This story really started in Bangkok, Thailand, where our co-author, Peter, whose Thai name is “Chakrit”, lives with his “friend” Lizzy the gecko. Chakrit’s friends know Lizzy well, and over the years, Chakrit has joked a lot about her. Nowadays his friends often ask how Lizzy is doing, and if she has made enough money to buy herself some fancy new red dancing shoes!
A while ago, Chakrit decided to go camping on the island called Koh Wua Ta Lap in the Ang Thong Archipelago of southern Thailand to celebrate his special birthday. Like Hammie in the story, Chakrit packed everything he needed to go camping into his backpack, including his hammock which he considers to be a camping essential.
When he arrived on the island, Chakrit had some close encounters with the animals who became his friends in the story—a friendly monkey (who he named Goggles), a leech (who he named Lekkie), a little brown snake (who he saw in the bathroom and called Sally), and some hornbills (one of whom became Billy).
Chakrit liked to nap in his hammock, and so Goggles suggested his name is “Hammie Boy”. He disapproved and so they settled on the name “Hammie”.
He also saw some lizards, and took photos of a large, scary-looking lizard (Gingga in the story). A swarm of mosquitoes attacked him several times, so he decided one of them was their leader, and called him Sting. Although lizards are not evil in real life, the scary lizard became the villain in the story. As we all know, mosquitoes really are evil, so it was easy to make them part of Gingga’s army.
When Chakrit saw some geckos on the island, he immediately thought of Lizzy back home in Bangkok. He started to fantasise about what would happen if she was related to the geckos on the archipelago and had a secret life. And so the story began…
Of course Chakrit is older than 12-year-old Hammie, and of course Lizzy and the other animals do not really talk with humans, but the island adventures that became the three tests in the story actually happened. Chakrit really did get chased by mosquitoes wherever he hiked around the island, especially on the track to the secret beach. He really did have a birthday lunch at the viewpoint on top of the island. And he really did find the Lotus Flower rocks in the caves, which was the most difficult challenge of all.
Although he was lucky enough to visit the beautiful Emerald Lagoon on a nearby island called Koh Mae Koh, he did not meet the gecko King and Queen that day. They must have been visiting another island.
On Koh Tarutao, Chakrit really was harassed by the sandflies and the mischievous macaques known as Mackie’s gang. But just when things got uncomfortable, Zippy and her troupe of spectacled langur monkeys came to his rescue—swinging through the trees like graceful forest acrobats and chasing the macaques away.
Unfortunately, the sandflies were not afraid of Zippy’s monkeys, and they continued to relentlessly bite Chakrit until his legs were covered in itchy red marks.
On one especially beautiful day, while snorkelling around an island far north of Koh Tarutao, Chakrit met a very curious batfish, whom he named “Betty”. At first, she was shy and kept her distance. But after forty-five minutes of gentle patience, Chakrit finally gained her trust. To his delight, Betty allowed him to rub her belly! It seemed she had fallen in love with Chakrit, because every time he swam a few metres away, she followed close beside him, refusing to be left behind.
Chakrit also stayed on Boulder Island, which he still says is one of the most beautiful islands he has ever visited. For several peaceful weeks, he was the only visitor on the island, living in harmony with nature, surrounded by jungle and sea—and, of course, dreaming up new adventures for Hammie and his friends.
Chakrit has always wanted to write a children’s book featuring his best friend Lizzy, the dancing gecko, and now his dream has come true! But as soon as other animals heard about the book through Lizzy’s FaceBook page, they have been asking her to tell Chakrit they want to be in the next story.
