Lifes a beach

On this occasion I will let the photos do the talking as it is so amazing here I am at a loss for words. I finally stayed in a beach hut...

Happy Thanksgiving

especially to Niamh, Ciara, Finbarr and Deirdre!!!

My first proper beach hut in Ko Lanta

As per the plan, I took off on my own to Ko Lanta by ferry on Wednesday afternoon after waiting to get the laundry back. I was picked up from O Tooles in a minivan and the journey took about 4 hours so I arrived not long before sunset with no place to stay - IMPORTANT LESSON NO 1 - if you are going to arrive late make sure you know where you are going lest you have to sleep on the beach (as quite a few people are having to do in Phi Phi these days). I headed for The Sanctuary (much recommended) but alas they had no room so, on the advice of a German girl called Judith, off I struck accross the beach and over the rocks to the next beach until I found a place. I had broken a flip flop and it was more expensive than I hoped so I was missing home a bit that first night - having aircon in the room did help though. The following morning, I woke up in a very different mood and I could see what all the fuss was about. I will post some photos when I get a chance but the connection here is a bit slow and frankly I have better things to be doing than sitting in the internet cafe - hehehehehehe. I came back to The Sanctuary and I guess my enthusiasm to stay there melted them and they found me a room and guess who my next door neighbours are...Judith and her mate Nina. They are from Bavaria so we have spent many hours now discussing how Bavaria compares with Ireland and of course how fab the Germans were at hosting the World Cup which I attended way back when... I met another couple of English girls who have been to India with an Intrepid tour and they loved it so I might look into that although it is a bit over the budget. I wrote lots of post cards yesterday to mark my first night in a proper hut as I was a little concerned that I would be eaten. It was the best sleep I have had for ages and I tucked the mozi net in with maximum appreciation - now I feel I am doing the travelling thing. The next step is to make moves towards Railay beach further into Krabi district where I will be meeting Monty for his last week of freedom before he gets back to his studies in Delhi in December.

PHUKET

is great... On the 13th November we arrived at Patong Beach, a very, very developed tourist part of Phuket Province, so we moved to a beach next door the following day once Monty and Steve had had a look round on their scooters. The scenery is generally fantastic but I didn’t expect the hills to be so enormous and I sometimes have to close my eyes when the scooter takes the downward slope of a hill and a corner at the same time. We are in helmet wearing territory now and the ‘tourist’ police here enforce it strictly. We stayed in Kata Beach for a few days during which I did my Padi open water diving course – it was no joke I can tell you (especially to do it in 3 days) but I am sooooo happy that I did it and am looking forward to doing more underwater observation. It wasn’t hard at all once I got a bit used to it but I did have a few problems with ‘mask clearing’ and I have ongoing problems equalising the pressure on my bloomin’ ears so I wont be going very deep. I was really pleased to get to 12 meters. Monty and Steve did a deep wreck dive as part of their advanced course and they went down to30 meters where they saw a ‘man eating’ leopard shark and some big squid. My 4 dives were pretty tame by comparison but I did see a trigger fish which can get a bit mean when protecting its eggs. My instructor was a lovely and very professional and patient lady from Sweden who reminded me of Judy, Tracy, Anne Tully, Kirsi and my cousin Mary Clare at times so I felt very safe as she literally hauled me through the skills that I had to succeed in before she could say I was OK to pass - those of you at home in Adrigole will know I am not a natural water babe. Yesterday we moved to the Cork Room at the O Tooles ‘Irish’ guest house at Karon Beach (800Baht/night so about £12 between the 2 of us with air-con and telly and fridge and shower) and tomorrow I will strike off on my own for a few days to see Ko Lanta, Ko Jum and Ao Nang/Raleigh beach in the Krabi Province which has been recommended to me by Aidan. I leave Phuket by ferry tomorrow for the 3 hour first leg of the journey and then meet back up with Mont at Ko Samui sometime at the weekend. It is very hot over here, and I think the whole place can’t help but be a bit commercialised but I love it. I managed to do laundry today, get to the bank, exchange a book, book the ferry trip – tonight we are going to see the new James Bond film at the local flix; its all busy and I am having difficulty finding time to get to the beach so I better sign off and make tracks as the cooler evening temperature sets in. There is so much to Thailand and the visa I have is only for a month so I am thinking now that I will go to Cambodia etc at the start of December and come back to Thailand for a few weeks before my flight home to see the North of the country. x

Lovely Lady Lad

We are getting ready to move down to sarf Thailand to the beaches. I descided to take one last look at the red light district where to my delight I met a beautiful lady boy who kindly agreed to be photographed with me. We had a mighty chat and I think she might know Thecla. Of course I had no idea that the whole bar was full of lady boys until I was told by my new best mate, Som, but then it became clear that the bikinis were a bit stronger in their structural make up. Oh and did I mention the food..?

