Farewell Peckham

After Clare left we spent another 4 or 5 days at Koh Lanta to recover from the alcohol excess. I got a tummy bug, again, which we soon sorted with antibiotics. Suffice to say I think I know what period pains feel like now.

After putting it off last year, Kirstin decided at last to get her tattoo! Something small and fun, and on her wrist so she can cover it up with jewelry if it looks awful in her old age.

She had it done the traditional "bamboo" way. No electric "sewing machine", just a guy holding a long bamboo rod with a row of tiny needles in the end, stabbing it rapidly, like, well, a sewing machine. Apparently you get finer detail and a lot less pain and scarring. Don't fret, they use needles fresh out of a new packet!

It all went very well - not much pain, and it looks great. Will update with a picture close up next time. I'm going to put it in with my "injuries" post :-)

Once we'd settles our huge bill for nearly 3 weeks of heavy drinking we caught a quick hour and half ferry to Koh Phi Phi.

We'd put off going there last year as it's very well known, and has a reputation for being expensive and very touristy, but the lure of the "Beach" (from the film of the same name) was too much, and besides, it is near, and on our way back north.

Koh Phi Phi is basically two large land masses of limestone joined by a thin sandy isthmus which makes it's two main beaches, one each side, with the town in the middle. The beach you land on is busy with boats and ferries, the other, is not. It was totally flattened when the tsunami hit and everything has been rebuilt, only bigger.

We were actually pleasantly surprised when we arrived. No building seems to be over 3 stories tall and the beach on the other side is stunning.

(Someone a little more adventurous than us - we fancy European health and safety for this kind of thing)

We managed to secure an A/C room, a really nice one, for 1500 Baht (30 quid) a night in a quiet area away from all the noisy bars. A very good rate for here. Thailand is suffering this year from a loss of tourists due to the argy-bargy that happened at the main Bangkok airport at Christmas.

Overall it is a very good layout here. Great beach, lively town, reasonable prices. We even found a real Italian Pizza house where they serve Prosecco!

Someone English obviously had a hand in the creation of some of the signage here..

And by far my favourite....

(Oh so good! - the irony... the fish.. maybe a woman... see??)

Generally we have been relaxing (of course). I've snared free wifi on our balcony, and I've cracked into another one too - I've totally sussed how to break wifi passwords now - a very useful skill!).

Today we decided to go and check out Ko Phi Phi Ley - it's the smaller island just a mile or so to our north - a protected National Park. You should know of it - they filmed the movie "The Beach" there - hence the great draw for tourists. We read that it gets uber busy after 10.30am - you get lots of day trippers from Krabi, Koh Lanta and Phuket coming over just to run around on "The Beach" and take their photos "en location". We also decided after our last snorkeling trip to NEVER EVER go on a group "anything" EVER again. This feeling was reinforced by our Africa experience. We just can't stand being with tossers. Simple as that. And we like to be on our own timetable.

With all that in mind we got up at 7am this morning and went and secured our ride...

We paid 1500 Baht (30 quid) for a 3 hour trip. We could have done it in a group for about 150 baht I'm sure, but no way buddy. Not gonna happen. Nope! Some things are worth paying for.

Being up at this time in the morning afforded us the opportunity to see the wreckage from last night's beach party....

(Silly ass was fast asleep , in the sun)

Mind you, he probably had a few what we bought last night.....

(Yep, our 1st bucket!! - 1/3rd bottle of what was described as local vodka, and tasted absolutely not like vodka, 2 bottles of red bull, and a can of tonic)

Our driver was a good choice, he went slowly. Some of the other ones go like the clappers.

1st stop was, of course, "The Beach".

As you can see, the advantage of getting up early was clear. When we left there were about 10 big speedboats and a multitude of longtails on it, with screaming Asian tourists everywhere.

We weren't actually interested in the beach itself, the water was more enticing...

(Fancy a swim? I did!)

