Phuket, birthday weekend 2009

Peter & the birthday cake

Peter on Kata Beach

MayOm & Peter

MayOm and the big heart

MayOm and the big fish

They're alcohol free and really yummy!

Wat Chalong

Big Buddha

Lighthouse at Promthep

To Live in the Big Mango

Sunday 8^th February and the Eva Air Boeing 747 from London Heathrow lands at Suvarnabhumi Airport, 25 minutes early at 15:20 hours. However getting through Immigration could almost be comparable to arriving at the Big Apple with long slow moving queues. It was 16:45 when my passport was stamped and I was cleared through immigration, I changed some sterling, collected my luggage and took a taxi to my new home in the Sathorn district. When I arrived, MayOm was already there, in fact he'd been waiting for half an hour and he helped me up to my new home with my luggage.

The apartment is on the 5^th (top) floor on a corner at the rear of the building in a quiet soi. I am fortunate not to have any neighbours on either side and no street noise, making it a quiet place to live.

I unpacked my things, took a shower and together with MayOm, took a taxi to the Suan Lum night bazaar where I bought towels, bedding, a picture and banner for the wall, we had dinner at The Puppet Theatre Restaurant there and took a taxi back to unload the goods I had purchased before venturing out again, this time on foot to the 7-Eleven store at the end of the Soi, stocking up on essentials like water, loo roll and so on. MayOm went home just before midnight; I wouldn't be seeing him again before Friday.

It was my first night in my new home; I went to bed late and woke up early. I did more shopping that day, this time at Robinson's department store in Bang Rak where amongst other things, I bought a microwave oven.

Over the next few days, the kitchen was slowly filled with crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, a toaster and a rice cooker/steamer. I seemed able only to do scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with this equipment, I was to find out that MayOm however, could create some wonderful culinary delights using the microwave and the rice cooker/steamer.

On Friday, MayOm was supposed to come over but he had to go to dinner with friends, I was disappointed but then late that evening he phoned to say he had finished dinner and would I still like him to come over, I answered with a yes and just after midnight, he arrived with his weekend suitcase, laptop and a bouquet of 12 red roses for Valentine's Day and my birthday. I found this gesture so sweet, I can't recall the last time anyone gave me flowers yet alone anything for Valentine's.

We were up early in the morning, at 8am we left the apartment and took a taxi to the Suvarnabhumi en route for Phuket for my birthday weekend. At the airport we were delayed by 90 minutes. Being as we were in the Domestic departures lounge, the shops and restaurants were few, we took a coffee in Starbucks before going through to the gate.

At Phuket we were met by a waiting taxi-driver who took us directly to our hotel, an hour's distant, the Serene Resort in Kata Beach. We checked into the hotel and were taken to our Delux room, which had a 7 foot bed, a day bed, mini-bar, multi-channel TV and a balcony overlooking the pool. MayOm was very pleased with it. That evening we ate in the hotel restaurant, it was a buffet which included a barbeque, for dessert I had three different types of cake, now I don't usually pig out but this was my birthday. Then suddenly a cake with candles arrived and the cabaret singer starting singing Happy Birthday, I was a little embarrassed by this but at the same time quite pleased that MayOm went to the trouble of organising this for me, it was very sweet.

On the Monday, we used the services of the taxi driver who picked us up at the airport to go sightseeing around the island, now I had done all this just 4-5 months earliere but it was MayOm's first time here and anyway, I wanted to see many of the places again. We set off at 09:30, first going to Karon View Point , then onto Phromthep Cape, where there is an elephant shrine. The elephant is significant in Buddhism, having been adopted from Hinduism, where the elephant is considered to be the transport of the gods. Past the shrine exists an unusual looking lighthouse, it was opened in 1996 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of King Bhumibol. From here we went to the top of Nakkerd Hill to the Big Buddha, a white marble statue 45 metres high and 25 metres across at the base, from here there is a magnificent view over much of the island and out to the Andaman Sea. On leaving the Big Buddha, we stopped at a roadside restaurant about a third of the way down; from here we had lunch with a view, looking out over the lush green countryside to the resort of Karon and the exquisite blue sea beyond. Next we visited Wat Chalong, Phuket's most important Buddhist temple and the biggest and most ornate of Phuket's 29 Buddhist monasteries. Just inside the main hall before the image of Buddha, are cans containing what look like shaved bamboo chopsticks. I picked one up, knelt before Buddha and shook the can back and forth rhythmically until one of the sticks worked its way to the top and fell to the floor. I read the number, it was 8, then I went to the cabinet around the corner, found the paper corresponding to the number and MayOm translated it for me, it said I would get help with a job soon. Next it was shopping time and our driver dropped us of at Jung Ceylon shopping centre in Patong. We wandered around for a while before finding a clothes shop holding a 70% off clearance sale, I bought a green/white polo shirt, while Payom bought a similar shirt but with royal blue/white stripes and another very attractive polo top, with thin navy/white/mustard stripes. We then had an ice-cream fondue before strolling down the Bangla Road to the beach and on to the Mio Coffee Shop which i had frequented back in October/November 2008 before returning at about 18:30 to Kata Beach.

On Tuesday 17^th February we returned to Bangkok. MayOm came with me to my apartment but left after a couple of hours to go home, from here I will fast forward to my next big event on 28^th February, which I will write about soon.

Bangkok into 2009

I was in Krung Thep, the Big Mango or BKK if you like, for the first 12 days of the New Year. I was no longer in vacation mode, I was here to get deep inside this city's soul, to know the city I want to live in, work in, play in and love in. I wanted... no needed to integrate. There are places I want to visit, Ayuthaya, Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai Bridge, the Floating Markets, all would have to wait.

From the 2^nd to 7^th January the Om Yim Lodge where I normally stay was full, so I decided to try a different part of the city, Ratchadapisek, 3 minutes from the metro station of the same name in the northern area of central Bangkok. I wanted to know how the area felt to live in as there are a number of apartments at reasonable rents available in the area. On Saturday 3^rd, I went to the JJ weekend market, at Chatuchak, 3 stations further out on the metro. It's a huge market, so many different things, most new but some old, clothing, footwear, linen, kitchenware, bric-a-brac, household items, art, animals, food stalls, crammed together , almost merging into each other. I was there for nearly three hours and resisted buying anything, just browsing around, except for a chocolate brown Puma shoulder bag for 299 baht. Nearby to the south is Huai Khwang with a very good shopping centre, with a Robinsons department store and a Carrefour, a little further along there is also a Tesco. An equal distance to the north is Pahon Yothin, another place with excellent shopping and cinemas, however, I dedided that Ratachada is a little bit further out than I would like to be, though I wouldn't rule out Huai Khwang, which is four metro stations north of Sukhumvit.

On the 7^th January, I moved back to Om Yim to spend my last few days before flying back to London. On the 8^th January, I finally met someone I had been chatting with online for a while, Mayom or to give him his full Thai name, Narongrit Kanpech. We met at 1pm at Sala Daeng BTS and went for lunch at Fuji, a Japanese restaurant. I felt a little nervous at meeting Mayom, we had got on so well in chat, I was worried about making a hash of things. I needn't have worried, despite my awkwardness with chopsticks we survived the restaurant and after looking around the shops, where Alex bought himself a new top, we went for a foot massage along the Silom Road. I found the massage so relaxing that I dozed off for a while during it. Next we rewarded ourselves with a visit to Secret Recipe for some delicious cake and a fruit drink. Alex wanted to see the Om Yim Lodge as he was looking for somewhere for some friends to stay when they visit Bangkok. So we went back so that he could take a look the hotel's facilities.

