Part 8: Koh Tao

March 7: Arriving in 90 minutes by speedboat from Chumpon, I rent 250cc motorcycle for 300B/day to navigate steep, pot-holed dirt roads. They haven't changed much in four years. With over 30 dive shops on Koh Tao, I hope to find a teaching gig here. Internet connectivty here is pricey and virus-ridden.

March 8:
On the south side in Chalok Ban Khao, where I stayed in 2003, I skin (breath-hold) dive with Corrine, a multi-lingual spearfisherman from Martinique where she works as a travel agent. She's finishing a six-week philanthropic (NGO) research trip in Cambodia and Thailand. I cut costs by switching from motorcycle to (gutless) moped for 75B/day. What the hell.

March 9:
Three hours of skin diving in Shark Bay where we see five (150cm long, 50cm wide) black-trip reef sharks that come within five meters.

March 10:
Skip skin diving appointment with Corrine, I upgrade housing (and halve costs) by switching from motel in Chalok Ban Khao (600B/day). Final straw: price-gouging and very bad customer service. Never stay at "JP resort" on Koh Tao

After the motorcycle gets a flat, and the rental company squalks about driving the 1km to assist me, I ride the rim 300m to a dumpy repair shop and pay 200B for a new tube. I calm down after realizing it's small potatoes (200 baht, $6). Inconvenience, not money.

Move into "Tommy's Apartments" adjacent the temple near Sairee Village with refridgerator, air-conditioning, electrical outlets and friendly (if clueless) staff for 9000B/month. String up psychedelic hammock on ocean-view balcony to watch sauna sunsets (air-conditioner is flaky >:-)

Customizing my month-lease habitat, I:

1. switch circuit from (flaky) government electricity to (pricey) private electricity
2. hijack wireless router (whose standard admin user/password was never changed)

These changes allow me to:

1. enjoy reliable AC when its most needed
2. restart their router remotely (cleansing it of the islands malware)

March 11:
Isometrics and museli. More skin diving with Corrine, this time in picturesque and sparsely-populated Ao Leuk, to see:

• banner
• pairs of butterfly
• hundreds of feeding juvenille parrot fish
• giant clam (20cm, polished white inside)
• blue-spotted ray
• spotted sweetlips
• hexagonal grouper
• giant sea turtle

Hiking up hill through thick dusk bugs, we moped (lights off to avoid bugs-in-the-eyes) to dinner with her neighbors (from New York) Greg and Eliza at Buddha View. They are spending eight months in Asia, and leave tomorrow for Laos. Fun people.

Buddha View has gone upscale since my last visit (Feb 2003) when it was a couple small buildings, a hut, and a BBQ. Koh Tao now seems to have many more 20-something post-baccalaureates and less psychedelic mushroom-eating bohemians. It seems to have gone mainstream.

My camera battery charger's gone missing (probably back in the sweatbox of Chumpon) so from now on, photos are from earlier in the trip.

March 12:
Awoke at 5:30am, when the roosters and I have this place to ourselves. The mosquito coils are working. Oats, banana, coffee, and a weekly shave.

Thinking about a great quote by Cassius Clay, "Many people want to win. But only real winners have the will to prepare to win."

Free diving alone in Ao Leuk and the noon-day sun gives me a decent burn w/o my shirt.

I procure a giant hatchet so I can whack/drink/eat coconuts whenever I feel like it.

On recommendation from Buddha View IDC Staff Instructor James, I speak with Course Director Mark (on Koh Tao with Bjorn in the mid-1990's) about teaching at their shop. He suggests I enroll in a three-week MSDT at their dive center at (wait for it...) 20,000 baht. I think I'll keep looking.

March 13:
Corrine's stolen moped wheel cancels our Koh Nanyuang free-diving and we instead visit the police and repair shops.

The free-diving school wants 3000B for certification down to 15 meters and 7000B for advanced skills. Since I can already free-dive to ~15m for ~60 seconds last week, I'll skip this for now.

Buddha View CD Mark conducts Marine Resource Management lecture and, resolving to learn /teach more about this vital topic, I apply for this instructor specialty. I chat Thai w/friendly Biya, Ung, Care, Nam over a huge dinner at Mae Haad pier.

March 15:
Low energy past 48 hours caused by:

• heat/humidity
• multi-day free-diving
• yesterday's sunburn
• venomous bug bite
• recent aroebic inactivity

Recuuperating with guilty pleasures:

• Air conditioning on the private circuit
  
• Tradewinds (unlock using "JYAP-MGMM-L4FH")
• ice-cold coconuts hacked with meat-cleaver
• iPod playing "Chill 5" playlist
• peanut M&M's

March 16:
Spider bite symptoms:

• pain at bite site
• numbness adjacent to site
• mild disorientation and malaise
  
• swolen lymph node (mini-golf ball on my shoulder blade 20cm from bite)

After four days of macho, I visit a helpful, happy clinic nurse who prescribes:

• hydroxyzine hydrochloride (for allergic reaction)
• prednisolome (for immune system)
  
• fenistil (topical hypoallergenic)
  

I give her an iced-tea.

