I thoroughly enjoyed making the name for this blog. At first I was going to have Jesus or Javier Bond but apparently Diego is the Spanish equivalent of James.
Last week we broke up the evenings by going out to Coyotes. It's a Mexican restaurant that is actually a chain here - it's in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya if I'm not mistaken. We ate so much food it was ridiculous - Caesar salad, onion rings, a 'Big Burrito' with chicken, and peach and pecan enchilada for dessert. Delicious. The beans that came with the burrito were just a little sweet but still tasty, and the Mexican rice was also good but I had minimal room for it so I didn't eat much of it. As it was, I only had one bite of the dessert. What topped the meal off was that we got there during happy hour so it was bogo on - get this - margaritas. And they had a huge menu to choose from so we got to experiment. Overall a good experience that left me feeling like I could roll back to Piya. (That's where the Diego came from).
The week of teaching itself was awesome. I officially started music and it is so much fun. It really makes me miss music - especially during band class. The kindergartens are so adorable - we sing songs and dance to CD's. One kid in particular was hilarious when I put on Lady Gaga because he danced like he should have been in a music video or something. I wish I had had my camera because I won't be teaching him again, since next Monday is a day off.
The week went by so fast that Friday came just that quickly. Lynne and I booked it from the school (after I found my key to the music room so that I could get my travel bag) to get a cab so that we could get to the airport for our 7pm flight. The traffic was pretty bad so we ended up running (basically) through the airport. Nothing like a couple farang running through a Thai airport in their teaching uniforms. The flight was short so I occupied my time by reading the inflight magazine. Upon arrival at the airport there were many willing drivers who wanted to take us to our hotel, but since we had arranged a shuttle with the hotel it was great. We just got to walk to the guy with a sign with my name on it, and hopped into a pimpin' car. As we headed to Patong, Lynne and I almost died of silent laughter because the driver's ringtone was Shania Twain.
Our next day was the Canoe and James Bond tour (hence the other part of the blog name). The day got off to a bumpy start as we picked up the wrong couple from one hotel then had to turn around to get the right one, who were unbelievably late - making us an hour late for the boat. Once we were on the boat we set off to Koh Panak where we canoed through a bat cave (ew) to the interior part of the island. It reminded me of The Beach because it was this lower part of an island with vertical walls all around. I freaked out because there were these things called Mud Skippers - they're fish that can survive on land for short spurts of time and actually hop along - that I had seen on my Life DVD's!
This was also my first real-life encounter with a mangrove tree. They're pretty neat - this is what they look like at low tide.
After this we went to Koh Hong - another island. This one was a little more open - no bat caves. It was also a lot bigger.
And then... JAMES BOND ISLAND!
For those of you who are not acquainted with this island (aka everyone BUT Scott) it was in the Man With The Golden Gun, with Roger Moore.
After visiting the island and being hastled by a number of vendors set up there (all selling the same things I might add) we returned to the boat, and set off to our final destination before returning to Phuket island - Koh Lak. During this trip (about 45 minutes I think) we were served lunch on the boat (it was a big boat). The food was a good mix of Western and Thai food, all prepared well, and they also provided us with a wide variety of different fruit to eat. Once we got to the island we could not dock so I jumped off the back of the boat and swam to shore where Lynne and I soaked up the rays for a bit before chilling in the water and swimming back to the boat when it came time to leave. Very relaxing.
I have to say that the tour was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it if you're heading that way because it was 'adventurous' but still very laid back. I must admit that Lynne and I were further pleased by the couple that we met on the trip - Melissa and Peter - from Australia. She is also a teacher, which was great because we could talk about our students and not seem crazy. All in all, pleasant. Plus, both of us being fair, it was quite impressive that neither of us burned at all even though we were that close to the equator!
That evening we did some shopping in the streets and ate at an Irish Pub - apparently you can find them anywhere. We also got Thai massages, as usual, which were different from the ones we had had in Kanch but I still found it quite relaxing. It always amazes me that I am at risk of falling asleep when they're whacking and poking me.
Sunday was also pretty chill. Since our flight was at 3 pm we arranged for a shuttle at 1pm, so we had some time to kill. We walked the length of the beach and it was bizarre because there was a massive number of tiny jellyfish on the sand. Turns out that these jellies follow the water of a certain temperature, and this water made its way in at high tide. As the tide fell, the jellies didn't move fast enough and got stranded on the beach. Most of them were about the size of the top half of my thumb and clear but some got as big as my palm! I ended up stepping on a few and was unphased by it so perhaps the toxin had been washed away or had lost potency in death... that or my soles are quite tough.
All in all a great weekend. I'm getting excited for this coming weekend - my second last in Thailand!! I'll keep you posted on everything that happens - which should be a lot!
Luv for now - Amanda
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