Julia's Gone Running - Day Forty Four

Love Is The Natural State...

We left SeaSky just after 8am this morning, we travelled across the bay in the little boat with our luggage and a young couple from Australia who we hadn't seen before... 'How long have you been here?' I asked them...

'We came for five days and we've been In hospital with food poisoning for three' they said...

'Ahh, that's why we haven't seen you...'

You're the first people we've spoken to who we've been able to understand since we arrived here', they said

They looked a bit exhausted and washed out and as if they had really been through it... making us, who also look a bit pale and thinner than when we arrived - healthy in comparison...!

The boys got our luggage out and put all of it on the sand and left us in the boat... 'the tourists have been abandoned' the young woman said...!

So we clambered over the edge of the boat and waded to the shore; they pointed to the pier, one minute away, they said... And then they jumped back in their boat and were gone...

The four of us dragged our bags through the crowds and along the bumpy track...

'We had such expectations of Phi Phi' the young woman said... 'Yes' her boyfriend echoed 'all of our mates said we'd have a great time and all we've done is get sick..'

'Best not to have any expectations', I said; he nodded in agreement and I saw him take in what I had said....

We joined the others travelling on the big boat from Phi Phi island to Phuket and soon were clambering abroad for the two hour journey a torsos the Anderman sea to our next destination...

We sat at the front of the boat on our journey back to Phuket and chatted with a young woman from Zurich who knew the UK, because she had come to language school to learn English...

'It is very important to speak English' she said, 'it is the language that is spoken everywhere...'

I breathed a (very slightly embarrassed) sign of relief...!

We caught a bus from the docks to the airport and then a taxi to our hotel and here we are...

We have landed in an Oasis...

There is a Christmas band playing tonight and as we sat having lunch overlooking the sea there was much activity and readying happening...

Christmas Carols were being played throughout - here this Buddhist country is accommodating its tourists in grand style...

Everywhere we go making new friends and connecting with our fellow human beings; travellers on this human journey is a great joy to me...

I have travelled to different places all my life and I notice that essentially human beings are the same the world over; we love our children and we want to look after them and provide for them; I realise there are exceptions to this generalisation,and of course even with the best intention parents don't 'get it right' and 'wounding' happens; but love, nurturing and providing the best for our children is something I witness as a core intention and motivation...

And to do this effectively and avoid the mistakes as much as possible, we must look after ourselves and love ourselves; because from this place we are capable of creating a far brighter clearer future for our young people...

And we are all parents whether we have given birth to children or not; we are parents to our friends children to our nieces and nephews, to our godchildren and we are parents to our own inner child and the inner child of all those we encounter day by day...

Relationship exists in the spaces between us and it is our responsibility to be mindful of what we are putting in that space.

Love is the natural state and conflict the aberration and as I travel on this planet and through this life I always think in terms of the spaces between me and the other, because the more we do this in every interaction, the more we will remember that we are all united in wanting to create a better future for all of our children on the whole planet....

It is now 6.45pm and julia is thinking of going running.....!

Later...

Anadi was still feeling more like lying down than exercising, so I left him lying on the bed in our room and went in search of the gym....

It was warm and dusky outside, there was a holiday feel, people finishing a day at the water park and new folk arriving at the hotel

I found my way through the maze that is this fabulous hotel complex.

I could see the gym on the second floor of the building, as I walked towards the main reception...

Lines of running machines and bikes and X trainers lit up and visible through the glass floor to ceiling front wall...

I was the only person there for awhile, until a little Russian boy and his sister arrived and then a tall young woman in a black all in one who was very stretchy and springy and inspired me to be more so myself ...

I did a some core exercises, and stretched my body and then jogged easily for twenty minutes on the treadmill.

I am still weak...