I think every haircut should happen on the beach.

Rather than walking today, I took my linens to Silver Sands and came home to wash a few items I didn`t finish off with yesterday. At 10:30a, I headed down for my 11am hair appointment with Tahn. Everything was ready to go. She has a kit with all of her tools, a gown from her hair school, a smock for me, and a surgical mask which people who cut hair wear while they work. With me in my place, she gets to work as I gazed off at the fish boats working on the Andaman Sea. They cut your hair fairly dry here, only using water from a spray bottle. The whole process took about 45min, cost 100baht, and turned out great. She did a fantastic job. After the cut, I headed home, grabbed my empty water jug, returned it to the main house, and carried a full 20litre bottle home. I was really humid today due to the rain we have been having, so I was drenched when I was through with the 200m walk. I had some lunch and took a shower, while I listened to music on my 11-2pm generated power. Tee-ha stopped by later on, to let me know that on Mar 15th, My BBQ bar, was having fireworks at sunset, followed by a free seafood BBQ. I thanked him for the information and will more than likely check that out. I decided to treat myself for dinner again, so I walk to Silver Sands for a few sunset beers, and then I continued down the beach to Bamboo Bungalows, which is one of biggest and oldest resorts on the Island. I had a dish called Phed Prik Moo for dinner, as well as a few more beer, and it was really nice. The resort is very beautiful, and the food was delicious. After I wrapped up there, I headed back down to Beach bar, where they were having a fire on the beach. We all sat around, and I had a nice conversation with a German woman about her travels. At about 11pm, the group of Germans headed back to their resort, and the rest of us headed into the main area and sat around the bar. We all chatted until about 1:30am, when we went our separate ways, and I headed up the pitch black road towards home.

I had my first "golden shower". I really don't see what everyone is raving about?

I should clarify. I awoke at 6am to the sensation of water spraying onto my leg from above. So I reached down, and yes, it was in fact wet. I got out from underneath my mozzie net, and looked up to see one of the Tokei that I share my bungalow with, on the beam of the pitch of the roof. Right above where my leg would have been. Bastard!After my walk, I stopped into the Beach bar, and set up an appointment for a haircut at 11am tomorrow. Tahn, the girlfriend of Danny the owner, has many trades to earn income from. She ``runs`` the bar for Danny, as he can not legally work, she has a Thai massage business, she cooks, and on top of it all, has been to school for hairdressing. So this should be good. It has been about 5 wks since I got my last haircut in Vancouver, so the ``do`` is a bit puffy at the moment! I chilled out at home for the bulk of the day, got caught up on my laundry, and at 3pm, I decided to actually make it down to the beach for a sunset. I had a few beers with Danny and Tahn, and stayed until the sun had disappeared behind Burma. Then I headed home for another quiet evening of dinner, music and sleep.

Back to the "grind".

I got back to my beach walk this morning. It was a really nice morning and not too hot. Today was basically spent getting back into the quiet life. There were 2 rain storms today, which seems to be happening on a daily basis. Maybe the rainy season has come a bit early this year. I spent the afternoon reading and listening to my Ipod, and my evening was spent doing much of the same. Not much to report at all.

Sala-pad... oh, how I've missed you!

I got up and decided that I would give myself some time, and take the 2pm boat back to the Island. This way I could see my friends at Kiwi and still have some time do shop for a few things without rushing at 100km/h. I head into town and see Jai and Lek at Kiwi for a few hrs. After having some breakfast and visiting, I realize it is getting close to noon, so I go back to Starcrab, grab a shower, collect my things, and clear out of the room. I used the Internet for a while, and head back from Steve. He will be in Kanchanaburi around Mar 23, so when my Laos Visa is about to expire next month, I will come back to Thailand on a 15day, to visit Steve and see Kanchanaburi and “The bridge over the river Kwai”. Should be interesting! With about ½ hr before the boat leaves, I head over to the Burmese market to buy some Sala-Pad, which is this Burmese spicy salad that I fell in love with last trip. It has got nuts in one bag, and greens in another. You mix them together, or at least I do, and eat it. I think the greens are made from chilies, garlic, and tomato, but there seems to be 3 varieties now. In 2007, there were only 2, regular and spicy. I bought 2 10packs, one for me and one for Tee-ha and his Aunt. Once it was all bought and paid for, I headed back to Starcrab, bought a beer for the boat, gathered my bags and headed for the pier and onto the 2pm boat. The trip was nice, and I chatted to a couple from Ireland. I was also given a flyer for a party on Mar 16th, on Koh Chang. I guess the girl has open a new reggae bar on a small beach there, and has arranged for a free boat to bring customer for Koh Phayam, over to Koh Chang. It sounds like a good time, but it’s a ways to go for an evening, and I don’t think they bring you back. So you’d have to stay at 1 of 2 places on this small beach. The boat pulls into the pier after 2 hrs, I head to the market and buy 24 beer, flag down a taxi and head home. I ask the taxi man to grab me some ice, and I unpack my supplies. He returns with my ice in about 30min, and tells me that while driving back with the ice, a cobra was crossing the road. He stopped the bike, and the cobra coiled up just like the movies! We both have a good laugh, and once I pay him, he drives off. I had some noodles and rice, followed by my first Sala-pad in 2 yrs. Once chilled, I enjoyed a few beers while listening to music, and saw a frog in my bungalow, which people have told me could be a sign that there is a snake around… eek! Perfect timing!

To Burma, and becoming a Thai fisherman.

