Jake's Latest News
India Photos Up - Thursday 29th March 2001
Just to say that some of my photos (in India) are now up on the web. I’ve only seen a few so far myself, but you can find them all by clicking here.
Noname - Wednesday 28th March 2001
Tried a Thai dish called ‘noname’ today. At first I thought it was simply because they didn’t know the name of the food, but they’re not that daft! It was like vegetable pieces in a batter and fried - very nice with some Ketchup.
I’m off to do my first two dives tomorrow. Should be good. I took the motorbike back today because I won’t be needing it any more. Fell off it this morning though on the way to see a waterfall on the island! Was doing a hill start with another bloke on the back and it wouldn’t move so I changed gears and then it jerked forward sending the other guy off the back, and me flying into the bushes! Very amusing - although I did get a few cuts and scratches on my legs from it as well.
I’m in an Internet cafe at the moment at the same place that I’m staying. A couple of locals are looking over my shoulder at the screen and are, I believe, amazed by the speed at which I’m typing! Hahahahaha….
Scuba Diving and Motorcycling on Koh Pha-Ngan - Tuesday 27th March 2001
Left the island of Samui this morning - it sucked. However, I did bring with me a weird rash all over my arms. This kinda’ worried me, but I asked a guy at a scuba diving place here today what it was, and they assure me it’s just hundreds of mosquito bites - oops! There’s me thinking they don’t like the taste of my blood.
Well, arrived on Pha-Ngan this morning and went to some resort along the south coast. It too sucked big time, and so I left straight away and met an American girl on the truck. She was going back to the mainland, and I was thinking of doing the same. Luckily though, over a lunch of vegetable fried rice (I have this every day) I changed my mind and decided to try the island for at least one night. Just to make it more fun, I hired a motorbike/moped (very cheap). Never used one before and extremely jumpy at first - the bike just kept hopping along and it was hard to figure out how to stop! Well, eventually I got the hang of it, but at one point I went over a pot-hole and my bag fell off the basket at the front and so I had to stop and get off to get it back. Then I lost the keys by dropping them in the sand on a secluded beach, but all seems well now.
In my search for accommodation I bumped into a scuba diving centre where I was, as I often am, entirely spontaneous and splashed out on an advanced open water diving course which’ll start in two days time and includes five dives, including one up to 30m deep, one night dive and a wall dive. All sounds very fun!
So, this morning I was feeling like hell not knowing what to do, whilst now I’m feeling far better and exhilerated by the motorcycling. I’ll be staying on the island for about four or five days.
Lady Bars - Sunday 25th March 2001
Went out on the town last night… kind of. Went out for a meal and didn’t really fancy eating by myself so found some random bloke who was sitting by himself and asked if I could join him. Turned out he (Steve) has been living on the island for two months now and he’s quite a chess guru. Then some other bloke came over and he’s a Thai Boxing champion. Well, after we’d eaten, we went over to a bar, but on the way we met some prossies.
I thought it was only really Bangkok that has the whole prostitutes thing here in Thailand, but Koh samui definitely has it as well. Whilst eating you see western blokes walking hand in hand with young local girls - who they’re paying around 20 quid to for the night. Some of the blokes are big fat pervy looking men, but some are proper looking early-twenties blokes who must be able to get a woman another way, but decide to pay instead. Quite bizarre to see. Whilst walking to a bar, two of these young girls grabbed my arm and started trying to pull me over to them. Alas I hadn’t pulled, but was simply getting solicited.
Then, this morning I saw one of these prossies with a bloke in the chalet next to mine, and as I type tis there’s two westerners walking by outside with local girls hand-in-hand. It’s not just a quick romp under the bedsheets here - they seem to go in for a full day of fun for their money. Fascinating.
Anyway, my idea of a good time last night was playing chess for several hours in a bar (it actually was quite fun). I hadn’t played for about two years, and my first game was against this German guy Steve who gets paid about 100 quid a game back in Germany. Well, miraculously I managed to play the best game of my life and had him really concentrating over the game. I was quite chuffed - but still lost. Then, it just went downhill from there, losing every game easier and easier - most likely due to the alcohol I was drinking!
