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Simon and Jackie Annals

Simon and Jackie Annals

Retiredish. Now 2 Wannabe Globetrotters. Baca selengkapnya🇬🇧Cuckfield
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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsSouth West France 2025

      Day 1 - Crowned on our Pearl Anniversary

      24 Juni, Inggris ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

      No, we are not a Pearly King and Queen!

      Today is our Pearl Anniversary - 30 years of marriage, which is quite a remarkable achievement for both of us.

      To mark the occasion, I was crowned. Not with a nice shiny bejewelled headdress, but just an off white crown in my mouth at the dentist.

      During the afternoon, our poor neighbour, Emma, was fully briefed on what needed watering in the garden and how much food to give the fish.

      Our pearlescent red Toyota CH-R (Pearl) was packed and fully loaded up…….mainly by Jackie, who apparently didn’t trust me to do it.

      Before leaving I purchased an E-Sim for my phone for use during the entirety of our intended stay in France. Jackie wasn’t satisfied when I told her that the E-Sim would only activate when we arrived in France, so she insisted on fiddling about with the settings on my phone.

      At 8.20pm, we hit the road only to discover that my phone was not connecting with 4G, so I couldn’t connect to CarPlay and the SatNav. Apparently it had nothing to do with Jackie’s phone fiddling.

      Luckily we managed to self navigate to Newhaven Ferry Port, where at check-in we were informed that our car with roof-box was higher than the vehicle height that we had paid for. I had literally measured the height with a tape measure and passed the dimensions to Jackie for when she booked the ferry. Obviously we blamed each other, but knowing Jackie well enough after 30 years I can guarantee that she thought she would just pay for the cheapest possible tickets and no-one would check. Luckily the kind lady at the check-in booth told us that she would amend our outward crossing at no extra charge as the ferry wasn’t full.

      After watching tonight’s episode of BBC2’s Murder 24/7 in the car park, we boarded the DFDS ferry and bagged ourselves some free comfy recliner seats. As we left port, Jackie bought a pair of delicious Cornish pasties and a coffee for the bargain price of £5.20. The pasties were buy one and get a second one free. We know how to celebrate a landmark wedding anniversary!!

      Song of the Day - Pearl’s a Singer by Elkie Brooks.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand
      1

      Day 22 - You Couldn’t Make It Up

      4 Maret, Inggris ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

      I hadn’t planned to do a Day 22 blog, but I felt the following events needed recording.

      The flight took 13 hours before finally landing at Heathrow at exactly 6.30am local time. We again breezed through passport control, customs and had time for a coffee, make phone calls etc before boarding the 7.55am National Express Coach to Hickstead. We learnt from a neighbour that our garden fence at the front of the house was leaning over and in danger of hitting our car so she had propped our bin against it. Great!

      We showed our Hickstead ticket to the coach driver and confirmed we were getting off at Hickstead when he loaded our rucksacks on to the coach.

      The coach was unpleasant, we initially sat near the back, but Jackie could smell poo. Apparently the toilet was blocked, so the driver had to lock it. Jackie believed the smell was from a drunkard Irishman who was telling people around him that he had travelled from Gatwick to Heathrow by coach, but was having to go back to Gatwick because he had dropped his phone there. His voice was grating on me so I put my earphones in and listened to Joy Division.

      As our coach headed down the M23 towards Hickstead, we booked a taxi to meet us at the coach stop. The taxi driver rang us back within minutes to ask where were we. We apologised and informed him we would be with him in 2 minutes. The coach turned off on the Hickstead slip road, so we gathered up our belongings to disembark as the coach unbelievably sailed past the stop and back onto the M23.

      I ran down the coach to the driver and told him that we were supposed to get off at Hickstead. He said “You said Patcham”. “No I didn’t”. “Yes you did”. A couple immediately behind the driver confirmed that they were getting off at Patcham, which was maybe how he got confused.

