Well, not me working hard you understand. The nearest I get to working hard is trying to observe other people working hard so I can craft a blog post.... But many people here really do put in the hours. The cheery lady with the disorganised laundry is there early every morning and evening washing and ironing away, 7 days a week. I assume that unlike me she continues to work in between rather than retiring to a sun lounger by the pool! Then there's one of the older housekeeping ladies from the hotel who cycles in to work to arrive by eight, works all day in this heat and I see her cycling home again early evening. The guy who owns the French cafe seems to work seven days a week too. He closes Sundays but is still there cleaning away. Not sure if that's because he really loves it or he is financially trapped in this way of life. I hope it's the former. And the truck loads of Burmese and Cambodians being bussed about each morning and evening look work weary. A truck load of them stopped the other day outside a second hand jeans shop (£1.80 a pair) and their excited chatter filled the air as they tried them against their skinny bodies deciding which looked best. All such young guys to be living a life like that away from home. The minimum wage here for Thai's is under £6 a day so a you know these guys must be getting a lot less, still sending most of it home I suspect and their big treat is the possibility of a pair of someone else's cast off jeans. These construction workers are building lots of swanky new "living spaces" around here. Luckily, Samui has a few more ground rules about what you can build and there is a limit as to how high you can build within certain distances from the coast. The whole island is hilly and mountainous with a narrow coastal plain. This plain is starting to run out now, at least where this a beach area, filled with low rises - their height planning restrictions have saved the place from becoming the condo nightmare like Pattaya and parts of Phuket which resemble a small Hong Kong and in my view are hideous. Although the bottom has dropped out of that market with the 46% reduction in Russian tourists last year. It remains to be seen if the Chinese will now fill that gap. Given they now make up more than 25% of tourists arriving here in Thailand, you never know. But the builders have now turned to the hills and what I call "reverse condo's" are springing up - or should that be down? These are multi storey apartment buildings that cascade down the mountainside rather than stick up from it if that makes sense! Certainly whilst they are being built, they leave huge white scars in the forested mountainside as all the trees are cleared. There's lots of them up above the road into Chaweng. I imagine they will have the most spectacular views and some of the hanging swimming pools will be fantastic, just a pity they spoil the green of the mountain leaving great white holes in the view. But they still look a lot better than a thirty storey monstrosity. But I'm not sure that building something that looks nice is any consolation to the young lads who can only afford a second hand pair of jeans...
I also like looking at local construction on a smaller scale. Most houses, however humble, have a rather posh spirit house purchased no doubt from Spirit Houses R Us. But I like the homemade ones, often built to mirror the houses they belong to. Even if they are not as smart, they still always have fresh offerings every day. Here are three of my favourites.
Also still working hard are the coconut monkeys, no, not the latest Thai boy band but actual coconut collecting monkeys who, tied to a string climb up the highest palms, pick the coconuts and throw them down. So clever. I was watching one this morning and I was amazed at how far the coconuts bounce away from the tree the monkey is working on. I was quite a few metres away when a second one bounced down. It was at that point even my limited physics knowledge kicked in and I realised the distance they were travelling towards me was just not possible... I look up at the tree I was standing under only to see monkey number two right up at the top doing his thing and flinging them down in my direction. Lovin' the health and safety here.... But pleased at the old adage again "you're more likely to win the lottery than be hit by a falling coconut". I didn't win the lottery either...
The massage girls are also hardworkers, or at least they are open for business all day. There are virtually no girly bars here in Mae Nam except for a few slightly dodgy looking ones a bit further down the main road. But a new bar has opened up this year a couple of doors down from the 7/11 so that may be changing. A pool table, lots of loud music and a fireman's pole set into a concrete platform base. Perhaps it's a new gym, I gather that pole dancing exercise is one of the more recent keep fit crazes at home..... But one establishment clearly doesn't work quite as hard as some of the clients obviously request them to. A great sign outside one of them makes it quite clear that they are offering proper massage only with no "extras" - "no sex, no happy end" it says. Go, girl!
