[Author’s note: this is transcribed from a handwritten booklet. I was in Thailand at the time and the note says “Day 27”. The following picture was inserted in 2016 (32 years later) to liven up this page. Note at the time, 1984, sandwiches were not common in Thailand and this was a corrupting western influence. In my opinion. On the other hand, make that my opinion formed while I was in Thailand back when it was still Thailand, ahem.]
[A tropical thunderstorm. The lightning flashed all over the horizon but I never actually saw a bolt. I’m again impressed by the intensity of the storm. It can be calm again within minutes. Then look out—dead calm means a heat wave. If you keep on the move, you can beat it.
[I met a guitar player from Finland, with a portable electric guitar and headset amp. He’s made a demo tape called “Jos…”. He’s a six-foot bruiser with read hair and a riot. I first saw him with macaroni on his chin, hungover and asked for cigarettes. His English is near perfect. We’ve been chumming around for a couple days and playing guitar through my radio. Some Thai will often come sit on the porch and listen. It’s as if they are being propelled into the 20th century. But to us it’s Mickey Mouse and we’re going to look for a cheap amp in town. We call him Peter and he likes to drink.
[There is an ice cream parlor or I should say a shingle that says so. These places are all primarily drinking establishments and I’ve avoided this one because the clientele is strictly male. Today Peter and I were leaning on a boat on the beach and I notice this [Euro] lady walking out of the parlor, past us to the end of the boat. Here is your answer, she’s beautiful enough to be a movie star and she owns the business. However I don’t’ know what was up and she walked passed us 5 or 6 times for no reason. (She was wearing a skin tight purple dress, something very few European women dare once they see the naturally slim Thai girls.) Not my type, but definitely a prize.
[[Author’s note: it later turns out she parades around to drum up business for her bar, which also explains why the place was always full of men. Australian men. Women who flaunt themselves in front of Australians are never my type.]
[I’m getting restless, ready to move on. Maybe over to Ko Amui. Lots of people seem to leave here for that island. I’ll drop into the police again and either way, I want to leave Kata. It is beautiful but I’ve already seen it. The two girls next door are heading to Ko Samui today. Just as well, it was getting on my nerves every day them chain-smoking and clipping their toenails. Stay in the bungalow all day and night telling me the less they spend the longer they can stay. God, people, lop off a week and do something.
[I still have that ticket to Delhi. I wouldn’t mind spending my birthday at the Taj Mahal. I’ll leave it till late to let the rioting quell. [It] seems Ghandi had a few Sikh bodyguards. Isn’t that comparable to Margaret Thatcher hiring some IRA gunmen for protection?
[Speaking of idiots, hello Dave. Er, we’ve got some tourists down the road who have discovered firecrackers. Seven o’clock in the bleeding morning, every day.
[Author’s note: my habit when traveling is to drop into the local police station and make friends, tell them where I’ll be staying. Ko is the Thai word for “island”. I had bought a budget ticket that made it cheaper to get to Phuket via India than direct, but since I had been in Thailand so often, I wanted to see India. However, they assassinated Ghandi and I hesitated to travel there. Dave was a jerk I worked alongside maintained that I lied about the places I traveled. Including the countless pictures.]
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