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No SADness in Thailand

December 2021 - April 2024
Hopefully no Seasonal Affective Disorder for us by avoiding the weather, Christmas & the supermarket shortages in the UK by heading to Thailand for a 2 month holiday. Read more
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  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand
    1

    Day 11 - The Tale of Big Ang

    December 20, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Both Jackie & I received half a dozen mosquito bites in bed, which are crispy and oozing like the sap from a tree.

    I went down to breakfast first & was reacquainted with Big Ang, who asked if she could join me at my table.

    Jackie & I first met Big Ang at Heathrow Airport, when she occupied the three seats immediately in front of us on the plane. She got off at Phuket Airport and she arrived behind us in the same taxi at the same wrong hotel & then arrived behind us in the same taxi at the correct hotel. She was keen to talk to us at the correct hotel because she wanted our knowledge to help her complete the check in & Covid processes. During this brief exchange we learnt that she was meeting a friend & going to stay at her friend’s brother’s beach resort on Koh Phayam. We saw her on a couple of occasions over the next 24 hours, but I felt she was blanking us, so I took a dislike to her.

    Almost as soon as we arrived on Koh Phayam, we worked it out that Big Ang was going to be staying at Sabai Sabai. This was confirmed when we first met owner James’ mother who said that her daughter was arriving in a few day with her friend, who she tactfully described her as a larger lady.

    Big Ang is a tall, but also very wide 58 year old lady with her legs covered in tattoos & New Model Army red spiky hair. She has limited mobility due to nerve damage & suffers from anxiety. She is an ex-nurse and met James’ sister, Emma, whilst both volunteering at a shelter for the homeless.

    After chatting about our travels to date, we were joined by Jackie & the subject of music came up when I got a message to say my PIL tickets had been secured. Jackie piped up to Big Ang that she wouldn’t like my music or have heard of my favourite band. On the contrary, she likes New Model Army and generally the same bands as me. I wasn’t surprised judging by the colour of her hair. She went up even further in my estimation, when she revealed that the first band she ever saw in concert was the Dead Kennedys. We talked about concerts and festivals and she tipped me off about the Stone Valley Festival South 2022 in Hertfordshire which features a lot of my bands. I suspect I will be booking a pair of weekend tickets for it in the coming days!

    Big Ang turned out to be very pleasant and amusing, but she did like to talk. It was nearly 2 hours later that we managed to prise ourselves away & scootered off back to our favourite beach.

    At Long Beach we repeated our routine of reserving our beds at Lazy Hut, then took a walk for a mile up the beach where we took a swim amongst the trainee surfers on the sporadic big wave.

    We returned to Lazy Hut in time for lunch consisting of beers, french fries & fried vegetable spring rolls. Jackie ordered a pork curry with extra spice that was way too spicy to eat. She ate half, then pretended she was full.

    The afternoon was the same same until 5pm, when instead of having an ice cream from the little motorbike man & we both had a sundowner gin & tonic for medicinal reasons. The sun had gone down when we returned to the scooter only to find that the scootering German couple from Sabai Sabai were also mounting their two scooters.

    After exchanging pleasantries, l attempted to get a flying start in the nonexistent race home only for Jackie’s flip flop to fall off in the sand. Luckily I was blocking the path, whilst Jackie made several panicky aborted attempts to retrieve her shoe. Finally we were off & as soon as I was confident with the condition of the road, I opened up the throttle leaving the Germans for dead. It did mean that we got yet another bug facial, but more importantly we won.

    After showers we were getting ready when we heard a strange loud flapping noise, but assumed it was some animal outside. I then went to the loo and was confronted by this foot long lizard running down the wall. It nearly gave me a heart attack, but I managed to grab my phone & get a quick photo of it before it disappeared into the bamboo wall. I might yet still win BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year or maybe not……

    We returned to ‘36’ for a green & a yellow curry followed by a quick Hong Thong nightcap back at the cottage before calling it an early night.

    Much to my surprise Jackie decided to get dressed in a white skintight vest top & white knickers. She looked like a wrestler from ITV’s World of Sport in her wrestling leotard. I was going to bed with ‘Jackie McManus - The Great Mosquito Destroyer’.

