You’re gonna die. Sorry to break it to you.
It’s nothing personal, just the nature of life. We’re all gonna die someday, but don’t worry – you might just get another crack at it…
In Thailand, it’s believed that after death, you’ll be reincarnated. You’ll come back as someone or something else, depending on how well you behaved in this life. Maybe you’ve been really good and you’ll come back as something awesome-fun and cool. Or maybe you’ve been naughty and you’ll come back as something really unpleasant.
Which got us thinking; what kind of asshole would you have to be to come back as a foot spa fish on Bangkok’s Khao San Road?
When we thought it through, however, we realised that maybe there’s a surprise in store when we find our selves back again for another chance at life.
I mean, at first glance, it seems like a shit existence – sweaty tourists lowering their stinking, sunburned feet into your home. You suck on crusty flakes of dead foot-skin – cheesy foot after cheesy foot – all day, and on Khao San Road, all night too.
Your fearless Rat & Dragon crew tried this freaky experience. (If you’re up for a laugh, you can watch the fishy fun on film here!)
One thing we couldn’t help but notice was the gusto with which the foot spa fish fed on foot. The little guys went absolutely berserk – hundreds of them, crowding over feet, squirming between toes and enthusiastically biting, rasping and sucking at hairs, nubs, corns, freckles and fleshy toenail cuticles.
It seemed the cheesier the part of the foot, the more they actually loved it. In fact, the little fish seemed to be delighted. You could see the little grins on their fishy little faces. (see them on the film!) Could this be the foot spa fish’s ultimate lifestyle? Is this what a lifetime of happiness looks like?
Think about it – a safe place to hang with a load of your schoolmates. You’re looked after lovingly by your owners, because you’re their money-spinner, after all. And all day, and all night, you have totally free access to all the foot flesh and toe jam (which you especially love) you could ever want. All you need to do is chill and munch.
Compare this to a wild fish’s lifestyle – swimming around endlessly in grotty wild-water, sifting through mud in search of food, and ever fearful of being eaten by a bird, a crab or a bigger fish.
When you die, if you’ve been a really nice person, what if you come back in the next life into the form of a being that is so happy and so fulfilled and has all it’s needs delivered, as a reward for all the good you have done in this life? You know what you love, and you get loads of it.
What if, when you’re not such a nice person, you come back as a being that works hard, toils all day every day for a lifetime, and is never quite fulfilled no matter how hard they work, no matter how much they have, always wanting more? Thinking they know what makes them happy but not being able to get enough of it?
What if the most important thing in life is knowing what you want, and getting loads of it? Maybe coming back as a foot spa fish wouldn’t be as bad as it first seems.
How are you behaving in this life..?