Now Mayom is in his fourth and final year studying Travel and Tourism at University, he is doing his finals and has his thesis to complete by mid-February, so he is very busy as I head back to the UK and Spain for almost four weeks.

I had also spent time this week looking at serviced apartments for somewhere to live, I was also keeping an eye open an apartment for Alan, we had become friends in Chiang Mai and after 4 weeks in Hong Kong and China, was returning to Bangkok to work as a teacher for International House. Alan was back on late on the 8^th January and we met up on the 9^th for a coffee at Cafe Society where we caught up with each other's news. The next evening after Alan had finished teaching, we had a look at a few apartments together before having something to eat and a couple of non-alcoholic drinks at The Balcony (it was the night prior to elections in Bangkok for a new Governor, this meant there was an alcohol ban). Mayom phoned me (he was eating at the Bug and Bee) so I went to meet him, Alan came along and met with Mayom before heading off himself. I continued to chat briefly before MayOm went home, having to start work at 7am at the airport. We made arrangements to meet at the airport on Monday to say farewell prior to my flight and so I headed back to my room for an early night.

All too soon came Monday 12^th January, I jumped into the taxi at 6:45am and reached the airport within half an hour, checked in at the Gulf Air desk and waited until 8:30 to see Mayom, we had just enough time to say hello and a brief chat before I had to rush through Security and race along to the Gate, where they were already boarding the plane, I was leaving Thailand.

 

The Big Mango for Happy New Year

Well today is Monday 30^th November, it is 6:30 in the evening as I write this and in another two hours I'll be back in the Big Mango ready for Happy New Year. Okay, for anyone wondering what I'm whittling about, the Big Mango is an affectionate name for Bangkok, just as the Big Apple is for New York. Happy New Year is what the Thai people call the western New Year, it is one of three they celebrate, the others being the Chinese New Year and Songkhran, which is the Thai New Year, celebrated during mid-April when the whole country has a week's holiday when people plaster each other in a paste, which has a wet talcum powder consistency, chuck buckets of water on people from above and of course set off fireworks all over the place.

I left Koh Samui at 08:20 this morning, well that's the time the ferry departed. I was supposed to be picked up by taxi or minibus from my hotel at 7am, at 7:12am a taxi pulled up and beckoned me to get in, I wave my ticket at him, with the big picture of a Lomprayah Catamaran and he said "yes yes, only one person", I responded "only one" and sat myself down comfortably in the back seat for the journey to the pier. You can imagine my surprise then, when ten minutes later we pull up at the airport. "Why are you taking me here" I enquired, "you go airport" retorted the driver, "er no, the Catamaran pier, you are supposed to take me to the Catamaran" came my reply. Anyway it transpired that he had a booking for the airport, although when he beckoned me over to his cab, I showed him my blatantly obvious boat ticket he had already got it in his head that he was going to the airport and that was that. However, as I didn't want the airport, he decided in his infinite wisdom to return me to my hotel only uttering the words "mistake, mistake". I telephoned Lomprayah and they said there was a bus leaving the airport car park in ten minutes, which I could take, I asked the girl on the phone if she could let the taxi driver know exactly where to take me and passed my phone to him to get directions. The driver then turned around and headed back to the airport and as we arrived back outside the terminal building, I said "Aren't you supposed to go to the car park for the bus", looking rather perplexed he decided to ask a Security Guard idling around, he pointed us in the direction of the car park and off yet again we went. Finally we arrived at the car park and I could see the Lomprayah bus waiting. I got out the taxi, grabbed my luggage and was asked for some payment; I merely responded by saying "no - your mistake, your mistake" and made haste for the bus.

After that nerve-wracking experience with me having visions of getting stuck in Samui, the journey has gone smoothly, well that is, apart from the rough sea we encountered on the way to the Chumporn on the mainland and for which I was glad I never had any breakfast to bring back up.

My eight days in Samui had been pretty uneventful, I wanted to watch what money I had available as I had no idea when I would get back my internet banking and access to my savings account. I was very bored, I realise now that I am not really an island person, Chaweng centre is mainly just one long road that stretches for about three kilometres and I couldn't even find a cinema to go to on the days it rained. So no more about Samui, I'll continue you this, probably tomorrow from the Manohra Hotel in the Big Mango.

Now it's the following morning and it feels so good to be back here, city life, city people, I feel so at home! Last night I checked in at the hotel, took a refreshing shower and made my way to Silom Soi 4. After a couple of drinks at the Balcony, seeing a few familiar faces, I went next door to 9, a very smart show bar / discotheque. This is a brand new venue that only opened three weeks ago, I was there for the show and had already been there a couple of times when it first opened The show was good then, though not quite up to the standard of the Boat Bar in Phuket but this time it was something else, brilliant choreography that a top West End show could be proud of, the highlight for me was watching the acrobats descending 20 feet from the ceiling on two lengths of purple silk that reached to the floor, swinging over the heads of the customers below, somersaulting upwards downwards and crossways. Wow, what an amazing performance, polished, classy, sensual and tasteful. Then one act was something off a comedy as this rather unglamorous lady boy opened a bottle of coke in the same way as Tricky Vicky in Benidorm would, although this was done through clothing. Drinks at 9 are also very reasonable, my rum and coke was 100 Baht (2 euros). I did go to a couple of show bars in Samui – they were a joke, expensive drinks and tasteless costumes and to cap it all they were so poorly performed that only a blind person could have been choreographed them. The biggest joke for me was two guys dressed as bulls taunting the matador; I started laughing out loud before realising, whoops this is supposed to be ballet and then pretended I was really having a coughing fit.

It's New Years Eve and I'm looking forward to tonight.

The way to Samui and out

Monday 22^nd December 2008

I have spent just under ten weeks in Thailand and have three still to go before I return to Europe, all-be-it for a fleeting visit there. I have enjoyed everywhere, although Phuket took me three days to get to appreciate. My favourite place is definitely Bangkok, don't ask me why I like a city of ugly concrete and polluted with traffic, there is such something magical about it for me.

Now this morning, I'm sat at the breakfast table for 8:30am, as Mat smilingly greets me to enquire what I'd like for breakfast, "Two croissants, coffee with milk and orange juice please Mat" I said, "okay, Peter I make for you, five minutes for croissants okay" came his reply. Within two minutes breakfast was delivered to my table, Mat had even got the order correct, although he did have to go back to get the butter. Happily I enjoyed my croissants with butter and blackberry jam, washed down with the resort's wonderful fresh orange juice and two decent cups of coffee.