      At this point I assumed he was going to pull off at the next junction and drop us back off at Hickstead. I was wrong and he continued to head south. To say I was incensed was an understatement and I shoved our ticket that said Hickstead on it right under his nose. It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to do when he was driving the coach along at 60 miles an hour.

      He insisted that the next stop was Patcham and Jackie explained the situation to our waiting taxi driver, who advised her to make another booking from where we would end up.

      Another 10 minutes or so later we eventually disembarked at Patcham outside the Miller & Carter pub. I had a stand up row with the driver, forced him to read my ticket properly and he finally conceded that he was wrong and apologised. He offered us no solutions to our predicament other than to tell me that I could make a complaint via their website. We will definitely be complaining AND trying to get compensation. I can’t promise I didn’t swear during my rants at the driver!

      We rang the taxi company to explain the situation and to ask them to pick us up from Patcham. They quoted us £40 to collect us, so we declined their ‘kind’ offer. The next plan was to catch the next National Express Coach heading north back to Hickstead. The next coach was at 10.09am, but we couldn’t book it on their app, notwithstanding that both are phones were perilously low on charge.

      We crossed the road to the northbound bus stop and had a revelation. There were several Metro buses heading north and the 271 at 10.24am actually stopped in Cuckfield. This was the bus we were going to catch. 10.24am came and went with no sign of the 271. A Japanese lady joined us at the bus stop and she was able to get the Metro bus website up on her phone and was able to let us know the bus was running 17 minutes late.

      To cut a long story short, the bus which cost us just £3 each dropped us off at the bottom of our road. We walked through our front door at 11.47am after a long and tiring journey.

      Song of the Day - A New Dawn Fades by Joy Division.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand
      4

      Day 21 - Flannels Save The Day

      3 Maret, Thailand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

      I was awoken around 1.30am to discover that Jackie had stolen all the quilt and I was freezing. After a quick tug of war, I returned to my slumbers until 4.30am. Way too early for the day ahead.

      We chilled, literally, in our room until 11.45am, when we checked out of Samed Garden Resort. We left our rucksacks in reception and toddled down to C Smile for drinks. We sat in deckchairs in the shade, but boy was it so hot. We had flannels to mop our brows which saved us from drowning in our own sweat.

      Throughout the afternoon we shared 3 bottles of Chang, a litre of water and a basket of french fries. I read my book whilst Jackie dozed.

      At 3.20pm, we paid up returned to Samed Garden Resort collected our rucksacks, said goodbye to the lovely staff who waved us off and without incident took a Songteo back to the port. We went into the ticket office and the still rude staff told Jackie that our tickets were for the other jetty.

      We lugged our luggage to the cargo jetty where the old wooden boat we arrived on was being unloaded on to waiting trucks. The cargo was mainly seafood and boxes of bottled beer. Maybe we had drunk the island dry, it certainly felt that way. We watched in the beating sun and continued to melt.

      Eventually the boat was empty we were allowed to board. The boat was loaded up with various items including a scooter. Surprisingly the beach chicken sellers and their equipment arrived and boarded at the last minute. At 4.30pm sharp we departed for the 40 minute chug back to Ban Phe on the mainland.

      We had been contacted by our taxi driver to say that he was waiting for us, but once we had disembarked he was nowhere to be seen. For a 10 minute period we were sending photos of our locations back and forth. He also rang my phone, but he couldn’t speak English and my Thai is nearly as bad as my German! Eventually a selfie of me outside a 7-11 did the trick and he appeared.

      The ride to the airport took just under 2 hours and it was a relief to get out. For some reason he speeded up during the second half of the journey, constantly switching lanes and tailgating way too closely. Even at the airport, he just abandoned the taxi in the road and ran off to get us a trolley. It was as if he had suddenly realised he should have been somewhere else!

      The second we walked into the airport concourse, presumably looking gormless, a Thai Airways lady grabbed us and asked us where we were travelling to. She then took us to the self check in machine and did everything for us. We then walked straight through the security and passport control areas without the slightest delay. The whole process to get airside took less than 15 minutes, which was lovely, but we now had over 5 hours to wait before our flight!

