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 two Canadians might be there. They weren't but there was a Thai boxing ring with a fight going on. And a notice saying that if you watched the fight you had to buy a drink. ... read more

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 tastes pretty bad. But it was great, it was rich dark bittersweet chocolate without any cream or milk. The pancake was with chocolate and nuts and I'm not sure if it was named after the ... read more

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 and the only lights were from houses and bungalows besids the road and the still nearly full moon. It was actually quite enlivening to be walking in the near dark and I had no trouble ... read more

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 and lay down on a beach bed under an umbrella (100B) for a bit before venturing out into the water. I haven't tried snorkelling here yet as I'm planning to move on to Phi Phi ... read more

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 within the built up area of the city and until recently elephants wandered there too, even close to the moat. I visited an amazingly interesting museum called The Museum of World Insects and Natural Wonders. ... read more