Showing posts with label Koh Samui. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Koh Samui. Show all posts
15th April 1992 Day 270
The Diary
Today was spent on Lamai Beach and the highlights (lowlights?) were me cutting my hands and feet on the rocks and Oz similarly cutting his back. The walking wounded watched Misery in the evening to remind us that we could be worse off.
14th April 1992 Day 269
The Diary
We decided to try to get to Big Buddha Beach but after 3 taxis we'd only got as far as Chaweng Beach so we decided to stay there. The sand was gorgeous but because of a breakwater-type affair the sea was a pond - no waves at all. It also seemed slightly more upmarket and quieter than Lamai. When we walked back along the beach we realised that was because we were at the quiet end - the rest of the beach had crowds, dogs, surf and litter every bit as good or bad as Lamai. It took us 2 taxis and over an hour to get back.
In the evening we watched the end of Scarface and the whole of Green Card and as usual spent a pittance on food and drink. We haven't had any alcohol since Singapore and we didn't have much there.
We decided to try to get to Big Buddha Beach but after 3 taxis we'd only got as far as Chaweng Beach so we decided to stay there. The sand was gorgeous but because of a breakwater-type affair the sea was a pond - no waves at all. It also seemed slightly more upmarket and quieter than Lamai. When we walked back along the beach we realised that was because we were at the quiet end - the rest of the beach had crowds, dogs, surf and litter every bit as good or bad as Lamai. It took us 2 taxis and over an hour to get back.
13th April 1992 Day 268
The Diary
We had the traditional Songkran Thai New Year soaking at breakfast. Another day on the beach but this time at the other end where there was slightly less litter. Skipped lunch and stayed where we were.
In the evening we picked up our tickets which weren't quite as we expected. We expected to arrive in Bangkok later than 5:40am. We looked around the bookshops and I swapped Roots for Snakecharmers in Texas and we watched a constantly interrupted version of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. It didn't matter as it looked crap and the beef stroganoff was excellent on its own anyway.
2012
I found a list of the books I read during the trip at the back of the diary:
The Provisional IRA - Bishop and Mallie
Stone Alone - Wyman
Heroes - Pilger
A Secret Country - Pilger
1984 - Orwell
The Great Railway Bazaar - Theroux
The Kingdom by the Sea - Theroux
Riding the Iron Rooster - Theroux
Roots - Haley
Unforgettable Fire - Dunphy
Visions before Midnight - James (Clive)
A Short History of Australia - Clark
Snakecharmers in Texas - James
Falling towards England - James
A Theory of Everything - Ferguson
Animal Farm - Orwell
Chasing the Monsoon - Frater
An Area of Darkness - Naipaul
The Big Red Train Ride - Newby
The Life of MK Gandhi - Fischer
A Brief History of Time - Hawking
Freedom at Midnight - Lapierre/Collins
City of Joy - Lapierre
Video Night in Khatmandu - Iyer
Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
We had the traditional Songkran Thai New Year soaking at breakfast. Another day on the beach but this time at the other end where there was slightly less litter. Skipped lunch and stayed where we were.
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| Wet |
In the evening we picked up our tickets which weren't quite as we expected. We expected to arrive in Bangkok later than 5:40am. We looked around the bookshops and I swapped Roots for Snakecharmers in Texas and we watched a constantly interrupted version of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. It didn't matter as it looked crap and the beef stroganoff was excellent on its own anyway.
2012
I found a list of the books I read during the trip at the back of the diary:
The Provisional IRA - Bishop and Mallie
Stone Alone - Wyman
Heroes - Pilger
A Secret Country - Pilger
1984 - Orwell
The Great Railway Bazaar - Theroux
The Kingdom by the Sea - Theroux
Riding the Iron Rooster - Theroux
Roots - Haley
Unforgettable Fire - Dunphy
Visions before Midnight - James (Clive)
A Short History of Australia - Clark
Snakecharmers in Texas - James
Falling towards England - James
A Theory of Everything - Ferguson
Animal Farm - Orwell
Chasing the Monsoon - Frater
An Area of Darkness - Naipaul
The Big Red Train Ride - Newby
The Life of MK Gandhi - Fischer
A Brief History of Time - Hawking
Freedom at Midnight - Lapierre/Collins
City of Joy - Lapierre
Video Night in Khatmandu - Iyer
Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
12th April 1992 Day 267
The Diary
Superb banana porridge for breakfast and then we went to the beach. A bit gravelly and a fair bit of rubbish about - somewhere between Kuta and Phuket. I went in search of a paper and found a whole town just off the beach. Well, more of a gold rush, R&R (rest and relaxation), Las Vegas style strip of bars, restaurants, discos, money changers, film developers, book shops, t-shirt shops and travel shops. So there is life here after all.
We booked a ticket out to Bangkok on the train for the 16th and watched the end of The Doors, all of Ghost and most of the Rumbelows League Cup Final. If would have been better if Boro were playing.