      We treated ourselves to a Big Mac before finally heading home 30 minutes after midnight. The flight time was estimated to take 12 hours and 45 minutes.

      Song of the Day - Long Goodbye by New Model Army.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand

      Day 20 - An Englishman Abroad

      2 Maret, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

      I woke up sometime around 4.30am with a raging sore throat. I thought it was the air conditioning, but later I would realise that I had a cold on the way. Jackie counted her hidden away shekels and mysteriously found an extra 2000THB, which apparently we needed to spend.

      It was after 9.30am when we left our spacious cool hut and embarked on the 2 mile trek to our beach. Bizarrely when we arrived, well after 10am, we were the first people to actually sit down and occupy the deckchairs.

      We purchased a banana smoothie and a passion fruit smoothie. The temperature was 30 degrees, no cloud or breeze. We were hot and bothered. A few walks up and down the beach and multiple dips in the Gulf of Thailand could not cool us down.

      We returned to our usual lunch haunt, where I had their signature Mango and sticky rice, which was purple. Jackie ordered a Pad Thai which was not the best and neither of us even managed to finish. I think we are now officially ‘All Thai’d Out’.

      The afternoon had Jackie with her head under the umbrella and me reading my book with my back to the sun.

      When I wasn’t reading, we amused ourselves watching the endless parade of girls and young women taking constant selfies or getting their partners to take endless photos of them in ‘sexy’ poses in and out of the sea. One woman in a bright orange bikini spent literally the whole day walking up and down the beach posing for photographs taken by her fat friend. Presumably for Facebook, Instagram or TingTongBrides.com etc. The vanity of all these women was just extraordinary.

      Gone 5.30pm, we trekked back to Samed Garden Resort. We were dripping in sweat when we arrived. We changed our sodden T-shirts and went straight back out to C Smile for a couple of Changs and we ate a particularly crispy pork omelette and a basket of chips.

      Later that evening we played Top Trumps with a bottle of Hong Thong. It was still 28 degrees without a hint of a breeze and we just melted on our verandah. It was a relief to get back into our chilly air conditioned room.

      Song of the Day - Vanity by New Model Army.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand

      Day 19 - Squiffy

      1 Maret, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Today signalled the beginning of the end of our holiday. We had two more nights in Ko Samet, but we were being forced to move on, because Tok’s Little Huts were fully booked.

      We packed up our troubles in our old kitbags and at Jackie’s insistence we knocked back about two thirds of a bottle of Hong Thong with a spare bottle of Coke Zero.

      Jackie asked a couple of the cleaners / gardeners to carry our large rucksacks down the particularly steep steps to reception. Before I could intervene, Jackie had paid the lads 20THB (about 50 pence) each for their trouble. I have never seen so much joy on their faces, they couldn’t believe their luck. Jackie was happy that she had brought so much pleasure to them and all I could think that there had to be a first time!

      After storing our rucksacks in reception, we headed back to the beach. I felt a little squiffy from the early morning Hong Thongs without food and Jackie even admitted she felt the same.

      The beach was more of the same. We returned to our usual at lunchtime, but it was busy. We sat for 10 minutes without getting served and gave it up as a bad job. Instead we bought a couple of beers and headed back to the beach. We had a late lunch at Tok’s, a cheeseburger and a Pad Thai.

      The afternoon entertainment was provided by the wedding photographer who attends the beach most afternoons with a different couple. What amazes me is that he gets the couples to do a whole range of poses for photos and videos, but he seems to have no awareness that there are loads of other people in the background. I shouldn’t be surprised, wedding photographers, past and present, are a weird bunch.

      It was 5.30pm, when we collected our luggage and took a songteaw (another spelling) to Samed Garden Resort. We had booked a standalone big hut for just £31 per night. The lady remembered us from our last visit (how could they not!) and warmly welcomed us back.

