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After Paul returned from an early morning excursion to sort out more boat business, we set off on the short journey to the Mai Khao area where the above organisation is located.  We had already learned the whereabouts of the turn off in the road we needed to take, having passed it every time we went out in the car, but I hadn’t expected the road to carry on for the distance it did.  It seemed we were going further into the country which made sense considering it’s a facility that cares for hundreds of dogs and cats.  I had been aware of its existence and the work they do for several years because a friend of mine’s son works there and she had invited me to like their facebook page. It was thrilling to know that I was going to see it at last after following their pictures and updates for so long. We drove through tiny picturesque villages and lush countryside with fields of golden pineapples on either side of us. It had rained a lot during the night but as we drove along the narrow empty roads, the sun came out and by the time we reached the place, it was very hot.  There were a lot of cars lining the track that led up to the entrance which I was pleased to see because up until then we had seen hardly any and I wasn’t sure what to expect or how the visit would work, as we hadn’t actually booked a tour.  We could hear barking and yapping as we got nearer and I half expected a group of excitable dogs to appear as a welcoming committee at any moment. I was pleased to see that the photographic tribute to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej showed him surrounded by, and cuddling, some of the dogs. He was a great supporter of their work apparently.

I needn’t have worried about what to expect. We followed the path a little way behind a family group up to the entrance and saw them go straight into the information tent. Before we got to that, however a friendly man came bounding up to greet us and to ask if we wanted to join the tour that would start in five minutes at 11am.  I told him we hadn’t booked but he said it didn’t matter and told us to wait in the information tent with the others and someone would explain the details to us.  The tent doubled as a refreshment area for staff breaks and several of them were chatting with visitors, answering questions and there was even a dog adoption process taking place.  A lady from Wales introduced herself and gave us a form to fill in about where we’d heard of the place, our nationality etc etc.  I did that while Paul read all about the work the charity carries out on the information boards. Dianne comes to Phuket every year with her husband to spend a few weeks volunteering at the centre. She was the one who commented it was the wettest November they’d ever experienced.

Our tour guide was European (I’d missed the part of her introduction that specified where from, along with her name unfortunately) and she began by giving us a brief talk on the history of the organisation, its work with other charities worldwide, and an overview of what they do. There were about 8 of us in the group, including a French couple with their little boy. The mum had to keep translating what was being said to her husband and son but the delays when that happened provided a chance to look around. I spotted a cage opposite that housed the cats. The ones I could see were laying on their beds staring out at us. I wondered if the barking bothered them much. Unfortunately the picture I took of them didn’t come out and for some reason they weren’t part of the tour itself but we were told we could spend some time with them afterwards if we wanted to.  We were unable to do this as we had to return the car by 1pm.

We were taken to each area of the centre and informed what it is used for, and about some of the staff working there and their particular roles.  One area we came to was very poignant with its sign displaying just 3 letters: DMT. It stands for Dog Meat Trade and is where those rescued from that vile business are kept.  Known as ‘The Trade of Shame’ it is totally illegal but still thousands of dogs are smuggled across Thailand’s Mekong River for use in the Vietnamese dog meat trade.  Heartbreakingly, some of the dogs are much-loved family pets that have been stolen.  The dogs in this area were the most silent of all those we saw and were laying contentedly on the concrete pipes in their cages. It might be a romantic notion of mine but the thought occurred to me that it was almost as if they were aware of the fate they’d been saved from and were simply grateful to lie there with their companions.

In all of the compounds there were volunteers stroking, cuddling, and reassuring the dogs.  We learned that the centre’s permanent residents, such as the blind, very old or terminally ill dogs tend to have the same carers because of the comforting bond that develops between them. Luckily there are plenty of local and long term volunteers for this purpose but volunteers come from all parts of the world and can stay for days, weeks or months depending on personal circumstances and visa requirements.  We visited the hospital, the behavioural unit, the old-age facility and, right next to it, the ‘mum and puppies’ unit which delighted the little boy in our group. The puppies are usually adopted by families fairly quickly but with so much work being done to make them suitable for re-homing, more and more of the older dogs are being successfully adopted too.

There is far too much being done and going on at the foundation to explain it all in detail in this post but the main aims of the centre are:

• To reduce the stray population through sterilisation
• To treat sick and injured animals
• To shelter victims of cruelty who can no longer live on the streets
• To re-home suitable animals
• To feed animals who would otherwise go hungry
• To educate local communities about animal welfare
• To stop the barbaric and illegal dog meat trade and support those rescued from it

When the tour ended I went off to the merchandise area with others who wanted to buy things, while Paul waited at the information tent and left a very generous donation in their box.  I left full of admiration for the workers and volunteers. It’s heartening to know so much is being done to help vulnerable animals. More pics of the visit below with a link in case anyone wants to know more about the organisation.

Link for organisation here

Kathy

 

…To quote Shakespeare! The title is also the name of a painting by Norman Garstin that I’m very fond of, which is of Newlyn seafront on a rainy day with ladies holding umbrellas, and some wet-looking dogs on the prom. The weather here has brought that scene and those words to mind a few times this week because the promised end to the rainy season, at the beginning of November shows no sign of happening yet. It’s not much of a problem though; the showers are heavy and some last longer than others but all we have to do is close all the windows and hatches if on board the boat, or take shelter when outside. Several people, including long term marina residents, local workers and radio presenters have declared that it’s the worst start to the high season they can ever remember. A good deal of last week was spent just relaxing on board – doing pleasant things like listening to readings from Alan Bennet’s new book, some Radio 4 comedy shows, and reading and catching up on episodes of Have I got News For You.  We also both tackled the cleaning of the cooker using copious amounts of Mr Muscle and a fair bit of elbow grease to get rid of ingrained fat, grease and burned-on food.  Most evenings during the week we go to the bar – not for the sunset, more to enjoy the view, say Hi to a few boat owners we’ve come to know a little, have a cuddle with the cute black cat, and to glance at the headlines on the muted TV News channel. It will be interesting to see what replaces the US election mania next week.

On Wednesday, after another walk in the delightful Koh En Village where we not only managed to buy both bananas and bread, we were amused to see a chicken crossing the road, prompting Paul to ask it the obvious question ‘why did you do that?’