The water was the most beautiful I've ever seen. Crystal clear and full of fish and coral.

I donned a snorkel and mask and dived in, scuba style (backwards).

(Swimming with the fishies - ahhh!)

As I was snorkeling near the boat I saw things dropping into the water, then, within seconds, I was totally engulfed in beautiful colourful fish. Amazing - right by my nose, hundreds of them, coming from everywhere.

What was happening was our driver (sailor? skipper?) was throwing rice into the water by my head. It was totally awesome - I've never seen anything like it before (scuba divers, stop scoffing, I'm new to all this). The fish were touching my feet and legs. A very weird feeling.

At this point I was screaming with delight through my snorkel, which kind of sounds like a whale I guess, but Kirtsin was in the boat. Her tattoo has to be kept dry for a few days :-( - then it occurred to me she could hang with her tattooed arm off the boat steps and put her head underwater. Brilliant - I'm a genius!

She loved it - all I could hear through her snorkel was excited squealing - I also noticed she had her legs and feet curled up - clearly finding it as freaky as I did.

Once we'd done with the rice (I think we got through our driver's lunch) we headed off ....

...to some very , very pretty coves.....

With the most beautiful water

Totally stunning, and very funny too. As we left, other longtails arrived, in great numbers, and the sped in a loop through the bays at break neck speed so they could get their customers back to then grab a new load. Soooo glad we did it privately.

On the way back we passed some caves that the locals farm birds nests from - for birds nest soup - a real delicacy with the Chinese I believe.

Then it was back to the main island - in my new shorts! - Yep - I've gone all "Continental" and got myself some small trunks. Wearing long trunks is all very well and cool, but when you get out of the sea you are soaking for an hour or so - it's a real pain, so I gave in to the European way, and I like it I have to say. Just got to tan my thighs now!

Once we got back we treated ourselves to a full English breakfast!

(Note the name of the cafe..... classic)

Lovely, real bacon, sausages, hash brown, beans and fried bread.

Back off down to the beach now, hope the jellyfish invasion of yesterday has cleared up....

Speak soon!

Well, I said the West coast weather was reported to be crap – it’s not been – it’s been fantastic.

We made the decision to head over to Koh Lanta (West coast), as the weather was supposed to be crap everywhere we decided that we might as well be in a cool place if there was going to be nothing to do but shelter from rain and drink beers and gins.

It’s quite a tall order to get from Koh Phangang to Koh Lanta in one day. It’s not the distance, it’s the variables involved – mainly how long you end up waiting around for each connection. We got the 12.30 ferry across the sea to the mainland, then a coach to a distribution depot, then waited 3 hours for another coach to Krabi. By the time we rolled into Krabi is was 8.50pm, in a bus depot, in the middle of nowhere. We assumed we’d just stay the night in Krabi then hit Lanta in the morning – you only need a 300 baht ferry and it takes about an hour. But… I knew the last car ferry to Lanta was 10pm and I ended up arranging a private taxi all the way , “You can DEFINITELY make the 10pm ferry, right?”, “yeah” – he seemed confident.

We drove so fast, and his music was so loud, I called it the “Nightmare Disco”. At one stage we were doing 145k’s though a 45k limit. He peaked at 165k’s, sometimes cutting corners completely, at night. It was like being on a rollercoaster, only this time, you COULD die.

The upshot was that we got to the ferry at 9.55pm – phew! Clare and Kirstin just talked to each other all the way, about anything and everything, so as to remain distracted to the obvious terror.

Our taxi took us all the way to Fishermans Cottage, where we stayed for 5 weeks last year. We knocked back some travel weary beers, and crashed for the night.

In the morning, guess what… yes… SUNSHINE! Yay! – Silly weather reports.

We met all our old friends here (the owner and staff). They’ve got wifi now! :-)

Generally we have been chilling, swimming, and drinking , of course. I managed to break another toe kicking a rock under water while playing bat and ball. At least this one broke “straight”.

