Everything changes. Nothing is truly lost.
People come and go. It's been five years since the first time I was in Phuket. A lot of people have left. People I know. But they did not really go; they're not really gone. They have a way when they become irrelevant at one place, they go elsewhere, and others take their spot.
It's like politics. It's like entertainment.
Some are still here. Some of the bar owners, and some faces who never really change.
Anyway, it presents an opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
For Cheepork and myself, it was no longer the rah-rah kind of excitement we used to look for a few years ago. This time around, it's more of a laid-back visit rather than a hellraising trip. Only having two extra guests on our last night did we really go for a full-blown party.
We also decided on a few possible stories that could be movies in the next few years, or few decades. I got one, that could be a Malaysia-Thailand cooperation in the vein of a Woody Allen movie, based on Cheepork's sordid love affairs. Titled Phuket. I am sure there are a lot of people who love this place - oldies who have been here 10-20 years before I came - but I am not sure whether the movie would actually make money.
It's a nice, small movie, with a small story. The kind I would like to make on my own, given the chance, and a grant. No fireworks. No CGI.
Cheepork has a few ideas for a series developed here, but not in any way based on Phuket or Thailand. They're commercially viable and we will be preparing a proposal or two once we get back.
I feel the power moving within me once more. The shift in location has skewed my perspective a bit and I am once again interested in stories.
I shared this with a wonderful girl last night. How Phuket has always seemed to me to be full of wonderful stories.
She said, "Everyone have their own story."
True. Very true. Everyone back in Malaysia have their own stories to tell. The difference is, in Malaysia, I am more self-centered and think mostly about myself. Other people only exist in relation to me. Myself as the point of reference.
Once I leave the country, I find myself lost in the background as I focus on listening to people's stories. It happens everywhere I go. Bali, even Singapore. Not necessarily just Thailand. But since this is the most relaxing place on earth for me, I get more interesting tales here than anywhere else.
Anyway, I am enjoying a few hours of relaxation before going back to KL. It's been a fantastic trip and for the first time in months, I can't wait to write.
