Going bamboo

One of the frequent types of characters that one meets while travelling is the white man who left home to a distant and exotic place and never returned.

They are an infinite source of stories, and most of the times they are really good story tellers. All of them have a specific calm look in their eyes and always take their time to tell even the smallest snippet of a story. When talking about the reasons why they are in that place all of them mention the weather and the women! "... and the women... oh the women...". Some of them are married to a local woman and most of them have a local girlfriend. Usually they have more patience for tourists or travellers when alcohol is involved. The majority of the ones I've met were from an English speaking country/region where the weather is usually cold. They usually have some simple job there or live from their government money (retirement or other type of subsidies). Some speak the local language very well, most of them speak at least the basic. All of them have a good relation with the locals, but they always openly complain about them and their country (either corruption, laziness, lack of organisation, etc.)... Pretty much the same way I complain about, for example, the weather in London and at the same time I ended up there 5 years, fascinated by the place. When asked if they want to go back to their country they always say "no way! Well... Maybe in many years from now... But not now!". Most of then travelled a lot around the world.

Some of the most interesting ones I've met so far in this trip were a Canadian guy who created 12 years ago a simple and isolated beach resort with bamboo huts in the jungle, an English primary school teacher that lived a few years in Vietnam, then India and currently in Tanzania, a South African that used to work in a pub in Kent until coming to Asia and a Dutch guy of around my age with some kind of paralysis and who used to have one epileptic attack every week in Europe that stopped once he got here.

Last night I was having dinner with a bunch of people who are staying here at Jungle Beach and we were talking about this theme with some of the previously mentioned characters plus some other guests. A Dutch tourist girl mentioned at some point, without bad intention, the 'misfits who end up finding their place outside their own lanf'. She was clearly the misfit at that table, and so were the other tourists or travellers, like me...