No pressure then... and no floods so far in Phuket (28 - 30 March 2011)

This morning I wake up to day five of continual rain here in dry season Phuket. The rain is still coming down, slightly lighter than the downpours of yesterday, but still heavy. The usual morning sing song greeting from the staff here has changed from a cheerful "Sawadeeka" to "more raining..." but still, of course, delivered with a nice smile! The forecast is still a bit iffy. I tried to check and the Thai meteorological site recommended by the UK foreign office on its tweets is "not available" - perhaps just overloaded.
The problem is an area of very low and very slow moving pressure sitting over the whole of Southern Thailand just dropping its rain out of the sky. But Phuket is coping a lot better than poor old Koh Samui. It's odd looking at pictures online of places I was happily and hotly wandering around a few weeks ago, now waist high in water and boats going up and down the roads. This picture is Chewang, Koh Samui, the road where I popped into Boots just a few short weeks ago.....



There's no power in the whole of Lamai where I was staying. The airport there has been closed for two days now, and the ferry services are also suspended, so people there are a bit trapped. One of the main problems on Koh Samui is that a lot of the hotels have been built right on the beach and have solid walls at the road side, which completely block any natural drainage of water. But it is actually this design thats brings the tourists, letting you go out of your room straight out on to the beach, Catch 22 really. You don't get that nearly so much in Phuket, but that makes it less attractive.
So here in Phuket, whilst still cool, windy and wet, and under a flood and landslide warning, the roads, even my big hill, are still functioning. No chance of a walk though, it's a bit wet even for that, so I take the hotel tuk tuk into town to have yet another wander around the Jungceylon Shopping Mall. That's relatively closed in, the few semi open areas losing the battle with the rain. I have wandered around there so often now, think I could get a job as a personal shopper, I know it so well!

But as well as being glad I am not in Koh Samui right now, I am even happier that I am not in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The rains flooded the local zoo and eleven crocodiles and two bears escaped. So far they have shot one and caught three crocodiles......
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The Sun Has Got Its Hat On.... (24 - 27 March 2011)

....hip, hip, hip, hooray.... Sorry, just indulging in a favourite fantasy! This hasn't been the sunniest of trips but two days ago there was 24 hours of solid, non stop, heavy rain, all day, all night. Yesterday morning the rain dampened down to a light drizzle but at 3pm it started again. And it goes on, and on, and on. This morning it's still raining and the forecast, due to low pressure, is the same for the rest of the week. Can't work it out as normally in March here in Phuket, there are only four days in the whole month with any rain and now we have flood warnings across the whole of central and Southern Thailand. Obviously the climate change Gods did not listen to anyone participating in Earth Hour a few days ago...
Yesterday in the few hour respite, I walked down into Patong to take a look at the QM2 that had docked. As cruise ships go, it is one of the more stylish I think. It really changed the town demographics with the Russian voices now in the minority and replaced with Brits and elderly Americans.



There's not a huge amount to do in Phuket when there is torrential rain all day so am thankful for the films on the iPad, e books and Slingbox. And my jumper, it's chilly sitting on the balcony! Went online to see what the tourist board suggest for rainy days here and one suggestion was to top up with a bit of plastic surgery - now there's an idea.... But for now I think I will stick to browsing round the shops and stalls yet again.




The local tailoring shops still haven't got my business, and this one offered an interesting choice of couture, Chanel or Marks and Spencer. I was tempted by the shop who advertise "we spik inglish". I haven't yet felt the need for a "mancure" or indeed "temporary tatoe", but you never know what rain induced boredom might cause.... But clothes shopping here is difficult. On looking on one stall for a new swimming cossie, I pick up the largest size I could find, but even I, with eternal hope, knew it was hopeless. However, ever the saleswoman, the stall owner picked it up, stretched it beyond where it was never meant to go and said, with as much sincerity as she could muster (and that wasn't a lot), "it we be fy, you really no tha beeg....".

