Wednesday February 19th
Today after another rather late start, we decided
to declare ‘pool day’, which meant about the same as yesterday, but by the pool
instead of on the beach. Firstly we went
for a walk up the road just to see if it was any more enjoyable than last time
we did it. This time we got accosted
several times by western guys. We had no
idea what they were trying to con us in to, but John told them what he thought
of them. (Go John!).
When we got back to the hotel, we did a bit of a
scientific analysis of the direction of the sun and the location of the trees
and chose a couple of deck chairs that would stay shaded all day. The water felt a bit cool at first, but it
was so refreshing. I’m amazed at the
amount of reading that I’ve done on this trip.
I think I’m on to about my fifth or sixth book – unheard of at home
where everything else seems to get in the way.
I overheard a conversation which shed light on
the westerners bothering tourists.
Apparently they are time share salesmen.
Having once had a much-too-close encounter with a time share salesman I
recommend to anyone who meets one of these creatures to run away as fast as you
can and don’t look over your shoulder.
Lunch was a couple of sandwiches from a beach
front stall and afternoon tea was a thick shake from the nearby Burger King.
Three things that occurred to me today:
1)
There aren’t as
many Aussies here as I’d expected, but of those who are here, the majority seem
to think that the plural of ‘you’ is ‘yous’ and most of them look like they’ve
had a really bad night when they turn up for breakfast.
2)
A holiday is
Patong is not my style. I’ve enjoyed
lazing about but there are other places I’d rather do this. I’m glad to say that I mentioned this to John
and he feels exactly the same way. I
guess that’s why we married each other!
3)
Some people find
constant noise and activity invigorating and that makes for a good holiday for
them. I’m a peace and quiet and ‘leave
me alone’ kind of person, so that’s why Koh Chang worked for me. No tuk tuks, chairs for hire on the beach, time
share salesmen, ambulances screaming past, fake purses, McDonald’s, fireworks,
vans with speakers advertising Thai boxing and sleaze.
We thought we’d better be a bit more adventurous
for dinner, so after cleaning ourselves up, printing off our boarding passes
and booking our tickets for the airport transfer for tomorrow, we went looking
for something exotic. We’d only gone a
few steps outside the hotel door when we found a restaurant which was doing
Lebanese, Italian and Indian food. That
sounded adventurous enough. We had
Butter Chicken which was absolutely delicious … but halfway through the meal we
had a bit of an unfortunate incident.
The meal came with a small plate of vegetables with a dipping
sauce. We had a couple each and then
John picked up what he thought was a green bean. The restaurant guy tried to warn him but it
was too late. John had already stuck the
whole green Thai chilli in his mouth. It
took a few minutes to detonate, but when it did it went off with a big
bang. John’s face was really red and the
staff got him a drink of water, then some ice and eventually it calmed
down. It certainly cleaned out his
sinuses and tear ducts. I’m sure he’ll
be a bit more careful in the future.
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| Dinner - note the innocent looking green 'beans' on the dish on the right |
After dinner, we went for a big stroll up the
street with the eventual goal being a big souvenir shop which we’d seen
yesterday. Firstly, we stopped off at a
stall selling sarongs. I’ve discovered
that the sarong is my new best friend for travelling so I wanted to get a
couple for future trips as well as for taking to the Woodside Pool which we
plan to make more use of when we get home.
The guy quoted me 200 baht and when I went to walk away he said 150
baht. As I wanted to see what else was
on offer, I told him I’d come back this way later.
Next stop was KFC for an ice cream. The service was unbelievably slow but we
weren’t in a hurry.
When we got to the souvenir shop we had a good
browse around and bought something that we’d spied on yesterday’s visit. Next goal was the nearby loo, which took us
past another sarong stall. I asked the
lady how much and she said 450 baht. I
think she could see what I thought of that idea and she started the downward
quotes while hanging on the the back of my shirt so I didn’t run away. We told her that the guy up the end of the
street was selling for 150 baht, so eventually I got 2 sarongs for 300 baht
which was a bit more like it!
 |
| My new future travelling companions |
When we got back to the hotel, the band was
playing and the young girl from last night’s cameo appearance was on the stage
again. This time she sang Jessie J’s
Price Tag and did it very well. She’ll
have plenty to tell her friends when she gets home.
We’re off to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow but don’t have
to leave until 4.00pm so we can have a leisurely day. Another one.
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