Motorbike

In a story by Wendell Berry entitled “Making it Home,” there is the following line: “And now, though he walked strongly enough along the road, he was still newborn from his death, and inside himself he was tender and a little afraid.”  Berry was writing about a man returning home from the carnage of World War I, but the words well describe any experience in which a person has peered closely into his or her own fragility.

This photo was taken on one of many steep grades on Ko Phangan, a Thai island home to the famous (at least in the backpacker world) Full Moon Party.  It is also home to hundreds of motorbike accidents each year.

The day after taking this picture on a good portion of road, I went against the advice of my guesthouse manager, the lady at the massage shop, and the local hair stylist, venturing down the infamous road to Thong Nai Pan.  For the full story click HERE, but suffice it to say that half an hour into my journey I flew headfirst into the jungle.

In the end, scratched and with a sprained ankle, I made it to the beautiful bay at the end of the road to Thong Nai Pan.  The water was so quiet, the beach nearly empty. As I walked along the water’s edge I felt the beauty but also the fragility of life.  I thought of how there are experiences in addition to motorbike accidents – a shocking turn in a relationship, the loss of a home, the news of one’s failing health – that can leave us tender and a little afraid.  Like the road to Thong Nai Pan, life can feel steep and rutted.

Precious few travelers venture to the Thai town of Pattani these days.

Located in Thailand’s deep south near the border with Malaysia, Pattani was the site of a major Japanese landing in the first days of World War II; from here they pushed down the Malay Peninsula to capture Singapore.  More recently (since 2004) the small town has been a focal point in an insurgency which has claimed, on average, two to three lives per day.  The motives for the violence are complex, but a significant factor is the discrimination local Muslims feel they receive under the Thai government.  Thailand is an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation, but the four provinces in Thailand’s deep south are predominately Muslim.

In the days surrounding my own visit in September 2007, several passengers on a bus were shot, a military truck was hit by a roadside bomb, a teacher and farmer were gunned down, and a judicial official was assassinated.  But as in other conflict zones, life goes on in the midst of the uncertainty.  On an afternoon walk through the town, I came across these two smiling Thai soldiers heading out on patrol.  I was struck by their facial expressions…and their mode of transport.