I am still relaxing in the seaside town of Khanom; well, to be more accurate I am about 7 kilometres south of khanom, where I am ensconced in this lovely little hotel called the Khanommaroc, which you will notice is very unusually named and designed, considering its geographical location………..I have just negotiated another week here at a slightly reduced rate and I am now paying £20.50 per day for my room, breakfast and the hire of the scooter……………happy days !!

….above and below, the Khanonmaroc hotel and its lovely garden, where you can easily imagine that you are just a taxi ride away from Marrakech, until a large serving of Thai mangos and papayas are placed in front of you for breakfast, and your internal sat-nav formats itself back to Thai factory setting…………..

……….below, a few days ago I set out for the day on the scooter and discovered a couple of beautiful and deserted beaches the other side of Khanom to where I am staying…….

………..above, I came across this small fishing village that sits roughly in-between the two lovely beaches that I discovered………..and below, this fisherman wanted to take me out in his long-tail boat to see pink dolphins; they are prolific in this area and I have even seen a couple of them already from the shoreline…………but Yada and I have already planned to make such an excursion one weekend when she is not working…………

………above, the track leading down to the second and totally deserted beach that I found……and below, the beach that it leads to………….

WHY, OH WHY DO THEY DO IT <<<>>> below, immediately behind this stunningly beautiful beach, the calling card of mankind………..this is obviously a conscious act, something they thought about and maybe even discussed, because the litter has all been left in the same place………..like, as if that makes it okay…………. you can almost imagine the conversation “shall we take it with us……no, but let’s leave a tidy mess”……….can’t even blame the tourists, this vulgar mess has been left by local people, it is easy to tell from what is there………..if it were Johnny foreigner, there would be empty tins of John West dolphin friendly tuna, crisp packets and lots of beer cans………….I just find it really sad that having chosen to have a picnic there because they recognised the unspoilt beauty of the location, they then thank mother nature by kicking her in the teeth…………rant over (^∆^)

above and below, this region like so much of southern Thailand has many plantations of rubber trees………………………..

and elsewhere you find these wonderful low rise palms, that have large central trunks and a huge fan of palm leaves……………

………almost back to my hotel, a small track leading down to my local beach, with a nice splash of colour

I am now back in Thailand after a month in Goa; I arrived in Goa on 11^th January and flew back to Bangkok overnight on 10^th February; in those 4 weeks I managed to complete the sale of the apartment that I had bought there in 2007/8…………..in a country where the simplest of tasks such as buying a SIM card for a mobile phone or an internet dongle for a laptop are so weighed down by bureaucracy that they become an endurance test lasting up to a week, it was a remarkable achievement, right up there with the very best, comparable perhaps to swimming the English channel with a gas stove strapped to your back…………front crawl, naturally………….

After one night in Bangkok I took an overnight train south to Surat Thani to meet up with my lovely friend Yada, who, some of you may recall, I travelled with last winter………….she recommended the quiet seaside resort of Khanom to me, which is about 30 kilometres from Donsak, where Yada lives and where she works as a maths teacher in a local government school; I am now staying there (Khanom) which means that we can spend time together at the weekends and meet for dinner some evenings during the week……….

I arrived here last Thursday the 13^th February and booked in for 4 nights at the Rachakiri resort and spa, which is a lovely and luxurious hotel in a wonderful location on a small headland at the end of the beach………I have since moved to a much cheaper hotel under the same ownership about a kilometre away, where for £20.00 per night I have a lovely large air-con room, free wi-fi, free use of the swimming pool and facilities at the Rachakiri and a new scooter to poodle around on………….it would be too much to expect breakfast to be included for this price, but on my first day Yada arrived in her car with at least 10 kilograms of fresh fruit for me……..mangos, papayas, water melon, pineapple, rose apples and a couple of others that I don’t know the names of, oh, and a stack of paper plates and a new and very sharp fruit knife………….sorted !!

Above and below are a few photos of the lovely Rachakiri resort and spa…………..where you can swim in the beautiful infinity pool or plunge into the sea beyond……….