(Back to our favourite beach, tide out)

(Where you are pretty much guaranteed spectacular sunsets)

We had a “big night” on the 16th – Kirstin’s birthday! – Kun cooked us some special food , which he paid for (thanks dude) and we all had a major session and danced on the beach. Clare seemed to do the most dancing…. With the most people… lol.

(Clare with the owner, Kun)

A couple of days ago we went on a speedboat snorkelling trip to Koh Rok – a marine park about 40 minutes away. Saw lots of coral for the first time – some of it moves when you swim near it. Weird stuff, oh, and quite a few clown fish. It seems we only recognise fish if they were on “Finding Nemo”. Cretins we are. It was very good snorkelling, if sometimes a little shallow, people were standing on Coral , bare foot, with their bodies out of the water. Cretins.

(My water babies)

It was a super hot day with little to no shade. Clare summed it up nicely when we got back to the bungalows. She felt like she’s just stepped out of a microwave.

I managed to injure myself AGAIN. I’m getting so ticked off. Perhaps it’s the approach to 40 years old…. This time I was climbing back into the speedboat after snorkelling, and as I pulled myself up with the handrails / steps, the whole thing bloody broke off, trapping my finger (yes, the same one as in Egypt) between the steel railing and something else hard. Result, ANOTHER deep cut that looked all white inside, just above my ring, on the top side.

We plastered it up and I’ve since cleaned it and it seems to be closing up very quickly (and of course we have all the meds with us now). The girls bought me some new plasters today – cartoon ones. They thought it would be funny. Except they are child size too. Look out for an “Injuries” post soon, I’ve got photos of most of mine so far. Lovely.

It’s fair to say we have had a few drinking sessions since Clare has been here. I’ve even got a taste for “White Russian” cocktails now.

We also rented a tuk-tuk and went for a tour of the island, stopping off for lunch at the View Point café…

(Our trusty steed - this one was a LOT easier to drive than last year's)

(View from the cafe)

The tuk-tuk was as hilarious as last time. I tried to navigate a steep-ish drop-off from concrete to dirt, and tipped the whole contraption at about 45 degrees. We thought we were going over. I fell out of my seat and clare was half way out the front, whilst Kirstin was slipping in between the bike and the passenger seats. No harm done, and a lot of laughing.

Clare is setting off back home tomorrow. Will be very sad to see here go. Then, we are off, after a few more days chilling, to Koh Phi Phi for a day or two, then straight up North to discover the other half of Thailand.

Just remembered one more thing, well, two. Kirstin and I went to go to bed the other night only to discover a coconut had fallen through our roof, and onto our mosquito net, which it collapsed. So we were presented with a bed covered in wood and bamboo (from the roof), plus a huge coconut right in the middle. K had a lot of trouble sleeping that night!

Also, when we were in Koh Tao, we heard (and felt) a huge thud very near by. When we looked up, a coconut had fallen and landed in between three girl’s heads, missing one of them by an inch at most. It was close enough to knock off her sunglasses. They were all lying face up asleep. Talk about a lucky escape. These coconuts are dangerous!

Finally - some memories of Clare's visit (and I'm in there too as at last, there are people to take photos of me!)

(Clare's room at the Fishermans Cottage, Koh Lanta)

(My name's Bond, James Bond. .. Well, need to work on the weight a bit ;-) , and the shorts )

(Surprisingly , I really enjoyed this)

(After just a few beers I decided to make our own little Honiker on our balcony)

(Not a bad way to spend the day - Koh Tao)

(... and the night)

(Not our handywork - don't think I could bring myself to do it)

(Clare's "Princess bed" made from 2 mattresses and 2 mosquito nets - took here a long time to perfect this)

By Clare! We'll miss you xx

Well, well., well. New Years Eve was a laugh!

Koh Tao is fairly low key so we were actually looking forward to it. Not like somewhere like Koh Phangang which would be guaranteed to be crammed with drunk Brits throwing up over each other.

