A longtime ago, a person I knew quite well, told me to take time to smell the roses.
I didn't have the time to do that, sounds pasay, but true in my case. Life was there to be organised, goals had to be set and achieved, that was very important to me. A certain order had to be instilled into my life or I thought that I would drown into nothingness.....oh....sounds a bit like I'm using this blog as a therapy tool, maybe I am. But the great news for me is that at last, I am taking the time to smell the roses and there are some orchids and even waterlilies that are getting into the act and you know what, they all have a lovely perfume. Some not so much as others, but it is there. Like my life, it is there, it is mine and it is something that I am taking the time to enjoy. Still have some goals, just not hammering them into everyone else that's close to me, going about things in a gentler way.
Gee, I hope my friends & family will still be able to recognise me!! My artist husband recognises that I'm changing and it's lovely that he tells me so. Take yesterday, when I came back from downtown Hua Hin, and I was very late to have been out by myself (so he said) with my fingernails and toenails painted a nice shade of pink but with little white roses painted on to the tips. Well, not his usual Beres, not the usual sensible nude colour, but not over the top either....he doesn't know yet, but that could be next week's effort..... at the Pink Nail Bar that I have found in downtown Hua Hin.
It's a that's a funny story.
I went out in search of a pedicure, meet a young girl selling them for THB 150 (that's about AU$5). I liked the price, didn't like that her stall was in a market-alley and there was no nail bar or beauty shop anywhere to be seen. I was warming to the idea and when she said THB 300 (AU$10) for nails, toes and nail art....I said, ka (which is polite for females to say in Thai).....dtok long ow (OK I'll take it).
She leads me off down the alley then up the next, by now we were 2 streets away from her stall and in the middle of 'eatallyoucan & let'sgetpissed' area favoured by mostly the heavy drinking European expats. This didn't look like a place that would have a good nail bar. But was I so wrong. She coxes me into a mall, well like a mall but with lots of Indian tailors, Internet cafes and vacant shops that seem to fit in somehow, you know what I mean, and there at the end of the mall was a pretty little shop, painted all in pink paint, looked clean. I should have twigged.
But hey, I'm trying to fit in and not rock the boat, you know what I mean. Not look so much like I've still got 'gum-nuts in my hair' and not so old!
I was meet with a lot of giggles, much pointing at where they would accommodate 'aunty' as they insisted on called me as they cleared off all sorts of clothing and mobile phones from the hot-pink lounge for me so that I could sit. They quickly made me comfortable, didn't want me sprinting for the door I suppose. The 'manager' gave me an iced ginger tea to drink and a colour card that would have put Dulux to shame. But, I was impressed. All good so far.
After a few minutes, I happened to glance up from my tea to see an extremely tall, slim Thai girl approaching me as she totter on incredibly high wedges armed with a large pink bucket of water which was slopping all over the floor. I quickly realised the reason she was giggling was that she thought I was a pretty odd sight, why, because by now I was cottoning on that, as they say in Thai 'Nun mai chai poo-ying, kow pben ga-tery'......'not a girl but a lady boy' was going to be doing my treatment. Well that's cool. Funny but cool!
There was much laughter amongst the staff and their customers, which on closer inspection seemed to be mostly lady-boy, there was a lot of big eyed looks all round but we all had a lot of fun and I laughed at a lot of their jokes, mostly aimed at me I am sure, but you know what, I'm going back there again. Not just because it is cheap and not just because my lady-boy is an excellent nail-artist but because I had a great time and yes, it was just that little bit exciting. I think I may have even smelt the roses, although I think it was more like the cheap moisteriser that they had used on my feet or maybe it could have been that water she had in that bucket!
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