Day 156 - Storms brewing, both at sea and on land

This was before the night took a turn for the worst!

Day 156 - 26th November

It had been a heavy night - not with booze, but with a giant storm hitting the coastline and the area just metres from my hut. All night I was waiting for the roof to cave in from water damage but it didn't. Nevertheless, I didn't sleep well.

I continued with my work until Matt surfaced and then we commenced with our daily routine - chicken and rice, some pork and rice and then a fruit shake. By the time the film had finished (Enemy at the Gates) I was ready to burst. 

Matt went to the gym (crazy bastard) whilst I went back to work some more.

We had an afternoon swim before heading back up to our favourite spot in the Mynt Lounge. After a few beers, we were joined by a Londoner who told us about his experiences Quad Biking in Koh Samui, experiences that had resulted in him needing reconstruction surgery on his knee. He was still going to ride in a few months time when his year's recovery had finished. Fair play to him!

Joy on a roll! Matt on steroids I think!

The happy duo.

Later on, the other Matt rocked up and we had a few games of pool against the bar girls. When we lost I had to pay out a few hundred for their drinks (when will I ever learn) before me and the two Matt's headed to a few of the Go Go bars for a few drinks.

Aye, aye. There's trouble abrewing!

This is when my trouble started. We were drinking Samsong's rum and after two I was completely plastered. Matt had to bring me back on his bike, a favour I'm very grateful for.

I collapsed in my hut, unaware that my drink was laced with amphetamine! Lesson learned!

Day 154 - North to South, lost in translation and Go Go Girls

Love that view

Day 154 - 24th November

Another day, another dollar as they say, except no-one will give me a dollar for my work so I just keep going.

My routine changed slightly and not for the better as I had my breakfast. I was typing away at my story and I spilled my coffee all over my laptop. Dave's presence around me in the past two weeks was rubbing off now.

So I went looking for a repair place because the keyboard was no longer responding. A website told me that a fantastic repair place could be found at the IT Complex in the North of Lamai. When I eventually made it there after a 20 minute walk in the heat, I discovered from a helpful desk clerk that the company had liquidated five years earlier. I should've known really with the owner posing in a pool as her profile for the business.

I asked the guy where I could go and he said Tesco's Lotus - two kilometres in the other direction. So I set off again and reached Tesco's. Inside there was a great place called Banana IT. I picked up a keyboard for seven quid. Bargain.

I went by Matt's usual eating spot and of course found him there. We had chicken and rice and watched Jaws 3. Afterwards, we made our way to the Mynt Lounge where I worked and Matt played pool with the locals and Joy.

Love that beach

Afterwards, we headed back for the three 'S's and then went back to the Mynt Lounge. We met another guy from London, Matt who had dislocated his toe a few nights before. We played pool with him and I narrowly beat him after skewing my shot wide and it still going in.

He took us down on his bike to the Go Go bars and we had Thai Rum and Beers with the women whilst playing Connect 4 and a dice game. Those girls were crazy, asking us to take them away for 1,200 Baht. Matt (bearded) and I scarpered back to the Mynt Lounge.

After a few more hours, I set off as Joy tried to get Matt to walk me back. I ran down the street so they could stay together whilst Matt hijacked Joy's moped and yelled out for me to jump on the back of it.

Eventually they caught me up and Matt and I walked back with the usual berating from the massage girls and lady boys.

I'm getting too old for this! :-D

Day 153 - More Writing, more Chicken and Rice and more Mynt Lounge

Love those raspberry shakes!

Day 153 - 23rd November

Yeah, the title says it all. More writing, more chicken and rice and more of the Mynt Lounge.

I'm not complaining, it's actually good fun to have this sort of routine. You wake up in a hut around 8am, it's dark until you flip the door and shutters open to see the sea. Then you get up and have breakfast whilst working and then take a little walk. A little more work until 5pm and then afterwards, you go out for a couple of plates of chicken and rice and a raspberry shake before moving on to the Mynt Lounge.

The moon doesn't even look real

I think for the first time travelling since Vietnam, I am chilling out in one place just enjoying the freedom and enjoying writing for long periods again.

Me and Matt are having a lot of laughs with the bar staff and locals who seem to be enjoying our company too. Even if they don't they are pretty convincing.

I went out in a Superman t-shirt and as I walked down the strip in it, random massage girls are shouting out that they want to massage me because I'm Superman. I don't know what comic books they've been reading but I'm more the Clark Kent (I'm a writer, crap hair cut and a bit of a dork) of the ego rather than a Man of Steel. But I'm happy to play up.

After leaving Matt in the Mynt Lounge with Joy at 2am, I had to run down the street to get away from the massage girls and ladyboys who were coming out into the street to get me. I'd love to say I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I nearly fell over twice.

Day 152 - Meeting Matty, Rock Bar and Mynt Lounge

Somewhere in the midst is a man trimming the grass

Day 152 - 22nd November

So it was business as usual, working on my latest book, the sequel to one of the projects I was working on in Cambodia. It's already 55,300 odd words in length but needs improvements to bring it up to the same level as the first.

I worked over breakfast until Matt caught up with me around lunchtime. He said he'd found some good places to eat and drink further up from Lamai Beach. I told him I wanted to do some work first but we'd meet up around five-ish and he could show me around.

The rest of the day I walked up and down the beach trying to generate ideas. Ideally, my second book takes part in a beach house so it's not too bad for research purposes.

The Rock Bar

By five o'clock I was on the back of Matt's bike and we were heading towards the Rock Bar, a place sunk into a rock around the bay. We walked up the beach towards the bar and after a little detour, we eventually found it. I wasn't down for having a mushroom shake so just had a Chang instead.

It was a pretty good spot and a good way to waste half an hour.

Afterwards, we moved towards the main strip. There was a Sunday market on so we had to navigate through hordes of people to make it to the restaurant Matt had been eating in since we left him on Tuesday.

The chicken and rice was awesome and the raspberry shake even better. Not bad for four quid. The chef was really friendly, coming out to shake our hands and greet us before our meal. This place isn't even one star but it's bloody good.

The Mynt Lounge

Afterwards, we went to the Mynt Lounge to see a girl, Joy who Matt had met up with. It was a great bar, with a really chilled out vibe and a pool table. Amazingly, I won five games on the bounce against different challenges in the bar, making myself look like a pool whizz. A complete fluke of course.

We rolled out around one am and headed back. I have a feeling this is how the nights are going to progress here.