I am up at about 6:30am, and out having a morning smoke on the stairs to my room, when the father gives me a wave and calls me “early riser”. I think he is amazed that I am up after drinking 5 quarts of beer the night before. He lets me know that he is heading to work for a bit, but will be back at 8:30am, and we can head off to check out his boat. I head to the Burmese market around 8am, to look for Patongo fro breakfast, but they have stopped serving it by the time I get there. It’s only made until about 8am, but you can also find it being made at roadside stands in the nighttime. In 2007, I would often get Lek to pull the motorbike over, so I could grab a few before bed. They are really nothing special. Just dough fried in oil, but they are damn good! There is a picture of them in my Facebook photos, if anyone wants to check them out. I find them the best in the morning with coffee. Especially Lao coffee, like shown in the photo. Anyway, on way back to Starcrab from the market, I cross paths with the 3 Thai men from Chumpon drinking Whiskey at a local shop. Keep in mind that this is around 8:15am and they are still WASTED. I say hello and they call me over to have a shot. I try to tell them that it is too early for me, but they will have none of it. I sit down, they pour me a shot, and I slam it back… which blows them away. I tell them in Canada, this is the way we do a “shot”. They start to pour another, and I say “Pom gin khao, mai gin lao khap”, which means. I eat food, not drink whiskey. Thank you”. They agree and say goodbye, I head to Starcrab and have some breakfast and coffee. The father shows up and tells me that he’s a bit behind schedule, as the roof started to leak in yesterdays rain, and he’s got 2 workmen there replacing some roofing tiles. We’ll be going in about ½ hr, so I have one more coffee while I wait, and read the Tesco flyer to get an idea of what household items cost for when I set up in Laos or Thailand. The workers finish up, so I grab my passport and things for immigration, and we had to the pier where he’s got his boat. He was a fisherman all his life, but now leases his boats to his brother, and acts as a mechanic when they come back to port. Each trip lasts 2 weeks, and the boats have a crew of 9. A captain, a #2, a cook, and 6 deckhands. It is really incredible that 9 people can live on this thing. The boat is big, and Thai people are somewhat small, but come on. I am guessing that they must sleep in shifts or something. He gives me a bunch of facts about how much diesel the boat uses per trip, how much fish the boat will yield, how much the crew makes per day(300baht for a low level deckhand), and what they fish for. His boats go out for small fish used in fish sauce, and squid. Nets are used for the fish, and he’s got a bunch of Burmese guys going inspecting and repairing them while we are there. A Burmese worker can not work on the boats, so they do the work while the boat is in port, earning only 200baht a day. Another fisherman shows up, and he fills the man in on the fact that I drank 5 quarts and was up at the crack of dawn. We all have a chuckle and then my host buys me a Carabou energy drink. Much like a RedBull, but is the product of a VERY famous Thai musician, for which the drink is named after. My host remembers that 2yrs ago, I joked with him about coming back to Ranong and working for him as a 300baht/day fisherman. He asks if I want to have a holiday on the boat and do a shift. I tell him that my stomach would never make a 2wk trip, so he tells me he can arrange a 3 day outing. I am guessing, it would be 1.5 day on a boat going out, and 1.5 day on a boat coming in. I politely decline, but thank him for the offer. When we finish our drinks, we hop back on the motorbike, and the to the pier for my date with immigration. I head to Thai immigration to fill out my departure cards and get an exit stamp, while my host negotiates a fantastic deal for transport to Burma. You can arrange a package deal through most of the hotels and travel agencies. The rates can be anywhere from 400-1000+ baht. There are longtail and speedboats running tourists to Burma for this Visa run, and it is quite a big part of the economy in Ranong, because it is the closest border point for many of the high tourism destination places like Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, Koh PiPi, etc. Anyway, you also have to have a fresh, virtually, uncalculated American $10 bill, to give to Burmese immigration. They sell these in Ranong for 500baht, about $5US more than they are worth, but due to their scarcity and necessity, you pay what you pay. I, on the other hand, brought some for myself when bringing the $250US to my friend Jai. I will be able to do 5 of these Burmese Visa runs. For any other crossing into Laos, Malaysia, or Cambodia, you can use Thai Baht, American Dollars, or the currency of the nation you arrive in. In short time, I am stamped out of Thailand, and meet up with my host, who has arranged a round trip boat ride for 100baht. Haha! It will be a slow trip, but it will be with only Burmese people heading back, so it should be interesting. I say goodbye to my host(I will go back through this and enter his proper name once I get it down pat) and hop on the boat. The trip is pretty uneventful, so I basically take some photos and video of life in the port as we head to a Thai exit checkpoint. We all give the boatman our passports and papers, and he hops off and into the office. It takes about 10min, before he’s back on board and we head off to the open water between Thailand and Burma. The sun is getting high by this point and I forgot to pack my sun screen before leaving Koh Phayam, I will pay for this later. Due to the wind and the boat moving, it is nice and cool. This is a good thing, but can also trick you into thinking the sun isn’t burning you up. The boat continues towards Burma, and the water between these two countries is filled with boats going back and forth carrying both people and goods. As we near the Burmese checkpoint, we hand our document back to the boatman, and he once again heads into the office. Everyone gets a good look over by the very stern looking army men. With everything in order, he hops back onboard, and we continue to the immigration pier, after making one stop at a small pier to drop off a few Burmese passengers. When we arrive at the main pier, the boatman tells me he’s heading back to the first pier and will come back for me in about 20min. I hop out and head to the immigration office, trying to avoid being swarmed by all the young guys who try to sell you Viagra, Ciallis, cigarettes, and anything else you might be interested in. They are not too aggressive and they usually speak excellent English, so you can have a laugh with them. When I get to the office, one young guy offers to make a photo copy of my passport, and fast track my passport for 10baht, so I take him up on it. He runs off to make a copy(I know, never give up your passport!), and he’s back in 2 min, handing my documents to the officials. We chat for a bit, I give him another 20baht for the help, and then he’s off to make some more money from the pier. After about 10min, they call me into the immigration office, make sure the photo is of me, stamp my page, I hand them the $10US, and they hand me back my passport. Viola! Done. As I am heading back to the pier, I see my boatman, and he tells me that we’ll be ready to go in 10min. He just wants to drum up a few more passengers for the trip. I take a seat in the shade, and see that my right arm is bright red. The young guy from the office takes a seat beside me, and he have another chat until it’s time to go. I get back on the boat, and as we are leaving, the boat gets snagged on another boat’s bow rope. My boatman calls out to the other boatman, who is walking down the pier, for some help. They guy just blow him off, and keeps going. I can see that my boatman is really pissed, but he throws off his coat, and after a 5 min struggle, manages to get us loose. We slowly move down the seawall which has a road at the edge of town, and my boatman is staring the other guy down. The boat pulls into another dock, and my guy start to lay into the other boatman. Just as this is going on, the other boat pulls up, and the boatman hops on while my guy is continuing to chew him out(see the video). As the other boat pulls away, it’s driver drops his motor barely into the water, causing a rooster tail of water to shower our boat. I am pretty sure this was an intentional “fuck you”, to my guys. In the video, you can tell I am ducking to avoid getting my camera drenched! With that over we make one more stop to take some cargo into Thailand, and we head back to the Burmese check point. Once again, I hand my passport over, the boatman goes in, and in 5 min we continue onto Thailand. Thankfully, it is a bit cloudy now, but my arm is fried, so I cover it with my terry cloth “sweat” rag to avoid any more damage. The scenery goes by, and eventually we pull into a Thai checkpoint on a small island, on the outside of the mouth to the Port of Ranong. You’ll notice that I turn the camera off just prior to pulling into these military points. In 2007, the Burmese check point got really pissed when I was taking pictures while we were waiting. So now I just film arriving, and start again after we pull away. The boatman gives the very big, stone-faced army man only the passports of the Burmese passengers. I guess this is to manage the illegal cross border traffic. The big guy barks out the names on the passports, and checks faces to ensure they are the proper papers. A few people are slow to answer, and he sure lets them know they should speak up. Two of the people were missing something, so they will have to get off at the next checkpoint and get something in order. As we pull away, two guys, who seem a bit drunk, leave the checkpoint as well. One guy is a bit too slow for his boat, and hops on ours. Our boat, then pulls along side his, and he makes a skillful transition from one boat to the other. It was really quite good, so watch the video once I post it! Eventually, we get to yet another checkpoint, where the 2 Burmese passengers who’s papers were out of order, have to go in and see immigration. This takes about 15min, and while we wait, it starts to rain. Thankfully, not very hard or long. When everything is done, we pull away and finally into the port. I thank the boatman for the ride, and head up to Thai immigration where a large boat of people had obviously just arrived. There are about 20 people in front of me, and 1 official working the arrivals window. It takes about an hour, but I finally get my 14day stamp and make my way on foot, back to Starcrab. The whole roundtrip took about 3 hrs I would say. An hour to Burma, an hour back, and an hour in the immigration line. My cost, about 500baht, most others… about 1000+… hehe. At home, I shower up and watch a bit of TV in front of the fan to cool off a bit. While I lay there, I thought, “when the hell would I ever get the chance to go oout on a Thai fishing boat again”? I decide that I WILL do this, and when I get out of my room, I thank him for the trip to see the boat, and the arrangements to get to Burma. I tell my host that I will lose some more weight, and practice my Thai, and come December, if the offer still stands, I WILL be a fisherman for 3 days… Stay tuned! Feeling a bit hungry, I head out to the main road to buy some lunch and dinner. I go to a shop Lek and I used to eat at in 2007, and order Kapow Moo, rice, and a fried egg for lunch, and take an order of Phed Prik Moo w/ rice for in the night. The 2 meals and the egg cost 65baht, or $2.50 Can… ha-ha, gotta love SE Asia! With food in hand, I walk back to Starcrab and eat my lunch at one of the covered picnic tables. I forgot to mention before, that Starcrab now has a pet monkey. It amazing to watch, but it’s always on a chain, and can be sad to watch at times. Regardless, I watch the monkey as I eat my lunch, and then the host comes out to give the monkey some off-leash time. Well monkeys are pretty damn smart, and considering he’s spending much of his time on a chain, the first thing he does, is get far away from the man, and scrambles up a small tree to enjoy himself. This starts a 2hr laugh fest of watching the man trying to coax the monkey down out of the tree. Food, sweet talk and shiny objects are all use, but the monkey is too wise, and is having none of it. In some cases, he even comes down and takes what is being offered, before quickly scampering back up to his perch. It was honestly hilarious to watch. Each time the man thought he would outwit the monkey, only to be disappointed. I could tell he was actually getting a bit pissed off by the tone of his voice. In Thai, he kept saying “Come here, have this”, and each time he outsmarted, the tone got a little bit more aggressive. He told me a story of how the monkey ran away for a week, and it was his “Hoo-hoo” call that finally brought him home. So far this was not working. In the end, what did work was bringing the pet Poodle out. I guess the monkey loves to torment this thing, and could not resist himself when he saw the man with the dog. Once he was close, and grabbing the dog’s tail, the man grabbed the monkey and put him back on the leash. The monkey had lost and was not pleased, but within 5min was back to his normal routine of climbing on the roof, the first part of the tree, and onto the picnic table top. What is really funny is his diet. He gets a piece of bread in the morning when the food shop opens, some peanuts in the daytime, and another piece of bread at night. He’s also fed some fruit and things throughout the day. He hates the crust of bread, so you can watch him chew the bread, and up to the crust, and then he throws the bread to the ground when he’s done! Just like a little kid who hates crust! It is amazing to watch, and they are just like miniature people! I will take a video on the 22nd so you can all see the humor in this. I took a shower about 6pm, and grabbed one more beer before I watched a movie on my laptop and called it a night.

Off to ranong!

