MY SRI LANKAN JOURNEY BEGINS

WEATHER: Hot and sticky 31C

So I had 3 nights and 2 whole days in Negombo before I meet my group on Sunday afternoon.  The resort seems to have everything I need and I think I will just enjoy the chillaxing time while I can.  By the weather we have had since I have been here has been really sticky, humid and that will make the tour that more challenging for all involved.    

Sri Lanka officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in the northern Indian Ocean off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest across the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait and the Maldives to the southwest.  As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia.  It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country.  Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority.   Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state which is governed by a semi-presidential system with its official seat of government in Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte, the capital. The country is famous for the production and export of tea, coffee, gemstones, coconuts rubber and cinnamon, the last of which is native to the country.  Sri Lanka has been called The Pearl of the Indian Ocean.  The island contains tropical forests, and diverse landscapes with high biodiversity. The country lays claim to a long and varying history of over three thousand years, having one of the longest documented histories in the world.  As of 2011, Sri Lanka was one of the fastest growing economies of the world.

My first day was spent doing a blog entry in the comfort of my air-conditioned room and I decided to forgo breakfast.  Breakfast was included in the room rate, but I just couldn’t be bothered getting up before 10am so I decided to get a blog written and just head outside for lunch.  There is a great restaurant on site and if the food is as good as last night’s dinner there really is no need to leave in search of something better.  There is free Wi-Fi at the hotel, but only in reception and the restaurant, but the reception guy said to try my room anyway as I may still pick up a signal.  Well he was right, but I am not on the hotel network but on somebody else’s.  It isn’t the fastest connection but it lets me do what I need and if I need to download anything I will save that for the hotel network at the restaurant.   

Housekeeping knocked at 11.30am and I told them they really didn’t need to clean my room and they seemed really nice and asked if I needed water or any new soap and as they were speaking to me one reached out and touched my hair.  You would think that they would have seen enough western tourists here that my hair was nothing new here.  It was a sweet gesture though and then I asked about laundry and they said I had to check with reception about that.  Lunch was delicious and they have a faster internet speed down there, so I downloaded a few songs and got some information for my next blog.  I took a walk around the resort, took a few photos and sat in a deck chair that was in the shade of the palm trees and read my book for a few hours before returning back to the room, another blog and I hate to admit I also had a nana nap as well.  Dinner was back to the restaurant and I continued to read my book and I have now stopped being so paranoid about being on my own now.  Firstly who cares what people think and I’m not sure what has changed but I am feeling confident in a new environment when it normally takes me a few days to adjust and get my travel groove on.  Maybe I have been on the road long enough now and with my new beginning in Ethiopia I am going to have to be more like this, out of my comfort zone and just getting myself out there.

With my Sri Lankan sim I bought at the airport yesterday I have free access to news updates and this morning I got an update that an airplane had crashed in Nepal and all 19 people inboard had perished.  How sad and I am happy to report I knew of 3 people in the area at the time.  Shaun and Karen-but they are now on the road, Kim got back last week doing that exact same flight and James messaged to say his flight was delayed this morning leaving Everest base camp due to the accident and they weren’t told the full story till they got back to Kathmandu which was probably not a bad thing and then I knew some-one that was looking at booking that tour and he would have been on that plane if he had decided to go.  The world works in mysterious ways that is for sure.  I was looking at doing a scenic flight from Kathmandu but this has made me a little wary, but Mark posted that it apparently was a freak accident as they hit a bird and the engine caught fire-talk about bad luck.  I’ll see how it goes when I get there in 4 weeks’ time.

I popped my washing in at lunch time and asked how much it would cost?  They outsource it, so she really couldn’t give me a price, but I asked if it was expensive and she said not and I did have to get it done so I left it with reception and she said they need 1.5 days for it to be done, so I would have it back tomorrow night.  That’s fine, I had some clothes and I also had time.  It will be great to have some clean clothes again. 

  

My second day I figured if the food was that good for lunch and dinner, I should check out the breakfast spread.  When I sat down at 9am the manager came over and asked what I wanted.  Ummmm not knowing how it all worked as there was a buffet of fresh fruit and breads and muffins I figured I could do all they myself, but then he asked about an omelet, bacon or sausages….ahhh now you’re talking, so I asked for 2 fried eggs and some bacon and I was going to make my own bacon and egg sandwich and wash that down with some tea and a juice it was definitely worth getting up for.  A large group of what seemed to be school children arrived just before lunch and they headed down to the beach and then they came up to use the pool.  There has to be something said about 100 kids all laughing and splashing in a pool and at one stage throwing a ball around.  It must have been a convention or get together of some sort as they also had arrival drinks and a buffet lunch organized. 

I uploaded a blog as I needed to add a picture and then before I knew it I was composing a message that I was individually going to send to every single Facebook friend to make them aware of my plight to raise money for my charity to bring clean drinking water to a village in Rwanda.  When I was telling sandy and Shelly about how I hadn’t had many donations they mentioned that they hadn’t even seen the blog or the posts on Facebook which made me think maybe a lot of people hadn’t and hence my mission to send one out to each friend.  I hate it when I get group messages on Facebook firstly and I think individual ones are a little more personal even though I hadn’t personalized the message specifically.  It was going to be a BIG job to send 1015 messages as it was, let alone personalizing them all.  FB don’t alphbeticalize your whole friend list anymore, they only show 25 per letter, so I went this way first and then I had to go off memory and use the generic list to send the remaining 365 friends.  I sat at the restaurant till 2pm and the computer was flat as a tack, came back to the room to charge and then sat for another 3 hours to finish off the list.  So in total it took me 7 hours to send all the messages off and already I was reaping some reward with 8 donations coming through and from people I hadn’t spoken to for a while.  So it was a nice surprise and if that is all I hear from, for me it was still worth the effort.  Another thing with FB now is you can see when your message has been read and a lot of them still hadn’t been read, so it is early days and I hope that everyone will be able to help, even just a few dollars and we will have that water system in Rwanda before we know it.  Again the link and information can be found at http://mycharitywater.org/bernies-odyssey-for-clean-water

I went down to dinner at 8pm and even though the official arrival day and day one of the tour is tomorrow there must be people here for the tour and I tried to inconspicuously check all the diners out.  I also had a view of one of their function rooms that looks like it was set up for a wedding and the trees had all fairy lights attached to the trunks.  This place is a busy hive of activity and for an Intrepid Hotel is far better than I would have ever expected.  I am just not sure on the power point situation as there seems to be only 2 points in the room which the TV and the fridge have and they are also some funky 3 pin points that none of my adapters seem to fit but I did find a UK point in the bathroom which is not ideal for electronic devices but I didn’t have any other option.  I wonder if this will be an ongoing problem for the next 2 weeks?  Back to the room after dinner and I thought I better get all my crap sorted and on my side of the room as my roomie would be coming at some stage tomorrow.  I hope I get some-one nice-14 days can be a long time if you don’t get on with your roomie and I didn’t want to start on the wrong foot with my stuff everywhere.

So that was my last night on my own and I look forward to meeting everyone tomorrow night.

  

MY THREE ISLAND HOP FROM PHUKET TO SINGAPORE TO SRI LANKA

WEATHER: Plane-airport-plane-airport

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Leaving and arriving on the same day

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Saying goodbye to my Brisbane posse

WORD OF THE DAY:  

DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 3688km

Man 4.45am is an early start to the day.  I had to be down in the lobby at 6am, but I had to settle my bill, wash my hair, finish packing and also leave some notes for the Elks and the Randall’s outside their doors with a few treats for the kids when they woke up.  I needed every minute and when I got down to reception at 5.45am Bob, Jen, Paul and Wendy were all ready to go.  So being early we left a little earlier which worked out to be a bit if a bummer as Shelly came down right at 6am to say goodbye and we had already left.  We were using the hotels transfer which is double the price of the normal taxi’s but when we divided it by the 5 of us it still worked out cheaper anyway and we didn’t have to do that stupid shuttle to the transfer bungalow to then get into the van, so that was a nice surprise.  I was travelling with Shane’s mum and dad, who like to be early for flights, which I am okay with, but I knew we were getting to the airport too early for check-in but just decided to go with the flow.  I would have save maybe an hour, so it really was no big deal. 

