by Nic Lomax
‘Kai just drive, it was either them or us man.’
Kai was immersed in regret and felt as though he couldn’t breathe. He drove on and the silence consumed the vehicle. The sound of the tyres screeching and the dull thud as the assailant’s car flipped would remain with Kai forever.
Stu had a mechanical way about him in situations like this, and Kai was jealous of the way he could just shut off with no remorse. As they neared the airport, his panic set in and Kai became entangled as his mind flooded with the hard fact that they had murdered the guys who were following them.
‘Maybe we should call the police and report the vehicle on the roadside…they would send an ambulance…’ Kai stammered in desperation.
‘Sure and let them find the car with an anchor draped across the bodies. Kai if we do that we’re as good as here for life. They will throw away the key on two tourists like us. It’s time to man up and get out of dodge!’
Kai reluctantly agreed and they left the truck in the car park and collected their gear, making their way to check in. It seemed that luck was finally on their side again as they passed through security and into the departures lounge without a hitch.
They were even given the obligatory ‘Thank you for visiting our paradise island, we hope you return soon’ by a particularly pretty Franco-Mauritian girl that reminded Kai of Celeste, and demons that she had released.
‘Not fucking likely’ he murmured and they sauntered off towards duty free.
They were soon airborne and Kai was pleased to be able to shut off and not talk to Stu. He closed his eyes and drifted into a torrent of nightmares that engulfed his very soul. The scenario of the evening’s events were set on replay in his brain, with each scene of the vehicles interior displaying various contorted bodies, caved in skulls, and cries for help. A sudden drop in altitude signalled heavy turbulence and Kai was shaken out of his sinister slumber to the stark reality that he would have this on his conscience forever,[KL1] the was an accomplice in murder.
‘Hot towel sir?’ Kai gratefully accepted the offer from the stewardess, wishing he could wipe away the last three hours along with the sweat.
The short two hour flight passed quickly and they were soon making their final approach into Ivato International Airport. Kai decided it was best to grab a hotel locally, and then discuss their next move. The taxi ride was a silent affair as they both contemplated how out of control their final hours on Mauritius had been. Kai felt lost and the torment was twisting his guts with such ferocity he felt sick, and combined with the pangs of guilt he was feeling aged, his body ached. Once checked in, the dishevelled pair went up to the room and sat on the balcony overlooking the alien vista that lay before them.
It was Stu who broke the silence, ‘Kai did you really think that it was going to play out any other way? We were not welcome in the first place and then you made the crucial error with Celeste. All I did was make sure we got out of there in on piece.’
‘I get it brother it’s just the fact that we don’t even know what happened to them, we should have gone back’.
‘Back to what? Dead bodies? Get a grip man it was them or us, the sooner you get that into your blue sky thinking head the sooner we can move on’.
Kai stood up, his blood boiling within and almost swung at Stu.
‘Stu you’re a fucking Neanderthal, don’t you realise that if they are dead and we fled the country there is going to be an international hunt for us’ he hissed. ‘They know where we flew to, they know where we were staying, and they know we checked out early…’
‘That’s true Kai, but they will be zero evidence that it was us who did this, we are just two surfers who decided to leave the island. You need to move on from this bro, it will only eat you from the inside out. I’m going to grab some beers and food. Try and relax man, focus on the future, and devise a plan- which country are we going to conquer next?’
Kai sat drenched in sadness wishing it would all just go away.
As Stu made for the door Kai shouted ‘this is all a big fucking game to you isn’t it?’
Stu smiled and replied, ‘life’s a game Kai, and we just won that round!’
As he walked out the door, Kai could feel the tears stream down his face. He longed to be safe at home and wondered if Amber was happy.
After a long sleepless night, the next morning Kai realised that it was no use holding on to the past and the only way out of this predicament was to move forwards. He spent the morning exploring the city which was a world away from the economic affluence of Mauritius. The ethnicity was dramatically more African, the street food stalls exhumed a peppery and spicy aroma that drifted on the warm urban air. Kai purchased a new phone to reconnect with the outside world and to catch up with the crew at home. He also made sure he trawled the Mauritian news pages to see if any information had come to light of the accident that had happened yesterday. To his relief there were no reports to be found. This filled kai with hope and as he crisscrossed his way through the city blocks back towards the hotel, he felt ten stone lighter as the feelings of guilt lifted from his mind. Maybe they were ok, and just crashed the car he thought? Kai was going to stick with this train of thought as he planned the next leg of their journey. It was clear that Stu’s care-free take on the world was beginning to rub off on Kai as they drank a couple of ice cold beers on the balcony whilst studying the world map.
Chapter 13
Vacation
It became apparent as the pair argued about where to visit next, that neither of them were in a fit state to be wave riding. Kai had fractured ribs and Stu was still having issues extending his arm from the gunshot wound.