I am up at 6am to finish some packing before I head to Ranong. I gather everything up, have the last of yesterday’s fruit salad and the last yoghurt and then drain my ice box of the last of the water, leaving the lid open while I am away. Then over to the main house to ask them to call the taxi company to send a motorcycle to bring me to the village. I have a few too many things to walk the 45min on foot. The guy who ends up arriving, is their delivery man, who I am pretty sure was already, or still drunk. I load my bags and grab my non-recyclable plastics, so I can drop them in the village garbage, and we are off. The guy could barely keep the bike upright, so it was a little nerve wracking. We get about 5 min down the road, and the guy grabs my two plastic bags full of trash, and just whips them to the side of the road, and into a hole that some Burmese workers had made while digging up dirt to patch potholes in the road. “It’s OK, it’s OK”, he tells me. I will more than likely pick them up on my next trip into the village for groceries. We manage to get to the village in one piece. I hop off, pay him, buy my ticket for the boat, and go have coffee and a cinnamon bun for breakfast at a café in the village while I wait until 8:30am when the boat leaves. The food is good, and when the time comes, I head to the pier and eventually onto the boat. The boat is really full. Mainly with Thais, as yesterday was the Koh Phayam cashew festival in the village. Unfortunately, I heard nothing about it and missed checking it out, but it would appear that most of the folks on this boat were heading to Ranong after the celebration. Just as we are about to pull away, this drunk German guy hops onboard. He’s staggering all around and carrying a big piece of ice that he is rubbing all over himself to keep cool. He throws his bags on the pile, and then tries to help others get their bags and other items onto the boat. Just a mess and just a really idiot. All the Thai people are looking at, and talking about him. In the group of Thais on the boat, are a group of kids that must’ve been part of last night’s show. He ends up right in front of them while he’s rubbing himself down with this ice, then starts to flick the body sweat ice water from his hands at the kids while thinking he’s just wildly amusing them. Then to top it off, he rubs his wet hands all of the smallest guys head, which is a big no-no in Thai culture, as the head is the most sacred part of the body. Anyway, this guy is in his own world, but finally sees this old hippy guy get on, who he recognizes, and decides to go sit up on the bow with him. Unfortunately, this only lasts for 15min before he gets too hot and decides to come undercover. Well it’s packed and there are no more seats, so guess where he decides to plant his drunk ass?…. You guessed it, right beside me! I throw on my headphones and just trying to ignore him, which is really tough because he decides to brush his teeth, clean his ears, and pick his teeth with toothpicks into a compact mirror. This of course created a stir. A lot of turkey necking and whispering by the Thais. This continues for about ½ and hour, while he also waves like a manic to other boats and makes “funny” faces to the kids. I do my best to zone out, but after about another 20min, I feel someone grabbing at my shirt sleeve. I turn to the left, and it is this fucking jerk-off. I throw my hands up, and tell him to fuck off, but he tries to tell me how nice my tattoo is. Once again, I tell him to fuck off and not to touch me or he’ll be swimming to Ranong. Thankfully, I had to use the washroom, so I got up and just never went back. I stood by the captain and watched a bunch of ladies playing dominoes/gambling. One of the gals was a lady I see almost everyday in the Cashew Orchards when I take my m. We tried to chat a bit, and what I got from it, was that she was off to Ranong to see her family. Shortly after, the boat pulled in and the freaky German got off, as did I. On the way out of the pier, there was a big commotion, so I turned around to see the drunk from the boat, leaving the washroom without paying the 5baht usage charge. He had no idea what was happening, or just playing stupid, but the Thais from the pier were really pissed. I kept walking, and turned the corner and into Starcrab. Phase one complete. I said hello to the family, checked into my room, took a shower and watched Thai TV for a couple of hours. At 3pm, I headed out and too a songtaew to Kiwi to see Jai and her sisters. I had an order of Massaman Moo(pork) curry w/ rice for lunch and chatted to the ladies until they had to go back to work when a group of Germans, who had been on Koh Phayam, showed up to eat and wait for the night bus to BKK. I stayed for about 2hrs and then took a motorcycle taxi into the centre of town and picked up some of my supply list at a shop. I didn’t bother with Tesco this time, as Lek was not working, and the other sister’s were too busy at the guesthouse to run me up there. I got what I needed and headed back to Starcrab. Along the way, I could see that everyone from Ranong was gathering for another Sunday night showcase, like my last trip in, but it had already rained twice today, so I didn’t bother checking it out, as it looked like it could rain again at any moment. I get back to the guesthouse, unload my stuff and come out to sit with the father on the steps. We chat about hockey, Canadian animals and fish, and a bunch of other cultural differences. He invites me to come and see one of his 3 boats the following morning before he takes me to the pier for my immigration and Visa run. I accept. A car eventually pulls up and these two completely drunk Thai guys fall out. They are his friends from Chumpon, who have come for the night and have rented a room. These guys are WASTED! We all try to talk, but all they really want to do is wake their 3rd friend up, who is sleeping in the room, and get him into town with them. They get the job done, and the 3 of them head off into the Ranong night to who knows where. A little later, a Finnish guy and a VERY attractive Lao girl from Pakse, pull up in a truck. They have just come in on the bus from Krabi, and are spending the night before going to Koh Phayam tomorrow. All 4 of us chat and have a few beers, then the father tells me that there is a big football match on TV at 10pm, and that I should watch it with him. This gets the Finn’s attention as well, so he heads off to shower and I sit with the father inside and use the wi-fi until 10pm. The Finn comes back refreshed, and the 3 of us watch about 30min of the game, before the father gets up to shower. The Lao girl also comes in to look where her dude is(why in hell would he wanna sit and shoot the shit with me, when she was waiting for him?!), so I decide to let the father get on with his night, and grab one more beer to take to my room. I say goodnight to all of them, shower up, and hit the sack at around midnight.

1 month away = 1st blue day.

No walk today, as I have developed a large blister on each of the balls of my feet. It was pretty painful at the end of the walk yesterday, so I will give them a rest to allow them to be in good shape for a hectic 2 days in Ranong. I spent the morning doing a batch of laundry, making up fruit salad to use up the fruit, and giving the house a general tiding, so that no critters get into anything while I have gone. I must say, I’ve done a pretty good job at not letting anything go to waste. I have only tossed out a few oranges that were past their prime, and I will end up throwing some beans in the composter before I go tomorrow. Other than that, the shopping/eating schedule has gone really well. There have been issues with the ice, but that’s to be expected in a place like this. I really can’t imagine how difficult it must be for Chiyoko and Chris to maintain such a big place like theirs, year round. This evening, I will pack a bag of clothes, and make sure I have everything on a list, so that I am prepared to make the most of my limited time in Ranong. I had a spell of the blues earlier today. Not sure why, but I had been thinking about Enzo, my family, friends, my Dad, and Moyra. Maybe it is the fact that I have almost reached a month away, and that I have basically been in self imposed exile for 3 weeks of it. I think I will have to make an effort to get out and socialize more once I get back on the 9th. After 2 more weeks here, I know I will be ready to move on and see some friends in other places, but there have sure been some amazing moments here in the quiet. I am having crazy, vivid dreams several times a night. Some good ones, and some nightmares. I used to wonder if I was someone who just didn’t dream much, or just not remember them. It must be due to the lack of over stimulation from TV, work, and being in the city, that they have come back so strongly. There have been some real wild ones! One thing that I am finding, is that writing most of this down has been very therapeutic. There are days in a row, that I really don’t talk to anyone. This has been kind of a surrogate for that. It may read as factual and dry, but that’s the way it goes I guess. Tonight will be an early one, because 48hrs of hustle is about to begin.

Bananas can make a wonderful token of friendship.

I think it was due to yesterdays storm, but the dawn sky today was quite something. I took some pics at around 6:30am, while I was drinking my coffee. The big clouds, the pink skies and the light coming over the mountains really create some amazing imagery. On my walk along the beach today, I had decided to head up to a small market that is half way up the beach and up another road like mine that cuts across the island and towards the village. It is the main road which most of the people staying in the resorts use. Along the way, I came across a Thai guy who’s motorbike had crapped out. He was trying to push start it, so I gave him a hand by pushing while he tried to jump it into gear. We tried several times, but to know avail. He thanked me and then told me it was ok, and I continued up the road. I got “Koy’s Shop”, which was a beautiful little shop run by an Englishman and his wife(Koy, I guess). It had everything you could need for a little bit more than the market, but in a convenient location if you didn’t want to walk all the way in village. I needed a few items to get me through the 2 days until I hit the mainland, so I bought a few instant coffees, 3 postcards, 2 envelopes, and some cigarettes. I chatted with the guy for a bit, and then headed back home. Got back around 9am, and just as I was about to take the turn, Tee-ha’s auntie(who he has lived with since the age of 1, and calls Mom), calls out, and grabs a bag from her porch. I come into her yard and she hands me a bag of fresh bananas. I don’t know it they are Burmese bananas, but they look slightly different than the ones I here in the yard. They are thicker and stubbier than the ones growing around me. What a nice gesture! I thank her for the gift, and head to the house. Due to the rain yesterday and the 1.5 hr walk, I am drenched! Once home, I hang up all of my clothes and try to dry off. There is a family of Tokei’s living in my house, and I have tried to take a photo of them all together for quite sometime. I haven’t been successful until today. When I went up to hang up my shirt, there they were, all three relaxing. I ran down and grabbed my camera and took a photo. For the longest time, I thought I was losing my mind thinking there was a family. Last night, I saw the baby in the kitchen and took a photo, but I had never seen the parents together at the same time, and often convinced myself that I was seeing the same one, even though they look slightly different. Well, now as you can see, there they all are!. I think the white things are hatched eggs, as the female is always laying beside them, and 2 more that are still waiting to hatch. Maybe they are timed so that as soon as one is ready to leave home, the next hatches… more investigation is required! The rest of the afternoon was spent compiling a shopping list for the trip to Ranong, the market, and Tesco/Lotus. I also wrote a postcard to my niece Taylor(a weekly event, as she likes the pictures of strange places and people I think). I took a trip down to the beach at 2:30pm, for a beer run. I am trying to let my supplies get low before Ranong, and the shopping, so I bought a 6 pack of cold beer from one of the bars. Somewhat pricey, but convenient! Ate one of Auntie’s bananas as a snack, and it was great. Sweeter and firmer that the usual banana I have had, and had seeds like a Vietnamese banana. I will have to ask of its origins tomorrow. I decided to take a wee nap around 4:30pm, and ended up waking at 9:30pm. I had thought of taking a wander, but at this hour, there was little point. I headed back to bed. All was fine and dandy until 2am, when someone in the Thai family that lives about 300m from here, decided to watch some TV. Now, what’s the problem with this you ask? Well usually nothing, but when you have to start a generator to watch TV, there’s the rub. It’s like camping on a really quiet lake here. Any sounds from the people camping on the other side, carry right over to you… same applies here. So after an hour of watching one of the numerous karaoke music video shows, the TV went off and the generator stopped. Back to the sounds of nature and another few hours of sleep.

