April 5th 2002

Woke at 9ish surprisingly no hangover. Lay on beach reading, a massage lady was touting for business so I agreed to have one. She insists that we stay on the beach and spreads out a sarong for me to lie on. The Thai massage is quite brutal with a lot of stretching involved, this lady wasn't as good as our elusive original. Started to relax as she manipulated my back and shoulders, then there was a tremendous crash, someone had felled a Palm tree, rapidly followed by another. They are building more chalets here, 4 have gone up since we arrived. Massage continued, she is definitely rougher than our lady, Andrew was right to refuse one. I also found the sand a problem as it stuck to the oil and gave me a nicely sandpapered effect.

We went to KB for a sandwich and coconut shake then back for another hose down in t'corner, goodness it's hot today. Read, wrote diary, dozed etc. Watched the sunset at 6pm this is something I find strange here, sun sets at 6pm and it is pitch black by 7pm. In Thailand we are very close to the equator.

They have left the poor Palm trees straight across the path and the beach, making reaching KB quite an adventure. There is Barracuda on the menu tonight, neither of us have tried this, it's a strange pale green/beige colour. Like B.C. I avoid beige - baby shit colours never appeal when I'm hungry. I teach Dao to make us Blue Bave - almost as good as Porn, she makes a mean Lemon Daiquiri so she can do sour. I haven't said much about Dao so far, perhaps I should, Dao is the keeper of our passports, driving licences, spare cash etc, She speaks marvellous English, she rents us bikes, prepares dishes not on the menu on request, helps with transport and any info required about Koh Chang, and gives us a tab for everything, which we can pay for by card before we leave. A real bonus as there are no ATM's on the Island, she does also supply cash at 10 percent. She has owned and run this place for 10 years now. Andrew says she is a sound business woman - a high accolade from him. We have both noticed that some people arriving here obviously come back year after year, they greet each other as old friends.