Vegetarian Festival - The Food

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is not just about skewered cheeks, Chinese gods and firecrackers, although that's the fun part (and the first of the street processions is tomorrow morning). The food is also very important. Local people (not all, I might add) follow a strict diet which is vegan rather than just vegetarian - no meat, no eggs, no dairy, and for some reason (if someone can tell me, please do!) no garlic or onions. The diet is to cleanse the body and spirit.

It all started way back in 1825 when a Chinese traveling opera troupe (or circus depending what you read) came to the Kathu area of Phuket to perform. At that time, Kathu was the main town in Phuket as it was the center of the tin mining industry that helped make Phuket quite wealthy. Many Chinese settled here during the tin mining boom years, and thus you have a huge Thai-Chinese population in Phuket, mostly around Kathu and Phuket Town. Anyway, the travelers got sick, and then followed a vegetarian diet and bingo! They all got better!

The festival has a long history and yes, I do like to go on about it, as this is something that makes Phuket special for me. See - Phuket is way more than beaches and tourists. Phuket has a rich history, and at this time of year you can really get a taste of something special. Do pardon the pun.

Later this week I'll be heading out to see some of the processions, and also some of the other rituals at the shrines such as firewalking and bladed ladder climbing. I want to get some video this year, though my camera is but a simple one... Last couple of years I stuck to still photos - see Vegetarian Festival Photos.

So, for now, I am still at work all day, but will start a holiday on Friday, so there will be time to get around the shrines. I started on "the diet" yesterday. The food is pretty darn good actually, and fortunately there's a good place to eat close to work. If you are on the back road in Karon, just opposite the post office on the corner of the little road that goes up to CC Blooms Hotel, you find a great little restaurant that is very popular at festival time (actually its pretty good year round for cheap Thai food).



Lunch today started with a vegetarian noodle soup, packed full of all kinds of things, none of them meaty, all delicious ... it's called Yentafo. The meat version I probably would not eat as it tends to include things like coagulated blood and bits of squid. Call me picky.. Little know secret, but I was vegetarian for quite a few years many years ago, so even today I am a bit picky with meat dishes!



And now a close up... And I think the same tomorrow lunchtime!



Oh, that was the starter... main dish was Phad Gaprao. Looks like meat, tastes just great...



Oh, and just to make those taste buds long to be in Phuket right now, let's zoom in...



Of course I am a hypocrite waxing lyrical about this food. By next week I'll be having eggs, bacon and chips for lunch again! But for now, for a week or so, this food is great! If you are in Phuket during the festival look for the stalls or restaurants with the yellow signs. Try something different!

Eating Out: The Lunch Room

I don't think there's any mention of this place anywhere on the web yet... well, it only opened a few weeks ago. The Lunch Room is in the Kathu area of Phuket, close to Kathu Waterfall (coming from Patong you'd go just past the waterfall road - Soi Namtok Kathu - and The Lunch Room is on the right side). This area of Kathu is being built up rapidly - lots of new houses around here, and it's also just a couple of minutes from the Loch Palm Golf Club. We live in Kathu and we know the owner of The Lunch Room pretty well - she used to work with my wife years ago in the dive shop - and her husband was a dive instructor too!



The Lunch Room is open every day except Sunday and does Thai food, all day breakfasts, some excellent baguette sandwiches, great big burgers, salads, spaghetti, coffee, cakes... Yes, it's not on the tourist trail, but if you are exploring in the Kathu area, it's a good option for a late breakfast, lunch or early dinner. In fact not too many other options around there except noodles and food stalls around the local market!



We sometimes just call in for a chat and a cappuccino - much bigger and better value than Starbucks. Patong Beach has about 5 of them now - I say support your local independent coffee shop! And while you're at it - have a real burger at The Lunch Room and give McDonalds a miss! The burgers are big and bold and chunky and I do like to have one now and then washed down with a couple of cold Chang beers. They have some TV's in the restaurant and I sometimes head over on a Saturday evening to watch the English football.