Got rain? Got bugs!

As I am heading down my path, Tee-ha rides up on his bike to make sure the ice came. I guess he didn’t hear the girl come the night before. I tell him all is well, and I continue on. At the end of my trek down the beach I stopped by to get my clean linens. I used the washroom first, and when I came out to wash my hands, I noticed a rather large spider on my breast pocket. I casually brushed it off, but not before the manager lady that I normally deal with, saw it, and basically ran off! Good to know that creepy crawlies bother the locals too! I hear her talking to the staff in the kitchen, and I can only imagine she was saying how big it was, how I was so casual about it, and that I must be really brave and strong! Anyway, I paid for my stuff, and headed home. Had a couple of bananas for breakfast, and leftovers for lunch, before heading to the main house to use the computer. I uploaded a few more entries to the blog, and wrote Steve Kain about his travel plans to Thailand in April. After I was done, I paid Chiyoko for another 2 wks, and asked to borrow a few items to help with the lack of power outlets. Unfortunately, she didn’t have what I needed, so I will either have to make do, or buy my own in Ranong in 3 days. I spent the afternoon, organizing some more photos for uploading at a later date, and around 3pm, we had a major rain storm roll through. It lasted about an hour, and I took some video for you all. Right after the rain let up, a HUGE termite hatch happened. You could seem them all in the grass, and trying to gain altitude in the last of the rain. Normally, after one of these, the night sky is just filled with them, and if you have any lights on, they swarm to them. Filling the house with 100's of them, until they lose their wing and walk away. This leaves a big clean up the next morning! Wings everywhere! And forget about cooking… the last time this happened I had just started to cook some food with 2 fried eggs. Thankfully, I only had one that landed in the meal, and I was able to spot it before I consumed it. It reminds me about home when we would have a lot of Leatherjackets, or Daddy Longlegs in the summer… whatever happened to those anyway?! I guess it is a bad sign when you remember certain species as a kid, and you don’t see them anymore 30yrs later. I decided that there would be too many of these things flying about tonight, so I would treat myself for my first dinner out in almost a month. After a shower, I went down to Silver Sands, where I do my laundry, at about 6pm. I saw my manager lady(Thais seem to work 24/7) and asked if I could eat and she said yes, I grabbed a seat in there nice covered outdoor eating area and ordered a beer to start. There was an awesome sunset, but I forgot to bring my camera yet again. Once the first beer was done, I ordered another and also my fave Kapow Moo. She asked if I wanted it “spicy”, and I said “Phet Khap”(spicy, yes!), to which she was shocked!. She also asked if I wanted a fried egg, which is usually served with the dish, to which I also said yes. The second beer came, shortly followed by the meal, which was delicious! She cooked it a little differently than in town. Rather than ground or minced pork, this was sliced, but equally as good. Once done, I had one more beer before I called it a night. It was now dark, and I had a 20min walk ahead of me. I paid her, told her cooking was delicious, and let her a nice tip. The walk home in the dark was uneventful. I have 2 lcd lights, and the moon was out and high, so I could really see well. Got home just before 8pm, had a few beers, turned on both Pink Mountaintops albums and drifted off before 9pm, yet again!

As Metallica once said, Ride the Lightning

So once again, ice is an issue. I seemed to have received a little more chicken than I had asked for the other day. I’ve got the last of the ice surrounded by my last two chicken breasts… from probably the biggest chickens in all of Thailand. They are MASSIVE! Like Jurassic Park chickens big! But then again, a lot of things here are like they are from Jurassic Park. Bubble bees the size if hummingbirds, mosquitoes you can hear from across the room etc. I headed out for my walk and ran into “Tee-ha”, the young Burmese guy I have been lovingly referring to as, “the young Burmese guy”. I told him that I could really use some ice ordered, and that this batch had only lasted for 3 days rather than 4, due to my shopping trip and an ice chest of room temperature groceries dumped on my last ice. He says he’ll pass the message on to Chiyoko, and I head out from my morning stroll. I took a few shots with my camera this morning. One interesting set of shot was a hermit crab dead on the road. It had either made its way a little far inland and had been run ove by a motorbike or two, or had been the meal of the otter that lives in the river a few meters ahead. This otter scared the shit out of me the other day. There is a small concrete bridge over this “river”, which only has water when it rains, and that is where the otter lives. I hadn’t seen it over the first 3 weeks, but one day when I was all calm, and peacefully taking in the scenery, I crossed the bridge and heard this huge commotion and saw this “thing” scamper off into the saw grass. Being completely startled, it took me a few seconds to process as to what it was., but after dome time and about 10m of walking, I realized what it was. Anyway, being that the Hermit crab was so close to the Otter house, I think that it must have made its way up the river in high tide, and met his match in the Otter. There was lots of him left, so I guess Otters must be picky eaters and only eat the tastiest parts, leaving the rest to the ants, flies, and other bottom rung feeders that make the most of a free meal. Got home from the walk about 9:30am, and blogged for awhile while listening to music. At lunch, I decided to cook my chicken to be safe, saving one of the breasts for tomorrow. Tee-ha stopped by a little later and said they would bring me the ice when they went into the village to pick up a generator they had sent to Ranong to be repaired. This should be around 5pm, after the ferry arrives from the mainland. After a lazy day, I used the one cooked chicken breast in yet another batch of yellow curry, and just as I was wrapping up, my grocery taxi gal pulls up with some ice at around 6pm. We both had a good chuckle that she was the one who ended up getting the job, she unloads the block, and I put it into the cooler. We say good-bye and she drives off, just as a lightning storm begins. It lasts for the bulk of the night, so I eat, shower and watch the last of it listening to Radiohead’s OK computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac. It all fit quite well!

Making plans for Visas and Lao New Year!

This morning I took a walk down to the end of the beach I hadn’t explored yet. There only seems to be one or two resorts and a few private type house/bungalows. I believe that this is where the Dutch fellow, from a few nights back, lives. The tides was really out at 8am, so the rocks were really exposed, and there were a lot of small shells in the sand. I walked a little less than usual so that I could drop off my bed linens at the laundry. After the power was on, I headed to the main house to use the internet. I emailed a few of you, and made a few more posts to the blog. I got an email from my Lao friend Jukky. I think I have decide to try and be in Laos by the time my Thai Visa expires on March 23rd. This could change of course, but I plan to be there for Lao New Year, which is on April 13th, but may start cranking up by the 11th. Thailand also celebrates Songkran about this time, and it can be virtually impossible to go anywhere as everyone is going back to the home cities/villages to celebrate the holiday with family and friends. I found this out last year when I stayed in Ranong a little to long before trying to make my way to Laos. I hired a minibus to drive me to Chumpon, where I had planned to take the train to BKK. When I got there, I found the train had sold out, and the buses pre-booked. My visa was about to expire in 2 days, so I had to double back to Ranong in order to see immigration and do a Visa run to Burma. Of course this made Lek, the woman I had be seeing, very happy and she always assumed that I couldn’t bring myself to leave her quite yet. Haha… oh well. Anyway, so I missed getting to Laos for New Years, and don’t plan to have that happen again. I will give myself plenty of time to get there, and possibly a visit with Steve Kain, who will be in Sukhothai, or Ayuthaya around that time. There’s a group of people I used to work with, coming to BKK for a big HIV/AIDS conference, so I am hoping that I can connect with at least a few of them while they are in Thailand and Vietnam. I confirmed to Jukky, that I would be with them for the holiday, but wasn’t certain of the exact date. I will keep her posted. After updating everyone, I headed back to the house and bumped into Chris on the road. He gave me a brief lesson in the flora and fauna of the property, lots of interesting stuff I can now put names to after examining it all for 3 wks now. Made a stir fry for lunch and dinner, listened to some music and basically had a really mellow time at my little edge of the jungle for the rest of my day/night.

Goodbye Paul...

