After many a daze with the crew on Koh Tao, it was time for me to board the boat back to Samui in order to fly back to Bangkok. With liver in one hand, bag in the other, it was a painful 2 hour junket across the bay back to the not so relaxed Koh Samui. I had to stay the night and get the flight the next morning to BKK.

I met here an unidentified member of the animal club and headed to my favourite bar on the island, the Reggae Pub. This place is an institution, and has been for 22 years now. I remember after seeing the Backpackers coming through with the T-shirts years ago, that I had to do get there.

And so, just to digress, in 1994 I did. At that time it was a little more challenging to get to Samui as a Backpacker. It took me about a day and a half from Bangkok by all local transport, and finally from Chumpron I caught the local junket style boat over to the island. The boat was pretty full of Backpackers, almost outnumbered however by the Thai touts on the boat trying to sell you a place tio stay and all sorts of things. This old guy I remember asked me where I was headed. I told him to the Reggae Pub. And with somewhat of a sincere and surprised look on his old fisherman’s face he sad : “Oh no, Reggae bar burn down last night… finit.”  “yeah right” I said, but he ressured me that it had and so it did. I got there and it was still smoldering with all the authorities trampsing around wondering what to do. Bummer, after years of wanting to see it, it let me down…

Back to the story. We went to the Reggae Pub where there was a ten piece band and some great music. Met some fellow Aussies from Airlie Beach, good couples, and made a new friend in ‘Mano’, one of the waiters there. He had a really cool staff shirt on that said ‘all for one’ with great colours of the Reggae rainbow, and of course I was wearing a Calypso T, so we immediately started banter about how we would trade shirts. This bloke was so cool he gave me the shirt off his back! Well, I guess I did reciporcate by doing the same. I was chuffed with my new fashion accessory, but it was not until I got back to the hotel that I realised the shirt he had given me was a very well worn one, with stains and sorts of stuff that I still can’t get out. All the same, he is happy with the clean crisp stylin’ Calypso T that he said he would proudly wear… it’s all about the branding anyway.

The funniest thing I saw on Samui was an Isreali getting arrested. This was a larf. There are far too many on this island, loose and full of ignorant juice. No offence Rffi, but I am sure you can all understand what I am referring to if you have been to Samui.

Walking back to the hotel I couldn’t help but to admire the police motorbikes that were straight outta the 70’s. Rippers, CHIPS all over but no sign of Jon + Ponch. There were 3 bikes and 6 cops, 2 on each bike. But these bikes were comfortably parked up on the main street whilst their jockeys wacthed in ernest the Liverpool v West Ham game on the BIG screen at a bar. This main road is a one way street and all of a sudden this Isreali wanker with fake stocking tattoos down his arms ( the type they sell on the street if you want to look tuff, literally stockings for you arms that loook like tattoos…not! )  flies up stream on this one way street on a fake Harley, a Honda it was, just like his tattoos, really bloody crass. The cops were straight on their bikes and after him like Jon + Ponch but really pissed off that he had the audacity to ruin their viewing of the football match. Bloody funny I tell ya, to see him spread eagle up against a car, pockets emptied and taken away. Great stuff, really impresive to watch, everyone, locals, toursists and lady-boys alike all applauded as they took him away.

That was Samui, back to BKK