Phuket’s airport really is a long way from Karon and even that early in the morning still took us an hour to get to arriving at 6.45am.  The transfer guy dropped us at terminal 1 and we were leaving from terminal 2, but once we had passed all our bags through the security scanner to enter the airport, it was easily accessed s the 2 buildings are connected anyway.  Bob mentioned something about a departure tax, which you used to have to pay when leaving, but I was pretty sure even while I was still working that the taxes were now included in the ticket, but I guess we will soon find out.  I still had a wad of left over Baht so it didn’t make any difference to me.  So we found out check-in counter and as thought, there were no signs up and no signs of any staff just yet.  So we took a seat and waited.  We did have some entertainment though and just after we had sat down there were bags coming through the security screening.  These were no ordinary bags, they were all the same colour maroon, same style and the only difference between them was the numbers that they had on the top left of each bag.  They all had wheels on them and they were getting scooted from the security machine 20m away on their wheels to where there were guys lining the bags up, it is certainly one way to get a group check-in done and looked like they had done it before.  There was no sign of the passengers, which was good as we saw bags that were numbered 196 and 224-it looked to be a massive group of some sort.  They had an intermission which must have been the reloading of more bags from where ever they were coming from and by this time we were front of queue as we saw the Jetstar staff appear at 7.30am.  The 5 of us checked in-all given seats all over the plane, I had my window and my bag was 22.1kg, and as we passed the bags that had rolled in I took a photo and one of the bag guys jokingly asked for 5BHT.  Seriously there would have been 200 bags.  I am just glad we got to go through the check-in and security without the people that own all the bags in front of us. 

I still can’t believe who many Russians there are holidaying here in Thailand and it made a little more sense when we looked at the departure board and there was a flight there leaving 15 minutes before us direct to Vladivostok.  I guess if I lived in Vladivostok I would want to get out of there as well, especially this time of year as they head into winter.  I saw the plane that was running the route and I had never heard of the airline and it wasn’t a massive plane like a 747, which I would expect.  I wonder how long that flight actually is?  I will have to Google it and see.  They must be doing some pretty enticing advertising up there is all I can say.  Our plane didn’t board till 9.15am, so after a look around the shops, a toasted sandwich and a drink we were ready to go on time.  I thought I had a 4 hour connection in Singapore but it was only 2.5 hours and I have to collect my bag, transfer terminal s and then recheck in for my flight to Sri Lanka.  The whole process isn’t that difficult, it is just all based on time.  So it was good to know that this flight was on time-the budget carriers don’t always have a great reputation for being on time.  It was a full flight but I had my window.  We were sitting on an Airbus A320 with a configuration of 3x3.  There really isn’t a lot of room on these Jetstar planes, but I guess when you only pay 69AUD for a flight, they are going to jam as many of you in an aircraft as they can.  The flight time was 1 hour and 40 minutes and I fell asleep for half of that anyway.  I am tired already and I still have a full day of travel ahead if me!  It was nice to have a day time departure as I had arrived into Phuket in the dark of the night…..

With a one hour time difference we arrived exactly on time at 12.30pm.  My next flight was departing at 3pm.  I was towards the back of the plane; the other 4 were in the first 6 rows, so they were long gone when I came off.  That was okay as I had to haul some arse-I was even that focused I didn’t stop to check the free internet, I bypassed that and figured I can do that once I was at the right terminal with my bag checked in at terminal 3.  There was no-one waiting at immigration, I saw Bib and Jen at one of the other officers getting stamped and once I was processed I shot out of there and re-met the crew at the baggage carousel to say our goodbyes.  I was ready with a free trolley and my bag was one of the first ones off the rank-woo hoo this is all coming together nicely.  So with hugs all round I was on my way, I must have looked like I was in a hurry as the security man let me through without scanning my bags.  I needed to get to terminal 3, which I have never check-in to before, so I just followed the signs with my trolley as far as I could go, till I had to throw the monster on my back and head up the escalators to the skytrain.  The Skytrain departs every 3 minutes and the actual ride is shorter than that again and I found myself at T3.  I was feeling a lot more relaxed now that I was here, found the check-in counter for Sri Lankan Airlines and there was no-one waiting and I threw my bag on the scales and it still weighed 22.1kg to which there was no reaction from the check-in guy.  I asked about my window seat and he said you have an aisle.  WHAT.  No no I need a window, so when I asked him to check if there was a window available he said no there are none left.  Oh man…..  I think this maybe the only flight that I have not had a window and that’s a pretty good ratio when this was my 72^nd flight of my Odyssey.  Oh well if there isn’t a window, there isn’t a window.

Security is done on a random basis in Singapore and I have been waved through both times, the queue was not that long for customs and I was through at 1.10pm.  We had to be at our gate at 1.50pm-so I had 40 minutes to get something quick to eat and now I have a little routine and I found Burger King, ordered my passionfruit iced tea and 6 drummettes and I after I picked up a Wi-Fi code from the information desk I quickly checked my email and Facebook over lunch.  There was an email from Beth and my Philippines package has now been confirmed for the 10 nights I am there.  So I head to Cebu and Boracay with a night in Manila either side.  So I’m happy with that itinerary and hope that it doesn’t rain too much while I am there as there were floods there 4 weeks ago which I am assuming have receded by now! 

Changi Airport has three passenger terminals with terminal 3 being the newest.  The airport has a total annual handling capacity of 66 million passengers. Terminal 1 opened in 1981, followed by Terminal 2 in 1990 and Terminal 3 in 2008. The Budget Terminal, opened on 26 March 2006 and closed on 25 September 2012, will make way for Terminal 4 which will be ready by 2017.  In 2011, the airport handled 46,543,845 passengers, a 10.7% increase over the previous year. This made it the seventh busiest airport by international passenger traffic in the world and the second busiest in Asia by international passenger traffic in 2011. The airport crossed the 45 million mark for the first time in its history in December 2011, recorded its busiest month in December 2011 (4.53 million) and its busiest day on 17 December 2011 with 165,000 passengers handled. In addition to being an important passenger hub, the airport is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world, handling 1,865,252 tonnes of cargo in 2011. The total number of commercial aircraft movements was 301,711 in 2011.  It didn’t look too busy today but I have always been here later in the afternoon/evenings so maybe this is their lull before the storm of planes landing and taking off. 

I found the gate with no issues and it wasn’t quite ready for us yet, so I sat on some of the seats outside and just used the internet on my IPod till the gate opened.  As usual I set off the alarms and the scanner ladies can see straight away what the issue is with my silver bangles on one arm and my Ethiopian bangles on the other.  This old chook was super nice and we had a good old laugh as her hand held went off over the ‘hot’ spots.  We then made it to the gate to get out boarding passes scanned and I decided to ask one more time about a window seat.  So the lady had a quick look and then picked up her walkie talkie and asked if it was okay to take one of ‘their’ seats for a passenger.  They came back and said that was fine and my boarding pass was amended in pen and I was now in a window!! WOO HOO.  I can’t tell you how much I love my window for a few different reasons, I can lean on the window to sleep, I am not going to be disturbed by people wanting to get out for the toilets and I don’t get bumped by people or trolleys sitting there PLUS I get a window to take pictures from during day time flights.  You little ripper and thank-you travel gods for looking after me today!

Once the call was made we were ready to board they board by seat rows and I was in 26 and this was the last row of the aircraft.  I know people hate sitting down the back of the plane, but it doesn’t worry me and if it means I have a window I am doubly ok with it.  It also meant I got to get on first and get my overhead space before everyone else gets on the plane.  I love scooting past people that have been lining up for the last 10 minutes…love it.  I was all tucked in and being the last row noticed the queue for the toilets was 8 people deep, were there no toilets in gate departures?  I have never seen a toilet that busy while people are still trying to board the plane.  The Hostees were trying to get past the line, people trying to get to their seats; it was a bit of a schmozzle.  What do I care, I was tucked in and imagine my delight when the airplane doors closed and there was no-one else in my row!  I had the row to myself and across the aisle there were 3 men all packed in on the other side and instead of moving one guy, the aisle man put his bag on my aisle seat….  We were sitting on an Airbus A320 with a configuration of 3x3.  We had inseat TV’s that had a selection of movies, but I had seen them all, so I decided to just try and keep my eyes open till lunch was served and then get some shut eye, I was so tired.  The flight time was 3 hours and 35 minutes and after leaving 30 minutes late we were in the air at 3.30pm.

Coming into Sri Lanka the scenery was amazing.  There were a lot of green mountains, some of them covered in low clouds that gave it that magical look, so I got some great photos of that and then as we came into land you could definitely see the tropical look of the island with palm trees and coconut trees everywhere and the obvious tea plantations also.  It was a great aerial view and I am so glad that I had a window for this section.  The captain had made up some time on the flight as we only arrived in 10 minutes late at 4.15pm.  The welcome to Colombo call came and then following was the temperature outside which was 32C!!  I have a feeling it maybe a hot and sweaty trip and I just hope that it is nothing like the heat I had on my Morocco trip in June last year.  We got temperatures there in the high 40’sC and it was shocking!!!!!!  There is a 2 hour time change here from Singapore, so after gaining one hour in from Phuket to Singapore and then losing 2 hours from Singa’s to Colombo I am just about back to where I started time wise.  I saw the guys across the aisle had forms that mist have been given out while I was asleep, so I will just have to keep my eyes peeled when I come into immigration for them.  Being the last row, I was the last person off the plane, but I was feeling okay even after being on the go for 12 hours so far and I still had to get myself to the hotel.  I hadn’t Googled anything about the transfer information here as Intrepid had in their notes that a taxi shouldn’t cost more than 15USD.  The tour doesn’t start from Colombo but a city 25km away called Negombo.  But I had a price to go by and this is all I needed.  I have no idea on the currency either at this point but I am sure there will be a money changer in the terminal somewhere.  