I also phoned Christy earlier in the evening and had to pay 100B to make a collect call. I had to do it twice because the first time she wasn't in. I'd talked to her for about 15mins, discovered Sarah and Dave had split up and we'd just started talking about flights when they asked me to get off the phone. Apparently someone wanted to phone Bangkok. I told them what I thought about that and continued talking. They kept pushing a watch in front of me and telling me to get off. In the end I said goodbye and then had a big argument with them. I thought it was a real cheek to charge for the call and then try to throw me off when someone else turned up. I was fuming for the second evening in a row.
2012
It sounds like a perfect backpacker town (Lamai Beach). It's probably full of 5 star hotels and resorts these days.
The business model for the phones was obviously to get as many people on as possible. The only money they would have been making was the 100B usage fee so as soon as someone else turned up they wanted you off.
My mate played in that League Cup final.
Superb banana porridge for breakfast and then we went to the beach. A bit gravelly and a fair bit of rubbish about - somewhere between Kuta and Phuket. I went in search of a paper and found a whole town just off the beach. Well, more of a gold rush, R&R (rest and relaxation), Las Vegas style strip of bars, restaurants, discos, money changers, film developers, book shops, t-shirt shops and travel shops. So there is life here after all.
We booked a ticket out to Bangkok on the train for the 16th and watched the end of The Doors, all of Ghost and most of the Rumbelows League Cup Final. If would have been better if Boro were playing.
I also phoned Christy earlier in the evening and had to pay 100B to make a collect call. I had to do it twice because the first time she wasn't in. I'd talked to her for about 15mins, discovered Sarah and Dave had split up and we'd just started talking about flights when they asked me to get off the phone. Apparently someone wanted to phone Bangkok. I told them what I thought about that and continued talking. They kept pushing a watch in front of me and telling me to get off. In the end I said goodbye and then had a big argument with them. I thought it was a real cheek to charge for the call and then try to throw me off when someone else turned up. I was fuming for the second evening in a row.
2012
It sounds like a perfect backpacker town (Lamai Beach). It's probably full of 5 star hotels and resorts these days.
The business model for the phones was obviously to get as many people on as possible. The only money they would have been making was the 100B usage fee so as soon as someone else turned up they wanted you off.
My mate played in that League Cup final.
11th April 1992 Day 266
The Diary
Christy's birthday and I hope she enjoyed it more than we did. Up early to catch a minibus to Phuket Town at 7:30am. The coach which was due to leave at 8:30am never materialised so we were put on two songtheaws to the bus station. Our bags were on one and we were on the other. Panic when we couldn't find them (the bags) but we eventually spotted them and boarded a nice air-con bus that left at 10am. We stopped for a meal break and they let on a load more people. Unfortunately there weren't any seats left so they filled up the aisle.
At another stop we discovered the Tories had won the election. Gloom. We also found out all the trains were booked as the Thai New Year is coming up. When we got to the ferry I discovered that my hat had gone from the rack above. I'd seen someone looking at it so I'd a pretty good idea who'd got it. On the ferry I saw him, and the hat, straight away and grabbed it back. Wanker.
The ferry took a couple of hours and we were subjected to a Thai version of Monkey (the crap Chinese show that used to be on Beeb2 around 5:30pm). By the time we reached the island it was dusk and we were given a knuckle whitening ride in the back of a pick-up truck to the Green Canyon Bungalows. My hat blew off on the way but I banged on the cab to stop the truck, jumped out and ran back to retrieve it, just after a van swerved to avoid it.
We had a quick look around what we thought was the town area. Very quiet. But what a crap day.
2012
I can't tell you how old Christy was 20 years ago as you'd be able to work out she's now 45. Damn, I've given it away.
Monkey was actually a Japanese TV series based on a Chinese story. These days I'd know the difference but back then Japanese/Chinese/Korean was all the same to my uneducated eyes.
Christy's birthday and I hope she enjoyed it more than we did. Up early to catch a minibus to Phuket Town at 7:30am. The coach which was due to leave at 8:30am never materialised so we were put on two songtheaws to the bus station. Our bags were on one and we were on the other. Panic when we couldn't find them (the bags) but we eventually spotted them and boarded a nice air-con bus that left at 10am. We stopped for a meal break and they let on a load more people. Unfortunately there weren't any seats left so they filled up the aisle.
At another stop we discovered the Tories had won the election. Gloom. We also found out all the trains were booked as the Thai New Year is coming up. When we got to the ferry I discovered that my hat had gone from the rack above. I'd seen someone looking at it so I'd a pretty good idea who'd got it. On the ferry I saw him, and the hat, straight away and grabbed it back. Wanker.
The ferry took a couple of hours and we were subjected to a Thai version of Monkey (the crap Chinese show that used to be on Beeb2 around 5:30pm). By the time we reached the island it was dusk and we were given a knuckle whitening ride in the back of a pick-up truck to the Green Canyon Bungalows. My hat blew off on the way but I banged on the cab to stop the truck, jumped out and ran back to retrieve it, just after a van swerved to avoid it.
We had a quick look around what we thought was the town area. Very quiet. But what a crap day.
2012
I can't tell you how old Christy was 20 years ago as you'd be able to work out she's now 45. Damn, I've given it away.
Monkey was actually a Japanese TV series based on a Chinese story. These days I'd know the difference but back then Japanese/Chinese/Korean was all the same to my uneducated eyes.
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