16 October.
Today I spent the morning teaching English and reading Dr Jenkel and Mr Hyde. In the afternoon, I went to Long Beach to swim with June and Dook who were spending the night there.

I tried to get a taxi boat there but all the boatmen refused to take me because I was only one person and nobody else wanted to go. So I walked in the hot sun over the rocks and sand and saw two monitor lizards on the way.

When I arrived, Dook and June had already swum and showered. I went in by myself. I spent a lazy half hour floating around and watching the colourful fish who did not seem in the least bit afraid of me.

Afterwards, we went to the restaurant and I ordered a sandwich while they shared a sundae. It was dark by the time I was ready to go back. I went to the where the boat drivers waited.

“You want boat boat?” they enquired.

“Yes, I want to go to Ton Sai,” I replied.

“How many person?”

“Just me.”

“Wait wait. Have to wait for another person. Sit down. Wait a moment.”

I sat down and waited. It was a pleasant balmy night and the stars were bright overhead. The waves murmured on the shore. A passing mosquito, pausing idly to bite one of the boatmen, spotted me instead. He stared for a moment, not quite believing his luck and then rushed off to tell all his mates about the sweet blooded farang who was sitting foolishly in the dark with the sour blooded locals.

I sprayed on mosquito repellent and kept an eye out for prospective passengers. In fact, I was more eager for them than the boatmen themselves. Three young women strolled past. They were all tall, tanned and beautiful. I accosted them eagerly.

“Boat boat! Hey, where you go? You want boat trip? Yes? Maya Bay – we take you see beautiful islands,” I added rather recklessly.
They paused. “How much to go to the town?” they asked.

“One hundred baht,” replied one of the boatmen.

“What, for three people?”

“No, one hundred baht for one person.”

“Why so much?”

Jesus! I thought. Do you wanna trek across the jungle instead? Hurry up, I’m getting bitten to death here!

“It’s night time,” I explained helpfully. “The price goes up for night time”

They hesitated for a moment and then to my intense relief, they decided to go. We all got into the boat and I needed to use the flashlight on my phone to help them in. They told me that they were all from Canada and were traveling in Thailand for a month before heading off to explore Australia. They wanted to go to the town for some nightlife.