      We ate back at Samed Thanee. Jackie had the chicken and cashew nuts and managed to put me off my dinner of chicken with garlic and peppers by liken a piece of meat to a chicken foot. We were the only diners in the restaurant which was a bit strange.

      We played a game of Top Trumps (I won) with a Hong Thong and then opted for an early night in our almost luxuriously large hut.

      Song of the Day - The Road Leads Where It’s Led by Secret Machines.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand

      Day 18 - Rings of Fire

      28 Februari, Thailand ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

      Woke up at 6.30am and rushed to the bathroom. I revisited a couple more times. I knew that last night’s experience would play havoc with my delicate constitution in the morning.

      By 9.30am it was safe to head to the beach. The walk was disrupted by a travelling brush seller who was pushing his cart along the road at the same speed as us and constantly honking his horn. Jackie threatened to kill Ken Dodd.

      We bought a banana smoothie to settle the stomach and returned to our usual spot. It was another hot sunny day and the tide was high.

      The disrespectful arrogant krauts turned up later, but fortunately they couldn’t find any room near us. They did still manage to later upset the miserable son from Flow Beach Cafe by draping their clothes over his hand painted ‘No Smoking on the Beach’ sign. Unfortunately it was out of our earshot, but when he came out to remonstrate, one of the women clearly said something to offend him and the son then went off on one, ranting at her with lots of gesticulation. It was great.

      We returned to our latest regular lunch spot. I had the old faithful of Pad Thai chicken, but they didn’t have any pork, so Jackie ordered the shrimp with peppers and rice. She left feeling disappointed.

      The afternoon was hot (in the 90’s) and we were grateful for the intermittent fluffy cloud. The occasional cold Chang helped.

      That evening we walked along the beach and caught the end of the fire show. We returned to the Ocean Pizza Restaurant for a salami pizza and salad. We were not disappointed.

      Song of the Day - Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand

      Day 17 - Local Dining

      27 Februari, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

      Woke up to the birds chirping at dawn. I watched a couple of hours of Netflix on my iPad and finished my blog.

      It was around 9.30am, when we headed to the beach in glorious sunshine. We selected our deckchairs and pulled them out to prevent anyone daring to sit in front of us. The rest of the deckchairs became occupied, without the Germans or anyone else, trying to sit in front.

      It was a hot day, a tad too hot for Jackie, and the tide was high. We took many walks and dips in the sea to cool down. We had a cheeky Chang each, then headed back to Mum Aroi Ko Samet Bar and Restaurant for lunch. I ordered a spicy omelette on rice and Jackie ordered a Pad Thai. Both dishes were delicious and cheap. We probably be returning for lunch most days of our remaining time in Thailand.

      The afternoon was much the same, but Jackie had to retreat into the shade under the umbrella for an hour when the sun was at its hottest. We got our monies worth out of the deckchairs and didn’t leave the beach until virtually 5.30pm.

      We had a couple of Hong Thongs, then headed out. There was one more restaurant on the island that had taken our fancy, that we still hadn’t tried. It was fairly near the port. We passed Banana Bar, which again had a queue of people waiting to get a table.

      We continued on to the restaurant, which has a Thai name, but is a Noodle Bar. It took us a while to get a free seat, but eventually one became available just before we gave up and moved on. We sat down and studied the menu. It didn’t take long there were only 8 dishes to choose from and the descriptions nearly all included the same three words pork, noodles and soup. The pictures of each also all looked pretty much the same.

      We ordered two dishes that were apparently different and sat back with a Chang to enjoy the hustle bustle of the place. It was only now that we noticed that we were virtually the only westerners in the restaurant. Everyone else was either Thai or another Asian nationality, many still in their work uniforms.

      On a dining table behind us staff were chopping up meat which didn’t bear thinking about the hygiene of it for too long. Jackie visited the free salad bar and returned with two small plates of unidentified leaves and accompaniments. The only thing I recognised was some beansprouts.