BKK

Well, where do I start with Bangkok? It is one of the best places I have ever been. We found the place we are staying in, Centre Point Silom, through the Trip Advisor web site and it is truely lovely, positioned perfectly over a department store and beside the Sky Train station at Saphan Taksin and the river so its really easy to get around. The night we arrived, there was a fabulous fireworks display just outside our window. We went for dinner at Cabbages and Condoms which came highly recommended by Thecla, Tracy and Mike. The whole restaurant is themed around HIV education so it felt like a bus man’s holiday for me but it would be amazing to have a place like that in London. The food was OK but the street food has beaten everything else I have tasted, the Thais really have their street snacks down to a fine art. We have had a few rides in a tuk-tuk now and I loved the first time but its not so much fun when there are 3 people and it brings the air pollution sharply into focus. The drivers in Thailand are a lot safer than in India, but the tuk-tuks don’t feel that safe at all when they are taking turns at full speed. The cost of a daily sky train pass is 120 baht (£1.80) and a single 10 or 20 minute journey in the tuk-tuk costs just a little less. The sky train, as its name suggests, is well above ground so can give some great views of the city and its air conditioned. Steve came to join us from London for a couple of weeks and we hired a long-tailed river boat for an hour and a half. The driver stopped at a ‘floating market’ and a lady in a little boat sold me an oriental type fan. I haven’t yet seen a floating market but expect it to be more than one little boat. The following day I went on a much bigger river boat which took me from one end of the city to the other, stopping off at lots of piers along the way where people could get on and off to see the sights. It’s a great way to see the places that aren’t serviced by the sky train and unlimited travel for the day was £1.50. Lots of life happens along the river and there are great contrasts between the buildings and the standards of living. I found my way to the Khao San Road where all the back packers ('real' travellers) go and I plan to go back to have another look and to go to China Town and some of the weekend markets. Steve is interested in doing a short cookery class so I hope to join him on that as well. I haven’t had a massage yet so that will need to be remedied in the near future but it can be difficult to tell the reputable places from the slightly seedy. On this subject, we have taken a look into the red light district but its all been very tame compared to the stories I have been told. We went to Soi (street) Cowboy and to the three storied Nana Entertainment Plaza, where tiny girls dance on the bar wearing tiny bikinis and a number which makes it easier for the guys to identify them and take them on a date later and possibly marry them. I understand these places are ‘female friendly’ and there are places where ladies like myself just don’t go. At any rate, I had a great time. The shopping centres here are second to none. The Siam Centre is particularly luxurious and I was impressed to see lots of posh cars on the second floor (I’m sure there must be a huge lift somewhere but I couldn’t see it). Last night we went to the 51st floor of the tower next door to the block where we are staying to have a quick cocktail looking at the amazing view. At a stretch, I could see down into our roof top swimming pool. The weather has been lovely so we have been trying to get some time in at the pool as well soaking up some rays. In short, this place is pretty close to paradise.

Wearing the 'I LOVE BANGKOK' T-shirt

During our one very full day in Bombay, we visited a Ganeisha Temple, went by boat and small train and up lots of steps to see a very important group of caves dedicated to Lord Shiva who is a very senior Hindu God. We saw the Gateway of India and lots of little monkeys. An 'I LOVE BANGKOK' T-shirt will be among my first purchases now that we have arrived. It is amazing here and everything is making sense again. I am really tired because we had a night flight with Air India in the early morning and I didn't have leg room to put my feet on the ground for the 4 hours. We are staying in a really lovely studio in a building called Centre Point Silom, and we have a little kitchen with a washing machine and there is a beautiful pool so there is a plan to get some poolside relaxing in tomorrow - you will see from the photo that I have just taken a late swim under the lights of the sky scrapers nearby. Yippeeeeeee