Sun Worship

I keep having this recurring dream, no, nightmare, where I Am basking on the beach and this rather large Japanese fishing vessel tries to harpoon me. Were it not for the timely intervention from some members of Green Peace, I might well be just another statistic. As I am about to express my gratitude to my rescuers, these peaceniks had the audacity to try rolling me back into the water. Message to self — stay away from the beach.

It has been said that youth is wasted on the young. The same can be said for the perfect tan. There is something different about a tan on smooth young skin, where it all attains a golden glow, without the splotches and creases found on the Geritol set. It begins to look as though everyone over twenty starts to take on the appearance of a sun-dried tomato. The other day, while on the beach, [I just don’t learn] I determined that it would be possible to make Bruschetta for a lifetime from that beach alone.

Add to that feeling old thing, we have reached a milestone in the Roberts clan. Our first-born grand daughter, Brooklyn, is now sweet sixteen. Beauty and brains, what a wonderful combination.

Our time is very nearly finished at Khao Lak. It has certainly been relaxing — very nearly too much so. The sun comes up to start another gorgeous day, we eat some more delicious Thai food at one of a number of nearby restaurants, we walk on a soft sand beach and view another beautiful sunset — repeat as required. I understand that we are now off to Bangkok for a few days so that should be exciting.

I will update again as we have wi-fi access.
T

Thai Massage

Here I am — on solid food — both in and out. Quite a treat. One thing about the “zoomers” is I probably peaked athletically during this period. I certainly matched, or possibly bested an Olympic time for the 100 yard dash, and that was with my legs tightly crossed.

Must tell you about my Thai massage. All along the beaches, and in the towns, for a very modest sum you can procure a Thai massage. Bonnie has been threatening to have one since we arrived, but in our pressing schedule, hasn’t been able to squeeze it in — until now! Not only did she want a massage for herself, but was quite insistent that I should have one too. Now the very idea of lying semi-naked, on a bed, while a young lady had her way with me, had absolutely no appeal, let me assure you, but as Bonnie had already made the appointments, who was I to argue? Off to the beech we go, to some little open-air cabanas with a mattress and a masseuse. I was met by a young lady about 5 feet tall and as big around as one of my legs. After she washed my feet, [they really weren’t that dirty as I have showered since we left home] she got me to lie face down on the mattress. As I closed my eyes in preparation of this gentle massage of this old tired body, I was beset upon by a very large Sumo wrestler, in cowboy boots, who commenced to kick me in every muscle group that my body ever had. My immediate impulse was to scream out in pain, but I didn’t want to do anything that might encourage him, so I just lay there and quietly whimpered to myself. My only hope was that he would tire himself out before I lost consciousness, and I could make my escape. Actually, my time started to run out and the voice of the young lady asked me to lie on my back. I was somewhat surprised that my body would even respond to mental commands any longer, but as I rolled onto my back imagine my surprise to see that my giant Sumo wrestler had morphed back into my little Thai masseuse. I fail to understand how someone who weighs less than 100 lbs soaking wet, can exert 400 lbs of force against muscles that have comfortably atrophied for decades. After stomping, poking, prying, stretching and pinching [the lady has the hands of an iron worker] the remaining bits of my body, my hour was up. After all that,I was the only one sweating. All of this for 300 baht — 10 bucks — about what it costs to “biggie size” at Mickey D’s . Boy, I wonder what’s the better value. I did awaken this morning, knowing that my tan would be replaced by colorful green and purple welts, but not a bruise to be seen — aaand, I feel remarkably good. I may have to try this out another time or six. Scientific research you know.

Nuff for now.
T

Another day, more sun

Well here we are in Khao Lak. This is the area that was most seriously hit by the tsunami, but it shows the resilience of the people here as they are building some very nice resorts. As a plus, the resorts are trying to encourage visitors and we got a 4-star at a rather frugal price. Left Karon Beach and went into Phuket town for an overnight. Thought we had taken a wrong turn somewhere and had landed in Beruit. Finally figured out that all the gunshots were really fireworks as we had arrived on the first day of Chinese New Year. The “year of the rat”. Let me see, — yes I should fit in well.

Took a government bus to Khao Lak. Got the spiffy one with air conditioning. Had our choice of that or the non air conditioned, or the open air with the goats and chickens. Well you know Bonnie, air conditioned it was.

