Travelog Part 2

The second month of my trip provided me with a rather different experience to the first. Firstly I was not travelling alone, but with a friend and secondly, we didn't do a great deal of travelling really.

If you remember I wrote at the beginning that I was due to return on 14th February, but I ended up getting a flight back on 13th January. I didn't get to Laos, which was one destination I was really looking forward to going to. In fact I had left it last on my list because I thought it would be a good place to leave a lasting impression on me when I returned home.

On December 17th I returned to Bangkok after leaving Cambodia, which I was a little sad about. I would have loved to have stayed in Cambodia for a week or two more, but I had arranged to meet a friend in Bangkok and we would then make our way down to Ko Lanta, where I had managed to secure a booking for Christmas. After that we were going to Ko Samui for New Year.

I was really glad to see my friend, but it felt strange for a while being with somebody familiar after so long alone. We had a good laugh for a couple of days. We met up with Oi, who I had kept in touch with, my friend met a great girl and we had a good laugh for in Bangkok for a few days. On 21st December we took a public bus to Krabi and 12 hours later we were waiting for a boat to take us to Ko Lanta, where we arrived about midday and checked into our hotel by the beach. The whole experience down here was different to the last month I had travelling around. I was glad to be in Ko Lanta, it's a beautiful island by the way, but it felt more like a typical holiday rather than a travelling adventure. We befriended the girls who worked in our hotel, The Ocean View Resort on Klong Dao Beach. They were all really great girls and we had alot of laughs with them. On Christmas eve we went to a bar on Long Beach called "Funky Fish" and had a great night. I hadn't laughed so much in ages. I really enjoyed myself. I got on famously with one of the girls called Kan she was lovely! The next day she was heading to her family home in Trang on the mainland for a couple of days, which meant I wouldn't see her again as I would be off to Ko Samui before she returned.

On Christmas day we started a diving course and spend the day practicing in a swimming pool. It was the most unique Christmas day I have spent in my life. Christmas dinner was Mussaman curry with steamed rice, which was such a welcome change from turkey! On Boxing day we set out early to go diving in open water at a place called Ko Biddha, which is very close to Ko Phi Phi.

This is where I feel it is appropriate to stop with all the details. I don't want to turn this event into an adventure all about me. I had been in the water less than 5 minutes at Ko Biddha when the tsunami came sweeping through us on it's way to Phi Phi. What I will say about this is that if it weren't for my friend and my diving instructor, who grabbed me by the fingers, I would not be here today and I truly believe that my lucky Chinese bat, which was in my bag on the boat above me played it's part also. I had lost that lucky bat back in England, but my mother found it in her washing machine and sent it to my friend to give to me when we met up. That's no coincidence as far as I'm concerned. I also felt terribly guilty for surviving for some time where so many had lost their lives, but to put everything into perspective I felt like I had been given a chance to make things "right" in my life and it was a stark reminder that I only have one life and that I had to make the most of it. After returning to Ko Lanta to find our hotel badly damaged by water and spending the night out in the open on high ground, in fear of more waves with the girls from the hotel. This was the turning point, not only of my trip, but my entire life.

The next day, after retreiving our belongings, which miraculously survived we were invited by Nok, one of the girls to stay at her family's home for a day or two as she had no job anymore and had to return home and we now had nowhere to stay, all our plans were up in the air and didn't really know what to do. We graciously accepted her invitation and were off the island in no time, escaping much of the mad scramble at the main ferry port by taking the lesser-known small car ferry on the other side of Ko Lanta. It takes minutes to get to the mainland this way instead of an hour or so on the ferry to Krabi. Now Nok lives in Trang, as Kan does and Nok had also invited her to stay at her home. So the twist of ftae of everything that happened over the last two days was that I would see Kan again. That was the one glimmer of Joy I felt during those few days. Kan proved to be a genuine ray of sunshine in a very dark sky.

We didn't go to Ko Samui for new year as we didn't really feel like celebrating much and made our way to Bangkok where we were invited to a family new year gathering on the outskirts by our new friends. This proved to be one of the best new year celebrations I had ever had. It was just really nice being in a family & friends atmosphere with lovely food and good company. I'll never forget it.

The original plan was that I would go to Laos a day or two after New Year while my friend would meet up with another friend from England and start an organised trip around South East Asia, but what ended up happening was that I didn't feel in the mood to be an adventurer again so soon and after another week or so in Bangkok I had run out of money. A week in Bangkok easily costs as much as a month in Laos, so I had no choice. My friend felt the same and cancelled his trip. We decided to record our new album when we got home and the wake up call I got from my tsunami experience gave me the energy to record an entire album on a laptop computer. Less than a week after returning home I got a job working shifts and spent all my "resting" time recording until we had an album inspired by the waters of the Andaman Sea.

I no longer write songs with my friend, unfortunately, but what we created I believe is an absolute masterpiece. Inspiring things can emerge from tragic cirumstances and if it wasn't for the tsunami Kan would not now be my girlfriend. I went back to see her in 2006 and I have a very clear idea of what I want to do with my life now.

UPDATE January 2008
I am moving to Thailand this year and I will be getting married. I am also embarking on a new venture with my musical talents. I intent to develop a music production company that emcompasses all of my songwriting, production and musical skills. Certain things that have transpired since I revisited in 2006 have given me absolute certainty and confidence of my success and you know how the saying goes "You make your own luck". It's all happening and I am very excited about my new life.

UPDATE February 2010
I am now a family man, life gets better every day and I am a writing more songs than ever, carving out a nice living for myself doing what I love. I'm also building a new, up-to-date recording studio at my home, which will become the core of my Media Company Boy@Heart Media.

You can experience a little of my musical talents at my musical blog Boy at Heart, which is the name I go under as a recording artist.