When I woke up at 6:30 to go diving it was pissing down rain again, so I went back to sleep. I didn't feel like getting soaked in the back of a pickup truck, and visibility would be poor again always. Later when the rain stopped I went in to town to sign up for the 2nd of January, but the shop was closed, so that's probably it for diving here.

That night I met up with Henrick and a bunch of divemasters for the New Years festivities. I don't know where they came from, but tonight there are actually a bunch of people out and about. After admonishing me for diving with another shop Henrick explained the way things are here. I figured this place pretty much has no laws, and Henrick confirmed that, saying there are only six cops who are easily bribed. I believe that, since I saw the police hut, and it looked like Koh Tau's finest were hard at work watching TV. I don't know if this is true, but Henrick claims that because of the lack of law everyone carries a gun. I suspect he's right, since the nice kid at the internet cafe was reading "Gun" magazine. So in a strange way Koh Tau is like Texas, since everyone drives a pickup truck and carries a pistol. He went on to say all the workers are illegal Burmese imigrants who have no rights, and if you killed one there would be no repercussions (no that I want to, of course). When he first came here one washed up on the shore and nothing came of it.

We went to Haad Sae Ree for the festivities, and the clubs were full and spilled out on the beach. It was nice they didn't have a stupid countdown. Instead they shot off fireworks. I'm used to fireworks being fired from a secret remote location, but they were shooting these off from the beach, right in the crowd. Luckily the beer bottles they used to hold them didn't fall over, which would have shot the rocket in to the crowd. They also lit a bunch of torches, which luckily nobody knocked over.

Going home was a pain. During the day a taxi for one costs 50 Baht, or $1.25. At night it's 200 Baht, or $5. So you have to wait for three other people. I found a Kiwi guy who wanted to go, so we stood there with the taxi touts shouting "taxi" at all the passersby. We ended up with 12 people crammed in to the back of the truck, but it was still mysteriously 50 Baht each.

Getting around on taxis is a pain, but for 150 Baht a day you can have the convenience of your own motorbike. Early on I decided to stay away from these, and I'm glad I did. The South African girls wiped out, and showed me huge scrapes all up their arms. Then walking down the brick path in Sae Ree a farang on a motorbike was coming towards me. At the last minute one of the many suicidal dogs darted in front of him, and he wiped out. I asked if he was OK, but all he said was "the bike, the bike!" Poor guy.