Tag: #folksytravel

I have been reluctant to create this blog since this was a fairly sensitive day. The hospital staff came to administer the COVID-19 test. The results were to show up in 24 hours. We would be informed in one of two ways, no phone call means a negative result. A phone call means a positive result and to get ready to be taken to the hospital for quarantine and further examination, blood test and chest x-ray.  Everyone of course hates Covid tests but I will say it’s difficult to dislike or make any complaints against the hospital staff. They are doing the best job they can an extremely difficult circumstances. So far they have been very good and helpful. And I have a lot of respect for the difficult work they are doing.

I made my last healthy soup (photograph above) so will need to arrange more ingredients but I am a little reluctant to do that in case they come to take me away. I wouldn’t want those ingredients to go bad. 

Gee brought the usual daily ice coffee, and also garlic, onion and ginger so I could add turmeric, olive oil, Kimchi  and TONKOTSU soup mix (pork bone soup) special healthy soup.  Another friend brought water and other provisions which I asked people to leave in my blue basket on my motorcycle downstairs so they would not have to come into the hotel back area.  And the Korean restaurant brought 2 kg of kimchi.  Instead of putting the kimchi in the blue box on the motorcycle the person hung it on the blue motorcycle. No problem just funny. 

There was a lady cleaning up the fallen leaves in his garden area and she had a problem understanding she needs to keep a good distance away from all of us. When I went down to pick up my food I asked her to please give me some distance to pass by her and she insisted that would not happen so I went back to my room and waited for her to move on to another area.  When the health officer came by to get a copy of my passport page and inform me of the test the next day at 10 AM that same cleaning lady kept interrupting her and trying to explain to me what she was saying. The health officer was very understandable and she was so irritated at the cleaning lady she turned around and asked her to please stop commenting. So that was my excitement for the day.

There is no way anyone could be looking forward to a Covid test. I am absolutely no exception. The one down the throat it’s just unbelievably irritating. When I paid to have a test done a few months ago just to check my health, following the test I apologize for making such horrible noises. 

OK back to Ragnarok, Outlander and Perry Mason season 8.  

This is my first complete day locked away. Yesterday the quarantine request from hospital staff came at noon. I live up in the garden area behind the main hotel building and I don’t want people walking in here for health reasons. But I am kind of fortunate because on my motorcycle I have a large blue basket I can use as a drop point.

So I disinfected the basket and use disposable thin plastic gloves to handle things in and around the basket. Quarantine people are not supposed to give people cash but the bank transfer system here is very good so I can make payments and have people drop off in the blue basket on my motorcycle.  

Today a mocha pot for making Italian coffee arrived. It is a replacement for a friend of mine. The transport company just left it inside the blue basket and my friend came to pick up in the afternoon. 

My morning deliveries were iced coffee from Gee and some garlic, ginger and onion for my special healthy soup. I include kimchi, turmeric, olive oil and Japanese pork bone soup mix (とんこつスープ).

I l feel very good and very healthy. And actually my breathing is better than it has been in a month, much clearer and deeper. The only pain or discomfort I feel is from a fall last week when I drank too much. 

Now I have to behave myself. 

Today the hospital people came and took all the hotel staff to the hospital. They tested positive for Covid 19 and will be in or around the hospital for sometime. The hospital staff asked us at the hotel to stay in our rooms for 14 days.  I have friends on the island so there is assistance in bringing food and necessities. Since there is no hotel staff I just hope that electricity and water continue without too much disruption. 

https://kochangisland.com/best-restaurants-on-koh-chang

As I mentioned several times, every day is very different and even if the differences are very small they are evident if we look closely for even the minuscule differences.

Walking on the beach a month ago I saw a fishing net ready to be picked up but not removed. As the waves washed in the sand it was covered except for a small portion. Last week the whole net was uncovered by the receding sand and it seems someone from the beachfront resort moved it up where it can be taken away.

As I was in the ocean with a friend a silver fish, about 15 cm long, jumped out of the water and stabbed my friend. Here you can see how it pierced his ear. He should have taken advantage of the piercing to insert a pirate’s earring. He didn’t. But he did take revenge on that fish or his cousins. They were very tasty with a spicy Thai sauce.

