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Published: June 26th 2006
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Sawasdee khup!
Greetings from Lamai Beach, Ko Samui, Thailand. Over three weeks have passed already. but to be honest there's not much to report on so far. Life for us currently loosely revolves (in no particular order) around the beach, green curry, dogs, the world cup, sudoku, more beach, lots of sunblock, the occasional long bus ride & the King of Thailand.
Yes, life is good. Beautiful beach, almost endless sunshine & good food. We were planning to stay here a couple of days but we've just decided to extend again to about three weeks in this spot....
But back to the beginnng:
Bangkok was blisteringly hot. I'm not sure how reliable our Kathmandu thermometer is (sorry Amber), but apparently it was over 50 degrees one day (that's over 120 fahrenheit) - the needle went off the scale so perhaps it was 60, who knows.
For some relief we hit the beach, and randomly chose Khao Lak as the destination. The uncomfortably cramped twelve hour overnight bus ride faded from memory as we searched Khao Lak already in intense heat at 8am for somewhere to stay. Apparently off season in there really is off season, and
Deep fried lettuce anyone?
A whole new culinary experience.... the place was deserted.
After finally finding a place way beyond our budget we settled for the day on the beach that became our home for the next week or so. Khao Lak is on the west coast of Southern Thailand, a few hours from Phuket & one of the places hardest hit by the tsunami. Today there's little sign of the actual damage & heartbreak caused, but the whole area is one giant building site so it's hard to hide from what happened. Perhaps the most telling sign of the tsunami is a police boat that was washed ashore & left about 1km inland beside the main road. No one has any idea how to move it back to the sea so it is expected to stay where it is as a monument to that day.
And so began our eternal cycle - breakfast, sunblock, beach, lunch, sunblock, beach, curry. Interspersed would be a few dog incidents - despite Kylie's fear of crazed beach dogs they all seem to love her & go to great lengths to sit beside her - never beside me. That said they have so far been pretty tame - no rabid ones
Post tsunami
The whole of Khao Lak is being rebuilt yet.
It's now ten years since I was first in Thailand and every time I come I'm amazed at what else has changed. Those who know me well may be aware that I have a bit of a cheese fetish - those who know me better will be aware that I try to make sure it's veggie cheese. Well now it seems it's easier to buy veggie cheese here than in NZ - yes, New Zealand made cheese which isn't vegetarian in NZ, is widely available here as veggie. It's also a lot cheaper too. To balance my cheese fetish, Kylie has been exploring the world of Hello Kitty (sorry Soph, no toaster yet).
The plan to eat green curry every day hasn't quite lasted, but we're managing about every other day. If you know my stomach well, then you'll know that I'm prone to the odd dubious rumblings so have to take it easy now & then. Most interesting food so far? No, not deep fried cockroach or similar such insect - so far it would have to be deep fried lettuce. At least it's good for you...
I read in the Thai newspaper the other
day that the whole world will remember the 2006 football world cup beacuse of one thing alone. Any guesses? Well obviously the world will remember it because it coincides with the 60th anniversary of the King of Thailand's accension to the throne. The way the media writes about the king here is similar to the way countries under a dictator write about their leaders - it's an almost scary kind of worship that somehow feels quite false as if done through fear. There's no denying that many millions of Thai's do really really love their king, but I'm really not too sure why - other than that they are constantly told how great he is.
Talking of the world cup, we've seen a fair few games so far. Our host in Khao Lak was very excited & installed a giant satellite dish & massive tv just in time for the opening match. We were invited to watch with him which would have been more rewarding had he spoken just a little more English or us a little more Thai. He was keen for us to come watch the first England game too & we all sat there at 8pm
Sweaty
Waiting for an overnight bus in Bangkok, looking pretty sweaty as the broadcast switched from pre match talk (in Thai) to what looked like a news bulletin. The 'bulletin' was apparently a 20 minute update on the king's activities that day. Of course we couldn't ask what happened to the first 20 minutes of the England game as that could be seen as offensive towards to the king. The signal also failed midway through & we got to wait while our host ploughed through over 100 Asian channels looking for it again.
So now we are on Ko Samui an island off the east coast. Khao Lak was quiet - to the point that we were the only people staying at our bungalows, and that each resturant seemed to close down the day after we discovered how great it was. We fancied somewhere a little more lively, so roll on Chaweng beach. I remember it from ten years ago as being quite nice, but now it resembles the Gold Coast or Benidorm, which you may know are our worst nightmares. As it happens we weren't actually aiming for Chaweng but our driver wasn't really sure where he was taking us & we arrived there by mistake. We are now on Lamai Beach, just down the road but a million miles away. That said it's still full of middle aged men in Speedos with their Thai 'girlfriends' Perhaps we'll write more about that later.
On a final note a few words for our many travel agent friends in NZ - how many times have you told someone with a 10 hour wait in SYD that you can't leave the airport (unless you pay over $100 in tax & have an ''O" on the ticket)? That's what we were always told, although we were never really sure if it was true. Well we've been there & done it - no questions asked & no taxes paid. Also, it seems I've attracted some fungus which is making its way around my body. Very attractive indeed. We went to see a doctor at the hospital yesterday & I paid a staggering US$140 for the Pills, cream & poking around that I had to endure! Feel free to use my example to sell insurance! US$140 - that's absurd!
Well that's all for today. If you want to keep up to date with the blog then please subscribe to it, that way you'll be sent a message when we add something new.
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michael
non-member comment
fried lettuce
wow, isnt lettuce toxic when you heat it up....hahaha, that was funny... healthy? i just over quoted (by a large amount) a cost for a trip to Thailand for some dodgy geezer who had the gall to ask me where the red light areas were in Bangkok!! needless to say i didnt know anyway but i said "you are disgusting please leave" eeewwwww