Karma

Joey:
We have recently had a bit of bad luck, and we are racking our brains trying to figure out if we deserve it or if it is just coincidence. For those of you who know us well, you're probably wondering why we would have this debate. Seriously, who believes in the karmic cyle anyway. Right?

Well, we happen to be in a Buddhist country where everyone believes in karma from the king on down to... to tourists who happen to be in the country for just a few weeks. My feeling is that the belief has sunk in somehow, and thus the debate mentioned above.

Our bad luck began while we were in Koh Tao. It was a lovely day; we spent some time on the beach, did some laundry, and laid in the hammock on the front porch. All in all, it was pretty normal. Then, Erin says "have you seen my wedding ring?" I was not too surprised or concerned at first, because while traveling we have both misplaced lots of things. But after a couple of hours of turning the room inside out (quite literally), we were not able to find said ring.
The next day, before we checked out, we turned the room upside down again and still could not find it. After much crying and being upset, Erin was finally able to calm me down. Actually, we tried our best not to let it get us down. We had purposefully not brought an expensive ring, just in case of this scenario.

Erin's turn:
I was pretty devastated about the ring but still excited to get to Koh Phagnan. We stayed in a stunning cove on the northeastern side of the island. Then, I got sick. Three days of nausea, fever, and dizziness made it hard for me to enjoy our surroundings. It also meant that Joey had to arrange our travel back to Bangkok.

For a first-timer, he did okay. I'd give him a C-. Because it was in the middle of Songkran, we had to take a secondary boat and then catch a late bus. It was no overnight ferry (see earlier post), but we still didn't arrive in Bangkok until 5am the following morning, about 19 hours of travelling, instead of 8pm in the evening which we originally intended. The C- comes from having to buy the tickets twice, once in Koh Phagnan and once in Koh Tao. The ticket stub given to him in Koh Phagnan did not reflect the original purchase. Oops.

Once in Bangkok, we checked in, took a nap, and then headed out to enjoy Songkran. After a few hours of getting soaked, covered in flour, dancing in the street, laughing at the chaos, and generally enjoying ourselves, I felt someone's hand in my pocket. I pushed the man away and called to Joey to check his pockets. It was too late, his wallet was gone. We are usually so careful; I think we were just too tired when we headed out for the festival.

Because it was a holiday, we were left with only the 160 baht (about $4) in my pocket until the following morning. Luckily this was enough to contact the various credit card companies and get some street food for dinner.

Bad karma or bad luck, I don't know. It has been a tough week for us. We think Thailand is a lovely country but when Annsley asked Joey if he liked Thailand, he had to think about his answer for a minute.

This afternoon we are going to go see the Emerald Buddha to see if we can rid ourselves of this bad karma. We will let you know if it works out.