Daily Archives: January 28, 2006

“You watched “Long Kong?!”
“YEAH!! So scary and disgusting!! Blood everywhere!”
“Aww.. I wasn’t brave enough to watch it, really”
That was one day after school when my friends and I were about to go home, one friend asked about a movie called Long Kong, and we discussed about it. Well, Long in Thai is “to try” and Kong is an “Art of the Devil.” It’s something about black magic such as Thai people have believed in since old times. I’ve heard and been skeptical about it for a long time already like..if it’s true or not ~ until…
“I never watch that movie but I have real story to share! Wanna know?” one of my friends said.
I didn’t want to at first coz I was quite scared to hear but I was also curious so I listened…
“Actually, it’s something that happened to my father and his friends. They were still young that time ~ like College guys, ya know?”
“One summer, they planned to enjoy a vacation al-together. They decided to go to take some adventure in a jungle somewhere west. They walked during the day and slept in abandoned cottages at night.”
“One night at one old old cottage, they were exhausted and couldn’t walk any further to find another better one so they got in and prepare to sleep.”

“One friend already slept coz he was completely dead tired but my father and another friend still had energy left to talk about that day a little.”
“While talking, my father glanced at the wall behind his friend and saw some kind of cabalistic writing so he told his friend to look at it, too.”
“Somehow, both of them looked at each other in the eyes and laughed for some reasons.. like they understood each other what to do with that writing.”
“My father went to his bag right away to find a pen..
Then he came back to his friend with a blue-inked pen in his hand.”
“His friend quickly took of his belt and pulled his trousers down a little ~ But not just that, he also pulled down his underwear and grabbed his penis close to my father.”

We all had our eyebrows knot..
“I know I know ~ it’s not what you guys think, c’mon!! My dad got married with my mum!! He’s not a gay!”
We smiled a little and got back to the look of curiosity once again..
She continued the story,
“My dad started to draw those writings on his friend’s johnson and laughed crazily….
Suddenly, the friend who already fell asleep had his eyes opened! He walked quickly to my dad and strangled him hard. My dad said that time he thought he was gonna die.. he really couldn’t breathe and couldn’t resist his friend’s strength.”
“The half-naked friend then pushed that strangling friend away and shaked him hard..’BE AWAKE!!! WE ARE YOUR FRIEND!!! BUT IF YOU ARE NOT OUR FRIEND~ GET OUT OF OUR FRIEND NOW!!!'”

He kept on shaking more and more.. and went to wash his johnson.

“That friend let my dad go at last ~ his friend fell onto the floor and passed out for a minute. Then my dad prayed to apologize to whoever it was that huanted his friend and they left that place early in the next morning.That’s all.”

– – I got shocked a little after hearing that.. it was true ~ it was real and it was way scary. However, that friend might just had such a nightmare, which made him do that.. but whatever reason it was, I think I now learn to respect everywhere I go and everyone I see and don’t see… Don’t you?!

The longtail boat about to get swamped

TUESDAY: Back at the boatshed. Scott decides to get the newly launched longtail out of the pond beside the shed and into the sea. Once across the sandbar, we have to stop it being swamped while the motor is mounted. I get to hold the prow square to the waves. I was hoping the water would be refreshing but it’s hot. There’s lots of broken coral underfoot whenever I’m not treading water. Then there’s a coconut tree stump. Then the bow rope gets wrapped around my leg. The Thai expression for this is mai sanuk (not fun). Then the motor is finally mounted and started and we pile in and head out past the breakers for a while.

Recounting our adventures that night, I mention the water was disappointing to swim in. One of the hippies chips in with: “Well I won’t swim in the Andaman Sea – there’s too many ghosts.”

WEDNESDAY: Last night a falling coconut tree swamped the longtail we launched yesterday. So we tow it out of the creek, bail it out and anchor it past the breakers. In the afternoon Scott decides we should retrieve the motor, while the tide is out and it’s beached. That means carrying it about 200 metres. It takes seven of us and several pushes. A lot of instructions are shouted in Thai at put-down times, not enough translated. The third time we put the motor down, Brandon says matter-of-factly: “It’s broken.” His little finger has been nutcrackered in the mounting bracket. That’s hospitalization number 10 for the boat shed crew.

I wait at a nearby shelter with some locals, who are having post-work drinks or durian (one or other, you can’t have both unless you want a trip to hospital too). Some of the men show me their scars from previous encounters with boat motors and say “mai ben rai” (literally: “there is nothing”, basically: “no worries”). A guy arrives with a truck and drives me back to the Nature Resort. Scott and Brandon arrive a few minutes later.

THURSDAY: Scott has gone home sick. Brandon’s finger is in a cast and he’s supposed to take it easy. That means a long lunch at a nearby café. Taking our cue from Kong’s newspaper, Miss Universe is our conversation topic. A few days earlier it was front-page news for an unfortunate reason. On a photo shoot in Bangkok, bikini-clad contestants were photographed with Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) forming the backdrop. Thais are almost endlessly tolerant of failure to observe their customs but that got some people going. Thailand being Thailand, that’s over now and the loveliness of Miss Korea is today’s front-page story. Kong says he’s also a fan of Australia’s outgoing Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins.

One of the local fishermen, Putko, gives Brandon and I a lift home. He lost his leg in the tsunami and now has a side-car on his motorbike. One small Thai and two big farang make for more weight than the bike can really manage so we crawl along the highway at what feels like walking pace. Still, everyone overtaking gives us a friendly toot or thumbs up, even though it’s peak hour and we’re holding up the traffic.

FRIDAY: I’m going to Ko Phi Phi today so I can have a leisurely breakfast while everyone else is heading to work. The gibbons swing by and the tame one climbs into my lap, maybe hoping to share my breakfast, maybe just because he’s sociable. The not-tame one, readily distinguishable by a hare lip, sits nearby and glowers. I don’t try to be friendly with him.

On the ferry to Phi Phi I chat with a Phi Phi boatman, Jin. He saw the first wave coming and ran into the Phi Phi Cabana Hotel and up to the top floor. A good choice, because those who just kept running from the first wave ran into the next one coming in from the north side. “Now I make nice money again, working on the sea,” Jin says.

When I get off the ferry at Tonsai Village, I think I’ve made a huge mistake coming to Phi Phi. It’s packed with people and noisy. Electronic dance music is thumping out from several sources and it’s only mid afternoon. In the evening, though, there are a hundred people at the volunteers’ meeting, all wanting to do their bit.

Continued on page two…..