Wordless Wednesday ~ 5: Constructing Glory

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Old Phuket Local Life Street Festival

On Sunday evening there was another of these little-promoted local festivals in Phuket Town - although this one had been mentioned in the local news websites and judging by the number of foreigners I saw, the word had got out. In fact there are meant to be live music events regularly in the old town.

This event is organised by the Phuket Old Town Foundation, who I think do a great job of keeping the old town safe from development and making sure that Phuket keeps a sense of history despite the tourist invasion and huge developments in infrastructure are real estate in the last 15 years. Some parts of Phuket Town really do retain an old world feel, which has been helped in recent months by work to remove all overhead cables along Thalang Road. The work has now been completed and Thalang Road, along with the very quaint Soi Romanee, is looking great. I think the area looked even better at night with many small bars and restaurants and all the street stalls and entertainment for this 1 night only festival.

Part of Thalang road was closed to traffic for the night, and Soi Romanee was also made a walking street. I parked just north of Soi Romanee and headed down there first.





There was live music at the Glastnost bar - see photo above, with many people sitting outside enjoying a cold drink. I have meant to visit this bar for ages, they often play Jazz music here and my parents (who used to go to Jazz clubs back in the 60's) made friends with the owner when they visited Phuket last time.

On Thalang Road, lot of stalls selling local foods....



 

If you want to sample some local dishes, a street festival or a market such as the weekend market is a good place to find a huge variety of things to eat without having to spend more than 20 or 30 Baht for a dish. Hint - there is another fair starting this week - the Red Cross fair at Sapan Hin, in the south of Phuket Town is running until 9th January.

There was street entertainment along Thalang Road and plenty of happy faces. Festivals and markets are great for people watching and for photos - I was happy with the night photos here - taken with my EOS 20D and a 10-22mm wide angle lens with ISO set to 1600 or 3200 so no flash was needed.









At the end of the street at stage was set up with a large screen - during the time I was there, a play was being staged with actors playing roles depicting the history of Phuket (and yes there is a lot of history here). I believe later there was also some music and dancing on stage. There were VIP tables in front of the stage for Phuket's great and good.



• More photos of this festival on Facebook

The aim of this blog has always tended to show the "other side" of Phuket - not the crowded beaches or bars but the local life, the quiet spots, the places that I like to go with the family. Hope this can continue in 2010 - things get busy during high season, so sometimes I have nothing to blog except maybe adding a hotel recommendation - would be nice to have more time, but that's not possible right now. Hope to do a few things after New Year that will be of interest to everyone... or at least someone.

In the meantime, Happy New Year from Phuket!

This was the point at which…

… I seriously began to doubt that I’d get home tonight.  (Or why snow turns me into Mrs Scroogey MacGrinch).

This was taken at 4:30pm this afternoon.  I guess I shouldn’t complain, I got home at 6pm.  It usually takes me 15 minutes to walk from the train station but I was slipping and sliding all over the place and it took me 30 minutes!  All told, from the time I left work to the time I got home, it took two hours!

I spent most of last week sick in bed and was actually happy to be back at work today.  I’d even like to go in tomorrow so I hope the weather obliges!  Thank goodness it is Winter Solstice tonight and the days will be getting that much longer from tomorrow.

My brother is out of hospital and safe and sound back at home.  (He was hospitalised for ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes, last Tuesday).  He is very weak though and can’t eat properly yet.  We came very, very close to losing him and it was the most frightening experience of my life.   I felt all the more powerless because I wasn’t allowed in the hospital because of my cold!! 

Anyway, I do hope hope to get back into some schedule of blogging as I am leave next week.  I have a couple more New York posts which I hope to get done by Christmas and then I have quite a few London posts lined up which should take us right into the new year.  Of course, there is the small matter of our central heating still being broken which is what caused my cold in the first place so we’ll see how much I get done aside from snuggling up in bed with a good book!  We live in hope that the central heating will be fixed by Christmas.