Koh Samui - Saturday 24th March 2001
After the dysmal weather in Krabi yesterday I figured I’d quit the joint and so now I’m on the island of Koh Samui (East coast of Thailand). Compared to the Perhentian Island of Kecil, this place sucks the big one, so I may leave after just a couple of nights to Koh Pah-Ngan and then onto Koh Tao. I’ll try to do a bit more scuba whilst I’m here as well. Maybe I’ll like it more on one of these islands - time will tell, and it all comes down to the people I meet as well, and so far I’ve just met three blokes here who are quite friendly, but not nearly as nice as some of the people I’m met so far.
Yesterday I went on a day trip to 4 islands around Krabi - one of which is called the ‘James Bond Island’ because it was where The Man With The Golden Gun was partly filmed. Well, following recent events, not all went as planned!
For some reason, Thailand is currently expeiencing a stupendous amount of rain for this time of year - it should be beautifully sunny and hot, but instead it’s just warm and rainy. Well, we got to the first island on the trip and it was OK there. Did a little snorkelling but got bitten by loads of tiny jelly fish. Saw some stupid loud-mouth Canadian guy building a sand-penis and then it started pissing it down with rain! We all jumped back in the boat and just kinda’ sat there for about half an hour.
Next we set off in the boat to the next island. Unfortunately, the boat got caught up on a rock which it hit during the storm - which was amusing. Five minutes later we were free of it, and after awhile arrived at the second island during a thunder storm. We all jumped out and had a swim around in the rain - the sea was warmer than just staying on the boat. The cocky Canadian guy was the main amusement - big-mouthing about how he makes and sells cannabis for a living.
With the rain ongoing, we all decided to cut the trip short (and hence we didn’t even get to go to James Bond Island). Once off the boat the fun wasn’t over though - after wading through the water onto the beach, we had to wait a while in the rain because the truck we were meant to go in had a flat tyre! Once our transport did arrive, I hang out the back wearing nothing but my swimshorts in the pouring rain. What a laugh!!!
Wasn’t all bad though. It was quite a laugh to hang off the back of the truck, and I made two friends during the tour - two girls from Norway, who headed off into Malaysia today.
Krabi - Thursday 22nd March 2001
Well, I have arrived in Krabi, albeit a day late. It all looks very nice, and there are lots of other Westerners here, unlike in the place I was at this morning/last-night. I’ve got myself cheap accommodation for the night, and I’ll see if I can find something on the beach for tomorrow - and maybe visit Ko Phi Phi whilst I’m here. I’m not really sure yet, but I’m soon to find out. Got to by some new clothes as well, because all mine are either disgustingly smelly or horribly stained (mainly with sun-cream).
Well, as you may or may not know, yesterday was my birthday. Now, according to my date of birth, I should have been 19… but I felt like I’d just turned 5 instead.
Rather than hang around on the Perhentian Island any longer, I decided to go to Kota Bharu on the 20th and then come to Krabi in Thailand on my birthday, yesterday. Well, it didn’t quite go to plan!
Woke up nice and early as I have been doing pretty consistently here actually. Got out of bed at around 7:30 - about half an hour into my official birthday time, if you consider the time difference. Got the bus to the border fine, and was in Thailand by midday. On the Thai side of the border, I had to walk about 1km to a place where I could get a bus to Krabi. Only there wasn’t a bus that went to Krabi - instead I’d have to get one bus, and then another after that. Sounded alright - so that’s exactly what I did/planned to do.
I expected that Malaysia would be very similar to Thailand, but I was wrong. In Malaysia, everything is written in Malay and in English, so I know where I am and where I’m going. Also, lots of Malays speak good English so you can ask them for directions etc. Well, on arriving in Thailand I felt like a little child - I couldn’t understand anything and the border crossing I took isn’t a very well-trodden one, and so the people there don’t need to speak much English. Well, I managed to get on a minibus, and on it I made a friend who could speak a little English. He told me that he’d show me where to go to get the next bus after that one.
