Friends reunited!

---

We made it to Kata at about 3pm on Friday after a long journey, which also included an encounter with a rude middle aged man accompanied by a young Thai woman who didn’t like backpackers and made his feelings very clear. So I also made it clear that I would rather be a back packer than a middle aged man who can’t get a wife back home so has to come to Thailand to buy one, he didn’t bother us again!

I rung Lee and like the true friend he is he set off immediately to meet us, it was great to see him again, his hair is a bit longer than last time I saw him! Once we checked in at the bungalows Lee took us to a place round the corner for something to eat. I didn’t eat as I was feeling a little delicate from the night before. We then checked out the beach and had a swim.

In the evening Lee took us to Mellow bar, which like the name implies is a mellow place! We were joined by Wilky, Lee’s room mate and after a few we ended up chilling at theirs till the wee hours.


On Saturday no one surfaced before midday, when Lee eventually contacted me it was after 1pm. I had something to eat with the guys then I meet up with Lee who was helping me make a few arrangements for when my mum and dad arrived the following day. Firstly we tried to find them somewhere nice to stay on their first night, but as it was peak season the prices were rather steep (especially as Phuket is one of the most expensive proveniences)! In the end we kept the room that we had reserved for them at the same place where Erica myself and as dad calls them "the tribe" were staying!

Next was to hire a car as I really wanted to pick them up from the airport and not have to mess around with taxis. I got myself an old jeep, it was strange driving off as I haven't been behind a wheel for 4 months and they all are a little crazy in Asia. The funny bit was when I had to do a three point turn and none of us were able to find the reverse (it wasn't marked on the gear stick). After several attempts we finally found it, just in time to prevent driving into the wall that we were becoming very friendly with!

Just as we were heading back I got a phone cal from Dan saying that Justin wasn't well and that he couldn't talk or walk. So Lee and I drove to collect him, when I got there he was panicking, but despite saying he couldn't breath he was doing ok, just hyperventilating. What you need to know about Justin is that this is not the first time he has been ill, or should I say dramatic! Anyway, he was complaining about pins and needles in his limbs and said he couldn't talk and was having problems breathing. So we threw him in the jeep and drove to the local Vet. Yes that is right, a vet. There are no local doctors and the vet is a pretty good!

It turns out that Justin had tonsillitis and was having dizzy episodes due to his anti-malaria tablets, Larrium! He had a temperature and was dehydrated so I took him home, calmed him down, and feed him the necessary drugs and encouraged him to drink plenty of water. He is going home soon so the vet told him to stop taking his anti-malaria tablets. Which he was convinced were making him psycho anyway, he is such a hypochondriac! Emergency over and the rest of us decided to hit the beach for a bit,

In the evening we left Justin in bed and met Lee and his girlfriend Lisa in Mellow Bar. She is lovely and even had time for Pete, who was trying to send a naughty message to his Swedish friend. As Lisa from Sweden she very politely helped him, whilst we all fell about laughing at the message he wanted to send, it cannot be repeated!

We then left Lee and headed to Patong for a wild night out. Yes the boys wanted to see the local sights!!!! So after a rather disturbing experience we had a drink in a couple of the bars before the commercialism was too much for us to bare. Once we got back we got some beers from seven eleven and sat outside our bungalows. Gradually everyone went to bed until there was just Dan and I and the local cat remaining. We thought that it would be rather funny to put the cat in Rich and Pete’s room and it was! All you could hear was Rich sounding very confused saying “Mate I think there is a cat in our room!”. Well we were rolling laughing around outside, very drunk.


On Monday Erica and I got up before everyone else and headed to the airport which was about an hours drive from Kata. We stopped for breakfast at KFC on the way, well it would be rude not too. There was no where to park when we got there so we ended up just abandoning the vehicle, as many others had done as I didn’t want to miss them. Before I even saw them my eyes began to fill up and when I looked at Erica she was crying too. I had made a sign to hold up saying “Dazzler” as in Bobby Dazzler (what me and my brother call my Dad, Bob), eventually we saw them, Dad didn’t notice the sign until Mum pointed it out but he thought it was quite witty of us.

Once they were checked in and we had received our treats (mine including two fantastic gifts, cards and a letter from Michael, money and a wonderful letter from my Nana, and the required necessities from Mum and Dad including chocolate and strawberry liquorice) we showed them around and headed to the beach. We stopped at a bar on the beach front for a beer and a snack and a catch up. It was wonderful seeing them again and they made Erica and I feel really brown.


In the evening everybody joined us for a meal, which was fun trying to get a table for 9 people, but we managed it. After Dinner Mum and Dad had went for a walk together and left us to party, which entailed sitting outside our bungalow doing more drinking and chatting.


