Had been feeling a bit mopey for a couple of days, but it feels like paradise again. It had been raining quite a lot and I think I was beginning to feel uncomfortably lethargic. Then at the Jah Bar party, I lost my money belt with all my money and room key. I spent the night in my hammock and got up early to see if they'd found it, and miraculously it had turned up in a coconut tree. This perplexed and cheered me up quite a bit.

The weather got nice again yesterday and I managed to rouse Ty from his hammock to go for a kayak with me. We rode out to a small island near Ko Chang, walked a little on the island's one beach, then paddled all the way around with intermittent stops in a series of small coves. I educated Ty about Gilligan's Island and did my best to recall all the words to the theme song. We were only gone for two hours, but just breaking away from my little strip of beach did wonders to recharge me.

Went to another party last night, this time at Nature Bar, the place on the beach that always has the loudest bass. I sat with Nicole, an American girl I'd met a few nights earlier, and her entourage of Thai men (she's dating one of the bartenders at Jah Bar). We sat on mats on the sand while fire dancers entertained us with the ocean as their backdrop. The music was good, I danced, people were nice, good conversations were had. It was a wonderful night.

Before the party, I went to The Treehouse, the island's chillest coolest hangout and met this group of about 10 women who were hanging out playing Jenga. So far I've found that most solo travelers or groups of travelers who seem receptive to meeting new people happen to be men and that meeting other women to connect with is bit more difficult. Even in this case, I initially felt like I was on the outside looking in-- listening to conversations and not really having much to contribute-- almost like I was in high school again trying to break into the cool crowd. I started talking to two of the women, an American and an Italian, and they were both really easy to get to know and were proactive about trying to make plans. Lauren, the American, invited me to go motorbiking with her and two Spanish girls, Auroceli and Vanessa, and she even came to wake me up this morning to make sure I was coming. That was kind of a nice feeling, even if I was a bit hungover.

I jumped on the back of the bike with Lauren and finally got to see some of this gorgeous island. I let her drive because she'd rode before and I was scared to death to ride on the island's many steep curvy hills, but I will learn yet, I swear. We visited a small elephant preserve, which was cool but the poor elephants chained to trees was a little disturbing. We then went to a waterfall nearby, but the path was extremely rocky and slippery and Lauren broke her flip flop. We opted to stop short of the top of the falls and instead took a quick dip in a small pool where we were. We rode back with the wind in our hair, stopped to watch the sunset, and now I am here contemplating the allure of another night out.

I will stick around here for about three more days and then it's back to Bangkok for the next leg. 'Til then fair readers...