But the Thai's don't have it all when it comes to language issues. I stop for a Starbucks and read on the cardboard round my coffee "this sleeve is made from 60% post consumer fibre". Thoughts of All Bran and open drains.....
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Full On Phuket (20 - 22 March 2011)

With relief, after my scary flights (I guess Air Asia are used to this sort of weather....) I finally land safely in Phuket. I am proud of myself at the airport when my backpacker self comes to the fore as I fight my way through the limo and taxi touts to find the shared minibus service, saving all of £6 in the process... But no matter, I can do this backpacker stuff... Although there are many quiet beaches here in Phuket, I decided that I have done quiet for too long and decide to go for it and stay in Patong, the busiest beach area on the island. But at least I decide to stay in the hills above rather than right in the town. So I am careful to confirm with the minibus driver that yes, they will take me all the way to my hotel, and yes, they will drop me off at the door. Forty minutes or so later we start the drop off around the hotels in town. Then we get to me and I am put out of the mini bus without ceremony like Jane Eyre off her coach and the hotel is pointed out to me. Well not the hotel exactly, he kindly pointed out the sign that said it was 100 metres up a vertical hill in the pitch dark (it was 10pm).



My complaints fell on deaf ears as his Thai was telling me via his sign language that no way was he going up there, it was so steep it would damage the bottom of his van... Off he drives with some choice Thai from me, not sure what the literal translation is, but it was along the lines of "yu fuckee thy bastar" - I was quite proud of my accent as, I think, were the four people left in the van. Even they looked shocked, but whether that was the result of the driver leaving this poor old dear stranded in the pitch dark with no hotel in sight, or my language, I'll never know! There was a little grocers nearby, but no english spoken here. I then find a phone, but a passing local guy informs me, "phone finish".... I was about to crack open the duty free and camp till daylight, when my Thai saviour came in the form of a female taxi driver called Sao. She was so nice, and with limited language skills on both sides, she grasped my problem - big suitcase, on my own, vertical hill, pitch dark and no sight of hotel. She tries the phone, and as luck would have it it wasn't "finish" and she duly barks orders to the hotel to come and fetch me. She waits until their tuk tuk arrives. How nice to find such kindness when you feel you've just been ripped off. At least it gives me the excuse to go straight for the limo in future....


The hotel is the Baan Yuree Hotel and Spa and is beautiful, big, stylish rooms, a three tier pool and amazingly cheap. But I guess the old saying location, location, location may have a lot to do with that.



It's not far from the beach area, but far enough away to be quiet which suits me, and would have an amazing view of the sweep of Patong Bay were it not for the huge condo built right in the way.... And the hill really is quite steep... But they provide an almost hourly shuttle to and from town. The hill is fairly long and steep but it did look (and is, have walked it a couple of times) a lot better in the daylight!
And the hill provides their USP, they proudly announce on the website that they are safe from tsunami's, but at this rate with the amount of rain around, it's landslides that could be more of a problem!
Patong itself really is an awful place, but I actually quite like it. The beach has more chairs more close together than even the most naff Mediterranean ones. Cruise ships moor out in the bay, the stalls are full of the same tourist tat, but it has a real buzz and life about it. So not a place to come for a peaceful two week holiday.... A few Ozzies and a huge amount of Russians again so Moscow hooker is the look du jour.... The beach road is the usual collection of stalls and restaurants and taxi touts. The traffic is apalling. But on the road back from the beach there is a huge, very attractive shopping mall, the Jungceylon Mall, which has everything you would ever need. All the usual suspects from McD's to Starbuck's, Boots, a micro brewery and a huge Robinson's Department store. Loads of great restaurants in semi open air, which is really useful. Those halo's were right, it rains a lot now and the thunderstorms occur on a regular basis, in fact one is doing its thing right now as I sit in the shelter of my balcony writing this....

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Supermoons and More Halo's (17 - 20 March 2011)

On my last but one night here in Langkawi, it offers me a 22 degree halo around the moon to match the one around the sun a few days ago. And on the night of the Supermoon too. Luckily the cloud cleared enough so I could actually see said Supermoon, it looked no different to a normal full moon to me, but I did like the halo. My pictures of this are even less National Geographic than the ones I took of the sun!



