Such A Fantastic Time
20 March 2001
The first evening on the island I went out for a meal. Ate my meal, felt a bit bored and lonely. Well… then some lovely girls invited me to join them at their table. Four of them - Chrissy, Abbie, Fiona and Tara. All very nice and friendly, rather than some people who you bump into every now and then who are just so false. I got on well with them, and we ended up spending the rest of the week together. I can’t remember exactly what we did every day, but the general gist was this: went for a walk to a banana plantation where we got a superb view over the island; went snorkelling and saw some amazing multicoloured fish; splashed around in the waves; sat under the stars and around bonfires and chatted for hours; ate lots of meals at the same restaurant (Shake Shack). Well, it was all great fun. Then, it was time for the wedding I’d been invited to.
The weddin involved getting to the other side of the island. We (Chrissy, Abbie and I) were planning to go for a ‘jungle trek’ of a couple of hours to get there, but after speaking to the locals and getting told things like “Are you mad? I would never go there” and “Phone 999 when you get in trouble” we decided to get the boat round instead.
We thought the wedding would be like a non-stop celebration between 10am and 10pm, but it wasn’t quite like that. We arrived at midday, and an hour later we were treated to some food for lunch. Then we played cards… for about five hours. Oh, and I was told that I’d have to sing a song in the eveing, and there was no way out of it. Now, anyone who has ever heard me sing before will no just how hilarious this concept is. A thousand people standing around at a wedding looking at me attempting to sing in tune. P’ah! It’s pure madness I tell you. Well, this is what I had to do, so reluctantly we tried to think of a song to sing. After about an hour, I’d decided that the only ‘song’ I’d even contemplate singing was ‘Head, shoulders knees and toes’ - yes, quite crazy! Well, luckily I managed to wiggle my way out of having to sing it after pleading for several minutes. I wasn’t going to die of embarressment then!
Finally, at about 9 o’clock something started to happen. We, the Westerners, went to visit the groom and followed him to the wedding room like a trainer followers a boxer to a ring. Once there, we were in this lavishly decorated room and saw the bride and groom sitting together. We then got up and gave them presents, and everyone took photos and clapped. After this, we went off to see a cultural show, were we saw/heard the locals doing a musical fight scene. Quite interesting at first, but got boring after a while.
At midnight, we got a boat back, and saw something quite amazing. Phosphorescence (anyone know how to spell that?). If you’ve seen the film ‘The Beach’ before then you may remember this stuff - it’s in a scene where Leondardo Di’Caprio has sex under water with that nice French girl. It’s all the glowing stuff in the water. And it’s cool to look at, flying up around the boat. Not only that, but there were no lights on the boat so we had a great view of the sky as well, and we could clearly see the Milky Way, Venus, Saturn and Mars.
Next: The Island Previous: Theme Park & KL Stuff
Other stuff...
- 2008-12-16: My yearbook company
- 2008-10-24: Benjamin Luke Flash Gordon
- 2006-05-08: AllYearbooks.co.uk Relaunches!
- 2006-04-11: Building Collapse!
- 2006-01-19: Estate Angels & Drupal
- 2005-09-10: Hard Drive Fried
- 2004-12-23: US Election Ohio Recount
- 2004-11-19: GlobalPublicMedia.com
- 2004-11-03: Peak Oil Dissertation
- 2004-07-15: Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla Firefox: Google Zeitgeist
- 2004-07-13: Fahrenheit 9/11 - good, but nothing new
- 2004-07-10: Fahrenheight 9/11
- 2004-07-03: Using the Disability Discriminatin Act (UK) to force companies to provide e-books
- 2004-06-20: Slashdotted
- 2004-06-08: Mr Jake BA
- 2004-06-05: JakeG Limited & Degree Results
- 2004-05-13: Yearbook Production
- 2004-05-01: [essays] Advantages & Disadvantages Of Home Ownership As The Dominant Form Of Housing Tenure
- 2004-05-01: [essays] Would the introduction of a basic income be a utopian reform or an administrative one?
- 2004-04-25: No Jobs & No Oil: the unsustainability of full employment and cheap energy
- 2004-04-01: [essays] No Jobs & No Oil: the unsustainability of full employment and cheap energy
- 2004-03-14: My Own Radio Station - For Free
- 2004-03-05: [essays] Traditional Marxist Theorists And Work
- 2004-02-24: New Blog!
- 2004-02-24: More on Peak Oil
- 2004-02-24: BBC License Fee Debate on Century FM
- 2004-02-23: P2P Internet TV
- 2004-02-18: More Bleak Predictions
- 2004-02-11: Jobless Figures
- 2004-02-05: Ski Photos Online
- 2004-01-27: Ski Champ!!!
- 2004-01-18: Interesting copyright law with tape recordings
- 2004-01-12: Twisted economic values
- 2004-01-11: As I suspected - never trust unemployment figures
- 2004-01-08: Sociology essay: Internet and freedom
- 2004-01-01: [essays] Habermas, the Internet and the Public Sphere
- 2003-12-19: Dissertation Plan
- 2003-12-07: Trampolining
- 2003-10-16: Sociology Essays
- 2003-10-12: Exploring Snowdonia
- 2003-10-10: Wireless Networking
- 2003-10-10: [essays] New Forms of Management Effectively Solve the Problems of the Organisation
- 2003-10-07: Disabling Education System
- 2003-09-19: Wealth Concentration & Technological Freedom
- 2003-09-09: [essays] Human Resistance To Technological Advancement
- 2003-08-31: Travel Photos
- 2003-08-27: Boy I'm glad to be back home
- 2003-08-24: The Real Mexico
- 2003-08-24: Socialism, The Cuban Way
- 2003-08-24: Marcela in Monterrey
- 2003-08-24: Cuban Brawl
- 2003-08-24: Cigar Smuggling
- 2003-08-24: Argh... Airport, Travel Agency... Argh!!!
