wow ! its been such a long time since i have written anything again. i guess its been a combination of hard work and hardly working !

last week I was in koh samui, thailand for 4 1/2 days and then in singapore for 2 1/2 days. I mean how much fun can a single bachelor have in an exotic remote island with 10 more couples and kids ??? actually lots.. you just have to have the right spirit :)

lots of things to write about the trip. things I chose to do, what I didnt and of course, fighting the fear of water !

day 01
a beautiful room, actually the most expensive room/villa in the most expensive resort in an exotic island.. sounds really interesting and exciting for couples and family alike.. and me alone in it ? naah ! how boring can that be ? actually very boring. so I left the private swimming pool to itself and decided to sleep for some time. ordered a giant club sandwich which was awesome. couldnt sleep much as I had hardly slept the previous week for work and champions league football

got a call for the spa package,, something i havent ever tried altho hv heard a lot about people going crazy about these things.. well, the experience was interesting.. its not every day u get steamed with a hot muslin bag with adrak, lemon grass and some other stuff, followed by a relaxing oil massage to take away all the tiredness. plus some warm tea to go with it

after it was done, i had to rush to the welcome dinner.. there was so much oil on me that i just have to hv a quick warm water bath, which the spa people dont recommend for it to have full effect.

the welcome dinner was intersting. met people with their wives n kids.. good to see people relaxed and calm holidaying together. i wont speculate on my chances with my family and kids now.. let time tell me how, where and when :) of course, the bigger question right now is WHO.. but more on that later

after the dinner i went to the chawneng beach,hwich happens to be the most happening place on the island. it was clearly off season and hardly a trickle of tourists there.. mostly deserted.. not too many people in any shops. the people were too bored, tired or just plain wondering what to do. after all its a small place and not too many avenues for jobs or work apart from the tourist season. I decided not have my daily haagen daas ice cream, trying to reduce a little actually. its a diffrent matter I compensated with having more ice cream in the next whole week.

day 02
good heavy breakfast on a balcony over looking the sea.
kayaking in the shallow waters with eric as his wife decided to stay on the beach under the umbrellas.
then followed by snorkeling. first i was the only one going for it. then amit and sidd and their wives decided to join in too.. then manish and his wife and then others too ! looked like i was too keen on doing everything no matter what.. and i kept it that way all thru hte trip.

managed to hurt myself all over, arms and legs.. cuts and bruises.. with the sea water rubbing salt in all the wounds. its been over 10 days and all the bruises are still there.. and worse. maybe i should hv seen a doc by now.

i hv been fearing water since long as I dont know how to swim but i managed to fight my fear in atleast venture in the shallow waters for almost 2 hrs. i tried to try my luck in the sea but then i just couldnt push myself to do it. really wished if i knew how to swim or hv someone who wouldnt let me go down in water..

i tried to sleep but couldnt.. so hit the gym and sweated out on the treadmill and cycle for 30 mins..

dinner was at happy elephants sea food restaurant. asked chris and his wife to join us at our table. eric and his wife. victoria and me. good thai food again.

then we all went to try the fish pedicure.. it started as a creepy feeling with fish nibbling at the feet but then was very ticklish for me all thru. I shooed away hte fish initially but then let them chew at me. one of the things which one should try and do. like that list of things to do before you say bye.

evening was again at chaweng as I explored the place a little more.. checked out the places to buy stuff which i didnt actually. wanted to wait till the last day

day 03
canopy adventure.. with everyone .. fantastic experience.. loved seeing the couples fight it out. the wives being helped by the husbands. the husbands being cheered by the wives. it was sure not easy for them to be at that height n slip down the ropes with the harness. 7-8 rounds from the hill we all had to hike .. it was awesome

followed by lunch at thai place. which was good actually. I am usually careful about the meals but this time I liked it and had all that they offered excpet the beef and the sea food. loads of watermelon !

called up nok.. walked up the hill in front of the hotel, took some awesome snaps of the sea. went to teh sunset point.. beautiful place.. wish to walk there again holding hands with some one special. ha ha .. yup, thats a romantic thot even I would like to do in reality


evening was yet again chaweng beach, this time with nigel, andy and wayne. all atleast 20 yrs elder to me ! some interesting experience

day 04
jet skiiing in the sea for 1 1/2 hrs against hte slot of 15-30 mins :)
sailing in a boat having no idea what to do and getting terribly sun burnt in the process. i was wearing a life jacket and was hoping to be back on land asap.
had an ice cream after that.

I didnt use the sun screen lotion or anything against the sun, so by now my arms and, legs, face and neck were burnt. SUN BURNT. even now its been troubling me. finally i got some cream to help me through this pain. actually, i wanted to get sub burnt and see how it feels. it was fine till the time it was just there. but the sea water and the clothes i was wearing caused severe skin aberration after that.

let the others go back to the hotel and i went to the shooting range to try my hand at some live real guns.. was so expensive so tried the .22 sniper rifle and hte 9mm automatic. phew ! what an exhilarating experience, hope to try that again some day. took some interesting snaps. I got to drive of course, to the shooting range and back to the hotel

came back to the room and tried to sleep for some time.. but couldnt.. so called up nok and went to see the Golden Buddha temple. its a 10m gold statue. very quiet and peaceful place. was surprised to see a lot of dogs all over the place. in fact, the entire island has loads of cats and dogs living in perfect harmony. maybe they didnt know in the rest of the world, this wasnt the case :P

headed straight for hte dinner place. nok met us midway and i went with her to the dinner on the beach. beautiful full moon night and we saw the moon come up all the way. again one of those romantic thots of being with some one on the beach on a full moon night. how sweet can that be ? actually very.. but i still have time to experience that. i was more into having the food and talking to every one.

we had a brief awards ceremony.. really felt great in getting it :) nok took a long time to click my snap. actually a very long time. hope to be at this elite club again. this yr is going to be very tough for all of us and we need to fight thru a lot of fire and blood to make it work.

there was talk of the famed full moon beach parties ever since we got there. and this was the full moon night we had been talking abt. wayne and victoria kept on telling me that i must go to attend them . and i had to catch an early morning flight at 7:40am. the time now was close to 10:00pm and i was already tired and exhausted from the day's activities and the heat and humidity..

shopping before and after the dinner.. bought tshirt which says " game over " ha ha .. every one had a good hearty laugh about it.

finally, i decided to go for it. I teamed up with the event management guys, we took the 12:30am ferry to the remote island of phangan. it was a 30 mins ride. I was wondering what if something does happen. out into the sea, in cold and dark waters away from anyone i knew. i was sure wearing a life jacket but in a crowded boat what chances could one have. but it was one of those things where you just had to take a plunge or leap of faith. the good things in life dont just come to you.. you need to be bold enough to take a risk and measure your chances.. more on that later..
but then I dont know when will I come to koh samui again. maybe never.. and get to attend such a party, every one was talking about but no one had actually experienced it. being the youngest and teh only bachelor around sure was the best incentive anyone could have to go ahead for attending the party, and so I did

I was having all sorts of thoughts about how would the place be. not drinking and being sober has got its advantages and disadvantages in a place like thailand. chosing to remain away from the sex brothels for reasons of personal discipline too comes in the same category. I dont know whats right and whats wrong but there are things I couldnt push myself into while being there, under no control of any kind without anyone seeing or keeping track of what i did, where was I , who i was with or for that matter anything at all when i was alone. dream situation as my friends put it !