    Song of the Day: My Love Is Like A Wave / Razor Blade Reprise by The Silencers.
    Rise by Public Image Limited.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 12 - Last Day of Feral Living

    December 21, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    During the night we had a power cut & the fan stopped. At 4.30am Jackie & I were both awake scratching our backs from more bites during the night.

    At 9am the power had still not returned so I went off to investigate. I bumped into Jan & James who updated me that a fire in the kitchen had knocked out the entire electricity supply. I told them about our bites & Jan informed me that our oozing crispy bites were actually sandfly bites, particularly prevalent on Long Beach. Typical. There is no such thing as paradise!

    I then went to the breakfast area where I confirmed that there was no internet, but on the plus side I was able to sneak a couple of covert photos of Big Anne with my iPad. I was quite pleased with my efforts, because the last time I tried something like this I was chased down a Las Vegas sidewalk by Elvis in a mobility scooter screaming obscenities at me!

    We were just finishing up our coffee, when Big Anne reappeared in a new dress then incredibly donned a tiny motorcycle helmet & headed out with her friend, Emma. It took all my willpower not to follow them.

    We hit the road shortly after & took a detour downtown to try & spot Big Anne, but failed miserably, so we headed back to Long Beach & embarked on our longest walk yet to very end of Long Beach & back.

    Lunch consisted of satay chicken, french fries & Changs. We kept it deliberately light because we had decided to stop on the way home at a pizzeria we had spotted that had a 5 - 6pm happy hour of cocktails & pizza, which we felt we ought to take advantage of.

    We had a 2nd walk of the day after lunch & came across a monster from the deep washed up on the beach. It was a disgusting jellyfish like nothing I’d seen before.

    We later both fell asleep for the afternoon & awoke shortly before 5pm. We didn’t fancy cocktails and pizza, so we settled for a Chang on the beach & what promised to be a spectacular sunset. It wasn’t. We also had some entertainment in the form of a little man climbing up into the coconut trees & chopping off all the coconuts. Apparently, yesterday a coconut crashed through the table in the exact place where we had been sitting for lunch today.

    After the sunset petered out to nothing, we left the beach & rode slowly home along the now pitch black paths teeming with insects & the occasional bat. We arrived back at Sabai Sabai to find Big Anne still helmet clad having just dismounted her scooter. If only we had been seconds earlier!

    We got ready & went straight out to our ‘Authentic’ restaurant where we both had the crispy fried pork. It was then back home for our final nights sleep in the hayloft.

    Song of the Day: Born Feral by New Model Army.
    Sandfly by The Swinging Blue Jeans.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 13 - Rookie Error Nearly Disastrous

    December 22, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Had an itchy night, waking up at 2.30am & not really getting back to sleep again. At 7.30am, we dragged ourselves out of bed, had a cold shower & packed our rucksacks. I had a dickey stomach, which is the last thing I wanted on a travelling day!

    An hour later we were ordering breakfast, banana porridge with honey for me & Jackie ordered the smallest in the world cheese & ham toastie with a pot of fresh coffee. Having paid up, we said our goodbyes to the characters I’ve previously referred to and we hiked down to the pier for the 10am speedboat back to the mainland.

    The speedboat was a 40 minute bumpy crossing to Ranong Port, then a taxi transferred us to Ronong Bus Station, where we bought some random snacks - a honey & a strawberry pop drink, some Thai equivalent of pork scratchings and some unidentifiable sweet pastries.

    At 11.30am sharp, the coach departed & headed south. Despite being only 25% full, a young junior Hitler ticket collector kept coming back to check that everyone was sitting in their allocated seats. We also had the army again check our passports & the travel documents of our fellow Thai travellers halfway through our journey.

    As of today the Thai Authorities are clamping down on the movement of new tourists to Thailand. We understand that the Thailand Pass scheme that had allowed us to travel after our test & go procedure has been scrapped. Now all tourists without a previously issued Thailand Pass can only fly directly into Phuket & now take 2 PCR tests & must remain on the island of Phuket for at least 7 days before being allowed to travel elsewhere in Thailand. This clearly has a serious impact on those tourists who have booked a 1 or 2 week holiday somewhere in Thailand other than Phuket. No wonder British Airways & TUI have cancelled all their Thai holidays & flights!

