They got there
Despite the threat of an ash filled volcano and civil unrest Nick and John got to Thailand and Pattaya. The weather is dull and they’re knackered. It’s lovely here 
Nick is packing his bags
Nick and John are off to London tomorrow, via Cambridge. Not the
traditional route but it’s a bank holiday weekend and there are rail works
going on. At least there are no rail replacement busses. at least none that
I know about.
They’ve got half a day in London before flying out at about 11:00ish on
Tuesday. That means an early start on Tuesday morning. Hope they have an
alarm clock!
The plan was to have a week in Bangkok but due to all the unrest they are
going straight to Pattaya where they’ll stay for 4 and a bit weeks.
Nick promises me he’ll blog on a regular basis and I’ve set up his mobile to
do that. We’ll see what happens.
Anyway, I wish them both a great holiday and hope they both come back in one
piece!
Our last day
Nick was feeling pretty rotten today. His cough and sore throat were worse and the aching joints were no better. We decided to have a quiet day and a long lie. We both still made breakfast so it wasn’t too much of a long lie, not by Norwich standards.
We were meant to go to the spa today after cancelling yesterday but Nick really wasn’t feeling up to it so we decided to go to the on site hotel spa instead. That’s right we. Nick has been having massages and the like for years but I have never had one. The nearest I’ve ever got to a spa treatment is the swimming pool. I decided that I couldn’t really come to Thailand without having a Thai massage. In the end I decided to go the whole hog. We had a foot bath first of all then I had a milky bath scented with jasmine and peppermint. There were even rose petals floating in the water. It as quite relaxing, and I’m not one to relax. Next was a jasmine and mint body scrub to get rid of the peeling skin. Again very nice and quite relaxing though a bit cold due to the mint. I feel the cold, even when it is 30+ degrees. After a shower to get rid of the vegetable matter I had a massage with jasmine oil. That was also quite nice though I got a bit worried when she started stretching my arms, legs and neck. Nick just had a two hour lavender aromatherapy massage. The pair of us kind of floated out. I haven’t quite felt like that before which probably means that I haven’t totally relaxed in a very long time, or at least that is what Nick says.
I can’t believe our holiday is over. Three weeks has flown by. We have both really enjoyed our selves. This holiday has proven that we can go on holiday together without arguments… well, not too many.
P.S. It is raining again, no, really raining.
A day on Ao Nang beach, and it’s raining, again
Nick has not been feeling too well since we got back from Phi Phi, I think that all the damp has got to his chest. He has a chesty cough and is aching all over. He didn’t feel like going out last night so we stayed in and had room service. The food at the hotel here is really very good but unfortunately they didn’t have my new favourite desert on, Mango and Sticky Rice.
Today we were supposed to go to the spa today but Nick wasn’t feeling up to it so we had a walk then went to the beach. It really is a lovely beach, I think I might have said that already, perhaps several times. We do get pestered by jewellery sellers and hammock sellers and of course very insistent massage girls. Nick says that they are even worse than the suite sellers and that is definitely saying something!
We were resting back in our room and just getting ready to contemplate going out for food, when down comes the rain. It is 18:44 at the moment so at least it laid off during the daylight hours. I think this is the hardest shower we’ve had so far. At least the temperature is still hovering around 30 degrees so that is about 50 degrees higher than at home!!!
Where is Ao Nang?
It’s here. It looks slightly different now. The arrow is pointing to the location of our hotel. The pool is totally missing from this map.
Phi Phi
Phi Phi island is supposed to be an island paradise. It is where the film The Beach was filmed. Personally I’ve never seen the film but Nick agrees that it is indeed a wonderful island with blue sea and white beaches. He should know, he’s visited it four or five times. Caroline at work has also been there and said how gorgeous it is. Nick has always visited it in off season, at the time when the risk of monsoonal rain is at its greatest. December/January is high season, when there is supposed to be very little rain but of course more tourists. That is understating both statements.
Phi Phi was mobbed with tourists. I have never seen so many in one small place. Most were young backpacking types who weren’t organised enough to book accommodation in advance. We of course are not young backpacking types so had booked our accommodation days in advance. The other problem with young backpacking types is that they smoke and drink a lot and consequently make a lot of noise. They also have some dubious personal (and public) hygiene habits.
Most of the remainder of the first day was spent eating. On our second day we headed to the beach. As we walked through the town I commented to Nick how quiet it was compared to the previous day. the streets were almost deserted. Nick said it was much more like the Phi Phi he knew. We soon realised the reason that the streets were deserted, everyone was on the beach. The tide was in so it was a narrow beach and it was packed. There was barely a space to lay down our towels. Nick couldn’t believe his eyes. He had been there before and there were only ever a maximum of about ten people on it. The day he takes me to see this paradise of white sand and blue see it is virtually impossible to see the sand and the see is definitely not blue. In fact there were some really suspicious fibrous bits floating in it which we tried to avoid as much as possible. There was also a thin layer of oil on the surface. This could have been sun tan lotion or more likely the residue from the numerous long tail boats that shared the space with the tourists.
We did hang about for a bit of a swim but then we headed off to another beach Nick new. It was slightly quieter but I think I mentioned already that it was a bit rocky. Have I blogged this already?