Yet again, Google tells me that a moon halo, just like the sun one isn't always a precursor of bad weather. On this occasion I think Google got it a bit wrong again, there has been loads more rain (even the taxi drivers comment on it "this month last year, no rain" each one tells me in a desperate attempt to convince me that it really is normally a good time to visit....
The rains also bring with them exceptionally hot weather as the storms build up throughout the day. Now, as you know, I love a bit of heat and humidity, but even for me it was becoming a bit trying, and as I walked past Langkawi Undersea World, a big attraction here, and the idea of seeing Antarctic penguins seemed a good, cooling idea. So I pay my money and in I go. Big mistake, huge! The first bit you walk through is tropical world which is every bit as hot and humid as outside, but to add to the horror, it was also the exhibit of creatures that live the other side to under the sea, tropical birds, all flying freely around..... I kept looking out for Alfred Hitchcock.... I got a few odd looks as I hurried past everyone else admiring these things... Next area was the penguins. All behind a glass screen, in, I hope, a climate that was more suited to them. But I was sorry I went, they had lots of places to perch and swim, but it seemed so wrong keeping them there. Call me hypocritical, but I had less of an issue with the shark exhibit, they were definitely in the right place out of the real sea..... And then the fishy bit, and the majestic rays swimming about gracefully in a really small tank. A small Ozzie child next to me put it succinctly when he said, "oh, that big one looks so sad". He was right, it kept swimming to the edge in what looked a desperate attempt to escape. I had had enough, so made my way out (through the gift shop, of course....) only to find, which I'm sure they don't see as ironic, that you then have to walk through the fresh seafood restaurant to get out.....
But time and Air Asia wait for no man so it was soon time to go back to the airport. Two flights, Langkawi to KL to Phuket. Note to self, in tropical places when rain is around, book your flights for the morning to avoid the worst of the weather as the heat builds up. By the time I boarded the first flight the rain had started in earnest, and by the second, the strobes of lightning were well underway. Air Asia normally turn of the seatbelt sign as soon as the wheels are up (more time to make a few bob selling food etc on these short flight) but not this time, we bumped for ages, strapped to our seats in the pitch dark, apart from the lighting strobes...... Not one of my finest moments!


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Monkey Business.... (16 March 2011)

The hotel here is on the other side of the headland to the main beach so I often take a walk over there. The road is fine but carved out through a heavily wooded area and as I walk - quickly - I hear all sorts of nature noises...... From under a bush comes the high pitched noise of something and a glittering pair of black eyes peeking out at me in a rather unfriendly way.... No idea what it was but it wasn't pleased to see me! A little further along a group of monkeys, up until now just seen and heard leaping through the trees in the distance, decide to pop out and forage in the bin that had been left out for collection just as I was walking past. Oh well, I guess it's good practice for Borneo....



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Asda Is The New La Perla... (13 - 15 March 2011)

....or at least that is the way it seems. Every time I send stuff to the laundry in Asia, it comes back minus some underwear, not sure what the attraction is of Asda's three pairs for a fiver, all I know is my undies store is getting smaller as the washing goes on.... Was lovin' the sign at the Sufia Laundry though, "cheap, clean and fresh"! It said nothing about disappearing clothes.... My clothes are also all more matching than they were when I started out, so I find myself more colour co ordinated than I intended. The colours are all merging into one as they are bashed about in industrial washers and dryers and everything is now sort of beige..... This is also causing alarming shrinkage too..... there can be no other reason my clothes feel tighter, can there?
The hotel is busier this week as it is school holidays in Malaysia and Singapore. The weather has also turned into holiday weather, today I wake up to a cool, wet and windy day, with low grey clouds obscuring my wonderful island view. I feel sorry for the parents trying to keep the kids occupied in the dismal weather.
Eagles are big round here, and by that I mean the kind with wings rather than the Hotel California kind, although they too have their time as the resident band croon away night after night after night....



I keep trying to get a good picture of one in the sky, but have failed miserably so far, this is my best effort!



Thankfully the flying kind are not quite so big as the one I finally found in Eagle Square a few days ago.