    Nearly 3 hours later we arrived at Takua Pa Bus Station & the driver announced that we’d be stopping for 15 minutes. We decided to get off for a leg stretch & Jackie went to the toilet. Whilst waiting for her my stomach suddenly gurgled uncontrollably & I dashed to the Gents. There were 3 cubicles each with a different height toilet set in the middle of the cubicle. One was a hole in the floor, one was a normal size bowl & the 3rd was of a height somewhere between the other two. More importantly to me at this moment was that none had any toilet paper. What an idiot for not packing any in our hand luggage.

    In panic I scampered to the food hall grabbed a large handful of tissues from a ladies food stall. I asked if I could take them, but scampered back before she could reply & I made it back to the Gents just in time!!!

    Twenty minutes later we unceremoniously dumped at our schedules stop at the side of the main road through Khao Lak. No one was around to offer us a lift, so I walked down the road until I found a lovely little lady, Chanika, in a tour shop. After explaining my predicament, she offered to close her shop & drive us to our hotel for 150 Baht (about £3.50). She explained it was really quiet & I had been her 1st customer in three days. When we arrived at our new hotel, Fanari Khaolak Resort, Jackie & Chanika, who couldn’t have been more helpful, swapped mobile numbers as we would definitely use her for any future business we had in the area.

    Our new receptionist was not particularly warm & welcoming. She walked us to our room, plonked the key fob in the slot to activate the electric, said “OK” & walked out. Our hearts sank. The room smelt musty as if it hadn’t been lived in for 2 years, which it probably hadn’t & there was dirt between the floor tiles on our terrace. I asked for a broom, which didn’t do the trick, so she took some photos & promised to get properly cleaned in the morning. As she was leaving I then told her we didn’t have any coffee-making or tea-making facilities. When she returned with a kettle, cups & sachets, I asked if we could have a couple of extra harder pillows. She smiled sweetly and later returned with 2 satisfactory pillows. A quick squirt of citronella around the room & we were sorted! We really can’t complain too much when we are paying just £167 for 6 nights over Christmas.

    At 5pm, we went for an explore & found a German reggae bar called Mr Chay Bar. It was quiet when we arrived, but in the hour that we were there it had transformed into a lively bar, which apparently also has live music in the evenings. We have already earmarked this as potentially the place to be on Christmas evening.

    We went home, showered & went straight back out. The restaurants in Khao Lak are much more westernised than at Koh Phayam & clearly aimed at the western tourists. They also come with western prices, on average 50 - 100%, but when I mentioned it I was accused of being a cheapskate!

    We settled on a restaurant called Siam. The staff were ultra polite & the food was beautifully presented. Jackie had red chicken curry & rice, whilst I had chicken & cashew nuts, which was nice but not sensational. After a quick G & T nightcap on our terrace we had a very early night.

    Song of the Day: Clampdown by The Clash.
    Cheapskates by The Clash.

    (In tribute to Joe Strummer who died on this day in 2002 aged just 50.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 14 - A Visit from Lovely Chanika

    December 23, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 9.45am, then had a coffee & some left over mini doughnuts on the terrace. It was very pleasant with small birds & butterflies flitting about in the lush green foliage. At 10.30am the cleaner arrived, so we relocated to the sun beds around the pool.

    Again we had the pool to ourselves. With the benefit of decent WiFi, I booked a pair of Stone Valley Festival music & camping tickets for Jackie & I. To celebrate, I cranked up the volume with some Big Country on my speaker.

    For lunch, we bought a couple of beers & some sour cream & onion Lays from a tiny shop opposite the hotel. Our lunch on our now nice clean terrace was disturbed by a WhatsApp message from Chanika. She had sent us some information on trips to the Similan Islands that we had asked her to research & at a price considerably cheaper than the brochure price. We WhatsApp’d back that we would like to book it & she said she would be with us in 15 minutes to complete the paperwork.

    Twenty minutes later, Chanika arrived bearing homemade Christmas gifts for us. She gave Jackie a beaded chain to clip to her mask (all the rage over here), me a packet of nicely wrapped banana crisps & for both of us a bar of soap using ingredients from her garden. I’m hoping she hasn’t gone all Gwyneth Paltrow on us!