Hotel Recommendation: Ibis Kata Beach

Having just reviewed one brand new resort at Kata Beach (Avista), would you believe it, there's another one just opened this month. World economic downturn be damned! new hotels are a very good thing in a place like Phuket. There has to be growth and renewal in the tourist areas or things might start to get a bit old and stale. Even if occupancy is down this year, there's a strong likelihood that by next year the economies of the world will be on the up again and my guess is that people who maybe cut back on holidays this year will be already saving for an overseas trip. So - hope to see you in Phuket!

The Ibis brand is promoted as kind of new and trendy, inexpensive and with everything you need for a great holiday... in other words, nothing too flash... hotels that have the same brand over the world may not suit everyone, maybe they tend to be a bit like a fast-food hotel. You know exactly what you're going to get no matter which country you are in. If you want something more original, best look again at my recommended Phuket hotels list, but if you want new, clean, smily and fresh.. oh, and inexpensive.. (check the rates here).. Ibis is about right.

The hotel is near (not on) Kata Beach, about a 5 minute walk. It's in the 'Kata Center' area at the north end of Kata Beach with a lot of restaurants and shops nearby. The only Starbucks in the Kata/Karon area is a few minutes away, as is the Dino Park Mini Golf.

Ibis Kata Hotel - Booking Online

• Ibis Kata Beach - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Ibis Kata Beach - Reviews


Ibis Kata - Photos








• More Hotels in Phuket - Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Last minute Phuket hotels - LateStays.com
• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations

Wordless Wednesday ~ 4: The Peter Pan room

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Contacting Emm

I’ve noticed over the past couple of months that people are often trying to get hold of me but struggle to find a way.  So, given that I actually like chatting to people, I thought I should make it easier.

The best way to contact me is to leave a comment on my blog.  The reason this is the best way is that I have a general rule to reply to comments before I post a new post!

The next best way is to send an email to missus dot emm at gmail dot com.  My job and corresponding moods vary greatly from busy and harassed to bored and talkative so please bear with me if you don’t hear an answer straight away.

Meeting up, getting together, having lunch

I am always keen to meet up with people (and don’t worry Mum, I’m pretty street savvy so I do hope I won’t get stalked or anything like that!)  If you find yourself in London or ever want to spend a Saturday afternoon running around taking photos then feel free to drop me a line.  If you’re in the London Bridge area, you’re also welcome to take part in the national campaign to get me to take more frequent lunch hours!

Blogging tips

A lot of people contact me asking how I’ve done this or that on my blog template.  I’m always happy to answer questions (and might even start up another blog in the new year for all my tips and hints).

Guest posts

I’m always happy for other bloggers to write guest posts and the HostelBookers post on New York Hostels is a great example of this.  In fact, I’d love someone to post about Italy or Portugal as I struggle to make up my mind which to visit next year.  I have three conditions though which usually chase potential guest bloggers away.
1). Your post must have pictures or photos and can’t just be text.  As you can see from the photo above, I am just about unable to make a post without a photo.  It can’t just be video either.
2). It is fine if you are endorsing travel sites or tools (or even your own blog) but you must make your post relevant to this site and of course, interesting to my beloved readers.  
3). I will need to see and edit your post before it goes live.  If it is tacky, spammy or offensive in any way, I won’t post it.

I do like to do guest posts on other people’s blogs too but I often find I go blank when trying to think of a subject so it doesn’t often happen!

Advertising on this blog

This is always a possibility but this is a not-for-profit blog that is primarily written as a hobby.  If you do want to advertise or push your product, it must take none of my time or effort at all – I definitely don’t do endorsements or paid posts. 

The best way to advertise a similarly not-for-profit blog would be to follow my affiliate links to CMF Ads or Entrecard and you can then advertise using the slots on the left hand side.  Neither of those programs requires an actual buy in and you can use the credits you earn to advertise.  I don’t accept ads from paid or non-relevant sites on my blog (unless you’re a good blogging friend of mine).

Blogrolls, link exchanges

The best way to get on my blogroll is to introduce yourself and comment on my blog.  “Meeting” people and getting to know them means I inevitably go over to their blogs and start reading them.  My blogroll feeds from categories on my feed reader so shortly after I subscribe to your blog, it will show on my blogroll.  My favourite type of blogs are photography, travel, expat, city and regional blogs.  Oh, and media and political blogs but those go on my media and political blogs.

