Hello.
I think I just entered into 7th heaven. I just
finished a 2 hour body massage that was absolutely
phenomenal! Whew!
I'm about to head out to one of the best and biggest
dance clubs in Thailand (Lucifer), so I only have a
few minutes to write but I wanted to let you know a
little of what I've been up to.
Last weekend I went bungee jumping again--couldn't
resist. I did go off backwards, and that was
definitely an experience and a half.
Instead of going straight down, it felt like my body
was floating sideways the entire time. The cord then
whiplashed me into the water (all the way to my ankles
this time), and shot me back up into the air.
Because of the sideways motion, I came back up over
the elastic, so that it was under me when gravity
started to take hold of my body once again. This was
not good.
I managed to push most of it away from me in time, but
I did end up getting swiped across my right cheek, so
that for the rest of the week people (women) kept
asking me if I'd been scratched by an angry lady. Ha!
On Tuesday we rented a sailboat and went sailing
around the islands. Now, I personally don't like boats
much, and the smaller they are, the more uncomfortable
I feel. Let's just say that I was more apprehensive
about getting on this floating tub of plastic than
about jumping off a crane at 50 meters.
After putting up the sail, my confidence did not
improve. For some reason, it turns out that sailboats
lean into the wind--quite dramatically, actually. If
you sit on the side close to the water, you feel like
you're about to be dipped into the ocean at any
second, and if you sit on the high side, you're
convinced that one small wave will cause you to fly
off into the water.
One can get used to just about anything, though. After
a while, I just accepted my fate and went along with
the flow. That's when the @#$% hit the fan.
Nobody--not even our experienced, race-winning
skipper--noticed the sudden squall ripping towards us
from behind. One moment it was nice and sunny and
peaceful and the next thing we saw, it was dark and
windy and rain was starting to pick up.
The fact that this instilled a little terror into our
skipper did not help. With no experienced crew to back
him up, we were late getting the front sail down, and
then one of us had to hold the wheel and keep the boat
heading into the wind so that he could quickly get the
main sail down.
That person, of course, was me. Holding a boat steady
in one direction with the wind and water pulling away
at it is no easy task, and it wasn't long before the
skipper launched into a string of obscenities in my
direction. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.
But, we didn't sink, so that's good, and the storm
left almost as quickly as it came. A bit later, we
accosted a small fishing canoe and they sold us some
fresh seafood.
This was my first experience eating raw shrimp. It
doesn't taste all that bad, but it sure looks
revolting as all hell.
When the sun broke through again, we swam *through* an
island. This was absolutely incredible--like something
out of a pirate movie. In the middle of the island
there were trees and different plants snaking up
amongst the rocks. Quite memorable.
We ate lunch at what must be the most secluded beach
in the world. A real tropical paradise. We explored
the beach a little, but then Kyle got chased into the
water by a giant red centipede--quite funny.
On Thursday we flew to Bangkok. It came as absolutely
no surprise that our flight was cancelled. Par for the
course, really.
Bangkok is an interesting city. Cleaner than I
expected--I was thinking it would be more like Bombay,
but was quite happy to discover that it's much, much
nicer.
Today we visited the must-see tourist attractions--a
big palace and a giant reclining Buddha. They were
both very impressive, but I'd like to see temples that
are less touristy at some point--probably up north in
the country.
OK, I'm off to dancing. My plan is to get absolutely
no sleep tonight. Theoretically, this will allow me to
sleep like a baby on the plane ride home, and then
I'll be fresh and rested for work on Monday.
Cheers,
Gabriel