    She then pulled out her ticket book, which she said hadn’t seen a single booking in the last two years & completed the necessary documentation. We didn’t have enough cash on us so she gave us a lift to the money exchange to change up some more cash to pay her up front for the trip. Let’s hope this is not some elaborate scam!

    We finished the afternoon with a little siesta until the peace was shattered by the sound of loud rap music & the grunting & groaning of what I hope was Muay Thai boxers training.

    After a shower (apparently the water is now too hot & too powerful for Jackie) we were having a quick ‘livener’ on our terrace when I read the information leaflet that came with our antihistamine tablets for our itchy sandfly bites. It read that only one should be taken each day, avoid alcohol & they may make you drowsy. No wonder we were tired, we had been swallowing a couple of tablets at a time & washing them down with beer & gin.

    We went out for the evening via a shortcut, which Jackie was convinced was someone’s garden, but I saw it as a public right of way. We had dinner at a Thai/German restaurant called Thai Life where we had our tastiest starter yet, satay chicken & a cheeky garlic bread. We followed it up with a lovely Penang curry & Tom Yum soup. Over dinner I discovered my sd card in my camera was full. Bugger!

    We sought out Mr Chay Bar only to discover that it was closed & no sign of life. I just hope it hasn’t been closed down by the authorities after the Thai Government issued new Covid guidance including a request for citizens to inform on any bar/restaurant not taking necessary precautions. I’m not sure Mr Chay was!!

    Song of the Day: Alone by Big Country.
    Tracks of My Tears (Live) by Big Country.

    (The words seem all the more poignant knowing that Stuart Adamson committed suicide in a hotel room in Hawaii on 16th December 2001 aged just 43).    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 15 - It Was Christmas Eve, Babe

    December 24, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Woke up to the sad news that yet another friend had been diagnosed with cancer.

    Breakfast on the terrace consisted of a cup of coffee & banana flakes courtesy of Chanika. We then had a mad rush to ensure our sun beds. Some miserable Germans were laying towels out around OUR pool. Bloody cheek.

    After an hour or so of sunning, I was getting itchy feet, figuratively, so I hired a scooter from the little shop opposite the hotel & Jackie & I went in search of a new sd card for my camera. After a lot of stopping & asking we eventually found the camera shop about 2 miles away & paid fractionally over the odds for it. Still we needed it.

    To celebrate, we treated ourselves to lunch at a much cheaper ‘locals’ restaurant on the main road beside some roadworks. I ordered a green curry, but when it arrived they had been a bit too heavy handed with the fish sauce. Jackie insisted on swapping & so I had her chicken & cashew nuts. Neither were that nice, but the cold beer made up for it.

    After a scoot around the resort, we concluded that we had made the right choice with our hotel, we returned the scooter & sat down by the pool we had to ourselves again.

    That night we planned to have a simple pizza & a relatively quiet & early night (best laid plans & all that), because we had an early start in the morning. We didn’t want any dodgy stomachs on our boat trip!

    After a quick livener, we headed to Mr Chay’s Bar for a pre-dinner drink. We drank beer & wine & nibbled on the complimentary roasted peanuts. Amongst the peanuts I found a roasted chilli & bit half off & swallowed. F**k my mouth was on fire. Jackie thought I was being a wimp & nibbled on a bit before spitting it out & then started sweating profusely. So much for taking precautions!

    Once Jackie had stopped sweating by consuming a couple of wines, we popped to Pinocchio Restaurant for a bland pizza to share. We then stopped at Piranha Bar, which we had awarded best dressed Christmas bar in town for a quick 99 Baht cocktail before heading home. No sooner had we ordered our drinks, I was rushing to the toilet not once, but twice.

    Before we knew it, it was late & we had had three very strong cocktails each & were fairly sozzled. Typically us!!

    I hope my choice of songs don’t offend.

    Song of the Day: Cancer by My Chemical Romance.
    Slide Away - Live For Teenage Cancer Trust by Noel Gallagher.
    Cancer by Tom MacDonald.
    Fairytale of New York by The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand
    4

    Day 16 - Similan Islands Christmas Trip

    December 25, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    The 6.45am the alarm stirred us from our alcoholic stupor. Over coffee, I gave Jackie her Christmas card, but the kind gesture was not returned, apparently she had forgotten to pack mine!!

