NIKOLSONS KOH SAMUI

"Five Seas": Few C's too many?..

An interesting document has been circulating around Samui's insiders recently.. it's called Five Seas, otherwise known as a List of 73.. You can access its full text at
http://docs.google.com/view?docid=dcb7vj25_0fztx2n

Few thoughts on the subject..
In my view, the author is trying to condemn all of human weaknesses and sins at once, all in one go, all blown out of proportions and narrowed down to Samui.. as if Samui is indeed the seediest, most hopeless, sinful and mafia rid place on the planet.. as if none of the described happens anywhere else..
The fact is, all of it is nothing new! It happens everywhere, has been happening for ages.. It would be naive to think that with growth and development Samui would manage to stay immune.. Samui is but a small part of the world.. and the world, as we know, is a vicious playground..
Let's not exaggerate! Let there be hope! Different people discover different things in here, as in life.. Some come here for vice, some come here for beauty and love.. Each travels his or her own journey.. Samui for some is a wild playground and a place to get a break from all those reservations, "rules and regulations" of the civilized world where they come from, a place to get wild.. let them do!
They bring in the cash to this island - what can be better!

Fighting vice has been hopeless throughout history of any society! Life needs vice, like light needs darkness and only in contrast to evil good becomes good..
It is equally impossible to stop real estate and lifestyle industries development here on Samui or elsewhere for that matter! Authorities better try to be smarter to figure out how to channel all that inflow of money into improving infrastructure, preserving natural beauty of this island, protecting environment on Samui with well researched and planned long lasting measures!

There are so many decent people here on Samui, who have found their home, found their love or family here, who love the natural beauty of the island.. those who contribute their efforts, creativity, love and energy to preserve Samui and make it a better place for residents and visitors.. as well as maintain an image that this beautiful island deserves!

In views of too many, Samui manages to stay as innocent as ever despite inevitable excesses of holiday making scene! Beauty has always been in eyes of the beholder! Anyone is free to discover the beauty.. for some it just takes a life's long journey to arrive at that discovery, that's all.. We all carry a lot of past with us on all levels.. Nobody can be pushed to harmony, it is something that descends on us at its own will.. most probably, only once we manage to pass and cleanse our beings through sin, hell and high water..

The magic of this island, as I've discovered it for myself though, is that those people who decide to stay here for long gradually go through a mind and life transforming experience.. and that is the real worthy Samui lifestyle phenomena - bringing on true change that can only happen slowly and only by itself..

Does "going out" mean merely "dining out" in Samui?..

More than few times I've been stuck by following sight of of holiday couples at various Samui restaurants: "good" girls and "good" boys, young or mature - little matters, sitting.. facing each other at candle lit tables, barely talking, barely smiling.. so reserved, polite.. so romantic, right?.. Wrong! Very boring in fact! Bored to be in their place, boring to look at.. What is wrong then with this picture?..

Our normal daily lives, wherever we happen to come from, (prior to travelling so far away for a 1 or 2 week vacation that we have been dreaming about) life is full of inner tensions.. In our society, to function normally people have to, on one hand, be very polite and surpress most of their inner urges and instincts; yet, on the other hand, the load of both sublime and open messages designed to stir those instincts and urges is ever mounting, like never before.. no one is left unaffected! That situation causes such innner tension that many are ready to explode and can barely handle it at times! Yet society strictly demands all to be polite.. reserved.. be "good" at all times..
"Good" girls and boys need a break.. everybody needs a break, regular breaks is more like it! That means a break from being "good", a break free.. be free to be "bad", unrestricted.. a break to let those hungry instincts out.. to let those inner animals running loose and wild.. I sure am risking here to call demnation and anathema on me'self from many "good" people out there.. I know..

Samui, as all visitors know, is full of virtuous posters, places and venues.. All those "one of a time" dining out experiences, "unique" and "ultimate" every one of them, of course! They call you and promise time spent contemplating beauty, serenity, bliss, "heavenly" tastes, or offer effortless wellness, health for the mind and body, meditation at miriads of spas.. such perfect picture.. if it had not been for.. well, frequent scenes of dead boredom one sees in people's eyes, all right here - in "heaven", where sun is always shining over endless seas!

Had bliss been so easy as claimed, most out there would be indeed super healthy and of course - enlightened by now, wouldn't they?..
Yet one tall wall stands in the way of true happiness: what to do with "demons" inside?.. the more we supress them - the more they are tearing us apart inside.. they long to reveal themselves.. long to get out.. all things in universe strive to see the light, don't they!
Really, carrying such burning pandora's box inside oneself, we never stand the chance to have any inner space free to be filled with bliss and light.. we can try to sit for hours in "buddha pose" with closed eyes.. yet never truly meditate - prime condition for meditation is inner emptiness! Once mind is empty, meditation requires no pose - life itself turns into meditation, every step of it.. every breath!

This leads me to the title of this entry.. To put it another way, do people really "go out", when they go to "dine out"? A sip of wine, a cigarette, a moment of "blissful" taste in your mouth.. and then it's gone.. boredom multiplies..

This island is indeed beautiful.. blissful.. magical! Do not take me wrong.. Eyes of the beholder though are fogged with boredom!

Samui needs a balancing act! A balancing scene to re-establish harmony.. venues offering literal cleansing of minds! It has to and can be done with imagination.. with taste.. and with style.. class.. Chaweng or Lamai scene offers no remedy to most, if only for the primitive, unintelligent and lacking imagination male brutes.. In times when living, dining, wellness and pampering get ever more sophisticated and stylish, how can day and night entertainment remain so primitive.. so unfulfilling?!.. All it does really is disrespect, or often outright humiliate all participants, be it guests to Samui, or local boys and girls working in the scene!

Come on people! What happened to people dacing in the sun, dancing on the beach?.. people dancing on the tables.. going wild?.. what happened to excess, true excess of emotions, affections? What is wrong with people openly playing games.. provoking, seducing each other?.. running wild, loving it and loving and embracing each other with no reserve for a little while, even wasting themselves at times?.. Come on guys, what is the meaning of holidays?! Is it to lie in the sun all day long only to burn your body out of its fluids and finish the day with a boring silent dinner to have an early night??? Ask yourselves again..

We all hide such reserves of energy, imagination and fantasy inside, .. we deserve better! Like day needs night, multiple venues of health and bliss need to be balanced with venues, where our darker desires and fantasies could come out to play! And yes again, they have to be stimulating, fun, tasteful, stylish, and be all that for both sexes, which is very important!!! - that is in order to become really fulfilling! Only then entertainment venues could filfit their essential role as places of mental and emotional relief!
Thus inner wholeness and harmony could be found again!