Miiiiiiiister...you want massaaaaaaaage!?

So it's time for us to do some real travelling. After seven weeks on Thai beaches we are about to move on to China. Just had the final green curry for awhile & tomorrow we fly to Macau.

We seem to be seeing China on the news almost daily at the moment - either because there's more catastrophic floods or more news on the new rail link to Tibet. It seems that not only are we heading to China for the peak of the rains but also the heat. Apparently we have to expect to be living in a wet furnace much of the time.

If you thought that the weather forecast where you live was a bit unreliable then you should take a look at the forecast here in Thailand - it has been exactly the same every single day since we've been here. The whole country is to expect 'scattered thundershowers' and a few lucky places can expect 'flash floods due to the southwest monsoon' You could argue that they are just covering their backs, but it doesn't seem to have been very accurate so far.

I mentioned last time that Thailand was King crazy. Well that's not changed. You can measure how much people are still obsessed by how many people are wearing yellow on Mondays - the King was born on a Monday & yellow is the lucky colour for that day. Hence the whole country wears yellow on Mondays.

As if praise of the King wasn't enough, this has now somewhat bizarely been extended to Bhutan's Crown Prince - Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuka. As I'm sure you ALL saw on tv that much royalty from around the world was here to celebrate a few weeks ago. Well it seems the Prince from Bhutan stole their hearts, and he too is now revered by a the nation. Today we were lucky enough to be given an A4 colour print of him by a Monk! No word yet on his lucky colour though.

Penalty shootouts - what a bizarre way to decide which is the best football team in the world. Enough has already been said about who is to blame for what, but I thought the commentator here summed up the reason for England's loss. Apparently it was because both the Poruguese & the referee (from Argentina) speak Latin, which gave Ronaldo & friends an unfair advantage.... And I thought Latin was a dead language.

Although most of the last few weeks was spent on the beach (enhanced by the purchase of a lilo - I wasn't keen on the idea, but then hogged it most of the time), we did manage to squeeze in a little Thai culture too. We hired a car & took a day out exploring Samui - which didn't take that long as it's pretty small. Highlights were probably the Mummified Monk & Big Buddha.

The Monk isn't actually a mummy in the sense that he's not wrapped up. He died in 1973, but apparently after a few days or so he still hadn't decomposed. So his family decided to do the decent thing - they sat him up, gave him some sunglasses & put him in a glass container for the world to come & see. So there he sits, looking like a rather serene old man in a class case with sunglasses.

Perhaps more bizarre than his prescence is the fact that there's another one the same just down the road.

The Big Buddha was our first (of many) proper Wat (Temple) excursions of this trip. The Temple was only finished about 25 years ago, and was constructed on a tiny island where a local Monk thought would be a peaceful place for meditation & education. It is a beautiful temple & was extremely peaceful - until a Bangkok Airways Boeing 717 flew directly overhead & landed just behind it. I think the Temple was proposed long before the airport was, but sadly progress is progress. At least there's only 34 flights a day to Samui....

We also had a night out at the cabaret. This was supposed to be 'free' but of course we hadn't bargained for the fact that the drinks (a bottle of Sang Som at over 4 times the going rate) would be extortionate. Anyway we were given a fine performance that took us through the ages from Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' to Madonna's 'Hung Up' via 'One Night in Bangkok' by ladyboys, boys & some that we couldn't tell what they were. Either way, all were stunning with figures do die for.

We topped the night off at the 'Reggae Pub' which mysteriously plays no reggae. It was however full with Western boys & their Thai girls. We didn't stay too long.

During our ride to Chaweng where we went out for the night, I couldn't help overhearing some young English girls. They were talking about what to wear to go out clubbing that night - and one commented that she was wearing her heels. High heeled shoes - is that really what backpackers drag around the world with them these days? I must be getting too old. Our most recent addition is a travel kettle so that we can make a nice cup of tea in our room - that's how rock & roll we are!

To be honest I thought our deep fried lettuce experience was perhaps an accident, maybe just a change from the usual ants or bugs that fall into the pots & pans. But we've had deep fried lettuce again so it must have been deliberate. Anyway, this time the most interesting food award goes to Chocolate Noodles. An interesting concept - these come not as a hot dish, but as a snack in a packet. It's basically dry noodles covered in chocolate - a bit like Coco Pops, except that you know as soon as you drink something they will expand in your stomach.

Which leaves us where we began, about to enter China - a place I've been before & a place that is the home to half of Kylie's roots. Hard to now how often we'll be in touch but we'll try to keep you updated.

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And finally a word from our sponsors (which will explain the title & make sense to you if you've ever been to Asia):

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