We had dinner in the bar later that evening and I managed to order a Papaya Salad which is a traditional Thai dish.  To request that it had no added shrimp, all I had to say was ‘jay’, pronounced ‘jear’ and they know that means strictly no meat or fish. Most Thai dishes are not vegetarian but they are more than happy to cook any dish on the menu without meat, fish or eggs if you ask. The salad was nice but it was the spiciest meal I’ve had for years thanks to the chilli dressing. My lips and tongue were on fire – not really what you expect from a salad.  The following evening we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm while in the bar. It had been hot and very humid all day and we watched the sky get slowly darker. It was very atmospheric, ethereal almost. The lightning took the form of a long horizontal line on the horizon and lit the sky for several seconds.  When the rain came, it was one of the heaviest downpours I’ve seen. For the first time during a rain shower, we all had to move our chairs further back from the terrace to avoid getting soaked.  Back on the boat I made a variation on a traditional autumn favourite for dinner: potatoes (not jacket unfortunately) fried with leeks, baked beans and veggie sausages.

The rain continued to fall for most of Friday, and we were prepared for another day of lazing on the boat on Saturday, since the hire car was booked for Sunday and Monday but Paul got a phone call at 10am to let him know a car was available after all if we still wanted it. After collecting it at 1pm, our first stop was Boat Lagoon where Paul went to buy items from the chandlery and I went to the very expensive supermarket.  Using the currency converter on my phone prevented me from buying several of the tempting goodies in there, including a box of veggie burgers for £6.50, and I came out with just a box of crispbread, and some pitta bread.  On we went to Rolly Tasker to buy ropes. I stayed in the car reading about our next destination while Paul was in there. Wat Chalong Temple is listed as one of the ten ‘must sees’ in Phuket. I learned that it houses a bone fragment that is supposedly from the Lord Buddha himself.  The only other thing I read that interested me was the description of the beehive-shaped structure where firecrackers are lit regularly to repel evil spirits and to give thanks for answered prayers.  As we approached, I could tell it was an undeniably impressive building but I was more interested in the amount of dogs that were strolling around. They seemed to be everywhere, along with several cats I spotted enjoying the shade of nearby buildings. Some of the dogs were laying on the benches provided for tourists and it was clear that they were long-term ‘residents’. All were well fed and healthy-looking and I was curious to know the story behind them.  Later, I looked it up and discovered there isn’t really any reason: they are just ‘there’ and they get fed by various charities.  It seems fitting in such a place anyway.

The temple was…ok. If I’m honest I feel that once I’ve seen one of the temples, any others are bound to look very similar and I don’t know enough about Buddhism to have my interest ignited, although I have a high regard for its peace and harmony outlook on life. The three gilded statues covered in gold flakes were fascinating; the effect was like their glittery gold skin was peeling off and floating away in the breeze.  We heard the firecrackers while we were inside the temple. It sounded like rapid gunfire and made me jump until I realised what it was. The date was November 5th so at least we heard some fireworks!  When we got closer to have a proper look it was too loud to stand too close, and the aroma of gunpowder was pungent. I guess the animals have got used to it all because they weren’t unduly bothered.  I did wonder how the hearing of the guy who has to light the strip of crackers every five minutes fares though.  In the photo below you can see him stood to the right of the beehive. Hopefully he has ear defenders under his hat.

Before leaving to drive to the night market I had a quick look around the gift stalls outside in case there was a book or leaflet with more information on the temple and its animals. Nothing like that, but there were lots of buddha statues :).

The night market wasn’t too far away, or difficult to find. Parking posed the main problem when we got to the area. Cars lined both sides of the busy road with a long line of slow moving traffic looking for spaces: it was clearly a popular place.  Luckily we found one down a side road and walked over to check out the market. It was huge! The more we walked around the more impressed and delighted I became. Stallholders urge you to browse their wares if you so much as glimpse at them, and it was often too tempting not to. They’re only too pleased to explain things and are willing to haggle regarding prices. The smells coming from the food vendors were wonderful and the dishes and products on display looked very tasty.  We tried things from quite a few, including some fried potatoes on a stick and filled pancakes in the shape of a fish! We found a bar and sat to have a drink and a rest soaking up the atmosphere and watching more customers pour in. I plan to revisit before we go home and have a longer meander around the stalls.

The intention on Sunday was to visit The Soi Dog Foundation but but we discovered that its opening hours had changed and it was no longer open to visitors at weekend so we postponed it until the following morning. Instead, we headed out to the southern part of Khao Phra’s National Park. The plan was to do a nature walk and to see the second largest waterfall in Phuket (we’d seen the largest in the northern area of the park).  On the way there I discovered that I’m not very good at navigating using a mobile phone displaying google earth maps! We took a few wrong turns which led to us seeing some very pretty rural villages we wouldn’t otherwise have seen ;). The edges of these country roads have a fair few chickens, goats, dogs and cows on show but unlike Malaysia, no monkeys.  We saw rubber tree plantations, ramshackle farm buildings, and always the rainforest area we were headed for, looking lush and tall in the distance.  The photo below is just before we drove down an extremely steep slope on a road that had seen better days to look at an adventure pursuit area, curious to see the ‘canopy climb’. It was a hairy descent!

The place proved to be well worth the drive down. It was so peaceful and picturesque, with a lake as still as a mill pond. It had turned hot and sunny by then too after the usual wet start to the day so we took a few pictures and braved the drive back up the steep road.

Next, it was on to the nearby Ton Sai Waterfall.  Again, we paid an entrance fee of £4 each and parked in a car park with only a few cars in. This waterfall didn’t seem to be as popular as the Bang-Pae one but we noticed some people bathing in the bottom pool’s running water as they had been at that one. Following the sign pointing the way to the top of the waterfall, we began the trail. The first part meant crossing the fast running shallow river, which I did with some trepidation, always thinking about the possibility of leeches.  The surrounding rainforest foliage was lovely – lush, tall, green and dense. It was good to know that the gibbons released from the rehabilitation project ended up in there.  More people were enjoying slashing around in the clear running water as we went further up, and we had to cross another stream. Afterwards, we were just about to ascend the narrow path when I spotted a giant millipede on the ground in front. I yelled to Paul, who stepped back and his foot went 0n it causing it to curl up and show its legs wriggling frantically. I freaked out and screamed loudly – a complete automatic reaction, I hate displays like that but couldn’t stop myself. Luckily the noise of the water muffled my screeching, and once it had been shunted out of the way I elected to stay and wait in a clearing while Paul continued to the top.