Morning out: Ikea

The one thing I have learned (the hard way) in London is that it is very hard to get anywhere by car if you do not have satellite navigation.  Of course, London is a highly populated, sprawling city with many old and narrow roads that are not meant to be used as through roads.  There are often stories on the news about massive trucks that have literally become stuck between buildings  on these roads after being diverted there by satellite navigation. 

On Sunday morning, Stephen and I took ourselves off to Ikea in Croydon. Unfortunately, Croydon Road itself was closed for maintenance and we were diverted down the narrowest country road where parents just happened to be dropping their children off for football.

Part of the reason I took the photo was because we were stuck in traffic for a really long time and we were beginning to worry that we would miss our Ikea breakfast.  We literally had to wait until the flow of traffic from the opposite direction abated before our side could start moving again.  The other reason was to show just how beautiful the English countryside is.

I was just ready JAPRA's entry and I was reminded of when I moved here last year and lived in Westerham. These photos were taken really close to Westerham.  I remember sending an email to Stephen telling him I had never seen such beauty in my life, that I had never seen so many different colours of green.  I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the time and it was great looking into the greenery imagining Harry and friends camping in the forest.

We made it to Ikea, in time for a full cooked breakfast for 95p, no thanks to the satellite navigation being buggy and taking us to the other side of Croydon.  The first thing you see when you are finally on the right road to Ikea is the Ikea Towers which are the old chimneys from the power station that used to be at that site. 

It would be difficult to explain Ikea to anyone who doesn't have a concept of what it is.  It is a gigantic home store with the most modern furniture and fittings you can imagine.  They are masters of modular wardrobes and space saving systems.  The very best thing about Ikea is that all their amazing modern and chic products are really, really inexpensive.  Suffice to say I ♥ Ikea.

We bought two single and two double wardrobes, complete with special rails for skirts and drawer dividers for ties and all sorts of interesting things.

Evening Out: Genesis Cinema

Last night I caught the Underground to Stepney Green and then walked a couple of blocks to get to Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel. Unfortunately, Stepney Green is such a sad, featureless Underground station that even I, lover of all things automotive, couldn't bring myself to to take a photo.

Genesis Cinema is a really old building and once again, I wish I had done my homework before I went. I thought the building looked nice and modern but it's not - it's full of interesting history. The area is really dodgy - Whitechapel is where Jack the Ripper took his victims and I'm sorry, but the area hasn't improved since in my not-so-humble opinion. I went for an interview there last year and the "high bag snatching area" sign outside the Underground station really put me off. I'd tried to leave the crime behind me in SA!

Anyway... Stephen struggled for 45 minutes to find parking as he had driven up from Sidcup. The people at the cinema were really friendly and said of course they'd let us into the show still if Stephen only arrived after starting time.

I won the tickets through the Eros Reward Card from Evening Standard. I will have to look out for the signs next time - I am not sure if I ticked some option that took us all the way to Whitechapel (yes, that is me looking a gift free-movie-ticket in the neighbourhood). The Eros card was where I got the 2-for-1 Doctor Who tickets.

It probably sounds like I'm all gripes but actually, I would go back to this cinema because of its friendly staff. It was also voted one of the top ten cinemas in London for Art House films. The normal ticket price is only £6.50 and then you get all sorts of concessions, discounts and loyalty bonuses. I'd definitely recommend taking public transport to get there because there really is no parking in the surrounding area.

They've got the usual snacks inside including nachos and hot dogs. Hot dogs are one of my 5 staple food groups (along with tea, cheese, potatoes and Kit Kats) but unfortunately they were not yet cooked last night by the time we had to go into the theatre.

We saw Taken by the way, with Liam Neeson in. I wrote a review here. It was a lovely evening and it was nice to get out with Stephen. It made me really nostalgic because for the first 5 or 6 years of our relationship we went to movies every single Tuesday. Of course, that's because movies were R8 if you were on Discovery Medical Aid which is 55p or $1. I've heard that Bexley Cinema does half price Tuesdays too so one day we might get back into that groove. We'll see. :0)

Summer update: A week since she came home

I'm sorry I haven't updated on Summer.  She's just so tiny and vulnerable and I've struggled to get around to updating.

This was taken the night she came home.  She was a bit extremely drugged out and she was really freaked out.  It was horrible to see because it seemed like she had lost all her trust in the world and she seemed to have thought that we had abandoned her.  In this picture she is lying on her wound.  Her leg was amputated right next to her body, so there will be no stump or anything, she just has no back leg on her left side any more.

Summer is actually sitting on my computer chair, on my pillow.  She jumped up there when she arrived and seemed to stay there for four days.  By Friday she was doing much better though and by Saturday night I knew she was definitely on the mend.  When I got Summer and Seth, they were too young to be away from their mother that's for sure.  At night, they used to balance themselves on my arm as I slept (I sleep on my side with a stuffed toy tucked under my arms for support).  Of course, they no longer way half a gram each and can get quite heavy these days!  Summer is lighter than Seth and I can sometimes tolerate her.  Anyway, Summer had done a whole lot of hiding under my bed when she came home from the hospital and I knew she was feeling safe again when she came out to sleep on my arm.  But she kept slipping off!  So she decided to sleep in my hair and when that didn't work, she decided that sleeping on my head would do!!  By this stage I was hoping she would recover quickly so that I could go back to locking her out of my room at night!

Stephen took this picture on Monday.  Molly, being a Lab, gets quite hot and doesn't often sleep on her bed.  We just thought it was so cute that Summer was brave enough to take up Molly's whole bed.  You can see just how tiny she is!  There is no sign of Seth here.  He can obviously smell death / illness / injury / hospital on Summer because he has been hissing at her and swiping out at her a lot.  He is scared though.  I often call to him as I see conflict about to happen and he will look to me and give an uncertain little meow.  I think it has been very confusing for him and in a way he is still pining for the sister that he thought he lost.  It's hard to make heads or tails of it because these little animals don't have human emotions, but they are definitely scared and confused at the moment.

We know it will all pass with time though.  We just need to be patient.

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is Coming!

(Update 8th October) - photos are online:

• Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos 2008

One of my favourite times of year is nearly here! The Phuket Vegetarian Festival starts on September 28th this year. The date is based on the Chinese lunar calendar and varies year to year (last year the festival started on October 11th) - this year is a bit early and I hope the weather holds, as late September/early October has a habit of being rather grotty.

This is a spectacular, gruesome, fascinating festival. There is so much to see, some interesting food to sample, a real sense of history and tradition that many people do not realise exists in Phuket (hey, it's not all beaches, you know!). Over the last couple of years I have tried to see as much as possible, and this year plan to take a week off work in order to better experience the full range of festival happenings. Last year I was in Phuket Town twice for the famous processions which take place this year every morning from the 1st to 7th of October. This is where you see the pierced faces, the purification by pain. The festival is all about purfication of the body.



If you are in Phuket between September 28th and October 7th, please try to see something of this festival. The processions are in the morning starting 7am. Getting up early will be rewarded by an experience of something extreme.



More Photos:

Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos 2007
Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos 2006


Phuket Vegetarian Festival Schedule 2008

Street Processions in Phuket Town - Try to see one!

October 1st Sapam Shrine
October 2nd Samkong Shrine
October 3rd Ban Tha Rue Shrine
October 4th Bang Neow Shrine & Cherng Thalay Shrine
October 5th Jui Tui Shrine
October 6th Kathu Shrine & Yokkekeng Shrine
October 7th Sui Boon Tong Shrine


28th September

ALL SHRINES
17:00 Lantern Pole Raising - the pole is how the gods descend to earth. I intend to be at our local shrine for this if possible!
21 - 24:00 Jade Emperor & Nine Emperor Gods Propitiation

Note: (I had to look it up) Propitiation = the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity)

29th - 30th September

Not much goes on for the first couple of days - Gods are worshipped morning and evening. Visit a shrine for a real other-world experience. Eat some of the variety of Vegetarian ("Jae") food on offer all over Phuket (especially near the shrines, but you can even find it in Patong).


1st October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 / 18:00 Worship of Gods
16:00 Warriors Propitiation
16:30 Food Offering to Warriors
19:30 Birth-Death Gods Propitiation

JUI TUI SHRINE
19:30 Food Offering to Warriors
20:45 Birth-Death Gods Propitiation

BANG NEOW SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Worship of Gods

SAMKONG SHRINE
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
17:30 Food Offering to Warriors
18:30 Birth-Death Gods Propitiation

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
15:30 Blessing Bang Tao Village
19:00 Worship of Gods

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
15:30 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Birth-Death Gods Propitiation at Koh Sirey Beach

SAPAM SHRINE
07:00 Street Procession in Phuket town
15:45 Food Offering to Warriors


2nd October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 / 18:00 Worship of Gods

JUI TUI SHRINE
Worship of Gods and Spirit Propitiation of Past Participants of the Vegetarian Festival

BANG NEOW SHRINE
Spirit Propitiation of Past Participants of the Vegetarian Festival

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
20:00 Worship of Gods

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
07:19 Street Procession in Phuket Town
12:00 Worship of Gods
18:00 Worship of Gods

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
12:00 / 19:30 Worship of Gods

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
15:30 Blessing Manik and Cherng Thalay Villages
19:00 Worship of Gods

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
07:30 Worship of Gods
20:00 Worship of Gods

SAPAM SHRINE
Worship of Gods



3rd October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 / 18:00 Worship of Gods
19:00 Oil Bathing & Bladed - Ladder Climbing - You can count on me being here for this!

JUI TUI SHRINE
Worship of Gods

BANG NEOW SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
20:00 Worship of Gods
24:00 Propitiation of Gods

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
07:30 Street Procession in Phuket Town

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:09 Propitiation of Seven Stars
23:00 Worship of Gods

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
07:30 Worship of Gods
20:00 Worship of Gods

SAPAM SHRINE
19:00 Street Procession in Sapam Village


4th October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 Worship of Gods
16:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods

JUI TUI SHRINE
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
20:09 Fire Walking at Saphan Hin - I gotta see some fire walking this year!

BANG NEOW SHRINE
07:00 Street Procession in Phuket Town
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
19:00 Worship of Gods
21:00 Fire Walking

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
17:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Fire Walking at Shrine

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
07:30 Street Procession in Thalang District
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
19:30 Worship of Gods
21:30 Random Selection to Find Servants to Priests in the Next Vegetarian Festival

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
07:30 Worship of Gods
15:30 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Fire Walking at Shrine

SAPAM SHRINE
15:30 Food Offering to Warriors
21:00 Fire Walking at Shrine



5th October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 Worship of Gods
16:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods
19:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars

JUI TUI SHRINE
08:00 Street Procession in Phuket Town
21:09 Propitiation of Seven Stars

BANG NEOW SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Bladed-Ladder Climbing

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods
20:00 Bladed - Ladder Climbing

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
19:00 Worship of Gods
21:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
20:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars
20:45 Oil Bathing, Tying Children's Wrist

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
19:59 Bladed-Ladder Climbing
23:00 Worship of Gods

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
20:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars

SAPAM SHRINE
20:00 Propitiation of Seven Stars
20:00 Nail Bridge Crossing; Oil Bathing


6th October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 Worship of Gods
07:00 Street Procession in Phuket Town - See you there! This is my local shrine - they walk from Kathu Shrine to town (about 4km) before parading in the town.
12:00 Worship of Gods
16:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods

JUI TUI SHRINE
20:09 Bridge Crossing for Purification

BANG NEOW SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Fire Walking at Shrine
22:00 Random Selection to Find Servants to Priests in the Next Vegetarian Festival

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
20:00 Food Offering to Warriors
24:00 Propitiation of Gods

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods
20:00 Fire Walking at Shrine

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
18:30 Street Procession in Thalang District

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
20:09 Fire Walking at Shrine
21:30 Worship of Gods

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
07:00 Street Procession in Phuket Town

SAPAM SHRINE
Worship of Gods



7th October

KATHU SHRINE
05:00 Worship of Gods
09:30 Random Selection to Find Servants to Priests in the Next Vegetarian Festival
15:00 Fire Walking at Shrine - I gotta see this!
16:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Worship of Gods
19:30 Bridge Crossing for Purification
24:00 Siva & Nine Emperor Gods and Birth-Death Gods Farewell

JUI TUI SHRINE
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
23:09 Siva Farewell
23:45 Nine Emperor Gods Farewell at Saphanhin

BANG NEOW SHRINE
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:00 Bridge Crossing for Purification
22:00 Siva & Nine Emperor Gods Farewell

SUI BOON TONG SHRINE
07:00 Street Procession in Phuket Town
20:00 Worship of Gods
21:00 Bridge Crossing for Purification
24:00 Siva & Nine Emperor Gods Farewell

SAMKONG SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:09 Food Offering to Warriors
19:00 Bridge Crossing for Purification
23:09 Siva Farewell
24:00 Nine Emperor Gods Farewell at Saphanhin

BAN THA RUE SHRINE
17:30 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Bridge Crossing for Purification and Siva & Nine Emperor Gods Farewell at Nai Yang Beach

CHERNG THALAY SHRINE
05:30 Worship of Gods
15:00 Food Offering to Warriors
18:30 Bridge Crossing for Purification
21:30 Siva Farewell
22:09 Nine Emperor Gods Farewell at Surin Beach

YOKKEKENG SHRINE
07:30 Worship of Gods
15:30 Food Offering to Warriors
20:00 Bridge Crossing for Purification
22:30 Siva Farewell
24:00 Nine Emperor Gods Farewell at Koh Sirey Beach

SAPAM SHRINE
19:45 Bridge Crossing for Purification
22:45 Siva & Nine Emperor Gods Farewell


8th October

ALL SHRINES
15 - 17:00 Lantern Pole Lowering & Warriors Farewell

After all this, a steak and a bottle of Chilean Cabernet. Hope the schedule is useful. For more vegetarian festival info see PhuketVegetarian.com. I hope to catch some of the other events this year - the fire walking, the bladed ladders, oil bathing, along with a couple of the incredible street processions.

Where I work: Borough

I decided to take a lunch hour the other day which is a Rare and Infrequent Occurrence^©. I have realised in the past that I take my surrounding for granted because London really is quite beautiful and it is so different to Johannesburg. Of course, Johannesburg is beautiful too. In fact, Johannesburg is now the biggest man-made forest in the world [source]. The last time I checked, it was only the third biggest.

London is different because of the juxtaposition of old and new, green belts and modern developments, space and high density development.

My travels on this rare and infrequent lunch hour took me south east towards New Cross. I don't often travel this way as most of my travels are due north to London Bridge Rail Station. It was nice to have a change of scenery.

This is the opposite view of The Church of St George the Martyr from that which I normally see. My building is on the other side of it. I love this church because it is tiny but it is so distinctive.

Borough Station looks a bit like a submarine to me. It is a little pokey underground station and we hardly use it because it is closed during the day while they are doing major refurbishments. Like I said, I mostly use London Bridge. Is it sad if I admit that I still sing "London Bridge Is Burning Down" to myself every time I think of that term? Borough Station is diagonally across the intersection from my work, on the other side of the church.

This is my building. I am responsible for its upkeep so feel free to say how pretty and beautiful it is (even if you don't think so).