    At 7.30am, a minibus arrived to pick us up, we then collected a family of 3 Americans before having to wait nearly 20 minutes for 3 Thai lads to join us. We eventually arrived at the Check-in Andaman private pier for coffee & breakfast over a short briefing from our tour guide.

    At 8.45am we had collected our equipment & boarded our speedboat. Jackie & I were literally 1st on & we took up seats at the very front of the boat to capitalise on the sun. We were joined at the front by lone a Brazilian girl, who was a bit of a strange cookie, and 5 giggly Thai girls.

    The 70 km crossing took a spine juddering 80 minutes before arriving at Similan Island Koh 9. (Ba-Ngu) for a 40 minute snorkel session in the crystal clear waters. After 20 minutes of looking at mainly little yellow fish, Jackie & I had had enough of our salt water eye bath & mouth wash so we returned to the boat. I did however get some interesting photos of the little yellow fishes swimming between the two of us.

    Next stop was Koh 8. (Similan) the largest island for an hour & 20 minutes. When we arrived it was teeming with tourists from other tours, but as our guide advised they would be gone in 15 minutes & true to his word they were. Leaving Jackie on the beach, I climbed the 150 metres up to Sail Rock which was a stunning viewpoint.

    Once I had returned to Jackie, we had a quick swim then collected our Christmas lunch. It consisted of 2 trays of food each & a bottle of water. It sounds a lot & it was, but it wasn’t overly edible. We had cold very spicy pork with cold rice, cold sweet & sour sauce with cold spaghetti & a couple of chicken wings plus some other bits I didn’t even want to try. During dinner we were joined by a large water monitor that had us abandoning the table when it got too close.

    After a few photos we boarded our speedboat & set off for the next destination. Just a couple of minutes into the journey, one of the crew spotted a whale coming up for air. The boat was immediately brought to a standstill & for the next 20 minutes or so we tracked a couple of Omura’s whales from a distance of just 30 yards with Jackie & I having the perfect viewing spot. I knew we were witnessing something a bit special because the crew were very excitable & were taking photos of their own. It was the perfect Christmas present.

    The Omura’s whale or dwarf fin whale is a rare & little known whale species. It is the most recently identified species of whale and then only from dead specimens in 2003. The 1st live identified sighting of one in the wild was in 2015. They measure 12 metres in length, are super-streamlined, but are so rare that scientists don’t know how many exist. Most sightings have been in Madagascan waters, thus sightings in Thai waters seem to be very newsworthy events.

    Next stop was Koh 7. (Pays) for another snorkelling stop. We both got in again & to our delight it was abundant with fish of all colours, including a particularly a big shoal of the little yellow fish swimming around us. After another 20 minutes, Jackie declared she had had enough & started heading back to the boat when someone shouted that they had spotted a sea turtle. They were over 100 metres away, but this was not an opportunity I was going to miss.

    With mask & snorkel flapping around my head & camera in hand, I attempted to front-crawl & fight my way through the other snorkelers to the turtle sighting. I arrived puffing & panting which made breathing through the snorkel difficult, but I was able to espy the turtle, which I have identified as a Hawksbill sea turtle. It was camouflaged by the coral, but I was able to follow it for several minutes & point & shoot my camera in it’s general direction.

    Elated, I returned to the speedboat before we motored over to our final stop, Koh 4. (Miang) National Park. It was for a 1 hour stop. We walked a trail to the other side of the island where we spotted several brightly coloured Nicobar Pigeons & fruit bats crawling & flying through the trees.

    It concluded our exceptional & highly recommended trip. The speedboat crew were so helpful & pleasant. The Similan Islands were pure paradise, both on land & in the sea. For us it made the perfect Christmas Day.

    We then made the 80 minute speedboat crossing back to the mainland for coffee & ice cream before being bussed back to our hotel at 6.00pm. We were both shattered, but after a shower & rest, we made our customary WhatsApp video calls & messages to family & friends before heading out to dinner.

    Dinner consisted of chicken satay, a Pad Thai & a beer each at Thai Life, then we called it a night. We were just too knackered & full to carry on.