Offering me a couch to sleep on when I visit your city

I thought I’d sneak this one in.  And why yes, that would be lovely, thank you!

Just Saying Hi

You’re most welcome to drop me a line just to say hi but because of the aforementioned job / mood situation, I’m often not in a position to reply to messages straight away.  Don’t be offended, I’m just like that.

Snail mail

Drop me a line if you’d like to send me a postcard or anything of the sort.  Naturally, I am more likely to give my address to people I know!

I think that’s all!  Hopefully this should reduce the number of “contacting missus emm” and “contact emm in london” queries I’m seeing in Google!  And hopefully the people that did struggle will now be able to say hi.

Hotel Recommendation: Avista Resort (Kata Beach)

The absolute peak season is coming very soon - the period around Christmas and New Year is very very busy for me at the dive shop.. already busy now! Personally, I think home is the place to be for Christmas, but seems that thousands disagree and want such strange things as sun, sea and sand. And of course, a nice place to stay. It's odd that with the so called global recession over the last 2 years there are still new hotels popping up in Phuket. It's hard to keep up sometimes with the new hotel names.

I had already read about the Avista Resort and noticed that it was due to open in November. Some customers from the dive shop were staying there a couple of weeks ago. I drove them to the resort, only a few minutes drive from the dive shop and my first thought was "wow, this really does look new!" I reckon the paint had hardly dried, everything was immaculate. Our customers might have been the first to use their room! Also I was struck by the open plan of the hotel, lots of space, lots of fresh air - it's slightly up the hill from Kata beach, built into the hillside.

My customers were impressed by Avista, said it was very modern and technologically advanced with very friendly staff. The reviews on Agoda (only a few so far) are decent, though mention a few flaws that will surely be ironed out - and I think the early customers can't complain too much as the hotel was doing a rather good soft opening offer. Looks like a top choice for a hotel around Kata Beach.

Avista Resort - Booking & Reviews

• Avista Resort - Info and Reservations at Agoda.com
• Avista Resort - Hotel Reviews


Avista - Photos






• More Hotels in Phuket - Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Last minute Phuket hotels - LateStays.com
• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations

Wordless Wednesday ~ 3: Remembrance

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Weekend Snapshots ~ 1: Winter?

Sometimes I see something that I’d love to share but don’t really have a whole story for.  That is why I started taking part in the Wordless Wednesday group and I thought I’d occasionally share a little something on a Sunday because I often want to show people a snapshot of my weekend.

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Despite being exceptionally grumpy on Wednesday, I have to concede that it is not quite winter here in London.  This was taken in Bexley on Saturday and although chilly, it was a beautiful, sunny morning.  We woke up this morning to a soaking wet and grey day; a typical one where I get nasty little looks from my cats as if I purposefully arranged a soggy day to irritate them.  But now as I sit in bed enjoying a cup of tea, I can once again see beautiful blue skies and sunshine outside.

See? Evidence.  According to Wikipedia, it makes more sense to regard winter as taking place from Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox because those are the coldest months even though meteorologically, the winter solstice should equal mid-winter.  This is all very confusing for my South African brain where I considered summer to start mid-August and to end on my birthday in May. 

By the way, I’d like to state that I don’t often spend the whole of Sunday in bed in my pyjamas but that would be an outright lie.  I often do it.  I have made a concerted effort to spend less time on the internet lately though, especially on weekends.  That is going pretty well.

Today, however, I am consciously spending the day in bed as my back is really sore.  I have an old whiplash injury that flares up from time to time and I went for an emergency remedial massage last night and so my back is tender from all the work my therapist had to do.  She is really good though and I must go more often.  This is her website: Tranquility Spa.  She deserves a medal for being available at short notice in the evenings.

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So back to yesterday then.

We went through to Bexley to watch Planet 51 at the cinema (which I reviewed over at Emm Media). 