Olivier met me and said he would take me at 9:15am to meet the minibus taking me to Koh Samui, I made my goodbyes, put my luggage into the back of the SUV and off we went to meet the bus. We arrived at the meeting place and after a good twenty minutes the bus finally turned up. There were already nine people on board, and I took the last remaining seat as we made our way to Surat Thani for the ferry to Samui. Once in Surat Thani one person was dropped off and the minibus continued to meander through the city's street. Suddenly it stopped as the driver made a telephone call, and then we were on our way again, reversing about one hundred metres back and then turning right down this narrow backstreet. The driver then stopped, got out and summoned me to do the same as he went to the rear of the vehicle and placed my suitcases on the street. Before I could say anything the driver had got back onto the bus and drove away as a man, who I came to know as Vit, greeted me. "What's going on", I asked, "I thought the bus was taking me to the ferry". "You have to get another bus, next bus in three hours at two-thirty" said Vit "But I was told I would be in Samui at three o'clock what's going on – why so long" I countered. Vit beckoned me into this single story building with its metal shutter raised and opening the premises to the street, there was no sign outside to say what it was but inside there was a small desk with a pair of old coach seats in front where he beckoned me to sit while telling me "Your bus late, next bus to Samui at two-thirty". There was also a television blaring out and what I presumed to be Vit's family sat around it. I was having a bit of a problem with all this, firstly, I understood that Jae had booked me on a minibus to take me directly to Koh Samui; secondly I couldn't quite understand why I had been dropped off and made to wait three hours in this God-forsaken place. I ensured my luggage was securely locked inside these premises that had been disguised as a travel office and went off to a 7-eleven to get some drink. I returned about half an hour later, my luggage was still secure and intact as Vit sat me down again and tried to sell me tickets for when I depart Samui for Bangkok, I declined his offer, telling him I hadn't finalised my plans but did allow him to sell me a minibus journey to my hotel, with a company called Century, once I got to Samui. That cost me 300 Baht. I decided at this point to spend some time writing my Krabi blog, so I went to my small case, taking out my laptop before zipping up the case again without bothering to lock it because I planned to remain on the premises. I sat on the step facing the street and was about to start the laptop when Vit invited me to sit at a table outside, I tried it but the sun was too bright and so returned to the step to continue my work. After nearly two hours I'd had enough, so closed and returned my laptop to its bag which was in the small suitcase, locking it securely ready for the next leg of the journey.

At 2:30pm, I boarded a pick-up to go and meet the bus. My large suitcase went in the back and the small one stayed with me in the front. Eventually the bus came and my luggage was stowed in a space alongside the steps to up to the seating area. The bus was full; there were already couple of people standing. I stood just at the top of these steps with my luggage in my field of vision for the ninety minutes the bus took to get to the ferry. The ferryboat we were taking turned out to be an old and very basic ship and I had to carry my luggage up some steep and narrow steps to the passenger deck. I was not a happy bunny, this was not the journey I had booked and paid for, I knew somehow there was at least one more problem on this disastrous trip waiting for me. At ten past four, the ferry departed, after an uneventful ride across a calm sea we finally arrived at Koh Samui just before 6pm. The large suitcase clunked its way down the steps, I wasn't going to carry it, and I left the ferry and headed to where the minibuses and taxis were waiting. There I found the driver for Century minibuses, who took me to the bus and loaded the luggage; I breathed a sigh of relief – big mistake! After five minutes the driver asked me if I wanted to go now to my hotel in Chaweng Beach, "Yes" I replied, "bus not going" he said "have a problem, I find you something else". The something else it turned out was a songthaew, "you go free, special for you", declared the bus driver, "Not free, I've already paid 300 Baht for your minibus" came my retort. Just wanting to get to the hotel, take a shower and unwind, I took the songthaew and accepted that this was just a rip-off journey, I wasn't going to repeat again. There were six other passengers with me, one Thai, the others Scandinavian, going to a couple of destinations in Chaweng. On the way, the songthaew picked up and dropped of some other people and finally after an arduous trip, at twenty to eight that evening I was at my hotel, the Baan Rom Mai Resort.

I checked in, had to pay the total balance due and was taken to my room. Now I've stayed in better accommodation in Chiang Mai for well under half what this was costing a night, two weeks of this – I don't know if I can stand it, were my very thoughts but at least it was clean. I unpacked my clothes, took a shower and did some ironing, then went off to find something to eat. There were Italian restaurants, Japanese, Brazilian, South African, Australian, Irish, French, Indian but no Thai, except a couple of very overpriced places. I settled on an Indian restaurant, which was okay but that was all and when the bill came, I had just eaten my second most expensive meal in over two months in Thailand. I wandered around for a bit before returning to my room, it was then that I was to realise the full horror of my journey.

I decided to go online with my laptop, to my dismay there was no Wi-Fi available so I went to reception to enquire but no one was there. I didn't want to hang around so I thought I'd use my sim card modem. I went to my small case but couldn't find it, I cursed myself, thinking I must have left it behind in Krabi. After a few minutes, I decided to find my Spanish Nokia phone, which I'd been unable to use the past week as it had been out of service, couldn't find that either, I turned everything out of the case, including my laptop bag, which was stored inside it, every pocket was checked but there was nothing to be found. Nothing, nothing, I suddenly realised, hey my Bluetooth adaptor, what about my memory stick and hold on - where is my 250 gigabyte portable hard drive, I even checked the big suitcase, everything was emptied out onto the bed, linings were checked but absolutely nothing, even my comfy flip flops and my Remington beard trimmer were missing. I'd been scammed and robbed in that shit hole of a place in Surat Thani. I remembered that while my back was turned away, using my laptop, Vit suddenly came over and distracted me with some irrelevant conversation and I thought he was just being friendly when all the time my case was probably being riffled. It was midnight, too late to take any action before morning, I eventually went to sleep.

Just after 9am, I phoned Le Passe Temps to enquire if anything had been left in my room. Olivier checked with housekeeping and told me, no nothing was left behind. I then obtained from him details of the minibus company that had brought me here the previous day and went off to see the police. After a twenty minute walk, I got to the Tourist Police office, only to find it was closed and ended up going on a motorbike taxi to the office in Bo Phut.

Once here I filled in details of what had happened, gave them Vit's telephone number as well as the numbers of the bus operator and Le Passe Temps and let the police do their work. A short while later, three French girls turned up, they had made the exact same journey as me from Krabi, except they took the minibus one hour later at 10:30. I remember seeing them arrive at the office but they never stayed long before being moved on. Anyway, one of the girls had six hundred euros, her passport, iPod and iTouch taken, we compared notes and decided it was the same scam.

I've obtained police report and notified the Insurance Company, I don't expect to see my things again but the police have my mobile number and email just in case. Now I'm stuck on this god-forsaken island, a pretentious place full of hideous tourists like nowhere else I've been to in Thailand. I've booked a ticket back to Bangkok for 30^th December, I am not going anywhere near Surat Thani but instead will be taking the catamaran to Chumporn, then boarding an air-conditioned coach direct to Bangkok, where I'll arrive just after 8pm. I'll spend New Year in Bangkok – oh happy days!

As for Koh Samui, well the beaches are unpleasantly crowded, yesterday was cloudy with a couple of light showers, today, Christmas Day, it's thunder and lighting and pouring with rain. I detect not a jot of sincerity in the Thais here and the prices are extortionate, maybe I'm being cynical, maybe I don't like islands – Mauritius and Mykonos being the exceptions. Take me to Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, ah Bangkok, but just get me out of here!

Krabi Pictorial

Arriving at Hong Island

Hong Island Beach

Hong Island Trip - Fellow Travellers

Hong Island Trip - Captain Ron

Hong Island - Passageway to Lagoon

Hong Island Lagoon

Tiger Cave - Mother & Child

Tiger Cave- Macaque eating

River at Krabi

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Lagoon

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Mangrove Swamp 1

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Joe

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 1

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 2

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 3

Krabi

Monday 15^th December 2008

The alarm went off at 8am; I got up, showered and packed before going downstairs for an Om Yim Lodge American breakfast. Prior to departing I arranged with the manager to leave some text books for safe-keeping until my return in three weeks. I then took a taxi to Suvarnabhumi for my flight at 1:50pm to Krabi. I actually got to the airport rather early at 11:30am; this was because I had arranged to meet K, who worked for Qatar Airways. I met up him, and then checked in nice and early before going for a drink at Black Canyon Coffee. Here I was chatting with K, who had been working from 3am until half an hour before we met. He wanted to learn Spanish and asked if I could help him, offering to pay, I declined his offer, my Spanish isn't that good but I did say I would help him find the right study material and give a lesson to get him started. It was time to go to boarding; so I said farewell to K and went off in search of the gate. The Air Asia flight departed bang on time and before I knew it, it was 3pm as the wheels touched down at the tiny Krabi Airport, where a driver taking me to Le Passe Temps was holding a placard with my name on it.

