Friday, April 13, 2012

Happy New Year!

Thailand part III

Today was the celebration of the Thai New Year, and we have had a blast! Traditionally all of the Buddhas get washed, and people throw water over them while they are paraded through the street. Water from washing them is blessed, and so you pour it over loved ones. But really it is just symbolic, and any water will do... and so long as you're not a traditionalist, then actually you just 'pour' it on everyone, preferably from a rooftop or with a hose! To a foreigner it seems like an organised day of national water fight chaos, it's brilliant! Such a fun day, everybody was soaked all day. No pictures of course, I wasn't taking my camera outdoors, it would've been a certain death for it!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Earthquake near Sumatra

Apparently there has been a really big earthquake, 8.9 if the internet reports are to be believed. There is a tsunami warning out for our region, they've warned everyone off the beach. We are fine, we're up on a hill, we actually went to the resort gym to see it (highest point on the resort and much higher than needed) but no action so far. Apparently not for another hour.

Anyway just to make sure nobody is worrying!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Exploring on the Andaman sea

Thailand part II

Went on a boat tour of some islands up towards mainland Thailand today (now yesterday)- we are based in Phuket by the way, if I didn't already
mention that. It was really amazing, the islands were beautiful. They all seemed to be cliffs rising out of a gorgeous blue sea, topped with thick green jungle. It felt as though there must be places that person has never set foot, although I doubt that is actually true, there were a lot of tourist boats around.

The local fishing boats were pretty, they appeared to be made of wood and all of them had an umbrella on the top that looked like it belonged on top of a (giant) cocktail. Also, we got to go inside one of the islands, which was pretty neat. I say inside because we got there via a cave. Inside of the island was a blue lagoon, surrounded by cliffs. The jungle was creeping it's way down the cliffs as far as it could towards the water, and there were monkeys swinging just above the water ("Along came Mrs Crocodile, hungry as could be....."). It felt like
something from a fantasy novel- I was thinking of Isabel Allende's City of the Beasts while we were there, it just seemed so impenetrable; there could be anything up there, if only there were a way up!neat though, they looked like they

We also passed 'James Bond Island' as it is called, which featured in The Man with the Golden Gun, which was neat, although slightly odd. Having seen it fairly recently (given it's age) I was asked a few questions about it, and again my lack of knowledge of/ability to retain pop culture was highlighted. It just doesn't stick. I saw it, I think maybe six months ago- I couldn't even remember if it was Sean Connery or
not! Never mind the villains, or actual
plot or anything like
that.
All in all another incredible experience. Thailand is definitely filling in all the boxes for a fantastic holiday, and I'm not even on holiday.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Thailand part I

Swimming with fishes and thunderstorms

Today I went swimming with fish. I did yesterday as well, twice actually, but today was different. A baby shark took a bit of a liking to me, possibly not of the good kind, and took to circling me in the water in a slightly disconcerting way. Of course, it is hard to be concerned about a creature as long as your forearm, and rather slimmer, but when it looks like a very small Great White you can't help but feel slightly alarmed. But the other fish were stripy, spotty, and very colourful! There is one type, which are a velvety black, with blue tails that I like, and also some which are a sort of velvety dark blue, until you see that they are actually iridescent and then you notice that their fins are pink and purple, and their tails have a yellow bit in the middle!

Also, when we went yesterday, I swam a good 400 meters with a small child riding on my back. Yes, riding. It is hard not to laugh when a child is pulling on your bathing suit saying "Turn this way!" in a most petulant tone, as though you are a boat which isn't responding properly, rather than a human being fighting against the pull of the water to even swim in the right direction, struggling with an extra 15 kilograms of dead weight shifting constantly on top of them.

As a side note, laughing while wearing snorkel and mask is a bad idea. The extra air that comes out your nose raises the air pressure inside your mask, meaning it simply slips open to let the air out, and promptly fills with water. This does have the positive effect of stopping you from laughing pretty quickly, but it is not a pleasant way to be stopped.

In other news from the land of awesome stuff, there are lots of thunderstorms! They're epic, and an almost nightly occurrence. I love thunderstorms. I tried to take a picture, and it actually worked!


















Anyway, if I want to get any sleep tonight, I had better get to bed. It is past midnight, and I am tired. I am often tired here, I seem to need more sleep than in normal climates.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Oh right

I'm in Thailand, for those of you who haven't actually been made aware... it's hot and I am testing my stomach's capacity for delicious foods.

No pics yet, and it is my bed time now, so not even a real post.

Night night!