Time of Writing - 3.6.2001
Location - Koh Samui, Thailand

Sitting outside a large beach hut waiting for service and letting the fatigue of the past days drain through our feet, we listen to Latin elevator music against the lapping waves only 15 feet away and the polite chatter of the other customers of this bar, here in Koh Samui, Thailand. The we I mention is myself plus Dafir, an Ozzie of Moroccan-Dutch descent who dropped by my table in Kaoh Sarn Rd. and asked if I needed a drinking buddy (dodgey geezer.) That was Thursday, the day I arrived.

I left Taipei on Thursday after a night with very little sleep. The full few days since my "Outta Here" party were so choc-a-bloc of tidying this, arranging that etc... so on Wednesday night I had dinner with my good friend, Judy, chatted of life and how she'll ever manage without my wisdom and council (yada yada yada...) and returned home to pack as much as I thought I needed yet still managed to forget a few things like Sunscreen (Should've listened to the Kurt Vonnegut mix, eh?)

Thursday morning after very little sleep I rushed around like a last minute fly and took a taxi to the Lai-Lai Sheraton Hotel to meet Suzanne and catch the airport bus there. As she has a class out at Zhongli, which isn't too far from the airport, Suzanne came along to see me off. On the way we talked about the possibility of travelling together in Eastern Europe, Russia etc.. in late Summer. The flight was very uneventful, movie, lunch etc... but for some reason I was surprised by the swiftness of my transition between the streets of Taipei and the cafes that run the length of Kaoh Sarn Rd. (I guess mainly because the last few flights I've gone via BKK have been real long haul flights.) On arrival I sought out and booked into the Good Luck guest house, which offers a most basic room plus fan for 100 baht. A shower and change of clothes later and I'm out for dinner and a movie. Enter Dafir, halfway through 'Final Destination'. I think it was originally both our intentions to sleep early that night but new acquaintances and the beckons of beer put laid to that plan. Doh!!! what are the odds.

So on waking much later in the day, I did some internet at Hello Cafe (laboriously slow - not worth 30 baht per hour.) and then met up with Dafir again, (cafe at his hotel, you see.)

Back at K.S. had a couple of beers at the Grand guest house (through the back in the beer garden) and had a couple of games of pool. Met up with some of the local expats working in BKK and just generally chewed the fat. Back to the Hello cafe to do e-mail and so to bed - but not before 1:00 at the least.