PHUKET

Thanks to everyone who sent me messages hoping that I would soon feel better. The antibiotics did the trick and I feel a lot better. It is nice to get the messages on the blog and the emails from everyone. I do love my own company and travelling. But it is nice to keep in contact and Know what is going on in your lives.




Rob and Heather from Melbourne whom I made friends with on Ko Pi Pi have kindly taken some of the weight from my rucksac. I will collect it from them when I arrive in Melbourne in the early part of next year. They were really nice and saw me off on the boat to my next destination..Phuket

It was scortching hot on the boat trip so I was glad to take some shade at the back of the boat. When we got to Phuket it was unbearably hot. I got a minibus to the hotel. Along the route you could see where there had been a lot of rebuilding post Tsunami. This Island was hit particularly hard. Many roads and properties were destroyed. It is just mind blowing as I go from Island to Island trying to imagine how they have rebuilt their lives. There is something just not right about the way we come and holiday in places where there was so much loss of life. But I do know that they rely on tourism and the revenue it generates, so I reconcile my concerns with that knowledge.

I am really pleased with my hotel..it is set back about fifteen minutes from the beach. It has the most amazing little swimming pool.There is only enough room to do about ten strokes. But it is so beautifully made and the water feature at the end creates a very relaxing atmosphere. I love to go and relax there and read my book. And chill out in the heat.




I have to say that I was really looking forward to coming to Phuket because I had heard so much about the island. But it is making me feel very unsettled. There are so many dodgy looking foreign men with beautiful Thai women. On the route from my hotel to the beach there is just bar after bar with loads of beautiful Thai women just waiting for the letcherous foreigners and there money.It is making me so angry. I am at Patong beach, which is just a big pick up joint with lots of shops selling loads of cheap goods. It is everything I hate. The beach was packed with sunbeds and umberellas for miles.


I walked the full length and found a quiet place to sunbathe.



The only problem was when I came to go home I had to walk the full length in the full glare of the sun. Consequently I am very red tonight! I need to think that one through in future. Tomorrow I am going to get a taxi or bus and find a quiet little cove somewhere away from the shops and touting.

I have just had the most amazing massage!!! yeh!! There is nothing wrong with the traditional Thai massages and I know some of you were concerned that I thought foot massages were not good(Particularly you Paul..great to get your messages by the way x) but they are good, its just my body is in such bad shape that they have to push and prod so much to try and get my ching and chang in line, that it is very painful for me.I am sure the better shape I get into the less they will hurt!
The massage today was a mixture of Thai and western oil massage and I felt a lot better afterwards. It only cost three pounds which is incredible. Back home the same kind of thing would cost about fifty pounds!.
I am going to try and fit another one in before I leave the island. I do hope I discover some redeeming places in Phuket before I fly off to Ko Samui on Sunday.

Ko Pi Pi

I decided to take a relaxing stroll along the sea front and have an early meal..I chose a lovely place overlooking the sea..and sat back to relax. But as I scrambled around in my handbag for my glasses I pulled the little pin out of my panick alarm I carry with me. Well you have never heard such a din. For a second I did not realise that it was my alarm, I thought some alarm had gone off nearby and wondered what it was. When I saw all eyes on me I panicked and started throwing all the things out of my bag onto the table to find the thing..it was SO LOUD. eventually I got it out and then panicked and sat on it to try and muffle the sound. At various intervals I took it out and fumbled around to try and shut it up,only to admit defeat and sit on it again. With the people having ,or rather trying to have quiet romantic meals getting very annoyed with me. Eventually I shut the thing up. Needless to say I have left it in my room tonight. My nerves will not take that again in a hurry.

After counting the bruises on my body from the Thai massages I thought I would try a Thai foot massage, that had to be relaxing. How wrong could I have been! I was in agony when he pushed certain areas of my feet.

FOOT MASSAGE


The chap inflicting the pain said "oh not good .painful, you have bad colon" that may be as well, but I now have bad foot!!! once again I told myself no pain, no gain and let him continue for an hour massaging and inflicting pain. But when he had finished he said that my colon would now start to get better...and do you know today my colon was very active. so it did something!
Just as I was coming to the end of the massage the Canadian lot appeared at the window of the place and so I joined them later in a bar.



to see a LADYBOY caberet show.Basically that is when some Thai men dress as beautiful ladies and perform a caberet.It has to be one of the strangest things I have seen. The lady in the middle of this picture is one of the ladyboys. we then had a few more drinks





and somehow they all ended up persuading me to have a henna tattoo on my foot.It is of three little feet. I know Sammie I have always said that I would never do that ,but this trip is going to be full of things I thought I would never do..and at least this one wears off after a while.They tried very very hard to get me to have a real one!



Tomorrow I get the boat to Phuket where I will be staying for 4 days.

Ko Pi Pi

The last night in Krabi had a few drinks with some Canadians and a girl from Brighton.They were all very sweet and made me feel really welcome. Even though I am old enough to be there mother.They put me down as early thirties so that made me feel good. I have to say they had had a few beers by then so they may have had beer goggles on!!!They were very funny and I had a good time. We exchanged email addresses.



I then got the ferry to the beautiful island of Ko Pi Pi and I am staying in the most amazing resort..my room is up on stilts overlooking a breathtaking sight.It made me feel tearful with the wonder of it.


VIEW FROM BOAT APPROACHING HOTEL


VIEW FROM MY BEDROOM WINDOW


HAVING A DRINK IN LOCAL BAR


I have been suffering a bit with a sore throat and really bad cough so went to a local pharmacy and was able to buy cough medecine and antibiotics. He said he thought I had a chest infection. So better safe than sorry. It just amazed me how easy it was to purchase the antibiotics. I am sure all the soakings on the various boat trips over the last few days has not helped my cold. glad I had also put a couple of lemsips in my first aid kit.

Last night I had dinner with a couple from Melbourne. I got chatting to them because I was sneezing a lot with my cold and she said "bless you". They had knocked on my door to see if I wanted to join them. But I was wandering back from a beach on the other side of the island and lost time. So it was dark when I got back and they were at a table on the beachfront. They called over and said they would wait until I got ready. So I rushed off and showered then we had dinner. Which was very nice of them.

Today I headed for the pool and did plenty of lengths to try and loose some weight!! Being a glutten for punishment I decided to try another Thai massage. I am literally black and blue from all the pressure points they have pushed and prodded, but I keep hoping my body will stop hurting eventually. These tiny little ladies literally clamber all over your body, pulling it in directions that it does not want to go!! And they do it with such a nice smile. They keep saying "ok" and my head is screaming "no it is not ok" but then I tell myself to be brave as this must be good for me and the pain in my shoulder is getting a bit less. I think they devised their massages to just inflict terrible pain on the smug tourists who spend all day bartering them down to the last Baht for an item they want to purchase in the markets. They are probably killing themselves laughing when they see the contorted faces of people having a massage!
Never say die!, I will have another one again soon.They are about three hundred Baht that is about four pounds fifty!

I logged on to find a message from the Canadian lot to say they were heading out to Ko Pi Pi today and hoped we could meet up again. I read it too late to catch them. But then bumped into them on the seafront. So hope to meet up again later.

JUST ALONG BEACH FROM MY ROOM