Above and below, the hotel swimming pool is surrounded by frangipani trees and their beautiful blossoms

This little fellow is to be seen lazing around the swimming pool every day, enjoying the heat from the tiles and the small rocks that border the pool; he’s about 18″ long, half of which is his tail…………

View across the bay looking towards Khanom from the road that led me to a lovely little deserted beach………………below

Above …………..lunch with a view; Somtum, this is the favourite food of Yada (which might explain why she weighs a mere 42 kilos) and she introduced me to it last winter……addiction soon followed……..it is a salad made with shredded green papaya, carrot, peanuts, garlic, chillies, green beans, tomatoes and a few other ingredients in a wonderful spicy dressing; it somehow manages to be very spicy and yet extremely refreshing………………………served to me here at a little beachside restaurant with a bottle of water and a clean glass full of ice for 50 baht……£0.93p at todays exchange rate………….cheaper than any lunch that you can now get on the beach in Goa…………….

Above…………whilst on the subject of food, I discovered this wonderful green vegetable on a recent visit to Bangkok…………. I was totally bemused by the description from the non English speaking restaurant owner, who said it was “stir fried melon seedling”…I assumed this to have been completely lost in translation, until Tuk, the wife of Goy at the Thai Pin restaurant in St Margarets, London, kindly informed me that it is known as Yod fak maew, a particular variety of melon that grows in the north of Thailand………..she also went a step further and posted a photo of them growing on my Facebook page……..see below……….so very well done Tuk and many many thanks (^∆*)

……….and to any of you that have never visited the “Thai Pin” or have not been there for some time, please remember that it provides the best Thai food outside of Thailand, but please do not expect to be fed and watered for 93p ……… (^∆*)

One of my main reasons for visiting Goa again this winter was to sell the apartment that I bought here in 2007/8; I have sold it back to the builder Ramiro Sales, and I must say that he has been very honourable and straightforward at all times during the protracted procedure of the sale

Everything that you try to do in India is hamstrung by bureaucracy, and here in Goa they specialize in making things as difficult as they possibly can; this, dovetailed with the “everybody wants a piece of the cake’ corruption, makes for near impossible situations……..so I am extremely grateful to Ramiro for his honesty and integrity, without which, the sale that has now been successfully concluded would not have been possible……….

India………..

they pencil in

they cancel out

they smile at you so sweet

they kiss your arse

they make you wait

they doctor the receipt……………

There is a wind of change blowing through Goa, this beautiful idyll is starting to fall victim to its burgeoning popularity; there have been several reports of thefts from visitors rented accommodation, prices have increased dramatically, over 20% in some restaurants………..I have just had my haircut in the same barbers that I use every year, and his price has increased from 50 rupees to 100…………I must say that I got more scissor work for my money than usual, he obviously felt obliged to justify the price hike with a scalping, so I have consequently needed to exercise my editorial rights to deny this post any photographic evidence…………….

Okay, the rupee has fallen dramatically in the last year on the world currency markets and £1.00 now gets you 100 rupees or a tad more, and to the first time visitor from any European economy it will still seem very cheap here………….. this can be the only explanation for the increase in prices, but it is not a justification, because food prices have stabilized here, and an overproduction has seen the price of most vegetables fall, so if the rupee recovers to the levels of a year or so ago, it will no longer have the same appeal to long-stay visitors, many of which that I have spoken to are already eying up alternative destinations for next winter……….

……..and finally, the Russians are here; having been mostly restricting themselves to the north of Goa for many years, with the exception of a few in the exclusive hotels in the south……….they are here en masse………..all over the beach in Benaulim and Varca……..loud, rude, obnoxious, obese, beer swilling, cigarette smoking, totally style-less and manner-less oiks………….oh, and they have brought their men with them……….

……..the beach shack owners and workers are welcoming them from behind a painted smile, and you cannot blame them, it is easy to understand the dynamic……….I go there for the day and spend a couple of hundred rupees on a salad and a bottle of water, the Russians arrive ordering lobsters, fish too big for the cook to lift, bottles of rum and anything else the they can shovel down their enormous necks………….they spend thousands of rupees every day, and although they are as yet, still incapable of saying please or thank you, they are understandably given sun-bed and table priority over anyone else…………….the Brits and other Europeans are complaining incessantly to each other every day, but the flood gates are open…………………….time to move on

I have enjoyed some great times in Goa, but I am pleased to have sold my apartment here and look forward to the next steps on this unravelling highway………….. I leave here on Monday evening for my flight back to Bangkok, via Mumbai, arriving in Bangkok on Tuesday morning, 10^th February………..