Had a sweet 9 hour slept last night. Up fresh and ready for some coffee and the walk into the village. I was out the door around 7:15am and on the road. The walk was nice as always, and I crossed the usual assortment of Thais and Burmese on the way in. About ¾ of the way in, I was passed by Chris and the young Burmese worker, then shortly after by Chiyoko. Seems everyone is in need of supplies today! I got to my rest stop under the tree at the clinic and took a ½ breather to cool off. I noticed that more people than normal were heading by taxi and onwards to the ferry. Maybe it is because it is a Sunday, or the start of a new month. Regardless, once I had my battery recharged I walked the last bit into the market and made my purchases. In addition to the usual items, I need some mosquito spray, post cards, and muesli for my fruit salads in the morning. Once it was all bought and paid for, I flagged down my taxi gal, and off we went. Got home, unpacked and ate breakfast at around 9:30am. I organized some of the photos and videos I have taken, so that it will be a quick process to upload when I go back to Ranong for my Visa run to Burma on Mar 09. There should be some nice shots for people to see. I have tried to take my camera around with me, but it can be a pain in the butt if I am heading to the market. It is just one more things to weight me down. The were 2 batches of rain and wind today. It is nice and cool when it is going on, but about 30min later the humidity keeps up, and out come the mosquitoes. So, it was a good day to have picked up some more. I think I got 4 on my feet without even knowing it. In the village, I had seen Paul. He is off to Ranong tomorrow, and then to BKK three days later. He mentioned he’d be stopping by around lunch time to say a final good bye. I did some final calculations on my February expenses, and came to the conclusion that I saved myself about $250Can by doing things myself, as opposed to buying all food, drinks and smokes from bars and resorts. Not too bad, and things should get even better, by far, once in Laos. I am thinking somewhere in the $500Can/month range. If/when there is some income generated, it only gets cheaper! There has been some confusion over the “Leks” I am mentioning in this blog. The Lek from last trip is still not around, the Lek I have seen in Ranong this trip, is the sister of a friend, and strictly plutonic! No romance for this guy. Matters of the heart only complicate things. Paul came by around to for the final good-bye. I guess his ailment turned out to be salt depletion and some dehydration. He had stopped by a pharmacy store the day before, and the shop owner had told him that he needed a product like Gatorade to get his electrolytes up. Unfortunately, this guy was out. Paul then had to walk an hour back into village, where he eventually found some. I guess by this point he was basically like a zombie. He went back to his bungalow and mixed the powder into a bottle of water, and collapsed with his head on fire. At about 3am, he woke up and felt his condition rapidly improving, and by morning was a new man when I saw him in the village earlier this morning. When he showed up at the house, he was looking good, and was finishing off another litre of the magic elixir. We chatted for a couple of hours, exchanged emails, took a few photos, and he was back on the road to the village for his last night on then Island. Tomorrow he takes the speedboat, which is a new service last year, into Ranong for a few days in town, before flying to BKK for three more days and eventually home to Boston. It was a pleasure meeting you Paul. I hope to see you again next year, should you decide to return. Later on, I made another batch of chicken strip and sweet chili dipping sauce for dinner. I cooked the eggs I used for the chicken and flour, as scrambled eggs, and also eat some left over yellow curry rice. It was all very delicious and probably the biggest meal I have eaten in 3wks. Being quite full, it didn’t take long to feel pretty tired, so I got cleaned up, put on Talk Talk’s Colour of Spring and… zzzzzz…

Book keeping and number crunching.

Another day without a walk. Gotta nip this in the bud. Tomorrow I do the trek to the village, so that should get me back on point. Paul was checking out today and stopped by to let me know he’s giving me his 20litre jug… Thanks! He was feeling somewhat better today, so I offered him the last of my orange juice, which he devoured and asked if he wanted some fruit salad. He declined, but promised he would go eat something ASAP. Once again, I told him to go buy a hat when he goes to Ranong in a few days. We exchanged emails, and he said he would stop in tomorrow at around noon to say goodbye. At around noon, the young Burmese guy came by with my ice order and Paul’s water jug. Now I am all set to get the groceries tomorrow. I was really restless today. Probably from the lack of a walk, so I think I will try to take one tonight, just after sunset. I have yet to do this, so it should be a nice change of pace. I imagine a different set of faces at night, than first thing in the morning. The walk never transpired, but some beers and creating a spreadsheet for expenses did. Looks like I came in around $816 Can for February. Slightly higher than I wanted for only 19 days, but given that it is the “holiday” portion of the tour, I will let it slide. Had leftovers for dinner, showered up, and drifted off to the sounds of Elliot Smith.

Save the politics talk for home.

I slept in until 8am, due to the late night. I didn’t walk, and didn’t really mind. I spent the day transferring some files Danny was interested in, to one of my small hard drives. This was easier said than done. I only have the power for a short time and only have 2 outlets. One of the big hard drives requires its own power supply. So first I had to fully charge the laptop, then unplug and plug in the hard drive and hope that I had enough battery life to get through the transfers. I went ok, but was a bit cumbersome. Paul came by about 2pm and did not look well. I don’t think he drinks enough water, and he walks A LOT in the day without a hat or shirt. I think he may have sun stroke or something. I encouraged him to drink tons or h2o and buy a hat… we’ll see. Today is his birthday, and Danny the bar owner wants him to come down this evening, but Paul doesn’t think he’ll go. If I see Danny, I am to say that I haven’t seen Paul… ok. At 5pm I walked down to the bar to give Danny a few freebies to try out, but he can’t do it until next Tuesday. Ok… maybe the computer is in Ranong. He inquires about Paul, and I give him the story, but he tells me that he’s got something for Paul’s birthday and can I please get him to come down later. I buy a few beers for home, and then make my way back up the road. I check in on Paul and he’s still rough. I pass on the info from Danny and tell him that I think he would be disappointed if Paul was a no show. He agrees, and we decide that I will pop back in an hour, and we’ll head down. I come back at 8pm, and get Paul. Just as we were leaving, I hear a bunch of firecrackers going off… Paul’s surprise. Oh well. We got to the beach, and they had a nice big fire going. There were a few Germans, a Dutch guy and a few others already enjoying the night. About ½ into the night, I made the bad decision of mentioning something casually about 9/11, and that put a bee in Danny’s bonnet. He seemed to be put off by it for the rest of the evening, but there were a lot of other people to talk to. I should know better than to talk politics while away… Paul and I walked home at about midnight. I left him at the path to his house and walked onwards to mine. A pretty nice night overall.

First houseguests and socializing

Another beach walk, followed by a coffee/OJ/ toast and jam breakfast. At around noon, Paul from Boston came by with a young British couple that I had given some information to while in Ranong. Paul is staying in the other house for a 2 night trial, and plans to book a month next January. The couple checked out the place and my food storage methods, and thought they make like to do something similar on a future trip. We all chit chatted for about an hour, then the couple made their way back to the beach, and on to their resort which is at the opposite end on the bay. I told them to pop by anytime, and gave them the hours for electricity if they wanted to listen to music while visiting. Paul headed back to his house to settle in, and we made plans to meet up later and go down to a bar on the beach at the foot of the road. I took a nap and woke up about 8pm, had a quick shower and made my way down for a few drinks. I decided to briefly explain the idea for a small shop with music and movies, and strangely, they had been just talking about how they wished they had more access to media on the Island. Danny, an American who owns the bar, sounded interested in finding out what I had, so I will make him a list of the films and if he wants something he’ll let me know. Good signs! Anyway, we drank and talked until about 1am, when I packed it in and headed back. This was by far the latest I have been up since arriving in Thailand.

Laundry just like "Little House on the Prairie".

This morning, I went down to pick up my bed linens from the laundry. The woman had them already to go. 5 bucks… not bad, but later today I will try my hand at doing a few things the old fashioned way. Should be an interesting leaning curve! If it doesn’t work out so well, I can always go back to paying for it. If it is not too bad, I’ll save myself a few bucks! It will also give me something to do every few days. It’s not like I am bogged down with important business or anything. As it turns out, the self laundry service worked out great. When Lek, the gal I had spent time with in 2006/07, had done my laundry, I paid close attention. I tried to replicate her technique, and didn’t do a half bad job! Laundry was 5 button up shirts, 5 boxers, 2 pair socks, 2 towels… and 5 “sweat” rags. I started off with the small things and had used a pail that was in the house. When I had finished, the young Burmese guy had come by, and I mentioned to him that Chiyoko had mentioned that she would supply my with a bigger laundry pail, should I decide to start looking after the washing myself. He said that he would run back and grab it for me. When he showed back up, I thanked him for the delivery, and started in on the bigger items. I paid extra attention to the neck, pits and back areas of the garments, and a general wash of the others. Washing took places in the big bucket, followed by a rinse and a ring in a smaller one, and then off to the shower for a final rise and ring before pinning them up on the line. The first batch was dry in about 2 hrs, then I hung up the rest of it. The young Burmese guy offered to take me up to the lookout area at 4pm, which I didn’t know existed. After he finished up cutting the “lawn”, I asked him to give my dry clothes the “smell” test, which they PASSED, and we headed up the mountain for about 500m(as the crow flies, but more like 1.5km) straight up. He made short work of it without breaking a sweat, but I sure felt how burned out my lungs are from smoking. Wheezing and sweating my ass off after the first 5min. After about 20min, we got to the spot, and man what a view! It was 4:30pm by now, so it was damn hot… even for him. We took in the view for about 20min, took some photos and caught our breath, and then headed back down. Mental note: wear running shoes next time, flip flops can be tricky business! On our trip, I learned of forest plants I could eat and cook with,Burmese will hunt a monkey with a slingshot and dogs on special occasions and that the sounds that I had thought were monkeys/Gibbons, were actually of a black bird that resembles a fat dove/pigeon with red wings in a similar colour to “our” rooster… We arrived safe and sound. I offered him some water, which he gladly accepted, and then he headed back to finish his last 2hrs of work for the day, while I got dinner sorted out. After eating, I was treated to another show by the eagles and a beautiful sunset.

Ice.... "toooooodaaaaaaay....."

