Stealing Asia (7 page)

‘Actually, it’s
Clay Krantz and Barrett Stern,’ said Clay.

I felt a little
stupid, but tried not to let this show. Esteban nodded half heartedly and we
left the Americans whilst we walked up to the bar, which also acted as a
reception. Esteban booked into the resort and paid upfront for a week. Once he
had sorted everything out, I walked with him to his cabin.

‘I’m sorry for
the way that the guys acted back there,’ I said. ‘They aren’t usually like
that; I don’t know what came over them.’

‘You have no
reason to apologise,’ he replied. ‘I have come across their type before. They
are the kind of guys who like to be in control. They just feel threatened by
outsiders, that is all.’

‘Well, I hope
they haven’t put you off staying. It’s the ideal spot here.’

‘Trust me; they
haven’t. I cannot blame you for making that mistake with their names. Barrett
and Clay sounds more like a law firm than a couple of travellers. With names
like that the laugh is on them not you.’

‘Well, thanks
for the support anyway.’

It felt good
knowing that Esteban was on the same wavelength regarding the American pair. I
left him to get sorted while I went back to my own cabin to tell Asia the news.
She accepted Esteban’s arrival much more cordially than her countrymen had and
even came up with an interesting proposition for getting to know him better.

***

‘So what do you
think?’ I asked him when we met up a little later.

‘I think that
you are crazy, but it sure beats hanging out with those American friends of
yours.’

The resort
rented out quad bikes by the hour. We had the choice of taking them onto the
beach or using them to explore some of the jungle trails. By unanimous
agreement, we opted for the latter. I suggested sharing to Asia, but she
shunned the idea. Once we got underway, I understood why. The girl certainly
had a competitive streak running through her veins and she liked danger too.

She wanted to
lead from the start, but I made sure that I entered the trail ahead of her. Its
beginning was narrow and once our positions had been established we had to
stick to them. This way, I could at least make sure that she did not push it
too hard. I could sense when she was close behind; almost too close some times.
Her front bumper pushed against the back of mine when I slowed for the tighter
corners.

‘Faster!’ I
could hear her cry, but I refused to take the bait.

The trail was
well marked and appeared to be in regular use, but it was still far from safe.
The jungle grew fast and though for the most part it had been cut back, there
was already re-growth in the form of low hanging branches that needed to be
negotiated. Occasionally, I would look behind to check on her, but this would
only make her heckle me more.

‘Don’t be such a
wuss,’ she shouted. ‘You’re embarrassing our guest.’

I looked beyond
her to Esteban and although he was laughing, I sensed that he agreed with my
cautious approach. He was not attempting to rubber-neck Asia as she was me and
left plenty of space between them.

When I turned
back to facing ahead, I could see a clearing coming up. Asia saw it too,
because as soon as she had the opportunity, she accelerated past me.

‘Slow down,’ I
urged.

‘Stop holding
back,’ she replied. ‘It’s no fun winning when you let me.’

‘This isn’t a
race.’

‘So make it
one!’

She accelerated
further and started to open up a gap between us. Not wanting to let her get too
far away from me, I gave in and tried to match her speed. This did not last for
long, though. Up ahead the clearing was about to end as a wide stream angled
into our path. Fearing that the water may flood the engine of my quad, I
applied the brakes in the hope that Asia would do the same. She did not.

Whilst I had
been distracted by keeping up with Asia, I had forgotten about Esteban,
assuming that we must have left him far behind, but I could now see him passing
me wide on the outside. He had a look of steely determination on his face, as
if he was aware of something that I had overlooked.

Asia, meanwhile,
was now skirting the edge of the stream, generating a huge plume of spray in
the process. When she saw I was watching, she turned further into the stream in
order to generate an even bigger fountain of spray. As she did so, I could see
that this had made steering more difficult for her. Her quad shook wildly and
then the back wheels lifted up out of the water entirely. She had run into
something concealed under the surface of the stream.

My heart sank
into my stomach as I saw her come off the vehicle. She was sent spiralling high
into the air with the quad rising behind her. They were following the same
trajectory so when she landed it would come down on top of her. All I could do
was stand back and watch in impotent horror.

The next few
moments seemed to pass in slow motion. Just when I thought the worst was
inevitable, Esteban was at the bank of the stream. He leapt from his quad and
intercepted Asia midflight, diverting her path away from that of her prior
ride. A wheel of the out of control vehicle missed the pair by just inches as
it came crashing down in the centre of the stream, whilst they landed safely on
the bank.

