Monkey man...

  

I had to take the Lomprayah fast cat ferry this morning and the buggers charged me an extra 500 dobbers for my bicycle. They tried this before when I left Ko Samui but I outwitted them by taking a ferry from another company half an hour later. This time there is no alternative so I have to cough up. The moon is changing the weather now and the sea is a little choppy with the wind. As my little blue dot on the google map tracks across the gulf of Thailand I know that by dinner time I will be back on the mainland at Chumphon.
The other day as I sat drinking a green coconut I wondered how they managed  to get them? The coconuts are very high up and they are the young green ones that are still growing, not the old brown hairy ones that fall off. Today, as I left the ferry and started to ride into Chumphon I found out.....they use a monkey man!

At the side of the road I met a guy with a monkey on a long string that he gave a command to and it promptly climbed up the tree and when it had got to the top it started to chuck down the green
coconuts for the bloke to collect....clever, eh?


Later, following the coast road I stopped for a swim in the surf and found a place to stay with a nice sea view for 400 baht.

  

Today's beach...and room north of Chumphon.

 

Previous  blog post title inspired by...Maximo Park  :  EASY : 1 point
Can't believe this song is ten years old.....a cracker though!

Apply some pressure...

During my breakfast it dawned on me that I have been here for over two weeks and up to now I haven't had a massage. The beach here has about four massage platforms and is a very popular pastime for Thais and cheap too at 300 baht an hour. You can have a variety of styles of massage involving gentle manipulation with various oils and herbal potions or for me, I just like the plain old traditional Thai style, usually a vigorous workout designed to loosen the knots in the muscles and render me into a totally loose and relaxed state.
A previous traveller I once met told me a secret to the best massage and I have heeded this advice since, she told me to always pay to have 2 hours....and she was right.
So today I'm going to have that experience.
Having had a few in the past I know that some are better than others so it is important to find the right one by just having a look at the masseuses at work. Like cooks, you can tell who looks like they know what they are doing and who looks apathetic, so try to pick an older, experienced and strong looking lady. The good ones have been trained at Wat Pho, in traditional massage and medicine, in Bangkok and have several years of experience. Next it is important to talk to them first and explain any niggles or pain you may have so that they are aware. I have a dodgy shoulder from coming off a mountain bike so I always ask for some extra attention here.
As I lie face down on the thin mattress I try to relax every muscle while closing my eyes and listening to the tiny waves ripple and lap on to the beach in the warm sunshine ....its all so blissfully soothing....that is until SHE started.....!!

I had asked for a 'hard' massage as I'm no wimp when it comes to this process and I could tell by the way she smiled she knew it was 'game on'. Standing in the middle of my back she made her way up my spine onto my shoulders pressing her bony little feet into every pressure point, stopping to add more and more downward pressure until she was happy that I had no more wind left inside my body cavity and she was then in total control. For the next 2 hours, every sinew that connected any muscle tissue to bone was systematically compressed with a combination of foot, hand, knee or elbow along with a gentle rocking motion my whole body was pulled, twisted, contorted and wrenched into submission. My whimpers and yelps were just met with a wry smile and pressure then just applied in an other area so I forgot about the pain in the first area.
There is nothing sexy about a traditional Thai massage, as some my think, it's just pain and suffering for a while but at the end of the 2 hours the muscles feel relaxed and invigorated...

My little mate on the beach 

Previous blog post title inspired by...Alabama 3  :  MED : 2 points
A wonderful piss-take song from one of my favourite bands....live they are brilliant!

I Ain't Goin' to Goa...

I'm not even goin' to Ko Tao...well I am briefly but the plan is to stay on the ferry and not get off until I reach the mainland. What's the point? There may be nice beaches but I'm on one now! I will only have a limited time anyway and I feel that iv spent enough time being a beach bum and it's time to hit the road and get the old sparrow legs working again. It's the full moon party here on the 15th in the south of the island at Haad Rin so it's time for this old bugger to make way for the young 'uns. In the wise words of this post title song ....
'Cos the righteous truth is, there ain't nothing worse than
some fool lying on some Third World beach wearing
spandex, psychedelic trousers, smoking damn dope
pretending he gettin' consciousness expansion'.
So this means it's finally, nearly, almost time for me to leave...well soon, maybe...ok I will tomorrow.
I was initially critical of the mass arrival to the island of the party goers for the full moon celebrations but actually, having spent a few evenings on the beach I now can understand that making a party to music on a beautiful beach, on a warm evening under the light of a full moon now holds an attraction....now I can understand the concept. Now I can understand why people travel across the world to get here.
Tonight, sat here on a beautiful beach, on a warm evening  under the light of a nearly full moon having a beer and listening to Dylan's harmonica as 'blowin' in the wind' eases out of the bar's sound system it somehow all makes a bit more sense....without a doubt, this is a cool place.....I get it!

Previous blog post title inspired by...Mystery Jets  :  HARD : 3 pointer again
Picked really for the title but I like the 'worn out 12" of a Marquee Moon' reference also.

Two Doors Down...