- 2003-08-22: Cuban Prostitutes
- 2003-08-17: I do like to change my mind...
- 2003-08-16: Hammock Havan
- 2003-08-15: Capital Village and Belizean Quirkiness
- 2003-08-13: Robinson Crusoe
- 2003-08-11: Coke snorting policeman
- 2003-08-10: Dreams
- 2003-08-08: Are you okay? My name's Jake, I'm a rescue diver, may I help you?
- 2003-08-01: Industrial Action
- 2003-07-29: Honduras
- 2003-07-28: Almost Dead
- 2003-07-25: School's out for summer!!!
- 2003-07-21: Yo Hablo Espanol
- 2003-07-20: Twin Peaks
- 2003-07-16: Waterfalls And Even More Ruins
- 2003-07-16: Opa
- 2003-07-16: First Class' Chickens
- 2003-07-12: Jungle Ruins
- 2003-07-11: Pain In The Arse
- 2003-07-09: Guatemala and a Cunning Plan
- 2003-07-08: Hammock Haven
- 2003-07-07: [essays] The BBC Licence fee
- 2003-07-04: Travelling Budderinos
- 2003-07-03: Cuban Cigars and Beached Turtles
- 2003-07-01: Rambo
- 2003-06-29: Go West!
- 2003-06-27: Pyramid Funkiness
- 2003-06-26: Hola! Je suis en Mexico!!!
- 2003-06-24: Photos for all!
- 2003-06-24: MexiGo
- 2003-05-14: musicdonor.org
- 2003-05-01: [essays] Environmental movements 'greening' corporations and governments
- 2003-04-04: [essays] Male insecurities and uncertainties
- 2003-04-01: Mr Bump
- 2003-03-12: So maybe I will update
- 2003-03-11: Should I bother updating?
- 2003-03-03: [essays] Critical Analysis of Sullivan
- 2003-02-02: [essays] Is Marx's concept of alienation in conflict with his materialism?
- 2002-12-05: [essays] Sciological approach to contemporary British society
- 2002-06-06: [essays] Youth apathy
- 2002-05-05: [essays] Is Sociology a science?
- 2002-03-21: [essays] Capitalism and Consumption, exploitation and exclusion
- 2002-01-24: Derby Hall President Elections
- 2001-11-26: Travels 2001 Photo Album - Online!
- 2001-11-15: [essays] Television is bad
- 2001-11-11: [essays] Is Globalisation a Myth or a Fact?
- 2001-10-24: I'm still alive... and having fun!
- 2001-09-28: Uni Life
- 2001-09-20: [essays] The underclass
- 2001-07-15: Home Life
- 2001-07-15: Hi Guys, I'm Home!
- 2001-07-07: I Can Fly!
- 2001-06-24: Brisbane Photos... And I'm Back Home (kinda)
- 2001-06-22: The Reunion
- 2001-06-21: Aussie Photos Up
- 2001-06-20: Bungyyyyyyyyy...
- 2001-06-18: Mindless Stagger
- 2001-06-17: Freezing My Nuts Off
- 2001-06-12: A Browne Moon Rise on Fraser Island
- 2001-06-07: Learn To Fly
- 2001-06-03: Gagaju - Backpackers Retreat
- 2001-05-31: Another Change Of Plans!
- 2001-05-30: Back To South East Asia?!
- 2001-05-16: A Memento of Brisbane
- 2001-04-30: We All Live In A Yellow Submarine
- 2001-04-24: Perhenthian Islands Photos Up
- 2001-04-20: Aussie Life
- 2001-04-08: Mumma In Thailand
- 2001-04-06: Thai Boxing and Lady Boys
- 2001-04-05: Go Go Bars
- 2001-04-04: More India Photos Up - I'm In Bangkok
- 2001-04-02: Back In The Womb
- 2001-03-29: India Photos Up
- 2001-03-28: Noname
- 2001-03-27: Scuba Diving and Motorcycling on Koh Pha-Ngan
- 2001-03-25: Lady Bars
- 2001-03-24: Koh Samui
- 2001-03-24: All Washed Out
- 2001-03-22: Krabi
- 2001-03-22: Happy 5th Birthday To Me!
- 2001-03-20: Under The Sea
- 2001-03-20: The Wedding Invitation
- 2001-03-20: The Island
- 2001-03-20: Such A Fantastic Time
- 2001-03-12: Theme Park & KL Stuff
- 2001-03-12: Taman Negara National Park - arrival
- 2001-03-12: Camping, Jungle Style
- 2001-03-12: Alone Again
- 2001-03-12: A Cave, a Snake and a Leprechaun
- 2001-03-03: The Con-Job
- 2001-03-03: Kuala Lumpur
- 2001-02-26: Malaysia
- 2001-02-23: Night Safari, The Beach & Underwater World
- 2001-02-22: Time Travel
- 2001-02-22: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
- 2001-02-19: Indian Work: Child labour, wage and baksheesh
- 2001-02-15: Books and Weird Shit
- 2001-02-14: To Spew Or Not To Spew
- 2001-02-12: Imprisoned for 42 hours!
- 2001-02-09: Museums, forts, palaces and temples
- 2001-02-05: Horn Please
- 2001-02-03: A Week In... Kashmir!
- 2001-01-28: I'm In India!
- 2001-01-27: Plane in just over 4 hours!
- 2001-01-23: Only a few days to go
- 2001-01-06: Posse Page
- 2001-01-05: Travel Plans