When he returned and we cautiously went back down, we saw a sign for a nature walk, and as it was still early we decided to follow it. I resolved to be brave despite the path appearing to look very similar to the millipede one.  The walk was nice, I had a real sense of being in the jungle as we stooped underneath the foliage and branches, trying not to look too closely at the ground before me.  The humidity in there soaked me in minutes and the sounds around us were, well…jungle-like.  Eventually we arrived at the very same path that I’d seen the millipede on. We had ended up walking the whole trail without realising it and I felt rather pleased with myself.  Back at the car, I sat down in the passenger seat, looked down and saw a small black ‘twig’ on my leg at the same time as I suspected what it might be. I slapped it off and saw it move on the ground in a way that could only mean it was indeed a leech! My worst nightmare about Asian creepy crawlies had come true.  I didn’t scream this time but it took me a while to stop shaking and slapping at myself in case there were more.  And that was my first and last rainforest walk!

As I publish this, it looks increasingly like Trump will win the US election  :(. Another line from Shakespeare’s ‘Clown’ song in Twelfth Night comes to mind, the meaning of which is underneath it – I only hope it proves to be the case.

By swaggering could I never thrive,
my bullying and blustering didn’t work.

 

 

The King’s passing

We found an English language radio station that explained a bit more about the king Bhumibol Adulyadej mourning arrangements yesterday. I had wondered if Thailand was the first country I had visited that didn’t have pop music on FM, but it seems all the stations have restricted their output to sombre chanting and readings. The only exception being music that the king was directly connected to. Apparently he was quite an accomplished musician, along with many other talents, like sailing and sport in general. Next week the 14th Nov marks the end of the initial 1 month mourning, and entertainment venues, stations and organisations are able to resume activities, however they have mostly decided to wait until the end of January when the 3 month mourning mark is reached. The mourning period, which I thought was set at one year, was referred to today as ‘one year minimum’. It’s hard to imagine such a thing happening back home. Even when our queen goes, it won’t be anything like this.
All government offices and most businesses have tributes to the king set up at their entrance, and the draping of black and white ribbons is everywhere.

Chandlery
I spent many hundreds of pounds this weekend at the chandlers, and I still haven’t bought the expensive stuff yet. I can’t get a liferaft or Offshore Danbouy here. That’s one of the worst bits about yachting, the very expensive stuff that you don’t want to skimp on, should, if you do the rest right, never get used. Best to think of it as insurance, however I have made some good claims on my insurance in the past, like getting a new iPhone when I dropped it in the lake, so that doesn’t seem so bad. I’m about to put a £3000 liferaft in the bin, that has never been used. Not to mention hundreds of pounds worth of flares that are way past their sell by date.
Still I have a lot of new running rigging (ropes to pull the sails up), new signal halyards and blocks, and a lot of ropes and fittings from which I’m going to build a fancy boom preventer system with. basically this is a system that stops the boom flying around and knocking your head off. I also have a good complement of new flares and other safety gear on board. The new fenders I bought look great, just disappointed to have just received an email from a UK chandler offering them at half price this morning. A new dinghy pump and PVC repair kit were added to the bag, Finally I picked up an anchor and a few metres of chain to use as a kedge and hang off the back of the boat, this gives me three anchors and 200 metres of rode in total, so that should do for now.

Buddhas (Wat Chalong)
After the chandlers and the rope manufacturers it was on to the Wat Chalong buddhist temple. 
From the temple we headed over to the Naka Night market, which is a huge, mostly covered, market with stalls selling everything you would expect, t-shirts, caps, fabrics, tourist stuff, and it seemed to be a popular destination for day trippers heading over by the coach load from the western side of the island. Every now and then you would here a tannoy shouting for ‘shirley to hurry up as the coach is about to depart’. There was a great selection of food on offer, and we both enjoyed snacks

Finally a trip to central market on the way home, this is the only food market/mall we haven’t seen on the island, and we needed some groceries, so we had a look. It turned out the food hall was actually owned by Waitrose, so on the plus side, we bought some lovely fresh bread, and other rare European items, but also left a lot of basics out because of the high prices.

Sunday we headed off to look at the western side of the rain forest here. This is where the gibbons are released, but further in than we would go. We couldn’t find the animal sanctuary we were looking for, but did find some interesting places over run and quite wild. We ended up at the Ton Sai waterfall, which was great. Sadly Kathy really did find herself in room 101 this time with the attack of the giant millipedes, and leeches dropping on her. I expect she might mention this in her blog later 😉

 

A Rubber plantation

Not sure what happened her, but this was at the end of a road, and I had to drive down the steepest hill I have ever seen to get here. As we approached the hill down to this spot, the road disappeared in front of me, I really couldn’t see the road until the car was so steeply angled that there was no way I could reverse back. So in for a penny.., down we went. The only comparison I could think of was the big dipper, when you reach the top, you don’t realise just how steep the drop is until it’s way too late. I was praying there was another route out, as I couldn’t imagine our little hire car getting back up the hill. Of course it was a dead end.

Before I returned the car, we had time to visit the Soi Dog foundation, they do very good work for stray dogs and shockingly, dogs rescued from the meat trade, it’s quite a thriving business shipping dogs north to Vietnam where they come to a terrible end. Kathy will post more on this I’m sure.

Finally, although it seems like there is very little boating activity going on, we are waiting for the sun to come out, then we are heading off to explore the local area. I have now heard a lot of local people mention how this year has been the worst in living memory for rain, frequency and amount, and how the monsoon season is running late. The weather has us down for clouds and rain all week, with shockingly low temperatures of 27c on some days.
I will spend this week finishing off the refit of the boat, I checked on the sails and they are in production now, and might be ready next week.  The bigger plan is developing, my current thoughts are to aim for Seattle USA for next August. This means leaving here in February and heading to, Malaysia, Singapore, possibly the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, then the interesting bit for me, the Aleutian islands. It’s a lot to fit into one year and presents a lot of challenges, so I’m doing research on winds, currents etc. Anyone who is reading this and thinks it sounds hard, it’s not hard at all, I have been following one family via their blog for a long time now, and they left for world cruising with babies and are still going strong, do check out their blog, they are a great example of how to just get on and do it. Here is a huff post article about the family.

