High season, back to it....

Well folks, not an awful lot to report. Things got slightly more sensible after the run of birthdays and October start-of-high-season parties, and I have now managed 8 weeks solid back at the gym so I am almost back to a fitness level that I like.

Mik got a promotion at work. That was great news - he is now working at Worldwide Dive And Sail, if anyone was wondering. Worldwide Dive And Sail website

I am still at Sub Aqua Dive Center Sub Aqua Dive Center and while we had a busy October, the flooding in Bangkok had a knock-on effect so that the end of November was deathly quiet. This always makes me miserable because I would rather be busy but hey, it is December now and the outlook looks good again.

Joshua's birthday cake

Khao Soi Pai Restaurant on Kok Tanod Road, Kata

Back in October, on 31st, we helped friends James and Ning celebrate the opening of their new restaurant in Kata. It's called Khao Soi Pai and specialises in the Northern (Chiang Mai) dish of Khao Soi Noodles. Finally we have a local restaurant that delivers a good Khao Soi! Also this was their son, Joshua's 1st birthday so it was a double celebration!

Our Kratong in celebration of Loy Kratong Festival

Then in November, there was the Thai festival of Loy Kratong. Mik and I opted to buy a more environmentally friendly Kratong this year made of biodegradable materials, since every year it doesn't seem fair to dump pins, plastic, and goodness knows what else in to our local seas and lakes! We put a piece of hair, a candle, a finger nail and some coins in as is the tradition and then watched our Kratong float away under the light of the moon... That should be us lucky in health, love and money for another year!

Also in November, to help me prove that i can get fit again after the marathon in June, I opted for an easy 6km run as part of the 'fun stuff' at the Phuket Laguna Triathlon Day. I ran in 29:03 so was pretty happy with that considering I am not at my optimum fitness level. I really want to do the full Triathlon in 2012. My biggest concern is not the training but rather all the gear I will need like a triathlon suit and decent bike. If I have the confidence (and the cash) to support my needs, I am definitely up for it... or I will opt to join a 'team' triathlon where I would just do the run section. But I would rather have the challenge of completing the whole thing. We will see.

Me participating in the 91.5fm 6km fun run

Next stop is Christmas. We haven't put our decorations up at home yet but I did make a bunch of lovely Christmas cakes that have been seeping in brandy ever since and we now have a terrific collection of wrapped presents in the corner of the living room from our family in UK and Spain. It feels quite Christmassy already! Also, I made Mik a chocolate advent calendar!!!! Not as easy as it sounds but he has always said that he misses them from home so what better thing to do than make him one - 24 windows to open, each with its own Christmas-themed image and piece of Lindt dark chocolate behind.

Hope to have more photos for you after Christmas and New Year... here in Phuket, Thailand!

Birthdays, festivals and a lot of rain!

Quiet days - decided to rent this bad boy for some adventure!

In Phuket, September is traditionally a wet month. This September was not much different and this first week in October seems to have been VERY wet with the dive boats cancelling on one day due to the lack of visibility at sea - the captain could barely see the front of the boat!

Birthday boy Mik (right) with friend, Joel

This has meant quiet times for me at work (Sub Aqua Dive Center, Karon Beach) giving me time to try new things like this Kawasaki motorbike - I now want one! And also giving time for party celebrations with all the September birthdays in Phuket... and there seems to be a lot of them.

Me with good friends, Dave & Thien

 

For me, the party of the year is for Mik. His birthday is 19th September but we had a joint birthday party with James Bagley at Ole Bar in Nai Harn on 24th September this year. It was a lot of fun and all our friends came out to play too!

For the 9 days from 27th September, it was Phuket's Vegetarian Festival so I spent my days with no meat, no dairy, no chocolate (that was a hard one!) and no alcohol. This gave me the excuse to get back into my gym routine too! On 5th October, we went to Phuket Town at midnight for the closing of the Vegetarian festival and I can happily say I have never seen anything so mental in the whole of my life! It was like a war zone with people throwing fire crackers at people in the street... This is actively encouraged to see the 'spirits' off in good fashion. Unbelievable! We left at about 2am and the streets still looked like a scene from the front-line in Afghanistan! This picture was taken from a more quiet moment...