      Our dinners arrived in bowls with meat, small balls of something maybe meaty, crushed nuts, noodles and an accompanying small bowl of broth. They both looked the same, but mine had darker meat. We were given chopsticks and a small ladle to eat it with. We poured the broth onto our dinner, then the salad. Jackie then poured a ladle of chilli flakes into hers and in the confusion, I did the same, then immediately regretted and unsuccessfully tried to fish them back out.

      Let’s just say it was a fantastic experience and ridiculously cheap. We both left pouring with sweat and with our top lips on fire.

      We stopped at the 7-11 for some essentials, then got home and lay in our air-conditioned room until we had sufficiently cooled down. We had a Hong Thong on the verandah and called it a night.

      Song of the Day - Fire by Kasabian.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand

      Day 16 - Disrespectful Arrogant Krauts

      26 Februari, Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      We headed to the beach at the usual time and selected our set of deckchairs for the day and pulled them out so no-one could sit in front of us.

      Not much later that morning 3 young German families scattered their towels and sarongs along side us and immediately in front of two unoccupied sets of deckchairs so close that no one else was ever going to be able to sit on them. As the morning progressed, the Germans spread out further putting towels in the shade of the umbrellas and utilising the tables without actually sitting on the deckchairs. I was annoyed for the poor deckchair man, because they were clearly doing him out of his earning potential, but this was not my battle to fight AND in any case I’m not fluent in German!

      Whilst most of them were swimming, the deckchair man finally ventured out to ask one of the women to move their stuff from under the umbrellas. She dismissively snatched a sarong from under one without an apology and denied knowing whose property was under the other. When the others returned from the sea they didn’t move the offending items until the poor deckchair man had to ask them again and then only begrudgingly they did, without a hint of an apology.

      They left all their scattered stuff on the sand, whilst they went off for lunch returning about an hour later, packing up and going. Spookily enough, the deckchairs they were sat immediately in front of were soon occupied after they left.

      All day ‘we’ had just two 80THB Changs each, half a packet of crisps and we ‘shared’ a banana pancake. Jackie claimed she had just 3 crisps and 3 segments of my banana pancake, which is probably accurate. As we left the beach around 5pm, Jackie said she was starving and if she carried on like this, she would be thin enough to enter Miss World by the end of the holiday!!

      After showering, Jackie insisted we get ready to go out. We had several Hong Thongs and did some essential admin. Jackie then rushed us out for dinner and we went to the lovely little shack attached to our beer shop, which I believe is called Mum Aroi Ko Samet Bar and Restaurant. We were served by the Thai lady who I think thought I was one of those sad single old farangs. She had tried to chat me (in Thai) when I had bought the all the Changs earlier. I could see the disappointment in her eyes when she realised that I was married to a future Miss World contestant.

      Jackie ordered a the spicy pork with basil and rice with a fried egg on top, but extra spicy which raised an eyebrow. I ordered a chicken Massaman curry with rice. Both were superb, although we could have eaten literally anything (except fish for me), because we were so hungry. Despite the eyebrow raising, Jackie actually added chilli sauce to her dinner ate it all and finished off my rice. Maybe she’ll have to postpone her Miss World auditions for another year!

      On the way home, a Thai girl, who looked about 12 years old, genuinely very nearly ran us down. She obliviously rode her scooter straight at us. I had to yank Jackie out of the road to avoid being hit. Had it not been for her newly acquired one day old lithe body the scooter handlebars would have empaled her midriff.

      We had a couple of Hong Thongs to erase the memory and went to bed content with life.

      Song of the Day - Miss World by Hole.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand
      1

      Day 15 - Any Port in a Storm?

      25 Februari, Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      Had a good 9 hours sleep so I awoke feeling fresh and vibrant, ready to take on any challenges that presented themselves today.

      It was another overcast morning, so we walked down to the port to confirm the last departure of the slow boat on Monday. The times were handwritten on our return ticket but they were not sufficiently clear for us to be certain. We could not afford to miss the last ferry of the day.