I ran to them as
soon as I could. Asia whooped with delight when she saw me. For her, the thrill
had clearly outweighed the danger.

‘Did you see
that?’ she said.

I nodded. Of the
three of us, I was clearly the most shaken by the incident despite being the
only one not to be a part of it.

‘How could I
have missed it? Are you okay?’

‘I feel great –
I feel alive!’

‘Well, if it was
not for Esteban, you wouldn’t be. I cannot believe that he just saved your
life.’

We both turned
to the Argentine, who modestly shrugged in response.

‘How can you be
so calm?’ I asked him.

‘I just did what
I had to,’ he told me. ‘I am sure you would have done the same.’

‘Of course he
would,’ said Asia, throwing her arms around me. I felt that I was not the one
who deserved her gratitude.

Whilst Asia and
I embraced, Esteban walked over to check the damage done to the upturned quad.
I quickly joined him and helped him to turn it over back onto its wheels. The
bodywork was battered and dented, but amazingly the engine still worked.

‘Do you think we
can get it back to the resort?’ I asked him.

‘There is only
one way to find out,’ he replied.

‘You guys cannot
seriously want to go back now,’ said Asia. ‘Things are just starting to get
fun.’

‘You call that
fun,’ I replied. ‘I’d be happy to never leave the resort again after that
disaster.’

‘Don’t be such a
softie,’ she said. ‘I’ve spent the last few days lazing on a beach doing
nothing. Now that we are here, I want to carry on and explore more of the
island.’

‘I don’t think
that is such a good idea,’ I told her.

‘Come on, Ben,’
she pleaded. ‘Let’s live a little.’

I turned to
Esteban for support, hoping that he would supply a reasoned voice.

‘Ben is right,’
he said. ‘But that is no reason for us to stop exploring. On my map there is a
viewpoint overlooking the entire bay. I think I will be able to find a way up,
but we will have to go on foot.’

I waited for
Asia’s reaction.

‘Sounds good to
me,’ she said.

On the way back,
I managed to convince her to ease up on the accelerator. We lost our deposits
and also had to lay down a further two thousand baht to cover the damage, but
considering what could have happened, this did not seem so bad. I barely had
time to catch a breath before the three of us then went back into the forest,
on foot this time.

Esteban led the
way, acting as our guide and loyal bodyguard. He took us up a steep hill, which
had been impassable with the quads, towards the lookout point. Once we got
there we had an unparalleled three hundred and sixty degree view over the whole
of the island. We were so high up that the beach now looked like nothing more
than a yellow boomerang, lazily discarded by the edge of the forest.

‘Isn’t this the
most beautiful thing you have ever seen?’ asked Asia.

‘Yes,’ I
replied, although I was looking at her and not the view.

‘Snap out of
it,’ Esteban interrupted. ‘Remember that you lovebirds are not alone.’

‘I don’t know
what you mean,’ I replied.

‘Don’t play coy
with me,’ he said. ‘I know exactly what you were thinking.’

I shrugged off
his suggestion even though he had been correct in thinking that my thoughts
were not appropriate to the situation. After Asia’s flirtatious display in the
ocean and then seeing how excited she had become by her brush with danger, I
could not help but wonder what it would be like to make love to her up there at
the top of the world. Well, at about only three hundred metres elevation it was
not exactly the top of the world, but there was nowhere higher on the island.

‘Look at all of
the boats out there,’ said Asia. ‘How come we couldn’t see them from the
shore?’

Esteban walked
over towards the edge so that he was standing next to her.

‘At sea level,
the horizon is approximately three miles away depending on how tall you are,’
he said. ‘From up here we can see considerably farther.’

‘Why are they
all here?’

‘Pleasure
cruises, whale watching trips; who knows? The smaller ones are most likely dive
boats.’

Asia’s eyes lit
up.

‘We have to do
that,’ she said. ‘I love diving.’

‘Then I will
enquire at reception about chartering a vessel,’ said Esteban, who then turned
back to me. ‘What do you think, Ben - do you want to go diving too?’

The question
left me feeling a little awkward. I had never actually been diving before. It
was something I had often thought about, but the costs and the intensity of the
training had always put me off. Judging by the way that the other two spoke, I
assumed they were both fully certified.

‘I don’t have a
licence,’ I told him. ‘Will I be allowed?’