Mik at annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket Town

Now I am back eating meat - can't deny myself a good bacon sarnie! There will be one more birthday party this month for my good friend Mona who is turning 50 on the 17th October. If you look back at older posts (from 2007?) you will find Mona was my boss when I worked at Oceanic Divecenter and she was also the one that made me a PADI Instructor back in 2004. I am sure photos will follow. Happy days :-)

July was a Eurotrip!

Never got round to posting in July. Sorry about that. Thing is, Mik and I embarked on our bi-annual whirlwind Eurotrip to see our folks, family and friends.

It all began with drinks in Brussels with Lindsay & Patrick

Rent a city-cycle!

Try a different Belgian beer!

A flight from Phuket to Bangkok, then Bangkok to Cairo (which is a crap-hole by the way), then onward to Brussels. Once there we met up with the lovely Lindsay and her soon-to-be husband, Patrick. It was good to catch up again and meet Patrick for the first time... and Lindsay did a great job of making sure we saw what we needed to in an intensive Brussels city tour! 


 

Grand Place

Then it was onward to my home-county of Yorkshire. We traveled by Eurostar which was so quick and convenient; it was superb and I would highly recommend it. 

Dinner at Dad's with great trifle!

Sweetie shops in Yorkshire rock!

At Leeds Train station we were met by my Dad, his girlfriend Sue and my sister, Sheena (now living in Scotland). This was brilliant - first time Dad had both me and Sheena in the same room for about 10 years! We had a great laugh!

After a terrific couple of evenings at Dad's house it was try to catch-up with my Mum's side of the family and this HAD to begin with my Nanna. I hadn't seen my Nanna in almost 10 years and Mik had never met her. Doing great at 74 years of age, we spent 3 days and 2 nights of much-required quality time together at her home in Holmfirth.

Dove Stone - lovely walk

Just like being a kid again!

On the Friday evening, Nanna, Mik & I got in the car and headed to my Aunty Dawn's house in Halifax. This was a fun night. My Mum, my brother, my Aunty Dawn, my Nanna, Mik and my two cousins, Lauren and Megan all in the same house having a laugh. 

Cousin, Mum & Aunt... big catch-up

Highlights of the evening include all the embarrassing family photos being brought out, laughing until we could hardly breathe, and Mum's Christmas cake being served as a 'Merry Christmas' gesture for all the family Christmases that Mik and I miss out on for living in Phuket! Happy days.

The family meet and greets didn't end there! We did all-you-can-eat Chinese food with my brother Daniel, meal/drinks with my half-brother Wayne and his family, and I took part in what can only be described as a 'take-your-daughter-to-work' day with my Dad when I accompanied him to work in Hull for a day... just me and Dad.

Some fetching glasses found in harrogate tourist information

 We couldn't leave Yorkshire without seeing a good friend, Rich which meant a 'best of Harrogate' visit with some of the funniest moments and a dawning realisation that we are too old to jump around half-empty dance floors in clubs that claim 'Indie nights'. Ha! Better to stick to the tea-rooms!

Classic! Betty's tea rooms

With the fastest two weeks of our lives over with, it was time to focus on Mik's family so we did a brief week-end visit to Newquay (where I had never actually been before) then it was onward to Wales to catch up with Mik's brother and family. By the way, I can highly recommend the cornish pasties of Cornwall and it was a beautiful part of the world! No time to be reporting on that here though... so... Wales... sheep... fish n'chips and more valued family time. 

When in Wales...

Oh my word, thank you Harry Ramsden for completing my life

 By 13th July we were packing our bags again to fly to Alicante airport to meet Mik's Mum and Dad (living in Spain). While I know I couldn't live there, there is still something sad about leaving family behind in the UK. Leaving the UK is easy. Leaving family behind sucks... but our holiday was not over yet. Viva Espana! Now there is a place I could live...