All the bars had something going on, including ours – a free buffet, but we skipped that as we’d booked a table at a decent looking restaurant – which turned out to be superb. We had fillet of beef fondue – it was so good we ordered a second one! We of course necked plenty of gin and beer.

After that we headed to the beach itself equipped with Vodka Redbulls…

…and wandered up and down watching all the fire dancers, fireworks, and various lanterns. It was a great atmosphere. – A note on vodka Redbulls here – their Redbull is their own concoction – far far stronger than ours at home – it’s like being on narcotics!

(Lots of these guys everywhere)

Loads of people were launching fire lanterns – basically a large paper lantern with a candle at the bottom, so it heats up and flies away – to amazing heights. At midnight one bar launched loads of them.

The whole thing was great. Everyone was in good spirits, there were lots of fire “acts” – i.e. staff would spin a giant fire skipping rope and whoever fancied a go would try and skip it. Or they’d have a large “hoop” on fire and you could jump through it. Lots of drunk people set off fireworks that went in all directions, including into bar areas. It’s all in the video below… a small recap of our NYE.

Happy New Year! :- )

A couple of days later Clare arrived from freezing England! So the first thing we did was soak up some sun..

(A little sundowner below our bungalow)

We ended up taking G&T’s down to that small beach and watching the sunset.

We spent a few days chilling in Koh Tao and then decided to move on. The island is fine but kind of repetitive after a while. Ah yeah – K & I had our first “street food” on Koh Tao – chicken and pork – all for a fraction of the price in restaurants, and it was superb. …. And… we never got ill!

So… we took Clare to MaiPenRai on Koh Phangang for some serious R&R and sunbathing.

(Seem familiar? Yep! Jan 2008!)

(Clare relaxing – we got the same bungalow as when Matt and Justin came over)

(Back at the mountain-top bar having sundowners)

We’ve had a few good days of sunbathing and chilling at the “secret beach” and drinking far too many Gins. The weather has turned a bit today – it’s a full moon so the sea gets very choppy. The path below our room gets totally covered by water when large waves come in. We had a good laugh watching people “run the gauntlet”.

(Clare just escaped it)

(This girl was not so lucky)

We had ring side seats and laughed a lot. One guy got a total strop on with his girlfriend for getting drenched – hehe.

Not sure where we are off to next – will need to monitor the weather. The East coast is all a bit crap at the moment so we’ll see….

Oh – nearly forgot – injuries – got some more! – on NYE I had a cigarette in my hand and went to high five some drunk guy next to me (just to shut him up really) and instead of a high five, he clasped my hand, bending over my fag and totally burning my knuckle. That’ll take time to heal! – Also I kicked a rock in the dark on the beach and snapped half a toe nail off – that has almost healed already thankfully.

Still – we are lucky – the amount of scooter accidents over here is shocking. People hire them and don’t know anything about safety. They ride around in summer wear (almost nothing) and then come off – either sober or drunk. When you walk down the main “path” in Koh Tao you frequently see girls and boys with bandages on their legs, knees, and arms – and some horrible scars. We even saw two lads come off right in front of us – they touched the front brake on a sandy path – fatal mistake. If the hire company warned everyone about using the front brake on sandy roads the accident rate would shrink incredibly. Of course, they make a load of money from it so it’s not in their interest.

When I returned my scooter the woman looked at me and said, “No accident!?” in a way that was clear that she was surprised and mildly disappointed!
Speak soon!

Well, we absolutely loved South Africa. As long as you can afford to live in a gated community it is awesome. Not sure I'd want to live out in the "wild" though. I've never seen so many electric fences and razor wire.

The last week has been much of the same - Braai's, swimming, and beers. A great way of life. And I'm totally missing biltong.

We also went to see a cricket match which was a fantastic day out. Sitting on the grass with beers and biltong. It's amazing when they hit a six. I was in line to catch one but as I went for it I was tackled by Michael-Lee and someone else (There is a 500 rand prize for catching a 6) so never quite made it.