‘Well let’s just hit Thailand for a couple of months to get a bit of rest and recovery!’ suggested Stu. Kai laughed out loud. He knew what the concept of Stu’s rest and recovery would entail. He envisioned lots of parties, drugs and young Thai girls! How could he not indulge? Fast forward seventeen hours, Kai and Stu found themselves landing in Bangkok. If this great city resembled a rotting carcass then Kai and Stu were just another couple of maggots chewing on the rotting flesh. Bangkok was an assault on the senses. The humidity seemed to engulf every orifice of Kai’s body. The general buzz of traffic and busy metro life was deafening to his soul. Kai was glad to have a brief escape as they caught a cab to the city centre and their home for the next few nights, the famous Koh San Road. The two hour commute saw them thread painstakingly slowly through the heave of urban deluge, passing every form of transport known to man on a road network with seemingly no rules. Kai was in awe and couldn’t help but think how much Amber would have enjoyed this leg of the adventure.
The intrepid duo checked in to their hotel, complete with roof top pool located just off the main drag. Kai was set to adjust to the time difference with a couple of quiet beers and a selection of the local cuisine. Stu had a different idea however, and protested profusely.
‘Kai for fuck’s sake stop being such a fanny! Let’s hit the town get a little lit and see what this place has to offer! We can chow on a load of street food to build our power levels! What do you say? The first night is on me!’
Kai was thinking of a good excuse not to indulge but couldn’t.
‘Your right Stu! We need this shit man! It’s time to forget the past and embrace the future!’
Kai was admiring the view of the insane city below while Stu walked over and chatted to a couple of hippy looking gents. The city smog made the sunset’s hazy glow even more dramatic as it drenched the urban skyline. Stu suddenly appeared with a couple of joints.
‘Kai my man I have been assured that this is the most sought after strain of Thai stick in the city, and what’s more, it cost me less than five euros!’ Kai grabbed the spliff and sparked it up taking a long drag of the intoxicating fumes into his lungs. He exhaled catching an instant buzz from the drug. Kai grinned at Stu.
‘I think we’re going to like it here man! Let’s hit it!’
The Koh San Road was what can only be
described as a portal where west meets east. A place where tourists and poser backpackers on a gap year, funded by mummy and daddy, can be ripped off in an instant. As Kai and Stu sauntered down the street taking in the exquisitely random scenes that lay before them, they were offered all manner of fake merchandise, girls, drugs and more. As it was only eight o’clock, Kai persuaded Stu that a meal should be the first port of call and they headed into a rather scruffy looking restaurant down a side street and away from the insane hubbub of the frantic city. Kai was hungry and tired and needed a piss. By the time he had returned from the poor excuse for a toilet Stu had ordered a couple of vodka red bulls and two bowls of pad Thai The sedate pace of the evening seemed to vanish as quickly as the first drink and soon the pair had left the back streets and headed out into the heaving hustle and bustle of city life. Kai found it difficult to process the images that were emerging from each street that they passed. Elephants walked alongside shirtless moped riders and lady boys casually touted for business among the throng of tourists and locals going about their business. They visited numerous bars and met many people also set upon the same self-destructive path, all craving an escape and the city had an obliging method of compliance. Kai was busy trying to roll a spliff on the side of the road when an English voice interrupted the ritual.
‘Hey man, I don’t suppose you have a lighter I could borrow?’ Kai offered his clipper to the stranger and noticed his tee shirt had an interesting logo, “Phuket yacht charters”.
‘You work for those guys bro?’ Kai probed.
‘Yeah it’s my company, I’m just meeting a couple of clients here and then heading back down south in a couple of days’
‘You guys get any surf on that side of the coast? Or is it shadowed by Sumatra?’
‘It’s pretty fickle to be honest brother but the Andaman Islands and beyond show some great potential. And if you really want to push the limits there is one place that could blow your mind! My name is Ali by the way!’
‘Oh sorry dude, I’m Kai and that dishevelled Californian geezer over there is Stu. You fancy a beer?’
The next few hours seemed to blur into a mezze of trippy images most likely brought on by the illicit concoction of mind altering substances that they had consumed as Kai was eager to forget his troubles. At one point they were in a strip club where Stu had been led away by a throng of young girls only to return minutes later screaming ‘Kai, run dude they all have cocks!’
The more Kai got to know Ali the more he wondered if there was any truth in his stories of virgin surf spots shrouded in mystery, or was it just the drink talking. The local police didn’t really take a shine to Stu who was being sick inside the temple grounds but Ali managed to persuade them to holster their weapons and dragged Stu away. This spelled the end of the evening and they went their separate ways. The Tuk Tuk’s two stroke engine revved hard and struggled to accelerate through the early morning traffic which never seemed to dissipate at any period of the day. Kai was leaning against the steel roll cage his body being shaken to the core getting wafts of varying pungent aromas that kept him from falling asleep. He longed to dream of Amber again but the wave wouldn’t let him up and he couldn’t breathe. An angry Thai voice brought him back from his comatose state as he demanded the fare for the ride back to the hotel. Kai dove his hand into his pocket and produced the one hundred baht to pay the bill and also found a crude slice of paper. On it and barely legible read “Ring Ali to find out if you really are as good as you say you are! 033567666555” Kai smiled to himself and dragged Stu out of the tuk tuk, into the hotel lobby where he watched Stu throw up violently on the floor.