The national flag of Spain

Me at Alicante castle

I don't know to be honest!

When in Spain - Paella!!! Yummy!

What a rather large candle!

 We were so lucky while we were there. We stayed away from the crazily packed beaches (such as can be seen in this picture!) and instead visited waterfalls, castles, restaurants and markets. All of my favourite things!

Stay away from the packed beaches!!

Indulge in Fiesta time!

 Our last few evenings in Guardamar were extra special as we got to see the amazing costumes, music and atmosphere at the annual Festival of the Moors and Christians. Seriously, you have to see it to believe it. Whole families take to the streets for the parades and it really is a wonderful thing to see. For me, this was the perfect way to close our one-month long Eurotrip.


None of it could have been possible without the kind generosity and hospitality of our friends and family. We understand it is difficult and by no means ideal to be living 6000 miles from loved ones. I love my life here in Phuket, I love my family/friends there in Europe. In an ideal world, I would combine the two.


Until next time.

Wedding Thai Style - am I married?

Here I am at the beginning of June, wanting to update you on my exciting life in Phuket, Thailand. I have remembered to come back to my blog - impressed??

Truth is, May was a quiet month consisting of marathon training, more marathon training and even more marathon training. I am sat at my office window now with my left leg up on a chair because it has been killing me. I find myself thinking to more exciting Mays gone-by. I don't have to think far back... 22nd May 2011 marked the one-year wedding anniversary of a couple of Mik & my closest friends, James & Ning. I never blogged it then and I should have so here it is... A Thai wedding where I may have even ended up married myself!

As background, Ning (who you see 2nd from the right, sitting next to me) was born in a small village near Loei in the Isaarn (North-East) area of Thailand. As is Thai tradition, when she agreed to marry James, the ceremony was back in her home town among family, close-friends and the entire village! Mik & I were most touched and honored to be invited along, with our roles tenuously explained to us as 'kind-of' best man and maid of honour.

We went with the flow... so here I am in my traditional Thai 'wedding dress' (yes, the confusion certainly began here!) and Ning's sister is preparing my hair and make-up.

 

It all began about 0530am! Preparations were made for the monks arriving from the local temple - this included lots of food arriving! I seem to remember the monks arrived about 0700am and the proceedings began.

There was a lot of chanting by the monks while James, Ning, myself and other members of the 'congregation' knelt on the floor with hands and fingers pressed together as though in prayer. At certain points during the chanting we were meant to reply but my Thai being somewhat embarrassingly useless meant that I just tried to look the part rather than get everything right verbally! At this point, James & Ning also gave alms to the monks directly.

In the above picture you can see the Head monk is chanting and, with what looks like a bunch of flowers in his hand, he is tossing water at us all. This followed water-pouring by Ning & James which is a very important part of the ceremony as this is the point where they are officially made husband and wife, and their marriage is blessed.

Next up was the big feed - quite amusing to see the community drinking bottles of 'Chang' beer at 0800am! I waited until about noon before I could stomach it. All good fun :-)

Then we returned to Ning's family home for the presenting of gifts and the dowry, before we - Ning, James, Mik & myself - were asked to be seated in a line so the village community could come to tie the pre-blessed string to our wrists and donate money for our futures together.
Yes... This is where the confusion really hit. Why were the villagers giving money and string to Mik & I??

The final step was for James to parade the village before entering the family home and sweeping Ning off to the nuptial bed as prepared by the 'elders'. Enough said ;-)


All being told, this was a wonderful day, a wonderful experience and something unforgettable. I was made up to be a part of it. As for whether I am now married to Mik or not... Who cares? It did lead 3 months later to a ring being presented with the words, "Well, the string won't last forever". Awwwww...

I'm back... 2011 is my year of blogging!