 

Paul C.

 

 

It’s been a lazy week,  I have been researching where best to get bits for the boat, and I think I have found some good suppliers locally for various items. I had the bowsprit measured for a replacement, along with various other teak jobs I’m considering. The weather started off quite grey and wet earlier in the week but by today it looked like the monsoon season had left us, however we had a big storm this evening, so maybe not quite yet. I managed to get a couple of coats of varnish down despite this. We are also tackling little jobs here and there like cleaning behind the cooker,

and reading up on possible destinations, for when the weather improves. We plan to spend a couple of weeks cruising around Phang Nga Bay where there are scores of lovely little islands, one where they filmed a bond movie.

We had a little walk through the village here and I saw a very tall coconut tree

And we found a shop that sold bananas, they might also sell ghekos, given how many they had.

I’m going to try and link some higher res pictures in to the normal ones, so if you click on them it should show a higher resolution image, but I’m not sure how this works, so bear with me. These pages may be slow to download, but you should be able to zoom in once you have clicked on the image.

Firstly, our marina yesterday when it was a lovely hot sunny day.

 

Now some clickable images

The storm appears in the distance

Getting closer

Just before the rain hits us

All viewed from the safety of the bar, where we watched an amazing lightning show that lasted an hour. Who needs TV!

 

Paul C

The car Paul hired for the weekend was larger than the previous one, a four door black Honda Brio Amaze (a make I’ve never heard of before) but as long as there is effective air conditioning I’m not too bothered about the size or the make.  At Boat Lagoon, another large marina/resort on the coast road, Paul went off to enquire about their services and products while I browsed in the Waitrose-like supermarket which, although very expensive, stocked the first veggie products I’ve seen since leaving the UK. It’s not that I’ve particularly missed convenience products because I’ve been making and creating my own dishes, but sometimes when time is short it’s handy to have things like sausages and burgers to fall back on.

We noticed that there was a lot more traffic on the roads but the fact that it was Saturday shouldn’t have made any difference because there is no concept of a weekend here.  Saturday is either a full or half day of the working week, and that goes for the school week too.  Sunday is a day off for businesses but not for religious reasons, and shops operate the same opening hours as weekdays on Sundays.  The next port of call was The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project in the district of Thalang.  I’d discovered this when researching places to visit on the internet. I already knew about The Soi Dog Foundation but this was an added bonus because although Phuket advertises other attractions where you can see animals, many of them are to be avoided. This includes Crocodile Farms, The Dolphin Show, Elephant Treks and Camps and Tiger Kingdom.  Anyway, this place is an ethical and worthy attraction and I was looking forward to seeing it. On the way in I spotted a group of elephants with the equipment on their backs that provide rides for tourists.  When we reached the end of the narrow track that would lead us on to the project, there was a man directing traffic. I wasn’t expecting him to ask us for money because it’s supposed to be free but he kept repeating the Waterfall attraction next to the gibbon project. Telling him that we only wanted to see the gibbons made no difference so it was easier to just part with the fee of 200 baht (about £4) each.

We were greeted by a young teenage volunteer when we reached the entrance and she asked if we would like to know more about the organisation. She gave us the backstories of the gibbons that were unable to be released back into the wild, as well as a history of the breed indigenous to Thailand (the white-handed gibbon).  The stories were heartbreaking, and I was surprised to learn that the conditions some of them suffered from as a result of their trauma were ones I thought were only attributable to humans: bipolar disorder, self-harming, anger issues (one gibbon had developed a hatred towards all humans -unsurprisingly). This lovely girl, who had only been there two weeks, was passionate about the gibbons and the work that is going on to help them and we had quite a chat. I was particularly fascinated to learn about one gibbon who, after repeated attempts to release him, had made his way back to the project by following humans until it was concluded he was happier in his cage (he went on to father some babies and is now a grandfather who spends his days happily swinging on his swing). Paul asked her about the elephants we’d seen at the entrance and she told us it upset her to see them every time she arrived for work. I couldn’t help wishing I’d known about this sort of charity work when I was a teenager, I would have loved it.  We stood and watched the antics of the few gibbons who will spend the rest of their lives at the centre and read the boards telling more of their stories.

Since we’d paid for the privilege, we went on to look at the Bang Pae Waterfall which is the biggest one in Phuket. It was well worth the fee actually. The weather was perfect for a woodland walk and it wasn’t crowded.  Groups of people were bathing fully-clothed in the running water and Paul went over to check the temperature by putting his foot in. This delighted one group of girls who shrieked with laughter and urged him to go right in. We climbed on up the path to see the waterfall and it was so nice to note that there wasn’t a bit of litter anywhere on the path. At the top there was a group of boys having great fun jumping from quite a height into the pool below.  It looked dangerous and in Britain there would no doubt have been numerous signs forbidding it but these lads were having a wonderful time and I envied them their courage.

Patong was next on the itinerary. This place has a reputation for being hedonistic, with a raucous nightlife and I was curious to see the place.  It was obvious we were approaching a major tourist destination the nearer we got to the town.  It became more and more built up, lots of hotels and resorts appeared on the roadside, along with billboards advertising bars, eateries and nightclubs.  We parked in the mall we’d visited earlier in the week and headed out in the twilight to have a look around.  The first street we started to walk down was very lively and had lots of bars. I was ready for a glass of wine by then, or a beer and I couldn’t understand why Paul was ignoring my hints to visit one of the bars on the street.  We were stopped by lots of people urging us to take a flyer for ‘ping pong events’ and I knew what these were. I  had also gathered that the area was popular for specific kinds of entertainment but I honestly hadn’t twigged that to enter one of the bars in Bangla Road would probably have meant dealing with a lot of female attention: they would automatically assume we wanted ‘entertainment’ by the mere fact we’d gone inside. I had innocently thought we could sit and have a drink and watch the street antics until Paul explained we were just walking the length of the street to have a look. It was like running a gauntlet – men and women(?) were grabbing us constantly to foist the ping pong flyers on us or beckoning us to buy cheap beer in the pubs, and at one point our way was blocked by a whole line of colourfully-dressed, merry guys keen for us to have a great night! The street is what it is, and it’s no place for the easily shocked or offended. I was quite fascinated by it all.