    Song of the Day: Christmas Paradise by Carole King.
    Tales of Brave Ulysses by Cream. (Courtesy of American Dad on our trip).    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 17 - Boxing Day Rain Relief

    December 26, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We had a decent nights sleep & started the day with coffee & Christmas cake on the terrace. Jackie WhatsApp’d Chanika to let her know that the Similan Islands trip had been a great success & to enquire how she was getting on with arranging our onward travels on the 28th. All we wanted was a 1 hour 45 minute taxi ride back to Phuket bus terminal. It couldn’t be that difficult.

    Minutes later Jackie’s phone rang & she tossed her phone to me to speak with Chanika. I had a confusing conversation with her, but I ultimately worked out that she had other plans that would save us time & money. She said would need to visit us again. Not a problem we would be by the pool all day.

    Chanika arrived an hour later & sat crosslegged on the terrace floor in front of us as if we were a king & queen sitting on our thrones listening to one of our subjects. It felt a bit awkward. She wanted to see our bus tickets from Phuket to Hat Yai bus terminal. She was going to arrange for us to board the bus at Khok Kloi bus terminal instead of Phuket. This was would reduce our taxi ride to 1 hour, saving us about 1,200 baht & an extra 2 hour lie in. Perfect!

    Chanika then went into a big long sob story about how she gets up at 4am every morning to make breakfast for the Thais & she only made 45 baht profit this morning, how her mum has cancer & her brother a bad foot, but they can’t afford the hospital fee, how her electricity was going to be cut off on the 27th December & so on & so on. It didn’t make sense when she drives around in a big top of the range 4x4. We humoured her until she ran out of things to say to try and make us feel sorry for her.

    Our healthy lunch consisted of crisps, popcorn & a beer.

    In the afternoon, we sat by the pool in the scorching sun (the hottest day yet) until we had a lovely 10 minute downpour to cool us down. We stayed out in the sun until 4.30pm, when rain set in for the remainder of the afternoon.

    The rain continued until 8pm, when we went out for dinner with an umbrella. We returned to Thai Life, but went for the nearest thing we could get to a traditional Christmas dinner. Jackie ordered the Wiener schnitzel XXL, but the waitress now knowing Jackie’s sparrow like appetite suggested that they could do a smaller cheaper version for her, which she accepted. I ordered the cordon bleu chicken, but she didn’t recommend a smaller version for me! Both dinners were really delicious & we ate the lot.

    To finish the evening we stopped in the Piranha Bar for a couple of strong Thai Piranha cocktails costing just 70 baht each. The bar owner also had his own sob story which he off loaded on to Jackie.

    Song of the Day: Sunday Rain by Foo Fighters.
    Kings And Queens by Thirty Seconds To Mars.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 18 - Quiet Day on the Western Front

    December 27, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    The day started with more coffee & Christmas cake on the terrace. It was then a trip to reception to print off travel confirmations.

    We had just settled on the sun beds when Jackie’s phone rang & true to form she handed it to me like it was a ticking time bomb. It was Chanika telling us there was a problem with tomorrow. We were thinking ‘Oh here we go’, but we should have had more faith.

    Chanika told us that our bus & the only bus of the day was now leaving Phuket bus terminal at 10.30am & not at the scheduled 11.30am departure. Incredibly we had had no notification of this change & we would have missed the only bus of the day going to Hat Yai. Chanika had come up trumps yet again & she arranged to pick us up from our hotel at 9.30 in the morning.

    After an hour or so of melting in the sun, he headed into town to change some US dollars we had & to buy some provisions for our lengthy bus ride tomorrow. We stopped for a cheeky Chang in Thai Life & we ordered a bacon & onion rosti & some french fries, which didn’t let us down. We returned via my shortcut which it would seem was someone’s front garden, because we had to clamber over a barrier at the other end to get out.

    It was another lazy afternoon by the pool with a little bit of research for our onward travels. That night we went out to dinner to a little shack, ‘Give me Five’ recommended by American Dad for it’s onion soup. We both ordered the onion soup, with a portion of garlic bread to share. It tasted a lot better than it looked. We skipped mains & I had the sticky mango rice & Jackie the fried bananas & ice cream. Both desserts were huge, we struggled to finish them, but they did finish us.

    We waddled home & had a small nightcap on the terrace before calling it a night.