The trip to the market went well. The walk was nice and relatively cool. I had prearranged an ice delivery for yesterday at 2pm, but he never came by. He ended up passing me on my walk, so I yelled out “naam keng!“… ice. He yelled back “todaaayyyy!“, so with any luck he comes by sometime early this afternoon. I took a breather at my spot under a shady tree near the medical clinic, before I went the rest of the way into the village. Purchases included chicken, veggies, fruits, yoghurt, candles, and 3 lighters, as both the ones I had decided to die at exactly the same time. I bumped into the young gal I usually get to run me home with the groceries. She was available, so once I finished a smoke, off we went. At home, I organized everything in the cooler in anticipation of some ice and got into my usual routine of writing a bit while listening to some music on computer battery power until 11am, when the generator is turned on, and I can recharge all of my gadgets. Noodle soup is something I enjoy for breakfast, so I set out to try my hand at making a batch. In one of my pots I added some water and a Knorr bouillon cube. I cut up ½ a chicken breast, some cauliflower, green beans, carrots and threw those in as well. Finishing up with a bit of salt, pepper, fish sauce and yellow curry. Once everything looked pretty much cooked, I added the rice noodles for about 5min and viola! Now, it wasn’t quite right, but it tasted good. More investigation on the traditional methods and ingredients are required. I ate one of the bowls and put the other one away for dinner. When the power came on, I headed to the main house to use the internet for an hour and on the way back, Tim the Canadian fellow staying in another house, gave me some metal grates to use to keep my food off of the ice. The ice used for cooling, isn’t not dinking water quality. Much appreciated. As I rolled up on my place, the taxi man arrived with my ice. Perfect timing again! I paid him for the ice and away he went, leaving me to get everything put back in and organized. Didn’t use the grates, but I will try to come up with a way of making them efficient. Spent the rest of the day lounging about, and having a few beer. For dinner, it was left overs, followed by a night shower, a show of about 30 eagles gathering in the dusk sky, and then off to bed.

Back into the slow lane.

Got right back in the saddle with the morning stroll at 7:30a. On the way, I dropped off my bed linens at the laundry… they were on there way to being a bit ripe. As I am officially done the first two weeks, I decided that I would start to revisit my Thai lessons that I had started with my friend Dana in Vancouver. I need to shop for groceries tomorrow,. So, after lunch, I set out to create my list in phonetic Thai. Many of the items came quiet easily from memory, but a few were really buried in my brain, and some I just did not know. I spent about a half hour on it before I was through, and at 2pm I was expecting another ice delivery from the taxi man who brought me home from the pier yesterday. I paid him for the transportation in advance, so we’ll see how things shake out. I still have ice left, but thought with my groceries tomorrow, it would be better to have some ready to go, than to have to wait a day. Earlier today, I had dropped off my empty water bottles off at the main house and Chiyoko had mentioned that it was all set up if I wanted to get my food orders delivered to the house. On the days I do not walk on the beach, I walk to the village for shopping. So I decided that I would continue walking for now, and should I start to be lazy later, I will take her up on the delivery service. As far as water goes, that is 60litres in 2 weeks for drinking and cooking. God knows, I must be getting enough, but you’d be surprised! Had a pretty uneventful day with a dinner of ramen to get me through until the big supply run to the market tomorrow morning.

Hung the "F" over!

My head was pretty thick this morning, and rushing out the door to catch a boat for a 2hr ride, was not exactly my idea of fun. Regardless, I had to get moving. I repacked my bags and organized my supplies before I showered. Once I had composed myself, I took all my shit out to the coffee shop the family has on the edge of the property and had a few coffee and a $1.50 breakfast to get some food in me. I realized that I hadn’t eaten in almost 24hrs… since the crab the day earlier. Breakfast would have been better without the hangover, but hit the spot. Before too long, I could here the boat’s horn sound, so I said my goodbyes for 2 more weeks, headed to the pier and eventually onto the boat. Just like breakfast, the trip could have been more enjoyable without the residual effects of last nights 15+ beers, but it was nice nonetheless. There were 2 monks onboard, heading to the Wat(temple) on the Island I imagine, and the usually mix of folks from various nations on their way to start a holiday on Koh Phayam. I took a few photos, but spent most of my time avoiding the sun and trying to catch some breeze. The boat pulled in at 11:30am, I hired a motorcycle taxi, and arrived at home where I unpacked my stuff, and found that a fresh block of ice had been delivered while I was gone! Perfect timing for the12 beers I was about to load into the cooler. I put everything away, and an hour later had a nice cool beer, and some noodle soup while I wrote this entry. I spent the rest of the day recuperating and getting back into my relaxing routine of having absolutely nothing pressing to take care of. Made a stir fry for dinner and had an early night to make up for the late night yesterday.

A trip to the big city of Ranong.

Well today it was time for the trip to the big city. I walked into the village at around 7am. With all of yesterday’s rain, it was extremely humid for the walk. I gave myself plenty of extra time so that I could cool off a bit, and not be a sweaty mess when I boarded the boat. Just outside of the village is the medical clinic. They have a soccer pitch next door with a nice shady spot. So, when I arrived with 45min before the boat departed, I took a seat and recuperated a bit. The clinic must have been having a drop-in or something. There were a lot of people preparing chairs and medical supplies just prior to their 8 o’clock opening. Perhaps this is an event that takes place on Sundays, or maybe once a month, where people can come by and get a general check up, have medical concerns looked at, or get follow up treatment and/or prescriptions dispensed. Once I was cooled off and dry, I head towards the pier, bought my ticket for the boat, and waited while they loaded a few things that were being shipped back to the mainland. At times, the ferry brings food, building materials, motorbikes, ice, etc. The boats are the only way things come or go from here and are usually used to their full potential. Once all the cartage was loaded, all the passengers boarder and we were off to Ranong at 8:30am. It was a pretty uneventful trip until about 2/3 of the way when a bunch of commotion started with the crew, and the boat started to slow down. I leaned out to take a peek, and there was a small eagle flopping around in the water. The captain stepped out onto the rail, and with on quick swipe, had grabbed the bird out of the water, and brought it into the boat. Now, this was pretty cool, but also kinda sad. The bird was obviously freaked, and all the passengers started to gather around it to take photos, which only added to its stress level. Once the crowd died down, I also took a photo, but from my seat. About 5 min outside the Ranong pier, a German guy decided he needed just one more photo, and got up really close… the eagle freaked, and jumped off the bench he had been resting on. After flopping around for a few seconds, he jumped up to the rail, and sprung from the boat. He proceeded to gain altitude and we all watched him fly off and find a tree to perch in…. yes, people even clapped etc..! Haha! He seemed small compared to the other Sea Eagles I have seen, so maybe he was young, went after a fish and ended up a little water logged and could not get himself out of the water. Anyway, the captain gets some points with old Buddha for that one. I got into Ranong about 10am, and headed over to Starcrab to say hello and grab a few things that I needed from the bags they were storing for me. I was greeted with smiles and “Dave!… gin khao!”(eat food/hungry?!), so I said “gin, khap!“, sat down with them and had some nice crab for breakfast! I decided to stay a night, so after I made my first withdrawal of the trip from the bank down the road, I went to my room and had a shower before heading down to see my friends Lek and Jai at Kiwi Orchid guesthouse. At about 3pm, I felt cleaned up and cooled off, so I headed to the road and took the songtaew into the bus station where Kiwi is located. The ladies were all pretty busy doing there travel bookings, visa runs, and serving food in there restaurant, so I jumped on one of their computers to upload some photos to the blog, and wait for Lek, who kindly offered to run me up to the Tesco/Lotus that is pretty new to Ranong. When the business was done, Lek and I hoped on her motorbike and headed to Tesco, where with her help, I made short work of my shopping list include some non-perishables, refill of my favorite soap, some liquid laundry soap(yeah, that’s right. I am going to try a few loads of my own laundry the old fashioned way!), and some “Prickly Heat”… a soothing powder for heat rash. After Tesco, we headed back to Kiwi, and Lek ran some more customers to the VIP night bus, and I picked up my beer and smokes at a shop down the block. Tonight in Ranong, they closed off the main street where the market is, and had a night of children singing and dancing. Kinda like a talent showcase I guess. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera again, but it was all quite entertaining. After the show was done, we went to a local bar where I met a Swedish guy staying on Koh Chang, a Latvian couple on their way to the same Island, and a Danish guy who lives in Ranong full time. We all got rather pissed, and at the end of the night, Lek dropped me and my purchases off, safe and sound at Starcrab. I proceed to pass out into a hot, drunken slumber.

Singin' in the rain...

Had the first rain of the journey so far, and man did it come down! There were actually two batches. The first one was at around noon, and lasted about 2 hrs. The second came around 4pm and didn’t last quite as long. When it decides to rain here, things really get a much needed drink. With so much sand in the ground, I imagine most plants have massive, deep root systems to collect what little ground water they can. The rain that does fall would filter right through in a short period of time. This is why the leaves for most plants are shaped the way they are. Nature’s way of catching and directing the water to the key areas to maximize the rain water. It’s interesting what you can observe when you have the time and the silence to really absorb things around you. Most of the day was spent making lists of items I needed to get in Ranong tomorrow, and packing items in order to spend the night if I needed to. I had 2 beers and turned in early.

On budget... what a tightwad.