I know what you are all thinking... Famous last words! I can't make any promises but I can give you an update of life so far in 2011... I'll keep it brief .

January & February kind of passed me by. It was the middle of high season and I couldn't tell you what was going on. No idea!

March was more eventful. For starters the Formula 1 season began again. Yey! Unfortunately most of the races were day-time here in Phuket which meant that I was at work but I did manage to follow most races on the official F1 website.

Here I am proudly in 2nd place complete with trophy!

Then there was the Kata-Karon Beach Marathon in March too. This was my first competitive running event and while it was just 10.5km, I came 2nd out of all the females in my category so got myself a podium place. Funny!

Perhaps the more pertinent question, looking at that photo, is why on earth I seem to have run in only my pants! Not that it is much better, but I am in fact wearing a nappy. Mik & I both ran the race wearing nappies, bibs and dummies having been successfully sponsored by our good friends to raise money for a baby girl that had been born recently here in Phuket with a terrible affliction; her right knee-cap was on the reverse side of her leg meaning without expensive surgery (beyond the means of her parents), she would never walk again. As I write this, Baby is in Bangkok receiving treatment but Mik & I are pleased to say our running raised enough awareness that one day we hope to see this little girl running alongside us! Here are photos of us after the race, and me with Baby 'Ginger' and her parents (taken just last week)...

L to R: Marc (Instructor at Sub Aqua Dive Center), me & Mik

 
Also in March was my birthday and I turned 29 with a terrific celebration. An evening at a local E-san food restaurant with a few bottles of whisky on the table, Mik, staff at Sub Aqua Dive Center, and many great friends. It was an unforgettable night! The lack of photos is probably a good thing!

Then on into April... The weirdest thing to happen in April was definitely the telephone call I received asking me to participate in Miss Songkran 2011. I went along to see what was involved and rather amusingly was dressed head to toe in traditional Thai clothing and then told to parade about on a stage in Patong as part of Phuket's famous Bike Week. Apparently it was aired on TV worldwide but I didn't go trying to find out! Below is a picture of a friend of mine here in Phuket, Kaye Smith, and myself after we had finished in hair/makeup. Check out that quiff! That back-combing took some getting out, I can tell you...

Miss Songkran 2011 - try getting a motorbike helmet on that!

 

 

So that brings us safely into May 2011 and half the year has almost passed already. We are 'officially' into Phuket's low season now (but don't think that stops us from diving!). Right now, Mik & I are training hard for Phuket's Marathon on 12th June 2011. This morning I got up at 3.45am to run solidly for 3 hours! Only 5 weeks until Marathon day... If I survive, I will let you know! Until then... hope you enjoyed my first posting of 2011!

September already?

Time seems to have been flying. We left August behind and entered into a wet dreary September. Needless to say, business has been slow but we are fast-approaching the high season and this can't last forever. In fact...

Mik's birthday has just passed and the sun is shining again. To be honest, his birthday seemed like

a 3 day long session and i am now hoping to get back on a level playing field. I can see strict vegetable-only meals and lots of running coming up in the next month or so!!

It was good though. On the 19th September we visited the new Tandoori restaurant in Rawai - so nice to have such good Indian/Arabic food right on our doorstep... finally! Then we did a few beers in Freedom Bar but we were both shattered so called it a night. This was all made up for on 20th September with the usual shenanigans at Lek's Bar in Kata... and Easy Riders... and Mee Bar! (Yes, it would appear i am dancing on the table in the photo!)

Happy times but i could still sleep for a week... In a pretty much still-drunk state, we staggered to Coffee Pot for bacon, eggs, sausages and beans on slices of toast that are correctly named "doorstops". Brilliant... and then i slept... and i am sure to sleep more... enough is enough. I'm getting too old for this!!

And to finish up, here are a few pictures of our not-yet-complete-but-certainly-better living room after we painted it red and bought a superb 32" flat screen Sony Bravia TV :)

In the words of Yazz...

