Hey all, so I decided to temporarily escape from Hong Kong and take a few days out relaxing before the tour starts on monday. Flew down to sunny Phuket. Man is it hot there!!!! Had to spend most of my time in the shade or I would have burnt to a crisp. Now usually if a place has Starbucks or Boots chemists and the like, I consider it to be officially ruined but I stayed off the beaten track a little which was much nicer.

The beaches are lovely here too, quite unspoilt which is a treat. Serious waves here for any surfers among us – Mick O’Connell you’d be in your element – probably for more reasons than that too 🙂

As luck would have it I also met an old friend of mine here, Pam, who will be living here for the next few months. It was great to catch up with her as it had been way, way too long.

The Thai people are so friendly and nothing is too much trouble. They do, however, ask you sooooo many questions, What’s your name? What age are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? Who are you with? How long are you here for? And this was just a guy selling his wares from a street side stall! Now I am armed with my Lonely Plant guidebook which does warn that they will ask a load of questions, they don’t perceive it as an invasion of privacy. So the book gave sample questions including… What weight are you? I kinda thought, come on, they’d never ask you that!!! So out he comes with it…….What weight are you? I just had to laugh and said…. what? like in kilos???

No visit to Thailand would be complete without a traditional thai massage which come at the bargain price of 5 – 7 euros. So I ventured in and was met by a quintessentially teeny tiny Thai lady. (Lads they’re like a different species, especially when they’re stood next to a feckin pale freckled giant!!!) However, she didn’t feel quite so tiny when she was walking up and down my back!!! It was great though and I left with all my joints cracked and feeling like I did almost as much work as she did but completed re-energised and relaxed (or at least as relaxed as I can get) Oh and before any of you ask, no, I did not ask for or receive a “Happy Ending”

To finish off I should probably mention the Mosquito War. Up until the ripe old age of 29 I have never been bitten, EVER!!! The little feckers more than made up for it this time though. So on winged side approximately 40 BILLION mosquitos and on my side, little old me, a newly acquired bottle of repellant and a disgruntled lizard who I EVENTUALLY managed to gently coax into my room on my last night (alright, alright I hunted him into my room) Anyhoo I survived without getting any new bites so I was delighted. I am painfully aware that Round 2 is about to begin in Vietnam, but for now, I am happy to be quietly satisfied with the outcome of this particular battle.

This little guy is just turning red after jumping onto a nearby chair.

Didn’t take piles of photos but there’s another couple on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157605211347648/