Day 7 - Travel Writing Envy

I woke up at 5am which was a right result for me, dozed and watched Transparent, a very amusing comedy series on my iPad. Around 8am, just as I was contemplating getting up the heavens opened with a hell of a racket. The rain continued for 2-3 hours in total contrast to the weather forecast on my iPhone, which stated that we should have been basking in lovely sunshine all morning and dodging possible showers from 2pm.

We ventured out into the now blazing sun shortly before midday. We stopped at C Smile cafe for several large Changs and a basket of their delicious crinkle cut french fries, but I was nervous that the weather was going to change back to rain before we had even had a chance to sit in the sun. As it happened it didn’t.

After lunch we set down our mat at the far end of the beach next to C Smile. I read my book, ‘The Lost Continent : Travels in Small-Town America’ by Bill Bryson, which told of his travels through small town America in the eighties. I had read the book before, but it was particularly enjoyable second time around having visited many of the same places and having had similar experiences with the inhabitants. I was very jealous just how so so much more articulate and funny he is with his travel writing……..Feel free to disagree!!!

At 4.30pm, the sun slid down behind the trees and cast the beach in shade. We packed up and returned to our room and immediately got ready to go out. We walked out to Minnie Seaview Resort where they had a couple of tables set out on the beach in a very scenic spot. We ordered a Chang and discovered that the owner was an Englishman from Poole. We were going to order food but before we had a chance to study the menu we started getting bitten alive again. I asked the owner if it was sandflies or mosquitoes that were biting us. He said it was mosquitoes biting at this time of day, but all the beaches did have sandflies. He recommended coconut oil to ward them off.

It was just as well we didn’t order food, because we were soon plunged into darkness and we had to pay up by torchlight. We headed back in the dark towards home and stopped at a restaurant that on the map is called ‘Pan-Fried Man Crab Meat’, just as the power was restored. We sat down at a table and noticed that all the other diners, who were Thai, had a vat of soup on their tables and a small BBQ upon which they were grilling their own meat and seafood. It looked very appetising, but it seemed that you had to select your dinner from trays of unidentified food stuffs. We came to the conclusion that it would be just too complicated, particularly with no English speaker in sight, so we made our excuses and left.

We returned to our trusted Samed Thanee, where Jackie ordered a spicy pork salad and a plate of Morning Glory, whilst I ordered chicken and cashew nuts with rice. It was all very lovely. We finished the evening on our verandah with a couple of Hong Thongs.

Song of the Day - Change In The Weather (feat. Travis Tritt) by Buddy Guy.Read more