‘Of course,’ he
said. ‘Anyone can do a short fun dive. We’ll just have to make sure that we
keep an eye on you.’

‘I’ll look after
him,’ said Asia.

She flung her
arms around my shoulders and pulled my body close to hers.

‘It is agreed
then,’ said Esteban. ‘Tomorrow we will dive.’

Remembering what
had happened the last time we followed one of Asia’s suggestions, I was less
than excited this time. We stayed and admired the view for another half an
hour. When Esteban suggested that it was time to go back down to the bay, Asia
was a little reluctant. It was not difficult to guess what she was thinking,
because I was thinking it too. I had rejected her advances earlier and did not
plan on making a habit of it.

‘Is something
wrong?’ Esteban enquired.

‘Nothing’s
wrong,’ she replied. ‘You go back down. I just want to spend a little more time
up here. Ben will keep me company, so I’ll be safe.’

Esteban looked
at me and I simply shrugged.

‘Okay,’ he said.
‘I will see you both back at the beach, later.’

We waited until
he had disappeared out of view. The ground was quite rocky so we used our
clothes as a makeshift mattress and positioned ourselves perpendicular to the
edge. This way we got the thrill of being close to the cliff face, but not the
actual danger of risking falling over it.

As I entered
her, I cast my gaze over her head and down onto the azure waters below. I was
making love to the most beautiful girl I had ever known in one of the most
beautiful places on Earth. I wondered if it could ever get any better than
this.

Chapter 7

Esteban booked the
diving trip for the following day. Of course, Asia had to invite her friends
along to join us. It would have been impolite of her not to, but after the way
that Barrett and Clay had behaved when meeting Esteban, I did not relish the
prospect of spending a whole day with them.

Since the boat
was not scheduled to pick us up until after lunch, I spent the morning lazing
on the beach with Asia. I invited Esteban to join us, but he preferred to spend
the time on his own and stayed around the bar area with a drink and a book. The
two English girls sunbathed close by, while their boyfriends climbed out to the
rocks at the far end of the bay to do some fishing.

I have never
been one for worshipping the sun. My skin burns far too easily and I get
restless staying in the same place for too long. Asia sensed this restlessness.
She got up and walked down to the water’s edge. Rather than follow immediately,
I sat up and merely watched her for a while. She looked stunning in a bikini.
Almost as good as she looked out of a bikini. Knowing that my eyes were on her,
she began to put on a display; rolling seductively in the shallow surf.

Some girls are
too funny to be sexy. Other girls are too sexy to be funny. Asia seemed to find
the perfect centre ground. She loved all of the attention I gave her. I was
tempted to run back to the cabin for my camera, but then again, why bother with
pixels when I had the real thing? The English girls had their eyes closed and
looked to be sleeping. I walked down to join Asia.

‘Is this your
way of telling me what you do for a living?’

‘How do you
mean?’

‘Well, surely
you’re a model; right?’

She blushed.

‘You really mean
that, don’t you? Unfortunately, I’m just an everyday student. If I ever
expressed a desire to show my body in a magazine, I’d be transferred to a
convent school in no time.’

‘Your dad is
really that strict? I thought he’d be cool with that sort of thing. Isn’t Mick
Jagger’s daughter a model?’

She eyed me with
suspicion.

‘I know what
you’re doing and it won’t work.’

‘It won’t?’

I had no idea to
what she was referring.

‘No, it won’t. I
should never have told you who my father was. Back home boys would always try
to pick me up just as a way to meet him. He has no bearing on what we have
between us and I want it to stay that way.’

‘So you don’t
want to talk about him?’

She stood and
placed her arms around my shoulders and then kissed me passionately. I guess
that was the only answer I was going to get. A little while later, we met back
up with the others for lunch. Nobody wanted to go diving on a heavy stomach so
we all stuck to light meals. Not long after we finished eating, we saw our boat
navigate its way around the rocks and into the bay.

As with the
fishing boat that had brought Esteban to the beach, the vessel was too large to
sail directly up to the shore. One of the resort workers took us out to it in a
small dinghy, which also enabled us to take our bags with a change of clothes.
Once we had all climbed up the boarding ladder, we met the dive leader, who was
a Frenchman named Manu. He welcomed us all aboard and invited us to make
ourselves comfortable while we sailed out to the reef, which was located
several kilometres from shore. With the two Americans giving Esteban the evil
eye the whole way, the journey was anything but comfortable.

