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Published: July 18th 2006
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After my last entry, I spent the night in a nice bungalow on Had Rin. It is a fairly crowded place, but the beach is great. The biggest annoyance is all of the bars that blast techno late into the night. There really isn't any escaping it. There is a decent sized town built up around Had Rin, and while walking around I spotted several people carrying guitars in cases. This planted a seed in my mind. I began wandering throughout the whole town hoping to spot a guitar shining in a display window. I wasn't really planning on buying one; I just needed to find one anyways. In the end, there weren't any in the entire town. I looked. Feeling almost a little relieved, I had a late dinner and went to bed. I honestly haven't had a bad meal yet. Some have been mediocre, but most of them are sooo good. I will definitely miss the food when I leave. I woke up the next day and went to a small travel agent to buy a ticket to my next destination. I just could not decide where to go next. Even when she asked me where I wanted a
ticket to, I didn't know. My mind raced in stupid circles for a couple seconds, something clicked, and I ended up in a taxi taking me to a boat to go to Koh Tao. The pier was a 20 minute drive from Had Rin, and as we were within several blocks of it, I spotted a guitar store. The taxi dropped us off about 20 minutes before the boat was to leave. I "sprinted" the half mile back to the store. With my huge backpack bouncing around on me, it was more of an ostrich-like gait than a sprint. The hasty plan was to buy the cheapest guitar I could find, but I found that even the nice guitars were very cheap. I bought the nicest one in the store, along with a case, a capo, and picks for about $100. My true priorities came out. I would not be diving. I would be sitting in a hammock playing guitar and reading.
I got to Koh Tao 3 days ago, and literally all I have done is read and write, play guitar, snorkel, and eat. And sleep. I ended up hiking to a group of bungalows that has no
road going to it. It's a very isolated and... rustic area. There are a couple small beaches surrounded by small cliffs and huge boulders. The water is a littler more clear than on Koh Phangan. Yesterday I was snorkeling about 150 metes off the shore (you have to go out that far to get past the shallow coral) and to my surprise I spotted a shark. It was about as big as me, and after a second of panic building up, I decided it must be some harmless species. A lot of the coral around here is dead, but there are still plenty of fish to see.
The bungalow I checked into was built on stilts, had a mattress on a floor of widely spaced boards, and a precariously positioned hammock. I kept dropping socks and sunscreen through the cracks in the floor. My first night and day was fairly uneventful; nice and relaxing. On the second evening, I walked into my room to lie on the bed. I motioned to brush off a large berry or something that had probably somehow dropped through the spotty roof. I was shocked as the object was very moist and clung to my
hand. I shook violently and the object ended up back on the bed. After I recovered some composure, I pulled out my flashlight to examine. For awhile a still thought it was some big, juicy berry. Finally, I got out my tweezers for verification. As I spread it apart, I slowly recognized legs folded in and organs. It was one 3 inch long and very dead insect that how somehow just appeared. I put a lot of thought into this. I finally concluded that one of the geckos must have regurgitated a huge bug onto my bed. Later that night when I put my mosquito net back up, I noticed a large stain on the top, right above where the specimen had been found. Apparently some gecko has a cruel routine of throwing up in the same spot (hey Ron, do geckos regurgitate like this?). I uneasily went to sleep, and awoke the next morning to a huge spider staring at me from inside the net. I decided to change rooms. Now I have a bungalow that is just several meters up from the rocky shore. If I lie on my bed and look out the window, it feels like
I'm in a little house in the middle of the ocean. Last night I had a 5 minute long battle with the biggest spider I've seen so far. It was on my wall. I didn't want to move again, so it had to die. I emptied an entire aerosol can of deodorant on it, then a ton of deet bug spray, and finally went hand-to-hand and killed it with a waste basket. I want to clarify that I've adapted pretty well to most of the bugs. There are always little ants and other creatures in my bed and on my plate, and that is fine. But huge spiders....
Well since I haven't really traveled in the last 3 days, there isn't much traveling to write about. That's why you are getting theses stories. Before Koh Toa, I didn't stay in one place for more than 2 days my entire trip. I plan on staying in my lazy isolation for many more days. I'll be meeting Hannah and her friends in Phuket in about 10 days. Other than that, I have no plans!
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Ron
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gecko 'gurgitation
Hey Steve - yes, geckos do regurgitate, especially if their "eyes are bigger than their stomach" and they swallow something too large. Then there's the fact that a lot of insects have a variety of defenses to make them unpalatable - bad taste, toxins, irritating projections etc that might cause the gecko to throw it up. What species of gecko is it? Do they "bark", sorta like a dog? I just got back from a 2 day visit with your folks and Joanna - had a good time and caught some fish. Be careful.