Just after 4pm I arrived at Le Passe Temps and greeted by the owner Olivier and his and manager, Jae who, following the registration formalities, showed me to my bungalow, the name of which was Hippo. It was a fairly small room with its wooden floor, walls and roof, at ninety degrees to it was another little wooden building, this one housing my bathroom which was complete with a wooden bath tub. Outside was my own little terrace containing a bench seat that could snugly fit two people. Beyond were seven other bungalows with a pool situated in the centre. Between the pool and the reception / lounge, a beautiful octagonal shaped building with a central dome, was a patio where breakfast was taken. In the opposite direction was another patio atop a cliff and steps leading down to the restaurant and beach. All in all it was a very serene place in an isolated corner of the Krabi province.

I changed out of my travel clothes into something my lighter and very informal then took a look around. The first people I met were Mac and Meghan, an American couple from Seattle, who reminded me very much of Vancouver Chris when they spoke. They had arrived just a few hours earlier and told me about a boat trip being arranged for the next day and asked if I wanted to come along. A short while later I met the other guests, Peter and Ben who live in Copenhagen and have a condo in Bangkok, their friend Philip and also a guy from Switzerland who went by the name of Tom.. We introduced ourselves and Peter gave more information on the boat trip, which was around Hong Island in a national marine park, I decided to join in and go.

Dinner was at 8pm, we were joined by Olivier, his mother and Jae all sitting together on a long table. We must have sat there about three hours, finding out about each other. Mac and Meghan were spending three months in Asia before going to Kenya, where they would do volunteer work for six months on a Malaria programme in a medical centre.

The next morning, I joined the other guests at breakfast before boarding the back of a pick-up truck with six other guests, two hampers one containing water and beer, the other our lunch and our snorkelling gear. We soon arrived at the pier, where Ron our captain awaited with his wooden long boat; soon we were off on a 20 minute trip out to see beyond tiny islands of rock topped with lush green vegetation until we reached Hong Island. There we hit the beach which was already filled with other longboats parked in a row and hundreds of other people. We spent about an hour their before deciding to move on to another beach, less busy. Ron took us around Hong Island and into this beautiful lagoon before heading off to a small but almost deserted beach a few minutes away on another island. Here we spend almost four hours, enjoying our picnic lunch, sunbathing and swimming around in the warm turquoise waters, before we had to head back before nightfall. That evening a couple from France, who had just arrived, joined us for dinner.

On Wednesday, Joe, someone I'd been in contact with over the internet, offered to take me out for the day and show me around. He arrived about 45 minutes late having got lost trying to find Le Passe Temps. I boarded his bike and we set of cautiously around down the long dirt track that led to the road and on our way to visit the Tiger Cave Temple. On the way I enjoyed the stunning scenery as we passed canyons with unusual rock faces topped by masses of greenery. Eventually we arrived at the Temple, it was certainly not one of the finest I had seen, Joe in fact told me that it was more of a tourist place and not a Temple he particularly liked – I had to agree. Anyway, I lit two candles and three incense sticks before a statue of a famous Buddhist monk, who I presume to have been an Arahant (an enlightened being full of wisdom and compassion), and made my wish. Then we visited the actual cave where the tiger was found and caged, although no tiger existed there now. Outside we were met by families of Macaques, a primate commonly found in region, some were eating fruit being handed to them and I noticed several babies among them. I was then shown Krabi town, the stunning twin peaks at the entrance to the town, the shopping centre, this had to be the smallest main town I had been to in Thailand. Next we rode to Ao Nang, the largest beach resort in the area, and a Scandinavian hotspot which did nothing much for me. Eventually we returned to Au Tha Lane and Le Passe Temps, where we took some refreshment and showed Joe around. Wondering what to do the next day, Joe told me we could take a kayak out around the canyons, lagoons and mangrove swamps, I thought it seemed a good idea and so we booked it for the next afternoon at about 1pm, to coincide with high tide.

Thursday morning, Joe arrived just before 10am; we went down to the beach where after a stroll along the water's edge we sat on the sand watching the little crabs darting about. Later we rode the short distance to the pier where we took a spot of lunch before getting in our kayak. In front of us was our guide, we paddled our way across the sea towards our first canyon and before we knew it we were at a cave filled with Macaques going about their business. I noticed how easily these Macaques blended into the rock of the cave, being almost the same colour. As we continued our journey, passing caves where sea gypsies once lived, I was amazed by the sheer beauty of the place and before we knew it, we arrived at an incredibly beautiful lagoon, the turquoise water contrasted by brown stone of the tall canyons and lush green vegetation growing from them. We called out only to hear our echoes breaking the tranquillity of the location, it was amazing. We journeyed on, seemingly a thousand miles from civilisation, through more canyons, passing some wondrous caves before suddenly arriving in the swamp. Our journey was now a much slower one, pointing our kayak through the narrow and at times very shallow water, trying to avoid the roots of the mangroves on one side and the protrusions of rock at the base of the cliffs in the other. Often we had to duck beneath overhanging roots and at times we would have to push and pull our way out of them, the water here was a stagnant greyish brown. Onwards we meandered sometimes the channel widened and we would made speedy progress, then suddenly we may turn a sharp bend into a channel so narrow, we would have to use the mangrove roots to push our way along. Suddenly we saw what appeared to be a crocodile ahead in the water but as we came closer to it, we realised that this was a harmless reptile swimming its way along. We also saw birds, a most unusual dark blue in colour, the flora and fauna here were so very different to what I'm used to. Eventually we turned into the open sea and paddled across the straight back to the pier. Upon reaching land, we washed our hands and Joe bought ice cream, which was very welcome after our afternoons exercise. Back on Joe's bike, he wanted to take a look at the main pier, a two minute ride away, as we reached it a large beetle crossed the bike's path, Joe wasn't able avoid the creature and it met an earthly end under the bike's front wheel. This upset Joe, he was concerned that as well as being responsible for the creature's demise, it struggled before giving up and may have suffered some pain. I have learned that a good Buddhist holds all life dear and will not even kill a mosquito intentionally – if only other ideologies and religions could be the same, how much better this world would be. We returned to Le Passe Temps, took showers and changed our clothes and Joe stayed to dinner that evening.

Friday and Joe had to go back to work today, so I decided I would take it easy. Mac and Meghan were leaving and after making our farewells, I took a book and settled down on a sun bed at the beach. It was a well needed lazy day which included a short siesta late afternoon. My inner peace, which had been with me all day, became shattered with an email I received after dinner that night. Once again my bank was sending my card to the Brixham branch and would be available for collection in ten days. Twelve days previously when I reported the card lost, I had been promised that the new card and associated security and pin numbers would be sent to my UK registered address within five to seven days, Now five to seven days on from when everything was supposed to have been resolved, not only would I have to wait a further ten days but the card yet again was being sent somewhere it shouldn't. I tried phoning the bank but gave up after five minutes on hold – I would call them in the morning, about 1 to 2am GMT, when I knew I would get straight through to someone based in the UK. Needless to say, that night I struggled to get to sleep.