After Michael explained the strategy of cricket to me I've started to really enjoy watching it, especially the "20 overs" mayhem games. We watched SA beat NZ the other day - scoring the 2nd ever highest test score. SA have the 1st too.

Back to the pool...

( A regular day round the pool and Braai)

I even had my ears waxed in preparation for Xmas day...

(Yes, it hurt and I shouted like a girl)

Christmas day was a hoot. Not your regular English one. We started the day with a trip to the "happy clappy" church, then hit the champagne properly, joined by lots of the Lester family and friends. As you can guess, we ended up round the pool and had... yep, a Braai :-)

(The pool dragon was more popular with the grown-ups)

Christmas lunch was of course .....

... fillet steak :-) (Oh how I love South Africa)

We had such a good blast. Michael and Niki looked after us so well, and the rest of the family made us really welcome. We'll most certainly be going back again. That is if they get over their memories of meeting me.... i.e. drunken Karate with Mike to mention just one encounter ;-)

We set off about 48 hours ago headed for Thailand again. What a journey!

It's a small miracle we got to our final destination with so many tight connections... 9 hour flight to Abu Dahbi, connecting within 1 hour to fly 6 hours to Bangkok, then 2 hours to get connecting flight to Koh Samui, then a ferry to Koh Tao. The 1st flight was delayed by 1 hour so we were amazed everything came together. We were also very lucky at Bangkok. The queues for immigration were huge, but as we stood in line, a group of about 10 people in front of us left the line, presumably to get their paperwork in order, so we got through in no time at all.

We are now ensconced in our luxury accomodation in Koh Tao.

(Air con, sealed room - very up market for us in Thailand - and bloody expensive , but everything else is booked for New Year)

Looking forward to New Year on the beach, though the weather is overcast and forecast to be the same for the next week. Still, it's hot and humid.

Very excited to see Clare, my sister, too. She's coming over on the 1st.

Cio!

Well, South Africa is proving fun!

Pretty much straight after our arrival we went out for dinner to meet the gang and get acquainted with South African dining.

(Clockwise from left, Kirstin, Dalton, Keegan, Jani, Michael Lee, Nicki (Sis-inlaw), and Michael(dad of all the boys) )

(And I’ve eaten half of that already…)

They certainly know how to eat! – and the Rand is very favourable against the Pound at the moment – I ordered 250g of large prawns for something like £5 – as a “side” ;- )

I went on the “Golf Day” I mentioned last time. Michael and I drove about 160k’s North to the country for a corporate “jolly”. When we arrived at 10.30 all the players already had two or three empty beer bottles by their sides. I was introduced to everyone, we got the briefing for the day – the game was to be an American Scramble (longest drive off each tee gets played – 4-ball teams), and off we set in our golf carts. Except we had 2 carts and there were 5 of us – so a lot of standing on the back took place.

Our host explained that the day was not so much about golf but more about drinking. Excellent! This was to be a most Africaans day out!

There was one chap driving round in a blue cart loaded with ice and beers. On more than one occasion I had to chase after him, belting across fairways to reload, so to speak.

The golf was going well for most, bar one chap who managed to tee off and not even reach the ladies tee. Later he hit one that actually went behind him, and on another occasion he broke the shaft of his driver when he hit the ball with it, instead of the head. At first I contained myself to save his pride, but after the umpteenth cockup we were all in hysterics. The beers were flowing well too….

By the time we’d done the front 9 we had all easily cleared 10 or more beers each. African golf is fun – not just the beers, but the wild animals too – walking across the fairways, or monkeys hanging down to watch your shots from a few feet away.

(Not unusual – well, it is. Normally they are on the fairway!)

We tucked into a meaty lunch – I was wolfing down as much as I could to soak up some of the beer. At one stage one of the guys offered me a beer, “no thanks, I’m trying to get a breather before round 2!”. He replied, in a very Africaans accent, “Roger, South Africa is not a country for pussies”. LOL.

