(Daniel) I woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine and the heat already rising inside the tent.  Rowan and Gabby had told me that I could wake them up at whatever time I wanted.  This usually being the opposite plea!  But I decided that a swim in the sea on my own would be an excellent start to my 28th Birthday.   The weather had been stormy overnight, but the sea was warm and calm, it was around 8am as I swam out into the bay surrounding bottle beach.  I allowed the current to take me out about 500meters and then swam back slowly but steadily, allowing the exercise to wake me up. 

Back on shore I saw Martin, normally asleep at this time, coming out of his bungalow.  He looked as if he had not slept well, barely acknowledging me as I approached and greeted him.  We went for a coffee together in the restaurant.  The waiters, all characters, stopped their usually incessant flirting with the female guests long enough to come and wish me Happy Birthday  My phone too which only gets reception in that area suddenly got three messages from early birds wishing me the same.

After Coffee we woke up Rowan and Gabby.  The plan was that the three boys would go to the Market and buy food for a BBQ, meanwhile Gabby could get some beach time and then prepare the trailer tent for the late Birthday lunch.  This kind of thing is what Rowan and Gabby are really good at, and it was lovely to see them back on form.  They had prepared shopping lists and had planned the whole meal out meticulously.

The drive back to town was not an easy one, the rain that had fallen so hard overnight had washed out the soft road which was now cut open with ruts and potholes.  The streams that I had crossed before were now deep and full of silt.  Without the trailer, the Wolf cruised up these steep inclines without a problem, but the ruts were hard on the suspension, so hard that when we drove out onto smoother ground I could hear a knock from one side.  The smoother ground was still quite treacherous, as a willeys jeep slid out on its way down a hill approaching us.  Fortunately the vehicle and its four Thai occupants traveled past us sideways, and righted themselves again preventing the car from leaving the road, which would have certainly meant hitting a tree or worse falling down a valley!

We arrived in town to the usual stares, pulling up outside Mikes place Bua Kao for breakfast.  Mike and Sophie were both around, and they wished me Happy Birthday when the boys mentioned it.  Bua Kao, apart from serving the best breakfast in town, was the first place I stayed in Koh Phangan nearly ten years ago on my first visit of many since then.  After breakfast Mike directed us to the Market, where we found Fresh Fish, Giant Shrimp, Vegetables and spices, we even managed to pick up a free ice box from a stall holder.  Afterwards we found a supermarket that sold good wine and a selection of beers.  We stocked up on these and some ice then headed back to Bottle Beach and the steep hill descents to the camp.

When I stopped the Wolf outside the tent where the table had been set up and the kitchen was all cleaned and ready to use, Gabby had removed the sides of the front section of tent so that the living area could be used as a large kitchen to the table outside.  I left the others unpacking into there while I took a look at the shock absorber.  The box shaped mounting had split, causing both of the front shock absorbers on that side and the spring to be pushed up into the arch.  I looked closer and found that the split went all the way around to the back, and that the shock was only held on by the one remaining side.  On inspection the other mounting had a hairline crack in the same place.  Interestingly this one area breaking had completely disabled the shock absorption of the vehicle, had it broken completely.  I figured that it could be welded until I found a replacement part and went to help the other with preparations.  We were missing a few essential items, a BBQ and some chairs, which I persuaded the owner of the resort to lend me.  She asked me what our plans for the evening were when I collected the lit BBQ pot.  When I told her that we would be on the beach, she mentioned that she had a surprise for me, but I would find out later what she meant.

Rowan prepared the Giant Shrimp with a dressing of Garlic, Butter, Chili and lemon.  These he put straight into the BBQ.  Gabby prepared Potatoes and Asparagus for blanching, then made a sauce from red wine and herbs.  While the others prepared the food, Martin and I opened the beers and sat down.  I must admit I felt a bit spoiled having people fussing over the food and doing all of the chores etc.  It didn’t stop me from having a good time of course, and I soon found myself opening the second beer.  Then Lunch was ready, we sat down and ate three courses with wine, the food was excellent, gourmet quality on an isolated beach, normally only reachable by boat, unless of course you have a serious off roader!

After eating, Rowan and gabby brought me a sarong with something wrapped up inside.  They told me that the beautiful silk sarong was my first present.  I opened it up to find a book, Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts.  I had been desperate for a book for some time, and this was a perfect gift being at least 800 pages.  Underneath the book I found a paper parcel, I unwrapped the long wax paper covering, to find the most beautiful knife.  I recognized the shape immediately, a Gurkha Jungle knife, the handle was made from buffalo horn, and capped with bronze, the sheath was fine black leather, with a band around tat contained a smaller knife for eating and a sharpening stone with handle.  Inside I could see the blade was stainless steel and at least a cm thick at the top.  Rowan and Gabbs had picked up the hand crafted weapon in Nepal where the Gurkha regiment comes from.  I had told them a story about the knife before they left me in Pakistan to go to Nepal and India.  I call it a weapon, because that is it’s primary function, the Gurkha code does not allow the knife to be returned to its sheath once removed until it has drawn blood.  I reminded them of the story, and was careful not to remove the blade fully until I have done more research into the code.  After I had thanked the guys for their wonderful gift, and given them some hair wax in swap for the knife, as tradition requires!   We moved to the beach, as we passed the office I told the staff in the resort.  They had planned some kind of surprise but still wouldn’t say anything about it!  When I arrived at Rowan and Gabby’s hut, they had put out candles all along the front, and were busy making a Mango and Vodka desert.

The night was warm and cloudless, stars filled the shy, and sparkled through the palm trees between the huts and the sea as it lapped onto the beach.  We had just finished eating the desert, when I noticed some small children watching us from underneath the next hut, all of a sudden a group of people came around the corner, quite a disturbance on a silent beach.  They carried a plate with a small cake and a candle and were singing Happy birthday!  The others joined in, and stood around as I blew out the candle.  From the back what looked like a big white piece of paper was being unfolded, and passed forwards.  I remembered seeing similar ones on Phangan before.  I know it as Dog Mai Fie, but that may be a loose term.  Basically, it is a balloon made from a large cylinder of crepe paper, about the size of an oil drum.  A roll of paper soaked in paraffin is suspended underneath and when lit the smoke and hot air lifts the balloon up into the sky where it floats away. 

The Boys from the resort produced a pen, and told me that I must rite on it what I want.  If I want the bad things to go away, then write them, if I want the good things to come then write them.  I wrote down simply that I wanted any bad things to go away.  Rowan, Gabby and Martin all wanted to write on there too, passing the paper cylinder around, until it returned to me.  They had all written ‘rain’ on there, meaning that they wanted the rain to go away!

We walked out to the beach, and lit the paper roll.  At first the balloon didn’t want to take off, as if it was too heavy, but after waiting for a few minutes it rose up into the sky lit up from the inside like a huge Chinese lantern.  There was no wind at all, and the flame rose up and up, further away straight up into the sky until it was just a tiny spec.  We watched it for at least ten minutes, and it was still going.  A good sign hopefully!

Rowan and Gabby went to bed then, while Martin and I went back to the bar with the staff from the resort and had a few more beers before retiring ourselves.  All in all an excellent birthday, with a lovely twist at the end! 

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