November 8, 1984

           Day 31. My guitar fell off a motorcycle, but no damage, just the case. Niyom is in a very mood. Her father is 84, she is only two years of school, when she was 7 and 8. She's worried about the future.
           It's a small world. Mamasan needs a ride to town to call Germany. It's her “sponsor” who was trying to build that submarine. He's an engineer and got the idea from a steel tour boat in Florida. He needs one billion baht. Nobody local could back him but he got some interesting replies.

           Who should pull up but Ned. He needs more time, and the police have kept after them. I told him time is becoming precious. [He was told he had two months to repay the $600 he stole.]
           Dali [my neighbor] sort had a heart-to-heart with me. She wishes Cal had a few of my characteristics but she also recognizes I will have nothing to do with her beyond small talk. She is as opinionated as me so there’s plenty of that. She piped up about Thailand being a white man's paradise. I believe she was in serious sad to see me go. I see now she used the freedom mentality of the 60s to rationalize, among other things, promiscuity. Now 32, she just doesn't have any irons left in the fire. I wish her luck. Pete the Finn was over it seems his departure date on this trip coincided with a court appearance for drunk driving. He's harmless but he doesn't fit well with my philosophy of better alone than bad company.

           Cal says there's a monastery nearby that will fire up a sauna for you. Hot? Maybe he knows Eskimos with a refrigerator?
           I watched the video, or it played while I was there. Tarzan. What a wimp, and maybe it followed some original script which made it weak in spots. These tropical mosquitoes don't always sting so you [may not] notice the wound [until] hours later. Usually on a knuckle, it's uncanny. I took a drive into the hills behind. Pa Tong. The signs of condo style buildings are all over and it's getting quite a way back from the beaches.

           Finally more reports of violence in India. Seems to be quite a rampage. Several sources report hearing about the trainloads of dead and some magazines confirm it. This is still a departure from that screwball a few days ago who claims he actually saw them. I'm doing my crypto as late as I can. Hostages from sectarian violence have low survival rates.