The world makes up for all its follies and injustices by being damnably sentimental. (Thomas H Huxley)
When you think about it, we are indeed a sentimental lot. All those films we weep over, the books we read, blinking rapidly, the music we listen and sing along to (badly). Not to mention the thousands – millions! – of photographs we take each year – and store away carefully… or not. They tell us where we’ve been, what we were doing, who we were with, and some of them might even tell us when it all happened.
Think about your collection of photos: are they paper-based, stored carefully in albums, captioned? Possibly not, these days! So are they digital, on DVDs, labelled? Are they on your computer? Still on the camera’s memory stick? Tut tut … get them off there! Spend a wet weekend happily browsing through them, organising them into folders, then getting them onto DVDs and/or an external hard drive. And print a few out – pin them to your notice board, frame a few of the good ones, and look at them. This, encapsulated, is your life …
That sentimental side of us humans just loves looking back on what we did, where we went and who was with us. We can see how things looked in the past, and laugh at how fashion changes, those hideous hair styles, children’s growth spurts and – ahhhh – our much loved but long gone pets.
Don’t be afraid to get your camera out when walking or driving around Koh Samui, but be respectful and ask first before clicking at people regardless, especially in temples or other religious areas. On the mainland there may be some rural people who believe that having their photograph taken will ‘capture’ their soul, and they will walk away from you and your camera. Be sensitive. And many bars in Ko Samui, especially those with ‘entertainment’, will not allow photos to be taken. But don’t be put off: your camera should be with you all the time, ready for that perfect sunset (which Koh Samui seems to get every single night of the year), that colourful fishing boat, that beautiful temple, those gorgeous orchids …
Create some memories of your time on Koh Samui: don’t even think about your future grandchildren, 20 or so years from now, sorting through the neatly labelled DVDs, with puzzled, wrinkled nose and curled lip, saying ‘What the heck are these, grandpa?’ – pack your camera, some spare memory sticks – and get clicking. You have many happily sentimental wet weekends ahead of you …