Java Mama’s Neighborhood

Pronounced pee pee.

Famous for being the island used in The Beach, the movie.

What can I say, this place is totally gorgeous. Trouble is, thousands of people want to flock there now every year to see it and will probably be the ruin of it. Heaps of speedboats are coming in and out of there every day, polluting the water for one thing. And there is a snack bar there, where you can buy pringles for gods sake. And you can't stay there, you only go on a tour for a few hourss. So I'm sure people could do without their pringles for a day. And it has the dirtiest toilets I've ever seen. One look and I marched back to the beach and told everyone that if they wanted a wee to go into the water and do it, because I wasn't letting anyone near those toilets.

So its a shame. But I still went.

We headed off on the roughest speedboat ride you could ever imagine. Its an hour long trip. Our tour guide, Jong, who was fond of telling long and involved stories, told us that if the weather was bad it could take 2 or 3 hours to get home. Of course we all laughed and he said - no, not joking. That was the moment I wished I hadn't come.

He also told us that we were not to joke with the monkeys at out first stop, Loh Dalum Bay. Because they could bite you and then you would need THREE BIG NEEDLES to prevent rabies. But of course people ignored this and fed the monkeys bananas. Not from our group.

 

 

Kimba and I were sitting on a rock while everyone was looking at the monkeys and this kid comes up to us and thrusts a framed photo at us. Wooden frame, shells, Phi Phi Island on it, and a photo of Kimba in it. WTF? And we sat there looking like idiots for a minute and I said - thats what you're wearing today. So they'd taken photos of people stepping off the boat, developed them somwhere in the next ten minutes, framed it then were selling it. Enterprising little bugger.

So we bought it.

Then there was snorkelling in crystal clear water. I myself have a fear of swimming and don't put my head under water. But I did have a try. Which ended in a mild panic attack that I spent the rest of the day hoping wasn't going to end up framed and for sale somewhere.

 

From here we set off for Phi Phi Don for lunch. I didn't like this place much. It was like this lovely little island that had been packed full of tourists and buildings. But a long way from anywhere. Dodgy toilets there as well. A lot of places in Thailand you can't put toilet paper in the toilet. You have to throw it in a bin beside the toilet. This was one of these places.

 

 

If any of us were ever going to get food poisoning, this would've been the day. I ate a lot of dodgy looking chicken while I was away, but even I didn't eat this stuff. There was this guy deep frying bits of chicken. Outdoors, in 100 degree heat, then sitting them in a bowl for people to eat, buffet style. But what concerned me was that before the chicken was deep fried, it sat in this enormous unrefrigerated bowl, in the heat, already cooked. Hmmmm. I stuck to the thai side of the buffet. They always had thai side and western side.

Here is Kimba with her beer. When you order a beer in Thailand you always get a longneck.

 

 

Then we headed off to Viking Bay. You could not find clearer water than this. We got to swim here off the boat for a while. Hard to imagine Vikings coming to Thailand. They must have been bloody hot.

 

 

 

Now this was interesting. People live in this cave. They get a 5 year permit from the government to live there and collect birds nest for birds nest soup. After that, someone else gets to live there. They climb these bamboo ropes to collect the birds nests. And when the men climb, the wives can't brush their hair because they believe that if they break hair strands its like the bamboo ropes breaking and the men will fall.

 

 

And then it was on to Phi Phi Leh, where The Beach was filmed. What can I say, more beautiful water.

 

 

And then it was time to head home. Which thankfully didn't take 2 or 3 hours.

Everywhere we went they had pineapple and watermelon. And water, always lots of water and juice.

Thats Jong. Hi Jong. He wants to come to Australia one day. He used to work on a rubber plantation and couldn't speak english. We learnt a bit about the rubber making process and I'm glad he got out of it becuase the money sucks.

 

It was hard to believe this was christmas eve. I don't even remember where we ate dinner this night. Christmas just sort of goes by there.

Oh and that woman up there on the end of the row in the black bikini. She was really sea sick. Someone leant over at one point and whispered in my ear - the woman in the black is going to spew. She looked really bad.

So glad I don't suffer travel sickness of any kind.

The neon signs read, Econo Lodge, then Motel 8.

How many stories live there?

Do folks fuck and fall in love in small rented boxes?

I know some who have. Myself, for one.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------AND NOW for....

Randoms:

Tris-speak:"your toenails are sharp!" (talking to his 10 month old brother Jack who of course has no idea what a toenail is)

Tay this morning: "do I look EMO?"

Me: "no, you look cute" (she had on a black E.T. t-shirt over a long sleeved blue shirt)

Tay: "oh, I feel EMO"

Me too...I thought. :-)

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever had a dream that you're in your house, or a house you used to live in, and you suddenly find a brand new door that you never saw before?

Well I've lived in this apartment for a few months now, and one problem is the lack of storage. Especially in the bathroom. I could really use a place to keep towels, sheets, or anything really. Well guess what Baldy suddenly found today?

He's never taken a dump in this apartment, but he did today. And from the new vantage point, he suddenly saw something strange. Something that looked suspiciously like a door to a closet! He opened it, to find a big empty closet.