Saturday, I arose from a poor night's sleep at around 8:15 and promptly made my call to the bank. I was irate but well mannered to the person on the other end, who could not offer much apart from sending me yet another card, a complete waste of time. I asked for someone in authority to call me back. About an hour later, a manager by the name of Debbie, called and told me that she had found an obscure item on my account which forced the sending of my Visa Debit cards to Brixham, she had now rectified this and I would get my new card in about two weeks. I'll not bore you all with any further conversations with the Spanish owned bank, which continued for much of the afternoon but the upshot is that they gave me an overdraft to keep me afloat until I got all my necessary bank and security numbers and could properly access my accounts again. Upon my return to the UK, I shall not be letting the matter drop, oh no. Now today the plan had been to join with some of the other guests on a trip to some different islands; instead I rented a motorbike, droving over 120 kilometres to release some bank-related stress out of my system. After dinner that evening, Joe came over and we sat on my terrace drinking beer, looking at the stars and making small talk.

Sunday, I went to breakfast late, well 10am, Mat, the breakfast waiter (who other guests had likened to Manuel at Fawlty Towers) told me there were no croissants or baguettes left, disappointed I ordered a ham omelette instead. Perhaps I should explain myself about Mat. His real name's Mohammed, he smiled a lot and one could often here him singing away, all in all he seems a happy chap. The downside was his memory, which was akin to that of a goldfish. Sometimes we would have to ask for something three times and he would still forget. He had this habit of bringing one item, two if we were lucky and three if it was a lottery winning day, things at a time on his tray, so we would get coffee, sometimes with milk but he always had to make a return trip with the sugar, or, we'd get our croissants and baguettes but the butter would come sometime later. Guests would order pancakes and they would be delivered to other guests at a different table who would then think they were getting treated and proceeded to eat them. I liked Mat, he gave us something to talk about, we knew he meant well and there was no rush anyway, so one could afford to allow an hour for breakfast giving him time to get his act together.

At this point I will tell you that this was my last day here before departing to Koh Samui, I wished I was departing for Bangkok and maybe that is what I should have done.... ....I will tell you in the next blog, Koh Samui. Just after breakfast I received a phone call from Joe, he had left something in my room, I went there and found a Christmas card, so sweet. Peter, Ben and Philip were leaving late afternoon returning to Bangkok, where Peter and Ben would go to their condo and from where Philip would enjoy his last night before flying back to Denmark for Christmas. After lunch I was overtaken by tiredness from the previous 36 hours and had a long siesta before seeing the Danes off. I had a quiet evening, settled the bill and after dinner that night, I packed my stuff and went to bed sleeping soundly, this was the calm before the storm.

Chiang Mai Pictorial

Loy Krathong - CELTA people

Loy Krathong - Pat & Despi lighting baloon

Loy Krathong -Baloon in the air

Nugent Waterside Elephant

Doi Sutep - ringing the bells

Doi Sutep - Monks blessing

Me at Doi Sutep

Our Students

Teachers & Students

Receiving my Teacher's Scarf and Milk

Kim's Cocktail Bar

Drinks at Kim's

Return to Bangkok

Saturday 6^th December, 2008

At 10am the songthaew arrived to take eight remaining English teachers to either the airport or the city centre. Neng our driver, who had been driving us back and forth for the past four weeks, was his usual cheery self. Daniela, Sonny and I were all getting the Air Asia flight departing for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 12:30. Daniela was to get an onward flight to Hong Kong while Sunny and I were going to Wendy House near the MBK shopping centre where we would join Dina and Nathan. That evening the four Wendy guests were joined by Alan, who had parked himself on the 28^th floor of some snazzy hotel but in an out of the way location.

Now I was supposed to go to Pattaya but at the last minute decided to stay in Bangkok instead. I could of course just spend three nights here and then journey down to Pattaya for the other six nights before Krabi but as it turned out, I stayed the entire time here.

Digressing a little, I had planned to leave it until Krabi before deciding my future but made arrangements whilst still in Chiang Mai to return to Thailand and start ten weeks voluntary teaching in Nongkhai on the border with Laos. This was to be paid for this week together with booking a flight for the return journey here. Things don't always go to plan......

Sunday 7^th December, I awoke at about 10am, put my dirty clothes in the laundry and poodled about for a while before going down to breakfast and joining Sunny. Afterwards, I went back to my room and checked my wallet before going out when I noticed that my UK Visa Debit card was missing. I searched the room, returned to the laundry where I'd been earlier but it was nowhere to be found. I called the bank in the UK, cancelled my card which at the same time caused me to lose the internet banking. I was told it would all be sorted out with a new card and all the necessary pin/security numbers sent to my registered UK address in 5 – 7 days. At the same time, I activated a Visa Electron card that I had kept and carried as a spare for this kind of emergency. I was told to try later in the day (after 9am U.K. time) to ask the banking department if I could transfer between accounts by telephone as these were exceptional circumstances. I did this and got put on hold somewhere in the Indian subcontinent for five minutes while they gave me a different number to call – the number they gave was the one I had just called them on! I tried again later only to be told I should use the internet banking services to make the transfer, I told them I could not – explaining yet again the reason why but the same message just came back "You have to use your internet banking sir"! I terminated the call, with my blood on the boil; I vowed to create merry hell with the bank when I got back to the U.K.

With all this happening, I missed joining the others to go to the Grand Palace and instead I decided to go shopping for a new wallet, the card pockets having become dangerously loose in my existing one, I did not want to risk losing anything else from it. In the Tokyu department store all gentlemen's wallets were discounted 20% in the sale, Cardin, Givenchy, Lauren and many more were on offer. Eventually I chose myself a black Ralph Lauren wallet which had some of the card pockets protected by a flap, externally it had a similar design to the one I gave to Best as a present, inside though it was quite different.

That evening the others wanted to try a Japanese restaurant, during my stay in Chiang Mai, I had been quite bad from an allergic reaction to shellfish. I therefore decided to stay clear and went to Silom Soi 4 to eat at the Balcony.

The next day, I breakfasted with Dina and Nathan before going for a stroll around the shops accompanied also by Alan and Sunny. We had lunch in this Honk Kong style cafe/restaurant, then the girls went off to get a massage back near Wendy's, while the boys decided to follow Alan to find this area where there were supposed to be some good places for an oil massage. After about 45 minutes walking, we gave up and returned to Wendy's and found a good massage place nearby. Despite it being a Thai massage, getting my body elbowed, kneed etc. I still managed to doze off and had to be woken a couple of time by the masseuse to change my position. Feeling good from the massage, Alan and I had a couple of beers with Nathan and we were later joined by Dina before disappearing in a taxi for the airport and flight home to Bangalore. That evening I took Alan and Sunny to Silom Soi 4, where I had an Indian curry, fish and chips for Alan and a Thai soup for Sunny.

Tuesday, I had firmly decided to remain in Bangkok until my week in Krabi and that morning I transferred to the Om Yim Lodge, where I had stayed before and much preferred to Wendy's and besides, it's in Silom where I liked to be at night. That evening however, I went to Nana in Sukhamvit, meeting up with Alan who by now was the last one of my teacher peers from the course who was still in Bangkok. We went for a pizza which tasted wonderful, a few days earlier in Chiang Mai; I had a mouth watering conversation about eating pizza with Despi so I sent her an SMS to tell her about it.

Over the next few days I explored the Bangkok streets, went to the Immigration Bureau to extend my visa for a third month and called in at a large English language school to find out if any jobs were likely to be available come April. Then I went to Plantip, which is a giant IT shopping centre, resembling an exhibition hall with all its shops and stalls. Here I bought a sim-card modem which allows me internet access through the cell phone network – great for when there's no Wi-Fi around.

