Gathering Moss

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Arrived in KL ready for our visa run. Had booked in a hotel in the heart of Chinatown. As with all accommodation on our budget in Malaysia it was a windowless shoebox but had an attached shower. On previous visits to KL we had not been impressed, this time was different. Our slightly higher budget meant we could actually afford decent food. The intense heat forced us to spend our time window shopping in the numerous air conditioned shopping malls. To avoid argument 50% of our time was spent in sports shops and 50% in clothes shops so both me and John were kept happy.

With our visas we flew to Thailand. Phuket immediately felt like home and we settled into our room on the outskirts of Phuket City for two months. Soon we were contacted by a friend we had met on Kradan last year. It wasn't long before she had got us volunteering at the turtle rescue centre. We cleaned and force fed an aged sick turtle we called Harold. Regrettably Harold died (hopefully not from our intervention). Surprisingly we were asked back this time to microchip 40 baby turtles to prepare them for their release. We were ably assisted by two people we had met on our last visit to Phuket and bumped into them whilst visiting the local marina. It was truly getting like home. We even attended the Phuket Gay Pride. This sorry affair was just a rag bag of cars driven by elderly gentlemen and some boyz covered in glitter. It was more for the tourists than any rally for gay rights.

The idea of staying put is quite unusual for us. For the first time we have had TV and have immersed ourselves in a diet of Trash TV. This consists of “Law and Order” back to back. Interspersed by a regular diet of reality TV. Ray's favourite is a hair cutting contest with a plethora of bitchy hairdressing queens.

A minor accident on our bike gave us an idea for a computer game called Thai Bike Ride. It involves driving a 125cc moped along Thai roads whilst balancing yourself, your partner, their pet dog plus the shopping and an unfeasibly large parcel. All this and having to avoid wild dogs and buffalo that make up the 1000 and 1 hazzards of driving here.

After a Singapore visa run we hope to return and have identified a brand new apartment block with pool in Patong going cheap. I'm sure the sleaze pit that is Patong will provide some interesting news. Until then....

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Photos

Harold
May he Rest in Peace

& Maude
Phuket Pride 2010

Comments

[graham]

Hairdressing
The bitchy hairdressing queens sounds really great. What's it called - I will try and find it on computer.

[CastOffs]

Trash TV
The diet of trash TV has been taken away from me as the TV signal no longer works. If anyone knows who won Shear Genius and more importantly Top Design (a fantastic mix of evil queens and pots of paint)?