    Song of the Day: Drag It Down - Janice Long BBC Session by New Model Army.
    Frightened - Janice Long BBC Session by New Model Army.
    (No explanation required).    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 19 - Heading to the Deep South

    December 28, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The alarm went off at 8am, but I had been up hours monitoring the dismal performance by United at Newcastle. We showered, packed & were in the hotel reception at 9.20am.

    Ten minutes later, Chanika rolled up in her big Mitsubishi 4x4 & jumped out dressed as Dolly Parton without the chest. She was wearing a checkered shirt, jeans & cowboy crocks! Chanika was were usual excitable self & she chatted with Jackie for most of the 50 minute journey to Khok Kloi bus station.

    At Khok Kloi we were about an hour early, but Jackie wanted to be safe rather than sorry. Chanika rang the bus company to confirm it would be stopping for us, then we insisted she waited with us no longer. We gave her a decent 500 baht tip (she had been worth every baht) & sent her on her way.

    At 11.20 a battered old bus rattled into the bus station & tooted it’s horn. The female conductor jumped out & beckoned for us to hurry over. I threw our large rucksacks into the hold & boarded the bus. The conductor squirted our hands, gave us our tickets for ‘Mr Simon’ & we were off. The bus interior was disastrous with bits missing from the back of the seats, the vinyl floor had lifted into a big bubble & their were tears in the seat. Having said all that it seemed to go well & it was comfy.

    The 1st brief stop was Phang Nga with it’s very scenic limestone cliffs & rock formations which continued all the way down to Krabi. The bus passed through Khlong Thom, Mueang Trang & Phatthalung before arriving at Hat Yai bus terminal at 6.20pm. We had only one 10 minute stop at a service station during the entire journey of 241 miles, but it did seem to pass pretty quickly. It probably helped that we had two seats each to ourselves, plenty of snacks, half a bottle of Hong Thong & I watched 4 episodes of ‘Narcos’ on Netflix on my iPad.

    When we got off the bus at Hat Yai we were mobbed by taxi drivers, but I shooed them away, because it was only a very short walk to our hotel. I hoicked my rucksack onto my back and went to start backpacking, when Jackie announced she had got her mask stuck on her earring. Her mask was hanging from her right ear, so after taking a photo of her predicament, I set about unhooking her. It took a while, with bemused taxi drivers looking on.

    Eventually disentangled, we backpacked to our hotel, PM Residence, just 400 metres away. After checking in to our very satisfactory £17 a night hotel, we immediately went back out to Central Festival shopping mall. It was huge & spread over 7 floors. We managed to do a lap of each floor (got to keep the steps up) without buying a single thing. We were also the only westerners in the shopping mall & we stuck out look sore thumbs.

    Despite having a food court on two floors we resisted the urge to eat there & instead we went to the only restaurant we had found out in streets around us. We sat down & ordered a couple of Changs, but were curtly told that they didn’t sell beer. It was a Japanese (& possibly Muslim) restaurant, called Mari Chan, but strangely it did show beer for sale in their menu!

    I ordered 2 plates of gorgeous pork Gyozas & Jackie ordered a the teriyaki chicken set, which came on five different plate including a bowl of soup & some random chunks of fish. It was an experience.

    It would appear that not that many westerners make it to Hat Yai & this was probably summed up by a little girl in the restaurant who couldn’t tear her eyes away from Jackie, probably she had never seen anyone with fair hair let alone with blue eyes! The little girl waved Goodbye to Jackie when we left until we were out of sight.

    Song of the Day: Let The Day Begin by The Call.
    Everywhere I Go by The Call.    Read more

  • Simon and Jackie AnnalsNo SADness in Thailand

    Day 20 - Utter Chaos & Confusion

    December 29, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    At 8.05am, we got down to reception just as our minibus arrived to take us on the next leg of our journey. We were driven through town by our kamikaze driver who totally ignored all road signs & traffic lights. We picked up a Spanish girl, then headed out to Hat Yai International Airport where we filled the minibus with mainly westerners who had just flown in.

    We stopped just once at a 7-11 petrol station, where I treated Jackie to breakfast - a double pack of pocket sandwiches, one filled with crab sticks & the other tuna. Apparently they are really nice! I had a pineapple Danish pastry.

    We arrived at Pak Nam at 11am to discover it was heaving with Thai holidaymakers all waiting to take the speedboats out to the islands. Apparently, Thai residents have been offered huge discounts as a government incentive to keep their tourist industry afloat.