It was Saturday morning, after a late night out at DJ Station and G.O.D.; I got up surprisingly early just after 11am and checked my emails only to find dreadful news. The bank was sending my card to their Brixham, Devon branch for me to collect on or around the 18^th December. I called them to enquire what was going on, they were supposed to send my card to my registered address, someone by the name of Liz was being extremely apologetic at the other end of the phone and checked with her superior to see what could be done. It transpired that they would have to destroy the card being processed and issue yet another which this tome would absolutely definitely go to my registered address. This was getting nerve wracking especially with it being close to Christmas and the usual UK shutdown for a week, fortunately my friends who were looking after things for me realised the problem I was facing and kindly transferred five-hundred pounds to my current account. This still meant I could not pay my volunteer fees nor book a flight back to Bangkok late January until my card arrive and I could access internet banking to transfer money from my savings account. As I write this today, I don't know when I things will get sorted. All I know is that I am contacting the Chairman's office of the bank for an explanation and resolution so that this never happens again.

After I went to a Japanese style haircut booth, where for 100 baht, which I placed into a machine, I got a 10 minute haircut. At last I had a decent cut, the best not only in Thailand but for a long time previously as well.

Sunday 14^th January was a good day. I took the Skytrain down to the river and boarded the ferry to visit the Grand Palace, which was built after King Rama 1's ascension to the throne in 1782. The complex houses the royal residence, a number of government offices and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Palace is exceptionally beautiful and was worthwhile visiting. Later I met up with Amanda, who I hadn't seen since Chiang Mai. She had come in from the suburbs of Bangkok where she had been volunteer teaching and I joined her in the bar/restaurant at the Jim Thompson's then went shopping with her at Platip, the giant IT shopping centre.

I spent a couple of hours that evening in Silom Soi 4, dined on chicken and chips with onion rings and enjoyed a few beers before heading back to the Om Yim Lodge for my last night's sleep in Bangkok for 3 weeks.

Chiang Mai – A Teacher’s Lot

10^th November – 5^th December 2008

Some things in life are easy, some things are not and some things are very heavy going. My time in Chiang Mai was certainly the later of these.

Okay, four weeks on an intensive CELTA course that should be run over six weeks (but for present day economic realities), combined with the tranquil isolation that was Nugent Waterside had an effect on me that I have no desire to repeat ever again. The other eleven teachers on the course were great and we all got on amazingly well. Our tutors Jacqueline and John gave us some great tutelage and helped us achieve our goals. The location was beautiful, accommodation excellent and the food very good. So what was the problem? Well I felt locked away, miles from civilisation only able to live and sleep for CELTA, in the end I was getting claustrophobic and had to get out a couple of times a week, taking a taxi into the city, where I felt able to live and breathe again. During those four weeks, I would go to bed between midnight and 1 am and wake up at about 5 am and I know I wasn't the only one there suffering with sleep deprivation.

Out of the twelve teachers attending the course, only American Chris, lived out, preferring to live in the city and riding a motorbike in each day. When I booked the course I thought that being at Nugent with everything in one place would be good – Chris got it right and I got it wrong. It took almost a week back in Bangkok for me to recover and stop dreaming CELTA.

So I'm not going into detail except to say that the students we taught were a great bunch, so nice to teach, so willing to learn. They helped me to realise that Asia is where I want to be teaching and not Europe. The people in Chiang Mai, whenever I made my escape were terrific and very friendly and I will miss them. On our last day teaching they gave each of us teachers a present of a scarf and cartons of milk. I love my scarf and look forward to wearing it when I get back to England.

Our first week we were still quite relaxed; and with the first twelfth lunar month occurring on the 12th November came Loy Krathong, the biggest festival in Thailand after Songkhrang (the Thai New Year). It is a festival which celebrates the end of the rainy season and is held to honour the spirits of the water. Alan, Canadian Chris, Despi, Pat and I went into the city for the evening to experience the festivities first hand. We took a taxi to the Night Market then meandered along the street towards the river to see baskets of flowers and lighted candles were floated on the river together with paper hot air balloons by the thousands which were released into the clear night sky. Fireworks were set of everywhere and Alan got hit by two, one in his side and another on his arm, fortunately he got off relatively unscathed. On the following Sunday afternoon we visited Doi Sutep, considered to be the most important temple in the north of Thailand, it is situated atop a mountain just outside Chiang Mai and was founded about 600 years ago. The drive there is by way of a steep and winding road and upon reaching the summit one has a stunning view over the city. The temple is very beautiful and at the centre stands a Gold Pagoda which glistens in the sun.

Then there were my escapes, when I would head to the night market in the city where I could do some therapeutic bargaining at one of the stalls. A couple of times I went for a massage and on one occasion treated myself to a facial, body scrub and massage pampering that lasted two and a half hours. I would always end up later in the evening at Kim's Cocktails, situated on the street on the Loi Khroi Road opposite the Thai Boxing stadium and when I say the street, it was actually in the road itself, this little cocktail bar with eight stools squeezed around it, where I would sup on a Gin and Tonic with ice and freshly squeezed lime while the music played. I introduced this bar to my course mates and on our last night, most of us celebrated together with Jacqueline and John, enjoying our last drink together as a group. If you ever go to Chiang Mai, you must seek out this unusual little bar and enjoy the experience, the owner Kim, I know for sure, will take very good care of you.

On one of my trips into the city, I met up with Art, a local Thai, who together with his friend decided we were in the wrong part of the city, so I became the second pillion passenger on a 125cc Yamaha motorbike. Not having ridden a motorcycle for nearly 20 years, nor been a passenger for even longer, I was quite nervous, however there I was squeezed onto the rear of this bike crossing from one side of Chiang Mai to the other in a fair amount of traffic. Later that evening I tried to get a taxi home but nothing was available, so once again I was perched on this bike for nearly 20 kilometres to get home. When I got off the bike, at Nugent Waterside, I was walking bow-legged back to my room. The next Saturday, Chris gave me a lift into the city on his motorbike and I really did enjoy it. I managed to ride pillion a few times during my stay and loved the sense of freedom that comes with a bike.

Whilst on the course, Thailand got into the mainstream international news over the closure of the airports in Bangkok by government protesters. This went on for nine days and things only started returning to normal the day before I flew back to Bangkok. The situation had no direct effect on me whatsoever.

Chiang Mai – New Beginnings

A little after 1pm, on Sunday 9th November, a songthaew arrived at the Gap 2 Guest House to transport a bunch of prospective English language teachers to the Nugent Waterside, a retreat just outside Hang Dong and situated about 20 kilometres distant from Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai.

On arrival we received the usual pre-course advice and instructions and then shown to our rooms where we would be spending much of the next four weeks. My room was upstairs in a corner position. Upon entering into the room, I immediately felt at home it was simple but comfortable and clean. Four window to three walls gave excellent lighting to the room by day and a combinations of ceiling, wall, table and desk lighting meant that I could choose between a bright working environment or subtle, warm, cosy lighting by night. The furniture included a good sized wardrobe, kingsize bed, desk with leather swivel chair, the essential fridge, air conditioning a flat screen TV with two movie channels and BBC World News amongst its tally of channels. The en-suite was attractively tile with a large shower, loo and washbasin with windows to two aspects. I unpacked my bags and soon my room had the "Peter lives here" look and feel to it.

I returned downstairs and joined my fellow prospective English teachers:

• Alan, a UK/Chinese guy who was born in Holland and the "kid" amongst the group, and I mean kid in the nicest possible way;
  
• Amanda, a Brit who has spent the past 16 years in New Zealand and Australia and someone I gradually warmed to very dearly;
  
• Chris, a Canadian from Vancouver, the youngest of our group in years and one of the eldest in terms of profound wisdom;
  
• Daniella, from Italy and of Anglo-Italian decent;
  
• Despina, from South Africa. Now sometimes I find South Africans very heavy going – not Despina;
  
• Dina, from India, a very warm and lovely lady, who as we found out later, shopping had quite a passion for silver;
  
• Nathan, also from India and a work colleague of Dina, a christian Indian and a really nice guy who has a band back home;
  
• Patrick, South African and partner of Despina, a lovely guy who was formerly a yachtsman as well as a lawyer, but considers his past careers to be considers a monument to excess yet strangely enough he is a Chelsea supporter?
  