Kai wished he had stumped up the extra cost for the air conditioned room as he lay in pool of sweat, whilst the room casually span. Stu was making various audible sounds from the adjacent bed, of which he only understood two words- ‘Need pills!’
Kai decided to aid his broken friend and headed out into the humid city. The air was so dense he almost had to swim to the seven eleven store to purchase the necessary medicine and the ice-cold cup drinks that were like heaven in a cup. He also grabbed some satay skewers of unidentified meat that were being served on a roadside BBQ being casually fanned by a scruffy but smiley teenager. Back at the hotel, Kai had devised a plan and while Stu was perilously close to throwing up again. Kai studied the ripped but functional tourist map of Thailand, ignoring his own hangover.
‘So, if we head south on the train we can visit the islands in the South China Sea, though I expect there will be little surf as the monsoon swells won’t have arrived yet, but the notorious full moon parties will be in full swing. However’ he grinned ‘if we head straight through the heart of the country we can head straight to Phuket where Ali is, and take a yacht to see these awesome waves?’
Usually, the hedonistic American would have opted for the first trip of island hopping, but whether it was the lady boy scare or the stream of drugs still within his system, Stu gruffly replied
‘Man I don’t know how much more partying my body can take! Let’s hit Phuket and train there before we move on to Indo. Who’s Ali anyway?’
Clearly the previous night had been a lot less memorable in more ways than one! Kai had a feeling that Ali could be the one who held the key to some serious waves which with the right training and destination preparation could be what he had been searching for, for his entire existence. He just hoped that the demons of fear would remain pushed down inside long enough to take the plunge down one of these virgin faces, and prove to himself that he could take on any challenge. Stu interrupted this exquisite day dream by throwing up into a bin.
‘Christ man, I’m never drinking again’ he whimpered and pulled the sheet over his head.
The train was nearly two hours late as it chugged into the station which was a hive of activity. Street vendors were as numerous as the vermin that resided at the scruffy platforms, densely packed trains were full to the brim of commuters and weary eyed travellers. It was a relief that Kai and Stu managed to squeeze in to the second class carriage. The journey out of the city centre was one Kai would remember for the rest of his days. He felt very guilty as the train passed through the many shanties that clung to the railway track, like a remora fish to its host. The daily struggle of people’s lives here were being portrayed right in front of his eyes, and as he sat in his relative luxury and air conditioned carriage he pondered his life choices up to this point. These feelings prompted him to break radio silence and he rummaged through his back pack and found his phone. He logged into Facebook and trawled through all the posts and messages that he had missed over the last few months. He had numerous messages from Amber and each time he saw her name or face in a photo he felt those familiar warm bubbles begin to form within. She was still as beautiful as ever and he longed to hold her in his arms. His homesick day-dream was broken by the buffet cart hitting his leg which made him whimper, Stu laughed and ordered some noodles.
The journey south became a blur of jungle entwined with ramshackle stations and shanties, which gave off a stench of hopeless failed westernisation. Kai managed to contain his excitement from Stu as he processed the multiple messages from Amber, stating her (almost) innocence from the desperate situation between her and Salty. Although the anger still breathed within him like a dragon’s fire, he was able to understand a little of the hurt he had put her through, he thought of Celeste and how mistakes can be made. As the train slowly trundled into Chumphon station mimicking an asthmatic buffalo, Kai had made up his mind to call Amber once he had reached his final destination of Phuket.
Phuket had become another high rise human cess pit which revolted the intrepid pair as they made their way to Ali’s humble residence. And as the tuk tuk hurled it way through the urban squalor, it was hard to imagine the quaint frontier town that had spawned this tumour of a resort. Kai couldn’t understand the need to carbon copy everything and slap it in paradise.
‘I just don’t understand why you would fly thousands of miles
to watch T.V in a western bar, eating western food’ Kai protested open jawed as they neared the beach.
‘People fear what is different Kai, it’s drummed into us from birth to dull us down and make us conform’. The music coming from the adjacent bar was so loud that Kai could feel the base lines pulse through his chest like an emerging swell. He smiled to himself knowing that he would soon be immersed in his salty playground once more. Ali’s smile shone like the moon as he beamed over toward them.
‘Dudes! I never thought I would see you actually make it here! Especially you Stu! I though you would be either dead, or riddled with a Bangkok hookers STI!’
Stu laughed and the pair were led inside the house.
Kai was in awe as Ali led them around his house. His nostrils breathed in the warm aromatic fumes that drifted from the oil burners. The walls were awash with photos and handicrafts obtained from Ali’s previous adventures. Kai scanned each image and imagined himself being behind the lens, or the one dropping down the face of the wave.
He stood in awe and muttered ‘I wish I could do something like this.’
‘So do it…’ Ali retorted, gently placing his hand on his shoulder and leading him on to the terrace which overlooked the palm fringed sands. He produced a couple of beers and they set about making a plan. Kai grilled Ali for information on this seemingly impossible wave. Where was its location? Why was it off the radar? And more importantly, why had nobody surfed it.