Alternate Version. . . . Wrongly convicted of the attempted murder of a random tourist during a paragliding accident, a young Swiss based landscape architect named Iain Shaw is sent to Than Sadet Prison for one month. In prison he befriends Mister Munkey, a loveable rogue who is able to smuggle things in from the outside. He asks Mister Munkey for a rock hammer (saying he likes geology). He later asks for a poster. Shortly after that, he befriends the guards by giving them financial advice. The Warden (Fiona) begins to take an interest in him. Iain builds a prison [View Full Entry]

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The Real Story Some days you wake up feeling good. Maybe because of a stroke of good fortune. - Just landed a plum job, sitting on your arse doing nowt for 75 grand a year. - Popped 5 numbers + the bonus ball on the lottery last night, £287,000 to blow. - The toothache's gone! - That kind of thing. But sometimes - just sometimes, for no apparent reason, life simply feels right. Its like that here every morning. I've heard talk of a place called Heaven, a mythical harmonious paradise where all is well. This is it. The Holy [View Full Entry]

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Started the day with the obligatory award winning Jungle Club sunrise, noisey dawn chorus, then brekkie. Bade our farewells to the boys, paid our tab & loaded up the jeep for a lift down the wibbly hill for our mini-bus ride to the ferry. I had to wait for a while on my own looking after the luggage while The Keepers took the posh car back. Got to Mae Nam for the catamaran with half an hour to spare. Dad went off on a motorbike taxi to play the chip & pin lottery again while me & Mum supped on [View Full Entry]

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Mondays in Thailand are Long Live The King days. His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a most respected King. At home we have a Queen. Nobody's sure exactly what her job is but it seems she makes a tidy living by waving a bit, opening hospitals & having lots of holidays. Over here they have a King. He appears to not want to do the Queen type stuff, choosing instead to spend his time & money actually doing things that benefit real people, 'tis better to give than to receive. In a Robin Hood type of way he's a pretty [View Full Entry]

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The next day was a day off. Up early to catch the magnificent sunrise from our balcony, pastel colours slowly exploding across the sky & reflecting delicately in the ocean. Back to bed around half past six for a lie in 'till nine. Spent the day lounging by the pool soaking up the rays. Sundays are usually a bit lively at the Jungle Club as the day trippers come up the hill for the day. Met a chap called Dan, who was staying in one of the bungalows here. Dan was from Chippenham, he seemed to be kind of stuck [View Full Entry]

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The last day at Bans was fun. They went off early to do the water stuff, I stayed in watching the tv with my new friend Davina the cat. We found a Bhuddist cable channel that showed classic old stuff. Mostly re-runs of The Monkees. We enjoyed a documentary about a young lad who had been sponsored by a well known mobile phone network to join a monestary in Dharamsala. It was called "The Future's Bright - The Future's Orange". But my personal favourite was a game show with a twist. "Bhuddist Wheel Of Fortune". Similar to the format I've [View Full Entry]

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& so to the next morning. 3 very sore heads. Over breakfast (chocolate & banana pancakes) they tried to catch up on the first two chapters of the course book. It was at this point they learned one of the fundementals. AVOID ALCOHOL. Whoops - too late!! Day one is a pool/classroom session, getting to grips with the equipment, basic principles of breathing underwater, buoyancy control, taking off & putting on various bits of kit at the bottom of the pool, blah blah blah. The Keepers were fortunate enough to be in a group of four. They were joined by two [View Full Entry]

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Diving Bans - Think before you drink before you dive. . . The trip over from Mae Nam on the catamaran was a breeze. About three quid each for the 90 minute crossing to Mae Haad. The glass smooth sea & cool breeze were only outshone by the 38 degree sunshine. We sat on the top deck at the back for the 1st half then noticed the air conditioned VIP cabin for an extra 50 baht. Slipped inside & gawped at the yank version of The Italian Job with pidgeon/pidgin English subtitles. Written by someone who had learned the language [View Full Entry]

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Flashpackers Paradise Before zipping off to Ko Tao the Keepers decided to try out one night at one of the many posh gaffs which have infested the island over the last few years. 15 years ago the closest to a 5 star resort here would have been somewhere like JR Bungalows in Chaweng 'cos they had HOT WATER!!. So with a purely socially scientific objective it had been deemed to assess the progress of the luxury end of the market since those early days. As many of these establishments seem to suffer from Corporate Sameness, we deciced to try something [View Full Entry]

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Arriving at the little boutique airport on Samui is a very welcoming experience. The set up there is like a 1940's pioneering tropical airline movie set. From getting off the twee propeller plane, you take a ride in cute little trolley bus thingys to the open plan palm thatched huts that serve as the terminal buildings. The only difference between being here & being in the movie is that this is in colour. We were collected by Michael, son of our hosts at The Waterfront, Bophut & whisked back to our recharge spot for the 1st two nights where Robin [View Full Entry]

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