• Shaun, a very funny Chinese- American who trains aviation pilots for a living;
  
• Sunny, a Korean living in the U.A.E. with a disposition that matches her name.
  

One more, who I met earlier at the Gap 2 House, staying in Chiang Mai and motor-biking in every day was another Chris. This particular Chris was a New Yorker living in Cambodia. He made his living as a photographer.

Al in all I could not have found a nicer bunch of guys if I'd hand-picked them from a choice of a thousand and it was even nicer that they came from so many locations across the globe. Then of course there are our tutors and mentors, Jacqueline and John, more about them and the Thai students we teach later.

The next four weeks are going to be the hardest I can recall but with a bunch of guys, many of whom I'm sure in the future, will keep in touch with.

 

Phuket, the last few days (for now)

Tuesday 4th November 2008

The evening was spent at the Rosie bar, where the owner was one of Best's friends, we played Connect 4 but that got boring because I kept winning. Then we started to play Jenga, there were six of us playing, three Brits, yes I was joined by a couple of guys from Oxford, Stuart and Daniel, Best and two Thai girls. After a couple of "practice" games, we started to get serious with the loser buying a round of drinks, I lost the first game, then Daniel was next, in fact after six games we managed to have six different losers. It was getting late and I had taken sufficient Bacardi by the time we went home.

Wednesday 5th November 2008

The opening day of the new 007 movie, Quantum of Solace, as usual by now, it was a reclining sofa seat at the rear of the auditorium, some cheesy popcorn, zero cola and a packet of M&M's. I considered it to be good film but preferred the Thai horror movie we watched the previous Saturday.

Thursday 6th November 2008

My last visit to the dentist at Phuket's, Bangkok Hospital took place at 1pm for my crowns to be fitted. It was expected to take around ninety minutes, so Best was going to fill that time getting a bite to eat. It may of occurred to those that know me that I appear to be eating less or missing out on meals, this is to an extent true but I think I'm eating better – less bread more fruit and vegetables, anyway I have taken off two inches from the waist, my face is thinner and I feel much healthier for it.

Now where were we? – oh yes, Best was going to get something to eat, however his mobile phone rang, so he pulled into a parking space in the road to continue his phone conversation. Now in many places here, on an even day parking is permitted on one side of the road and on odd days, the other. It was an even day, Best parked up on the odd side just as the police came along. The result of this minor transgression resulted in a 500 baht fine, though this was negotiated down to 300 baht for immediate payment. My treatment was completed around 2:20 pm, I called Best to tell him I was ready and got a sharp reply to wait ten minutes for him, at 2:45 pm the blue/grey Toyota pulled up, I got in and asked how the meal was. I was told everything that had happened, no meal had been consumed, only a visit to the police station to pay the parking fine as we headed to the Black Canyon Coffee Shop. It was planned to go somewhere that afternoon, I wanted to go to the see the waterfall, Best had previously been thinking we should go to the export jewellery factory to get myself something to remember Phuket by. It was now getting late, okay I said but I'm not buying anything, well maybe a silver ring as a keepsake.

Inside was enormous, our personal assistant there tried to offer various items of trinkets to which I politely declined, stating I was only interested in silver. The Men's silver counter was tucked away in a side room, it was sparsely filled and I could see nothing there of the least interest to me. It was then I was coerced into taking a look at the white gold rings. I need say no more, as I sit here tapping away on my Toshiba wearing a shiny and matt finish ring on my thumb.

We went bowling in the evening, now after 6pm the main lighting is dimmed, disco lights come on and the music gets loud, six games were played and I got thrashed 5-1.

Friday 7th November 2008

My last full day in Phuket. Best was around all day apart from some time to do an airport run in the afternoon. At precisely 6pm, my new ring was delivered (oh yes, I never said before but it was especially made for me). It arrived in its box which in turn was in an attracive fabric wallet, complete with a certificate and guarantee. Best took it out of its box and placed it on my thumb.

This evening, we were both smartly dressed, he was wearing white jeans and a white designer t-shirt, I had on pale grey casual trousers and a pink long sleeved poplin shirt. This evening we were going to dine at White Box, an exclusive restaurant on the beach. At 7:30 pm we sat down on the white leather chairs at the white corner table on the second level looking directly onto a rocky beach to the sea around the bay in Patong. I ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio, wine being a something of a luxury here in Thailand. It was a wonderful meal, which was served at a relaxing pace. The portions were generous, the presentation beautiful and the service impeccable. After our three courses we moved upstairs to the bar, where we sat on a sofa, overlooking the bay, drinking Sparkling Chardonnay out of champagne flutes containing maraschino cherries which we eventually followed with espresso coffee for me and hot tea for Best. After more than three hours, we returned to Mio, which had already closed, so we went up to my room and started playing and exchanging music on our laptops.

Saturday 8th November 2008

It was time to depart Au Patong in Phuket for the journey north to Chiang Mai. I didn't want to go and if I had let my heart rule would have stayed. My head though is a little bit stronger – though not by very much. As we drove to the airport, Best detoured into Phuket town to show me the newly built condominium he was buying and hoped to move into in about a week. I told him I want to see photographs of it as soon as he is settled in. We arrived at the airport just one hour before my flight was due to depart, checked in and made my farewells with Best before going through to departures and boarding the plane. I don't mind admitting how upset I was to leave and made a promise to return soon.

And so to Chiang Mai.

Phuket, 8 days in the middle

Wednesday 29th October 2008

All morning long, the rain poured down in near continuous gushes finally easing by early afternoon, just a little before 2pm, Best pulled up in his Toyota Vios directly outside the Connect Guest House where I was sat waiting. I got into the vehicle, buckled up and off we drove. Today we were going to get the car's rear view camera repaired and visit Bangkok Hospital in Phuket town, where so many Thai people I've met have said I should get the rest of my dental work done.

First we pulled into the little back street garage we first visited a couple of days before. This time the garage owner brought out a rear bumper encased in its wrapping, this was to be an add-on part to protect the camera and exhaust from any future shunt. The wrapping was then discarded revealing itself as off-white plastic, not a good choice I thought for a nice blue-grey coloured car, however, after a trial fitting the new bumper was whisked away to be sprayed the same colour as the car, thank goodness I thought. It would be ready on Saturday. Next we went to a garage specialising in in-car entertainment, including would you believe, satellite equipment for television reception, It was here the new camera was installed, while Best flicked through brochures of speaker systems. Finally when the new camara was installed and working we drove off, this time to the offices of the insurance company so that Best could claim his money back for the repairs.

Eventually we arrived at Bangkok Hospital, the reception was luxuriously filled with sofas and rather grand wing chairs. I completed the registration papers and was escorted up the escalator to the dental department. There was no dentist available to see me right away, so an appointment was made for Friday at 1 o'clock.

That evening Best was working and decided to have a quiet night so I took a meal at Connect before returning to my room and messing around on the computer.

Thursday 30th October 2008

I awoke once again to the sound of rain, outside, the streets were awash. I dithered about for as long as possible before going downstairs to breakfast. All I had on my agenda today was the dentist at 1pm and studying. I was not expecting to see Best as his clients from the previous night had booked him to chauffeur them around for the next two evenings.

The rain had eased to a half-hearted drizzle by the time I had left for the dentist. My appointment for 1pm turned out to be quite optimistic as I sat around for over 30 minutes until they were ready for me. Finally at 2pm I exited with a lovely new bridge and a gaping hole in my bank account.

