What a Birthday Present!
Trip Start
May 15, 2004
1
20
48
Trip End
Aug 20, 2004
Ko Phangan,
Thailand
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
The next day inspired more sleeping in, more hammock time, then met up with Rich and the Canadian girls and two of Justins friends, Andy and Amanda, at the beach. Even though I had actually forgot, someone knew or remembered it was my birthday and insisted we go out and party
1Cabin
. We all meet up again for dinner at a lounge-style restaurant and then there's more drinking and dancing and then Justin and Jamo and the Canadian girls and I all decide to take a late-night swim. The waters perfect and were listening to Jamos entertaining stories and we decide to get some breakfast being that it's almost 5 am and the sun is rising. I still have no idea where or when or how, but as we are deciding what to eat I realize I don't have my digital camera! My favorite possession in the whole world and it's gone...on my birthday no less! Anyone who knows me knows how careful I am with that thing and it wasn't the alcohol or anything else, I think I just forgot where I was for maybe two seconds, sat it down on a table and thats how long it takes for something to go missing. With so many foreigners congregating in one small place it's a haven and heaven for professional thieves. (Luckily, with my international health plan, I also took the personal travel plan protection, so when I get to Bangkok I can easily get a new one for practically free and maybe even upgrade!) Anyway, the truly strange thing about the whole deal was my reaction...of course I was angry and a bit upset, but I also instantly accepted it and was completely calm! I mean really, what could I do, it was gone and knowing where I was, it definitely wasn't coming back, so screaming or freaking out would only stress out the people I was with, so what's the point? LG even remarked that she couldn't believe how calm I was about it and to be honest, neither could I
2Cabin Hammock View
! Even I was amazed at my composure and calmness...when did this happen? Was it in Japan or has traveling had some calming effect on me? So, I go home and try to sleep in, but my sour stomach and three days of RB buckets isn't allowing it, so I head up to the small restaurant and to watch a flick and have some home-cooked food. The man running the place is actually a small time drug dealer, but that's pretty common over here, his wife is a superb cook, and they have a really cute baby who crawls all over the joint and loves the strange sounds I make and chasing my water bottle. Eventually, I head down to the beach with Juliano, bump into Lindsay and Jenny and we decide to meet up for dinner. They brought me a small birthday cake...which was so sweet!! I was pretty tired after dinner, but then the buckets kicked in and it's another all-nighter of drinking and dancing. I spend the early morning on the beach with Lindsay watching the sunrise and chatting. After sunrise, I head back home and I spot some drunk, passed out guy face down on the beach - and it's Juliano! A few minutes later we bump into a completely bombed, scratched up, and sand-covered Jamo just randomly on the beach. We had lost Jamo earlier that evening and were wondering what happened to him, but he's the type of guy that will just stroll into a group of people and hang out with them all night! Another interesting night here.
