What's the story?

I made it to Koh Samui today and met Dennis. A Swiss French, he's lived here for 12 years and recommended I stay at Morning Glory. Excellent! After cruising Bo Phut, the Fisherman's Village and finding no reasonable accommodation, I took him up on the offer. He told me to hang out for a sec, that he'd even take me there. This must be the day of generosity, or maybe just free rides. Either way, I'll take it.

I sat down with Dennis and up walked Peter, an Irishman. We all cheersed with a beer and chatted. And as a scary, fat old dude was about to take off on his moped, he offered me free lodging. Well, I'd never been offered free accommodation and didn't know how to respond. I stuttered...well... "You want to stay for free at my house?" he reiterated. Dennis muttered, "I don't think that's what you want." Then the old fat man said, "Free. Boom, boom. Tuki, tuki," or something which needed to translation. Eww. No, thank you. Free? He couldn't pay me enough. Good riddance.

So at Morning Glory, the road was fenced off. As it turns out, the joint's been cut off, no electricity, no water. The owner, an Austrian man, had apparently failed to pay for the road access, even though he owns the land. From what I hear, most of these islands are mafia run, price regulated by them, anyone deviating from them punished. In some way or another. So Dennis offered his own house. He said he has a comfy sofa that I was welcome to call home for a few days. Here's the rule. If I won't do it in New York, I won't do it anywhere else. So I did my best to graciously refuse. He seemed a bit rejected but I think I made the wise decision. I ended up at Rainbow Bungalows just down the beach and tomorrow am headed south. I am ready to get to another country entirely. Things haven't seemed to go so well these past few days. Whether me or something else in the world, the best part about traveling is that you can leave.