The water had
looked perfectly flat from the shore, but it was actually rather choppy when we
arrived at the reef for the first of two dives that we would be doing. Manu
assured us that the waves were merely on the surface and the conditions for the
dive would actually be perfect. Before we could begin, however, he needed
details of everybody’s dive history. Clay and Barrett were both divemasters
with more than fifteen hundred dives between them. At least that is what they
claimed. The girls each had basic PADI licences and Esteban stated that he was
experienced, but avoided entering a cockfight with the Americans by not stating
how many dives he had actually done. This left me as the only novice.

Manu took me to
one side for a short debrief and assured me that he would cover the basic
techniques once we were in the water. He told me that there were only two
skills necessary for me to learn and that they could each be picked up in less
than five minutes. One was how to locate my air regulator should it come out of
my mouth and the other was how to clear my mask of excess water whilst at
depth. It was this second technique that I did not look forward to, because I
hated getting saltwater in my eyes and if I could not empty my mask I would be
essentially blinded.

We were all
given a choice as to whether or not we wanted to wear wetsuits. Manu strongly
advised me, as a beginner, to take one and I did. He explained that it would
give me extra buoyancy and make it easier to handle the heavy equipment when
floating on the surface. Esteban and the girls took the common sense approach
and got suited up as well, but both the Americans declined the offer. As I got
ready, I could feel their eyes boring into me. It was probably just paranoia,
but I was convinced they were trying to psyche me out.

‘Don’t let those
jerks get to you,’ said Esteban. ‘Once we are in the water you won’t even
notice them. Everybody has to buddy up and they’ll both be too busy looking
after their girls to bother you.’

I glanced around
and quickly did the sums.

‘Who’s your buddy?’
I asked. ‘There are seven of us.’

‘That should not
be a problem,’ he replied. ‘You are forgetting about Manu. You will have to
stick close to him as you are not licensed. I can probably join with you guys
and Asia to make a group of four.’

As we talked, I
noticed that over the other side of the boat Barrett and Izzie were having some
sort of argument. Asia came over to fill us in on what had happened.

‘I cannot
believe what a jerk he is being,’ she said.

‘Who?’ I asked.

‘Who do you
think; Barrett. He’s been teasing Izzie about the dive and how if she cannot
keep up with him, she’s going to be swimming back to the boat alone, because he
will not let some girl hold him back.’

‘What an
arsehole,’ I said.

‘Exactly. Now
Izzie is too scared to partner him on the dive in case he leaves her. She is
going to buddy with Dee instead. I’m worried what the two guys will get up to
now they’re going to be together.’

‘Don’t,’ said
Esteban. ‘Tell the girls to stay close to the rest of us and they’ll be fine.
Those guys are jerks, but I do not think they would be idiotic enough to
actually endanger anyone; least of all their girlfriends.’

When Asia was
reassured that nobody was going to spoil her day, we put on our equipment. Once
I was suited up, Manu called me over to explain how everything actually worked.

‘This is your
BCD or Buoyancy Control Device,’ he said, as he handed me one of the vests.
‘There is a button attached to the right side that will control the amount of
air in your vest. If you want to sink deeper, you let it out and when it’s time
to resurface, you just let more in.’

I took his
device and familiarised myself with how it worked. So far, everything seemed
quite simple. The next thing he showed me was how to attach the air tank to the
BCD and then he gave me my weight belt. It was a lot heavier than I was
expecting and as soon as I took it from him, it slipped from my fingers and
crashed against the deck of the boat. I winced as everyone turned and looked to
see what the cause of the cacophony had been.

‘Try not to sink
us,’ teased Asia. ‘I really don’t want to have to swim back to shore.’

I smiled back at
her, but I was too nervous to think of a witty reply. Whilst I was not normally
one to suffer from sea sickness, I was acutely aware of everything from the
gentle rocking of the boat to the smell of seawater in the air and it all made
me feel a little queasy. I picked up the weight belt and fastened it tightly
around my waist before it could do any more damage. The next item of equipment
to adorn was the BCD and then finally I added the fins and SCUBA mask.

Diving was
supposed to be dangerous and sexy, but I felt more like Donald Duck than James
Bond as I waddled around the boat in all of my equipment. Nobody else looked as
ridiculous as I felt and Asia in particular looked incredible in her wetsuit.
The skin tight material clung to the contours of her body as if it had been
tailor made for her figure. There were no signs of creases or bulging
whatsoever.

‘Does everything
feel comfortable?’ asked Manu.

