When I was 17 or 18 years old, it was just by the time I left home to live in a student dorm in Utrecht, my parents took me on my first Asian holiday ever. The destination was Thailand and I was superthrilled to go, as I was so curious about Asia, and buddhism, that I simply needed to go. I am so happy I did, cause I have visited a lot of Asian countries after that and yet Thailand always holds a special place in my heart.

The culture shock was pretty big, but the country itself is not the only reason I have fond memories of our trip. It is also the people I met there. There was this Thai guide called Doi or Doy, that would pick me flowers and put them in my hair. And that would invite me to his tent later, which was funny cause he had to ask me through his colleague as he did not speak any English. I did not do it by the way, it was a family holiday, I can be decent.

Anyway, then there were some young people in our group that were Dutch and about my age, so I started hanging out with them which was fun. One day at a gorgeous island called Koh Samui we rented quads and scooters, even though our parents forbid, we had so much fun racing on the island, sneaking away from the group. I still talk to some of the people sometimes and it’s nice to know what they are upto and that they are happy.

And then there is Lane. Lane is a guy from America, who I met on Koh Samui too. I think he was about 30 or 32 or something when I met him, but he could have been older too, not sure. We started talking, I don’t even remember how or why, over dinner on the beach. It was amazing there, the warm evenings, the soft breeze, that moment I thought I dropped a spaghetti on my leg which actually happened to be a pretty big lizard that would then not go off, hihi, adorable: it was all good.

Lane and I were talking for a long time that night, and it was almost like in a movie. We met eachother, we went to this fun fair like thing where he shot me a stuffed animal, then we played some pool with a few Norwegian guys and then we were just chilling on the beach, talking about life and religion. It was amazing. Nothing happened between us, it was not like that at all. We were just two strangers meeting in a tropical country, having a connection.

We exchanged (email)addresses and months, may be even years later I received a postcard from him from some American city. He wrote that he finally made it back to America, after a lot of travelling to many different countries, and I thought it was lovely that he sent me this postcard. I sent him an email back, and we might have emailed back and forth a bit, but then lost contact.

Today he reached out to me again, via email this time, which is funny to me because it has been exactly ten years this month. Ten years ago we sat there on the beach, and look at how much our lives have changed now. He is still very much into religion, not like a religious person but as a person that studies that. I was going to the school for journalism after or during that holiday, and so much has happened since then. So many jobs, so many relationships, people we have met. But yet he took the time to write me an email about what he has been up to, specifically about how he went to Amsterdam a few months ago, which made me think: should have emailed me sooner, dummy!

Anyway, I just wanted to write this blog to remind everybody that fun interactions can happen anytime, and they might last longer than you’d think. And to be honest, there is so much stuff going on in my mind right now, that I am desperately seeking for something else to talk about, instead of how I feel… I am definitely going to write back to Lane, tell him what I have been up to, but this time with a cat on my leg instead of a lizard 😉