Bridget Jones moment - robbers delight

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well, since the last update, we've seen lots of Nathan and his friend Ty who came over to visit for 3 weeks or something, from Sydney. The first night he was on the island he came with Nate to the 10 day festival in Thong Sala, (by where we live) and Sheena, Belinda, me etc etc all spent a couple of evenings in Thong Sala, there was a big stage with Thai performers (Thai's answer to Steps - and some sort of comedy thing going on - looked quite strange) and stalls over from Bangkok and lots and lots of Thais having a good time. Jugs of beer on tap of course.

So we had some evenings at Coco with the lads and too much tequila as usual. Ty and I made the mistake of putting 2 straws in and racing our first 2 Tequila Sunrises, and the rest is history. I'm sure you can imagine...Ty and I seem to be as bad as each other, he's great.

Clinic going great, had to hold torch over some ops when we had power cuts! Shine that torch right in there mrs! get those intestines lit up! try not to hit the vet on the head at the same time!

Sheena came to Haad Khom for a night with me, not sure if I've already said that, we had a blast and watched Oggie (I know Bulgarian's name now!!!) and Nate playing with fire and ate and drank and chatted. I might just mention the nightmare journey to Haad Khom - this time, the boys rode up from our place on their bike and Sheena and I followed on our bikes. We had to leave after dark as Sheen was working, anyway, we managed to get to Chaloklum - (potholes and sand patches on road make for an interesting ride in the dark), and then (we lost sight of Nate and Ty cus they are typical boys and drive very fast), we got to the nightmare dirt track from hell that is the road to Haad Khom, and attempted to get as far as we could before parking and walking. We managed to do some of the evil track and then after the steep concrete bit that is covered in gravel and has a gradient of mount everest (no - REALLY), we got to the top of death road to find death valley on the other side, or roller coaster of sand as Sheen calls it. The concrete runs out and back to sand/dirt but downhill quite steep. I discovered that you really need a back brake, and as mine doesnt work very well, i had a nightmare with trying to use my front brake. skid skid skid. we parked and walked the rest of the way in the PITCH black - in the jungle. (Bit like us in Brittany Linda!). So it was an extreme walk and we luckily took our torches altho were cacking ourselves. When we got there, we pretended we had done it in the pitch dark and gave them hell for zooming off. We took the pee out of them all night basically.

Next day, on the way back ,we had to get back down the concrete road of death and (god knows how we got up there in the dark - no idea), i just went into a big skid with the gravel, sheer damn drop and only front brake! i put my crocs (feet) down and they skidded too. i thought i would die and called out "SHEENA HELP!" and she came back up and helped me down. She had to do it for me cus i papped it.

So then, the next drama, was the Black Moon Party. Basically there is a party for every weekend which is loosely based on the current phase of the Moon. This one was on the beach at Baan Tai, just down the road. The Haad Khom lot came of course, and some others we have met on holidays at Coco resort, and there became a bit of a group of us at this big beach party. Lots of (shite) trance and all that, fire performers, Nate and Oggie joined in as usual, and lots of flourescent paint and big flourescent thingies all over the beach, and lots of sh*tfaced westerners. These parties are notorious and every guide book warns against not taking valuables or leaving anything on the beach. Ty and I got a bit silly and decided at some silly hour of the morning that we should go for a swim. (Dont even think about all the blokes that pee in the sea as they are dirty dogs that wont use a toilet) - anyway, we put our stuff in a pile on the beach and waded out for miles (still only up to our knees!!!), we floundered about in the water, and when we got back. Surprise surprise, bag and wallet gone. Flip flops left. So Nate and Sheena give us a massive telling off and we are a tad gutted. I lost my camera, phone (everyone - can you email me your phone numbers please!!) and money, and keys to bungalow and motorbike. Yes, i did it good and proper. We are duffers and nobody could believe how stupid we were. A vodka bucket had been involved.

So Nate and Oggie came back to our bungalows and broke in for me, so at least I got in. I've had to buy a new phone, and Ty has kindly lent me his camera for the rest of his stay. I had to pay to get spare keys cut and everyone has generally laughed at our expense.

On the upside, the next day at the clinic, arrived a certain birthday box, containing a plastic pig that i thought i had seen the last of in Swine Town. You know who you are!!!! i got that with a card from my zurich cohorts with 1500 baats in!!! Also a brilliant card from Kit - i couldnt stop laughing at the cards and piggy, and that really cheered me up. brilliant timing.

Bit peeved at losing my phone with photos and stuff on, and numbers of everyone but i was cheered up no end by my parcel and cards. James took me into Thong Sala (as i hadnt a key for my bike!) and i got a new phone for - you guessed it - 1500 baahts! Thanks gang - it came at just the right time!!! THANKS THANKS THANKS - my cards and pig are in my room!

So anyway, apart from that - we had a night in Thong Sala for Alex (vet's) leaving do with the PAC staff, and now Brendan (other vet) is going tomorrow so its a bit of a sad week for us. Will really miss the pair of them, its been so brilliant watching their work and learning from them and they are lovely people. Sigh.

Had a really busy day at work today, and really tired so having a quiet night tonight, Sheena has gone to Chaloklum with the lads for pizza but i declined this time, she is staying over with them in Haad Khom but im at work at 9 so will just catch up with Brendan for a wee one. James has also just appeared so then there was 3.


Now its Sunday, 18th i think. Linda and Pesky - Happy Birthdays for yesterday!!!

We moved out of Tropicana yesterday as we wanted to rent a house instead, with 2 bedrooms and kitchen with fridge etc. We will still be down the coco bar and restaurant all the time, there is some nice guests there at the moment that we will go and see as well.

So our new house is very big, we have a big balcony, some nice jungle edges around and is in Baan Tai. Very close to Avril and James (Av is our manager at PAC) so its great to be near them. We have 2 bedrooms with a bathroom each, kitchen, lounge and tv and dvd player. As ever, Nate and Ty helped us out, they really spoil us - dont know what we would do without em! Ty has rented a HUGE dirt bike and is ripping around like a loony. They carried our big packs for us and we carried our small ones and we managed to move house in one fell swoop, 4 bikes and one journey. Its about 10 or 15 minutes up the road. We settled in and the lads went off shopping and came back with 2 bottles of JD and 1 bottle of Sam Song, and beers and coke. Then the 3 of us went to buy axe cushion/bed things to lounge on and so last night we had a bit of a house warming party on the balcony, Avril came over too. We stayed up all night, Sheena went to bed as she had work today so I think we kept her awake making noise on the balcony which isnt too great. Anyway, the lads have now gone back to Haad Khom for today, and i've come shopping and blogging. i will give James a shout in a mo and invite him round for a cuppa as he has been brilliant - he's taken me all over the island on his bike when we were house hunting and is always on hand to help us out. He's a great bloke.

On a sad note, we had to put poor Doggy Dog to sleep yesterday. I had the 5 o'clock shift - the clinic is closed on a Sat but we have to pop in for the morning and afternoon for half an hour or so to feed our animals and treat whatever patients are there. Poor Doggy Dog had come in Tuesday and was a lovely sweet boy, but very very poorly (we think its cancer) and was suffering so Phong put him to sleep at his owners request. Very very sad.


Another note is that Sheena and Ty managed to come off their bike - the big dirt bike! scars attached.

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Photos

Pup removal
Brendan at work

Doggy Dog
Poor Doggy Dog didnt make it. He was a lovely boy.

Coco restaurant
Nate still passed out