The only way is up! Looking at my last post, things seemed to spiral downward as just a couple of weeks after my beautiful motorbike burn, i passed out and cracked my head open! 4 stitches and one hell of an egg-shaped lump on my head... Much of the following weeks have been spent "in recovery". As a promise to Mik who went over and above expectations in taking care of me, i quit the gym (and yes, i am biting at the bit to go back!). I have also seriously upped the food intake after losing a considerable amount of weight in the past few months. It may be pure coincidence but i have to rule out possible causes to decide what on earth is going on. It's not fair to Mik or to myself or to anybody if i am miserable all the time (been really down for a while) and i have to get myself sorted. So...

I'm trying. I have started running/walking with Mik 3 times per week but i am still banned from the gym! I am eating sensibly - starting to feel fat but will persist for a while longer... And actually i do feel better. I have now had the stitches out of my head, the lump is getting smaller, the burn on my leg is almost healed and i am feeling rather chuffed to have had a fairly healthy week this week... so much so that i may have to treat myself to some new shoes that i saw in Patong last week :) On 13th August i have to have a tetanus booster injection and i will chat to the doctor then about blood tests for diabetes etc - i still keep having faint spells so have to take a bit of care.

Oh well... If the bump on the head did one thing, it smacked me back to reality! I have to get myself sorted and start enjoying life again. So far so good... Watch this space...

Feeling like poo and thought i'd share it...

Really, i thought i would have been back here before now. Always the case! In all honesty, i was hoping to have got more of the house decorated and sorted before now so i could post some nice pictures. I don't want to put the before-pics on when i'm expecting the after pics to be way more impressive!

Alas, i still have no house pics. But i am feeling down in the dumps with sore throat, cold sweats, and general under-the-weatherness. This has been exacerbated by the fact that 3 days ago i

pulled up outside our house on the motorbike but failed to put the stand down properly leading to injury! Yes, i have lived successfully in Phuket for almost 6 years without injury/scarring from motorbike. This clean record is over! You can check out the damage in the photo to the right... Motorbike fell to the floor and i leaned the red hot engine (or whatever it is!) against my calf to lever the bike back upright; So stupid and so annoying and so not helping me feel good.

Still, i have had some good times recently and i thought sharing these here would alleviate some of the stress of the last few days.

Here's a picture of me with bride Aoy, and bride-groom Gary, and the secretary at Sub Aqua Dive Center (where i work). Gary & Aoy used to live with Mik and i in our house in Kata. We all went our separate ways but these 2 tied the knot on Sunday 28th June! Crazy people!!

And i do have a day off tomorrow where the plan is to complete phase one of our DIY in the house... and pictures will follow :) Keep watching!

My new job...

Had a bit of a problem with my camera lately which sucks. Went off round the Hilton Hotel (where i work) to take some pictures for you all and when i uploaded them to the computer they were all messed up and corrupted. Will try again at some point but just to let you know where I'm at now after 19 days back in Phuket...

With the manager of Sub Aqua Dive Center (Phuket) away in Italy on 'sabbatical', I am currently base leader. It's great to be part of the Sub Aqua project here in Phuket. To help you understand, let me give you a bit of history of the company i work for. Is this the historian coming out in me again?!

Anyway, for over 35 years now Sub Aqua Dive Centers have been established around the world - Sudan, Maldives and Galapagos to name just a few locations! The Sub Aqua Dive Center based at Hilton Phuket Arcadia Hotel is the newest project (began in September 2008). Our Head Office is in Germany but with Sub Aqua being setup in a number of Hilton Hotels around the world it was a great opportunity for my manager and friend, Annalivia Cercarelli, to set one up here in Phuket. Sure, i was working on MV Philkade in the initial stages but with Annalivia now in Italy, i've stepped in to keep things running in her absence... and i love it!

To find out more you can see Sub Aqua's Official Website. But here are a few pictures that did turn out alright until the rest come along so you can see roughly where i'm at and what i'm up to.

Don't forget, if you come to Phuket, come diving with me!!!