My walks are getting quicker, and less sweaty. I think I will add a section of beach in the next couple of days. That should increase the walk by 30 min or so. I whipped up fried eggs and toast, with a side of fruit salad for breakfast today. Went down quite well. The funds I brought with me, are starting to get low, so I have planned a trip to the city on the morning of the 22nd. I had planned to do this trip on the 23rd, but I shelled out a bit of extra cash for kitchen stuff that will last me a while. Oil, sauces, butter, jam etc… I have been keeping a log of my day to day expenses, so I will be able to take a look at how my budgeting is going. This leg of things was always going to be more expensive than once I settled somewhere with the comforts of a city, but not having eaten out yet, I must be doing pretty well. So far I think I’ve spent about $650, but that includes everything from my time in Bangkok, taxis, buses, boats, groceries, beer, smokes and all rent for the month etc… not too shabby! The last 3 days have been crazy windy. It’s O.K. by me, as it makes things far more comfortable than when the air is still. If this is “normal” for the Island a person could totally make use of a wind turbine and battery bank for daytime power if needed. There are a lot of solar set ups in use, but I only see a few people gathering wind. Maybe this type of wind is not that common. The heat rash is 90% under control, with only 2 new spots flaring up where my shirt sleeves meet my biceps. Once I drop a few more lbs, that should take care of itself. On that note, even though it’s hard to tell when you look at yourself in the mirror everyday, I would have to guess that I have lost about 10lbs. I can credit this to the massive volumes of water, daily walking, healthy eating, and only moderate beer consumption. Still have a ways to go before I am at comfortable weight for daily life here, but it’s a good start. Just got to keep up this routine.

Thinkin' of a master plan.

After my morning walk, Chiyoko dropped in to see if my chicken had survived the previous day. I told her that I had cooked some for dinner, and that I was feeling no worse for wear. We chatted about extending my stay, and plans for a future stay once I have spent some time in Laos. She has offered to let me piggy back on her grocery deliveries once she has arranged a contract with a local guy who has got a motorcycle w/ a trailer. He would be able to deliver groceries and ice at the same time, which would be great because I end up needing these items at around the same time. She’ll let me know when something is set up, and what schedule she’ll be working on, and then I supply her with my list 24hrs before a scheduled delivery and my things should arrive the following day. Great in principal, but we’ll see how it goes. A lot of my time today was spent brainstorming about whether or not I could set up my business in this area. Tow years ago, I had thought about the Island next door, Koh Chang. It doesn’t have quite the traffic of Koh Phayam. This Island has more visiors who stay long term, more bars that could be clients, a large population that stays year round, there are more individual land owners here to approach about leasing space from(I think Koh Chang has 2 main families that own 80% of the desirable property), and the possibility of having a dual purpose shop/house set up. Both here and Savannakhet, Laos have their advantages and draw backs. The issues on Koh Phayam are the fact that there is no electricity, municipal water, and everything costs slightly more because it comes from the mainland. On top of the, the Visa situation in Thailand would force me to do a Visa run every 2 wks, and there would be a lot of expense initially for things like generators, solar, and/or wind turbine and battery banks for the power, but the beach and the clientele are here. Savannakhet is a great strategic location, but is just in its infancy stages of getting a lot of cross through traffic, and many of these people stay only one night before they head off to a different destination. This may change as things develop and could prove a great time to get this up and going. The city also has the power, water and internet I would require. When I get to Laos, I will discuss these options with Jookky and see what she thinks. I am sure she’ll have a great perspective on things. Decisions, decisions… all in time I suppose. I have seen a few places for rent and/or lease take over. I will continue thinking and keeping my eyes peeled for possiblities.

My ice is like the polar caps... shrinking!

Up at 5a, coffee, smokes, and a banana before I headed down the road to the beach and to drop off some laundry. Today it seems REALLY humid. I brought my camera along to get a few snap shots of things of interest. On my way back down the beach, I ran into one of the Canadian guys I had met at the party. We chatted for a while, and I picked his brain about doing the Visa run into Burma. Sounds like things have changed slightly, and may even be a little easier that when I did it in April 2007. I will need to make this trip on Mar 09, if I wish to stay on here for another two weeks. At the moment, I am leaning towards this option. It’s really nice here and the thought of boarding a bus for the long trip to Mukdahan, and on to Laos, isn’t really a top priority at the moment. Another 2wks at the current pace would be nice. Still waiting on some ice. What little I have left, is the same size as the chicken, so I’ve got them stacked on one another with a plastic bucket full of veggies sandwiching them together to try and keep the meat as cool as possible. I have inquired about the ice several times, and I am told it will come this afternoon. I think it was originally overlooked and a reminder yesterday wasn’t enough to light a fire to get it done. Today I made a point of showing the Burmese guy who works here, how small it actually was. There’s been an issue twice now with getting some, so I may just get it for myself when I pick up groceries from the market. I believe the ice place and market are close together, and the motorbike taxis seem to be able to carry a massive amount of items as they drive you home. In the end, I made a trip up to the main house to inquire as to a timeframe I could expect it. As it turns out, they were in the middle of a mini crisis and needed to deal with the matters at hand before they could deliver some. Chiyoko offered me the use of their freezer until they could arrange some ice for my place. I walked back home, picked up some fruit, veggies and the chicken, and then delivered them for refrigeration. About two hrs later, a motorcycle taxi pulls up with a block of ice, and the young Burmese guy drops off my stuff. Back in business! In the evening the wind really picked up as I was cooking dinner. On the menu tonight was a chicken and veggie stir fry, with the left overs for lunch etc. tomorrow. Once again, delicious! I fell asleep to the sounds of the wind swirling around the forest, and through my house.

Groceries.. part deux.

Took another trip into the village to pick up a few more items that I had forgotten the first time. I headed out about ½ an hr earlier this time, and 2 less morning coffees. Seemed to make a big difference. I didn’t overheat until the very end of the walk. Whereas, the first time, I was hot about 200m down the road. In addition to the forgotten items, I grabbed some more coffee, chicken and beer. I am supposed to get a delivery of ice today. So, with any luck, I should have the ability to keep this stuff cool later today. It looks as if a block of ice will last me 4 days, which works out well for keeping the chicken from getting funky. I now have a fairly well stocked kitchen and should be able to look after my eating needs. I sent off emails to my friends in Laos, so that they know all is well, and should expect to see me either the 9th or 23rd of March. I am really looking forward to seeing them. Once there, I will start to find out more about the fine points of trying to stay long term and doing something business wise with or without Jookky. She’ll be a great help as she can speak English very well, and seems to be well connected with people who can get things done for you in a hurry. My ice didn’t end up coming, so I thought I’d better cook up some chicken at dinner. I had picked up some flour, and had some eggs, so I made myself fried chicken in homemade batter with some sweet chili dipping sauce I also bought earlier. It was damned good. I had a few beers while listening to tunes when the generator was on. Hit the sack around 9p… what an animal.

Broken flip flops, and other life altering tragedies

I am trying(without much luck) to limit myself to 2-3 coffees a day now. Without all the caffine, I find I overheat less. Went for a 1.5 hr walk down beach and back this morning. On the way, I blew out a tire on the highway… my flip flop broke on the road. I had bought them 2.5 yrs ago in Ranong for 49 baht($1.5can), but it took me an hr of looking through boxes of them to find a size 12. At 37.5 cents every 6 months, I’d have to say that was money well spent. The tide line of the beach has odd things washed up from the storms at sea. Many of these are single flip flops. I took a look for single rights in a 12, but didn’t have much luck. Good thing I bought another pair this year in Ranong, the night before I took the boat. Got home from the walk around 9:30a. Took a look at my fruit and decided that I’d better prep and eat some of it. So it was a breakfast of fresh pineapple, orange, apple, and grapes with yoghurt. I totally gapped out in the “supper”mart and forgot some watermelon… oh well, next time. I really like having the kitchen. I’ll save a ton of cash, and can eat at my leisure. I can also eat something small, as opposed to a full meal at a restaurant. I went to the main house and ordered some more ice for tomorrow, then came home to charge the laptop and listen to some tunes when the generator kicks in at 11a. Getting over the feeling that I should be doing something with my time has been tough so far. I hope that I will soon realize that there is no timeline and that I should be treating this part of the trip as my “vacation”, not that there is really a LOT to do around here anyway. I guess it is just something that living in Canada causes you to feel…. Guilt, if you do nothing. I know this will pass… it sure did last time. Dana, I highly recommend this place post BKK landing. Maybe we can come down when you get here?!? Good medicine! This afternoon, I cooked another batch of food today, so that the chicken won’t spoil. Everything else should be fine, but I was informed that meats have about a 3-4 day shelf life in the cooler. This should work out well, as I won’t buy more that 500g, or so, at a time. Watched the last 2/3 of “RocknRolla” this afternoon when it was too hot to do anything. Pretty good flick, but exactly like Lock, Stock… and Snatch. So if you like those, you’ll enjoy this one too.

The day after...