      I approached the ticket desk and showed the lady our ticket and I politely enquired “Could you confirm the time of the last boat of the day using this ticket?”
      She replied “It’s written on the ticket”.
      Not impressed, I said “I know that, but it is not clear. Can you confirm it is 4.30pm?”
      The rude woman replied “It’s written on the ticket”.
      Slightly more agitated, I said “Okay, in that case could you tell me the name of the pier that the boat will take us to?”
      She replied “The same pier you got here from”.
      Now irate, “I know that, but I want to know the name of it for the taxi driver”.
      She again replied, “The same pier you got here from”.

      I’d like to say that I smiled and sarcastically thanked her for her help, but I didn’t. I can’t repeat what I said to the horrible unhelpful bitch as I defeatedly stormed off, but rest assured it wasn’t pleasant. Her attitude was enough to make even saintly me grumpy and sweary! This was my first battle of the day which I most definitely lost.

      We walked back into town, got some more cash out (there are no ATM’s on Ko Samet) and made enquiries into our transport options to get back to Bangkok Airport. It would seem the only option is a taxi.

      We returned to our room, changed then headed to the beach with a banana smoothie each. The was only one free pair of deckchairs on the front row, but a couple too tight to pay for deckchairs were lying in the sand immediately in front of them. I was not in the mood for idiots, so we pulled the deckchairs out and sat down so that our feet were just kicking distance from their heads. They initially bloody mindedly continued to lay at our feet, but eventually they succumbed and moved. It was a personal little battle which I felt we won!

      At lunchtime, we went native and bought our lunch from one of the beach sellers. Jackie had grilled chicken pieces and a papaya salad, whilst I had a single pork sausage. Let’s just say it filled a hole and it was an experience, but not one that we will be repeating. In fact the sausage kept repeating on me!

      I walked to the beer shop and bought two Changs which were back to 80THB again, to wash lunch down. I later returned to the beer shop and saw the woman who had charged me 90THB, but she didn’t serve me and I walked away with 2 more Changs at 80THB each. For me it was a second battle won.

      It was cloudy, but still 30 degrees, for the remainder of the afternoon. The afternoon entertainment was provided by a number of newcomers to the beach to watch, but particularly a clearly well off young teenage Thai girl who had an abundance of beach toys. This included an inflatable red heart shaped kite that took over 2 hours of untangling, assistance from do-gooders and running up and down the beach with it dragging behind to actually get it airborne for less than 10 seconds.

      We always say that you still catch it (the sun) through the clouds and Jackie certainly did. We left the beach at 5.30pm with Jackie radiating like a Belisha Beacon. My nose also took a pasting.

      After a couple of Hong Thongs, we headed back into Town. Again, there was a long queue outside the Banana Bar, which we have discovered, probably justifyingly is voted on TripAdvisor as the best restaurant on Ko Samet. We continued on to the Ocean Pizza restaurant where Jackie had agreed that I could attempt a whole pizza as I had eaten little more than my pork sausage and a half a packet of sour cream and onion Lays.

      No sooner had we arrived at Ocean Pizza, when Jackie had a change of mind and decided that we would now share one pizza and a salad. We shared a homemade pepperoni pizza and a green salad with a couple of dressings. Both were utterly delicious and the staff were again super efficient and attentive. It was a very pleasurable dining experience to end our day.

      Song of the Day - Irrelevant Battles by Patrik Fitzgerald.      Baca selengkapnya

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    • Simon and Jackie AnnalsSimon and Jackie AnnalsKo Samet, Thailand
      1

      Day 14 - I’m Not Tight OR Grumpy

      24 Februari, Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      It was raining heavily during the night and when we got up just after 9am, it was still spitting. We got ready and sat on our verandah and decided we might as well be back on the beach.

      By the time we were back at the deckchairs, the sun was trying its hardest to burn away the clouds, making for the perfect temperature with just the occasional spot of rain to prevent us overheating.

