#retirementtravel Archives • Page 41 of 56 • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

March 9, 2022December 8, 2024

Rough Sea Live Aboard – Day 1

Koh Haa is our first stop to drive around those small islands. I am not diving since I still have this very painful hole in my mouth from the extracted tooth operation. They didn’t do the famous cave dive, just the coral reef areas. I haven’t been on this boat for 22 years, having worked on her for eight years with customers from all over the world.

I noticed I have my old habits of picking up garbage whenever I see it and rearranging things so they look a little bit better and wanting to carry some things or just generally check things out. I think this is now solidly in my DNA so it’s probably impossible to become just a true lazy customer on a drive trip.

The food is very good as always, some rice porridge and some cooked vegetables with small amounts of meat and some spices on the side. I find myself in the habit of drinking a lot of coffee. I normally don’t do this but it used to be a habit since I needed to stay alert watching the customers and checking for safety all the time. So it’s gonna be hard to take a nap during the day. Well, i tried a nap and got in a few winks.

At 5 PM after the last day dive we stopped at a very calm place so I just went for a swim with fins and tried a few skin diving tricks to try and get my breathing partially back to where used to be so I could go down and see some 5 meter corals and sea life.

The Thai customers are very quiet and considerate. I was expecting they might start Karaoke but they didn’t. I think they just preferred some quiet and joyful talk. They’re from the same dive club, brought their own instructor to be divemaster l. I would have chatted more with them but I have my own issues with the painful hole in my, able to eat only on one side very slowly. I didn’t want to bother them with my affliction.

In the evening I just took some extra strength paracetamol and watched a few television episodes I saved on my iPhone, finally going to sleep at 8 PM.

some islands look like they’re about to topple over

March 2, 2022December 8, 2024

Love aboard a Live aboard

airport restaurant lineup buzzer also reads out table number

You have to be a smart dresser to get in

OK, so it’s time to get off the plane in Phuket and prepare for the journey, a live aboard dive trip south of Phuket along the coast islands of the Andaman sea

I stay at the hotel owned by friends I used to work with in Phuket. They also own the boat I will be on the next day.

For hotel in Patong, before you depart, you can book at their hotel Andaman House. their dive shop and swimming pool are there as well.

Clever bureaucrats figured a way to put, not only a signal light but also a conduit sticking out with wires going to the signal light blocking the walkway. This is definitely one idea.

The new pier in Chalong Bay is very long

And there is the boat I used to work on for eight years

Tik (boat owner and close friend) is next to me and at the end is the captain, a good reunion after 22 years

The cabins are very nice with private bathrooms And air conditioning

But then a boat docks behind us and the anchor destroys the dive platform frame

While they settle the damage issue amicably I look around

A nighttime pleasure cruise offloads passengers

My room is ready. Actually, it’s the best room on the boat. I have connections. It’s on the lower deck in front with the window looking out the front.

I should note here that the lower deck is more comfortable than the upper deck cabins since the boat rolling sensation is much less on the lower deck. So the crew sleeps on the upper deck. OK, so now we depart. Talk to you later.

February 19, 2022December 8, 2024

Motorbike fixes and dog satisfaction

start with something like this, not expensive

my options were to buy something online as a cushion for my motorcycle seat or I could have made something by myself or I could have gone to the city and found someone to make something for me. I decided to make my own.

After taking out some filling duct tape works just fine to seal it up.

The next step is to waterproof it with a recycled garbage bag. Duct tape melds with the garbage bag plastic and cannot be undone.

Place it under the seat cover and voila !

Now for the dogs!

It is nice to see dogs trained to stay in their designated guarding places

Inside the store this dog knows where to sit so he doesn’t activate the door opener sensor

Did I mention pigs? Well this pig has a name but I forgot. He’s wandering around here most days

I like to just take a walk and smell the roses but these flowers are nice to look at as well

Roel, Didier, Jim and I are discussing the price of rice in Timbuktu.

Repeat the name of this school 10 times quickly

February 17, 2022December 8, 2024

Bocce in Paradise

When I was growing up I would often go to the city (San Francisco). Sometimes I will go to fisherman’s wharf area and there was a place where the old Italian men were playing bocce. I didn’t know anything about the game but I was intrigued. Now I’m in Thailand and because of a good friend I am able to play the game several times a week and learn some Italian as well. At the end of this blog you can see a video, explaining how the games played and showing some very good and some very poor players. It’s all in good fun.

Giuseppe’s (professore) precision throw.

Inspecting the results. the one who is farthest throws next.

Adding to the video below, each person gets 3 bocce balls so the maximum score on each toss is 3 (the closest to the red target ball).

February 11, 2022December 8, 2024

Bush and bin Laden on a rocket ship Chiang Rai

in Chiang Rai there is a temple called the white temple. It was designed not only for religious purposes but also as a collection of Buddhist ideas and symbolism to enchant people visiting the complex. It was designed by a very famous artist in Thailand who even created a painting of George Bush Junior with Osama bin Laden on a rocket going somewhere into outer space so you know this guy has quite a sense of……… Something. I won’t go into detail on that temple itself since that can be better done by a couple links I have here. I want to show you the photos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Rong_Khun

This is just to prove I was actually there. No, I was not photoshopped in

you can see clearly why they call it the white temple

even the bathrooms are very ornate. I’m sure you don’t believe these are the bathrooms but they are

my wish was, “I wish I had this wishing well”. It’s a real moneymaker

even the caution markers contain symbolisms

February 7, 2022December 8, 2024

Loy Krathong – the festival of lanterns in Chiang Mai

I will let Wikipedia explain the festival

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loy_Krathong

February 4, 2022December 8, 2024

Another, another day in paradise

It’s good to have your embroidered name on your cap just so you don’t forget it

My Advanced team

Self service gas. Insert coins and get what you need

This hotel is a little rundown due to Covid

Looks like a comedy but it actually happened, big nail

The bungalow owner brought me some fresh shrimp

This pillow seems to make the ride so much softer

A good thing for the buildings below this water tower there are no earthquakes in Thailand

I it’s really a good idea to take your face mask out of your swimming suit before going in the ocean. I should have remembered that

February 2, 2022December 8, 2024

Another day in paradise

A few days ago I was talking to a good friend about our situation in this pandemic whatever it is. They said to me, “do you realize how many people would love to be in your situation, on an island in Southeast Asia where you’re able to travel around and do a lot of interesting things?“ My response was, “how many people are there in the world?“ They responded, “about 7 billion“. I said, “ then I guess there would be about 7 billion people who would love to be in my situation“. Here are some recent photos and situation’s.