I ain't wanna be the richest guy in the graveyard

during my stay in Hua Hin, Thailand...i met and befriend with 2 fellow travel mates..JImmy(Irish dude) and Yordous(Greek dude). Jimmy is this happpy go lucky dude that loves all the thai bar girls ;)..if u know what i mean and Yordous..a 50++ year old guy who used to be a teacher, DJ(he spins around the world..progressive is his stuff) and now he runs a sea sport centre in Santorini island in Greece...heard it's a beautiful place. we met through kitesurfing...clicked and decided to travel together. You see...when u travel alone...naturally you will exert more effort to mingle around and be more friendly. Unlike travelling in a group which ususally you'll just stick to your mates and don't bother goin the extra mile to make new friends which i believe it's the very essence of travelling.

Now personally i believe there r 2 groups of people that wanders around. A tourist and a traveller...my definitions for them respectively are Tourist - those that are on a tour package..these are the group of people who gets to see what the tour guide wants them to see hence most of the time you see only the better and more prosperous side of the country and the people. Well, a traveller is the group who travel like a local. Hence this group of ppl has a higher chances of seeing the real lifestyle , culture, aspirations, the real day to day life of the local community in that particular country they r visiting.

fast forward, 3 of us(me,jim & yordous) decided to kitesurf in Koh Phan gan. We took a 5 hours bus to chumphon and then a 4 hours catamaran ship(the worst boat trip ever...i was this close to puking my guts out) to koh phangan. Catamaran is a high speed ship...only when the water is flat but if the sea is rough...you are pratically on a roller coster ride...goin up n down most of the time the ship is just brushin through the very surface of the sea. the 1st hour was ok...come the 2nd hour...the steward and stewardess in the catamaran started distributing plastic bag...it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it's for ya....one dude started the whole chain effect...the thing is when u r already at the verge of vomittin...the biggest no-no is to see another puke....as u can imagine...almost half of the passengers on board made good use of the plastic bag.

anyway, after 4 hours of torture...we arrived at the port,Thong Sala. we took a saeng teow(pick up taxi) to one2 kite school which is owned by Sam(who is Yo's partner). upon our arrival, we met Sam who was expecting us as yo has informed him that we r comin.

after helping us to check into a chalet near his school..i decided to have lunch and chill out by the beach while jimmy n yordous wanted to go out on their rented bike to have some drinks. I passed and off they went.

i had a pad thai for lunch...a big plate of rice noodles cooked with egg,vegetables and chicken thai style...YUMMY....washed down with a glass of fresh orange juice. feeling Full and happy..i went to chill out at Sam's school which is right in front of the sea. it was a sunny day, clear blue sky..the sea was calm,the water was flat and crystal clear and the best part..ít was shallow..you can swim 500metres out to the sea and the water is just slightly above ur waist. what a paradise!!!

i spend the whole afternoon chattin with sam on the wind condition whether we can expect any wind for next few days..bad news..it has not been blowing and the next few weeks is not promisin either.there were people comin to enquire about kitesurfing lessons, some friends dropped by...i made a few new friends.

Suddenly from nowhere..Jimmy appeared lookin stoned...i asked "äre u ok dude?"u had one too much drink isit? he looked at me and said..."Guess What..dude?" i knew something is not right and i said....u met an accident?...nope not me..was what he said...Yordous did and he's on the way to the hospital. It was bad man, there were so much blood on the road...blood was oozing out from his ear and nose.

Now what happened was, both of them were riding back from the bar when Yordous bike was hit by a truck from behind and he fell. Besides the fact that he was not wearing a safety helmet, we r talkin about a 50++ year old dude who is half drunk fell form a moving bike. he fractured his skull which explains the blood oozing out from everywhere around his head. He had 4 broken ribs and one of them punctured is lungs.

