Please note that bits of this were written at different times and then combined! I checked out of the Krabi hotel at abouyt 9.30and waited for the GVI representatives to show up. One other person was already waiting. That was Chris who was from Melbourne in Australia. She was blonde, probably a few years younger than me, and told me she had a 24 year old son in London whom she was going to meet after finishing her stint here. She is here for the two weeks TEFL, the same as me, but I am staying on after that for two [View Full Entry]

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After coming back from my boat trip and the rain I wondered if I should have an early night, as I knew I'd have to move on today, or should go out again after getting some supper. I decided to go out and walked down to Jordan's Irish Pub where was lured in by the offer of free shots and watched a bit of football on their television, while I drank a mojito. It wasn't so nice as the mojitos at Carlito's the other day but it refreshed me. Then I decided to move onto the Reggae Bar, wondering if the [View Full Entry]

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I didn't go to the Reggae Bar yesterday. After my last blog I went to have some supper and I was quite hungry as I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, most of which I'd sicked up. I had a really nice meal of pork with rice and ginger and garlic and a Diet Coke and then I also had a dessert of Maya Pancake and Hot Chocolate. I was a bit worried about the Hot Chocolate because the last time I'd had some in Thailand it had been some horrid powdered stuff called Milo which seems to be popular here but [View Full Entry]

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This afternoon I booked a watertaxi chap to take me out to Monkey Bay and to Maya Bay - The Beach featured in that film with Leo DiCaprio. It was expensive but I expected that and had checked the price to pay with Jenna at the Adventure Club yesterday. I was chartering a whole boat for myself of course whereas on the snorkelling trip the petrol cost was split between five passengers. I had thought I was sufficiently monkeyed up after Lopburi but the idea of Monkey Bay was very evocative, reminding me of Monkey Island, the computer game. The monkeys [View Full Entry]

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I set the alarm on my iPhone to 6.30 this morning and had a good night's sleep until then. I put on just sandals, swimming trunks and sandals and wandered down to the village for breakfast carrying a bag with my camera, sun block, ventolin inhaler, just in case, and anti insect cream - they didn't bother me during the night so far as I know, but I think there's sometimes a delayed reaction to stings. I had breakfast at a cafe in the same street as Adventure Club and got ther just at quarter to eight. Everything was ready and [View Full Entry]

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After my last blog I had supper in a bar where they were showing the Manchester football derby on widescreen televisions. I only stayed till half time, when United had just scored for the second time and a City win seemed unlikely. Then I went back to the dive shop to be told that no one else had booked, but maybe they would tomorrow. I had a pleasant walk back to the bungalow. Most of the way the streets were lit by a single line of bulbs at one side but as I grew nearer to the Snowith Resort this stopped [View Full Entry]

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Although I'd had rather a late night the night before, what with the Thai Boxing and the Tiger Girls, I decided to go out again last night to experience another of Phuket's attractions - the Phuket Phantasea. Did you see what they did there? Phantasea / Fantasy, and Phuket is an island, so there is a lot of sea all round. There may also be a hidden pun on elephant because I counted at least fifteen elephants that talk part in the main show (along with four water buffalo, an indeterminate number of chickens and doves and a few of what [View Full Entry]

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I had a lazy day yesterday. Patong beach, where I am is only a very small area. Basically, there's a road that runs alongside the beach for about three quarters of a mile and another road parallel to that and about four hundred yards away. My hotel's on that parallel road. There are a few interconnecting roads along the way - and that's about it. So not much room for the long walks I had sightseeing in Chiang Mai. I spent much of yesterday lazing by the pool atop my hotel, and occasionally swimming. Then I wandered down to the beach [View Full Entry]

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I've been looking at a Thai phrase book I picked up for 195B in Chiang Mai. I don't know if it's intentional or not but the following example seems rather amusing: Thai: Faen mai kawng pom nah-son-jal mahk Literal: Girlfriend new of mine interesting very much English: My new girlfriend is very interesting Thai: Kow chue nahng-sao goong Literal: She name miss shrimp English: Her name is Miss Shrimp From now on I'll just give the English version I suspect love will happen soon She asked me to hold her hand Then, she explained that I must kiss her [View Full Entry]

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Now that I have travelled on from Chiang Mai, I want to note some final thoughts about it, before I forget. It is a lovely city, the Rose of the North as the Thais call it. A small compact city, its centre moated and partially walled in a superb location with the delightfully named Ping River to the east and mountains all about. Only a few miles out of town are several national parks with amazing scenery and sights - such as Doi Suthep and the less commerciallised hilltribe villages. It was not unusual to see water buffalo and actual farms [View Full Entry]

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