Mermaiding in the South East

I'm going to the doctor's office today to get a travel vaccine and medicine evaluation before my trip to Thailand in 4 weeks.

I spent the better portion of this afternoon trolling the internet blogs, databases, tourism sites and my own scraps of memories for places that my sister and I could potentially go visit while abroad. It's funny: I haven't really understood what I am getting myself in to until I scroll down to about 25,000 ft on google maps and look at the vast green oceans of rainforest covering remote island in the aqua blue waters of the gulf of Siam. Holy Moly. I'm going there?!

As I peruse the photos and first hand accounts I am reminded very much of the lagoons of Peter Pan's Never-Never Land Mermaids singing and brushing their hair with Conch Shells and sunbathing on seagull covered boulders that thrust their large shit covered heads out of the clear depths of the bay. Will I be doing that!? Yes. Sign me up!

I guess the biggest apprehension I am feeling right now is the hesitation to make anything a solidified "sure thing" while I am over there. I feel as though I am embarking on an adventure that will hinge on the adventurous Australians and Europeans that I am sure to meet while over there. I have heard from many of my friends who have been to Thailand in the past, that the chances of meeting a group of blonde haired Aussies who are ready to pick you up and run with you to the other side of South East Asia are very high, you just have to be open to idea of going with them. My American brain doesn't seem to be able to fully process this idea, though. "So, I'm going to fly away to the other side of the planet with no clear idea as to what I am going to go over there past the first 4 days I have booked at the hostel in Bangkok? What the hell am I thinking? I'm going to rely on the spontaneity of New Zealanders? Brits? Aussies? Thai locals? Wow. I'm out there!"

I guess, as long as I wind up with wind blowing through my hair on a white sandy beach drinking coconut milk from a freshly cut nut I'll consider the whole trip a win. I just don't have any idea as to how that will happen or with whom. At least I'll have my Malaria pills and my Typhoid shot to keep me sure that somethings (like those diseases) are surely not going to get the best of me. All the rest... Well, I'll keep an open mind and try to ignore the American sensibilities that make me feel like I need to plan all of this vacation wonderland to a 'T'. Being a spontaneous sunbathing mermaid is not such a bad thing, after all.