The afternoon was spent getting to grips with my English Grammar for Teachers book, going through all the different conditions for adjectives, then adverbs. Late afternoon, the hotel phone rang, "who the hell would be ringing me on that" I thought, it was Connect's reception to tell me I had a free ticket to the Thai buffet evening at 8pm.

After getting ready and taking a leisurely stroll, I sat myself down at a table in the Connect restaurant and bar, ordered a gin and tonic and whiled away the few minutes remaining before the buffet commenced. The buffet was indeed a good one, with several different Thai dishes from which to choose, I filled my plate and enjoyed the meal. Later that evening, I went to the Boat Bar to see the show and bumped into Best who was busily taking his clients on a tour of the Paradise complex.

Later that night, I went back to my room, fell asleep and had the strangest dream. I was on my way to Chiang Mai, I had booked Best to take me to Phuket airport and as a friend he came with me to the Thai Airways check-in desk. At the desk I explained that my trip to Chiang Mai was so I could attend an English language teaching course upon which, I was given a puzzle of hundreds upon hundreds of tiny coloured metallic triangles, that I had to make into a pillow for good luck. Well I had no idea where to start, so I asked Best for his help, soon the little triangles were transformed into a squishy little pillow and I had to keep it with me to ensure the luck was retained. Then an official from the airline decided that there was a danger of me losing this luck unless Best, who put together the pillow, travelled with me to Bangkok, where I would be changing planes and in-fact airports. The official promised to get Best back to Phuket after at no cost to either of us and so Best travelled with me to Bangkok, guarding the pillow with me. Upon arrival at Don Mueang airport, we went to the transfer desk, at which point another official told Best that he must get on the transfer bus with me to Suvarnabhum airport and from where my connecting flight would take me to Chiang Mai. The official promised that at Suvarnabhum, Best would be able to return home. All this for good luck I thought. We took the bus and eventually arrived at Suvarnabhum airport, I had the pillow in my hand and started to say farewell to Best when I awoke. One week on and this dream is still vivid in my mind – strange.

Friday 31st October 2008 – Halloween

Went downstairs at 11:30 and was joined by Best, I had my usual American breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and sauté potatoes, with toast, orange juice and coffee, Best had a Thai Breakfast of some beef mince and vegetables with rice, topped with a fried egg, orange juice and tea. I told him all about my strange dream in the night and wondered if it meant anything. Then it was off to Bangkok Hospital in Phuket town to visit the dentist. I know I needed some fillings and also wanted a removable bridge for my back teeth, however two dentists there decided that the filled teeth would not be strong enough for any denture and to preserve them, three teeth should be crowned. An appointment was made for Sunday morning, to get my crowns started, the back teeth would have to wait a while.

Next we called into the Central shopping centre where we went to the Black Canyon Coffee shop and ordered at thirst quenching drink each, mine being an Iced Fruit Tea, which I have become quite partial to and Best had an Iced Green Tea. Whilst enjoying our drinks, Best was going through his wallet, it had seen better days and when I got my wallet out to compare, he was taken by the fact it had a noteclip. I decided he needed a new wallet complete with noteclip and it would be my "friendship" gift to him.

We left the coffee shop and proceeded to the department store, the men's accessory department was filled with counters selling all brands of leather wallets. Eventually, he found one with Ralph Lauren wallet with a tastefully patterned outer skin and the all important noteclip but it was brown and Best wanted black. The store assistant however was very helpful and she went through her stock of still packaged wallets behind the counted, after a few minutes searching, she came up trumps and held in her hand, the wallet Best had so desired in his favoured black. With that, I knew I had to buy it and so Best got a brand new wallet and I got a great big thank-you.

That evening Best had to work again, I went out at about 11 o'clock to find all the bars painstakingly and gruesomely decorated for Halloween. I walked passed a body of a young man, lying dead in the road outside the bar My Way, his hair matted with blood, his half naked body bruised and bloody. Next door at the Boat bar, I ordered a Bacardi and Coke, I had decided that my strange dream the previous night could have been partly attributed to the five glasses of Gin and Tonic beforehand. At 11:40, the show commenced, Halloween themed it lasted for an hour ending with four numbers from the Rocky Horror Show. It was quite spectacular. That night despite the horrors of Halloween, I slept peacefully.

Saturday 2nd November 2008

Moving day, Yes this is day I checked out of Connect for the more quietly located Sun & Sea room rent, above the Mio coffee shop. A few minutes before midday, I paid my bill, made my goodbyes and wandered off only with my laptop bag to Mio. My suitcase would be collected later when Best returned from the airport where he had taken his quite demanding clients of the past few days. In the evening Best drove us around the bay to the Panya restaurant, which stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the bay all the way round to The Rawia Pier. The food was very good but Best went a little over the top with the ordering, we had two starters and four mains plus rice. I was defeated and even Best who seems to have an oversized appetite couldn't finish it all. Later we relaxed on a reclining sofa at the SF Cinema Complex, where I was treated to a Thai horror move, the title of which roughly translates (I am told) into, Coming Soon Soul. I have to say, it was the best film I had seen so far, there were a few times we both jumped in our seats, Wes Craven "eat your heart out". In my humble opinion, it even surpassed James Bond - Quantum of Solace, which we were to see a few days later.

Sunday 2nd November 2008

It was an early start today, downstairs at 8:30 for some breakfast, then straight into the Bestmobile for the drive to Bangkok Hospital where I would be whiling away the hours between 09:30 and 12:15 in the dentist chair having three teeth prepared for crowns. Needless to say when I came out, my mouth was feeling rather numb and food was the last thing on my mind as Best sat scoffing in the Black Canyon Coffee House. At least though it was over until Thursday when I would have the permanent crowns fitted. That evening was a quiet one, I was able eat by then and we had a few drinks at Mio before retiring.

Monday 3rd November 2008

Today I was to be shown around Phuket Island, this would mean a whistle-stop tour of the some of the beaches followed by a hearty lunch, a visit to the Big Buddha of Phuket and a sunset. First, Best needed to go to his apartment, I volunteered myself along for the ride and I also wanted to have a look at his home. It was a simple studio, with kitchen and bathroom, made homely by his personal touches together with the obligatory the 36 inch Sony LCD TV and home cinema system. Joined by Best's friend, Taem, Who I'd first met a week previously we finally set off on my sight-seeing trip. Off we drove calling by Karon Bay, then along to Kata and Nai Harn before lunch in the sunshine besides Rawai pier. After lunch, it was surprising that anyone could move, I was stuffed and had eaten the least of the three of us.

Back in the car we drove northwards towards Phuket town before starting to ascend a mountain road forming a corridor through rainforest towards the Big Buddha of Phuket. When we arrived it was quite a magnificent sight, 45 metres high and dressed in slabs of white marble, the statue was nearly completed with just the Lotus seat upon which the Buddha sat, to be completed.

There was a lot for us to see and do there but it was a poignant moment for me when in the temple I made my prayer to Buddha, this was followed by walking in a circle around the effigy and placing a coin in each of the 37 metal pots placed there. After we wrote our names on one of the marble slabs that would be used to finish the Lotus seat. For this I donated 300 baht towards the monument's completion. The experience of being there was poignant.

About half way back down the mountain, we stopped at a bar, though we were inland, there were magnificent sea views and took some refreshment before heading to the cape, Laem Prom Thep for the sunset. It had been good weather with only a smattering of cloud, watching the sunset was awesome.

I arrived in Phuket disappointed after Bangkok and considered departing sooner than planned, now I only have five nights and four days left here, I could easily stay much longer.....