The Beach

Richard arrives in Bangkok, Thailand, and is dropped off on the Ko Sanh Road, a place for backpackers to find their footing. He goes to a local eatery where a man, whom Richard assumes is using heroin, points to a nearby guesthouse. Richard takes a room at the guesthouse, though it is shabby; he hears roaches crawling around. A French couple is also staying at the guesthouse, but the other nearby rooms appear empty until a Scottish man arrives around 2:00am, swearing to himself. He soon quiets down and smokes a joint. Jetlagged and half-asleep, Richard listens to the man talking to himself about a beach. The man realizes Richard is awake and throws the joint over onto Richard’s bed. The man’s face is beaten, and Richard passes the joint back, asking to be left alone. Richard cannot get back to sleep, feeling on edge after what just happened.

Richard awakes after a poor sleep. At the restaurant where he stays, he sees some Americans eating banana pancakes and decides to order one. He feels happy as the sun rises and is glad to be where he is. The French couple emerges, and Richard admires the woman’s appearance, finding her very attractive.

When Richard returns to his room, one of the hotel workers is cleaning a light fixture with a mop. He tries to warn her about being electrocuted, but she tells him it is fine, and points out the letter stuck to his door. He opens it to find a map of the Gulf of Thailand. He spots a cluster of islands marked with an X and labeled “Beach.” Richard knows the Scottish man next door left it. He goes to the man’s room and finds him lying dead on his bed, with blood everywhere; he has slit either his own wrists or throat.

Richard is called in for questioning, and the police struggle to speak English with him. He tries to explain that the man, whose notebook reveals a nickname (Daffy Duck), was not his friend. The policeman interrogates Richard, and Richard refrains from mentioning the map. When leaving the station, Richard runs into the French man from the hotel (Etienne). Etienne speaks English and Richard is eager to discuss Daffy’s death. Richard confesses he’s only had strange experiences since his arrival. Etienne recounts hearing Daffy talking about the beach, looking for Richard’s reaction. Richard confesses he knows where it is. Etienne asks to see the map, and Richard agrees to show him.

On the way back to the guesthouse through crowded streets, a man grabs Richard and sexually assaults him before letting him go. Richard catches up with Etienne, who has walked on unaware. Richard says nothing of what just happened.

Etienne consults Daffy’s map, and using a travel guidebook, figures out that the beach is in a protected National Park near Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan. A nearby island, Koh Angthong, is open to tourists, but access is limited to one night. Richard thinks the map is fake, but Etienne believes it is real, theorizing that people traveled there after finding more visited islands spoiled by tourism. Etienne is eager to find the beach, and his enthusiasm soon rubs off on Richard. Etienne suggests finding a fisherman to take them as close as possible. When Françoise hears of the idea, she is eager to leave and go somewhere exciting.

Richard thinks about Daffy and what will happen to those who knew him. He decides to take some time to himself before meeting up with Etienne and Françoise. He walks down a main street, immersing himself in Thai culture and people. Richard eventually walks far enough to get lost. He takes a tuk-tuk back to the guesthouses and finds his new friends waiting for him. Richard goes to pack and runs into the man who appeared to be on heroin the night Richard arrived. The man isn’t high, and he wishes Richard safe travels.

Richard, Etienne, and Françoise take a train, a bus, and a ferry to reach Koh Samui. On the train ride, Richard feels uneasy, realizing he has set off on a risky adventure with two people he just met. He lies down in his bunk and fantasizes about being on a spaceship to a distant planet. He falls asleep dreaming of his spaceship, but the dream becomes a nightmare in which Daffy lies beside him, covered in blood but awake. Daffy asks Richard to roll a joint for him, saying the blood on his hands makes the task difficult. Daffy encourages Richard to also smoke the joint, and when he does, Daffy says, “that’s the boy’” (34). Richard lies back as he is slowly covered in Daffy’s blood.

Richard sleeps through most of the traveling but awakens for the Jeep ride to the resort on Koh Samui. The island is beautiful, and the greenery reminds Richard of Vietnam. At the Chaweng resort, Richard goes for a swim in the ocean. Etienne joins him but is immediately stung by some small jellyfish. It reminds Richard of the ones he saw in the Philippines, which he and a friend used to throw at one another. Richard picks it up, showing a shocked Etienne how to hold it without being stung. Françoise comes out to join them and Richard notices how beautiful she is. Françoise suggests a deep swim, and the three of them swim out as far as they can go.

Rain pours down in the afternoon and Richard sits on the porch of his hut, watching a lizard as it sits in the palm of his hand. Two men around his age invite themselves over and offer Richard a joint. Their names are Zeph and Sammy, and they comment on Richard’s English accent and talk about how much weed they smoke. Richard asks if their surfer accent is an act, and they explain they both have college degrees and put the voices on to poke fun at those who see Americans only one way. As they talk, Richard hears Sammy say, “That’s the boy” (46), just as Daffy said to him in his dream. Sammy insists he said nothing, and Richard assumes he’s just high. Richard goes home to bed feeling like he had another surreal experience.

Richard awakes in a haze, finding the air smells like England, and meets Etienne and Françoise at breakfast. Françoise asks if Richard told the men about the beach, and he assures her he did not. They all set off to find a fisherman willing to take them out to the restricted areas. As Richard walks along, he thinks back to 1984, playing Space Invaders on his Atari and listening to his babysitter discuss Koh Samui. Since then, Koh Samui has become a tired and overrun place, and with each passing decade, it seems to happen to another island. Richard eventually gives up searching for a fisherman and heads back to the hut.

As Richard sits, he is approached by a transgender sex worker. Richard politely declines her offer, and Etienne and Françoise soon appear with news of having found a fisherman. They negotiate for the fisherman to take them to Koh Angthong, and to pick them up three days later (if they are still there). They decide to swim to the final island where the beach is, which Richard finds daunting, but they all agree they will help each other to get there. Richard and Etienne practice their swimming while Françoise sits on the beach relaxing.

Everyone sits on the beach after the swim, and soon Sammy and Zeph join them with a large amount of cannabis. Zeph mentions a rumor about a mysterious beach, and Richard slyly asks him to describe it for them. Zeph describes a perfect lagoon with untouched coral reefs, white sands, tropical birds and more, all hidden by a rock wall and thick jungle. He notes that only a select few people know its location. Françoise suspiciously gets up to leave suddenly as Richard sits dazed by the vision of the beach. They leave politely, and Richard suggests that hopefully they won’t have noticed Françoise’s strange behavior due to their being stoned. Richard goes to sleep feeling guilty for having left Sammy and Zeph in a hurry.

Richard has another dream about Daffy, which he describes as being like a movie. He is at the US Embassy in Vietnam, with helicopters flying around and Daffy running toward him, blood pouring out of his wrists. Daffy seems to be having fun in the turmoil and violence, and encourages Richard to join in. The two enjoy the sickness of it all together as Daffy yells, “That’s the boy!” (61).

Richard decides to draw out a map for Sammy and Zeph and leaves it for them to find the beach and meet him there. He goes to wait for Françoise and Etienne.