Cross hangover off the to-do list. I throw back a couple of Tylenol, hit the coffee, and start this blog. I cooked my first meal of the trip, Geng Gari Gai(Yellow Curry w/ chicken) with rice. It turned of really good. Something was missing, which I will try to determine, but overall I would say 8/10. I was pretty pleased. There was enough for 2 dishes, so I ate one for lunch and put the other one into the cooler for later. Overall, I am adjusting to the climate really well. Much quicker that I had expected. I know where to be and at what time of day to keep the coolest. My heat rash also under control. Now it’s just trying to stop anything new from flaring up, and trying not to itch what is there and starting to go away. Scratching it is the worst thing you can do. It wakes it up, and is almost like it never left at all. I finally uploaded some of this blog, so hopefully it is entertaining to some of you. I will wait to upload pics, as the internet connection is good and stable, but not as fast as back home obviously. I loaned my landlords a USB stick with some movies. I had mentioned that I had a “few” with me. I will use this a test run to see what the interest is like. It will be a good gauge for later on in Laos. At about 5pm, I hear someone calling to me from down my path. It’s a guy from Boston named Paul, and he’s taking a look at the vacant house to possibly book it for next year. I invite him in too look around at mine, as it actually has someone living in it. He’s pretty impressed. I offer him a beer and we have about a 2hr chat. Nice guy, and my first real interaction with a stranger… ha-ha! I have the last of my lunch for dinner and have a few more beer before showering up and trying to what “Rocknrolla”, Guy Ritchie’s newest movie. I made it about 45min before passing out… killing my batter for the following morning. I have generated power from 11a-2p, and then again 6p-10:30p, so it a real juggling routine to use something, then recharge to used on battery, then recharge again at night so you have power for later at night and the next day. I have almost got it down, and it’s nice to actually get some in the day. Mainly, you don’t see many places with daytime power. I think that because the big house has a freezer etc, they have to run power for 3hrs, 2 times a day to keep everything frozen and to give them comforts of home, as it is a proper house they live in.

Valentine's/Party night

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today I eat something other than noodles. I walked for 45min through the middle of the Island and into the village to shop for groceries at the “Supper”mart. It was pretty interesting to do my own shopping in bulk and have no major sets back etc. My baby talk Thai mixed with some English, got the job done. There was one funny moment when I was trying to find some chocken broth, and decided the best way I could ask for it would be to call it Naam Gai(chicken water). The guy just looked at me with a puzzled look on his face, until another Thai lady who spoke English piped up and said, “Ah… STOCK”! In the end, they didn’t have any, but I did grab yellow curry, fish sauce, coconut milk, chicken, rice, noodles, eggs, fruits and veggies, yoghurt, plastic wrap, jam, margarine,sweet chili sauce, salt/pepper, dish soap and scubber, loaf of bread, and of course a flat of beer. It all comes to about $40can, and with the plastic wrap and cooler, I should be able to make it all last before anything spoils. Cooking should be fun considering I enjoy it at home. I will let you know how I make out. I flag down a motorcycle taxi and we run it all back home. The entire round trip only takes me 2hrs, which amazes the Burmese staff. The cooler works out great, and I have not bought to much for it. At noon I head over to use the internet to file my taxes and reply to the many “Where are you”, “Are you ok”, and “Why haven’t you written” emails many have sent. Once those were out of the way, I lounged on my balcony sampling my freshly chilled beers until 6pm, and then got ready to go over to the party. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to meet a few new people as I am finally starting to feel somewhat social. There are 3 guys from Canada, 2 gals from Germany, Chiyoko and Chris, and the English guy who is the guest of hnor and is on his way the following morning. There’s a huge spread of delicious Thai foods, wine and beer. I have 2 helping as it is the first “real” food I’ve had in about 3 days. Tim, one of the Canadians, brings out his guitar, and Chris starts out on the harmonica. We have a “sing-a-song” to songs by the Stones, Dead, Beatles etc and things wind down about 11pm. I thank everyone for the hospitality, and head home to my first case of the bed spins in quite awhile.

Ice arrives...

Another early one with the coffee and the wildlife. At 7am, I took my laundry down to a resort on the beach and walked by the water for an hour before the sun was completely up. On the way home, I ran into Chris who is the other half of the couple I am renting from. I mention to him that I’d like some ice delivered so that I can head into the village and get some groceries picked up. He makes a few calls from his mobile and tells me it will be delivered some time today. Great! Food other than ramen and cold beer soon! Speaking of which, I dined on ramen yet again and had a few coffee before heading to the main house to use their internet connection. I am invited to a going away party tomorrow night at the main house. They have a friend who’s holiday is ending, so I’ll head over around 7pm and get chance to meet a few of the people who have been coming here for years and tend to stay for extended periods of time. After getting back to the house, Oka(the Burmese property manager) drops off my ice and I decide to whip down to the beach and pick up a few beers to test out the cooler. Once I have about 3 of the 4 beer put away, I realize I am pretty buzzed due to the diet of ramen and the heat, so I decide that I’d better run down and grad my laundry before I am flat on my ass. By the time I get there, it’s all ready to go, nicely folded and smalling much better than it did 12hrs ago. I pay my 120baht and hoof it home to drink the last lonely beer, shower and sleep.

Settling in.

Sprang out of bed at 5am again. Made some coffee around 6am and sat on the balcony listening to the Roosters crow, Gibbons howl, Secedas screech, and watching the Hornbills gather in the trees. It also became apparent that my Southern Thailand heat rash decided to come out of hibernation. There were only a few areas starting to flare up, but I realized last time that it is better ,to jump on it pronto, rather than let it consume you. If you have ever had the shit, you know what I am talking about. I got a prescription before I left Canada, so if I follow the same regime as last time I should be ok after the first week or so. Wake up, shower, powder, cream, wash affected areas at noon and apply cream, shower at bed, powder, cream, sleep… REPEAT! I even read in a Blog that using mint toothpaste helps with the desire to scratch. I may try this as well. Today was spent in a coma trying to get used to the heat and humidity. I was anti-social and isolated. What the hell… it’s only day one here.

First morning...

Morning comes early around here. By 5am, the roosters and the dogs are letting me know the day has begun. I gather the bags I will be leaving at the guesthouse for 1 month, and deliver them to the owner. I have a shower and meet Michael at 8am for breakfast. He fills me in of some info about Q, who was the gal who ran the bungalows I stayed at for 2 months last trip to Koh Chang. Seems there was some family dispute and she has chosen not to run them any more. The Uncle now runs the place and I am sure it has lost its appeal. Breakfast wraps up and I head back to my room to get my bags and head to the pier. Once there, I say goodbye to Michael, and board the boat to Koh Phayam. It’s a 2hr trip with great scenery, so I relax and take in the views of the Islands, wildlife, and fishermen at work. The boat is not completely full, which may have something to with the drop in Thai tourism since the December political disturbances at the Airports etc. Also the fact that the Thai govt. decreased the length of a free Visa by 50%. You were able to stay for 30 days each renewal, now it is only 15. This means if you are on the Island, you must leave by boat and travel to Ranong, arrange a Visa run to Burma, go to Burma by boat, pay them the $10US to get a transit stamp, turn around, visit Thai Immigration and get you 15 day stamp, get back to the pier by 2pm, get a ticket for the last return boat to Koh Phayam/Chang. This process can take an entire day and the better part of $50US. Considering that many of the people that come to these two Islands are long term and/or entire season renters, this can mean 8-12 of these trips. Anyway, my boat pulls in right about on time. I get my bags and hit the pier looking for my landlady Chiyoko. About half way down I see her. We introduce ourselves and hire a motorcycle taxi for my ride to the house. My driver is a young guy and we head out in Koh Phayam’s small road system. They are made of concrete, about 5’ wide and tend to be in a state of disrepair, as Ranong Province is Thailand’s wettest during the rainy season. All this water washes out most roads on any type of slope. It takes us about 10 min to make the trip and Chiyoko is waiting for us at the house. We go over some formalities and I ask some questions about locations of the market, laundry, and other need to know services. I tell her I will see her in an hr or two, and start to unpack my shit. The house is great. It has it’s owm small kitchen, balcony off the upstairs bedroom, shaded sitting area under the bedroom and is set in the “jungle” surrounded by nicely planted grounds. There are mango, banana, cashew, coconut trees, and the whole place is set in a working rubber tree plantation. There is one other house on the way in, but other that, you feel like you’ve been dropped in your own little pocket of the wild. I take a couple of hrs. to relax and realize that I have come to the end of traveling for a while anyway. At about 2pm I head up to see Chiyoko at their own home. Down the path, onto the roadway and up about 200m. We go over a few things and I sign a rental agreement , while she copies my passport etc. I ask her some questions and I head back to the house. I had heard that Lek, the woman I had spent 3 months with last time, had started to work on this Island and I decided to take a walk down the beach to see if she was working at a bar owned by a friend of hers. We had stayed there one night after a reggae show in 2007. I headed towards the beach about 7pm and walked the stretch or bars and bungalows for about an hr, trying to recognized the place. On my way back, I saw “Lazy Bar” and realized that this was the place. I went to the bar and asked the girl working if she knew Lek. She said that she did, but that Lek was no longer working there and had gone home to Ranong. With that information, I headed back to the house a little deflated, but it is probably for the best as things went really sideways trying to say good-bye last time. As my plans are to be in Laos within 45 days or so, we would probably have a repeat performance of that show, and we could both do without revisiting that… no matter how much fun was to be had in between.. Got home, hopped in the shower, baby powdered up and hit the sack at 9pm.