Three hours later, we both got off the bus and I followed him to another bus and jumped on it. I made sure it was going to Krabi - although no-one really understood me, including the bloke I was with there. Well, I sensed I wasn’t going to Krabi, and I figured correctly that the ‘friend’ was simply some bastard who wanted me to give him money for helping me get to where I wanted to go… and not only that, but the bus was going to Nakhon Si Thammarat rather than Krabi. F’ing bloody marvellous. My ‘friend’ said to me ‘you give me 200, I need rice’ and I pretty much told him to go jump off a cliff/get of the bus and piss off. This he did, and I was left at sunset on a bus full of people who didn’t speak a word of English, going to the wrong place… on my birthday. Whooppee-do!
Then it was time for my birthday party - a game of Pictionary with two people on the bus. Now, when I say a game, what I mean is that I was trying to figure out: where the bus was going; when it would get there; what I could do when I got there. My artistic skills saw me drawing a bus with a stick-man getting out and then a clock next to the bus. Blatantly this means ‘when do I get off this damn bus’ but no-one could fathom it. After a bit of sharades still to no avail, I finally got off the bus at about 8pm in the middle of nowhere.
I did actually have some fun on my bithday - a ride on a motorbike. A motorbike was there when I got off the bus, and I figured I was supposed to get on this bike and it would take me to a magical paradise beach somewhere. Well, it did take me to a mystical land/expensive hotel, and at least when I got to the hotel I could speak to the receptionist in English to find out what to do. Clearly I didn’t want to pay 20 quid for one night. I want budge accommodation, and thankfully the nice lady could tell me where to go for that. Whilst there, someone walked into the hotel and she told me it was some famous movie star. Eat your heart out NG.
Of course to get to the budget accommodation wasn’t simply a matter of crossing the road. I did indeed have to cross the road though, so that I could get a mini-bus/thingy down the road. Miraculously, an hour later I was in a hotel room which was only costing me about 3 pounds a night. With a craving to email people on my birthday, I went around town to find an Internet Cafe. An hour later, it was pissing it down and I still hadn’t found a cafe. Oh, and I’d forgotten the name of my hotel as well, so there I was wandering around with a useless map in my pocket for about another hour.
I did however manage to find my way back to the hotel, where I celebrated my birthday in style by watching the news on TV whilst drinking a Fanta.
The Island - Tuesday 20th March 2001
After a one and a half hour boat ride I finally arrived on The Island, alone once more. It was a 15 minute walk across to the other side of the island from where the boat dropped me off, and then I was there, on the beach - Long Beach.
It looked absolutely amazing - just the kind of beach you dream of relaxing on without a care in the world. Well - I was there, and now it was time to find myself somewhere to stay. Oh… and I’d decided I’d do this all very cheaply. I would stay for five nights and try not to spend over 75 ringitts - about 13 quid. Hmm.
Setting myself a limit of 10 ringitt a night proved a little difficult. I had to settle for 15 (under 3 pounds) instead - but the room was cool. A simple A-Frame shack with a double bed under a mosquito net. The glory of it though was that it was only about ten metres from a beautiful secluded section of beach.
So… there I was, relaxing on the beach. Time to find new friends? I think so.
The day after the wedding I had to bade farewell to Chrissy and Abbie who I’d known for a massive three or four days, but whom I felt I knew like good friends by then. Before breakfast I had no idea what my plans were for the next few days and weeks, but by the end of breakfast I’d enrolled in a scuba diving course which was to start in five minutes time. Talk about rash decisions.
Three hours later I was a couple of metres under the sea breathing out of an air tank. Three hours after that I was 12m under for about three quarters of an hour. Boyakasha!
It was a four day diving course that ended this morning, and something I did with Fiona and Tara who were doing the same course. Three others were also in the same group - Mel, Alex and Vic. The open water training course involved four dives and two sort of learning things in shallow water.
The coolest parts of the scuba diving were: being under water and just kinda’ floating around down there; seeing turtles; seeing a shark; seeing loads of big fish. I was kown as the ‘destroyer’ during the course though after breaking a fin, a breathing apparatus and a door hinge. I swear non of them were my fault though!
More news can be found in the archives. I have an RSS feed.
Blog by WordPress (login, register)