He was taken by ferry to Koh samui which is a bigger island with a better equipped hospital to treat his injuries. he was admitted for a total of 5 nites. we went over to see him and brought along 2 bottles of Havana Club 7 years (his favourite drink...RUM)..the plan was to let him keep one for himself and we down a few shots with him.

once arrived at the Samui Bangkok hospital...i gotta say it's one of the best looking 6 stars hotel..sorry i meant hospital that i've been to.the surrounding is very nice, the nurses were all in the skimpiest white uniform coupled with the fact that they were all quite hot..really..anyway we went to his room no 203. Yordous were touched and delighted to see us..come one..when u r travelling alone...ur travel buddies r family. he was happier when we showed him what we bought for him..Havana Club...we asked him how he was doing and all that...he was ok...walking around with this pipe stuck to his lungs connected to a machine.

he told us that the doctor wanted him to stay for the next 4-5 days for observation as he needs to make sure that his lungs are fully expanded before he can be discharged. the thing with punctured lungs are ...it will collapsed anytime and u will die if it's not properly treated.
so, being a typical asian i asked him how much is the estimated bill for his stay there.
He told me about 370,000 baht which is about RM37,000 for 5 nites stay...i was like holy shit man...that is alot of money$$$ dude...how come? this and that...blah blah....and Yordous just look at me and said this...My friend,it's ok....they saved my life...i could have been flew back in a BOX...money can be earned back...and I AIN'T WANNA BE THE RICHEST GUY IN THE GRAVEYARD!!!! this very statement still stuck in my head till today.

so, Without further ado we open the 1st bottle and had our 1st havana mixed with orange juice in his room...one shot lead to another and before we realised we have finished 2 bottles of rum in less than an hour. I was pissed out of mind in a hospital. me and jimmy excused ourselves to let yordous rest which i susspect that he too was pissed...hahahah....so what do we do now..i asked jimmy..he said ..let's go to a bar and continue..well, i was in no position to say otherwise as he was the one riding the bike.

off we go to this bar...i forgot the name...we ordered 2 bottles of beer and i rank half of it before falling asleep on the couch..i woke up and went to the toilet to pee.i remembered i went in, open my zipper and the next thing i saw was this pitch black image...and when i woke up i was lying on the toilet floor....damn...i blacked out

Kitesurfing in Thailand

For those who r not familiar with the term "flashpacking"..it's simply a more luxurious way of backpacking where your choice of accomodations are not limited only to hostels, chalets or guesthouses and you can afford to have a higher daily travelling budget ;). Actually I was supposed to go with my then girlfriend(ex-gf now)...quite obvious we broke up before the trip hence i go alone.

Having said that, I started my journey from Malaysia on the faithfull day of 9th January and back to Kuala Lumpur on 31st January 2009.To add salt to my wound..I was travelling with 2 of my best friends and their wife and girlfriend respectively. Well, the plan was that we travel as 3 couples...but shits happened sometimes ;)

Come to think of it now...it was a blessing in disguise coz I would have to spend more for 2 persons.hahaha...the kiam siap(a chinese dialect slang which means stingy) side of me.

my plan was to spend a few nites in Bangkok with the boys and their other half, then move on to kitesurf in Hua Hin and the rest will be decided later...my travelling motto was to go with the flow,u see.So as anticipated, the 1st few nites were uneventful and predictable...shopping, eating, drinkin..nothin much really...same same but different like what the Thais would have say it.

The journey really started when i left Bangkok alone to Hua Hin...i've never been there. And I was really looking forward to kitesurf there. I boarded an early morning bus with my oversize bagages comprises of a kiteboard bag, my kite(packed into a 60 litres backpack) and my backpack...i was looking like this humty dumpty walking around with my kite bag on my back, backpack hung in front of chest(my leg was never visible) and my kiteboard bag over my shoulder. till today i still can't believe i did it. that was pretty much how i travelled for the next 3 weeks from hua hin to koh phan gan then koh samui and back to bangkok and eventually flew back to Kuala Lumpur(home).

