KOH PHANGAN, THAILAND

Things here at Haad Rin are picking up, as more and more people are arriving for the Full Moon Party on Wednesday. All the bungalows are booked up, and the streets are getting crowded with motorbikes and pedestrians. You can tell this is a party crowd, though, because you can walk out to the beach at 11 am, and it's completely deserted! No one wakes up until the afternoon, and the beach bars don't get crowded until well after midnight. Last night I checked out a few of them, which was actually more fun than I thought it would be. One of the bars had fire dancers on the beach, and then the dancers held up a flaming hoop for anyone to jump through that wanted to. I almost tried it myself, but I had too much stuff in my pockets that I thought might fall out. No, really. Anyway, after watching several dozen people try it (and a couple of guys fall on top of the flaming hoop), I realized that drunken fire-jumping is at least as bad an idea as drunken driving.

Thing I hadn't seen until today:

• At breakfast this morning, a woman at the table next to me ordered French toast, and when when it came, she poured a lake of ketchup on her plate and dipped the pieces in it. This same woman actually asked the waiter for coffee--but only if they had instant Nescafe'. You heard me; she actually wanted instant Nescafe'. I so wanted to smack her at that moment.