The decision in the morning was, football match or no, we should leave tonight. Even so, I felt some regret at missing out on the game, so was selfishly pleased when I heard later that it had been called off. We did nothing today, our laziest day yet. Around about noon, I decided something should be done, so set about rolling a j. Quite a landmark, being my first ever, + much more notable for being first than for its own intrinsic qualities. By exercising huge willpower, it didn’t fall apart, but it was a close-run thing. Miraculously, we were both able to inhale enough to make the exercise worthwhile, even if we did have to use unconventional methods – when the thing had fallen apart so much there was nothing left to hold, we still breathed in the smoke from the mini-bonfire. I have rarely been stoned in the daytime before, but I must say I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to listen to any music, the Walkman packing up after 5 mins. The thing has a whole catalogue of ailments right now, the latest + most serious being one of the pairs of headphones only playing on one channel, +, as now, a tendency simply not to produce sound whenever it feels like it. One can’t complain too much really – it’s a couple of years old now, + has taken a hell of a battering. Annoying nonetheless, especially when taken in conjunction with the camera’s ailments.
Later, when we had returned to earth a little, we began to get ready for moving on once again – washing, packing, etc. At our request, Alan made us a joint to take with us, to smoke before we got on the boat – we donated the rest of the BH to him. Then off we went. The lady in charge said thank you + goodbye, checking that we knew the right way. Yes, yes, we said, we’ll be fine, + off we went. We hadn’t gone 150 yards before we heard a yelling + shouting – she’d been watching us, which was fortunate, for we’d already gone the wrong way.
At the 2nd attempt, everything went well. In fact, with the afternoon sun sinking + fading, it was a pleasant walk. Rather than arrive in town ridiculously early, we killed some time by having coffee at the last bungalow, watching the sunset, then moving on before dark. Even so, we had plenty of time, so sat in the sort of bandstand-like shelter, common throughout Thailand. Feeling slightly nervous about the whole thing, we smoked our j. At first, I thought it was a bit of a washout, but it crept up on me, + in 10 mins I was my usual gibbering wreck. The next stage, naturally, was the munchies – as if on cue, a lady wheeled her barrow in to the square in front of us, + set to work, obviously preparing food of some kind. We didn’t know what it was, but were sure it would be wonderful, so I struggled down the steps to buy a couple. It turned out to be a roti-like pancake, spread with sugar + condensed milk. If that sounds revolting, you are doubtless entirely correct, but they seemed wonderful at the time – we had 3 each.
We were so absorbed in conversation, we didn’t notice that the tender for the ferry had come in, + all of the people had disappeared. We rushed out in a panic to join the throng – we were last aboard. It almost seemed a mistake to have gotten so wasted with the nightmare journey that came. First, they couldn’t shift us off the dock – with the weight of all the passengers, we were wedged hard on the slipway, tho’ eventually sheer muscle got us moving. The next 5 mins were weird. Someone was whistling, giving Val the image of us being a boatload of Negro slaves being taken to our new owner, while I saw us as the cast of one of those dreadful lifeboat movies: you know, a bunch of disparate people who somehow learn to love one another + survive the elements.
The next + final stage was the worst of all, transferring from the tender to the ferry. The sea was very choppy, with both boats bobbing violently… + not quite together either. I was almost the last to scramble across, making it successfully, + then had to crawl on hands + knees with the pack on my back, like a deformed tortoise – the ceiling was so low on the lower deck it was the only way to move. Not very dignified, however.
The boat was similar to the one we had crossed to Ko Samui on, tho’ not quite as well equipped. The mattresses were harder, flatter, shorter, + there were no fans. We made ourselves comfortable, nonetheless, + prepared for the journey. Not that it came for a while – we didn’t leave until well beyond the 9.00 ETD.
A day of drugged excess, for the most part; it dies seem likely that this would be our last opportunity for a while, but it did make for quite a surreal journey.
