I fucked up. It's Tuesday morning and I have 18 Rinngit to last me until my money comes through on Thursday at the earliest. 18 Rinngit is about 3 pounds 50. 1.75 per day. 1 large bottle of water, maybe a packet of crisps and a packet of biscuits per day and that's my lot. Worse is the fact that I only have 6 smokes left. One for morning, afternoon and night then. No money for internet so I can't even book my flight from Singapore that I wanted for Sunday so will probably have to stay for another week or so. No phone credit so I can't ring to see if my money has transferred yet. The only way to do that is by walking two miles to the only ATM in town and trying to withdraw money. And walking 2 miles in this heat isn't the easiest thing to do without any water...
We got an impressive 2 minute lesson in how to ride the bikes and were handed the keys. Huh, real tough to get a bike round these parts then. They gave us a map and a suggested route to take. Up north to a waterfall, then to a load of secluded beaches on the north-west coast then back down along the coast to our south-east base.
Off we go then. I like motorbikes. They're fun. I wanted to keep mine. Pre-crash i did anyway.. After a 20 minute drive we arrived at the waterfall. Or at the bottom of a mountain, where you leave your bikes and walk up to the waterfall. Another bastard mountain. And it was hot.
"Vinz you surely by now have realised my distain for this kind of activity"
But no, up we went. Walking. Not speeding around on the bikes we had paid to hire for the day. Walking. Half way up there was an impressive view-point across the island. But I was sweating so I just wanted to find the sodding waterfall so I could jump in the water. We found it eventually.
"We should have brought our swimming shorts"
"I don't care, I'm sweating so I'm getting naked and jumping in"
This was after patiently waiting for the group of tourists before us to vacate the area. I didnt want an indecent exposure lawsuit on my hands. Though I'm not 100% up on my Thai exposure law I will admit. It was worth it. All the sweat gone. But, shit I didn't bring a towel..
"Vinz I'm going to use your T-shirt as a towel"
"No I don't want you to do that, can you not find something else?"
"...that was a joke Vinz..."
Germans....
Sod it, clothes on. They'll dry in the wind as we're driving.
Down to the bikes and we're off again. Yeah baby, why have I been wasting my life walking places? Up to the beaches on the north. I didn't really see the point in what we were doing. Driving up to a beach, saying 'look how nice and quiet it is' and then driving off again. I was happier just driving. Why do we have to keep stopping?
Then the Germans decided they like one of the beaches so much that we would see if they had any accommodation for tomorrow. They did. So tomorrow we were coming to stay here instead.
"Erm, why..?"
The bungalow wasn't on the beach, it was more expensive and was covered with holidaying families. But aha I see. The room had a fridge. Andy wanted a fridge to store his 6 coconuts he had collected from the beach we were staying at the previous day. Six huge coconuts. Turns out he really likes coconut milk... Whatever..
Then we drove to another beach, chilled there for an hour or so and then decided we should probably head back as it was getting dark. This part was cool. One long road down the west coast and along the south with virtually nobody on it except for us. Time for some speeding, some slaloming and some honking of horns. Driving like the mature, responsible drivers we are. Back into town. Cars. Bastard cars. No more speeding. We found a night bazaar so had a quick wander around there, some dinner, a quick play on the internet and then off we sped again.
As we headed for home I was - all jokes welcome - bringing up the rear. Vinz, who was at the front, hadn't quite grasped the indicators yet so turned sharply into the road down to the beach, giving no prior warning to Andy behind him. And as Andy was following Vinz, he too had to pull a sharp turn with no prior warning via indicators. Which of course meant that I in turn had to do the same. But my wheels didn't particularly like turning so sharply onto the dirt road down to our bungalow so spun out and BANG. Curb.
Shit. Fuck. Bollocks. Twat. Bastard. Shit.
"Shit Simon are you ok?"
"Yes I'm ok but LOOK AT THE FUCKING BIKE. HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF FUCKING INDICATORS YOU STUPID GERMAN C**T?"
Oops. Maybe a tad harsh. Thankfully as it was all so loud and shaken, I don't think he fully understood what I'd just said to him.
So that was my bike then. Still drivable, but I had a feeling that they may notice the huge scratch down the length of the bike. The scuffed headlights and the bent stand. Shit, that's Cambodia off the itinery then. It was going to cost a pretty penny that was for sure. And a pretty penny it did cost.
So a bad end to an otherwise pretty good day.
I still want a bike, I still think they're cool. I just want one with insurance next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment