More from Paradise

It has been a long time since I updated. We went back to the USA July 1st. To see family and friends and take care of some business. We planned to stay until September 15th but finished our business early (plus it was getting colder up at Lake Tahoe) so we changed our flight and headed back to Phuket on September 1st. We arrived back in Patong to the tail end of the monsoon season.

We decided to obtain our Driver’s License and Motorcycle License. Here in Thailand you get two separate licenses. The car driver’s license was a piece of cake. We each had our International Driver’s License so all we had to do was pass a color blind test and pay 105 baht ($3.18). Because we had no motorcycle license endorsement on our USA license we had to take a written and practical test. This wasn’t too bad, they show you a movie in English that gives you the rules and regulations. After that you take the written test, which is on a computer, in English and is multiple choice. Unfortunately neither of us passed the written test. However when we went up to get our score the girl said that we had 90 days in which we could come once a day try again until we pass. After the 90 days we have to register again. After that she sent us downstairs to take the practical test even though we had not passed the written. The practical test on the motorcycle was fairly easy except for one part. You drive up a little hill, stop, drive through so cones this was the easy part. After the cones you come up to 5 boards about 8 inches wide, 6 ft. long ends overlapping each other for a total of about 35 ft in length. We were to drive down the middle of the boards the whole length without putting our feet down. John has been driving the motorcycle everywhere here in Thailand for the past two years without a problem, but he was unable to accomplish this feat. After about 5 tries he was able to stay on about 3 of the boards before he veered off. He didn’t fall just didn’t go the full length. She motioned to him to finish the rest of the course. Thinking he had failed, she said you passed. I had the same problem with the boards, didn’t fall just didn’t go the full length, and I also passed. We figured if you didn’t fall off the bike while going on the boards you showed balance and passed. What a weird test. Anyway we came back the next day took the written part again. You are allowed to miss 7 questions, John missed 2 and I missed 7 but we passed. After we passed the test we went downstairs to pay for our license, it cost 55 baht ($1.67). So we now have our Thai driver’s license and don’t have to carry copies of our passport with us.

Our friends Sandy and Chuck Howery arrived on Oct. 2nd for a 6 week stay. We had our first full moon/welcome Sandy and Chuck party October 4th. We had 18 people, 1 snake, 2 dogs and the building didn’t slide off the mountain. Our friend Sherman and his girl Kung (pronounced goon) came and she was so afraid of snakes that she couldn’t even look at it. Our friend Frances (the snake lady) is very good at introducing people to her snakes and educating them about snakes. As you can see Kung overcame her fear to the point she had her picture taken with Frances and Cuddles. All in all a good time was had by all.

We had fun showing Sandy and Chuck around. We took them to the floating restaurant and Rang Hill restaurant famous for the loo with the view. Thanks to our friend Brian we were able to celebrate National Anthem day sailing to Prom Thep Cape on his catamaran. Our friend Noi who owns the restaurant at the Mountain Bar up the street from us put on a free bbq for us. We had 13 people and 1 snake (Frances goes nowhere without a snake).

Chuck and Sandy rented a car and did quite a bit of exploring on their own. When their friends Cynthia and Dennis arrived from the USA for a short stay of 8 days he became the tourist guide and took them around to the places we showed them plus some he found on his own. That’s how its done you just pay it forward. Chuck and Sandy have departed for the USA to return next year. We look forward to their return they are fun people. We all went up our street to a local restaurant for a BBQ it was a lot of fun.

We woke up this morning looked out on the bay and realized it is the start of High Season. The first cruise ship had arrived. I recently joined a group called Chickys of Phuket. They are expat women who get-together for lunch and do things for fun. It is a great way to meet English speaking women in the area and do events. I just went to a brunch at Friendship Beach and met some very interesting women we had a great time. I look forward to more events with these women.

Life is Good!



At last my motorcycle and car driver's licenses.

Sherman, Arnaud & John at our 1st. Full Moon Party

Sandy & me at the party

Kung & Frances (Snake Lady), Kung no longer afraid of snakes.

Sandy, Kung & Frances

Kevin, Capt. Brian, Chuck and Me on the Gundy Too

John chillin' on the Gundy Two

Me & Cuddles at the BBQ

John and the Girls at the BBQ

The Gang at the BBQ

First cruise ship in the bay, High Season has arrived!

Brunch with the Southern Chickies at Friendship Beach

On the hill at last!

At long last we are in our new residence. They are still working on the outside of the building and finishing off Vincent’s unit (he’s our former landlord of PJ’s Guesthouse). They trimmed more trees and the view is spectacular. I have included pictures of our first sunset, Patong at night and the inside of our unit. It is raining right now and everything smells so fresh and clean. Being in the jungle is always exciting. Our first day we saw a large gecko on or side window screen, just as I was pointing it out to John a tree snake was eyeing him for his dinner. The gecko jumped out onto the tree and the snake did a free fall ten feet down to the limb below to get him. Unfortunately it happened so quickly that I couldn’t grab the camera fast enough.