I’ve always found this little display fascinating and it makes me wonder how many more unexploded bombs and fragments are lying around England.

Hmmm.  Is it time for an afternoon nap yet?

Wordless Wednesday ~ 2: Grumpy

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Phuket Philatelic Museum (Post Office Museum)

Now I'll admit that a post office museum may not be top of many peoples top 10 things to do in Phuket list, but 'tis the nature of this blog to avoid the crowds, plus this little museum is in Phuket Town, which I like, and .. come on, admit it.. who didn't have a stamp collection when they were little? Within the history of stamps you can find the history of a country. Kings heads, famous people, historical buildings and even countries changing their names - before 1939, the word Thailand did not exist - the country was called Siam, and this of course is reflected in old stamps. Yes, as a kid I had stamps, inherited from older family members, and I do recall the name Siam.. but could not find it on a map.

Phuket Town has several small museums - there is the Thai Hua School museum, and a neat little collection of old stuff at the Thavorn Hotel. I like the town, a welcome break from the tourist beaches. The old town is great, lots of old buildings, small cafes, interesting shops, alleyways and markets, Chinese shrines and Buddhist temples. Phuket Town always has something interesting to find.

So, some weeks ago, while on a mission to get a new internet connection from the C.A.T office, I had a spare 20 minutes, and took a 3 minute walk around the corner to the main post office in Phuket town, on Montri Road, just east of the old town, or a block west and north of the main bus station. The old post office is right next door and houses the Phuket Philatelic Museum (see location on Google Earth).





Now, in some way this is a "let's put some old stuff in some old rooms and call it a museum" kind of place. First room I looked into had the following exhibit...



Yes, a "Writing People Table"... a wooden desk where people can write their letters or postcards or telegrams. Worthy of a museum? You be the judge. There are a couple of rooms full of old junk, old phones, scales for weighing parcels and even a (fairly modern) teletype machine.





But where are the stamps? Well, there is a sizeable display with old stamps and a history of the Thai postage stamp. History buffs and philatelists will enjoy. A reminder that Phuket does have some history... tourists only appeared at 11:55pm on the history clock.





The museum is open Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm; Saturdays 9am - 12pm. Closed on Sundays. If you happen to be in town, well, why not. Entry is free, as it is for the Thai Hua museum and Thavorn Hotel. Have a look around town, I do recommend getting off the tourist beaches sometimes. Life is happening all around.

A few related pages on Jamie's Phuket:

• Old Phuket Town
• Thai Hua School Museum
• Phuket Town Photo Walk
• Explore Phuket Town
• Thalang National Museum

Hotel Recommendation: La Flora, Patong Beach

Now, it's not normally like me to recommend staying in Patong Beach. I prefer quieter places.. which means anywhere but Patong. BUT of course there are lots of people who like Patong, like the abundance of everything a tourist could want, like the busy streets and don't like it too quiet. OK, horses for courses, but one of the reasons I am now recommending La Flora is the first review I saw on TripAdvisor - the hotel got a great review, but the guest said "It all seemed so touristy, I really felt sad looking at all the Westerners lining up at Mc Donalds and Starbucks, come on, you're in Thailand eat Thai food!" - Amen! But the reviewer loved La Flora. An oasis in the heart of all the craziness that is Patong. It's sitting at top spot for Patong Beach hotels in the TripAdvisor ratings.

La Flora only opened last year, right on the beach in Patong, right in the middle of Patong. It's a sister hotel of La Flora in Khao Lak, a place which I remember from (almost) 5 years ago. You know, the tsunami. It's still strong in my mind, I mean, nearly 5 years. Our son was born on January 11th 2005. He's nearly 5. Tsunami was nearly 5 years ago. La Flora in Khao Lak was hit hard. The Kings grandson was killed near La Flora. So the name La Flora has some meaning around here.

La Flora in Patong - so if you want to be in the middle of Patong, in the middle of the most touristy place in Thailand, but also want a fantastic resort... well, La Flora has to be a top choice. Location - most central possible. Want bars, restaurants, shops... great. I say again, not for me, but if you want to be in the center of everything, La Flora looks GREAT.

