Home Away from Home

Took a game of musical rooms, but I'm finally settled into a really sweet pad. Can I say pad, or is that too beatnik? At any rate, no beatnik would gripe about wi-fi, a plunge pool (12'x6'x6' with a waterfall), hammock, and a garden of not fewer than seven palm trees. My rent is $194 per month, utilities included.

Not pictured here are the three rottweilers guarding the premises -- the pride and joy of the New Zealand couple who own the place. They seem nice enough, nice enough to let me pet them anyway, but I'm glad they're penned most of the time. The male might be a big softie, but he could devour a fire hydrant if he wanted to.

The town is Chalong, on Phuket's eastern shore. The area is far less touristed than the western shore but popular with divers. There is a significant muslim population on the island and there's a mosque not far from here. The muezzin has already embraced the new Islamic tradition of using modern PA systems, but at this distance the effect is still quaint.

I've already retrieved, unpacked, and cleaned everything I had in storage. There was some mold to contend with, but everything fared quite well spending close to eight months in a Thai hot box. Apparently I didn't make much of an impression with the (American) guy running the storage facility; I had to reintroduce myself each time we met, including twice in the span of 30 hours.

I've already had a lesson regarding the symbiotic relationship my room has with the local fauna. I hung a duffel bag off the back of one of the patio chairs to air. A day or so later I threw it in the bottom of my closet; about 1o hours after that I found the second largest toad I've ever seen contemplating my golf shoes. Last time around I stayed in a fifth-floor, and later a fourth-floor, apartment and was in the habit of sleeping with my windows and balcony doors wide open but now there's just too much biology taking place on my doorstep.

Could I be subject to a fatwa if that "quaint" remark gets back to the wrong people?