There are fans, and there are fanatics. And then there are followers. Leo claims them by the planeload. Some follow the followers. Shimomura Mami, 36, writes an Internet column for Flix, a Japanese magazine. She has journeyed to Thailand with Leo-watchers Satoyoshi Noriko and Kimura Rie. Ostensibly, Shimomura is on assignment to write a book, Followers of Leo, set for rush-release in April. Yet the only followers she has spoken to have been Satoyoshi and Kimura. The trio met last year on a Leo chatline. "We already know so many Leo fans from the Internet," Shimomura says. "For this book, we'll mainly write about our experiences in Thailand. It will be like our diary."
Don't expect a page-turner. None has visited Thailand before. They are here a week. The main action so far? A trip to Phi Phi Don, an isle near Phi Phi Leh. They hired boats to stake out Leo dockside, twice daily. Sightings are scant, as the filming takes place inland. "We don't swim, we only watch him come and go," says Shimomura. "It's quite exciting." Now, they stay at the Cape Panwa Hotel, paying almost $200 a night for the privilege of sleeping in the general proximity of Leo. The high point of their trip came the previous Sunday, the film crew's day off, when they actually visited Maya Bay. On a bed in the hotel room, they spill out their precious souvenirs: sand, shells and coral collected from the protected island.