I contacted Yo before i arrived in hua hin, my kitesurfing friend whom i got to know in a competition in Kuantan,Malaysia(he was the 1st runner up in tt competition). He owns a kitesurfing school in Hua Hin, the plan was to meet up with him so tt he'll bring me to some nice spots to kitesurf. True enough Yo didn't dissapoint me. I was goin places to kitesurf in hua hin with him and his fellow instructors and students.

so after 3 hours of a fairly comfortable bus ride from bangkok.I finally arrived in hua hin. i was dropped in the middle of the town with NO civilised or shall i say proper taxis in sight. so as i was walking around with all my baggages...an elderly man(well in his 60's) came up to me in his bicycle trishaw asking me to hop on...i was like 'u gotta be kidding me,man'..i mean come on...i weigh about 70kg and my baggages were nothing less that 20kg.....the old man could have gotten a heart attack in the midst of cyclin...so i walked on tellin him off....after 10 minutes of walkin pointlessly and still with no proper taxis in sight. i relunctantly gave in to his persistent assurance that he can do the job of fetchin me to Yo's school which according to Yo is only max 15 minutes away from where i was by TAXI(the ones with four wheels and an engine..that is)

so i hopped on...surprisingly we managed to put all my baggages in the trishaw...as i expected it...we were movin like a bloody snail...there were times that the poor old man has to jump off from his bike to push us(me n baggages to the other side of the road to avoid being hit by passing cars coz we were just too fuckin slow) the trip to Yo's kiteschool took us 30 minutes....i was so glad that we make it alive and gladly handed him a 100 baht note and pityfully asked him to keep the change (the supposed fare was 60 baht)....

upon arrivin at the school, Yo was already there waiting for me...all he said to me was ..welcome n let's go...take ur board n kite ..they r waiting for us...well, what happened was the beach in front of the school where we were supposedly to kite surf is too narrow to launch and land our kite due to high tide...therefore the rest of the gang has gone to a place which is 30 minutes away by bike to kitesurf...Yo came back purposely for me...how thankful i was...so off i go with him to the secret spot.

after 30 minutes ride on Yo's bike which half of the time i was trying not to let my kiteboard fly off...he was travelling so fast and i was carrying this board which measures 144cm in length...not an easy task indeed...believe me!!!!

Finally we ARRIVED!!!!....and YES....it was all worthwhile...it was blowing like crazy...the wind was so strong ..at least 18-20 knots....the guys were already setting up their equipment. Without hesitation i took out my stuff to set up while looking out to the sea...the image was a sea of rough surfs with big chops everywhere with strong COLD wind...yeah i forgot to tell you...the water was freezing...i'm talking about 16-17 celcius water temp...it was damn cold!!!

but i couldn't care less...i didn't travelled this far to chicken out by the cold water...fuck it...i'm goin in...i quickly pumped up my kite, set up the lines, put on my 2 layers of rash guard. i signalled for YO to help me launch my kite...he asked me whether i want to eat 1st..i told him no thanks...i'm fine..come on,i didn't come here to eat ...i came to kitesurf..i don need to eat man...

he launched my kite...the beach was not very wide but enough to launch...the surraounding was this quite little fishing town with a stall nearby that sells some local thai food n drinks. once i got my kite up i quickly grabbed my board n head out to the sea. i can still remember the 1st step i took into the icy cold water.....my balls shrinked!!!!literally!!!that was how cold it was...well to late to chicken out now..i'm already half wet....so i dived the kite and went on my board....

suddenly...something magical happened...i don feel cold anymore...my adrenalines took over and i was as happy as a little kid playin with his toys...total freedom,i felt the calmness of a single minded focus which is me,my kite,my board,the wind and the sea..all in one...no worries, no thoughts...nothing!!!! ..with that i kitesurf for at least a good 3 hours non stop...that's life dude ;) i was the happiest man that day...that was what i came for n i got it...if i was ask the question : "What will you do if you know that you will die tomorrow?" My answer will be without a doubt....yeah you are right....KITESURFING for sure;)