Last times letter got a bit amputated, due to the very strong antimosquito insense I could hardly see through the tears this smoke created. I will probably get some problems again today - the mosquitos come out of their cave around this time, and they seem to like me alot. I have stings everywhere on my body and I say to myself “It is probably good for you” but I’m not sure how well I manage to convince myself

Nothing much have happened since last letter, but I have left the place I stayed, and have ended up an even more quiet place. Here we are almost no people, and it is very very nice and quiet. Actually … it is too quiet here. Right now I hang around a guy from Canada, that I met the last place, and his group of friends. They are 7 people, so it is kind of difficult to get into the group. I think I will leave them tomorrow, cause I can see that it isn’t that much fun anymore. They are VERY laid back and I just feel like I am hanging around them because I have nothing else to do. This is partly true, cause this place does not invite to anything else than sit and watch the sea (which is quite OK). The place I’m staying, is on the island of Koh Phangan near a village called Thong Sala. The bungalows here are very cheap, and since I’m sharing a bungalow with this Canadian guy, I pay ca 20 kroner for a night.

The last place gave some strange experiences. The strangest one was probably when I helped the local people fish in the river right next to my bungalow … with my bare hands. I was lying on the beach relaxing when I saw this 5 year old little girl, and her grandmother walk around in the river and apparently catch something. Their dog dug a hole in the sand and the grandmother was throwing things in this hole. I went over to see what it was, and 5 small fish was lying sprawling in the water in the little “pond” that the dog made. I thought I hade to try this … be it my contribution to worldpeace. I was standing side by side with a Thai-grandmother and catch their dinner. They have to look up to me now, the Thai people. Building long bridges that spans over cultural, economical and geographical gaps. I am now waiting an invitation from the prime minster down here, inviting me for tea and a cracker (I’m not sure if that would be a fire-cracker). Anyway … as I was standing in the middle of this raging river, throwing myself at the struggling fish, that tried to go upstream, I saw several followers join in. Hey … I made a movement. I startet singlehanded, and now I had 15 more people trying to steal MY fish. This was my Live Aid, Live 8 and Amnesty International all in one. I had too seek higher grounds, and startet climbing up the white masses of water that were exploding in my face, almost knocking me off my feet with its heavy thrusts of pure nature. I struggled to keep my feet in places where they were safe, while I was trying to spot the fish. The fish I was going to catch could be seen only when the fin emerged above the surface and I would see it as a black dot in the water. Soon I got the hang of it and I was scooping up 2 at the time. I was the one taking all the fish … the rest of my “crew” got just scraps. Well … it can’t be that easy to follow such a natural borne “catch-fish-with-your-hands”. I even had to stop to worry about the stings they delivered when they were caugh. Huge spikes with a very powerful nervepoison delivered a hurting sting, but … I quickly learned to deal with the pain. I heard it was not dangerous, so I kept on going. When I looked back on my “work” - 15 followers staring at the river and can’t believe their own eyes: “are there really no more fish”, “is this the end of the world” and “how will we survive” was what I could read in these poor Apostles face when the fish-feast ended. I went down to them and told them that there is allways gonna be another day. They looked at me and felt comforted by my words, despite the fact that I will not be here when the next fishing steam would be here. They looked back at the huuuge fish … well … huge is maybe a bit of an exaggeration. They were about 3 cm in length, and the spikes, that gave a little sting, were just 0,5cm long. After looking at the fish and then back at the raging river … uh .. ok … the river was maybe not that wild. It was 5 cm deep and 3 meters wide … but there was a lot of water there … with fish in it. Anyway … I cought the fish, and they got some extra fish for their next red curry.

I didn’t do very much other than sit and relax on the beach or in the cafe. The one day before I left, we met this strange gay couple, and they came up to “my” restaurant for drinks together with 2 canadians, an italian sextourist, me, a dane, a really weired man from Holland and later 2 girls from germany. This strange guy from Holland came into a restaurant, were I had a snack with one of these Canadians. He put his camera on a table, went away, sat on another table drinking his beer for 10 minutes. Suddenly there was a flash from the camera, and he collected it again. I got curious, and asked what he was doing. He was travelling the world taking pictures. The things he told us seemed kind of cool, and I liked him, and thought he seemed interresting. We had the standard “where are you from”, “how long are you staying” and “where have you been” questions. He still seemed nice. Until … he had a go at this Canadian, because she was smoking. He was an ex-smoker, and he really hated smoking and smokers. So … after yelling at us for a couple of minutes, he went away and suddenly came back saying “and by the way … I have a problem with Norway and norwegians” and he started having a go at me, for beeing norwegian and “not doing the world economy any good by staying out of EEC and the Euro”. I was a bit stunned but didn’t want to start a discussion. I should have though … it could have been fun. Me and the canadian just looked at eachother after he left, and though “what was that???”, but we figured that he was just beeing a jerk. When we were sitting at the patio at our restaurant he did something similar as well … he wasn’t very sain.

I have just been cut off the internet for about 18 hours. Luckily … I have learned from my previous lessons, and I am now saving the mail while I am writing it. So when I came back today to finish it off, I could. There was a little rainfall yesterday and in a strange way the power went out. We are apparently long way from civilisation here, so power outs are common when the rain hits.

I am trying to find a way out of here. I think my days with the Canadians are counted … they seem to mingle better with people the same age as themselves. I think the last ferry has just sailed, so I have to try find another way out of here. I could swim, but it is a long trip. For those of you interrested, this could give you an idea of where I am http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/thailand_pop_1974.jpg. In the south there is a town called Chumporn. There are 4 islands in the bay outside this town, and I am located on the second biggest right now. I am trying to get a boat to the island closest to Chumporn, but the last ferry/boat off this island has already sailed. This country is probably what Al Capone visited just before he said “everyone can be bought”. I would probably find someone who would take med over to the other island for 50-60 kroner. I’ll find out in a short time. It sounds like it is going to rain again soon, so I’ll wrap this up. As I said … nothing has really happened in the last few days. I have found myself in the ‘comfort zone’ which is the zone you get in, when you don’t want to leave a place because it is more convenient just to stay. I don’t want to leave this place, but I need to see and do different things. I need to get a change of scenery and meet new people - and this time, I will not go for a large group of people this time. Two is the max number I would go for. It is really strange how easily you meet people down here, compared to back home. Here you can say hi to anyone with the same color of skin as you, but back home you get beat up for just looking at other people. Well … maybe not beat up, but close … it’s same same (this is one of the first things you learn here … ’same same’ is what everybody says, and if you want to order ‘another drink’ from the bar, you just point at the one you already have, and say ’same same’. Very easy to say this, but it is very hard to communicate sometimes because the Thai’s have not the biggest vocabulary in the world and talk funny. You find yourself pointing and making strange noises instead of saying whole sentences. If they don’t understand you just have to leave … in a polite manner. The Thai’s are very polite and I wouldn’t end up offending a Thai kickboxing champion - those guys are fit and loves the pain. The stadiums are everywhere, and I will try to go and see a fight on the next island. These canadians I hang out with went to an island where tourist could fight eachother. The result of this was a black eye for one of the guys. If you win, you get a bucket of a drink (which is a mix of Rum, Red Bull and Coke Cola … I think).

Well … I am off. Need to pack my bag and get out of here. The sun has just come out so a couple of hours on the sea, would be good.