As we came to the immigration I could see that you can get a visa on arrival.  There was a counter where you could buy one.  From all the information I read it was like a US visa and it had to be done online 3 days before travel so I had done mine online when I was in London and paid the 20USD on my credit card at the time of application.  I hadn’t really had a chance to print it out though, but I had a copy of the email on my IPod and I had also written my approval code on a sticky note in my passport.  I got to the counter and you did need an arrival form to fill in, so while he processed me I went and got a form and filled it in and by the time I gave him the form I was stamped, stickered and on my way through.  He was really nice and thanks for being so nice Mr. Immigration man.  My bag was already out, so I grabbed a free trolley, hoisted my monster on and then I was out in arrivals.  There were a few things I could see that I could do while I was here, and as no-one was waiting for me I could take my time.  Firstly I exchanged some cash and there were a few banks represented, so I chose one and got 100USD changed, so I know new how much I get for 1USD.  I have to say I am not that great at my 130 times tables!!!  Next I saw a mobile phone counter, so I stated to make my way there when a friendly looking man asked if I needed a taxi, he had on an ID badge so I thought he must be okay and he told me to come to the travel booth when I was done and he could organize one for me.  Well I do need a taxi, he had a booth at the airport and he had on an ID tag-I think I was going to be in safe hands.  So I got to the phone counter and asked about a Sri Lankan sim, more so for making calls than the texting and it was 10USD for the sim and I loaded 10USD on the card and got all the codes and numbers for balances.  So I now had cash and a sim and now I needed my taxi.

My little man was hovering around so I asked the whole important question on how much the transfer was and he told me 1500LKR (rupees) when divided by 130 was only 11USD.  That was fine by me, so we went to the counter, he gave me a receipt for my cash and then we walked outside to a taxi he had radioed from inside.  It was an air-conditioned Camry and a personal transfer and not a normal taxi, so worth every penny of my 11 bucks.  So with a kiss on each cheek from my taxi dude I was driven away for the 25 minute drive to Negombo and my hotel.  You wouldn’t believe that when we started to dive that Mr. Jones (one of most favorite songs ever) came on the radio I was in a good place.  I had my visa processed, some cash, a sim card and a taxi all done within 30 minutes and I was on the road.  What a great travel day.  My driver wasn’t sure of where the hotel was, but he wasn’t scared about asking people and we found it with no problems.  I am nicely surprised on how many people speak English well here and it makes a nice change and the hotel was no different.  I asked about Wi-Fi and breakfast and was then shown to my very hot room, but my porter turned on the air-con and he was worth every 200LKR I have him for carrying my bag to my room.  The ‘resort’ actually looks really nice and I could see the beach from the walkway.  The restaurant faces onto the pool and it just has a nice feel about the place.  I think I am going to like my 3 nights pre-tour here.  Today is Thursday and our pre-departure meeting isn’t until Sunday afternoon, so I am assuming sometime on Sunday I will be getting a room- mate and then we hit the road on Monday.

Dinner was at the hotel and from what I could make out I didn’t see any mosquitos during the day but down at dinner there were swarms of them.  I saw a sign at the airport saying that their mosquitos don’t carry malaria, which is nice, but when you can see them flying around and feeling them land on you is still too much for me.  As an after-thought before heading down I did spray my feet and my legs, but I didn’t do my arms and not much care was taken.  I will make sure I lube up better for tomorrow night’s dinner.  The food was amazing, like 5 star qualities and I will enjoy eating my meals here for the next 3 days and the prices aren’t too bad either.

Welcome to Sri Lanka.    

 

HUNG OVER LIKE A HANG OVER

WEATHER: Wet and rainy ALL day 30C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: I’m alive

BUMMER OF THE DAY: I’m alive

WORD OF THE DAY: Vodka? Ughhhhhhhh

OM Goodness.  You know when you first wake up after a drinking session and you know you are going to feel like crap.  Well I woke this morning and actually didn’t feel tooooo bad.  I felt bad, but not too bad.  Nothing some more sleep wouldn't fix.  Frog knocked at the door at 9.30am for a breakfast run which I thought about for like a second and said no thanks and went back to bed.  I got a second knock at 10.45am by the girls for the second breakfast run to which I threw on a dress and we were downstairs with 10 minutes of breakfast time left.  The kids were down already and Jase and Hunter were back at the room as Hunter was not feeling well at all with a chuck and a sore tummy, we’re not sure what is wrong thinking it may be dehydration from all the dancing he did last night and not drinking enough water.

The girls have been waiting patiently for the wedding day to come and go so that they could now get their platted and braided.  So that was what they were off to do after breakfast this morning and after a few prompts from Shelly and Sandy to join them I declined and decided to stay at the hotel and relax.  I offered to look after Hunter, so that they could all go and with the offer taken up they dropped him at my room with a book and some things to do and I switched the channel to the Cartoon Network and we both lounged on the bed for the next 3 hours.  I attempted to pack for a few minutes as today is my last day in Thailand.  I am on a 6am transfer tomorrow to the airport with Bob and Jen, so it is an early start tomorrow but it will be good to leave in the morning from somewhere and arrive on the same day-it has been awhile since I have had a flight that does that.  Hunter was sick twice while he was in my care and I felt so bad that I all I could do was rub his back while he was throwing up in the toilet.  I have to say he was an amazing patient and once he had done his business he was right as rain.  He didn’t have a stomach pain and no headaches so I really am not sure what to make of it all.  The weather outside had really turned by this point and there were some pretty serious thunderstorms and dropping of rain.  I was so glad that we didn’t go and decided to stay indoors-hang over or not. 

Hunter was collected by Jase just after 4pm and the girls were still not back from having their hair done.  Shelly had sent a few text messages and they were still at the hair place.  It was taking FOREVER and each of the girls had a woman each doing their hair!  Can you imagine if they only had one lady to do all three?  I guess it wouldn’t have happened.    I used this time to knuckle down and get the packing done, so when everyone was back I would make the most of my time with them rather than packing when I could have done that while they weren’t here.  I have decided to leave some more things for Shelly to take home, a few tops, 2 dresses and a few bits and bobs.  My bag is now looking better than it ever has, I have been able to close the expander zip and it all zips up nicely without any effort now.  It is more important now as portions of my Sri Lankan trip are on public transport so I had to make it more manageable so I didn’t look like a freak to other travelers. 

The girls were back at 4.30pm after a mammoth 4 hours getting the kids hair done.  Shelly asked if I knew it would take that long and that is why I passed, but their hair looks great and the ladies have done a good job, all for the cost of 10AUD per head.  The girls love hearing the sound of the beads clicking at the bottom of their hair.  In my drunken stupor last night I said I was going to go and get a few braids, not my whole head, but a few,  but decided not to due to my hang-over this morning and as cute as they look on the kids I sometimes wonder if the adults look a little silly with them in.       

Brother Brad and Star joined us for a drink in the party room as it was Brad’s birthday today.  I had to pass on the alcoholic version and settled for a coke, just the thought was not a pleasant one and then we were heading out for a birthday dinner with the birthday boy.  I was so tempted to pass up dinner and just get room service but this was my last night and it was Brad’s birthday so I sucked it up and joined the Ryan’s and Elks for dinner.  Sandy and Jase were staying in, so we decided to leave the weary children with them and ordered them some nuggets and chips for dinner and this is where I had to say good-bye to Zoe and Tess.  I picked Tess up and asked for a massive hug and before I knew it she was bawling her little blue eyes out-she was hysterical.  She was saying that she didn’t want me to go and why couldn’t I stay and she just wouldn’t stop crying.  I tried explaining that she would see me after 8 week-ends to make it sound better than 2 months but nothing would pacify her.  I then gave Zoe a big big hug and even though she had a few tears in the eyes, she was very brave and like the fact that 8 week-ends didn’t sound much and that she hoped Zeme can come next time I come home.  Oh me too sweetheart, me too…..  So with hugs to Hunter, Hads and Sandy it was time to leave a crying Tess on the bed and we headed to dinner.  We had one more stop and that was to Trev and Dayna’s room on the way out to return the suit.  It was nice to be able to say good-bye to them and we will be seeing them over Christmas at some stage. 

Dinner was back at the place we had taken the kids our first night.  It was close to the hotel, it was cheap and the food was good.  Star couldn’t believe that they had a lobster on there for 10AUD so she ordered it out of curiosity and said it was just divine.  Who would have thought you could get a 5 star quality lobster for 10 bucks!  I also caved and ordered a lemon and lime frozen margarita and even with the alcohol in it really hit the spot, so much so that I had another one over the course of the meal.  Well that didn’t take long to get back on the drinking wagon again did it!!!  The small restaurant found out it was Brother Brads birthday and bought out a pineapple drink with a sparkler on it and sang him happy birthday which was nice and a great way to end a recovery day for me and my amazing last 4 days with my best friend, my family and my god-daughters in Thailand.

We were back to the hotel at 9.30pm, I checked to make sure both party rooms were fast asleep and then said my good-byes to Shelly and Shane and with bug hugs and waves till I got to my room, one door down I kept reminding myself that it is only 8 week-ends till I am back in Australia and hopefully I will have Zeme with me all going well.  I have a lot to do in the 4 weeks that I am home, I think about it now and it is a little daunting, but with one step at a time I will just have to do as much as I can with what time I have.  Shelly and I thought 7 weeks wasn’t enough-how the hell will we cope with 4 weeks AND this time we don’t know when I will be back to Australia…. Now that I think about the finality of just that thought brings a tear to my eye but a flutter the stomach to finally be back in reality starting a new life with some-one I love  with new friends, a new job, a new culture to learn adding to my ever growing new experiences.

This is life and we need to live it to the fullest.

Goodbye Thailand and goodbye to my family and see you on the 26^th November.   

LOVE YOU LONG TIME-DAYNA AND TREVOR GET MARRIED

WEATHER: It’s still bloody HOT-overcast today and 31C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Dayna looking beautiful

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Too much vodka

WORD OF THE DAY:  Buffalo Soldier

Today we have a wedding to attend

Trevor and Dayna get married.  Is there anything better than attending a wedding? Friends and family reunited and the vows of a couple committing to each other forever, it always tugs at the heart strings and this wedding was to be no different.

We had a later breakfast this morning at 9am.  The kids (and adults) were a little latter rousing this morning after such an epic day yesterday.  Swimming in the pool and going up and down up and down and up and down that water slide also take the wind out of their little energetic bodies as well by the end of the day.  We saw the Bride at breakfast and besides the worry on where the ceremony will be held (the weather looked a little dicey today) she seemed quite calm and relaxed.  We really had no plans as suck this morning as the wedding ceremony was at 4pm, so we headed back to the room to have a drink as we got the kids ready for the pool.  It was overcast today, which never stops the kids from getting in the pool, but the water was a little too cold for me to get into today, so with a cocktail in hand we just kept an eye on the kids as we relaxed on ‘our’ sun chairs at ‘our’ pool that there never seems to be too many people around.  It really felt like we had the whole resort to ourselves when we were down here.  The pool guys know our rooms numbers and they also know our cocktails that we are drinking-is this a bad thing?  Shelly packed her Bose speaker system, so with the music on with our own tunes, the kids happily playing in the pool and us relaxing with cocktails in hand with our best friends-does life get any better?  At this point it is a positive NO.  Even though we weren’t that hungry we ordered a club sandwich to tide us over till dinner which was going to be after 6.30pm and it was one of the best club sangas I have ever had.  I don’t eat them much anymore as I had a really bad experience with one when I was in India like 5 years ago (very sick) but maybe eating this one has turned my club sandwich tide. 

We were back to the room at 2.00pm to scrub up for the wedding.  The kids have been itching to wear their new wedding dresses for months and now they were able to put them on.  Shane knocked on the door passing telling me he was taking the kids down for a practice run on their duties during the ceremony and that Shelly and SA were nearly ready.  I had 3 dresses to choose from.  I got Shelly to bring 2 from home and I had one that I had bought with me for London in case we went to a show, so it was nice to have a little variety but I hadn’t thought about my shoes and ended up wearing my ballet looking Croc’s which didn’t look too bad really, but may have not been my first shoe of choice.  I also didn’t have a bag, so I compromised and used the drawstring hair dryer bag as it was black, and as long as I had the words ‘hair dryer’ facing into me all night then no-one would be the wiser.  It would have been nice to also have some hair straighteners as the humidity gives my hair that scarecrow straw look about it, and no matter how much non frizz I slapped on the ends it was having no effect.  Oh well, some things you just cannot change.  One drink later, we headed down to where the ceremony was to be held and waited for the Bride to arrive.  Trev was looking like a nervous Groom, but they had actually married under Australian Law a week earlier, so it really was a done deal and not sure why Trev seemed so unsettled.  It is a big testament to both Trev and Dayna that they had 57 people travel to Phuket for their special day, that’s a lot of people for an overseas wedding. 

Dayna was only a few minutes late.  We could see her walking along one of the corridors on the other side of the reception out of her building and even from there she looked a vision of beauty.  They had a Thai celebrant that was actually quite funny and he was letting us know how the ceremony was to go and what we were expected to do.  The kids entered first with Tess, Hads and then Zoe and they held little baskets with flower petals in them and they tossed them on their way in.  They looked so smart and so serious and they did a marvelous job.  Next was Hunter and he had the rings tied on a pillow and then the Bride with her father Barry, and Dayna looked beautiful.  The second that she came into sight Trev had tears in his eyes, it was so sweet.  The ceremony was beautiful as well and the highlight for me was Dayna’s Aunt Glynnis’s speech.  It bought a tear to my eye, it was heartfelt, the words were poignant and special and written from the heart and she also nearly lost it while doing her reading.  It finished with a combining of sands to become one and then the ‘you may kiss the Bride kiss’.  We had to get busy with the photos as the weather started to close in and just as the last 2 family shots had been taken it started to spit a little.  It was good for us ‘novice’ photographers, we got to ride on the coat tails of the ‘official’ photographer and I got all the family photos of the Elks and Randall’s which was great.

It was now 5pm and the reception didn’t start till 6.30pm.  So we made our way back to the room and had a few quite beverages.  Brad and Jodie had flown in this morning from a wedding that they had attended in Oreland, so it was nice to catch up with them.  I sued this time to upload my photos I had just taken to Facebook.  Some people give me hassle with the speed that I do load things, but I need to make the most of internet and connection time.  If I don’t keep on top of it all it snowballs and then it just makes it hard to catch up, take my blog for instance when I was 22 days behind.  I will never get that far behind again, well I hope not anyway.  So load I did while I had connection.  Considering we were in an international hotel I would have thought the internet would have been better.  It wasn’t free, I had to pay 20USD for 24 hour access-this was 24 hours of internet v’s over a 24 hour period, so I didn’t mind paying, but I had drama’s with my password not working, I was issued a new one, which didn’t work and in the end they must have given me a staff password as it was now valid for 30 days.  It worked but of you hadn’t been on for more than 15 minutes it would boot you off and you would have to re-login in again blah blah blah…..damn internet worries.

We lost track of time as Shane rang us at 6.29pm and said the Bride and Groom were nearly ready to enter the reception, the beauty of us being in the main building was it only took us a second to down the last of our drinks, grab the kids and catch the lift to where we had to get to.  Perfect-we were right on time, don’t know why the Bridesmaid was looking so worried!!!! Sorry Glenda.  We found out seats and we were all on different tables, I was lucky to have Brad and Jodie on my table though, so I wasn’t totally on my own.  The reception went well, the speeches, the cake, the bridal waltz and the buffet food was amazing with plenty of choice and I think the best lasagna I have ever eaten in my life.  The bar was set up just outside the doors which didn’t seem to slow us down with who ever went outside for a drink also got drinks for the rest of us, so they flowed plentiful all night which at the time is great, but the next morning I knew was not going to be great at all.  There was one more thing they had to do and that was the throwing of the bridal bouquet.  I wasn’t that fussed on getting up there, let some proper single ladies an opportunity to catch the bouquet, but Shelly and Sandy were having none of that and before I knew it they were all calling me up there, so if I was going to go up I was going to catch the damn thing, so after limbering up a little, throwing the elbows out I stood directly behind Dayna and she threw it and it came straight for me to the disappointment to some little people.  The theory is whoever catches the bouquet will be the next one to get married.  I’m not sure if I will be next, but marriage is on the cards, Zeme and I have spoken a little about it, not much as there is a lot to happen before that, but after being divorced it has not put me off the institution of marriage and I know I will get married again somewhere down the track.

        

After all the formalities were done, we ripped out our funny glasses and large blowup microphones and then continued to party the night away.  There was a DJ for entertainment and Sandy was all over the song requests early and gave all our ‘usual’ songs to play over the course of the night.  By the end of the reception it was like he was our own personal DJ.  He only had a few songs missing but was more than happy to accommodate all our requests.  The kids didn’t stop dancing all night and Hunter had moves that I hadn’t seen before he kept them coming till 11.15pm when the lights came on and it was time to leave the party.   

What a great night and even though we shouldn’t have, we stopped at the bar for one last drink before heading back to the rooms.  We certainly didn’t need any more alcohol so with one cocktail to finish the night upon leaving the bar we stopped to say goodnight to some fellow wedding guests and when Shelly and I went to leave there was no sign of Sandy.  So we thought she must have gone back to the room and we made our way to the lifts.  Shelly and I still don’t know why, but we turned around to have a look at the bar one last time and that’s when we saw Sandy asleep on one of the couches covered in pillows with her 2 blowup microphones still in her hands.  It was hilarious and after taking a few photos we helped her up and we all went back to my room for a night cap of Baileys, again another drink we didn’t need.  Sandy stayed for one and then hit the sack, Shelly and I had another one and chatted till 3.30am in the morning when we decided it was time to pull up stumps. 

So congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Elkin.

Thank-you for letting me be a part of your special day and as the Thai people say "love you long time"

FANTASEA CULTURAL THEME PARK-AMAZING

WEATHER: HOT HOT HOT

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The cool waters of the pool

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can it get any hotter

WORD OF THE DAY:  ‘Come with me to FantaSea’-most annoying song in the WORLD

After our 15 rounds of cocktails and alcoholic drinks yesterday, we were a little slower today but we thought that would be okay as we have the wedding tomorrow and guessed that we would get a few drinks to make up for today’s smaller effort.  The girls always point out that they only ever drink lots and get hang-overs when I am around, but it also works in reverse, I am never without a drink when they are around so I guess we are either perfect together or we are just raging alcoholics…. BUT it is not all my fault…..

The Bucks night out did seem to turn out bigger than Ben Hur.  Frog was escorted home at 4am in a bit if a state and Jase was home a little earlier.  Hearing stories from people around breakfast, there seemed to be some Hangover II qualities to what we were hearing.  But the god thing was no-one died, no-one was tattooed and the groom was safely tucked up in bed.  To share 2 stories, we heard that Shane had seen some-one he knows at the Thai kick boxing, which really isn’t that unusual as he knows a lot of people and generally runs into some-one he knows everywhere, so why not Phuket, but this person turned out to be my half-brother who was holidaying in Phuket as well.  The freaky thing is they have never met, Paul and Karla recognized him from Facebook and all my tagging of photos and they knew that there was a Bucks night on tonight-so no flies on my family they went up and said hi and got a few photos!!!  How random is that!  And apparently Trev and Shane dodged a bullet when people were trying to organize a fight in the ring between the 2 brothers.  Thank goodness, common sense or some other issue prevailed and it didn’t come to fruition-can you imagine telling Dayna that Trev lost a tooth or had a black-eye from something like that…… Talk about lucky miss……. 

Anyway Frog was out for the count- so after another amazing breakfast, we got the kiddie winks ready, hair up, hats on and lubed up with sunscreen and we were on our way.  I don’t think it is much cooler than yesterday; it is the humidity that is the killer.  Once we passed the markets the kids were wondering how much further it was to the main strip of Karon and personally so was I.  In total it would have been a 20 minute walk where we stopped and had a look at a few shops on one side of the road and then crossed over and did the same to get back to the start of the main road.  There aren’t a lot of ‘souvenir’ shops as such, there was one we found, but they were more clothes shops, restaurants and the fish that eat all the dead skin off your feet shops but that was about it.  I had some banking I had to do, so I kept the kids with me in the air-conditioned comfort of the bank while Sandy and Shelly did a quick look around without little people to make sure that there was nothing more to see and then we treated ourselves to a tuk tuk back to the hotel and to see the smiles on the kid’s faces and the wind in our sweaty hair it was worth the 200BHT (6.50AUD) and the best money spent so far, even the cocktails and that’s saying something.

Once we were back we were in our togs within 30 minutes and down to the pool for the rest of the afternoon where we had a few more cocktails and some lunch.  Even staying at a 5 star resort the cocktails are only 7AUD a pop and I got nachos for lunch and they were only 9AUD for a fairly generous serve.  Just imagine how much cheaper you could do things if you wanted to, which I don’t, but I am just saying for 5 star service and in an international hotel it is still pretty cheap here and a Hilton of all places.  Sandy got away earlier to get a 10AUD massage and a pedicure, which Shelly and I aren’t into and were happy to stay with the kids.  We splashed around in the pool, with me NOT going down the waterslide today, till 3.45pm, when we had to head upstairs to get ready for our 5.15pm pickup for our dinner and show tonight at Phuket FantaSea.  I really had no idea on what it was all about except that they had elephants in a show and we got a dinner.  The girls booked it yesterday with the hotel and decided that we pay an extra 10AUD to get a better dinner and better seats at the show tonight.  I was just going along for the ride and was happy to do whatever, as long as I was with them, I didn’t care where that would be.  I have to say I’m enjoying a ‘family’ holiday.  The kids are at a great age now where they all get along, they all play together well, they understand a lot of things and to be included in all of that, for me is kinda special as I have never really had that before and out of all the years that the Elks, Randall’s and I have been friends this is the first opportunity that we have had to make it all happen.  As the Elks and Randall’s have interconnecting rooms and I am one room down, we drop them at the chaos that 4 children and 4 adults create in 2 hotel rooms and then I head back to my little piece of Nirvana for a shower, a 10 minute time out where it is clean-ish, cooler and my bed has always been made each day so far where the other 2 have not and I have had power when the other 2 have not-I’m telling you my room was Nirvana and then it is back to the chaos of family life 2 doors down.

We had to catch that annoying shuttle to the transfer building, so we had to make sure we had worked that into our timing, and perfect it was as we took a seat it started to pelt down rain, not just a rain shower, this was a mass bucketing of rain in epic proportions.  The transfer was a little late picking us up at 5.25pm, but we were on the road passing through the busi-ness of Patong to get through to the other side to Kamala and where the FantaSea show was.  After seeing the welcome size (which is massive) I still had no idea on what to expect till we pulled up and as the minivan door opened we were welcomed to the place, told where to collect our tickets, what time dinner and the show started and to have a great time.  The kids and I stepped out and I think all of our mouths were open, it was all lit up with neon lights and just at dusk we still had enough light to get some photos before it got too dark…. 

Phuket FantaSea is the island's biggest show. With trapeze artists, a cast of hundreds, performing elephants and other animals and an exotic storyline that blends tradition with fantasy you'll have a wonderful evening out here. But the extravaganza doesn't stop there as FantaSea also hosts one of the biggest buffets in Asia and is set in a theme park that offers carnival-like games, lots of shopping opportunities, a Palace of the Elephants, a Similan Adventure Centre several other food outlets. It's spectacular, it's extravagant, and it’s impressive and great entertainment value for all.

Shelly and Sandy went to get the tickets when I looked around and I saw a face I recognized and smiled and said Hi, it was a bloke that Shane used to play football with a long time ago, Oral B and his family.  He then saw Shane and we all had a gas bag and the world got a little smaller as Sandy used to teach Oral B’s daughter the violin…… I’m telling you smaller and smaller and after Shane meeting my half- brother last night at the kick boxing, randomly, you just never know what actions or remarks will be seen and heard and maybe even remembered by people you may not know…at the time…but may know people you do.  It is a crazy world.  Before you even pass through the main illuminated gates there is a massive pond with koi fish at the park’s entrance, where a writhing mass of orange, yellow, and white battle for food (available for purchase).  Some of the fish are massive and the kids were mesmerized by them for about 15 minutes. 

So with a wave to Oral B and family, which I am sure, we will see again inside, we walked through the turnstiles getting our tickets punched and then we had a full hour to full in before heading to dinner.  The kids thought they were in heaven, asking the prices of everything at the stalls as we passed to see if they had enough money to buy something from there.  We were trying to tell them to have a look around at everything first and then we can come back if it’s what you really want.  It is tough to tell a kid who has money to burn this philosophy, but it is where it all starts.  The main street is called  Carnival Village Shopping Street and pretty much everything enters and exits this street with it culminating at the end with the Palace of the Elephants Theatre and where we would finish up tonight for the show.   

Our first stop was Similan Entertainment Arcade and it was all lit up like a Christmas tree with neon, everything was neon colored and it was like walking into another world.  The arcade is supposed to reflect the undersea marine world of the Similan Island.  Here you can test your skills with exciting games in the design of a side show alley type of set up. 

