More visitors

After seeing Melinda off at the airport (thanks for coming Mindy!) we were looking forward to some well earned rest and relaxation.

But no - that very same day we received an email from our friends James and Richard in Singapore...

They are currently staying at a "detox" Spa on the Island - no real food for almost a week! This didn't prevent them from enjoying some high speed fun and games on the jet ski's though.

Visitors

Melinda is currently visiting us, for a relaxing break from the big smoke (Bris-Vegas!). Last night we went to 'Crystal' seafood restaurant down at Cheong Mon and enjoyed a great feast of prawns, fish, squid and crab! The night ended with a few cocktails - Pina Colada's for the girls and the Pineapple Matador for Ian!

Today we did some sightseeing - showing Melinda around the 'Big Buddha'. Melinda & I also got a good luck blessing from one of the monks (the monk tied a small white string around our wrists, said a little prayer and shook some water over our heads). This afternoon we had lunch at the beach followed by 1.5 hour long massages!! Tonight we're staying in for a quiet meal, and a 2 hour CSI special.

(PS. Don't you love the 'Burberry' table cloth in the photo?

Alien Invasion?

We went swimming in Choeng Mon today,as the changing weather has made Samrong bay a bit choppy.

After our swim we were splashing around in the surf when we spotted this little fellow. (apologies for the poor photo quality - I only had my phone camera with me).

Apparantly this is actually a kind of Jelly fish - they do have a bit of a sting but nothing dangerous. You can't really tell from the photo but the centre looks very much like a shell and the tendrils are a bright blue.

The eco warriors amongst you will be gald to hear that we released this guy back into the ocean after taking this picture -the nervous swimmers will no doubt be resolving never to set foot in the ocean if you come and vist....

Drinks and Nibbles

We hosted our first gathering last night, for our neighbours on the hill. It is amazing how many different types of people end up in Thailand - in no particular order our guest included: five Brits, a French lady and her son (who lives in Bali), a German with his Taiwanese partner, a Kiwi with his Isreali partner and a Dutchman - plus three dogs.

To complement the beer and wine on offer, we decided to try and make some maki-sushi (rice with various bits, wrapped in dried seaweed). The group verdict was - not bad for a first attempt.

Unfortunately we didn't have much luck with the weather, the sunset was obscured by clouds and the rain came down a couple of hours later, at least it was fairly cool.

World Toilet Summit

An article in 'The Bangkok Post' today was entitled 'Spending a penny', outlining some of the issues encounted at the recently opened Bangkok Airport. Baggage handling has been an issue, but this article focused on the inadequacy of toilet facilities at the new airport. Toilets are seemingly sparce!

What made me laugh (and also the journalist) is that the 'World Toilet Summit' is to be held in Bangkok next month. The theme of the Summit is 'Happy Toilet, Happy Life'.

What will the toilet specialists of the world think of Thailand's public toilet facilities when they arrive at Bangkok Airport?

:-)

Haircuts and flat tyres

On Friday I (Tammy) got my first haircut in Thailand, down at Cheong Mon. My hair was cut & styled, and shoulders massaged for 100 baht (that's around $3 Aussie). I was a little concerned about the 'style' because I didn't really give much guidance to the hair dresser - other than it's been around 2 months since my last hair cut, and can you make it shorter! It's quite hot here this weekend, so I'm happy to have short hair again... and will be going back next month. I'll post some pics soon.

Onto another completely unrelated story.. flat tyres. Last night we were driving towards the beach for a refreshing swim, when a bloke on a motor bike pointed at the tyres on our jeep... and said something in Thai that we didn't understand. Never mind, the universal pointing at tyres thing did the trick, so we pulled over to check them out. One of our back tyres was low, so we aborted the swim idea and drove towards our nearest petrol station, about 10 mins drive away... only to find out that they didn't have any Air. This confused us, because we had stopped at a petrol station on the other side of the island only a few days earlier and saw that they had air. Anyway, we drove on to the 2nd petrol station, normally around 15 mins drive... but we were in rush hour, and it took longer. Only to find out that they didn't have air either... I was baffled.. where was the air... the petrol attendants somehow communicated to go back to the lights & turn right (since there's only a couple of traffic lights on the island, the directions were easy to follow). On the way, we fortunately drove past a tyre shop and asked them for their (by now) much needed help... to fill our tyre with air. Which they did for free. Very nice fellows, so we have them a tip.

Onwards, now, and probably an hour later... we decided to go to the beach for a couple of refreshing ales... and stopped off at the 3rd petrol station... this time to fill up with petrol. Hhere in Samui they have petrol attendants standing by the bowser and you don't have to get out the car. The girl who served us looked like she was in her early teens, so I'm hoping it was her weekend job, and not a full time job!

Anyway, with the jeep back in working order, we then headed back to Chaweng, and enjoyed a couple of drinks at a beachside bar. Epic journey over... we could finally relax!

The hill

This shows some of the houses that are on the 'hill', looking back from our land. Most of these houses are finished.. just the big one on the top isn't.

Today we met with another builder & architect down in Lamai (about 30-40 mins drive south from our place). After our meeting we had planned to go swimming at Lamai beach and try somewhere new for lunch. However, it was raining and not 'warm enough' for a swim, and too early for lunch! So, rather than taking the direct road home we decided to take the long way home (around the southern part of the island). We made a few stops along the way - trying to find somewhere that was open for lunch was a challenge. We also stopped to take a sticky beak around an Ikea-like furniture store which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We didn't buy any furniture, but ended up eating at an Isaan seafood place near Nathon. Isaan is a region in north-east Thailand, renowned for yummy/spicy food, and also where our friend Kik comes from. We indulged in Papaya salad and Crab in curry sauce. Yum! :-)

Before we moved to Samui last month, we had enough Thai vocab to get by in a bar or a restaurant (saying hello, ordering food/drinks and paying the bill). Kik has now extended our vocab, and taught us how to say 'Sabai dee mai-ka?' which means 'How are you?' and also the reply (if you are well, or otherwise). I'm hoping to take some proper Thai language lessons in the next few months, just as soon as we get the house contract signed.

In case you want to get to know the island better, here's a link to a map of Samui. We live in the north-east tip (north of Cheong Mon beach).

http://www.samui.org/map/

Ciao for now,
Tammy

not a bad spot for dinner?

No unfortunately this not where we eat most nights, it is one of the most sought after dinner spots in Samui, in the Sila Everson resort - Yes there is only one table on the deck and apparantly it is booked out weeks in advance, wonder why?

The buildings spoiling the view on the hill are part of the villa complex that we are in - sorry romantic honeymooners...

Nearest Beach

This is the nearest beach to both the place we are currently staying and our plot of land - we will be amongst the trees at the back of the photo.

In the last couple of days this has become our preferred swimming location as it is quieter than Choeng Mon and the water seems a bit clearer.

breakfast

Just a quick update to reassure the fitness fanatics that we are trying to take advantage of our freedom from a strict work schedule to enjoy a healthy breakfast. There is a lot of fresh, cheap fruit on the island, we generally try to enjoy some before our morning swim...

Thai mobile phone

Sawadee-ka!

We both have Thai pre-pay SIM cards for our mobile phones. You can get the top-up cards (they call them 'Refill' here) almost anywhere ... we got ours at the 7-11 store. We have very peculiar ring tones... if you try to call us you will hear Thai music rather than a ring tone. We haven't worked out how to turn this off - or change it to English music. Don't be put off by the music... you won't be charged for listening to it.

This picture shows the instructions for how to top-up the SIM credit and the pretty top-up card (with orchid picture on it). It's mostly written in Thai, but I worked it out.