This is near the ferry port and bordered by a lovely park, with little white beaches along the edge and views towards the small islands. It's also very near Langkawi Fair, the largest shopping Mall on the island which was obviously a must see. Lots of the shops were closed, not sure if this is due to a duff economy or the fact that it was Friday (aka Sunday in this part of the world) and the traders were just having a day of rest. All the Mosques on the island were doing a roaring trade. But the good news for my limited luggage weight (Air Asia and all that entails) is that nothing caught my eye, well that's not quite true, lots of things caught my eye, it's just that I am not in the market for a local outfit or a set of wooden teacups or a badly carved eagle just at this moment!
So what to do - ah the beach calls.
Got chatting to a Brit, you really can meet all sorts out here. He is married to a Thai girl but lives in the UK as he cannot go back to Thailand as he would be put in prison (unspecified crime, however much I probed....!). She still lives in Thailand and they meet up here once a year if he can save up enough from his building work .... He was drinking lots of beer in a bar, she was back in the AB Motel..... Strange lives.....

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Did My Halo Slip....... (8 - 9 March 2011)

.....or should that be did it rise into the sky? Yesterday I saw a very strange phenomenon, a perfect circle of cloud covering the sun, surrounded by a halo and have never seen anything like it before. And neither had anyone else by the look of it as they stared at the sky. But this is where a trusy iPad comes to the fore, a quick Google and there you have it. It was a 22 Degree Halo, caused by ice crystals and cirrus cloud. Most impressive and I managed to take a picture of a part of it. It did say online that it is not always a harbinger of bad weather but this time I think it might have been.



We are still very clearly in the supposed dry season here, but since the halo sighting, we have had monumental thunderstorms each evening, huge light shows showing the silhouettes of the islands in the inky dark distance, but enough already.... I didn't sign up for this! But it has produced some amazing sunsets.....



I had got used to taking a walk in the cool of the evenings to the beach area to find something to eat, but the thought of getting caught outdoors in lightning doesn't do it for me, so today decided to walk a bit in the day to be on the safe side.
I discover that the hotel provides a shuttle into Kuah the main town so venture there in hope of Duty Free heaven. The town is quite small, all low rise and not targeted, except for the Duty Free stores, at the tourist population. No coffee shops, bars or decent looking cafes and a clamber over open drains wherever you walk. Duty free here is limited to booze, cigarettes and chocolate - one huge shop selling nothing else but chocolate, perhaps it is highly taxed in the rest of Malaysia? A few dusty electronic shops and not much else so the diamonds will have to wait for another time.... I had read that Eagle Square is the big thing to see, but no luck. The shuttle driver had never heard of it and I and the other two people in the shuttle didn't have a map to find it (local tourist maps are impossible to get hold of), so I gave up. The town couldn't hold my interest for the 41/2 hours before said shuttle came back so I get a cab back to the beach area, and what do I find? A tourist map of Kuah, clearly showing the much vaunted Eagle Square and details of Langkawi's largest shopping centre just down the road from where we had been dropped off..... Oh well, another day, another shopping trip!


Also another first today in Langkawi - a cruise ship. The hotel is on a small marina with a longer pier off to the side. And today appeared a huge P&O ship, the Artemis, here for the day. It looked huge next to the othee yachts and small long tail boats. It was like being back in the Caribbean! But there aren't that many, the next one due is the Queen Elizabeth which unfortunately doesn't arrive here till the day after I leave, such a pity, I would have like to have seen it.



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Reflections On International Women's Day (8 March 2011)

The hotel I am in seems to cater to a mix of nationalities, from young Indian couples on honeymoon still wearing their henna patterns and many beautiful bracelets, Europeans here for the sun wearing very little and local people with the women wearing the traditional head scarf. There are also a few women here dressed in the full head to toe black covering, including the veil over the face. Not sure where they are from as the local women just seem to wear the head scarf, with modestly covered arms and legs. One taxi driver was telling me that we Europeans leave at the end of May and Arab nationals arrive for the rainy season from June onwards. His words, not mine, "in June and July, everywhere is black".
I muse on this as I watch a young couple here on holiday. He is cool in his fashionable jeans and open necked shirt, she is completely covered from head to toe including her face. You can just see the bottom of her probably very trendy jeans and sparkly flipflops, but nothing apart from her eyes in the slits in the veil is visible. She has a very trendy bag over her shoulder. They take pictures, but what memories will they be if you can't see her smile?
There are also two other girls dressed the same, but one sports a jaunty black trilby on the top of it all, perhaps her nod to some open sign of her individuality.
It does seem hard to me looking from the outside to understand. Why does he have the freedom to both look and feel cool in this hot climate and she not?
But who am I to question these cultural differences? If she were writing this blog perhaps she would be saying the same in reverse. Looking at Western women with often inappropriately short skirts and low tops, does anything go in this heat? How can she sit there she might ask, a woman alone, drinking wine? Why do they flaunt themselves so might be another of her questions..... Would she be envious of our freedom or shocked at our appearance?
But the sad thing is that today of all days, on International Women's Day, our cultures seem further apart than ever and I am not sure either of us will ever understand.