    Jackie & I were dropped off at a tour office where we were provided with some documentation & a laminated numbered card each. We were then instructed to join the queue at the terminal for pier 3.

    We joined a queue & a lady started waving a card with a QR code on it. We photographed it with our phones but nothing happened because I’m too tight to pay for a Roaming Data add-on to my phone! We tried to explain this to the lady, whilst others huddled around us trying to photograph her QR code, but it didn’t go very well so we continued in the queue.

    We then got to another checkpoint, where they wanted to see our passports, proof of Covid jabs & the completion of an online form after downloading that QR code. The lady at the checkpoint finally understanding that that we hadn’t completed the online form ushered us to one side to complete a written information form then we pushed our way back to her. She let Jackie straight through, but after examining my passports said something about me not having the right something or other. I called Jackie back, then without explanation she waved me through. I was perplexed!

    We then all huddled together in front of Pier 3 whilst our cases & rucksacks were loaded on to the speedboat. Everyone was ready to board when a young Thai girl started barking her orders. It transpired that we were supposed to be in a queue in the order of the numbers on our laminated cards. This caused further confusion & consternation.

    At midday (30 minutes late) we had all finally boarded the speedboat & were crammed in like sardines, when we finally left the dock. After 50 minutes we slowed down at an island & the crew shouted instructions in Thai. We had no idea what they were saying & could hardly hear them anyway because some annoying Spaniards next to us were singing & laughing too loudly.

    Anyway, most of the Thais disembarked when we docked, leaving all the westerners sat where we were. The speedboat then moved away from the dock & we moved seats for more space, because we assumed that the Thais were not returning. The speedboat then dropped anchor & we realised that this was just a 15 minute scheduled stop to Ko Tarutao island, the largest island of Tarutao National Marine Park, but now we had no means of getting off.

    Thirty minutes later all the Thais eventually returned to the boat & we set off. No sooner had we got back up to full speed, when we stopped again at a beach on Koh Khai island. This time we went ashore & took a photo of it’s ‘famous’ rock arch. A Thai from Bangkok offered to take a photo of Jackie & I on my phone, but then insisted on taking 10 of the damn things. I then felt obliged to offer to do the same for him & his wife on his camera which of course he was pleased to accept.

    These scheduled stops were a nice idea in theory, but in Covid times they just added to the potential risk of Covid being spread around the boat as people fought to squeeze past others with masks generally at half mast.

    Around 2.30pm, we docked at Koh Lipe on a wobbly floating pontoon. It was chaos, but we managed to reach terra firma with all our luggage without falling off. On land an official looking lad asked us where we going & when we told him he told us to wait where we were. We assumed our hotel was sending someone out to collect us.

    We waited & waited until we were the only persons from our boat still at the pontoon port, so Jackie went back to the man who just said “You’ll have to get a taxi). Brilliant, we could have done that half an hour ago!

    The taxi was a motorbike & sidecar combination, which struggled up the steep rutted hills, but it made it to our hotel at a cost of just 50 baht each. We checked in at reception at the Bayview Sunset Resort, where we discovered that they had sent us a message that morning to ring them for a free transfer. We didn’t receive it because I’m too tight to pay for a Roaming Data add-on to my phone!

    We were initially disappointed with our new room & checked the information on booking.com to make sure we had what we had booked. We had, so we popped to the beach bar for a spot of late lunch. The prices are dearer than we had previously being paid, so we had just a couple of small beers & shared a plate of fried ribs with garlic.

    We returned to our room much happier & unpacked. We showered & sat on our balcony for a quick beer, then locked ourselves out of the room. A cleaner who was eating her dinner managed to unlock us AND offer us some of her dinner.

    We walked to Walking Street on the other side of the island & discovered it to be bustling with tourists. It was a strange experience. We walked Walking Street twice, before finally settling on a Thai restaurant that wasn’t too busy. I had crispy garlic chicken & Jackie had a spicy green curry. All just nice & then we walked it off going home shattered.

    Song of the Day: Kamikaze by PJ Harvey.
    Chaos From the Top Down by The Stereophonics.
    Sound of Confusion by Secret Affair.    Read more

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