The Best Chai in the World

I should have just kept walking. I was tired and jet-lagged and I had many more nights to explore Phuket. I don't know if there was a magnetism about the place that changed my direction, but I actually stopped dead in my tracks and did an about-face. The place was called Tangmo, and it was nearly empty, but I made my way inside as if in a trance. I saw it almost immediately: across the room there was the perfect chai tea. It seemed to me as though it was looking back at me, smiling as if to say "you know you want me." No, I admonished myself, I did not want anything that was going to keep me awake all night--I was tired and I could just as easily come back to Tangmo tomorrow night and sample what looked like the most delicious chai tea I had ever seen. Even though I was determined to resist, I took a seat, thinking there would be nothing wrong with getting a long look at the chai tea--and everything else on the menu--so I could think about it until I returned the next day. The host came over and asked if I saw anything that I liked, and I told him I was just there to look for now. I battled my desire for the chai tea for as long as I could, but I just could not look away--at one point there was nothing else in the room but me and the chai tea. Finally, with the night almost over and Tangmo getting ready to close, I decided I could not fight my feelings anymore. I had to have the chai tea. I called the host over and asked him to bring the chai tea to me. Not only did it live up to my expectations, it surpassed them. It was the best chai tea I have ever had, and to this day I have not had better. It was so good that I went back to Tangmo every night I was in Phuket to get my very own chai tea. When it was time to return home, I am not ashamed to admit that I shed a few tears, knowing that I would not be able to take the chai tea with me, and that I did not know when, if ever, I would be back to have my chai tea again. I still think about that first night, and what my life would be like if I had done what I was planning and gone back to the hotel to sleep. I am not a believer in fate, but I am grateful that something--whether it be my instinct or something far more powerful--made me turn around. I dream of the day I can return to Phuket and have my chai tea again. Maybe I shouldn't have kept walking, because if I had, I would never have discovered my own personal chai tea, my most valuable travel treasure.