So the afternoon continued. At this stage I’d loaded the back of the cart with an ice bucket full of beers. Well, I didn’t, a chap did. A chap who called me “master”. It was like stepping back in time into a movie.

(Note the ice bucket in the back – sorted!)

The back 9 was basically a drunken brawl. I tried to drive the cart over a foot bridge and got wedged in – just a little too wide! The guys were taking a leak at every tee, the shots were getting worse for the really bad guy, and the laughter was growing. We had a ball :- )

After the golf we sank lots of “Jaegermeister Bombs”, Tequila, and god knows what else, and then headed off to a bar / club. I was totally wasted and Michael was trying to find out where we were staying with little luck. Getting close to despair at about 3am we found we actually had a motel room.

I woke up at 6am, on the floor. The truck was outside, with the windows open with the keys still in the ignition. Michael drove us back to Pretoria and I slept in the back.

Welcome to South Africa! :- )

The rest of this week has been mainly Braai’s & beers. We went to “Meat World” to get our , well, meat.

(meat as far as the eye can see – yay! And the dark stuff hanging above is biltong – ready to be sliced)

Michael and Nicola are members of an evangelical church so we went with them this Sunday – very fascinating and a lot more fun than a regular English service to say the least. Not sure if we’ll go again, but it was a great experience.

Btw – we are staying in a gated golf estate and it is just like being in Desperate Housewives, except there is no one walking the streets, apart from the 1000’s of maids and gardeners. There is actually a dedicated bus service for the maids and gardeners.

(Even the cats are trained to guard)

Update:

Many Braais and beers later – oh , and lots of Biltong – something I detested in England, but here you choose the rareness and size and then they cut it up in front of you. I’ve got a taste for medium rare. It goes down a treat with a cold beer.

We went up to a lake camping area yesterday – basically Braai, beers, Biltong (can you see a repetitive theme here?). They provide free canoes and Braai facilities. We had a super day in the sun. It all started innocently, but after many beers it got out of hand. Not one person managed to keep their canoe upright. Some capsizes were due to poor boatmanship but the majority were down to tipping each others’ boats over :- ) . K & I tried a “dry start” where you sit in the boat and get someone to push you off the edge into the water. We took on so much water we had to bail it out with her empty champagne cup.

(Jani, Kirstin and Nicki)

(Familiar feeling being in one of these.. again)

(Michael, me. And K)

(yep, more red meat! – awesome!)

(… and the sparkling wine is going down well…..)

(.. as did the beer, so we decided we could get 3 in a boat – which lasted a minute at best before we capsized – and yes, I’m in my pants)

Having a super time… Other randomness – I noticed a spider scuttling into a corner when I lifted the lid to the pool pump housing. I kept my distance. A few days later some round spikey white egg sacks appeared – like something from an alien movie, so I investigated on the web (yep, there is a joke in there).

It turns out that out guest spider is a Brown Widow – very close relation to the Black Widow. It’s venom is twice as potent but luckily it tends to inject half as much as it’s black cousin. Still not good though and can cause breathing difficulties amongst many other nasty symptoms.

(You can clearly see one of the eggs, and if you look hard, the spider is tucked under the lip in the corner – I was too scared to get any closer)

It had to die! – One can of hair spray and a lighter later and the deed was done. Well, in truth, I bodged it, and she ran to the floor carrying an egg sack. We got her in the end but it’s safe to say that we (Kirstin, Nicki, and me) were all screaming and panicking as it ran about.

Yeuch!

But much nicer…

(Relaxing at the local club house)

Oh – nearly forgot – the weather systems are amazing here. For the most part it’s very hot and sunny, but with little warning thunder storms can move in. On one occasion lightening hit the ground or a conductor about what seemed a couple of hundred feet away. The explosion when you are that close is unbelievable, and terrifying.

Speak soon!