The park next door deserves it's own post, because it was once the location of a debtors jail where Charles Dickens once stayed and where The Little Dorritt was set.

The Similan Islands

In 1999, I came to Thailand as a PADI Dive Instructor looking for work and thinking of spending a year here, maybe 2 if the diving was good. Certainly no thoughts of staying for ever or getting married or raising a family. No, first and foremost, I wanted to dive the Similan Islands. I'd already been teaching scuba diving for a year and had this romantic notion of working on a liveaboard dive boat, cruising the islands, diving every day and getting paid for it too!

It took a couple of months before I got to the Similans, first doing some local diving and teaching courses and even joining a dive boat in Burma for a couple of weeks. There was not that much freelance work and I did think of leaving for greener pastures when finally that first Similan Islands trip was offered. 4 days on a liveaboard, 14 dives. Yes! Now, the local dive sites around Phuket and Phi Phi are good, there's lots of variety, masses of marine life, but... these sites do lack crystal clear waters. I had come from the Caribbean, where 40 meter visibility was normal. I still recall that first moment of the first dive in the Similans - clear water, a frenzy of fishlife, white sand... I say again YES!

 

From that very first dive I knew this was the place to be - Similan Islands, Thailand and indeed Phuket. The variety of dive sites is amazing - there are beautiful reefs, pinnacles and many sites which feature huge granite boulders with swimthroughs and soft coral gardens. Most liveaboard dive trips also head further north to Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock, which is surely my favourite dive site. After about 1000 dives in the area, I've seen everything from tiny ghost pipefish, frogfish and the rare seamoth up to manta rays and a few whalesharks too.





The Similan Islands are about 40 miles west of Khao Lak, or 60 miles NW of Phuket (depending where you measure from, as the islands stretch 14 miles north to south). There are are 9 islands, which do have names such as Koh Miang, Koh Similan, but they are normally referred to by number. Islands 5 and 6 are little more than piles of rocks. Island 4 is the national park HQ. There are 2 beaches at Princess Bay and Honeymoon Bay. You can walk between the two in less than 10 minutes. On Island 4 you can stay in tents or some basic bungalows, some of which have aircon. There's also a small restaurant, but no dive operation. All diving ops are based at Khao Lak or Phuket.



The islands are uninhabited except for the national park facilities. No hotels, no bars, no noise... but in high season one helluva lot of divers and day trippers. There is talk of limiting numbers, but I don't reckon it will happen. Maybe 10 years ago it was pretty much only liveaboards heading there, but these days there are lots of speedboats heading out from Khao Lak on day trips for snorkeling and that "remote island paradise" experience. I must say, aside from the beach at Island 8 in what is called Donald Duck Bay (where you can climb up the rocks for a great view), I have never had a problem with crowds. The day trippers generally all go to the same places for snorkeling, which does not affect the dive boats. You do sometimes get a few dive boats on the same spot (or more than a few at Koh Bon or Richelieu Rock), but I've never found this to be a worry.



For me, the Similan Islands are a special place. My reason for staying here - at least initially. After my first season diving the Similans, I was back in Phuket. I met a girl who was working in the office for the same dive company. The rest is history.

Similan Islands Links...

• Similan Islands - More Information, Photos, Dive Site Guide
• Liveaboard Diving in the Similans (I'll do another blog thing later about liveaboards - if you love to dive, you'll love liveaboards!)
• Day trips to the Similan Islands (Diving or Snorkeling)
• Overnight Similan trips (sleeping on the islands)
• Thailand Diving - Sunrise Divers - Contact Information