Now for the good news — two of our sons are meeting us over here for about 10 days. It initially was going to be a surprise, but as they couldn’t figure out where we were going to be at any given moment, they had to spill the beans. It was that, or we could compare notes when we got together back in North America. That’s what happens when you have parents who don’t know where they are at, or what they are doing. When they are here, I am going to find out how you post pictures to the blog. You don’t have to be smart when you have smart kids, {and grand kids}.

Being at the resort [Briza], gives us ample time to sit around and work on our tans — that and make the 100 yard dash to the hopper. It appears as though Montezuma was a bit ticked that we didn’t vacation in Mexico, and exerted his influence all the way over here. On the upside, people can no longer say that I am full of it!

We have a tame elephant in front of our resort. At least it hasn’t eaten or stomped anyone to the best of my knowledge. Apparently the trained ones stay with their trainers, like 24/7. Sort of like taking the company truck home every night. Hopefully they are not afraid of the dark as I think that they may be a bit ungainly as a house pet.

Well I believe that someone is possibly suffering shopping withdrawal as the suggestion was made that we could take a tuk-tuk into the actual town tomorrow. As, I believe, the only item we have on our pressing schedule for tomorrow, is to pick up our laundry. In Chiang Mai we found a coin operated laundry. Good washers but they dryers were a tad slow. Took pretty much all the 10 baht coins we could get. When we got to Karon, low and behold, we again had need of a laundry. After trudging all over town in the hot sun, dragging a suitcase of dirty clothes, all we were able to find were drop-off services, which were everywhere. However, as we are doing this “on the cheap” we wanted the pleasure of doing these ourselves, and Bonnie asked some obvious tourists where we could do laundry. In the happiest of terms, they expressed how they just take theirs to a laundry service, and for a meager sum they come back clean and folded. Going with the flow, we trundled back to a “laundry” near our hotel. Turns out they will wash, fold and package for 50 baht per kg. That is about 35 cents per lb. Hell, I wouldn’t even bury those clothes for 35 cents per pound, and after opening our dirty clothes suitcase that was seriously considered. At any rate, Bonnie is checking rates with DHL to figure out just how big a laundry parcel she would have to ship from Canada to make it worthwhile.

Enough for now, more to follow.

More on Thailand

Well, after all my gloating on our perpetual sunshine, the heavens broke loose the other evening and gave us a thunderstorm. Lots of lightening and a five minute downpour. I don’t know if the rain just turned to steam and evaporated or what, but the ground scarcely got damp.

Must tell you about the transportation here in Thailand. The roads are in relatively good condition, but quite narrow and very twisty. The road is divided by a solid line, which appears to mean nothing. There are no stop signs or yield signs and very few traffic lights. Now on this traffic system, there must be a Brazilian motor bikes and scooters, as well as trucks, taxis, tuk-tuks and the usual cars and pick-ups. Now the bikes and scooters are used as a means of transport by tourists, a way to get to work for the locals, and a family sedan for the locals without a car. It is certainly not uncommon to see three adults traveling about on a scooter, and I have seen a mom and dad and three children a number of times. Of course, no one wears a helmet of any kind. The cars and trucks are just that, and are used for car and truck type things. Now none of these modes of transportation appear to be older than five years and I wondered if perhaps they did not allow vehicle traffic until five years ago. This seemed unlikely, as there does not appear to be too many used ox carts about either. Then I remembered a taxi ride from Patong to Kata, and thought that the vehicle life expectancy is maybe five years. This seems more likely, but will require further study. It is interesting to note that not only are the vehicle drivers required to hurl themselves down the wrong side of the road, with reckless abandon, but as an added handicap, they have installed all the driving equipment on the wrong side of the car.

Now I previously mentioned the solid white line in the approximate center of the road, and have come to the conclusion that it is to be used only as a basic guide. You are quite entitled to cross the line at will. On a blind corner you should also reduce speed slightly when passing. Now as there are no stop or yield signs, traffic just merges as it meets. No fuss, no bother. Now imagine, if you will, dumb schmuck tourists throwing themselves in front of oncoming traffic, while gazing stupidly in the wrong direction. When this happens, as it frequently does, traffic grinds to a halt while the guilty party scurries across the road. As this is taking place, the pleasant nature of the Thai people really becomes apparent. No waving of fists or fingers and no laying on of horns. Just patience and a pleasant smile. New York it aint.

More to follow.
T