naked pool

this vacation is coming to a close. we are on day seven of the get away to get away tour. i have only called work once, i have done email a few times, but i have been happily disconnected from the internet most of the time. i have lost one almost completed book, and read parts of three others. we have had drinks at sunset every single night, and then snuggled in with dvd series. but the best part of the vacation was the single element required as we searched for villas. it is the element we loved last summer in thailand, and the one i will miss the most when it is not available. it is the part of asian top-end resorts i have come to love, the naked pool.

when we checked into our third resort, it was quickly noticed that we had no view. the room was great, big bed, wonderful bathroom, a bathtub outside that was placed into a pond with plants, fish and very loud frogs. there was a sitting area on the other side with grass leading to a high stone wall that ran all the way around the villa. the villa sat on a terraced hill, following the contour lines of rice padi's surrounding the resort. it was very quiet and secluded, facts that called out as you looked at the long still lap pool outside the rooms wall of windows.

last year we had gone to thailand and barely left the resort. the spa, the bar and wonderful chef who made yummy beignet in the morning and quesadilla at night were all good. but the room with the private walls and swimming pool were the draw. throw in an outside shower and a open air bathtub and you get a glimpse of a vacation for the rich and famous. now mix in a gentle zen spa vibe, service with asian distance and someone you are comfortable with and you get to a holiday that sends the stress of life far, far away.

so as we searched for villas for this trip, we had the single requirement. a naked, sorry private, pool. we ended up with the first room surrounded by rice padis and over looking at the beach, but set to the side of the resort with walls on three sides for added privacy. the second room had walls ten feet high all around, with added height in areas that adjacent rooms second floor could look down into the pool. clearly added to ensure privacy for all. and now, this room again with high wall, but without the views the site had talked about. i asked the butler showing us to the room and he explained. other villas have a view of the jungle and river bottomed valley, but these are the rooms they put the "private" guests in. i made a face and he explained.

some of the guests are so famous they can not check in under their own names. if they were in the other rooms there would be people with cameras in the jungle trying to take pictures of them. these rooms are built for them, to ensure their privacy, and to allow them to enjoy their vacations. the vision of a someone checked in as "anna scott" who had come to be the most famous recreation of "eat, pray, love" needing time away from the paparazzi snapped into my head. i was not sure how i felt about staying in a room that a runaway bride may have stayed in, but the pool awaited.

the next few days were a cycle of swim, outside bath and overall relaxation. if a star did stay in this room, i hope they were smart enough to relax in the pool and tub. i had painfully sad visions of someone not being comfortable enough to fully enjoy the freedom.

i was taken back to my penultimate summer on the cape, when i tried to motivate a midnight trip to the beach for a natural swim. that attempt was sadly not shared, new england puritanical mores winning out over newport hippy culture. but all was not lost, i was able to correct the misjustice and teach the love of freedom a few years later in borneo, when we left the rainforest music festival, dodged a guard, abandoned the half uptight, and played in the south china sea.

but here i was, far from the house in truro, paparazzi safely walled out, with the most relaxing trip of all time quickly slipping away. it was time to fill the tub, and do some laps in the pool while the water ran.

as auntie ann used to say, of course i was wearing a suit, my birthday suit.