9 October
Today I woke up, refreshed after a good nights sleep. The weather was hot and sunny. I rang Gook and wished her a Happy Birthday. She told me that today wasn’t her birthday – it was tomorrow but she thanked me nevertheless.

I had breakfast with Pin at PP Bakery and then went and sat in PP Bookshop with Duen and chatted with her in English. Pin came to join us and made me coffee. Afterwards, I checked my email, applied for a job in Krabi teaching English and then had a Thai massage. It is a lazy and pleasant life here.

I wanted to take my dirty washing to a laundry shop but my friends would not hear of it. Varn insisted on washing it all by hand for me.

In the late afternoon, when the sun was low over the mountains, I played beach volleyball with Dee, a German called John and a few others. I soon discovered that I was appallingly bad but enjoyed myself nevertheless. At sunset, I went for a swim and then returned to Pin’s shop at dusk.

After dinner, I showed Poon a picture of my brother Piers and she was immediately interested.

“P’Ben! Send him my picture!” she urged. “I want farang boyfriend…rich farang boyfriend to take care me. Not stingy man, please!”

The other girls laughed at her.

“Little Elephant! You must to waxing your legs first if you want a farang boyfriend!” said Duen.

“I am to waxing my legs,” said Poon earnestly. “But it hurts because Poon has much hair!”