Yesterday I started up the stairs to take a walk when I saw this crab on our stairs. I thought our landlord had brought us a crab to eat (he goes night diving often and the last time he gave us some fish and lobster). I told John and he put it in a pot for later. He showed it to the workers and they told him “cannot eat, that jungle crab no good” and I thought all crabs lived in the ocean. So you just never know what you can find living in the jungle. We are close enough to enjoy the many things Patong has to offer yet far enough to not be in the middle of the chaos. John has found his new hobby, overseeing Patong via the telescope. Thanks to our friend Jim, (he lent his scope to John) he is enjoying overseeing Patong. When we go back to the USA he plans to buy a more powerful scope (one that will let him see things closer but not enough to get himself labeled Peeping John).

We have been busy buying things for our home. We bought a bigger refrigerator (Thais' don’t normally have refrigerators in their homes), we bought a 42” LCD TV, it was on sale only 20,000 Baht (about $550 US); next purchase will be the home theater system. All in all we are very happy up on the hill. I almost forgot we have two new additions to the family. Boo and Scruffy (sisters) a couple of Soi dogs we inherited with the place. Life is Good!!


Boo

Scruffy

Front of our building

Top of our stairs

Our living room

Our kitchen

Bar and kitchen

Our bedroom

Our bathroom

John's new hobby

Jungle crab

In the jungle instead of the forest

Our neighbors

Their view

Our view

Rain is coming

Our first sunset

Patong at night

Our New Place

Thanks to friends Jim McNeill and Vincent Stone who have working cameras, I have a few pictures of our new digs. It is a fourplex (four separate apartments) under one roof. It is under construction and we are scheduled to move in on May 1st. It is located above Patong on the hillside overlooking the bay. The views are fantastic. As you can see we have no one right next to our building. The closest neighbor is the Muay Thai Boxing Gym about 100 yards down the street. Once our unit is finished I will have my dear friends, take some pictures (if I don’t have my camera back by then). We are very lucky in that, they are building it to our design.



That little green roof is our place.


Front of our building. Our unit is downstairs on
the left.


John checking on the progess of the unit.


Just couldn't wait, so we had a picnic in the
unfinished unit with Frank & Ela.


Sticky Rice our landlord's dog is checking out
Jim's camera.


Our view.


Jungceylon the largest shopping center in Patong.


Getting crowded down there, thats why we are
moving up the hill.

Visitors from home

Well it is already the end of February and alot has happened since Thanksgiving. We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the BBQ Hut. Our friends from Switzerland Willie, Jaffa and their son Ron arrived for about a month. On Christmas Day our friends Stephanie and Bruce (from Phoenix, AZ), arrived for two months. We took Steph and Bruce to the BBQ Hut for Christmas Dinner with a few of our friends. We all went down to the beach on New Years Eve to watch the fireworks and send off some lanterns (for good luck) then went to our favorite bar the Blue Lotus to celebrate the New Year with our English friends. In the middle of January our friends Don and Bonnie (from Healdsburg, CA) arrived for a month. We had more Americans at PJ’s Guesthouse at one time. It was alot of fun showing everyone around. We took them to a BBQ on the other side of the island at our friends Kevin and Frances (the snake lady). We went to the floating restaurant, the restaurant on the river and various other restaurants nearby. Don, Bonnie, Bruce and Steph rented a car and went exploring on their own and saw alot of the island. We went to the beach most everyday. Bruce and Steph rented a motorbike while they were here and did quite well for not having ridden a motorbike for years and driving on the other side of the road with all the different road rules we have here (which not everyone adheres to).

Willie, Jaffa and Ron left for Switzerland mid January but will be back next year. Don and Bonnie left on Jan. 5th to spend a week in Chiang Mia before heading back to the States. Bruce and Steph left to return home to Phoenix on the 19th of Feb. Boy how time flies when you’re having fun. Cathie Becker from Lake Tahoe, CA has been traveling on her own in Thailand for about 3 weeks and came to Patong for a week and stayed at PJ’s Guesthouse as well. Cathie is a very good friend of our friend Cheri (our dental hygienist back in Tahoe). She is leaving today to go on a live aboard dive trip for 4 days. Then she is off to explore the southern islands on her own. She is an amazing woman.

When everyone was here it was a bevy of activity. It was fun going out to dinner with our friends sitting around watching movies, playing games and just visiting.They have been gone only a few days and we miss them. I hope the experience of meeting a lot of people from foreign countries, the beautiful beach days and wonderful people of Thailand will bring them back.

Bruce & Steph

The gang celebrating New Years Eve at the Blue Lotus

Bonnie & Steph at BBQ

Bruce, John & Don at BBQ

Dinner at the Floating Restaurant

Cathie going on her diving trip