Trying to leave Thong Nai Pan Yai is proving to be difficult but I will soon..I promise...just a bit longer please!! The mornings are especially wonderful as the bay is deserted and at about 7am it is possible to take a morning coffee on the beach and watch the place slowly and peacefully wake up as the sun gets higher and warms the whole bay.
My leopard skin Lycra thong will have to come out of the airing cupboard again today as before 9am it's already registering 'scorcheo' and the sea invites me in for a morning dip.
Ok, decision made...iv decided to move and now the view looks like this....

....similar you might say.....

...then I will confess...

I checked out of the Starlight at 11am and checked into a room in the Dolphin, about 100yrds down the beach, at about ten past. The rooms here are also very nice and a bargain at only 600baht compared to the previous that was an extravagant 1500 baht a night...ok, so I no longer have an infinity pool but il make do...

               

My local...

My new home

At the Dolphin

Previous blog post title inspired by...Belle and Sebastian  :  HARD : 3 pointer
Fiction by belle and Sebastian off the album storytelling with an almost infectious tune in an
instrumental piece that ticks all my boxes and runs thru this strange but enjoyable album

Fiction...

Just Blogging in general...

I have really got into this blogging, it's really very therapeutic and as long as what you use to blog on is kept handy it's very easy too. In the past I have never been one for photos but I always loved scribbling notes and thoughts in a notebook. Now it's the same but I've modernised and can throw in the odd photy too. I always thought that by taking photos you miss the 'feel' of the moment, and still do to some degree but it is nice to adorn a blog with a picture to give clarity to the musings.
Blogging and scribbling tends to make you pay attention a lot more of your surroundings, people and happenings - it doesn't have the opposite effect. I'm like a coiled springy sponge soaking up everything that goes on and mentally recording the data for future interrogation.
Reading on't'internet some folk have given up work and make a comfortable living from blogging around the world...one day.....dream sequence over,,,,,!
It's good to read other blogs though, and this gives me an idea of what I'm doing wrong and the good ones that look professional and have good content make me jealous.
I've decided to start as I mean to go on and keep it simple, regular, colloquial and factually biased to my way of thinking with a continually running soundtrack of crackin' tunes.
Every blog post I do will have a blog title or lyric from a song that I own and that will loosely relate to the post content, basically an excuse for me to crowbar my flavour of music into the mix by way of musical inspiration. These days you can just type any song title into YouTube and give it a listen for free - if you like it then you can buy or steal....up to you!
Nearly every blog post I write I do it listening to music.
I enjoy screwing with the spellchecker.
I will NEVER photograph the food I eat.
I don't edit it much so that it stays real to what I feel at the time and this allows me to record thoughts as they flow from my living perpetual self transcendence.....Ha, Ha....****!
At the end of the day I write my blog for me...
If anyone wants to read it I hope they enjoy it and it makes them smile a little...that's all!


Previous blog post title inspired by...The Vaccines  :  HARD : 3 pointer
One of many cracking little tunes from the debut album....and very apt, eh?

Put a wetsuit on, come on come on...

If at some point we all succumb
For goodness sake let us be young
Because time gets harder to outrun
And I'm nobody, I'm not done

With a little bit of apprehension I woke early and made my way outside to see where I was. The place I had was about 50yrds from the sea, was comfy and clean and was part of a Thai hotel with a pool. The beach was a lovely bay with powder white sand and clean clear sea...probably one of the nicest beaches I have ever been on ....result!

A walk up the beach found a dive boat leaving in one hour.....so I'm off diving! The twin engined speedboat shot us out to a remote dive site up at the north of the island in about 20 minutes and the visibility was about 20 metres and crammed with a huge variety of marine life. I had a 40 minute dive and spent most of it getting down but then saw barracuda and large groupa's. Later, after lunch with the snorkel in another dive site the quantity and variety of fish was amazing. ....or should I say " Yeah man, it's was awesome, dude!"...in the way all these dive instructors like to converse....it was actually rather 'cool' I have to admit. The stress of Ko Samui had dissipated and the beauty and karma of Ko Pha ngan has won me over.....it's gorgeous here! As the sun starts to go down its time to relax with a Chang...

 



Previous blog post title inspired by...The Rolling Stones  :  EASY : 1 point
An easy choice and a song that's older than me....just.

Play with fire...

Taking the later ferry from Chavsville meant that I arrived on Ko Phan ngan just as it was going dark, and this process doesn't take very long in these parts so I had to act quickly. I had decided also that I wanted to stay on the opposite side of the island with the theory that if it's harder to get to then there would be less people about. I negotiated a songtaew ride and I'm glad I did as the road over to the other side of the island was about 10km and very very steep. I was dropped off on the roadside and from here found the beach. Again, it didn't take much to find a place to stay, this time at the starlight hotel, with a small en-suite by the beach. As it was pitch black I have no idea what the place is like here so the only thing is to have a few beers sat on the beach in a bar watching a couple of lads playing with fire and wait for the morning light.

Previous blog post title inspired by...The Clash  :  EASY : 1 point
A song with one of the most recognisable riffs in the world....