La Flora - Booking & Reviews

• La Flora - Rates and Reservations at Agoda.com
• La Flora - Hotel Reviews


La Flora - Photos






• More Hotels in Phuket - Phuket Hotels at Agoda.com
• Last minute Phuket hotels - LateStays.com
• More Phuket Hotel Recommendations

Wordless Wednesday ~ 1: Loved

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A Saturday in London

One of the aspects of being an expat is that your circle shrinks dramatically.  In South Africa my life was drastically different to life in London and I was a very social person.  There were the frequent dinner parties at my house, nights out with school and university friends, picnics in the sun, lunches with family and of course, the frequent braais.  Now it is just Stephen and I, occasionally my mum or brother and every once in a while I see some of my old South African friends.  The purpose of this little insight into how sad my social life has become is to explain how it was that Stephen and I found ourselves fighting on Friday night.  It is usually just the two of us and our four animals and we do get cabin fever sometimes.

As we are both stubborn Taureans, we were naturally still fighting on Saturday morning.  Eager to avoid another night on the sofa, Stephen eventually conceded defeat and decided to take me to the centre of London to see New Moon. 

We arrived in London an hour before the show and decided to take a walk around Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street.

'The Three Graces' by Rudy Weller atop the Criterion Building

  

Naturally, we had to take a look at the famous lights at Piccadilly Circus.  It was at this point that Stephen looked at me and said, “you know, you’re just like a bloody tourist!” which was met by me blinking rapidly at him.  (He certainly got The Look).  “What?” he said.  “You do know that the tagline on my blog is ‘The Adventures of an Eternal Tourist Living and Working in London’?”, I retorted.  Rather than admit that he never actually reads my blog, he uttered a small “oh” and didn’t complain about my photo taking for the rest of the day. 

I was quite excited to see some Christmas lights even if they were sponsored by the Disney film A Christmas Carol.  

I love the grand old buildings of regent Street and I quite liked the huge snowflakes.  (You can just see it there stretched between the buildings).  They must look great all lit up at night!  I did have one concern about the snowflake lights though – where would the Doctor land his Tardis?  I mean, realistically, he could need to land it anywhere, right?  (Oh, ignore me, I’ve gone Doctor Who crazy lately).

As mentioned, Stephen was paying some serious penance for fighting with me earlier in the day so he had to take me to see New Moon (which I reviewed over at Emm Media) and the Cranes concert later that evening.  Thankfully, there was a shining beacon of hope and non-torture during the middle of the day for him as we happened upon the Ferrari store on Regent Street. 

In case you’re trying to find it, it is across the road from the world’s most amazing toy store, Hamleys.

Stephen bought a nice red Ferrari windbreaker but they wouldn’t let me take a photograph of it.  Our sweet-as-pie sales assistant turned into a demon when I did try to take a photo and I thought we were going to get kicked out of the store!!!  They did let me take a photo of the Ferrari F1 car in the entrance though and I was somewhat mollified.

And I sneaked a photo of a very happy Stephen before we hurried back to the London Trocadero to watch the film.  You can tell he was trying to please me that day – he even wore the FDNY shirt I bought him in New York.  I have a bit of a thing for men in uniform, especially firemen and policemen!

So that is all for my Saturday afternoon in London.  What did you get up to?

Concert: Cranes + worriedaboutsatan

I usually book concert tickets months and months in advance and spend just about forever looking forward to them.  To illustrate, this week I booked tickets to Muse on September 11th next year but I’ve resolved to only start counting down the sleeps after New Year.

So imagine my surprise when I visited my favourite band’s MySpace on Thursday and realised they were having a concert last night! It was all very exciting and I booked tickets immediately.

My favourite band is called Cranes and I’ve been a huge fan since 1993.  Naturally, I have all of their albums including the rare and obscure ones.  This is the third time I’ve gone to one of their concerts – the first time was in June 2004 and the last one was in October 2008 when they released their latest album.  (Click for reviews of the Cranes concert in 2008 and the review of their latest self-titled album Cranes).