After a glass of wine or two and a lovely meal ( I enjoyed my first taste of Pad Thai), we had a walk along the shore of Patong Beach itself. The whole area was becoming more crowded and lively as it got later – the nightlife really takes off after 10, but as Paul said in his best Alan Bennett voice ‘this is all very well, Doris but we need to get on and buy some bread and Marmite’.  This we did, before driving back to the boat :).

Unsurprisingly we were up fairly late on Sunday, and didn’t begin our second day out in the car until noon.  The plan was to visit a market in Phuket Town, and when we got there we simply parked the car in an empty space we found on the side of the road. It felt strange to do this after being so used to all the rules and regulations and limits associated with parking in Britain.  None of that here, you just park where you can and pay nothing (mainly).  We meandered round the streets for a while admiring the colonial architecture until we found the location for the market. It was empty apart from a couple of stalls that were being set up for when it began at 4pm.  We were two hours early.  Luckily the street itself provided enough entertainment with its art&craft/souvenir/gift shops, and we found an arty cafe called Bookhemian to have a coffee and read for a while.  A high point for me was coming across a large second-hand bookshop in a nearby street. Along with several other things, books are expensive here, so to find a shop selling them for as little as £2 was great, so Paul left me to indulge myself for an hour while he went to check the car was ok.

I had been after a book set in Thailand and the shop had a shelf full of them. I chose one about an American housewife’s account of her experiences living here in the 1960s.

By the time we returned to the market it was up and running. It turned out to consist mostly of stalls selling upmarket street food and a few more selling handcrafted gifts. It reminded me of the city Christmas markets but with the focus on Thai food.  We had a tasty coconut pancake each as we walked up and down the stalls.  Again, it looked like it would probably get lively and busier as it got darker but we wanted to journey on to check out Sarasin Bridge, so made a mental note to return and do some Christmas shopping there before we return home.

By the time we got to Sarasin Bridge, the bridge that links Phuket with mainland Thailand, it was dark and we’d missed the sunset that is supposed to be great to watch from the bridge’s viewing platform.  We walked up to it anyway since we were there; it was quite creepy and deserted in the dark, but the view was good.  My last two photos reflect the highlight of my weekend and there is a link to click on if anyone wants to know more about the gibbons and the fantastic work of The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project.

Gibbon Rehabilitation Project link here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our first car excursion, last Tuesday, began by loading the sails into the boot of the hire car ready to deliver to the Rolly Tasker building just south of Phuket Town.  It didn’t take Paul long to get used to driving in Thailand, as it’s left hand drive here and there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads. My role as navigator proved to be easy because there are only a few main roads on the island and we had to stay on the one heading south.  I was keen to see the ‘world’s largest sail loft’ and I was suitably impressed once inside.  It’s a vast space – much bigger than it looked from the outside.  The staff is mainly female (rumour has it that this is because they have proved to be more reliable than men).  There were several ladies employed cutting, measuring and sewing the sails laid out on the floor and they all looked like they were enjoying the work. I stood and watched for a while and then read the photographic information board about the history of the company while Paul chatted about what needed to be done. Apparently King Bhumibol Adulyadej had been a keen sailor and sailboat designer, taking part in sailing competitions and races throughout his life. The Phuket King’s Cup Regatta was established in 1987 to honour him and some of the photographs showed him with Rolly Tasker himself.

Sail business done, we decided to drive along the coastal road and stop anywhere that took our fancy.  The west coast of Phuket is lined with beaches and the first one we stopped at, Nai Harn Beach was travel brochure gorgeous: golden, soft and clean sand, not too crowded, fabulous views, and the sea looked so inviting we wished we’d thought to bring swimming gear.  It was hot and the sun was strong and we hadn’t brought sun protection either so after a brief lounge on the sand, and a resolve to return another time we continued on the coast road. Viewpoints for taking photos appeared as the road climbed higher and the views across the bay were stunning.

Another reason for hiring a car was to load it with provisions, and our first stop for this was at a mall called Jungceylon in Patong. It has over 200 shops and cafes – all the usual ‘mall’ outlets, along with a very good supermarket called ‘Big C’. I spent an enjoyable hour or so in there browsing the aisles and checking out some of the more unusual products you always find in another country’s supermarket (well I like doing that anyway).  From there, it was on to Tesco to stock up on basic stuff like drinking water, cokes, fruit and veg etc.  It was dark by the time we got out and Paul said that one website recommended avoiding driving at night because drivers here are apt to be careless.  It turned out to be fine apart from when we needed to do U-turns which are in place here instead of roundabouts, and it seems to be a case of ‘every car for itself’.  You have to gradually edge the car out until the cars to the left of you have no choice but to slow down and let you in to the stream of traffic if they want to avoid a collision. It was a bit hairy at times because the traffic had built up by evening and the ever-present motorbikes don’t tend to consider other vehicles at all.

Our final supermarket (SuperCheap) had been recommended to us by a taxi driver as a cheap alternative to the larger ones and when we saw one on the roadside, even though we had most of what we needed, we stopped to have a look in order to compare prices.  It was a bit like a downmarket Home Bargains but with fresh meat buckets as an aditional section. One of the buckets was full of chickens’ feet which you can just shovel into a bag for weighing and pricing at the checkout. Other items in the buckets weren’t as identifiable and that was probably just as well for me.  The roadside market we stopped at further on up the road had the delectable items pictures below for sale in case you should find yourself feeling peckish for some cooked insects.  The fish stalls were replenished from buckets underneath the tables that were packed with layers of flapping fish and the smell was pungent to say the least.

When we got back to the marina car park we were greeted by a member of staff in a people carrier who offered to take us all the way to the pontoon with our heavy shopping.  This is such a welcome service, because one of the drawbacks of shopping as a liveaboard is transporting a big shop’s load of heavy bags of food and drink from a car park down to the boat.

