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Published: November 7th 2007
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so i'm going to try and blog with a tad of a hangover.........twas me burp day yesterday, im now an official old bag.
we had planned a few drinks and dinner at our coco restaurant and bar, so the staff from the clinic came - there was my friend Nathan, and Avril, Lot, Sheena, Alex, Brendan, the 4 new English teachers that came out yesterday too (from POD - they do other voluntary work placements too and they are staying at our bungalow resort - 2 of them from Swindon can you believe, Walcot and Park North - how strange is that! small world), and then James came along with a pressie for me. First he gave me some salt and straight away i said "TEQUILA!!" yeehar. i was already on my first Tequila sunrise so a big bottle of tequila was a brucie bonus. he also bought limes, a knife and 2 shot glasses! i went round the table and did the necessary pouring and slamming and we all became very happy!
we were meant to go to the jungle party (half moon) at around 11pm but we were having such a good time at coco beach bar
that we all just stayed there! not sure how many cocktails i had but it was great fun. Sheena was brilliant, she had organised balloons and a banner over the bar (i wouldnt mind but they said 40!) eeeek. then a cake came out with candles - i wont say wot i wished for, it was yummy, and then later on fireworks on the beach!!! quel surprise or wot! i kept getting all these birthday shockers! they were brill, altho the rockets were dodgy, one shot sideways across the beach and hit a bungalow! it seemed quite funny at the time, its a great example of thai health and safety - there is none! hilarious.
anyway, i even managed to go for a couple of swims after midnight! i do like a good swim in the evening!
im not functioning terribly well today but managed to recover the use of my legs to walk to the internet cafe........
7th November
another day another dollar another blog. well, im now recovered from my birthday shenanigans, i have to say it was the best birthday i could have wished for and mainly down to Sheena and her great
ideas and organisation, it made it a very special one. Good Times and Happy Days all rolled into one.
So, on Sunday, we decided to bite the bullet and get motorbikes. You really need them to get around the island and with all the rain we had put it off as we were slightly nervous, we've never rode proper bikes before and everyone says how you get the kho phangan 'tattoo", that is - that everyone falls off due to the dodgy roads and gets grazes and cuts, there is lots of sand on roads, and so on. Nobody wears helmets but we did ask for them and looked a right pair of gimps as they are like gerry helmets. During the war................
anyway, at a 100 baats a day we will just keep them for the duration. We rode back from Baan Tai to our place, a good 10 or 15 mins ride, and i loved it. sheena a bit more uncomfortable with it for now, but she rides fine and will get more confident in no time. the next day was work for sheena, and so (on monday) i decided me and the wheels were going
to take a road trip to become acquainted. i went off to phaeng noy waterfall and nature trail, (inland) and saw the waterfalls, and climbed up the nature trail to the viewpoint across the island, and carried on hiking for a couple of hours with my ipod and a bottle of water. got very hot going uphill! sweaty minger.
then after a couple of hours, i carried on to the north of the island (we're on south coast) to Chaloklum and stopped at malibu beach and had a walk round, then got my croc shoe stuck on the bike stand and nearly fell off while a bunch of thais were watching. felt a right knob.
had a fantastic day then realised it was about 5 oclock and i was still on north coast! i hotfooted it back and had a very enjoyable bike ride. i want a proper motorbike now! find it very natural and enjoy it, i was overtaking other bikes and the odd car on me first day! dont worry, im wearing my gimp helmet and not being silly, but its just very nice here and biking is a nice way to get round.
Tuesday............
went off to nathan's place - we met nathan - fire staff performer, doova and bulgarian fire poy bloke, and various others at the first full moon party and we bumped into bulgarian and another at night market since, and anyway, we've emailed and stuff. nathan had come down to party for my birthday so i returned the favour by going to their retreat. they are on the north in a proper remote place called Haad Com, its practically inaccessible by road and there is only one taxi on the island who is capable of the journey from charaklom to haad com. so we booked taxi man and he took me up there for the evening, (sheena at work - she will come next time) - had a great time, a really nice bunch of blokes and they made me very welcome, i met more - they are mostly long termers cus its so remote that its a great place to be. people get there and stay longer than planned! the bungalows are built into the side of the mountain which is all jungle/rainforest and then drop down onto the beach, where there are 2 bars and another restaurant
and a couple of other bungalow groups. met a couple of irish guys, 2 canadian girls, and so on and so on. needless to say, vodka (fresh) melon shakes were consumed and beer, and we had a great time. bulgarian guy (oh i just cant remember the foreign names) let me play with a set of his poi on the beach and i got covered in soot where i kept bashing myself. (they were not on fire at the time!) and nathan did his fire staff thing too, i took vids and will try to upload
1 i had a fantastic evening, but had to be up and back for work today at 9.30am, so we booked the taxi driver and he turned up at 8am and i was at work on time! altho as it started torrential raining the clinic was late opening so only me and bren got there on time! and neither of us had a key, so we went back home til 11am! needless to say i had a snooze!
tomorrow is surgery day and Phong has given me some instruction, im to get more involved (sheena too) on getting the drips set up, operating
bits and pieces, put together a catheter pack with various bits and pieces ready, and help to prepare the patients and tie their legs up for surgery! it gets better and better, i'll be wielding a scalpel next (just kidding).
have been zipping about on my bike everywhere, any excuse!
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