March 17:
The friendly Thai cleaning woman at Tommy's Apartments replaces my ethernet cable so it protrudes just beyond the locked router room so I can connect via wireline as needed. I give her an ice-cold coconut.

Go to bed early to avoid beer-fueled Koh Tao mayhem on St. Patty's Day. Finished "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson and watched two Simpsons episodes.

March 18:
Reading about Taoism and Epicureanism and racking up high electricity bills with near-constant AC. Neighbor Pete from England cooks us outstanding green curry. Split a six-pack of Singha with him on our mutual balcony.

March 19:
Here's a sample of aquatic life at the Surin and Similan Islands, within the red rectangle to the left. Images are from the four-day liveaboard diving trip with Khao Lak SCUBA Adventures three weeks ago.

Dive sites include:

• Koh Surin (northernmost islands)
• Koh Tosai
• Koh Bom
• Koh Similan islands (southernmost islands)

Visibility: 10m to 30m.
Water temp: 26C-28C (I used a comfy 3mm full wetsuit).
Trip cost: 15,500 baht or $400 (incl. meals, air fills)
Camera: Canon C630 w/built-in flash, Canon housing

March 20:
Groceries:

• coconuts
• water
• bunch o' bananas
• 5kg bag of rice for neighbor

March 21:
Spider bite symptoms mostly remain:

• pain at bite site
• numbness adjacent to site
• swolen lymph node (now shrunk to the size of a garbanzo bean)

I get a second opinion re: the spider bite, and apparently poison's still present (no wonder it still hurts). Doctor prescribes stronger antibiotic cream and I'll know in two days whether she'll have to CUT OUT THE POISON. The nearby motorcycle-stove vendor consoles me with four fried fishballs for 15B.

Dinner by Pete along with other neighbors Eva, Shirley and her boyfriend (all from Holland). I offer two coconuts with rum along with oranges and pineapple. They're all in the in IDC at Ban's with CD Jonas.

March 22:
On the hunt for instructor gigs, but since there are so many others here looking for work it's been tricky for someone with no certifications (experience) yet.

Spider bite still hurts, so upon persuing a second opinion, I learned the poison is still present. Doctor gave me a stronger antibiotic for it, and I'll know tomorrow whether she'll have to cut out the poison from the wounds.

March 23:
Two hours before sunset, I explore the dirt roads up the hill to visit "Eagle View", a real-life treehouse of a restaurant built on a hillside facing the west, and owned by the friendly bong-smoking "Nop Marley" who recognizes me instantly from my two visits in 2003. Back then, the island was less populated, and I would moped up at night for an occasional "Magic Coffee" which would fix me in my hammock for musical inner views. Alas, he no longer serves the potion ("Too expensive") and after seeing a wife and two little kids now, I begin to understand what the expense could mean. "See you when you see me".

Managing the marginal moped down steep dirt on the south side, I momentarily mis-apply the front brake and the pony collapses onto my R foot, and dies. It won't start, it's too heavy to PUSH back up the hill, it's getting dark, and mosquitos are stopping by for take-away dinner.

It's a good time to be sober. (Gosh, I'm sure glad Nop has no more Magic Coffee)

I pivot 90 degrees against the steep dirt so the moped no longer threatens to roll down the road, off the hill, and into jungly oblivion, never to be seen again. I can now detach myself from the (I-can-imagine-the-cost-of-replacing-this-PoS) handlebar death-grip to assess the situation. Kickstarting several times, nothing. Throttle cable looks ok. Kickstart, nothing. Choke, try again. Choke further, try again, it stumbles to life, and I softly caress the throttle into agreement. Pivot another 90 degrees to face uphill and jog alongside its sandblasting rear tire back to a smaller gradient, a grateful man.

But now I realize the mishap has broken the front brake handle, so I have only a rear brake (on a nearly-bald tire) to get down dirt hills to concrete/traction. On the bright side, I can't mis-apply the front brake again. But I can pay 200B the next day to have it fixed.

Back at the humid, un-air-conditioned coccoon of Mosquito Motel, I'm mostly incapacitated now, limping around with my injured foot, and unhealing spider bite wounds. In fact, I can feel the poison knotting up what little remains of my abdominal muscles (January's gym routine was long ago). I gotta get outta here.

March 24:

#include /usr/lib/Hunter_s_thompson.h
"The decision to flee came suddenly"

I vacate Mosquito Motel (aka Tommy's Apartments) due mostly to lack of reliable:

• electricity
• air-conditioning
• network connectivity

And giving my remaining fruit to my fun Welsh neighbor Pete, I say fast "goodbyes" to other friends, and vacate the whole island, taking a two-hour boat to Koh Samui, shlepping my 90kg mountain of gear.