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It's Like Being Back In Chamonix.... (7 March 2011)

... but without the Dyl, Alfie, the snow and the rose wine! Today I venture further afield to the much vaunted Langkawi Cablecar ride. Still no public transport so a taxi Northwest to Pantai Kok near the super expensive Datai. It's on this trip, I realise there's not much to Langkawi, any life is centered around Pantai Cenang where I am. The flash hotels in the rest of the island are all really isolated. But when I say not much to Langkawi, I mean not much life, the island itself is beautiful. Quiet, very little traffic, green everywhere, and isolated beaches wherever you turn. Lots of mountains - well big hills - rainforest, and some interesting trees. One in particular I saw today was very different. It was much taller than the rest and stuck up way above the canopy with strange spiky branches. It was only when I took a closer look that I realised it was a very tall phone mast which they had tried to disguise by adding branches festooned with what looked like green bottle brushes attached....



The cablecar is situated in the Geopark, at the Oriental Village which is a hodge podge collection of souvenir shops, small restaurants and a mini zoo. I bypassed these to the cable car. I had read tales of waits to get on for hours in the heat but today was no problem, I was on it before I had time to chicken out. It's quite impressive, especially the last bit which rises at a very steep 45 degree angle. It was a very clear, quiet day, but the wind still whistled through the gondola and moved it a little from side to side.


The view from the top is spectacular, you can see most of the island laid out before you and apparently on a good day can also see the Thai coast. You can see the different shades of blue and green in the sea and the narrow white strips every now and then of the white beaches. You also have the opportunity to go across a 410 ft curved pedestrain bridge 2300 ft above sea level. It's a steep climb down to get to it but worth it, as it links two high peaks and apart from the wobbling under my feet and the view of the deep chasm under my feet through the gaps in the walkway it was fine..... The climb back up to the cablecar was however a little more of a challenge. But I was paid a backhanded compliment on the way. There was a young Indian couple climbing back up at the same time and the girl was really struggling. The guy said to me that she was a disgrace, look at you he said, you are old enough to be her mother (sad, but true....) and you are very strong.... It spurred me on!


My next stop was to be the Summer Palace, which was the set bulit for the film Anna and the King, the Jodie Foster 1999 version with costumes etc. I was really looking forward to it, as I have the film on my iPad and have watched it a few times. The was a bit of confusion at the taxi stand, but yes, they would take me. We get there and all I could see was a new, hideous, modern hotel. Yes, the taxi driver said, this is where the Summer Palace was, but no more. It closed years ago and they built this hotel instead.... I cut my losses and return to Pantai Chenang....Tonight more wardrobe problems. Last night a rather flash invitation to the Manager's cocktail party was slipped under the door. As you know, I am always up for a free why why so decided to go. I meet up with a few Brits who I hadn't seen so far, in fact I decided they were an endangered species. Nice people. But they are all here for months at a time. Now this hotel is nice, but not sure I could do five months..... I also discover who the rest of the Europeans are here. There is a direct flight here from Helsinki during the Winter, last one goes back tomorrow. They obviously time them well. The rainy season isn't due till the end of April. So why did I get soaked today....... and why am I watching a very impressive thunderstorm over the sea in the distance.....



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It 'aint half 'ot here..... (4 March 2011)

No idea why, as I am not so far from Koh Samui, but it feels significantly hotter here, perhaps there is more humidity, but I am not complaining! And I have gone forward another hour so it seems to cool down later in the day as I discover. I decide to make the effort and walk to the main beach, Pantai Cenang and leave at 5 pm assuming there would be lots of shade and cool breezes - wrong! But as sunset isn't until 7.30 pm, I really should have worked that out for myself! But I press on up the hill and down again with the promise of a cooling why why on arrival - that thought will get me through many trials!