Moving back into the street you start to notice all the building designs that are occasionally wacky, over-the-top costumes of people walking around, and elephants milling about down near the palace.  Phuket FantaSea bills itself as “the ultimate cultural theme park”, and it’s tough to come up with a better description. The evening peaks with a stage show, but that’s not the only excitement. The village has an assortment of shopping choices – from t-shirts to beachwear to jewellery, where we had to stop at each one in search of elusive purchases the kids could buy. 

It was dinner time.  We were famished.  You could eat anytime from 6.30pm right up till 9pm when the show started.  This was also our first look we got at the Palace of the Elephants which is across the large courtyard all lit up and it really did look like a centuries old palace from Angkor Wat.  Beautiful and pretty much a WOW moment for me.  The meal was at The Golden Kinnaree Buffet Restaurant and after showing our ticket and walking in you can see the how the park runs on a grand scale. It cavernous hall seats 4,000 hungry diners, it looked like a massive wedding reception venue.  Tables all set up in rows as far as the eye could see, but tastefully.  Two long buffet counters serve a mix of Thai and international food; while a changing selection of special dishes get their own kiosks at the front of the room. Wrap up the meal with coffee and a plate of scrumptious bite-sized desserts and that is how you feed a park of people.  We had paid extra to eat in a small room with our own buffet and it was like we were in a white palace, the room was all silver and white and it was a pretty amazing experience.  We had the same food as outside, it was just having the luxury of our own and the food was amazing.  I got a few spring rolls from outside, a noodle bowl and pork rolls. 

After dinner we had one more hour to fill before the show.  There’s no shortage of ways to pass the time.  You can jump aboard an elephant for a trip around the Songbird Luminarie.  Watch the bartender spin, flip, and toss bottles while dancing a techno-jig at the open-air bar. Shop for that perfect memento; there’s a store (or stall) for every taste and budget. Or visit the photo studio and dress the family in traditional Thai costumes for a unique keepsake.  We headed to Tiger Jungle Adventure where there was a promise to see some Tigers.  It is an adventure into an ancient, exotic realm of primordial jungle where you can catch a glimpse of the gentle, magnificent creatures that inhabit the enchanted Kingdom of Kamala including monkeys, deer, snakes, white peacocks, lemurs and cockatoos.  You pass through a theatrical environment of 12 exotic and mythical scenes inspired by timeless legends and ancient folklores and finished with the Tigers.  They were pretty amazing to see so close up, but they were pacing and I think this is a bad sign that they are bored.  There were 4 of them in the enclosure, and they did play with each other at times, which was nice to see, but with just a pane of glass separating you from them it is a pretty cool experience.  We had to haul arse back to the theatre.  We were running a bit late now as we were looking for a shop that Hads had seen a necklace she was ready to buy.  The poor kid, we tell her to look at everything, she does and now we don’t know what shop she saw it in!!!  She was hysterical……

The theatre opened at 20:30 and we made it at 8.55pm and most of the guests had already filed through security. We show our tickets again for the first check, and then the security check your bags for anything that is electronic and you have to check it in to storage.  Cameras aren’t allowed inside, and they take it very seriously. Video cameras, digital cameras, camera phones – basically, everything short of pen and paper that can create an image – must be checked in. The process is quick and painless, but my thoughts are after the show when we all exit together but I guess we will worry about that later.  Two minutes later you’re in a large hall full of costumed staff, baby elephants, and young tigers, all of which will pose for a photograph with you – for a fee.  I HAD to get a group photo so we choose the elephants for out picture and we were allowed to pat them after the shot and one of them even sniffed my bag with his trunk and it was a little scary-it was a real life elephant.  So I paid for the photo and you pick it up after the show. 

The show kicks off in grand style at 21:00. The stage is huge, but the performance space is even bigger. Aisles, ceiling, audience – every part of the theatre is used. While the eye is treated to modern effects like smoke, explosions, lasers, rain, soaring people, the brain gets insights into Thai culture in the form of traditional dances from different regions of the country, shadow puppets, and a fascinating wardrobe. It’s not tough to believe elephants can become accomplished actors, but this show also employs goats, roosters, water buffalo, and doves in supporting roles.  The chickens were a highlight for all of us.  The story isn’t easy to follow, as 95% of it is in Thai, but it doesn’t matter. Loud and funny moments interrupted by quiet, beautiful interludes do a great job conveying the emotion. The end result is a display that’s as dazzling as the sights outside the theatre.  The Grand finale with 16 elephants on stage at the same time performing some tricks is certainly a vision to remember and no matter what age you will definitely love the show.  It is a long night for kids with the only show starting at 9pm, the 2 Elkin girls had faded off during the show with it finishing around 10.30pm.  We then had to join the photo line, which I did that, the girls joined the camera line (which was a lot longer) so we decided to make way with the kids to the front gates and wait for them there.  It was lucky we did start out early as the heavens then decided to open up and we got wet on our way back to the main entrance where we could wait undercover for Shelly and Sandy, who weren’t that far behind us, but certainly got a lot more wet than us. 

There’s one thing that sticks with you is the operations at Phuket FantaSea.  They are slick, they know what is happening at all times, move you all to where you need to get too and their job is done at the end of the night when they have you picked up, fed, entertained, and returned safely to your hotel – all without missing a beat. Transitions from Point A to Point B to Point C are seamless, and there’s always plenty of staff around to keep you heading in the right direction. The size of this well-oiled machine is astounding, and makes its flawless execution that much more impressive.  There seemed to be a lot of people all waiting for the transfer’s home, depending where your hotel was depended on to which stop you waited at and then mini-vans just pulled in, loaded up and then pulled out.  Our line looked busy, so as the boys sat with the kids we waited in the line and within 15-20 minutes we were at the top of the queue, loaded up and on our way home. 

No children made it back awake, they were all fast asleep and we had to do that stupid transfer thing again to get to the hotel.  It is a real pain when you have 4 sleeping children at 11.30pm at night.  We had to wait 10 minutes for the trolley shuttle to get us and with all children in bed; the adults weren’t far behind them.  No nightcaps tonight- we needed our beauty sleep for the wedding tomorrow. 

What a great day.

REUNITED WITH MY BRISBANE GALS IN PHUKET

WEATHER: Flippin Hot and 34C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing my gals again after 46 days

BUMMER OF THE DAY: HUMIDITY SUCKS

WORD OF THE DAY:  How HOT is it?

Today I leave my reclusive life at the Sugar Palm Hotel in Kata Beach to the Lap of Luxury at the Hilton Arcadia Phuket at Karon Beach.  If that wasn’t exciting enough I also get to see my gals again, Shelly, Sandy, Tess, Zoe, Hads and the boys for good measure Shane, Jase and Hunter AND if that wasn’t exciting enough I get to see them in PHUKET as they holiday here for the week and at the same time we will also attend the wedding of Trevor and Dayna on Tuesday.  To say I am a little excited is an UNDERSTATEMENT. 

The Elks had arrived in last night at 11pm, so I was just going to meet them and change hotels this morning in time for champagne.  What the cost of one night at the Hilton I could get 3 nights at the Sugar Palm so changing this morning made all the sense to me.  I had 95% packed last night, I just had a few things to tuck away and I was on my way.  I had only been to the reception desk once during my stay and that was to check-in and now I go back for a second time to check-out.  I wonder if I have been the easiest guest they have ever had? I had room service dinner for 3 nights I was there and it was a grand total of 45AUD.  I think my 2 weeks so far in Phuket have been my cheapest so far on my whole Odyssey, well maybe it would give my Intrepid Africa a good run for its money at least, some days we were lucky to even spend 10 bucks a day on that trip.  I hadn’t done a tuk tuk ride yet, so instead of getting a normal car transfer, I just walked straight out the front of the hotel to the main road and asked for a tuk tuk to the Hilton.  I checked the price the other day at the tuk tuk rank and he said 300BHT and when I checked with reception she said the same thing so when I asked for his price, he said 300BHT, so I said that’s fine and he said the price again!  Maybe he was expecting me to haggle, but it was a fair price I had checked 2 people so I was ready to rock and roll. 