The next few days were spent doing general chores onboard, fixing the odd broken appliance and researching places to visit or boat services and products on the internet. The rain showers are definitely starting to diminish but it’s still fairly humid at times and there have been spectacular storms. One night the loudest clap of thunder I’ve ever heard woke me up and I screamed in alarm before I realised what it was. On Thursday evening while we were in the bar, the black cat I saw when we arrived came to our table and needed little encouragement to jump up onto my lap where it stayed for the rest of the time we were there. I don’t know if it belongs to anyone in particular but a bond is growing between us I think…

On Friday I made a homemade vegetable soup with some the produce from the markets and Paul thought it would be a good time to make the bread he’d been promising to make for quite a while.  It’s the sort of meal that’s just right for an Autumn evening meal at home but seemed strange to make it while the sun was blazing hot outside.  It made me realise this is the longest I’ve ever been out of the country (three months now) and that it’s likely to be chilly enough to put the heating on in England. I’m also reminded that this time of year heralds the start of the Christmas build up. Of all the things I miss, or think about here, that is one thing I’m glad to be avoiding. There is not a sign of it here – in fact the only Halloween reference I’ve seen was in a shop used by mainly Western marina users.

In the evening we went to the bar to participate in the ‘Community Get Together’ event that I’d seen advertised. It was billed as a chance to have a (free) drink, buffet and meet the locals and other marina users. This type of socialising isn’t normally my sort of thing but I thought it might be useful for information for Paul, and I was curious about the free drink and buffet (I thought I could always just leave if I spotted any ice-breaking introductions/games happening). It turned out that the only thing I interacted with was my lovely black cat, oh and Paul and I played Scrabble on our phones :). We may have got there a bit late but there weren’t many people there, no one offered us a free drink and any food that might have been on offer had been cleared away.  Never mind, we had delicious soup and bread to return to on board.

Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

I hired a car for the weekend so we could explore the island further. Phuket is not a massive island, but takes over an hour to drive from the top to the bottom. Saturday started with a trip to the boat lagoon, on the way we popped into HomePro, a very clean sparkling version of B&Q, / Home Depot. I wanted some little brass/copper nails but despite checking at various hardware stores around, the island has yet to yield up it’s store. HomePro was no better. It’s a bit like the banana thing, we have failed to buy any from a shop so far, in fact when asking for them in shops we generally get a polite giggle in response. Is it because they grow on trees everywhere, is it a bit like going into a greengrocer in the UK and asking for leaves. Anyway the boat lagoon is the centre of the yachting scene here in Phuket, there are two marinas there, plus lots of hardstanding, travels hoists, workshops and chandlers. I didn’t like the place at all, the lagoon itself is a dredged pond, someway inland from the sea and looked very muddy and stagnant. The surrounding buildings where very much of an 80’s style, concrete functional food/yachtie supply orientated. Lots of super-yacht type people paying over the odds for espressos. and a gang of charter companies and their suitcase dragging customers making their way to and from their week in paradise. However the chandleries were a delight, the main one, East Marine was very posh, selling turnbuckles you might use on 3/4 inch wire, and a less posh and cheaper AME marine selling everything at a good price. They welcomed me in when I said I had a long list, they apologised that they couldn’t offer me a coffee as East marine do, but filled my hand with little sweets instead. I think they will get my business. I have a few thousand dollars to spend here, life buoys, danbouys, safety lights, fenders, kedge anchor, chain, rope etc etc.
While I was getting over excited at the range of shackles and hose clamps on offer, Kathy had popped around the corner to the supermarket specialising in stuff only richer yachtie/westerners would buy. She was made up, they had frozen veggie stuff, and marmite and things she hasn’t seen since her last trip to Tesco in Liverpool. I actually found two types of alcohol free beer, both German so I’m not expecting much, but worth a try. I suspect we will be here again.
From Boat Lagoon we headed north to a nature park with a Gibbon rescue centre. This was very interesting, and a young lady volunteer from London explained the horrific story that some of these Gibbons have been through, and how it may seem cute to have your picture taken at the beach with a baby Gibbon clinging to you, but if you knew just how many gibbons were killed to get that one baby you would be very shocked. Also once it stopped being a cute baby, it would meet a horrible end. In the meantime drugs are injected into the little Gibbons to keep them manageable for tourists. Very very sad that trade, and it was wonderful that there is a place here helping them and trying to re-introduce them into the wild. They have become extinct in Phuket due to hunting, and sadly many of the rescue ones are beyond rehabilitation, so will live their days out in the centre here.

From the Gibbon centre we walked up the path further into the forest where there is a waterfall.

Lots of people seem to come here to picnic and cool off in the water. I’m glad we came after there had been lots of rain, I am fed up of waterfalls without water, I’m thinking Nidri and the last one in Malaysia.

From the nature reserve we headed over to the the beaches on the west side, these are very nice, lovely sand, not too commercial and a decent array of vendors nearby so you won’t starve.

We drove down the coast heading for the fleshpots of Patong, curious to see how bad these places are when the sun sets, and also to stock up at the big C supermarket here. We had a nice Indian/Thai dinner at a beach restaurant, followed by a walk along the beach in the dark. Then back to the car via Bangla Street. I had heard this street was an evil place to visit, but I found it most pleasant. Everybody seemed to be into sport, for just a few baht we could watch a game of table tennis, or ping pong as they seem to call it. Also lots of young ladies were keen for us to have a drink with them, for just 80 Bhat, most reasonable. I did notice a glaring mistake at the end of the street, where the sign for the Hard Rock Cafe seemed to got the words all mixed up, I expect they must feel a bit silly about that.

Back home to the boat and on Sunday we headed on down to Phuket old town for the street market. Unfortunately I got the times wrong, so we arrived as it was setting up, still it was very pleasant walking around the streets, the place reminded me of Penang in architecture, and it turns out it was founded as a tin mining town in the 19th Century, and the wealthy merchants from Penang setup here to take advantage of this trade, and they brought their ways with them. It seems Penang was almost as easy to work with back then as Bangkok was, but then the borders between Malaysia and Thailand have been quite flexible. One taxi driver I had in Langkawi was Thai, I asked how long he had been there, he said ‘600 years, and don’t get me started’ so I didn’t.

After Phuket old town, we drove north to Sarasin bridge, that links the island to the mainland, there are lots of stalls there and it’s a nice spot to watch the sunset, but we were a bit late for that, still I enjoyed walking around the stalls, and being laughed at when asking for some bananas again.