Above and below ……….some things don’t change……….the beach in the early morning, fishing nets strung out to dry in the sun

Above and below………..the beach cleaners at work

At Zumbri  beach shack…………………

Wonderful pomegranates now in season………..3 for100 rupees (£1.00)…….it usually takes me about 10 minutes to eat one, but time is not my enemy, don’t you know……….and you need to be very careful with any juice spillage, it is indelible, as one of my beach towels can now bear testament to………………

I have been back in Goa for twelve days now after the torturous journey from Bangkok via Mumbai………

Back in India, this wonderfully colourful and vibrant land; this land where Sellotape does not stick and toilet paper can be torn anywhere apart from along the perforations……….

………..this land where internet connection has more variable speed limits that the M25, where cows and water-buffalo have right of way over traffic and where the mighty Rupee tramples all ideologies underfoot, leaving any sense of altruism almost exclusively in the hands of visiting tourists and travellers…………….Welcome back to India !!

Posts to my blog will be limited here as a consequence of the intermittent or non existent internet connection, despite having uploaded my local dongle with 5 gigabytes of data for a month ……….unlike in Thailand where it is easy to find good speed, free wi-fi in most hotels, bars and restaurants……………

Above and below………..sunset on my first evening back in Goa………..observed from Johncy’s beachside restaurant, which I know is a favourite of Nick & Tree……..and I believe that Mal and Linda also enjoyed a few good meals there

My first breakfast back in Goa…………papaya salad with freshly squeezes lime juice and a banana lassi…………….who needs a bacon and tomato “Reg Varney”

And on my way to the beach that morning, my first Kingfisher sighting of this winter ……….perched high  on the bough of a tree, basking in the early morning sunlight, contemplating his next fishing expedition……………

Early morning on the beach at Benaulim…………its vast expanse of sand being incrementally exposed as the tide of the Arabian sea retreats towards its ebb…………

I have been back on the island of Koh Chang for a few days of swimming and relaxing, before I make  the tiresome journey from Bangkok to Goa (via Mumbai, with a 5 hour wait for my connecting flight in Mumbai international airport……….whoopee)

I leave here tomorrow (Wednesday) for the 7 hour trek back to Bangkok, where I will stay for 2 nights and then on Friday evening I take the westbound flight to Mumbai……….

I have splashed out by staying at the Chang Buri resort hotel again……….. lovely large, clean rooms, good bathrooms, air-con and a wonderful swimming pool with a large decked area and steps into the deepwater part of the bay……….

………so just a few photos from the pool area taken in the early morning light……………..

Whenever I stay in an Hotel for more than a night, I always give a tip to the room maid, in Thailand, usually 100 bhat (£2.00)…….they work really hard for a small wage, clean the rooms immaculately and always offer you a friendly smile and a salutation (sawadee ka)……and your bathroom towels are left on your bed in a different animal incarnation everyday………… the stuff that smiles are made of………….oh, and next week, I will be found on a beach in Goa selling miniature bottles of shampoo and shower gel (^∆^)

Just a quick posting to wish all friends a very Happy and healthy 2014……………..

…………..and an opportunity to post this photo that was  kindly sent to me by a charming couple from Holland that I met on the beach in Cha Am on 5th December, thank you so much Clementine for sending me this memento of a wonderful day………….

The 5th December is the birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand, and as such is a public holiday; the previously deserted beach at Cha Am, burst into life and colour that day, as thousands of Thai’s came to the beach to enjoy the day…………..I had taken up my usual position with a deckchair and parasol, quite close to the sea; young Thai’s were waiting to take turns at being pulled around the bay on an inflatable “banana” and because they do not enjoy being in direct sunlight, they began, one by one, to take shelter beneath my parasol because it was the nearest shaded refuge to the sea, until I was completely surrounded by the vibrancy of their smiles and laughter……………

Clementine and her husband were sitting on the beach about 20 meters away, and I could see them watching the scene and laughing…………..so when I saw her raise her camera to capture the moment, I raised a thumb in appreciation……….she has been kind enough to email me the snap and for me it is a great memory to take into 2014…………..

