Thailand #1

(I hope this comes out in english)

Well, after 36 hours in transit, i finally arrived on the island of Kho Pangan and miraculously found the Boy, who had arrived here 8 hours previously.

Reasons to love my Boy:
1) he found a place to stay on a beautiful beach away from the main tourist area, called Haad Yao. (Haad = beach) It has a coral reef 25 meters off shore...
2) he knows how to ride a manual moped* and managed not to drop me as he rode us round the island. A bit funny though, cos the hills are steep, and a few times i had to get off and walk up cos the little 4-stroke moped couldn't manage both of us. You feel a right twit with a helmet on your head, running up a hill after a bike.

We have eaten prawns that are 200grams each, barracuda, and crazy fried things at the market stalls in town. We have lounged around in hammocks for hours. We have gotten horibly lost and seen some of the most beautiful countryside, coated in coconut palms, bananas, and big cows. And a shack cobbled together with scraps of wood and other building materials, fitted with a sattelite dish.

Also, we are owned by a dog. This is awesome.
The beach has a number of 'resorts'** along its length, and most of them have their resident dogs, and there are also a couple of trouble makers who may not belong to anyone. But the dog politics is pretty full-on. And if we pay attention to the wrong dog, the dog who owns us (and everyone else in our resort) get very protective and chases the other dog away and herds us to make sure we don't stray again. Very amusing.
The resort is actauly run, as far as we can see, by one guy caled Chai, who is something less than 15 years old. He does everything, including attempting, without success, to teach me how to ride a scooter.

So far, my first two days of holiday have been brilliant. Jealous yet?

* scooter with foot-operated gears, but no clutch.
** collection of bungalows, with a simple restaurant/bar/tv room common area. There are also a couple of independent restaurants and bars along the beach, that set chairs out on the sand in the evening. Beach al fresco dining is the best.