SE Asia 2014 Day 24

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I don't sleep well, unfortunately. I don't understand what has got my insides all knotted up, but it's damned uncomfortable.

Somewhat better come morning. I am able to eat some breakfast. The plan for today is to visit a tourist area known as Fishermen's Village. It turns out the the cheapest way to get there is to take the free shuttle to Chaweng, then another free shuttle from there to Fishermen's Village. This works out well for me, since I missed Chaweng yesterday.

Chaweng is how I described it yesterday: lovely beach, over-commercialized shopping district. We have a couple of hours to kill, so we eat lunch at Tropical Murphy's, an "authentic Irish pub." It's silly, but the burgers, fries and potato skins really taste good. The couples go their separate ways for shopping. Violet "wants me to see" the jewelry shop she discovered yesterday. On the way, we spot a giant Christmas tree decorated with Snoopy figures. Intriguing juxtaposition, but there was a Christmas song about Snoopy and the Red Baron.

At the jewelry store, named Nature's Art Gallery, Violet does some serious damage. It's ok, because she really hasn't bought much on this trip up to this point. Many of the purchases will be Christmas gifts.

We return to the rendezvous point to catch the shuttle to Fishermen's Village. This is on a part of the island called Bophut, which lies partway between our resort and Chaweng. Fishermen's Village is a tourist market along the ocean, with one main street and many cross streets that can also be explored. The ocean side of the street tends to feature restaurants offering meals on the beach. One of our party has picked out a French restaurant with an interesting menu and good reviews, so we locate it first and make a reservation at 7 pm for ourselves and several of our Ozzie buddies, eleven of us all told.

We split up and explore the local shops. Lots of interesting merchandise, generally more interesting items than at Chaweng. The fact that cars and motorbikes are trying to force their way down the narrow streets is annoying, but at around 5 pm I notice that the vehicles are gone.

At one point, I look up and notice the sky darkening to the west. Sure enough, before long a handful of heavy drops is felt. Remembering what happened at our beach dinner, I suggest getting under cover fast. Good move, because all of a sudden there is a downpour of biblical proportions. I'm not sure I've ever seen rain of this intensity in my life. It's straight down, like someone is emptying a bucket. The noise on the roof makes conversation impossible. Shop owners, who have clearly been through this before, miraculously produce sheets of plastic and tarpaulins to protect their wares. After about ten minutes of this, I notice one shop keeper across the street start to lift his covering, even though as far as I can tell, the rain hasn't let up at all. He either heard something I didn't or was timing the deluge, because one minute later, the rain stops like someone turned off the tap.

However, drainage here is bad, so the streets are now awash, up to ankle-deep. Based on past history, we don't think it's a good idea to wade through this suspect water, so we'd decide to opt for happy hour. We enjoy some chilled white wine on a balcony overlooking the ocean, a nice chance to cool our bodies a bit.

We emerge about a half-hour later to find the road is mostly drained. We start making our way towards the restaurant when Violet spies a booth, just in the process of being set up, that offers jewelry made from orchids and butterflies. We had seen these in Chiang Mai but at that time elected not to buy. Violet has regretted that decision ever since, and so she's pleased to see them again. After due deliberation, we choose the perfect orchid for her.

We have a grand time at dinner, full of wine, laughter and good conversation. The food is excellent. I have linguini carbonara and Violet has eggplant parmigiana. One of the unique features of this restaurant is that the menus are presented on the insides of actual LP album covers, and the drink menus are pasted on top of the disks themselves. I'm feeling pretty well at this point, although still experiencing shots of pain in my gut.

We walk out of Fishermen's Village and bargain for a van ride home for the six of us who have stuck together. I can't believe how fast this guy drives in the darkness but miraculously we don't crash and don't hit anyone. Once home, it's straight to bed.

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