Blogs from Ao Phang-Nga Marine NP, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 8

A foot from my bed a mass of ants is devouring the last carcass of fly from this evenings kill. Every night hundreds of flying things get zapped or fried by the lights on the porch or in the apartment…thankfully only a few carcasses land on my indoor flooring….but by an hour after sundown there is nothing left but a clean floor. Voracious ants in these parts… Well, we are back from our little break, Sang gave me a lift home and a huge deal on the room there. We paid 1000 baht for everything (motorcyc included), that’s about 30 bucks CDN. I am so tired….I wish I could sleep in this country….I’ll be happy to curl up in my own bed in a month or so. We have only been here a week tomorrow, but ... read more

New Souls The youngest one is only two. The oldest can’t tell us his age, or won’t. He is not happy to be taken away. The middle one is a girl, but until we can get her washed I am not convinced. The house is not much more than the tin siding and tree branches supporting it. I can’t describe the raised platform they all sleep on. There are thousands of these homes with just as many made up families. The old man is not a relative…he just happened to share food and they became one. Most of the time families such as these are left alone, the oldest or most capable child expected to do what he can to collect money or food. This boy sells cooked eggs. Thankfully, I haven’t run into a ... read more

Fi wasn’t happy about being forced to get up at 8am on the part of the holiday that was supposed to be all about relaxing, but we had a boat to catch! We wolfed down some breakfast and wandered down to the beach, where the Lady Sarojin was bobbing gently at the end of a jetty. There were twelve of us all heading out for a day of snorkelling in the waters of the Similin Islands. The boat powered away from the shore, heading for the islands. Fi did her normal thing of falling asleep as soon as it started moving. Then the engine coughed, spluttered and died. The crew got out their toolkits and a large hammer and started poking around the engine. After half an hour it was looking like we were going to ... read more

The roti man stopped by the orphanage today. His little cart with a tray and wok, a flat of eggs and roti dough balls. There is nothing like a roti in the afternoon. It is a thin pancake fried in sweet oil and a fried egg cooked on top. Add to this a good helping of sweet butter, sweetened condensed milk and a teaspoon of sugar rolle dup in a newspaper. Oh Yeah Baby! Marrin and Miles were fascinated by the process and I ended up ordering a “few” for the little crowd of orphanage kids that noticed the peddler. It cooled off a bit this afternoon after a few short rain showers. The night sky is currently lit up with silent lightening….it glows deep pink against the clouds in the distance. I put the kids ... read more

Excuse me, Front desk? There are ants in my bathwater…. I finally had a sit down cleansing this evening in a little plastic washing tub that I could sort of almost crouch over. Nice….I didn’t even mind having only cold water. Lol. It is an amazing thing to realize I am comfortable without a few comforts of home. Today was a good day. I learned to ride the motorbike with two kids on the back, I managed to find my way back to the internet place with the good connection, and the lady boy at the orphanage carried over a big multi gallon thingy of drinking water so I can make my instant 3-in-1 coffee in the morning! Sanuk Sanuk (fun fun) Let’s see….today I am thankful for: Rain showers and cooler temperatures…oohoo 29 degrees! Boiled ... read more