The answer was
obviously a big no, but I had no way of knowing how it was supposed to feel. I
twisted and rotated my body to try and get a better feel for the equipment. I
then bounced up and down a little on the spot to make sure that everything
stayed in place. Nothing came loose, so I assumed all was how it should be. I
told Manu that I was ready and he led me to the back of the boat. Each pair
took it in turns to enter the water by taking a large step off the boat, but
Manu insisted I enter more carefully by slowly lowering myself into the water
via the ladder.

I was a little
nervous of the weight belt pulling me under when I let go of the railing, but
the air tank and BCD were more than sufficient to keep me afloat. I bobbed weightlessly
on the surface while waiting for my instructor to show me what to do next. This
was the last chance he had to give me verbal advice and he used it to explain
the basics of underwater sign language. He showed me the signs for the commands
I would need to follow and the correct way in which to respond to them. This
basically boiled down to an OK for good and a shaky hand for not-so-good. I
gave him an OK.

I pressed the
button on the airflow valve that controlled the intake of air into my BCD and
slowly started to sink below the surface. The air that I sucked in through the
regulator tasted dry. It also had a relaxing effect on me. The composition of
the tank was 29% oxygen and 71% nitrogen. Oxygen on its own would become toxic
when compressed at depth, so the nitrogen was used to keep it to a safe amount,
which roughly mirrored the composition of the atmosphere above sea level. I
was, however, told that the nitrogen could produce a narcotic effect itself
when compressed, but only at depths much greater than we would be descending.
Sadly, I would not be experiencing this “nitrogen narcosis” as it was known.

When we were
about two metres or so under, Manu beckoned me to swim towards a rope that was
attached to a buoy on the surface for support, whilst we went through the skill
tests. For the first one, he pointed to my regulator. This was the easy one.
All I had to do was to remove it from my mouth and then throw it over my
shoulder. Since it was attached to my tank on a cable it could not float away. I
then put my right hand behind my back and slowly arced it forward. As it came
in front of me, it brought the regulator with it, allowing me to put the air
giving device back into my mouth. Upon completion, I received an OK gesture
from my instructor.

The next test
was not so easy. Manu pulled up the bottom of his mask, allowing about half an
inch of water to enter. He then placed his index and forefingers on the brow of
his mask and tilted back his head. As he exhaled evenly through his nose the
mask was purged of the excess water by the vacuum that the action created. He
then instructed for me to do the same.

This was the
moment I had been dreading. I took several deep breaths on the regulator to
calm my nerves before peeling back the corner of my mask. The water entered it
more quickly than I had anticipated and completely filled my mask. Reflexively,
I shut my eyes to keep the saltwater from getting inside.

Engulfed in
complete darkness, I became more aware of the pressure of the water that
enveloped me from every conceivable angle. I was weightless in a complete void
and unsure if I was sinking, climbing or just hanging suspended in one place.
My first instinct was one of panic and I wanted to just start swimming until I
breached the surface, but before I could move I felt a slight pressure as
something grabbed onto my arm.

It was Manu
trying to steady me.

Figuring out
what had touched me was enough to focus my mind to remind me what I had to do.
I made an effort to calm my breathing and then placed my fingers on the mask
and tilted my head back whilst exhaling as hard as I could. I kept repeating
the process and stopped only when Manu tugged more forcefully on my arm. I
dared to open my eyes and saw that the mask was now clear.

‘Okay?’ he
seemed to gurgle as he offered me the sign.

I looked around
to get my bearings and everything seemed fine so I returned the gesture. Manu
then pointed to his mask again, this time placing a heavier emphasis on the
fact that only a small amount of water should be allowed to breach the seal. I
had a second attempt at the task and this time managed to complete it as
instructed. I gave him the now familiar gesture and he beckoned me to sink
deeper. All the while, he kept pointing to his ears, which was the instruction
to equalise the pressure as I descended. I did this by gently squeezing my nose
and breathing out until I felt the pain ease. When we finally levelled off my
depth gauge read eight metres. As an uncertified novice, this was the maximum
safe distance to which I could descend.

Manu let go of
the rope and started to swim in a horizontal line. I followed closely behind.
The others had descended to twice the depth where I could not follow, but Asia
swam up to meet me. She started to swim alongside me, but soon became bored of
this and decided to show off by performing slow motion somersaults in the
water. Her twists and turns were like an aquatic ballet that both titillated
and amazed me.