Paradise Lost

(Dec. 10) There are few things as sweet as being reminded of a wonderful, but long ago, experience. Sometimes this is triggered by smells (maybe the cooking of some cherished comfort food), or sounds (like hearing a song that once had great meaning). But, most often, and most powerfully, the sensation is the greatest when you return to a place that holds some of your warmest memories. And, so it was yesterday with Lily and me. We found ourselves in the same exact spot we had not seen for 30 years: Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand.

The interesting thing, I think, about these encounters is trying to resist re-living the experience since, after all, so many things have changed. You can “re-acquaint” but you cannot “re-live.” Here, in Phuket, we knew things would be different. But, would it matter? What was once a relatively undiscovered backwater unknown to most of the western world, was now a bustling, crowded destination resort polka-dotted by high rises and replete with wave upon wave of European tourists, tattoo parlors, and the ubiquitous t-shirt shops. Hello civilization; goodbye paradise. This was a far cry from the place we once knew that promised on the beach bungalows for $6 a night and grilled fresh fish dinners for $3. But, when you looked seaward, out into the Andaman Sea, we could see what we loved so much: fluffy white sand, water as warm as a bath, and a succession of changing tints of blue -- like a blue rainbow -- from almost clear to turquoise to the deepest navy. The crescent-shaped bay was still guarded by green hills diving down to the shoreline. And, the hot sun served as an open invitation to spend the day submerged in that wonderful water.

We returned to the place that we had once stayed, Phuket Cabanas, now completely transformed into an upscale and beautiful hotel, and had cocktails at sunset and a fabulous alfresco Thai dinner. The starter was a soup so beautifully aromatic it could do well in a perfume competition. The catch? It was laced with paralyzingly hot chilies that, as they say, cures what ails you. Not for the timid, this soup. What followed was everything from red snapper to chicken to shrimp to a seafood salad of shrimp, octopus and ginger. All of it fabulously delicious.

So, it wasn’t the old Phuket. So what? We're not the old Lily and Jeff either.