This week I’m doing boat jobs, the sails are being made now and I need to find a liferaft and get the bowsprit work started.

Kathy has more interesting details to follow soon.

Paul C.

 

We’re settling in well to life here in Phuket (need to remember to pronounce it ‘Pooket’).  The first two nights were spent in the marina at Ao Po, some way south of where we are now and a bit closer to the immigration office at Chalong where we needed to check in.  Our arrival at Ao Po proved to be a fitting finale to the passage here when an almighty squall occurred just as we were about to take the sails down outside the harbour. After everything else that had happened on the way, it had been such a relief to see the pontoon only minutes away, that I hadn’t even noticed how dark the sky to our left had gone (a worthy lesson learned in not relaxing until safely tied up).  Luckily Paul spotted it and the ‘super squall’ hit us seconds later. From down below where Paul sent me for safety, I could see the concentration on his face as he battled to keep control.  The flapping and banging noises coming from the sails was alarming, and visibility had lessened considerably.  Feeling helpless, I asked if it would end, and he retorted – shouting above the noise – ‘no, this is the famous never-ending superstorm that only happens in Thailand’- I knew he must have gained control of the situation with a quip like that :).  Some pics below of Ao Po Grand Marina.

The marina had a photographic shrine on display in tribute to Thailand’s late King and we were careful to heed advice about dressing conservatively.  It was late and dark by the time we went for a walk to look for somewhere to eat that first night and we came upon a great-looking open-plan restaurant. It had a fish pond lit with fairy lights, water features and tasteful wooden interior decor, including a boat suspended from the ceiling.  The food wasn’t brilliant but nice enough and the service was faultless.  In fact, every person we’ve interacted with since arriving in Phuket has been extremely friendly, polite and helpful.

Both the cost of the meal and the taxi we took into Chalong the following day were more expensive than we’d been used to in Malaysia. The Brexit effect continues to cause financial disadvantages; the pound is 20% down from its value in June apparently.  The 30 minute journey provided an opportunity to check out Phuket’s inner area.  There was a lot to look at on either side of the road.  It’s a lot more verdant than Malaysia and there are no high rise blocks, just lots of ramshackle houses-cum-shops-cum cafes, some of them resemble Swiss-style chalets, others are like wendy houses, and some looked like smaller scale versions of the grand houses found in the American South. Each one is individual and you can’t help but be curious about what they’re like inside.

The immigration process took about an hour and thankfully presented no huge problems, just the usual form exchanging and questions that happens in any bureaucratic process.  So, now finally legal immigrants we were free to shop for some basic provisions. At the huge Tesco we visited on the main road I was disappointed to discover that there are even fewer products for vegetarians than in Malaysia.  All the more surprising since this is the city that hosts the world’s biggest vegetarian festival each October (we arrived too late to see it this year).  Looks like I’ll have to carry on enjoying more tasty rice and noodle dishes and salads then :).

The short passage to Yacht Haven Marina was blissfully uneventful – it was even rain free! That didn’t last long, however. It poured down for most of the weekend but it’s so much easier to cope with when safely tied to a pontoon, and the climate seems a lot cooler than Malaysia. We’ve even managed without the cumbersome and noisy air conditioning unit so far, making do with opening the windows and hatches and using the small cabin fan.  Anyway it rained most of Saturday night and pretty much all of Sunday. The showers were spectacularly heavy, as Paul showed in the video on his post. Late in the afternoon after the boat was tidied we explored the marina and its vicinity a little.  The resort is vast, with small shops, a pool, laundry, gym and several other facilities scattered over a wide area. For this reason, people carriers (like golf buggies) are employed to offer lifts to destinations.  They’re especially useful when carrying heavy shopping or cumbersome boat equipment, but also when it’s hot and just looking at the steep hill drains your energy. I’d never been on one before so when one of the shops we found was closed, a nearby driver offered us a lift to another – quite a thrilling and exhilarating experience, (if lazy).  Went for our first drink in the bar afterwards and were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t as expensive as we’d feared.

On Monday, in between showers, we took the sails down in readiness for their trip to Rolly Tasker. There were a few local guys working on the boat opposite, one of whom couldn’t resist watching us quite blatantly.  He was very smiley but according to a chapter on Thai customs and etiquette, people are likely to smile when they’re embarrassed, annoyed or shy, as well as when amused. I think it was amusement in this guy’s case, and when I acknowledged him by smiling back he asked if we wanted some help.  I thought I was folding the huge, thick, stiff, awkward, frustrating sail fairly well and was definitely following Paul’s precise directions but if this guy could do it better I was willing to let him, but Paul replied that we were fine before I had a chance.  He asked if there was any other work he could do, such as varnishing or cleaning.  There have been quite a few guys enquiring if there’s any work going and although Paul prefers to do the jobs himself, he told him he might need someone for guardianage (that’s the correct term apparently) while we’re away in December. He introduced us to his Australian boss later who promised to return with a business card and discuss rates (still waiting four days later).

In the afternoon we went for a walk to nearby Ko-En Village, just to have a look around and to buy some bread and bananas if we found a shop.  All the rain, and the cool breeze meant the lush vegetation smelled like any country village in Autumn. If it hadn’t have been for all the scooters and motor bikes whizzing up and down the road (no helmets on any of the riders or passengers) it could have been part of the Wirral Way.

Virtually all of the riders shouted greetings to us and waved.  When we got nearer to the village itself, people outside their houses stared at us openly and it made me wonder if many of the other marina users ever passed through much. People here are genuinely friendly and delighted to see us, a few asked where we were from and if we had a boat. Again, the houses are charming and individual, and more than a few doubled as cafes and shops, with living quarters situated at the back.  The main street was busy with people chatting, eating and cooking, and noisy with the sound of all the bikes. Chickens of all colours, shapes and sizes were strutting along the roadside and we saw lots of domestic cats (and kittens) and dogs. Every shop we went in to enquire about bread caused the owner to look puzzled or bewildered, clearly having no idea what we meant and it wasn’t on display anywhere. In fact, most of the shops were reminiscent of the pretend ones you might have set up as a child in someone’s back garden shed: a few products on shelves arranged in a haphazard manner.  Giving up on the bread, we spotted some bananas at a roadside stall so Paul asked the lady if we could buy some and got a response that sounded like ‘no one really buys bananas here’ – she then made a vague gesture down the road and we left empty-handed.  Don’t worry, we did eventually find someone willing to sell us some of her bananas. There was a rather large bunch on display so Paul asked her (through hand gestures) to cut it in half. This she did, and promptly put both halves in the bag so that we ended up with the whole bunch anyway :).

