Another weekend, another trip to the beach

Friday

Straight from school I met Catz at the pier, and we jumped in a taxi to Bangkok. We're off to the beach again. We missed the 7 o'clock bus, and the next one was 8:30, so we got to Nuanthip Pier at midnight. There were no boats running, so we chartered a speedboat for 1200 baht. That was cool. 20 minutes later we're on the island. No-one else is – except Murph. Everyone promised they were coming, but no-one else showed up. They're all partying in Bangkok this weekend now. Kind of annoyed actually – we were looking forward to hanging out with everyone this weekend. Although it turned out to be a “blessing in the skies”, since we ended up finding some other people to party with – more on that later.

Saturday

Since no-one else came, we shared Murph's hut for the night. I've mentioned Murph before, but he really does need a proper introduction. He's called Murph. Murph "she wasn't a prostitute" Murph. Murph's a really great guy, and surprisingly sweet, despite his slightly wild appearance. But he does have an uncanny knack of getting himself into scrapes. Case in point: About a week ago, he woke up with a Thai girl in his bed. Nothing unusual in that. But on this occasion he'd accidentally made a drunken promise to take care of her... oh, and given her a key to his apartment. She's still there. He's been avoiding her (he's been on Samet since Wednesday), but he has to go home today because he's going jetskiing with the Thai mafia. And that about tells you all you need to know about Murph. Oh, one more thing: he may accuse you of stealing his potatoes (he's Irish).

So we take over the hut – 300 baht a night, a minute's walk from the beach (albeit up a vertical cliff), right next to the best bars. Can't be bad.

We jump in the sea, and I try to play with the fish (they're not that impressed), and we talk about being social misfits. Story of my life – I never really fit in. Even now, a new life in Thailand, and despite all my best efforts I'm just not accepted as one of the shoal. Of course it may help if I stop trying to get in with the minnows and go hang out with my own species. But hey, at least the fish don't change their plans without telling me – whenever they say they'll meet me in the sea, they're there.

Did I mention we're on a tropical island?

So then we go back up to the hut to dress for lunch. We can't get in. Now, we saw Murph struggle with the key yesterday, so we know there's a knack, but the key's just not going in the lock. At all. Eventually I go to reception: “Key not working”. “Yes,” he tells me, “we change the lock because is hard to open”. Oh. Well that does explain it. New key then; door opens just fine.

Oh, I've decided to take up sketching. I printed out some flashcards for school the other day, but they weren't in colour. So I went to the stationer's near the school and bought some colouring pencils. And since I was buying pencils, I decided to take up sketching. So at lunch I drew a picture. It took about an hour and it's not very good, but I'm pleased with it all the same.

Then we went for a walk along the beach and watched the sun set. There's this famous statue on Ao Hat Sai Kaew (Crystal beach), after a poem by Sunthorn Phu. His famous work, Phra Aphai Mani ("look like Iliad") is set around Ko Samet, and its 30,000 lines tell the story of a prince who keeps getting himself into scrapes (look like Murph) - the statue commemorates one episode, in which he meets a mermaid who rescues him from an ogress who kept him prisoner under the sea. And they live happily ever after - until he gets bored of her and jumps aboard a passing ship for more adventures and love affairs.

So it was like this: we were at Jep's, and when I ran back to the hut to drop some things off, the people at the next table invited Catz to sit with them. So when I get back I join them. They're all teachers in Bangkok too, and–– wait a second. Dora?!

And that's how we ran into my cousin on a beach in Thailand.

Dora was with some people who (if I got this right) work at the school she used to work at before she got her new job. Three of them disappeared, and we ended up partying with Dora and Adam (a fellow Canadian for Casandra) at Silver Sands bar til 2am. The dancefloor was stiflingly hot, so we danced in the sea. And apparently I found all the pointy rocks on the beach, because I find I've cut my feet in many places.

PS: Happy Birthday Jo-bo! I thought of you, I really did: