The rude re-introduction to society had its compensations as we were able to drink beers, sleep in the dry comfort of air-conditioning and get out on our scuba dives. Each of the dive sites was so much more exciting than anything I’d seen in the Philippines – with the variety and abundance of fish and other marine life truly astounding. I was frustrated by the same old problem of using my air up far too quickly (there are some disadvantages to having a turbo-charged metabolism) but still saw my fair share of excitement, including a group of stunning, surreal Lion fish when we went to the Sugar Wreck dive site and all kinds of puffer and box fish with their comically cartoon faces at the T3 and Temple of the Sea sites. Claire and the rest of the staff at Sunlight (run by a young Anglo-Malay girl, called Sunny who studies at Edinburgh Uni during term-time!) proved to be remarkably knowledgeable and extremely adept at leading their charges around in total comfort.
Mango shakes and freezer-stored chocolate were some of the further compensations and I was surprised and pleased to bump into my mate Charlie (originally met at Serendipity Beach, Cambodia) for the third time on this trip. However, the highlight of the four days here came when Lan and Zimba picked us up in the boat and took us out with a picnic for a day of snorkelling and lazing around on a group of nearby uninhabited islands. They really are salt of the earth, these two and I’m thoroughly looking forward to staying in touch with them both.
All in all our little stay on Long Beach was the perfect preparation for the hustle and bustle of Singapore where we were heading next. On Wednesday, our final night, we got a little merry with our friends from Sunlight before going for more delicious, head-spinning shish to round off the evening.
We left on the speed boat the following afternoon and then had a few hours to kill in Krai before our train departed. We somehow contrived to find an excellent Chinese restaurant, where we were able to make use of sign language and our host’s limited English (better than my Mandarin, to be sure) to order a delicious steamed fish with rice and buy one last bottle of beer to share.
I was very aware that this was our last chance to enjoy each others company for, potentially, a very long time and I felt a little subdued at the thought. I knew it would be tough to say goodbye in the morning after our train had pulled into Singapore station and I could feel myself detaching as I tried to prepare for this. I’m sure Annie probably felt a little cut-off by my behaviour – especially as we’d become so close over the last two weeks. I was fully aware of the distance between our homes and didn’t want to start thinking (or worse!) talking about any fanciful notions while still caught up in the moment. Far better, I knew, to take a step back and think about stuff before blurting anything out. One thing I was certain of was that Annie and I would not fall out of touch so I didn’t perceive any pressure on the situation. I’m still not committing too much thought to it all, still thousands of miles from home and experiencing so much on a daily basis. We’ve been able to exchange a few e-mails between her forays into the depths of Indonesia and there’s certainly no lessening of our mutual affection. All I can say is that Annie really has come to mean an awful lot to me and I’m hoping that it won’t be so long before I see her again.
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