It just didn't go as "Fast" as I would've liked

I've just spent the past 2+ weeks in Phuket. The first 10 days were passed in the lovely Boat Lagoon Marina. I mean this sarcastically as this place had what one would call "bad voodoo". Boats go in there and don't come out. One guy bought a boat and was quoted 6 months for completion - he's been here for over a year. Locky sailed the trash-heap that was Caballo into Boat Lagoon in Dec 07 and it has now emerged as the new and much improved Papaya. It's amazing what he's done single-handedly, he should be proud. But as he says, his work on his "house" is never done.

On the first day of our reunion, he showed me to my abode - the Papaya. Locky and his girlfriend, Barbara, were going to finish out their stay in the small hotel room they rented 3 minutes away. After spending way too much money the previous 4 weeks, it was nice to have a place to hang out for free. Things were all good. But after a few days in the lagoon - where there is absolutely no breeze, mosquitos the size of horseflies and the Thai people's method of business, things were starting to become a challenge. Nothing a few fans and some mosquito coils can't handle, but I thought I would try to take the suffering to the next level.

Since I got sick (if you'll recall my first 5 days in Indo) I've been wanting to do a major fast. After a couple days of lounging around with Locky whizzing by me doing boat work that I was clearly (due to lack of knowledge) unable to assist with, I saw the perfect opportunity to start. My plan was to ease into it with 3 days of fruit and water and then continue for another 10 days with nothing but water.

So you all probably think I'm crazy, but I'll shed a little light into my mind for you. I have a few reasons for doing this:

1) For the first time in as long as I can remember, I am taking a break from anything athletic (besides some random partner pepper with the girls on Sunrise Beach, Koh Phanang) and not eating would not pose much of a problem in this regard.

2)Over the past year, I've found a major release from the constraints of my mind and had the ability to shed some emotional baggage and certain ways of being. I want to do the same physically - rid myself of extra, unneeded weight (always a bonus). I like to refer to it as pushing the "restart" button.

3) Is not eating for 10 days really one of the hardest things a person can do? A lot of people say it would be impossible for them. Is this really where we are at in our society? This is the biggest challenge we are faced with as individuals? I beg to differ. I accept the challenge.

4) There are people suffering from hunger all over the world and if anyone is paying attention to the front cover - this epidemic is rising, especially in this (Asian) part of the world. With 130,000 people killed last month by the cyclone in Burma, that number is expected to double in the span of a month if the junta don't get their heads out of their asses. Not to mention all the other signs of world hunger that have plagued Africa and other parts of the world for decades. I want to take the opportunity to stop and re-evaluate how I view one of life's luxuries - cause the more I look around the more I begin to notice how eating everyday has become just that. How easy have things become and how much am I taking it all for granted when I actually frown on white rice?!!(Now please everybody, I don't write this to make you feel guilty about your health food stores or Naam restaurant purchases, these are just the thoughts that have been running through my head. I'm sure after a few months back in civilization I'll be once again rolling my eyes at the sandwich artist when he tells me "sorry ma'am, no more whole wheat")

ANYWAYS.... as I settled into my fast it was clear on the morning of Day 2(water only) that I would probably pass out or die so I took refuge in the coconut. You don't want to get me started on the coconut but it really is God's greatest creation for man. (Please email me if you care to delve into the subject!!) So with a coconut a day, it looked like I might actually go....all....the.....way!....and I did.

But here is something else I learned. I really put myself into a position - literally. On the boat, which when the tide was out in the lagoon was actually sitting on the mud, I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Things might've been easier for me if I had various forms of entertainment to distract me. Reading The Omnivore's Dilemma cover to cover over the past week was also twisting the knife (really good book by the way). I really retreated into myself, I didn't have much energy to walk to the store, I wasn't much fun for my friends (who are happy to have me back now) and not to mention a serious boat potato. At night when I lay on the deck I was able to experience the true essence of life: really "being" in my situation (besides my book and the odd text message - thx Bibs). I was forcing myself to accept the moment, lacking all the distractions that I'm used to in my familiar "western" world, stripping life down to its bare "being". The question is: "Can I be happy here?" and the answer, I've discovered, other than hunger pangs is: "Yes!" And if that's the case, everything else should be a piece of cake from here on in....Ha! Ya right, Iz. Well for a little while I'm sure it will be, as I take everything else (movies, parties, exercise regimes, jobs, family dinners, sex, washing the dishes, driving my car/scooter etc...) as a bonus - especially eating!

I feel pretty good. I might just do this once a year.