      We selected our deckchairs and settled in for the morning as others slowly ventured out and filled up most of the other deckchairs. My morning was nearly ruined, when a family with 3 young boys, plonked themselves down directly in front of us. Luckily, literally 2 minutes later, one of the boys ran back to his parents with blood pouring from both knees. Evidently he fallen when trying to retrieve their football from the rocks. With that they packed up and departed never to be seen again, presumably to get some medical attention. I thanked our lucky stars!!

      At lunchtime we decided to return to our very own Tok’s Little Hut restaurant. We had 2 dishes in mind to try for the first time. Annoyingly they didn’t serve either, so Jackie ordered a Pad Thai and I, a fried chicken in curry paste and rice. I added a spoonful of chilli sauce to my dish and to my horror discovered that it contained a hint of fish sauce. Jackie kindly swapped with me and I had her Pad Thai which was served with a tray of 4 condiments to add according to individual taste. To be on the safe side I added just a couple of spoonfuls of sugar and wow did it enhance the flavour.

      During the afternoon I returned to the little shop down the road to buy a couple of large Changs. I was taken back, when the lady (younger than yesterday) asked me for 180THB. I argued the toss telling her I only paid 160THB the previous day. She was having none of it and I begrudgingly paid her what she was asking, vowing not to return.

      My principals were shredded when Jackie was not going to have her holiday ruined by a tight bugger (me) and went off to buy a two more Changs. Jackie assured me that she checked the price of Changs in other shops and they were no cheaper than 90THB each. She is convinced we were undercharged yesterday and that is the end of it!!

      We bought a couple more sarongs from a seller on the beach for what we considered to be a bargain price and returned home gone 5pm.

      After showering, we had a couple of Hong Thongs then went straight back out. We walked along the beach and encountered the end of one of the highly advertised ‘free’ Fire Shows. As the performers came round looking for tips, we disappeared into the town. We walked up to the Banana Bar, but sadly we were confronted by a queue outside waiting to get a table. I don’t know, but I’m guessing that it is recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook or something similar.

      We did a sit-rep and settled for the same ‘cheap’ restaurant that I treated her to on Valentine’s Day. As soon as we sat down, I needed a wee and had to trek to the public toilets on the other side of the square. A large Chang was sitting on the table upon my return and the waitress was stood over Jackie with her pen posed. It was an awkward next 10 minutes whilst we deliberated from the huge menu whilst the waitress refused to be moved on. Eventually, Jackie chose a pork Penang curry and I went totally off piste with a pineapple curry with chicken.

      Two Asian lads on the table next to us had a veritable feast of seafood including piles of crab and prawn. They were filming themselves eating it, probably for YouTube or TikTok. When their bill came it was more than double what we normally pay for a meal.

      We also had notification that a caller to our house at home had rung our doorbell. We didn’t speak to him but we did at least confirm our car hadn’t been stolen yet!

      Jackie’s delicious Penang curry arrived about 15 minutes after ordering, but there was no inkling that mine was on its way. Jackie had finished her dinner before mine finally arrived after I had enquired as to where mine was. It felt like I was eating a pineapple soup with rice. It was nice, but more like a dessert than a savoury dish. When the bill arrived it was at least 200THB short, so we quickly paid up and departed as quickly as we could without making a scene.

      We popped into the 7-11 for some more Coke Zeros, some Lays and more Hong Thong. They only had litre bottles of Hong Thong costing 413THB, whereas we normally bought the 750ml bottles costing just 294THB. My mathematical brain kicked into gear and I concluded that the litre bottles were overpriced, which didn’t make sense. Instead we bought two 750ml bottles at the regular price from the 7-11 opposite, before walking home.

      It may appear from this blog that I am tight, but I’m not. I just like to get value for my money and I don’t like being ripped off.

      Song of the Day - Rip Off The Knob by The Bellamy Brothers.      Baca selengkapnya

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