We were warned about an imminent downpour by a lady at one of the stalls, which led us to take shelter in a cafe/shop across the road. This whole delightful experience was described by Paul in his blog post. It really felt like we’d dropped in on the family for an impromptu afternoon tea.  They were so welcoming and hospitable, urging us to sit and wait out the rain shower and even our request for bread culminated in our receiving a delicious banana pancake. The language barrier was got over with the use of smiles, gestures and facial expressions – even if some of the smiles could have been construed as shyness or embarrassment, I’m sure annoyance didn’t come into it :).

On our way back to the marina we spotted several banana trees bearing green fruit. Paul thinks it’s probably ok to pick them but I’m not so sure. It might explain what the lady meant by saying that no one buys them! Our big provision shop scheduled for the following day with the use of a hire car, we ate in The Deck Bar before returning to the boat (fish for Paul and a veggie sandwich for me with fries to share). The menu is similar to most pub fare and reasonably priced so doubtless we will sample a few more of the meals before we return home.

Kathy

 

 

 

 

First off apologies to the little girl twins I had down as boys in the last post. Apparently you can tell their sex just by looking at them, so Kathy says.

Yesterday I hired a car and took the sails down to Rolly Tasker, the sailmaker. Apparently it’s the largest sail loft in the world, not just Asia

We laid out my two headsails and the Genoa was declared “dead on arrival”, no debate, but not a bin job, apparently I can get good money for it here. It seems some of the day trip sails that happen here for tourists, motor out, then a sail is hauled up for a while, even though the operators of the trip know nothing about sailing, they need sails, the sail flaps a bit, usually wears itself out quickly and then they drop it. So I’m informed they will buy my sail off me, Rolly Tasker will put some tape over the rips and away you go.
The Staysail, was inspected, I pointed out my repairs to it, and was told ‘not to give up my day job’ I had hoped for, ‘very well done sir, that’s one of the finer repairs we have seen here’ but at least he was honest. So that’s going to be re-repaired as the cloth is in decent condition, and is good as a spare,we can save cash by having a lightweight UV protection, as it will be in its bag most of the time. A new Genoa and staysail will be ordered, assuming the quotes are reasonable.
Next were the two sails from the v-berth locker. Thanks to Tim for reminding me about them, the spare staysail with hanks, isn’t a full staysail, but a storm sail, which is a small and very strong sail used in a storm. It has never been used by the look of it, however it was designed to be hanked on to the stay, which wont work now as the boat has been converted to furling headsails. The sail is going to have loops with roller balls attached to make it clip over the existing staysail. This seems like a low cost and effective way to go, it’s also simpler, which is what you need in storm conditions. The other sail is a spare Genoa which was declared too baggy for upwind sailing, but with some repairs to the luff and leach would be fine as a downwind sail. We may be several weeks following the trade winds as we sail the pacific, so this type of sail is just fine.

So after the sail business we headed off to explore the Island a little

The west side of the island is where most of the tourists go, in particular Patong Bay, the most famous part of Phuket, often for not so great reasons. The west side has some lovely beaches, plus looking west usually gives the best sunsets. It’s very noticeably tourist town here, and although we found a great supermarket selling French breads I was glad to be heading back to the East and North coast. Of course you can’t consider me a western tourist because I hate all that ‘full English Breakfast, with a free pint of Guinness” stuff, so once we had some French sticks in the car, we headed off to Tesco and got some Brie and olives and headed home (english snob might be more applicable) 😉

On the way back, I spotted some more traditional markets inland, selling mostly food and staples for the local people. We had a great time wandering these aisles full of things I have no idea what they are. Kathy found a vendor selling what looked like grubs and locusts, but they were marinated in a lovely looking sauce. I bet if I could get over my cultural conditioning they would taste lovely. They do say it’s the future!

I found a stall selling sheets & pillowcases, which was half the price of the same product in the mall we had visited earlier, and my suspicions that not many non-local people shop there was confirmed when the shopkeeper wanted to take a photograph of me buying the linen.

I had been apprehensive of driving here, but, being a sensible country that drives on the left, it was quite easy, just always assume that there’s a motorbike undertaking you and remember that people drive the wrong way on the hard shoulder if they only need to go a short distance.

Somebody stole my username/password and it’s up for sale along with loads of others on the dark web, I don’t know for sure, but suspect this was part of the yahoo hack. I only use this on non important sites, but I need to go and change my password on scores of sites now, so this has reminded me I was half way through writing a password app, iCloud based for the iPhone. I think I will have a go at that over the next few days while we have some chilling time here in the Yacht Haven.

Paul C.

 

Today and yesterday have been quite chilled. I’m working through the list of tasks outstanding, and getting an idea of prices before I hit the chandlers. Tomorrow we are hiring a car and we are going to take the headsails down to Rolly Taskers to get them measured for a new set. We got the sails off today, the genoa had a long rip in it I didn’t see, I’m going to ask if they can be patched up to keep as spares, but it may not make any sense if they are that weak. I’ve also decided to buy new awnings for the boat. There’s going to be a lot of money being spent over the next few weeks, but I’m treating it a bit like a trip to the dentist, best get it all over with and move on. I decided on the EPIRB I want, it has a ten year battery life, but it’s not available here, so Im going to buy it in the UK and bring it as carry on baggage when we come back, that’s going to be fun getting it through security.

We went for a walk to the local village today, we were lucky to miss the rain, every day for the last few weeks has been very wet and squally, the same is predicted for the next week.

At one point it became clear that we were going to get soaked so we jumped into a shack, which was half house, half shop and half restaurant.

I tried to buy some bread, but something was lost in translation and this nice lady cooked us an egg and banana roti (pancake type thing) and very tasty it was too.  I think she is showing me her grandson here.

 

Once back at the marina we settled down for a drink and some dinner at the deck bar 

Another squall came through, hopefully by November we will be into the NE Monsoon, which is the high season here with lots of hot dry weather.

Paul C.