The beach strip road is long and is a bit scruffy and very smelly as the open drains run the whole length under the pavement with vents every few metres. It's a real bucket and spade area with shops, stalls, Langkawi Underwater World and Duty Free Malls. Some Europeans, but lots of local families and unlike Thailand, not a Mc Donald's or Burger King in sight. And of course, not a girly bar anywhere, and the signs for any bars are muted, with no extravagent Happy Hour offers. It's quite interesting, Kedah, the state in which Langkawi is situated is a conservative one, for example, their weekend is the Muslim Thursday/Friday, whereas other more liberal states here keep to the Western Sat/Sun weekend. All of the local girls wear scarves covering their hair. Yet it is a Duty Free area with huge stores selling cheap booze, cigarettes and chocolate and a tourist hotspot welcoming people from all over the world. The pool at the hotel has a notice about correct bathing attire, not for Westerners, who as long as you are not topless anything goes, but for locals with pictures of what cover ups are acceptable. The people I have come across so far are perfectly friendly and polite, but there is a certain reserve, especially having just come from Thailand.



Pantai Cenang beach itself is a long curved bay, very wide with the finest white sand I have ever seen. It's really powdery, like white concrete dust, or perhaps a more romantic description would be talcum powder! This means it compacts very easily so nearer the shoreline it feels very solid and much easier to walk on than most others. But enough of admiring the view, time for a why why, so I repair to the Beach House Bar and Restaurant looking out over the sea. I get chatting to Shannon, a refugee from Canada's cold winter and she regales me with stories of her travels which I enjoyed. She was on a visa run from Thailand and was bemoaning the lack of cheap accomodation, she is staying in some strange little place for about £20 a night, using ferries and trains rather than planes, so I did feel a bit of a fraud in the backpacker department, my street cred took a bit of a dive....
I had walked about five miles to get there and wander about in total, so felt ok getting a taxi back. The one downside to Langkawi is that there is no public transport, it's either taxis or hire a car or a motorbike. I miss the Thai Seongthaws. And why of all the taxis cruising along do I have to pick the one that is about to break down.... It's pitch dark on the road over the headland and we struggle up like a bucking bronco, but luckily we are able to cruise down the hill so I get back in one piece. I did feel sorry for the poor driver, he kept apologising, I just hope he managed to get back home.



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The Visa Run (2 March - 3 March 2011)

I now leave Thailand as my welcome has run out, so have to do a visa run. Most people take a day to do this, nip over the border and then back. But I take the opportunity to see a bit more of Asia and take the trip to Langkawi, Malaysia for a couple of weeks, a new place in Malaysia, but sadly not a new pin.... The fact that it's a duty free area in an Islamic country that is not so keen on booze so it is generally expensive everywhere else but here, really had nothing to do with my decision - honest.... Again, I go the long way round, far south to Kuala Lumpur and then north again almost back to the Thai border. I take Air Asia again for both flights. Really good airline (voted the best budget airline in the world for 2010) and really low fares. The only issue is that like lots of budget airlines, delays are quite common. On the first leg, I was delayed by an hour but had luckily left enough time for the connecting flight. A good job really, as when I read the small print I realise that Air Asia is a "point to point" carrier only, meaning that you can't check luggage through, you have to collect it, go through customs and immigration and check in again for the second leg. And if the delay on your first flight causes you to miss your second flight - tough, even though it is their fault. Now I know why at the booking stage they keep recommending delay insurance......
But it all worked out fine. Air Asia use the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) in Kuala Lumpur rather than the swisher International one. It does what it says on the tin! Functional to say the least, rather like a big aircraft hangar, but efficient. No escalators, walkways or airbridges here. Off the plane and across the tarmac in a long snake of people. The same in reverse to get on your flight. It's really weird, there are people walking everywhere in lines like human trains to different flights, how everyone gets on the right one is beyond me, but they do and it appears very efficient. Outside the terminal is bustling with people, cars and buses and many branches of western food chains. But a distinctive smell, drains (or is that Durian?) and clove cigarettes which take me right back to Bali.
So it was a late arrival at Langkawi and I check into my hotel, the Awana Porto Malai, just south of the main beach area Pantai Cenang. I am pleased to see the notice at the entrance declaring it a Durian fruit free zone.... It was difficult to find the smaller type of beach hotel here that you can find everywhere in Thailand, so this one is a bit more "resorty" than usual, but nice and very quiet. There are more locals here than Europeans. I discover that it does have a beach, but that it is on a private island with a boat shuttle, will investigate that later. But not too bothered about a beach, there are some scary stories around of people being attacked by box jellyfish..... I bag a room with a huge terrace looking out across the small marina to the sea. It's only when I wake up the next morning that I see the stunning view. Langkawi is made up of 99 islands, of which only three are inhabited. I think I can see most of them from my terrace, amazing. Small, dark green, wooded, pointy islands everywhere, in parts looking like the pictures of Halong Bay. Definitely a room with a view!