The concert was at the Luminaire in Kilburn which is an okay venue but they obviously haven’t heard of the credit crunch or current financial crisis.  The cost of one lager shandy (only half a pint of lager in that plus lemonade!) and a Red Bull was £6!!  There was nowhere to sit in the venue and huge pillars everywhere blocking the view of the stage so I can definitely say that the venue didn’t warrant the prices of the drinks.  Or I should say drink – we decided not to buy more after the first round.

 

Please excuse my terrible photos!  I’m often able to get great results with my little point-and-shoot camera but last night was not one of those occasions!  In fact, the only usable photos of Cranes were taken by Stephen!!!  :(  Unfortunately, I was afflicted by terrible photography at last year’s concert too!

The support group was called worriedaboutsatan, a wonderful minimalist electronic duo from Leeds.  I really enjoyed their show and bought two of their CDs.  Their show was interesting as they had a full backing film to go along with the music.  They were good!

Cranes’ sound can best be described as belonging to the shoegazing or dream pop genres.  The lead singer Alison Shaw has a dreamy, girl-like voice and their music is moving and melancholic.  I really love their music.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this concert as much as I enjoyed the others.  They had a couple of problems with the sound at their last concert which seemed to happen again at this concert.  The mic, bass and guitars seemed too loud and the sound just wasn’t harmonious.  There was also something wrong with the amplifier or something, as there were a couple of grinding, screeching noises towards the end of the concert.  The set list was also disappointing.  They played most of their sedate, quiet songs which is fine if it is a seated concert but not nice for a whole evening if it is a standing concert.

So in the end, it was a little disappointing which I guess is also okay.  You can’t always go to absolutely brilliant concerts!  Which reminds me, I still need to post about the Pixies and Shpongle concerts in October!

Liverpool: Quiggins Centre Revived?

Like a phoenix rising up from the flames, it looks like the Quiggins Centre in Liverpool has been revived.  Quiggins was a quirky little shopping centre made up of loads of little alternative, counterculture shops.  Every time I visited Liverpool in the nineties and beyond, my stepmum and I would go along to Quiggins.  Of course, being a Doc-wearing, black-clad coffin kid, Quiggins was the ideal place for me back then and I absolutely loved it.

Quiggins Entrance, originally uploaded by Paul Holloway

Quiggins was under threat of closure for years and years.  I don’t quite understand the legalities of what happened but I believe that some greedy land developers wanted the land that Quiggins was on and it was eventually closed in July 2006.  We had heard that it had reopened and were looking for it when we visited in December but we weren’t successful.  Imagine our happiness then when we saw the following sight on Thursday morning:

This is not the official Quiggins Centre and Wikipedia says that although it houses many of the old occupants, it is not actually associated with the owners of the original centre.  Take a look inside though; it is full of the magic and wonder that we remembered from the old Quiggins Centre:

Grin @ Quiggins

See that t-shirt at the top left?  The black, long-sleeved one?  I would have looooved that back in the day, before Trinny and Susannah told me not to wear clothing with high necklines.

Isn’t it just quaint and kooky? 

On the first floor, there is a vintage dress shop and a dress designers.  I really like that black mini dress on the right.  What a pity I’m not as teeny weeny as I used to be!

Grand Central Hall used to be a Methodist Church and the main hall was amazing.  They were currently building more shops in the main hall but at one stage, I looked up and was so glad that I did.

It’s not a great shot but the photo on the bottom right shows what the hall looked like in its former glory.  Having little stalls and shops there definitely changes the look of the building but if they can maintain some of the features like the organ and the ceiling then it will all be worth it.  I’m also hoping that they will refurbish the gallery and allow people to sit upstairs again. 

It was good to see the old Quiggins traders again.  I didn’t buy anything on that day but seeing as I usually hate shopping and shopping centres, it was good just to browse and to enjoy it!  (Oh, I know I’m a grumpy so and so but seriously, Amazon was launched with me in mind!)

Go to Liverpool, visit Quiggins!

Quiggins Centre, Grand Central Hall, Renshaw Street, Liverpool.