It was only a 10 minute ride and being a Sunday morning at 8am there was not a lot of traffic on the roads.  That is one thing to be said is that things are open late in the morning and rock on till 9pm through to midnight here.  We got to the front gates to the Hilton Resort and after a man walking around the tuk tuk with a large mirror checking the underside of the vehicle for bombs we were allowed to pass through.  Talk about taking security seriously.  So we unloaded at what looked like reception under a massive, massive open plan thatched building.  I paid my tuk tuk man and went to the counter and said I would like to check-in and she said that I needed to wait for the shuttle to take me to reception.  This was just a loading zone as such, for guests, and the only way to the resort itself was via this shuttle.  What a pain in the arse.  So after a 10 minute wait the shuttle which is like a trolley car pulls up and with my 3 bags hoisted onto the back I hang on for the 3 minute ride to the resort and a very special welcome from 4 happy little people and Shelly and Frog as I tried to enlighten the trolley without hurting myself.  This is the bonus of a 5 star hotel; bell boy was all over my bag as I hugged and kissed everyone and made our way to the check-in counter where Sandy had come to welcome me as well.  It is SO GOOD to see people I know, my family and to get out and about again.

When I had booked my room from home I had booked the cheapest option into a deluxe garden view.  When I checked in the guys were in a King deluxe room in the main building and I was in a building about a 7 minute walk away, so I asked about upgrading and getting a room that was next to the Randall’s and Elkins who already had interconnecting rooms and I was able to get a room one away from them and I only had to pay an extra 33AUD per night.  In hindsight it was money well spent to just be able to go from their room to mine in 1 second instead of a life ride, a 7 minute walk and another lift ride to get back to my original room.  I left my bags in the capable hands of the porter to take to my room and we headed straight down to breakfast which I haven’t had in 13 days.  Gotta get back into the real world again.  I saw more people I knew including the Bride and Groom and it felt great to be here.  The breakfast was AMAZING and the bacon was ‘real’ bacon and I just stuck with the good old bacon and eggs on toast with a few sausages thrown in for good measure.  Tessie couldn’t believe I was actually here and wanted to hug me and sit next to me and tell me all her stories that I have missed out on so far.  They know exactly how many days I am here for and we intend to make the most of them.  Shelly and I were surprised how quick 7 weeks went when I was at home, how are 4 days going to last, but it is 4 days of holiday time, no work, no ice skating, no dancing-just pure 100% holiday time.

And not to waste any time, after breakfast we headed straight to the bar and ordered 3 cocktails and just sat back and relaxed as the kids danced on stage and even put out a hat in the hope that maybe some-one would throw some money in for their efforts.  IT was funny to watch that when people were coming they would get their happy faces on and some moves choreographed hoping to catch the people’s eyes.  The closest they got to cash was the 500BHT that Nana gave for them to spend while they were in Phuket.  It is a shame that they really don’t know how much it is, but they will certainly work out the value of the dollar when we head to the markets after our cocktail.  As I hadn’t been out much I am not 100% sure if every day has been this hot, but man today it was so HUMID, if it was like this every day I think I would have stayed in my hotel room anyway!  Everyone was just a ball of sweat, it was terrible, but the cocktails helped a little……. Well we do need to keep up our fluids right so we have decided to photo document our drinks for the day.  We are now officially on a mission.

I was lucky my room was ready, so after breakfast and our first alcohol beverage for the day at 10am we decided to take a walk to the markets and let the kids have a look around to see if they could find something to spend their money on.  The markets were beachside to the resort, so we had to walk across the grounds on a path to the main road and then the markets would have been just a further 10 minutes on.  The kids were really struggling with the heat, but once we got to the market they perked up for a little bit.  They are indoor markets in a big shed and you know what a shed and hot blazing sun equals?  It was seriously so hot at the markets that we were all just drenched in sweat, Tess was feeling it the most, so I offered to give her a piggy back to let her rest, which she then wanted to upgrade to the shoulders as she doesn’t have to hang on when she is up there, so I obliged and before we knew it she had fallen asleep on my shoulders using my head as her pillow!  It was hilarious.  We spent around 45 minutes in there, making sure that the kids kept drinking a mountain of water.  I am really over the shopping, it is all the same stuff from when I was here last time and whatever I buy here I will send home with Shelly, which isn’t fair, but I did need an overnight bag from the Philippines as my internal flights only let you have a 10kg baggage restriction, so I got a 6AUD bag that will suffice for that section of the trip and then I will just ditch it after I have finished before flying back to Singapore. 

We stopped at Subway for lunch and took the rolls back to the room to eat them in peace and in air-conditioning and we lured the kids back to the hotel with the promise of a cold drink and a splash in the pool all afternoon which perked their flushed little faces, also the adults and we were in to pool not long after lunch.  The Hilton has 3 main pools that I could see.  The pool attached to the main section of the hotel has a waterslide and also an amazing waterfall as well.  So we pulled up some sun chairs, ordered some more cocktails and let the afternoon slide us by.  It was that hot that even I got into the pool, where I stayed, even to eat lunch on the side and I even went down the waterslide after the pleading of Tessie to do so.  Sandy had prepared the kids for the trip explaining that things will be different in Phuket to the way things are in Australia and her motto to the kids were ‘They were broadening their horizons’.  So with this piece of information, I decided to go down the waterslide for Tessie and it was a ton of fun.  So much so that we decided to do an adult train down the slide consisting of myself, Jase, Shane and Shelly.  Well there is a reason why the signs at the top of the slide tell you if you are 14+ not to use the slide and if you're are 45kg or more to not use the slide.  Well with that aside, the four of us shot down the slide at lightning speed and after we all surfaced, I had banged my arm, Jase had hurt his back and Shane hit the shallow part of the pool quite hard.  Okay so maybe the signs are up for a reason!  The slide, the waterfall and fake cave kept the kids busy all afternoon till it was time for them to hop out as we had a Hen’s night to get ready for.  It wasn’t going to be a BIG one, it was just a few drinks at the bar in the hotel, which was fine with us as we had the kids as the boys also had the Buck’s night tonight as well and theirs looked like it was going to be bigger than Ben Hur.  The ladies were to meet at 4pm, the boys joined us for the happy hour between 6-7 pm and then they were on their way to Patong for a night of goodness knows what.  Shane had gone to the effort of making ping pong bat golden necklaces and for those of you who know what they were for, yes that is exactly what they were for and in the condition that they left in at 8.30pm it was going to be a BIG night for them.  It was a good turn out and there must have been 25 of them!  Look out Patong.

The girls were a little more low key and pretty much everyone had cleared out at 9.30pm.  We hadn’t eaten dinner yet and the kiddies were hungry so we walked back beachside and stopped at the first restaurant we saw called Mama’s and it was amazing food for a great price and with cocktail number 13 in our hands we had had a productive day in keeping up our fluids. I had also done okay after breaking my routine for the last 11 days and I must say I was shattered.  There was enough energy in the tank for a Bailey’s nightcap in Shelly’s room and it was wonderful to walk 6m to my room at 12.30am, again definitely worth paying that extra money.  Even if 4 nights at the Hilton would get me 14 nights at The Sugar Palm Resort.  Well this was the splurgy part of my trip and you can’t put a price on seeing my gals again. 

WOO HOO-We’re going to have a cracker few days….             

I WAS A RECLUSE IN PHUKET AND I ENJOYED IT

WEATHER FOR THE 11 DAYS: Hot, sticky, rain at times and 30C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE 11 DAYS: Getting my 22 entries on my blog up to date

BUMMER OF THE DAY OF THE 11 DAYS: Can’t think if a single thing

WORD OF THE 11 DAYS: Phuket Paradise-lunch time drink of choice

So I’ve been to Phuket before, twice.  My main reason for being here so long was I got a great room deal; I needed somewhere cheap to stay until my Sri Lanka tour stated at the end of September and the bonus was I could now come to a friend’s wedding on the 26^th September.  I wasn’t coming here as a tourist as such, I had no plans of going to the islands, of riding an elephant or going to any lady boy shows.  I came to have some time off from being a tourist and my main aim was to get my blog up to speed and I knew what a bloody BIG job I had ahead of me.  Each blog is normally 3-5 pages, depending on what happened that day and it can take 1-3 hours to write one entry.  I had 22 to do not including this one.  I am lucky that I can sum my 11 days in Phuket into one entry and with the girls arriving tonight at midnight I am officially up to date till tomorrow once I post this entry.  I can’t tell you how good it feels to be caught up and I swear I am never going to fall that far behind again.  I think part of the reason, besides being so busy, I had 7 weeks off at home where I was only blogging once a week, to get thrown back in again to daily grind (with love) of writing was something I had to refocus on.  Thank goodness I still had the sense to take all my millions of notes and it is the next best thing of not writing it fresh each day. 

Phuket is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Phang Nga and Krabi, but as Phuket is an island it has no land boundaries.  Phuket, which is approximately the size of Singapore, is Thailand’s largest island. The island is connected to mainland Thailand by two bridges. It is situated off the west coast of Thai land in the Andaman Sea.  The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ship logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch and English traders. The region now derives much of its income from tourism. 

