your chicken has what?

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sorry for my incommunicado-ness, all. i've been
island hopping the last few weeks in the gulf of
thailand and have been just too lazy to write. the
last three weeks or so have been great - marked by a
wedding, a bike crash, a full moon party, and a
crapload of scandinavians.

i arrived in samui a few days before the wedding and
promptly managed to crash my rented africa twin
motorcycle on a gnarly mountain dirt road. the bike
and i were relatively unhurt, me escaping with a few
minor cuts and scratches and a bruised foot that
looked like a purple bloated pig bladder for a few
days. to those of you reading this right now, smiling
and shaking your head, muttering, 'oh, chan, chan,
chan,' i say, 'yeah. i know. piss off.' to those of
you a bit more perturbed, i say, 'i'm fine. don't
worry. it's such a rite of passage in samui that
motorbike-related cuts and bruises are known as the
'koh samui tattoo.'

the wedding was a fantastic affair. a traditional
buddhist ceremony presided over by five orange-robed
monks chanting blessings to seamus and su-en's union,
and then a wonderful day on a speedboat for a
champagne toast and a tour of the tiny beautiful
islands in the neighboring marine park. to cap off
the day, a traditional thai dinner followed by
fireworks and libations. though wonderful, it was
something of a bittersweet moment for me; an end of an
era of sorts - to see my old motorcycle travel buddy
get hitched as i embark on yet another journey.

in addition to the wedding folk, three old college
mates of mine met up with me in samui - kei, sarra and
jason. though all of us are decidedly older, it
didn't take long to realize that all of us are as
stupid as ever, and we spent several blurry, delirious
nights in samui proving this point.

as the timing worked out, i was in the area just in
time for the full moon party in neighboring koh
phangan - a monthly gathering of 10,000 or so revelers
converging on the beach to dance the night away. what
a party. not really a ravehead anymore, but i became
a dancing fool on this particular evening. i danced
until my feet were raw and the sun came up. and then
i danced some more. yeesh. not a pretty sight, as
i'm sure you can imagine.

been in koh tao - the diving capital of the gulf - the
last several days, getting my advanced open water
certification and partying with scandinavians.
swedes, swedes, everywhere. i have always found the
swedes to be a warm and friendly folk, and have
befriended several of them, and they in turn have
taught me many useful words and phrases, such as 'min
chikilen ha hemoroiden, so snela va min kleul kompis,'
which translates roughly to: 'my chicken has
hemmorhoids, so please be my fuckbuddy.'

it's been a great time, but i'm definitely developing
a case of backpackeritis. if i have one more 'where
are you from-how long are you traveling-where have you
been' conversation, i may shoot a swede.

taking off soon to find some solitude somewhere on the
west coast of thailand, perhaps do some rockclimbing,
and then look to volunteer my services in the areas of
the country that were hit by the tsunami. if any of
you know of any orgs that are involved in providing
such aid, i'd appreciate an e-mail.

hope all is well. love and miss all.

hugs,
csp

the latest photos can be found at
photos.yahoo.com/chansoobak under samui/phangan/tao.

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Photos

bucket, anyone?
sangsom. red bull. coke. in a bucket.