But there is nice quiet pool area to cool down, complete with a family of chickens wandering around.....

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Was it a sign? (27 February - 1 March 2011)

Compared to Bali last year, this has been a snake free trip until a couple of nights ago as the attached photo shows (sorry Ant!).



On my evening walk I came across this little surprise on the side of the road, but at least it was dead. I just hoped it wasn't some sort of voodoo sign telling me it was time to leave the Koh Samui! But actually it is time to leave the island for a few reasons. Firstly, the hotel seems to have been taken over by noisy East European families swarming with noisy kids and wearing nappies in the pool..... the children that is, not all the noisy East Europeans! If ever I was tempted to actually get in the water, that thought puts me off completely! Secondly, Ant and David are bored seeing me on Latitude in the same place. But thirdly, and most important of all, if I don't leave Thailand by 2 March, I would overstay my visa and potentially end up in the Bangkok Hilton.....



So today, I wend my way to probably my favoutite airport anywhere, Koh Samui. It's such a nice airport, no queues, all open plan, trees, beautiful tropical flowers, ponds and streams and the great Bangkok Airways lounge in one of the open air thatched pavilions, with free wifi, serving coffee, juice and Danish, all included in the budget airline price. And the lovely gaily decorated road trains that take you across the tarmac to your flight. Now why can't Heathrow be like this? Ok, you're right, the weather for starters......


A good flight, more food as again they serve a breakfast to all on this 50 minute flight and I arrive back in Bangkok. I fly off tomorrow to Malaysia so am again staying at my little airport cheapie, The Great Residence - my bargain at £16 including airport transfer, free wifi, and a great room with aircon and a little balcony. The hotel has a nice little swimming pool. And a view - it may be of the main airport road, but it is a view.... I will be eating in tonight though, from bits I bought at the airport. Yes, the hotel does have a restaurant, but I took a peek at the kitchen which is an open area, covered by a badly patched tarpaulin right on the edge of a slowly moving, brown river/canal.... And definitley no fish. Tonight I watched them operating the tumbledown copy of a Chinese fishing net to scoop up whatever they could from the canal - I assume it was fish..... But the staff are unfailingly polite. The little Thai guy, about half my size, refused to let me carry my backpack as he also manhandled my big case up three flights of stairs as there are no lifts, just saying with a huge smile "no problem, me Superman!". It did earn him a big, well deserved tip.
I am desperately trying to remember why I didn't fly straight through to Malaysia rather than stopping in Bangkok. Through the haze of flight bookings I seem to remember that it was something to do with today's flights to Malaysia being about three times the price of tomorrow's, something I didn't discover until after I had bought and paid for today's non flex ticket.... Note to self, do all your flight research before making your first booking.....
But no matter, I was desperate to get my hair cut and this extra time gave me that chance. In every other hairdresser I have seen here, the girls seem to sit around "grooming" each other, i.e. removing their nits. On previous visits to Bangkok Airport I had spotted a Toni and Guy, and assuming that no nit global standards applied here, decided to take the plunge. Slight language issues, i.e. no English was a positive in one way, no inane conversation that you get with a new hairdresser (and I definitely exclude Lukas from Lookfantastic in this, if you are reading this!) about "where are you going on your holidays" or "going somewhere nice tonight?". But on a less positive note, I am now the proud possessor, actually, strike that, I am now the possessor of a much shorter haircut than I had planned..... Am sure I will get used to it soon and it will be so much cooler.....



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