koh tao v1.0

the full moon party is in the rear view mirror now. with my bungalow's hammock i leave the heroics of the lonesome dove cattle drive and caesar's conquests of briton and gaul.

the journey to tao from pha ngan was trying, and as it would turn out a long 58kms. our ferry, half way between the two islands encountered engine trouble and was forced to return. 2 hours later lyds and i were sitting in a leaking shelter on the same pier we had left that morning. then a new boat was procured. our confidence and good humour was shaken. 4 hours after we had originally left pha ngan we moored at koh tao. note on the island: tao, at 5,000 people and 21 kms squared, is the new place to be, and has become what koh pha ngan was and samui before that. commercialism has just started to choke the fishermen and the coconut farmers. tourism is next. so the rural people better smarten up because its going to be a/c and isdl from now on baby. in 1983 there was one bungalow operation on the island. today there are over 100. soon we'll be looking for a new island.

but enough on this. our rocky voyage was just the start of our issues. we had no reservations, and lyds, usually a straight 6 in this department, couldn't find a place as she wandered hat sai ri. i felt like vito corleone in the godfather just arrived to ellis island. all i needed was for them to change my name. as luck would have it i managed to secure a dodgy place above a travel agent. our "bathroom" was a disaster. the door frame to enter it was about 5 feet high. more than a few bangs were accompanied by some colourful language that may still hang in the room. who knows? maybe i was once in the navy. the "sink" had no drain pipe. the water came out of the faucet and down the drain to fall out on the floor. we cut out the middleman. it was a new experience for me brush my teeth and spit directly on the floor.

the next day we jack-in-the-boxed it out of there. somehow amongst all the full moon party refugees i got us a bungalow right on the beach. now we could begin to relax. a local stray dog, whom lyds named harvey would sleep on our porch and follow us around. of course lyds adopted it. he was rewarded with pancake dinners. by the end of our visit he was answering to harvey. pavlov might have been a better name.

in hat sai ri days of sleeping late, watching movies and reading on the porch during the daily afternoon showers. new addition to my c.v. under skills - cockroach killer. i swear one of them was the andré roussimoff of cockroaches. weapon of choice? the flip flop. nights on the beach are what we expected thailand to be. the tide rolls the beach right up. restaurants and bars place tables right at where the water ebbs back into the gulf. tiki torches and fire pits dug in the sand provide the light. the waves roll right up to your feet in the candle light, the paper lanterns flicker and crinkle in the breeze.

god i am happy there are no sights to see here. you feel less guilty just twisting around waiting for the next magical night.