"I opened the door, and I saw the empty closet, and I thought either you didn't know about this because you obviously need extra storage (indicating all the stuff everywhere I've somehow accumulated since moving out of the capsule), or for some reason you just chose not to put anything in it."

Then we laughed and laughed like idiots. I couldn't fucking believe it. I just never saw the closet! It's really hard to see and it just looks like part of the wall. It's big enough for someone to hide in. I can think of lots of tricks I can pull on people. Like Baldy can hide in it, I'll bring a friend over, say I have to go to the loo, then I'll hide in the closet, and he'll go out and pretend like nothing happened and freak my friend out.

I made a new discovery in a mundane place. Like a little bit of magic.

Every morning while I was away I had some sort of spicy noodle dish with an egg for breakfast. And one day I noticed they have these tiny little bananas in Thailand. Here we have monster bananas that can last you three days. So I took a photo of it near my egg so you can see how small it was but someone said - they might just think they have huge eggs. But I can assure you my egg was average in size. Not in flavour though.

 

 

And this was my lunch one day. Prawns with pineapple. And chilli. Best to assume that anything you order in Thailand has chilli in it. We ate somewhere different every day dinner and lunch but its impossible to get through a fraction of the places. Every second shop is a cafe or restaurant. Then there are the guys with street stalls hooked up to their bikes as well.

 

 

And they always had nice or interesting glasses everywhere. This was the mango daquiri Daz ordered.

 

 

And this is something we don't get at home. It looks like twisties in a bottle. In yummy classic yellow.

 

 

We went into Patong this day. That place is mad. Thats where all the bars and ladyboys are. We didn't go to them because we had little children with us. We went in to go to this huge shopping centre there. Not often you see a bar in the middle of a shopping centre. Not here anyway. There you can buy alcohol anywhere. At the chemist or the 7 eleven. When you get a meal deal at burger king one of your drink options is beer.

 

Its actually the Jung Ceylon centre. Not the jungle.

I didn't go to McDonalds myself but Lizzie tells me you can get a pork burger and a broccoli pie.

 

 

Patong was where the girls found the man selling dvd's. Or he found them. He took them back to his shop which was at the back of a massage shop through a secret door. I think they bought about 80 between them. Kimba thought he was taking them away to be sold into sex slavery or something and made Nat stand with her foot wedged in the door. He kept saying to them - It safe, it safe, this is my business.

Some of them have been dodgy. Like New Moon. No one had heads. Which made it difficult. But at 1 or 2 dollars each you take the chance

 

And here is the pedestrian crossing. Do not assume cars will stop to let you cross at the pedestrian crossing.

 

 

And there was a guy walking around with this lizard you could buy, but I didn't think we'd get it through customs. He tried to put it on my shoulder but I ran away. He put it on Daz though but I wasn't quick enought to get a photo. And he would've charged me for taking it anyway.

 

 

And the Soi Easy Bar. Where I think if you spend too long, you may need to visit the Clinik.

 

 

Thats really what Patong is about. Bars and girls. And ladyboys. Its a little disturbing when you see the amount of old european men roaming around with the young bar girls. Sad really.

But you can't go to Phuket without checking out Bangla Road. You have to - get your sleaze on - as Lloyd said.

 

 

 

 

 

what I really mean with that is that I'm finally admitting that today.. I'm really2 tired.. I had a really bad migraine attack yesterday.. the kind which leaves the piercing pain in my brain the day after and where the photophobia lingers and the nauseousness. What made is worse is that I have sorethroat.. cold.. noseblock and feeling feverish more often than not for the past 2 days. Afya's got her voice back.. but I lost mine. Yet still I peel myself off of that sick bed and did some work.. slowly but surely.. ticking off the check list.. one by one.. thankfully, I'm down to the last one and a half urgent ones and now it's already 5 pm and I'm just soooo tired.

This day we went for an early morning walk to Kata beach which was about an hours walk. Maybe 45 minutes. A lot of longboats there that will take you out snorkelling.

 

 

Like Karon beach it is lined with hundreds of deck chairs. You hire them for about $3 a day.

 

 

They start filling up at about 10am.

 

 

A lot of europeans go to Thailand, and I can tell you that the sun safety message is not getting to them. I can't believe the amount of purple people I saw. Terrible sunburn, being sunburnt again. They line up out in the sun, with their faces pointing upwards like little rows of sunflowers.

 

 

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few people who have been to Thailand and come home the same pale colour as they went. We saw one woman who looked ridiculous because she had this red raw burnt face but with big white sunglasses marks.

This is one way to protect yourself from the sun I guess. Bet he had trouble getting it off though. The sand there is very fine and really sticks.

 

 

You could hire a jet ski from this guy and he had a long boat as well. You don't see any thai people sitting out in the sun. The hawkers walking the beach wear full length pants and shirts, hats and scarves around their necks. They must think tourists are crazy the way they bake.

 

After lunch we went back for a swim in the resort pool to wash off the sand. You can sit on the beach and have pad thai or grilled corn on the cob or whatever you want.

The place where we stayed had three huge pools, all with bars, but this was where we hung.

 

We liked to try and nab the sun bed. We could fit about four on it and it was more comfy than a deck chair.