Summer update

Bas (an excellent expat blogger stationed in Turkey) asked what actually happened with Summer. My reply turned into an essay, so here goes:
When she was six months old, Summer rushed into a window and caught her leg in the security bars and she snapped the bone at the knee. Because she was such a baby, the vet warned us that the joint might fuse when she healed. Well, it did fuse. The knee cap fused to the top bone and never provided the bottom bone with any protection. Then, it seems as if the bottom and top bone fused together at the tip. (This all happened because her growth plates were still developing when she first broke her leg). What happened now is that we moved into a new house. Her brother is an incorrigible escape artist and daredevil and he did not take well to us trying to keep them inside the house (we wanted them to get used to the house). Anyway, Seth learned to escape via a very high up bathroom window and he also learned to re-enter the house via that window, jumping at least two metres from the window to the tiled bathroom floor. Summer copied him, of course, and they continued to use this route even after we opened up other safer routes for them to use. Judging from the way the bone seemed to have torn away from the joint, I would imagine Summer took the leap and put too much pressure on her fused joint. This is the video from the last time Summer was hurt. It was taken on 02 February 2007. If you listen carefully, you'll hear me cooing to her in the background trying to settle her. She had to wear that cast for 6 weeks!

She is very vocal by the way. She is extremely vocal and she is always communicating. I always tease that I will know when she is seriously hurt, because she'll be quiet. Well, she was quiet on Friday night. She is the cutest thing when you get home at night - she chats and chats for ages as you open the door and put down your things and get settled. I am quite sure she'll get through this and be just fine.

Summer and Seth are named after charaters in The O.C. I loved that show and I thought that Summer and Seth were the best love story ever in television.

Summer came out of surgery last night and was apparently jumped about the cattery within minutes of waking up. I know she must have been scared, terrified in fact; but the vet seemed to think this was a good sign. They will let her come home as soon as she is no longer dependent on pain relief.

At Home: Our new house and the dogs

We had a really awful weekend.  My little cat Summer broke her leg again and the break is so bad that we have had to amputate.  She is in surgery as we speak.  The thing is, I kept promising to take pictures of my pets and I almost lost my little angel this weekend.  So here are a couple of pictures from home:

This is Molly. She is a pure-bred Labrador.  I used to be an Avon group leader and Molly was given to me by one of my representatives as a thank you present. She is 5 years old in January and is a very intelligent dog.  She likes playing ball and having her ears scratched.

This is Josey.  She is a cross Boxer/Boerboel.  Stephen and I were inexperienced dog owners and decided that we would only buy pure-bred animals as they are more predictable.  Well, the snake who sold Josey to us advertised her as a pure-bred but the minute we saw her we knew that wasn't so.  Boerboel puppies look like little teddy bears and Josey looked like Bambi - she was all legs and she was painfully thin too.  There was no chance on this green earth that I was leaving this clearly abused and neglected puppy there.  So we took Josey home and had to teach her to love and trust.

That's my kitchen window and shed you can see there, by the way.

This picture is taken from my back steps.  You can see the park behind our house and just make out the white lines they have painted for the football matches.

That is the park again.  It is really lovely and was the one factor that made me feel more easy about leaving my beautiful lake behind.

This is the back of the house seen from the back of the garden.

That is the front of the house and to the right you can see my life savings gone down the drain Stephen's car.

And finally, he is hard to capture these days but here is Seth:

My little boy is really missing his sister.  He jumps at every sound and looks to see if it is her.  He is also trying to get love from anyone he can.  Poor baby.  But she's on her way home and i just know she'll get over this.

Evening out: Ha Ha Restaurant and Covent Garden Comedy Club

Well, this entry is pretty late!  We went out on 30 August but then we moved house the next day and it has been two long weeks without proper Internet access.  I also kind of lost my camera in all the mess!  So our actual 10-year dating anniversary was the night we went to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen but the next night we were alone (at last!) as Chris and Michael went to see the St Helens vs Hull Rugby League final at Wembley. 

Stephen loves comedy so we decided that a comedy evening was required.

We started off the evening with dinner at Ha Ha Bar and Grill at 6 Villiers Street in WC2N.  Villiers Street is the street that runs between Embankment and Charing Cross Stations. 