I felt really sorry for Nick. For the last few years he has been extolling the virtues of Phi Phi, telling me how wonderful it was and when he finally gets me there it is just like the Costa del Sol but with more people who have more money and worse habits.
From our point of view, at least Thailand does have an on and off season so it is still possible to come back in July and see it at its quietest and nicest. However, from the Thais’ point of view they have a tough few months when the income from tourism is minimal. I am sure it would probably be better for the economy and the environment if the tourists were spread out throughout the year but while the media still portrays the monsoon season as rain all the time there is not much chance of that happening. Nick usually visits at the low season and says that he usually gets much less rain than we have had in this, the supposedly dry season.
Back in Ao Nang, and it’s raining again!
Nick and I seem to have spent the last few days getting wet. It rained on our first day in Phi Phi but thankfully we could check in to our hotel before it started. Yesterday in Phi Phi we woke up and it was chucking it down. again. We got absolutely soaked just making the run from our room to breakfast. After that Nick went out and bought the last brolly in the supermarket next door, and two rain ponchos. They at least helped us keep kind of dry getting back to the room and then back to the reception where we had to check out. The rain lasted right up until midday. We had to check out at 11:00 and it was still tipping it down. Thankfully the hotel had a tea bar so we wasted some time drinking some very nice tea with flowers in.
Today was lovely first thing but then these huge black thunder clouds started appearing. Nick decided to go off for a massage and I decided to go for lunch and then do some shopping. My idea was to have lunch while it was raining then shop once it stopped. Unfortunately it didn’t work out like that. I rushed to find an undercover restaurant before it started, took ages picking my food and even longer eating it. By the time I’d finished food and paid it still hadn’t started but I thought that the clouds seemed a little less dark. I bought a couple of bits and pieces then it started, just a couple of spots initially, enough to lull us tourists into a false sense of security. Maybe wit would only be a gentle spring shower. Of course that’s not the way it happens here. Before long the spots turn into great big dollops of rain and in a matter off.
I’m now sitting on our raised step outside of our room watching the rain hit and bounce off the swimming pool. It is lessening so hopefully shopping will be able to resume soon.
Still on Phi Phi
We’re still here. We were supposed to get the boat to Aonang today but decided to stay another night. Our first night hotel, The Andaman Beach Resort was very nice, on the surface but the room didn’t have a safe, face flannels, nothing but water in the mini bar and the most horrendous green lampshades you could ever imagine. Actually the shades didn’t look too bad, it was just that they made the light green too. Not very nice to read by. Whenever we put the air conditioning on we got the scent of sewage coming through tne vent. And they called them selves a 4* hotel! The one good thing was that there was free wifi which had a really good signal strength. Our hotel tonight, The Phi Phi Villa Resort is much better, apart from having a really crap shower and having to pay 300 baht for wifi.
We had an interesting time booking this one. Our first night hotel had no rooms free for tonight so we just went next door to see if this hotel had any. The receptionist looked at is and said they hadn’t. We then went to a tourist info place. The young woman there made one phone call and had us booked into it! Not sure why the receptionist at the hotel didn’t like the look of us but al least we got a room in the end. Maybe we looked too much like aged back packers. A bit annoying really since there are a group of about 8 Algerians/Moroccans staying here and causing a real disturbance by the pool. They were so bad we left the pool this morning before we really intended to.
Anyway, enough of the joys of last minute hotel booking and on to what we have been doing.
We had torrential rain here on Phi Phi yesterday. Too much to do anything other than eat, so that’s we did. Lunch was home made burgers, then it was off to a coffee and book shop (sold coffee and second hand books). Nick then took me to see the sights of Phi Phi. As the rain was just starting we didn’t have time to go far so he took me too see the sewage works. Not as bad as it sounds. Sewage is processed by plant and aquatic plant life here. It still wiffs a bit but at least it looks nice! After a real drenching with rain we headed back for a clean up then more food.
Tea was prawn cocktail with five of the largest prawns you’ve ever seen. I then had a rather disappointing salad and Nick had a salty wiener schnitzel.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped to watch a bit of a fire show. A young man was swinging and twirling a flaming baton about. Pretty impressive.
Today after breakfast (not as good as our Aonang hotel) we packed up and went to our new one. We couldn’t check in yet so after dropping our bags off it was off for a wander and a very nice cup of tea.
After a quick dip in the pool we headed for one of the beaches. It was really, really busy but the water was lovely and warm. After a swim there we decided to try one of the other beaches. It was quieter bit the tide was in so it was very narrow. It also got deep really quickly and there were some strange currents so it wasn’t really enjoyable for either of us.
We are back at the hotel now for a shower (pitiful dribble) and a rest before hitting the restaurants. Not sure what our plans a for tomorrow but we have to get the 15:30 boat to Aonang.
On Phi Phi island
Nick survived the trip back to Aonang, and also the trip by big speed boat this morning tp Phi Phi. We are booked to stay here one night but Nick is off to see if we can extend it to two. Nick has been here several times before so knows the place quite well. More in a day or so.
Raining stair rods
I’ve just left the beach and got back to the room. There is lots of thunder and now torrential rain.
Poor Nick is on the boat heading back to Aonang. I have spoken to him and told him I love him… You never know. Our record with boats is not good.