Wednesday 15th December 2004
I had a really good breakfast on the beach this morning. The beach here is lovely. It's not as picturesque as the pictures I've seen of the Thai beaches, but there are no crowds either. It was really clean and all along the beach there were small bars and restaurants. Quite idyllic really. I stopped at a nice looking little beach restaurant and got talking to the waitress. Her name is Gia and she is a lovely girl. She has a great sense of humour and she loves to laugh and joke around. She's studying English and speaks it pretty well. She thought my order for pancakes with Lemon and sugar very odd and funny and after she had served me my food she sat down next to me and showed me her fire chains that she was making. She wants to learn how to do tricks with these things whilst they are on fire, spinning them around her head and the like. Good luck!
I went back to the guest house to get my beach things. I felt really glad that I had come here a day early, because today I was really in the mood for sitting on the beach and not going anywhere! I returned to the beach and found myself a spot under a parasol outside Gia's place and before long she was standing over me making a joke of some sort and asking me if I could help her with her English homework. I was only too glad to help and we went through the text in the book slowly and I explained what certain phrases meant as best I could. What made me laugh was every time I explained something to Gia that she didn't understand she would just shake her head slightly and say "No". It was so funny, every time she did it we both burst into laughter! That took a couple of hours and she was very grateful, telling me that she thought I could teach English better than her teacher could. It felt really good to have helped somebody and when she asked me if I would like to go with her to see a waterfall nearby, which she had never had the chance to see, I said yes. Despite my concerted efforts to stay shaded today I got sun burnt. Not badly, but enough for Gia to give me a new nickname "Chicken Face" on account of my face and neck being red! She found that very funny indeed, cheeky monkey! I had dinner in town at the Sri Lankan place again and then headed back to Gia's for a beer. Apart from 1 hour when she attends her English lesson Gia is at that place all day everyday and she sleeps round the back too. She must be happy about the change of scene tomorrow.
