Day 10 - Now Officially Eaten Alive

We both slept pretty well, but a small gap in the mosquito net allowed one in to bite us about three times each. As I was getting dressed, I picked up my shorts from the downstairs bed to discover they were saturated. We eventually worked it out the Jackie hadn’t screwed the lid back properly on a large bottle of water & it had leaked down through the floorboards to my shorts below. Brilliant!

It was an overcast start to the day so we spent the whole morning uploading & downloading in the WiFi breakfast area, whilst drinking instant coffee & each eating a big fluffy pancake with pineapple & bacon. I benefited from Jackie not particularly liking hers. We managed to book seats on a bus from Phuket to Hat Yai, accommodation in Hat Yai & transport to the island of Ko Lipe.

Just after midday, we jumped on our scooter & headed straight back to Long Beach. This time we stopped at the next bar along, Lazy Hut, who had far superior sun beds. We reserved our chosen bed for the afternoon & took a walk along the beach & through the occasional cloud of smoke from bonfires in the jungle. We walked until my watch announced that we had completed a mile before turning around & walking back.

We had worked up a decent thirst & imbibed in a couple of beers for lunch, before settling down for a siesta on our very comfortable sun beds. I had taken my Bluetooth speaker & we listened to the relaxing tracks on a playlist with the unsavoury title of ‘Fister’s Lot’. Don’t ask!

It would have been relaxing if we hadn’t been bitten alive by mosquitoes 🦟 which were forming pusy lumps on Jackie’s arms, legs & back. A fly kept landing on one of Jackie’s scratched open bleeding pusy bites. Our bodies were an eyesore. Bizarrely they were nowhere near as itchy as our first night at Sabai Sabai.

At 5.30pm, a motorcycle & trailer combination materialised on the beach & the staff from Lazy Hut rushed down to buy his wares. I was intrigued, well Jackie told we to go & investigate, so I joined the throng & discovered he was selling ice creams in a bun. I ordered a bun which was loaded with sticky rice, some jelly stuff, coconut ice cream, chocolate ice cream & topped with chocolate peanuts, chocolate drops & coconut cream, all for less than £1. Again I liked it, but Jackie doesn’t need to have one again.

Sunset was shaping up to be another flop so we headed off to a hilltop viewpoint restaurant I had spotted on the outward trip. We had a small beer each and chatted to a middle-aged German couple who were also staying at Sabai Sabai & had actually travelled over on the same ferry as us. They told us they were going to Bangkok next where they were going to rent 125cc scooters & ride them up to Chang Mai with their rucksacks. Mad. Whilst chatting with them we started getting bitten on the ankles & we whipped out our mossie spray. They informed us that they don’t use mossie spray for ethical reasons, so we have come to the conclusion they must be tree huggers!

Conscious that they were leaving the restaurant just behind us, I raced back to Sabai Sabai along the path through the now pitch black jungle. For our troubles we got a very unpleasant & relentless bug facial including one in my eye, which persuaded us to not ride the scooter at night again.

After a very quick shower we headed out to ‘36’. The waitress immediately confirmed we wanted our usual - 2 large bottles of Chang. Embarrassingly predictable! I ordered the Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls which contained large chunks of mango & watermelon as well as vegetables sitting in a pool of penang & tamarind sauce. Jackie ordered a Pad Thai which she pimped up with extra chilli, sugar & sweet vinegar. All absolutely delicious.

Song of the Day: I Can’t Look At Your Skin by Graham Coxon.
One Tear by Paul Weller.
Smoke in My Eyes by Josh Flowers & The Wild.Read more