On December 26, 2004, Phuket and other nearby areas on Thailand's western coast suffered extensive damage when they were struck by the Boxing Day tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The waves destroyed several highly populated areas in the region, killing up to 5,300 people nationwide and tens of thousands more throughout the Asian region. Some 250 were reported dead in Phuket, including foreign tourists, and as many perhaps as a thousand of the illegal Burmese workers building new beach resorts in the Khao Lak area. Almost all of the major beaches on the west coast, especially Kamala, Patong, Karon and Kata, sustained major damage, with some damage caused to resorts and villages on the island's southern beaches.  By February 2005 many damaged resorts were back to business, and life slowly returned to normal. Following strenuous recovery programs, no tsunami damage can now be seen except in the most remote beaches.  In early December 2006, Thailand launched the first of the 22 U.S.-made tsunami-detection buoys to be positioned around the Indian Ocean as part of a regional warning system. The satellite-linked deep-sea buoy floats 1,000 km offshore, roughly midway between Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Besides my very first day when I was still jetlagged and needed to still find my bearings I ate at the hotel’s restaurant which is a third party business not actually attached to the hotel, but it was only a 2 minute walk to the main road and it was located there.  I needed to get some money on my second day and found an ATM a 5 minute walk from the hotel and then I discovered a restaurant simply called ‘ Outdoor Restaurant’ and this was to become my new home away (eating ) from home (sleeping).  BY day 3 I knew I had become a recluse and I have to say I actually enjoyed it.  Normally after a 7 day stay somewhere I am ready to move to my new destination, start my new tour and get people orientated again, but I think because I was so busy blogging, I found that I possibly didn’t have enough hours in the day and before I knew it I am on my 11^th night at the hotel.

So every day was the same from day 3 and it ran like this:

I wouldn’t go to bed till 2-3am each morning

I would wake at midday every day, shower and then head out before house-keeping called.

I would be ay ‘my restaurant’ from 1-4pm each day.  I started taking my computer with me and would pump out a blog over my 2 course meal and 2 Phuket Paradise cocktails each day.

I would then head to the 7/11 and buy my dinner which comprised of a 2 minute noodle bowl, a can of coke and maybe a snack for later.

I would then head back to my room any time after 5pm where I would then pump out another blog, eat dinner around 9pm and then head to bed at around 3am and then the whole process would start again the next day.  If that is not the activities of a recluse I do not know what is. 

I did shake it up a bit at the end of the week.  I went down to the beach to say that I had been down there and I dipped my feet in the ocean and just for a change with the food yesterday I headed back to the restaurant on the beach, which is actually part of the Kata Beach Hotel and I had some western food just for a change and because I could and I had a serve of wedges with bacon and cheese, but I also did have a Thai chicken dish as well.  Talk about living on the edge…. Not………..  It was nice to hear the motion of the ocean and the wind in my hair, but they didn’t have Wi-Fi and the prices were a little bit more but you would expect that for the location.  I am having a big lunch each day and then finding that the 2 minute noodles is enough for dinner each night and I am not sick of them yet as there are so many flavors to choose from. 

The weather has been hit and miss and I don’t think there has been a day where it hasn’t rained.  Well at least not before midday.  I am on holidays after all and I guess after being on the road for so long and actually not having a ‘home’ as such anymore I will not feel guilty that I did jack shit the while time I was here.  I know my sleeping patterns are going to have to change, but I think I will just tackle that problem when the time comes when I have to rise before 12 noon.  Well actually that will be tomorrow as Shelly and I have planned to have a champagne breakfast tomorrow at my new hotel.  I check out of the wonderful Sugar Palm Resort at Kata and I head to the lap of luxury for 4 nights at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia at Karon Beach.  I can’t wait to see the girls tomorrow and if I have my information right I think the Hens Night is tomorrow night!!!      

     

Not only have I been doing my blog but I have been putting together iMovie’s, which is basically a programme that links my photos to a song that I select and I have been loading them to You Tube as I finish them.  It is not hard to do, it is just time consuming ploughing through the hundreds of photos for that particular section of the trip and picking the final 40 odd photos, which is the length of an average song and then the upload process.  This can be quite lengthy and for some reason the hotels internet would not let me upload any no matter how many I tried, so I would do the work at night and then I have been uploading them over lunch at the restaurant.  Their usage over the last week must have gone up for sure with the arrival of me eating there every day. 

I used a different shop for my stock up during the week to restock my supplies and you will never guess what they had in there.  Tim Tams (5 different varieties) and Mint Slice biscuits!  So I snapped up 2 packets of Mint Slice, bought some more noodles, some soft drink, 2 Bacardi Breezers, some chips and wafers and I was back to the hotel.  I was online to Shelly chatting to her via IPad messages so it wasn’t costing us a penny and we had a virtual drink together as we chatted.  I got a little sad when they mentioned that Collingwood had just won and they were now on their way into the Caxton.  I miss those girls.

It was interesting to watch the traffic go past ‘my restaurant’ each day and there are a lot of western people riding mopeds either without helmets or just in their bathers-are they crazy?  All it takes is a wrong move or someone to not see them and they are toast and in a whole world of pain.  Crazy people.  I have also noted a lot of Russians and Polish people holidaying here.  A LOT.  My restaurant’s menu is in Thai, English and Russian and there is even a Russian TV station they have on here in the hotel.   

I did go one day without my Phuket Paradise and consider that my AFD (alcohol free day) as come the weekend I think I will permanently have alcohol in my system with the arrival of the Elk and Randall clan on Saturday night.  They are staying at the Hilton at Karon, so I will be changing hotels on Sunday morning and then staying 4 nights at the same property.  Shelly text me today telling me the girls are so excited.  Tess has packed het card game Fish and Zoe has packed her card game Snap so we can play when we are together.  They are just so cute. This was also the day that Blogger, my blog host (as the names suggests) had upgraded their platforms and everything looks different now and they are doing away with the old templates and we need to move to one of the new platforms.  They have been advising us since January that it was going to happen, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise.  I was lucky it happened while I was here and I had the time to devote to upgrading my 2 blogs and it took a day and a half, but I am super happy the way they look now and they look so much more modern. 

www.berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com

www.berniesethiopianodyssey.blogspot.com     

I have also been reading my Kindle over lunch before pulling out the laptop and I finished one during the week about 3 UN Workers and how they coped, worked, and survived on their missions over a 10 year period and wonder just how much good they actually did during their time.  They were in tough regions including Haiti, Rwanda during the Genocide, Serbia, Somalia and Cambodia to name a few.  It was tough and it is a true story and really opens your eyes on what people actually do to try and help people. 

Which brings me to my project I have where I am trying to raise 5000AUD to put water well into a community of 250 people in Rwanda and I thought I would be easy to get people to donate 10AUD and we would have that well all signed, sealed and delivered.  Well to date I have had 3 generous donations and have raised 120AUD.  It is something, but I did expect more.  People are telling me how brave and courageous I am to be moving to help people and you give people a chance to be a part of it without leaving their homes and they don’t donate a penny.  Anyone would think I am asking for 100 bucks but all I need is 5 bucks from all my Facebook friends and we would have that well.  I’m thinking of a new plan and I think I am going to message all 1033 Facebook friends personally and maybe then they will be more inclined to make a donation.  I will let you know how that goes.  I have also now finished a short story of an American lady that spent 7 days on a mission to Ethiopia and it took all my will not to cry over lunch at the restaurant and it has made me even more determined to get the money for this well, and I am thinking maybe I may just have to put the money in myself…..  It is a little frustrating….. 

http://mycharitywater.org/bernies-odyssey-for-clean-water   

Lastly I have decided I better start getting my Philippine trip organized as I will be there in 3 weeks.  So Beth and I have been emailing and we have found a 10 night package where I will be spending a few nights in Manila, 4 nights in Cebu and 4 nights in the magical Boracay-sounds great right?  This will be off the back end of Sri Lanka which I think is going to be a busy tour so it will be nice to sit on one of the world best claimed beaches with a  cocktail and just hope I get some good weather.  Then the last thing to book is my trip back to Ethiopia but need to wait a little longer to see if Zeme will be flying with me back to Singapore or not…. And I have spoken to him twice this week and he will start that ball rolling in the next few days. 

So that has summed up my 11 days here at Kata Beach in Phuket.  I have been a recluse, I have enjoyed it, but it is now time to hang up the computer and what better reason and excise than to spend my last 4 days here with my best friend, my god-daughters and friends that are all here for the wedding.

MY BLOG IS OFFICILLY UP TO DATE.

I SWEAR THAT I WILL NOT BE MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN.

I enjoyed being a recluse-but it’s time to join society again.

So love from the weary blog writer-let the cocktails flow and I welcome back the laughter again starting tomorrow.