This is the first time I saw a Hulu Hoop Girl! This is Gee the coffee lady.

Coconut trees need to be harvested from time to time to avoid the coconuts falling on heads and killing customers.

One delicious dinner, for me, is grilled pork with a spicy sauce, cucumbers in a salad dressing and deep fried shrimp chips.

Look how kids are transported on Koh Chang.

This cat is dreaming of her roll in the next SuperCat movie.

Roel made this great Holland dinner, slow cooked pork with mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut.

After Pizza at Babylon you can have home made Gelato.

Late night meals include grilled fish and fresh caught shrimp (that morning) with a spicy lime/herb sauce.

While eating a meal and drinking you might be lucky enough to provide a drink for a moth.

Trattoria & Pizza (Chef Angelo) in Lonely Beach area makes fantastic Panzerotto, Tiramisu and crystal lemon desert. Easy to sleep after that wonderful meal, all for US$11.

Noticing a lot of simple things during the day is really important to finding something inspiring or just interesting. Here are some things I’ve seen over two days that I found postable. The captions will tell the story.

And now you get to see how a stormy day at Chang Bar can be. This is not the worst by any means. A bad day has waves washing hundreds of kilos of sand into the bar.

If you look carefully every day there is something interesting to see; no difference in paradise. There is always change from day to day even if we are in lockdown mode.

Last Monday we had a small birthday party for a friend. The food was really excellent and the cake was more like ice cream; very decorative and delicious.

The next morning, after morning ice coffee and this very cute girl dressed up in a kimono, I was able to get some help installing new extra small LED lights on my motorcycle which help with visibility, people driving in my direction, so I don’t get hit head on which seems to happen too much in Thailand.

I passed a truck caring a palm tree for installation at some new resort. Rumors are it’s financed with Chinese money for Chinese tourists but I haven’t really been able to confirm that. I zoomed passed the truck to get far enough in advance so I could turn around and take this video. It’s a great demonstration of how to use minimal equipment to transport a palm tree while leaving tree fragments in the street for cars and motorcycles to hit. Great idea!

In the evening, off to the tofu vegetarian restaurant for pesto spaghetti and this wonderful honey lemon tea with a, yes you guessed it, cannabis leaf on top. This is legal now in Thailand and very popular herb topic for restaurants to spice up everyone’s life.

And of course when the storms come so do the rough seas.

And at the end of the day, the sky catches on fire!

Living out the COVID-19 crisis in Paradise presents its own dullard schedule, really not much to do every day. But I never felt unfortunate about being here rather than someplace else.

One thing I wanted to try was the new 99 Baht hamburger joint ((30 Baht=US$1) and found it to be, while not a grilled beef burger deluxe as I would do at home, a very competent set of flavors for a pork burger done in a very nice way; a good lunch.

And of course driving around the island I finally decided to stop and talk to the fellow who has these ancient motorcycles. The one that really looks so interesting and fashionable is the red Lambretta. Looking at the Wikipedia page I found this motorcycle which the Italian factory started making in Milano in 1948 was a scooter that was so sought after product it was licensed for production in many different countries during the 1950s.

And then there was the Sunbeam motorcycle which I guess was made by the same company that made the Sunbeam cars (the TV series Get Smart fame).

And then right in front of the hotel in which I stay there was a truck with Doraemon on the back which happens to match the license plate rim on my motorcycle. Yes, Doraemon is a friend of mine.

While sitting around drinking coffee at Gee’s I saw this scooter ice delivery vehicle which everyone tells me was made in China and is always in the repair shop. I didn’t find any reference to this cute vehicle on the Internet yet and I have ended the search. Too much work for a retired beach bum.

And then in the evening we had a small party for a young friend who just turned 22 win some really nice food, much of a pretty spicy but very well done, with some shrimp and other crustacean sashimi as well as gyoza and a few other nice things. And of course we had gin and Hong Tong as well.

The next evening there was a party at Chang Bar where Gee took this photo of Nikki while she was grilling something; an extremely fine photo.

So that’s a day and a little bit more in Paradise waiting for majoral sanity and normalcy to return.