KhaoLak

We've moved on to our second location - KhaoLak. If you're going to spend 9 months travelling you have to start slow!

Coincidently, we've landed in two of the most tsunami devastated places along this coast of Thailand. You wouldn't know it though - in 5 years they've completely repaired and revitalised the towns. All that remains is a tsunami museum, lots of signs about tsunami safe zones, and presumably some suffering hearts and minds of people. Amazingly, on one of the signs detailing where to run screaming/ ride/ drive to when escaping an incoming tsunami they had a 'tourist route' and a 'local route' of escape. The poor locals are second best even when it comes to escaping a tsunami! (I heard from a local that to reduce the massive road death count over the Thai new year (about 450 in a week), the government voted on a bill to stop the sale of liquor in the three days preceding, as drink-driving is a big cause of these deaths. It was voted down becasue it might irritate tourists to stop the sale of alcohol).

For those that have been to a tropical land before (or live there already - hello Brisbane at times), it's very hot! About 30-35 degrees here everyday. Sweating is a strange business. Usually I notice it when I sweat, i have to do something to earn that sweat. Now I have to sometimes ask Mel if I'm sweating or not. It just kind of seeps out of the skin unnoticed (unless you've been walking for a while and then you are about 100% sweat). That brings us neatly on to the subject of asian tourists. In the first resort we stayed at there were a lot of asian tourists from China, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. After a day or two we noticed their prediliction for wearing matching outfits. On the last day at breakfast 4 out of the 5 other couples eating were wearing matching clothes - some including matching shoes, shorts and t-shirts, often with silly Chinglish phrases. The best I saw were two pairs getting off a longtailed boat at Phi Phi island. The water was swirling around making them very ungainly which was even funnier. One pair had black swimmers with gold trim (a lot of gold trim), and the other pair were wearing only matching long pyjama pants (blue for him, pink for her) with love hearts! We now plan to wear only matching wardrobes from now on.

The view from our room at the moment

We both had splendid days yesterday. Mel went out diving in the Similan islands. She saw turtles, a shark and shoals of colourful fish. I'll let her tell you about that another day.

I hired a motorscooter for the day. It cost me, wait for it, AUS$12 including fuel for 24 hours. When I asked how much fuel I should return it with they told me that was 'up to me'. I rode to a couple of waterfalls during the day, including hours of riding through farmland and plantations and along the beachfront. It's the best way to get around! - with a nice soft breeze against your face as you ride. I did a couple of monster uphill bush-bashes past these waterfalls (basically up big slopes alongside them). Very sweaty but super fun, until the trails inexplicably disappeared in the middle of the jungle which all looks the same. Luckily I had rivers nearby to navigate by. Mostly it was hanging on to vines and little trees for support along the way, to stop from slipping down the leafy and clay covered slopes. I did manage to avoid grabbing any of the vines with inch long mega spikes on them though, or any snakes (like in the cartoons you know).

The spiky ones.

I also found a pretty amazing little shrine in one of the forests. And scared off a massive lace monitor-type creature getting there.

We found our favourite restaurant in town - because they have three kittens which are very cute and fun to play with and like climbing the tree outside.

The cocktails are cheap and the views scenic. You can buy banana pancakes along the side of the road. We have a complimentary thai massage for this afternoon. Now that's what I call paradise.

Kamala Beach relaxation zone

After a monster 18 hour trip from door to door, we arrived at our destination in Phuket, Thailand on Monday, midnight Sydney time. But the trip was completely worth it! We're both absolutely loving Phuket. Let's start with the temperature. Almost a constant balmy 30-something degrees, water temperature like a bath, and once you exit the water the ambient temperature is slightly higher, leaving one feeling relaxed and warm. White noise - everyone's favourite sleeping medium. We've got breezes, ocean noise, crickets and cicadas, birds, water flowing. We're basically asleep or close to it 99% of the time (Mel = 100% of the time).
The driving culture came as a slight surprise, although we're pretty much used to it now. Motorbikes outnumber cars, and the driving is adventurous. Basically you can do anything on a bike here. Some examples:

• 5 people on one bike - Mum, Dad, and three kids
• Bike as changetable - why not change your baby's nappies on the main street on the bike?
• Ladies riding along, wearing thongs, and with their handbags over their shoulder
• Chicks riding sidesaddle (it's not a horse!)
• The majority of people not wearing helmets (huge death rate apparently)
• Bikes overtaking cars which are overtaking other bikes
• Cops riding two on a little bike (a bit emasculating really) and being overtaken by everyone, including the guys on the pink bikes (quite common).

Tuk tuks are also fun - you kind of hold on as they press the accelerator and not the brake...

The resort is simply stunning - for once the tourist magazines or pictures on the internet don't lie. Located up on a kind of vegetated slope, pools with swim up bars overlook the ocean and there are plenty of sunbeds for the lounge lizards to lie on. The birds are quite pretty and melodious, but they also have indian minor creatures. Mel returned from a trip to the bar one time while Dave had been sitting on a lounge chair. She noted that there was an Indian minor with something in it's mouth and wasn't it cute. Dave replied that it was actually the head of a cicada, which it had been viciously thrashing, dissecting, biting the head off, and basically mangling for the past few minutes. That changed the tone didn't it!

The Thai language is quite soothing also, fairly soft and almost birdlike. They're quite funny sometimes too - you'll be wandering past a shop or through one, and you'll hear a birdlike 'shopping, shopping.' Well, more like browsing really, but thanks for telling me.


We've been on a couple of neat day trips out to islands and around bays. Lovely snorkelling and scenery.




One more story - we've been trying to be good about not drinking any water here except bottled stuff. One night at a restaurant on the beach, we forgot to ask for no ice. Quickly realising it, and making sure the waitress wasn't watching, Mel scooped out the ice and chucked it in a pot. It reminded us of that Mr Bean episode where he gets served raw meat and hides it all over his table!

Till next time.

Dave and Mel

A bottom poke and a farewell

So you're at a farewell party, it's getting late, and you're chatting with your friends. Suddenly, some drunk 20 year old starts poking your arse. This happened to Mel Mel just last night. Rounding on this doofus, she proclaimed: 'stop touching me, if you touch my butt one more time I'm going to slap you across your face'. Chastised, loser-boy sloped off to the rest of his mates. Deciding, in a brilliantly drunken kind of way, to redeem his shattered manhood, he decided to return to the scene not 30 seconds later to steal Mel's full beer and proceed to sit back down and start drinking it. After a few incredulous and exasperated looks amongst the group, our cop friend walked over, placed himself with some body-language panache above Mr Cool, and told him he'd been a very bad boy. One of his mates pulled out the classic ' What are you going to do about it then?', earning the beautiful retaliation of a drawn cop badge and 'this is what I'm going to do about it'. 10 minutes and a new beer for Mel later, the party continued.

The moral of this fable: Don't send your children to private or single-sex schools; they won't know how to relate to the opposite sex for years afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who came to our farewell drinks, and for your well wishes. Thanks if you couldn't make it but also gave us your bon voyages. We're all packed and prepped, and ready to set forth for 9 months of adventure. We'll be thinking of you all along the way. No guarantees of keeping this up-to-date in the early 'whoopee' stages early in the piece, but if you'd like to know what we're up to, bookmark it and come back every so often.

For those of you we haven't bored with the detail, or those with shocking memories, we're heading to Thailand first and then on to a quick 4 weeks in Europe.

Dave and Mel