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Patong Beach: Forbidden Beauty

I had previously imagined that my 12-midnight birthday countdowns would be graced by the moon-lit beach, accompanied by the rhythmic sounds of sea waves, and bedazzled by the sparkling glitters of shooting stars, with someone special I would call a true companion. To my utter disappointment, my anticipation was swallowed by the vicious weather from the Mother Land. It was raining and windy that I could practically see the tidal waves gigantically sweeping the Patong Beach so cruelly that people were scampering in panic, being alert of the possible warning that there might another tsunami in the making. With a heavy heart, I cancelled my beach celebration. My birthday’s eve was then filled up with the random discoveries of hustles and bustles around the Patong Beach.

Really, I had never thought that Patong Beach was so big that it was like a big town itself. It was so busy with alluring activities people seemed to forget that there was actually a beach nearby. Frankly, I was so against this particular idea of holidaying – having a vacation in Phuket means to spend my precious time by the sandy beach and to have a lot of beach activities, not to linger around the busy and noisy town. But I was left with no option – the beach was beautiful but it was forbidden, so Derek and I started to cruise through the dazzling roads around the beach. Oh yeah, Derek was still in the house and I was starving to death at that time I could eat a horse.

“I need some energy,” I told Derek, almost begging. “Let’s eat something,”
“Why do you want to eat?” asked Derek. I was perplexed and innocently said, “I am hungry.”
“Why?
“Why? I am hungry-lah. I want to eat!”
“Why?”
“Goddammit!”

Derek’s insensitivity was somehow intolerable. I rushed into a nearby Thai restaurant and ordered anything on the menu to be stored into my hungry stomach and satisfy my physical needs. Derek followed behind and sat beside me, saying nothing. When I was full, my anger finally subsided and began talking to Derek. I reasoned that we shouldn’t act like immature kids, not especially on my birthday’s eve. I forced myself to be more patient and, after some time, we were friends again on a seemingly obligatory vacation since we had already been on the island, walking together on a fragile leaf, about to fall at any possible moments which would definitely mess up my vacation which was supposed to be filled with merries, not worries.

Afterward, we cruised into some major roads filled with a lot eye-catching bars and discotheques along Bang La Road and Rath-U-Thit Road. At 12 midnight, Derek and I were enjoying our little drinks outside a bar. I received the first official oral birthday wish from Derek who seemed to be the only one I knew at that particular moment on a foreign land. Thanks Derek. The SMSes then kept coming and I was busy replying them that I ignored the inviting sights inside the bar - some attractive big shows by some attractive people in Phuket. Derek looked at my wild SMSing behavior and said: “Whoa, you so rich, ar? You replied all the SMS.” Goddammmit. Can you leave me alone? This is my proud moment and you are talking about the cost?

Not long after that, Derek seemed lost into the jiggles and wiggles of the deafening music, savouring his animalistic movements, making me smile with ecstasy. We were both having our good times, at least for tonight. Another life had just begun. Happy Birthday Cekmi. You have no idea what you are about to find out soon.

Free Riders

The following day, I woke up late, smiling at my new age with dignity. Last night was great. I wanted to make it even greater that day. I wanted to explore the whole island and do it adventurously. How did it do it? I rented a motorbike.

I was driving the motorbike while Derek was sitting behind me most of the time, giving me an excuse that he couldn’t drive the bike because he did not bring his driving license. Okay Derek.

So, with a frail hope in mind that the rented motorbike wouldn’t explode, we went through the entangled streets around the Patong Town. As were passing one street, I noticed that there was a torn-apart bar surrounded by curious onlookers. The authorities were everywhere. I was shocked to realize later that there had been a blast the previous night, that there might have been a terrorist activity around the town. The word bomb flashed into my mind repeatedly. This thought scared me and, hey, I was so lucky I was not in that bar last night. Otherwise, someone would have a mati-katak experience in Phuket.

However, I was not discouraged by the blast. Very soon, Derek and I went through the dangerous slopes and riding through the dangerous lows and ups of the island beyond the Patong Beach. We stopped at few interesting places like Karon Beach, Wat Chalong, Kata Beach, Rawai Beach and Phromthep Cape. There were times when I got lost that I ended up in the middle of Phuket Town and I suddenly stumbled into an unexpected discovery - Phuket Rajabhat University. To find a higher learning institution in the middle of a holiday paradise was really surprising.

For me, it was fun to get lost because I could see and learn so many things in a positively unforeseen manner, but Derek looked unhappy because he thought I was a careless driver. I had to make a lot of emergency stops in the middle of dangerous highways, looking for directions from the map. But, Derek suggested that I should ask the people around instead of depending solely on the map. Alright Derek. To satisfy him, I stopped the motorbike near a restaurant and expected him to ask the people in the restaurant for a direction. But he refused and demanded me to do the damn thing. He wanted to be comfortably seated right there on the motorbike, expecting me to do all the leading tasks. Fine Derek.

While we were cruising through the island, there was an awe-inspiring place that really tested my imagination – Kata View Point. From this point, I was sumptuously feasted by a breathtaking view of Phuket beaches and bays. Gazing at this panoramic sight deeply evoked my emotion, making me feel truly blessed to be there on my birthday. I was high with the visual pleasures that nothing would hinder towards my search for happiness, until Derek interrupted and asked for my favour.

“Can you take my picture?” he said. I took his expensive digital camera and snapped his best shot. But, as usual, he was unhappy with it and said that he looked ugly with that shot done by me, that his hair looked terrible, that his smile looked crooked, and he would ask me to do it again. The process repeated for a few times until he looked at himself in the digital photo and said, “Hmm… okay-lah.” And I would be so irritated with his behavior and said almost sarcastically: “Do you want to take the picture of the beautiful island or the picture of your beautiful self?” He would ignore my comment and kept admiring at his own gorgeousness from the picture and bragged about how he had successfully maintained his youthfulness at the age of 30 and he would then talk about his concern about his fading years of being a macho hunk. I felt sorry for his low self-esteem who seemed to be worried and obsessed about his external looks rather than admiring the spectacular views around him.

