And I think there was a Royal visit here in the last few days. Lots of Thai Royal Navy ships out in the bay and loads of police lining the roads. But ships and police have now disappeared so whoever it was must have gone back to their palace.
And I am getting used to my nice little palace here although the water in my pool is a bit on the cool side! Still having a lazy time but have done the odd trip into Chaweng for a huge Sunday lunch at Tropical Murphy's, didn't realise how much I missed frozen peas!
On the songtheow on the way in there were quite a few young Europeans looking the worse for wear, but I realised that they had just got off the ferry from Koh Phangan where the Full Moon Party had taken place the night before. I think the rough ride with the windy weather didn't help any of them! And there's been a local, small fair just off the main road.
It's on for ten days and has lots of stalls selling all kinds of foods but I did avoid the fermented pork salad! Plenty of stalls selling clothes, portraits of the King, sunglasses, toiletries and a stage area where I assume the noise I hear later in the evening comes from.
There are also a few old fashioned fairground stalls where you can throw darts to burst balloons or throw tennis balls to knock down tin cans (that look suspiciously nailed down on the shelf...) and win a huge cuddly toy. But it was great to wander around and enjoy the mixed smells of bbq food and damp grass.
I've also spent a bit of time exploring the local beach but it's unusually windy at the moment so it's not that comfortable a place to spend time. I found a great little beach bar with fab sunbeds, looked like Thailand of old and smelled like it too, the faint whiff of something slightly illegal wafting about in the air....
There are some really good places to eat around here too. I did try the hotel but they don't seem to have quite got the hang of it. The restaurant is in a great location, right on the edge of the beach, with little pools and streams running through it. Staff everywhere. But their first big mistake was their inability to serve me a glass of why why, big mistake, huge..... They could do a bottle but not a glass, something to do with changing their supplier.... Then the food I ordered was not good and a complaint just met with a Thai smile.... No wonder the place is empty every night but the local places are busy.
But I haven't been too lazy, I've still managed to do a bit of walking. The dogs here seem to get more and more by the day, but I enjoy seeing the progress of a group of small puppies in the local village. And the local water buffalo population is expanding too, last night I noticed a small calf, but the mother had rather large horns so I gave her an even wider berth than normal...
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