 

 

After lunch we went for a walk about the streets.

 

 

I saw another police car that was a Getz. Lots of Tsunami evacuation signs around but they all say things like - evacuation point 1.2kms or 1.7 kms. You have to run a way to get to them. This guy looks like he might not make it. The wave is pretty close.

 

 

 

And early on, it somehow became the agreement that we'd meet in the lobby bar at 5pm for happy hour to see what everyone was doing for dinner.

 

 

 

This was the day we had our first ride in a tuk tuk. Definitely the best way to get around the place. Even though you never feel really safe in them. This one is very new looking. Most of them are red. You can't walk outside anywhere without someone saying - tuk tuk??? But if you say no they don't hassle you. But you never have to worry about how to get somewhere. Just don't expect to wear a seatbelt the whole time you're there.

 

Out of the 11 of us who went, two have a fear of flying. Both mine. Husband and daughter. And for some reason they both watch air crash investigation religiously.

 

This was probably the longest day of my life. We were up at 5am one day and didn't get to bed until 2.30am the next day. The trouble with Australia is that its so big. It can be disheartening to realise that you've been flying for over four hours and that you're still flying over Australia. It was an 8 hour flight to Bankok from Sydney. Must give Thai Airways a rap though. Their service was very good. And I did eat the food despite Emjays warning. We had potato salad with shaved turkey, then chicken sliced in red curry with bamboo shoot, steamed thai hom mali rice and stir fried mixed vegetables. Then later we had stir fried prawn with black bean sauce, rice noodles and choy sum.

At Bankok airport we walked about 40 kilometres to get to the transfer point for Phuket. Then it was an hours flight to get there.

Stepping out of the airport it was pretty hot and humid. But easier for us I guess coming from a hot australian summer than people coming from Europe. Taxi drivers everywhere but we had a driver booked and he was waiting there for us and we were soon off on a 30 minute drive to Karon.

I think we broke every australian road rule within the first ten minutes. Speeding, no seat belts, driver talking on the mobile phone, overtaking on blind spots, driving on the wrong side of the road. The roads are mad there. Bikes and scooters everywhere. Not unusual to see three on a scooter and a lot of women have little bamboo chairs tied in front of them where a little kid sits.

We were glad to arrive and get booked in and into bed at last. Daz and I only had a couple of hours sleep before we had a phone call from home saying there'd been a huge storm and my car was hail damaged. They didn't know it was 4.30am. So I couldn't get back to sleep so we went for a walk around the streets of Karon Beach before breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like I said, everyone rides scooters. You can buy petrol in old vodka cruiser bottles. Just by the roadside there are stalls with rows of cruiser bottles full of petrol. This is the workers car park where we stayed.

 

 

And there are dogs everywhere. And they all look well fed and most have collars. They're just allowed to roam. But they never bother you. I never had one take any notice of us. We had a look inside a school yard and there were about a dozen dogs just lazing around on the grass. I never saw them fighting either. Always on the beach as well. Even if you're sitting outside eating they don't come up to you. I know that as well as the elephant sanctuary and the gibbon sanctuary there is a dog sanctuary as well though.

 

 

I am grateful for all of those who have added joy to my life over the past year. Support, unconditional love, encouragement, compassion and true kindness have been shown from people who know me and understand me..nothing is better than that. (except the schnauzers, who truly are my best friends)

This year I plan to focus on my art and make it more of a priority. I also plan to do a little more writing. Thank you Lucy for your comments/edits on that last poem I posted and your encouragement of my publishing it. You are and have been such a steady supporter of my art, which is humbling considering the fact that you are a genius of words.

 

Today I'm going to let the sun wrap her arms around me - she's been hidden for days and has finally emerged. I plan to be outside.

A quote for the new year:

"Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air..." - Emerson

We had to be at the airport at 6am the day we flew out, so we spent the night before in Sydney. We stayed near China Town.

 

Which is near Darling Harbour.

 

 

Which is a real tourist hot spot. Nice place though. Right in the middle of the city. Those buildings are the city centre, so you just walk over a little bridge and here you are, on the water.

 

 

 

We had a meal at a seafood restaurant that cost us about the same amount as all our meals combined for a week in Thailand.

 

 

 

Then Jem and I played in the toilets for a while.

 

 

I could have done with this survival pack on the plane. But of course we'd packed it in our check in luggage.

 

And then it was time to go home and have an early night because we had to be up at 5am.

But we didn't. We went to another bar and discussed plane crash strategy.

We decided we should have a common song to blow on our life jacket whistles if we crashed so we would all be able to meet somewhere. We first thought jingle bells was a good idea but then someone said deck the halls. But we decided all that fa la la la la - ing would be too taxing on our energy. So then we thought three blind mice was a good one because it was nice and easy. Jem was confused by then and we said that we'd all be 3 blind mice-ing our way towards each other and we'd hear this little lone jingle bells whistle tune and we'd all go - no, thats not one of our group.

 

Baldy's over his stomach thing.

We're getting on the train now!

Here goes nothing. Hope I don't injure myself...

Seeyas!

HAPPY 2010!!!!!!!!!