A harsh wind blew. And, looking up at the surface from a few metres under, it looked like it was being smashed by a blizzard. Froth and foam. But still and silent beneath.
I’m pressing pause on the Trip, for those of you who don’t know this yet. On 27 May, I’ll fly back to the UK, see some Very Important People in London, Bristol, Sheffield and Devon, then France and possibly Amsterdam; make some cash; celebrate my 30th birthday with dear old friends; and recharge my batteries (by drinking REAL ALE, eating FISH and CHIPS, and shivering in the British summer winds). I don’t know yet how long I’ll be back for. Word is, approx 3 months (i.e., June, July and August), before returning to Bangkok to pick up where I left off and do some real earning in Australia, or approx 7 months, to take in Christmas and NYE, be around for a Very Important Birthday, soak up festive spirits, and earn on British soil, before returning to Bangkok to pick up where I left off.
Some days, I lean one way, some days the other. Factors affecting this include how my dear friend Edward feels about me occupying his spare room for an extended period of time. Before then, I will fly to Borneo to see the Most Important Person. Malaysia will be, I think, the 64th country I have visited.
Love, in spades
B x