Raining D' and B'

so, next a short boat ride to koh phangan, the full moon party island, where all the action is found down at the bottom right tip of the island. We took my brothers advise and settled on the quieter side of the island in the opposite corner, hat yao, or at least thats the place i think he said. we arrived with rain pumeling down still, but was not dissapointed, stunning beach, and paid a little extra, to have a hut on the water at the northern corner of the beach. the first night we just sat and marveled at our luck, and enjoyed the storm on the horizon.

1. THE VIEW FROM THE BALCONY

the next day we hired a bike, and set of on an exploration, unfortunatly the bike was a dud, and we couldn't make it up even the first hill, and had to return for another. after being on an island as small as koh tao, i was surprised at how far we were from hat rin (party town), especially as the roads in are especially hilly and very dangerous, ko phanan tattoo's, are the marks left by the many ferang who fall off there bikes every day, many drinking. we spent most of that day, meeting people (d & b dj), and chilling over looking the bay on mellow hill. the drive back in the dark was a real nightmare, and we vowed to get a taxi when the full moon party came about. the next few days, was rain, rain, and a little more rain, amd we did alot of getting wet, more wet, and a little more wet. the bike journey can be particurly frightening in a downpour, and i find its best to close my eyes and hope for the best. on the way home in the dark and pouring rain one day, we thought we had stumbled on a shortcut, unfortunatly, this way, although the right way, turned out to be out of service in the rain, especially for a ped. about half way down, i stopped for big dip, and said maybe we should turn back, this dosn't feel right, kate seemed to agree, then in a moment of true male testostorone, i said, nah, sod it, it'll be fine. three seconds later, we and the bike are in sqelchey mud up to our knees, and the bike won't budge, it's hammering with rain, it's pitch black. kates jumps of and makes a valiant effort to push, as i accelerate, which leads to some comic mud splattering, but no movement, flip flops are lost and found, somehow, both of us off the bike and barefooted, we manage to push the bike backward and on to bank. i wish i had a picture, but sometimes its just not top of your priorities. we retreated back to main road tails between legs, soaked, muddy, and laughing.

2. THE CABIN AND THE KARATE KID X

full moon in december is normally the busiest of the year, and people come in by there hordes, some say 30 000 tourists, all on one beach, and ready to get deep down and dirty. unfortunatly the weather proably fewed this number, but the spirit was still there. the currents and waves are unusually rough for this time of year, as are the waves, and the tide is higher than normal. the news that we didn't hear until we arrived at the full moon, was that several tourists had died over the previous two days, proably while drinking, or drugged, in especially stong currents. this led to the full moon party being closed for the night, understandably. closed, only the beach, which led to more of a street party, where we met old friends, laughed, and finally got some serious drum and bass dancing done, arriving home at 11 am, bedazeled, smiling, and ready for bed. tip: do not dance bear footed, or you wake up with a really nasty gash on your foot in the morning, or afternoon, but don't worry doctors and nurses i had plenty of anti septic cream.

3. GOD DAMM RAIN

so not much to report, we head west for christmas, no christams trees for us, and hopefully some better weather. we'd both like to wish you all a mega (good word) christams, and hope that good old santa delivers you all the presents you need. miss you all, and i think we're both a tiny bit homesick. eat well, drink plenty, and be safe, and most importantly keep smiling.

5. HAZY PHOTO OF OUR HUT AND A LUNATIC