On the way back to Patong Beach, we stopped at a market that sold and displayed a lot of haphazard-looking foods and vibrant clothes. I tried a delicious roasted banana, yummy. I enjoyed the cacophony of the market that it reminded me of Wakaf Che Yeh bazaar in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. It was such an enchanting sight where I could observe the real myriads and colours among the beautiful people of Phuket.

Before returning to our hotel, I told Derek that I really wanted to swim at the Patong Beach. I tried to convince him that going to Phuket without even exploring the sea was useless. But Derek forbade me, telling me almost dismissively that the beach was dirty and potentially dangerous. I was adamant. I didn’t care about the dirt and the danger because I just wanted to feel the breeze and warmth of the Phuket bays. What use would it be after traveling so far and seeing the whole island but you couldn’t even play around the beach? If that’s the case, I would rather go to local beaches like an old Port Dickson or a sickening Tanjung Bidara, where I would be easily allowed to cruise through the sea, even though they are not as famous as Patong Beach.

In the end, Derek gave in me to my request. I decided not to swim though because it looked daunting. So I was just strolling along the sea, alone, while Derek was waiting for me on a bench nearby. As I was walking alone there, I was pondering upon my recent life which seemed blank without almost anyone to share my happiness with. I might be too independent that I wouldn’t open up myself to anyone, that no one would even consider me as their company, not even Derek who was supposed to be there for me, but he wasn’t. It was a lonely walk that symbolized my life as a single birthday boy, at 31.

Gimme a Break!

It was our last night in Phuket and Derek requested me to go to the same bar again that we went to the previous night. He had been so engrossed with the wild excitements of Phuket nightlife. I thought I had enough of it. But I might consider, I said to Derek who seemed so hopeful. But I was too tired of driving the motorbike and cruising the island the whole day, while he was sitting there conveniently behind me, that all I wanted at that time was a good night’s sleep. Not to disappoint his libido whims, I asked him to allow me to sleep for a few minutes to regain my energy.

However, after some time, I couldn’t get up. I weakly told him that I was too exhausted I couldn’t possibly follow him and I hoped that he would understand my condition. He didn’t say a word. I was half sleeping when I saw Derek with his stoned face, and all his body languages saying: “Wake up Cekmi, you moron sonofabitch!” Of course he did not say that, but I could feel his anger. It was not my intention to spoil his anticipation for another wild ride in a bar, but I was just too tired. In the end, I gave in to his body language demands.

“Okay, let’s do it Derek. Let’s party tonight. I just pretend that I am tired. Just kidding, haha...” I told him lightheartedly, hoping that it would cheer things up. But he looked at me sulkily and said, “You are so selfish, Cekmi. How could you be so insensitive towards my feelings?” I was confused. So now, am I the one who is selfish? How about my feelings? Shouldn’t you be more sensitive with my physical condition and be less selfish? Oh my, I did not want to prolong this newly popped-up issue, so we headed quickly to the bar and had fun, just like he wanted. I spent the whole night looking at his happy face and overjoyed behaviour in the bar. Despite the fact that I was pushing my body over the limit, in an odd way, I was happy for him.

Leaving and Surviving

On the last morning in Phuket, I managed to get a final good glimpse of the Patong Beach and spend the last few hours there, alone again, while Derek was still dozing off on his comfortable bed, gaining his energy back after a wild night. It was still raining and freezing, but I just walked along the soggy beach, soaked and drenched, still wishing hard for a last-minute swim into the sea. But it was to no avail – the beach was too wild and wavy. It had been three exhausting days in Phuket, where I had been struggling between Derek’s catastrophic behaviours and Phuket’s forbidden beauty. If this condition persisted, I was not sure whether I would be able to continue traveling. I didn’t know whether I could make it in Bangkok.

With this tiring issue in mind, I packed my luggage and headed to the Phuket Town to get a bus ticket to Bangkok. I clutched a 14-kilogram bag and had difficulties carrying it that Derek gave another annoying comment about my luggage, questioning about the motive of my excessive luggage. I said it was problem, that I would never ask him to carry my giant luggage.

The bus would depart at 6 pm, so we had plenty of time to waste together in the town, and I had a number of hours to cherish or to suffer with. We toured around the town and I took a lot of pictures for him while he kept complaining about his ugly-looking hair and tired complexion. I acted as if Derek was not there and tried to focus and admire the old charms of the town. We were still walking together, only we were now strangers, not friends anymore. Somehow, I did not know him anymore. It was such a pathetic situation. It was supposed to be the time when I should be sharing my marvelous thoughts about the travel with someone, but he just walked past me, expressionless, leaving behind the wonderful classics of the town, uncommented and unappreciated. He might be thinking that Phuket Town was nothing compared to London. Poor Cekmi, he had never been to Europe and look at him now, admiring over the old rocks and worn-out buildings that are useless and worthless.

While cruising around the town, I spotted a Chinese noodle restaurant and wanted to supply my energy there. Derek refused to go in since he was doubtful about its halalness. It was funny since I was the one who was supposed to be concerned about this matter, but I was impatient with his hesitance and indecisiveness that I marched towards the restaurant without his approval. I reasoned later that we had already been in a complicated backbacking situation that we couldn’t afford to be choosy and critical about food choices. As long as I did not eat pork, I assured him.

We were finally on the bus to Bangkok and I was praying very hard that Bangkok would have something better in store for Derek and me, that it would put our already strained relationship at ease.

Hello Bangkok! Here I come.