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

I made a journey from Krabi with my friend Rudolf to Phang Nga Bay and then a trip in a long-tailed boat around the dramatic limestone karst’s that jut vertically out of the sea……………….. Phang Nga Bay is a 400 km² bay in the Strait of Malacca between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula of southern Thailand…………. Since 1981 an extensive section of the bay has been protected as the Ao Phang Nga National Park, and with good reason, it is a beautiful place, reminiscent of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam…………

Above and below…………a huge floating village that is reportedly home to 1600 permanent residents, where we stopped for a very nice lunch………….

Long-tailed boats beached on the island of Khao Phing Kan, otherwise known as James Bond Island………..because the location of the island was used in the making of “Man with a golden gun”………..apparently, I have not seen the film, but I’m sure that it is true…. 

Wonderful old engine of our long-tailed boat……………

Above……………”James Bond” rock, a 66 foot tall vertical karst………….

Above and below, we visited the Monkey cave Temple on our way back to Krabi, which is a huge cave housing many statues of Buddha, including the large reclining one below……………….

And of course an omnipresent troop of monkeys, that are very well fed by visitors………………….

I left the lovely island of Koh Lanta with Rudolf, and we took the two and a half hour ferry ride to Krabi town, where we will stay for a couple of days to visit Phang Nga bay……..

Above and below, the Krabi river in both directions from the middle of the town that sits near to the river’s estuary…………..

A marvellous, huge crab sculpture on the riverbank……………

Krabi schoolbus……….standing room only…………..

Krabi recycling collection vehicle……………..

This temple in Krabi has a strange, very tall brick built tower, that looks like a chimney stack…………I’ve never seen anything like it before at the many temples that I have visited….

Above and below……….these gorgeous little kittens had been born recently to the hotel cat, at the nice little hotel where Rudolf and I are staying in Krabi……………

I have just returned to my hotel after a lovely relaxing day on the beach with Rudolf and Father Christmas……………

Above………..Father Christmas was just emerging from the sea when I arrived at the beach this morning……………so, I had to have a photo taken with him, below

Above…………Christmas day lunch……..Somtum (green papaya salad) and the obligatory couple of bottles of cold Chang beer………….and below, a couple of snaps looking out from the shack……………is it cold in Europe ? hehehehehe  (^∆^)

It is Christmas morning and I am on the Island of Koh Lanta, where I have met up with my old chum Rudolf; it is great to see him again, and the humor and banter has not taken long to resurface………….

I have hired a scooter for the duration of my stay here and Rudolf also hired one yesterday so that we could both ride to the southernmost point of the island; Rudolf is a big unit and the thought of him on the pillion of my 125cc Honda Scoopy was a daunting prospect, so I was quite relieved when he decided to hire one himself……….

MY WARMEST SALUTATIONS AND LOVE TO YOU ALL FOR A GREAT CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR………….  (^∆^)

Above and below………a few shots from the lovely beach in the beautiful bay that is a couple of hundred metres from the small hotel where I am staying

The shack where Rudolf and I take lunch most days……………….

You should all know by now that if I see a flag or a boat, I have an urge to get my camera out of my bag……….when I see both together, the urge takes on an air of irresistibility………..

On our ride to the south of the island we came across this completely deserted beach……..

Well it was deserted until this lone masked fisherman came back to shore…………..

With his catch of squid, which he proceeded to clean in the clear shallow water………..

The view northwards from the southernmost point of Koh Lanta…………….

Another (almost) deserted beach…………………..

Above is the view from a small cliff-top restaurant where we stopped for lunch on our way back up the west coast from the south of the island……………..and below, is the same beach from sea level…………..

This half sunken vessel was in the middle of the huge bay at Old Lanta town on the east coast of the island…………and below is the long pier that stretches out into the sea there……………

You see many pictures of the king all over Thailand, this is a particularly large one on the seashore at Old Lanta town………………….