On Monday we made use of the jeep before having to take it back. We stopped to take a picture of the “beware of elephants” sign and noticed that there was an elephant trekking place next to it. We decided to go on an hour long trek, which past really quickly. Our elephant was 49 years old and apparently had no name, so we called her Chang (after the Thai beer), Mum and Dad’s was 50 years old and we called her Dumbo. We got to sit on her neck for photos and I even got to sit there for the last part of the trek which was amazing. Dad saw me doing this and as expected had to do it too.

We then drove to a view point which had great views of Kata beach, Kata Noi beach and Karon Beach. Next I took them to the pier which Lee calls “his office” before going to the Green Man pub for some sangria. The pub is like a traditional English pub, white with black wooden beams, similar to the Church Inn, Bury.

Just as we returned to the bungalow after returning the jeep we got a phone call from Dan and Rich, who were at the Reggae bar and wanted to see if we were going to join them. Mum and Dad needed an afternoon nap (haha) so Erica and I went to meet them. We were also joined by Lee, we had one there before deciding to get a bottle from the shop and watch the sunset on Kata Noi beach. The bottle turned into a bottle of Sangsom, and the fate of the night was determined from there.

For tea everyone except Lee (as he had work in the morning) went to an Italian restaurant (Western food is needed after 4 months of Asian), Justin joined us, but got his pizza to take away. We then had a few drinks in a bar (not sure where Pete went to) before Mum and Dad went home. The remaining four of us (who seem to be the drinkers) went to seven eleven for some supplies, Rich must of already had a few as he tried to shut me in the fridge, don’t think the staff thought it was as funny as us. We then went back to our bungalows and were joined by the local cat. After a few more drinks Rich decided that if cats could talk they would speak Vietnamese (if you have ever heard the Vietnamese speak you would find this funny as they have a very similar tone to a crying cat!), he also decided he wanted to try and milk the cat, but we managed to talk him out of that one. After being told by some neighbours to keep the noise down we headed inside and listened to some music, Rich has some mad stuff, I remember listening to the Beatles, Yellow Submarine and Bob Marley.


On Tuesday the boys left for Koh Phi Phi, whilst Erica, Mum and Dad and I stayed for a couple more nights as we wanted to do some diving with Lee. Last night was a late one, Dan and Rich didn’t sleep at all before being picked up and Erica and I didn’t get up until 1pm. After doing a few errands we caught up with Mum and Dad on the beach and had a non - alcoholic drink with them! We decided to have a nice meal that night as it had been 5 years since my Grandad died. Justin came with us after I informed him that I wanted it to be a happy evening, no sulky faces please! Which I must say was probably one of his better nights. We ate in a posh looking Thai restaurant, but the food was not as good as we had expected. The funniest part of the evening was when Mum announced to us all that my Dad had crabs (she meant that he had ordered crab). We had an early night with no alcohol involved as we needed to be up early for diving.


We got picked up at 7.30am and taken to the pier where we met Lee. The boat was pretty impressive and we had free drinks, toast and dinner, there was also cheap beer for on the way home, beauty.
Our first dive was at Koh Doc Mai which translated is Lotus Island, apparently the rock looks like a lotus from a certain angle, but none of us actually found that point. I used the same weight as last time, but was not for sinking so after one more I was ready to go. We went down to 25.3 meters where we got to see lots of marine life and do a drift dive never experienced that before and it was wicked! The best bits were two bamboo sharks, shrimp, moray eels and lion fish. Erica was the first to hit 70 bar so we headed up. She was worried about her air consumption but has only ever done 4 dives before and that was when she did her open water in Koh Tao, I think that she did really well.

Our second dive was at King Cruiser, a catamaran that used to take people from Phuket to Phi Phi. It hit a reef when it went off course and sank in May 1997. There are three stories as to why it sunk:

The first was that the captain was drunk.
The second is that it was an insurance job. Which is what the police believed as the captain has only just been released from prison.
The third and best is that the dive shops of Phuket and Phi Phi paid him to crash as they wanted a wreck to dive on.

The problem was that there were 600 passengers on it at the time, no one was killed. But when the investigators went down to examine it all the gates were open so it was definitely intended to sink.

Anyway back to diving, we went down a shot line to 24.4 meters which took us to the deck (what is left of it). We were able to swim through part of it, but most of it has collapsed. We saw some moray eels in one of the toilets (which are now on the deck) lion fish and scorpion fish amongst others.

On our third and final dive we went to Shark Point, unfortunately no sharks or turtles today, boo! But there was so many fish, it was like an aquarium, fantastic. We saw lots of clown fish (one came really close to my face), yellow spotted box fish, black spotted puffer fish, squid and more moray eels. On this dive we went to 23.8 meters. We had a brilliant time, Lee took lots of pictures for us, bless him, he is a star!

In the evening we had a farewell drink with Lee which upset me. It was really sad saying goodbye to him again.

---

Photos

Nemo
Clown Fish

Lee and I
Lee had his eyes shut on every picture. Sorry but had to put one of you on mate!