Lazy Days, Interesting Nights

Greetings ladies and gentlemen of this here interweb,

Did nothing today, got a massage then passed out in this “bohio” or whatever next to the ocean, I awoke with the sweet aroma of tobacco smoke. I asked the gentleman if he had a light, conversation ensued. Ran into a guy who has traveled most of the world and ended up chilling the entire day, then met the people he was traveling with, good people, the kind of people I like to meet.

I typically talk more than most but today, I just listened. Some of the stories of some of the stuff going on in the world that I had no clue of was truly mind blowing, I’m realizing that even though this trip is ~2 months in, it hasn’t even started yet. Side note, reading books about the world is one thing, talking to people who have already been around it in similar styles to yourself is priceless. Supposedly India is a trip in itself and if you spend time there it will change you. A guy I knew from canada said the same thing, I must go but start in the South as it’s “easier” on the system.

On another note, last night was quite “eventful”. After I updated, I took a shower after procrastinating a while. When I got out it sounded like the sky was coming down. It rained and rained and rained, winds so strong the rain was moving horizontally, seriously. When the rain ceased I left on my “trusty scooter” on the ~2 mile drive to a resort where my friends were for dinner.

The road was so wet that it was basically a lake. Water was well above my knees. I saw tuk tuk drivers pushing their vehicles on the side, a baby standing on a scooter loving life much to the chagrin of his concerned mother. Also saw one guy that said “You’d be better off swimming”.

I sat there, on my scooter, realizing that if I left, it would be dark when I returned, no street lights, roads littered with pot holes and I wasn’t even really sure where I lived, let alone finding it at night. Decided “screw it” and went for it. My motor bike was suddenly almost submerged but it made it through. It’s getting dark, I find the place.

Hang out and meet some cool new people, jump some fire rope and do some other things. Decide to leave as well, the ladies were cool but my friends passed out and this guy with the girls was giving me weird eyes. There was nothing there for me.

When I left, the motorbike was making weird noises, that aside, it’s really interesting driving these roads at night and supposedly 40% of Canadians who die abroad die on rural roads, late night. I didn’t have a single drink, I’m not an idiot and I knew I was in for a sketchy ride home.

So I’m going and the bike makes this horrible noise, the kinda noise you dont’ want to hear when in the middle of a jungle road in some strange country with no street lights. Suddenly I’m slowing down and pull over, before coming to a full stop I just turn, crank it, and it starts up so slow but accelerating. Earlier in the day I remarked “Wow, this thing has near 140,000 miles”, that’s about when stuff gets weird in vehicles, what happens if it breaks down”?

Sure enough it keeps going, and then dies. Luckily for me, it died RIGHT at my turn like if I was to miss it, I couldn’t of. This was good as I was scared I missed the turn while checking out the bike. Push the bike the rest of the way and go for a beer. Turns out the real party is at my resort.

My visa runs out soon and I gotta get out of Thailand or this “trip around the world” will turn into a guy who left to go hang out in Thailand, alright but still boring. Seriously, a beach is a beach is a beach is a beach and I’m not even that “into” the sun. It’s midnight and I wasn’t going to update today because I just didn’t get a chance, then I realized, I update this everyday. To not update, would be a travesty and possibly start a negative trend, that said…

Good day,

P.S Tried posting this last night but the network was down, go figure.

Update: Still down, talked to the gentleman who runs the place yesterday and said this place was great but the internet much too pricey, he said it was no problem. They want 160baht an hour for wireless or the cafe, just today, I noticed it’s only 2 baht a minute now. Perfect.

Mark my words, in 20 years from now this island is going to be extremely developped. Supposedly 20 years ago, Koh Phi Phi had like 5 huts, now it’s a booming island with lots of construction and this is post-tsunami. You can’t own land in Thailand as a foreigner, for business you need to have a Thai resident running 51%. There are opportunities abound for those who dare. I have several ideas that don’t need to be shared with you. Now I just need to meet a reliable Thai resident / associate should these ideas have a chance of coming into fruition.

If you learn a little bit of Thai, your world changes. You go from someone they over-charge dramatically to someone getting going rates or just slightly overcharged (everyone has to make a $). Just a little bit goes a long way, it’s worth the investment any way you look at it.

Today is going to be much the same as yesterday. I also broke down and did laundry. If you’re going to do laundry, when you’re at a classy resort is probably your best time of not having your clothes associated with those of “riff-“raff” so to speak.

My Photo of Bohio was corrupted, (insert random picture)