some more

thailand shots

hanging in a hammock and 'no prescription, no viagra'

Yesterday it rained for most of the day. But that didn't stop us from managing to enjoy the day in style. We found ourselves sitting in a restaraunt that is perched up high above in a Banyon Tree. After making quick friends with the softest dog on the planet and enjoying a cup of tea and lunch we made our way to the inviting hammocks where we sat and watched the rain and the ocean in the distance and I managed to write a few letters to friends back home. The rain let up long enough for us to hop on our scooter, head back to our resort (where we seem to be the only guests) and have a steam, swim, steam once more and another swim. Drank a couple of beer instead of having our daily nap and then giggling like school girls headed into town for dinner.

During the day we went into a pharmacy to try and look for some really strong mosquito spray as we are officially heading into some serious mosquito country...in our guidebook for Laos, under wildlife it only lists mosquitos...so we get the feeling they could be pretty bad there. While perusing the available stock we noticed a sign that one would really only stumble on in Thailand that said. "Sorry we can not give out sleeping pills or Viagra without a prescription." I think this is a clear indication of the majority of men that come to Thailand (not to generalize, but there really are a lot of them). Men old enough to be my father or in some cases my grandfather who are walking around on the arm of a 20 something thai woman. I guess they have trouble sleeping and getting it up on their own. The sign made me giggle at the very least.

From another sign we saw today while exploring the eastern side of the island we learnt that washing your hands helps reduce diarhhea...so many helpful hints here in Thailand...a plethora of knowledge really.

Mother Nature

For the past 5 days of so Deb and I have been on the island of Koh Chang where the thai monsoon has been paying us a little bit of a visit. Strange weather really. One day sunny all day long, and then at night we will have the wickedest thunder storms. The other night it rained so hard that the power went out in our resort and the thunder was so loud that you could feel it in your chest. It probably lasted for about 5 hours or more. In the morning we walked into town and parts of the road were literally washed away and the restaurant where we had eaten a couple of days before literally had a river of run off pouring through it. A wall had been washed away and the tables and chairs were all over the place. Even now we sit in an internet cafe and the road right next to it looks like a river as there is about a foot of rainwater flowing down the street.

Yesterday the weather was fantastic so we hopped on our scooter and went exploring. Ended up at a place called Lonely beach (which really wasn't very lonely but didn't have many people on it). The water was nice and calm so we hopped in for a bit of a swim. Funny thing happened when we were drying off on the beach, this thai man selling trinkets came up to us hoping we would buy something...and while staring at our crotches asked us where we were from. We told him canada, and while continuing to stare at our nether regions, he said "Canada, number 1". Deb and I have been making jokes about that ever since.I am sure you can imagine some of them.

After that, we went to the southern tip of the island to the fisherman's village which is all built on stilts over the water and had the best scallops in a drunken spicy thai sauce. Oh my goodness they were delicious. Then went back to our resort where we swam in the pool, went into the steam room, swam in the pool, went into the steam room and then to the room for our daily nap. Feel a little like a senior citizen with our daily ritual of napping. But hey, it is a lovely thing so why fight it right?

There are loads of waterfalls on the island so if the rains stays away today we might just go and check a few of them out. They should have loads of water with all of the rain we have been getting. If not, then I guess we will head to our room, which is really awesome. We love low season travelling...we are getting to stay at nice places for cheap prices. Our room has the most breathtaking view of the pool and the ocean in the distance, has french doors that opens up onto a little balcony where we drink our beer and watch the sun set. It also has a tv and dvd player, so we have bought a few movies and plop down and watch them when the weather doesn't cooperate.

It has just been nice being somewhere for more than 3 days, not feeling like we have to be a tourist and sightsee and just relax.

Mom made it home safe and sound...and I think that is it for this update.

Some tough decisions

Well Debbie and I have been on the island of Koh Chang for the past 3 days and seriously we are quite stressed. It has been 4 days of some serious decision making. My previous project management skills came into serious play. First we had to decide if we were going to stay in Thailand longer because it meant extending our visa. We decided to stay. Decision #1 out of the way.

Then we had to decide where we were going to go for 10 days. Should we head south to the islands down there and the Andaman Sea or should we go east to some islands we have yet to explore. We decided to go east. Whew, decision #2 made. Decisions 3, 4 and 5 came at us in a flurry. What day did we want to take the bus (3), when did we want to return to Bangkok (4) and then when did we want to go to Cambodia (5). Then came some seriously taxing decisions about bus vs. plane.

Now we are in Koh Chang staying in a pretty cute place with a pool right on the ocean paying $22/night and we have found a really nice place that will give us a wicked room for something like $38/night. So we have to make a very important decision tonight about whether we should treat ourselves or just stay where we are. I tell you...sometimes this life of travel is so taxing. I personally think the only thing we can do is go get a foot massage, have some pad thai and a beer and do some serious thinking about it.