The meal was superb and the service was excellent.  They have a special where you get 25% off your main meals if you show them your stamp to the Covent Garden Comedy Club.  We hadn't stamped in yet but the waitress checked our ticket and gave us the discount anyway.  For starters, two main courses, wine for Stephen and water for me the bill came to £34.  The bill definitely came to less than we were expecting.

We decided to go for a walk after our meal to digest our food.  I took Stephen on a little walk North-East to show him the house where JM Barrie wrote Peter Pan.  This is actual my company's head office and Stephen had never seen it before.  It is really amazing, because Peter Pan was one of my favourite childhood stories (and certainly my favourite pantomime) and it is just amazing to stand in the very room that belonged to James Barrie.  Anyway, on this evening the building was closed but we still got to see the outside.

Barrie's room was at the very top, far corner of the picture.  At the near side, the purple plaque shows that this is a place of interest and it reads:

London Country Council
Robert Adam
Thomas Hood
John Galsworthy
Sir James Barrie
and other eminent artists
and writers lived here

Next we took a walk down into the Victoria Embankment Gardens to see where the old York Water Gate is. I think this is an amazing piece of London history. The river used to flow right up to this gate so the wealthy inhabitants of the mansions could have direct access to the river Thames. With the construction of the Thames Embankment, however, the river bank moved 150 yards out and the York Water Gate now stands inside the Victoria Embankment Gardens.

Finally, it was time to go to Covent Garden Comedy Club for our comedy evening.  Of course, the comedy club is nowhere near Covent Garden and is in fact located in Heaven nightclub in the Arches precinct (located next to Charing Cross Station). 

The first artist we saw was Kiwi comedian Al Pitcher.  He was absolutely hilarious.  I am sure it is a Southern Hemisphere thing, but Stephen and I just 'got' him and we laughed our heads off.

Next up was Andy Parsons of Mock The Week fame.  Andy just wasn't as funny as Al and I do believe he is much better at improvising than at stand-up comedy.  His material was very political which goes down a lot better when he is doing improvisation.  I did enjoy his performance and as always, I appreciated his political satire, but he wasn't as side-splittingly funny as Al.

At this point, I have to mention the MC Rich Wilson.  Gosh he was funny.  That brilliant self-deprecating humour, but not overly done.

The final act was Pierre Hollins.  Being an old woman, I was really tired by now and almost skipped Pierre's set to go home early.  Thank goodness I didn't!  His set was brilliant!  The man is absolutely irreverent and I would definitely seek him out and go watch him again.

All in all it was a super evening.  We paid £13.50 each to get into the comedy club but then they gave us a loyalty card and our next visits will only be £10.00 each.  There is something therapeutic about just going out for an evening and laughing and we'll definitely be doing something like this again soon.

Hotel Recommendation: Katathani (Kata Noi Beach)

Well, I was just over at Kata Noi Beach a couple of weeks ago. Kata Noi always was quiet, and still is quiet because there is no through road, so somehow the beach seems like a sleepy backwater even though the rather large Katathani occupies most of the area!

The resort has nearly 500 rooms and is divided into different wings spread along the beach and the very quiet road along the beachfront. The resort does not own the beach exactly, but I saw plenty of signs on the land fronting the beach saying "Katathani Hotel Guests Only". I guess the beach gets some day visitors, but if you are staying there it's almost a private beach. Kata Noi is pretty. You can see Koh Pu, the little island off Kata beach and you have rocky/jungly headlands at either end.

Katathani gets lots of rave reviews which is a good sign (that's reviews by people who have stayed there). Location is great, and you're not so isolated, even if you have that feeling of seclusion. Aside from the resort restaurants (5 of them I think), there are some other places to eat in Kata Noi, and Kata beach is only a few minutes drive away, or a 15 minute hike over the hill. And for all that, I do recommend thee!

Katathani Resort - Booking & Reviews

• Katathani Resort - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Katathani Resort - Reviews at Agoda.com


Katathani Resort - Photos








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