Day 35 27th May

Early morning again, had breakfast with the kids before they headed off to school for the day and we headed off to Acle auction for a look around, Found a few things that would be handy in the garage at home so decided to go for a bacon roll and a coffee before waiting for my goodies to come up in the bidding. They just sell everything in any order here so I missed everything I wanted. Never mind but i was a little bit annoyed as there were about 100 pairs of work gloves that would have went well with my dads 100 bloody work jackets he had bought at another auction. Sure we could survive without them so decided to go for a beer to cheer myself up. We headed off to a nice little village (Reedham)on the river's edge and sat in the sun. We then took a ferry across the river which saved us a few miles on the way home so away we went. Strangely we ended up in The Fat Cat again for a beer before walking to the Chip shop to get some food and say bye to Naomi. We walked around to the Alex to meet everyone and say our goodbye's there and head back to the Cat. The bar man Chris was leaving for Aberdeen on sunday and tried to get us to stay until then but we managed to stick to our guns and told him we were leaving Friday and heading home. Starting to think about all the work waiting for me in Tarves.........

Day 34 26th May Norwich

Another early morning for us both before we headed into town to meet up with Helen, Niaomi, Jack, and Bella. We met up in a coffee shop which was quite strange but I did eventually get used to it. Everyone had breakfast before we said our good bye's and went our own ways into town. Ang and I decided to go for a walk around town and through the cathederal, The weather was really nice which was probably why I was still here and not back in Tarves yet, maybe it had something to do with the pile of work that was getting bigger every day while we were gone. mmmm... "Dont worry Jen I aint forgot about ya". Taxi back to Pauls, The taxi driver was asking how long we were staying which I thought was a bit of a bloody cheek but it turned out that he took us home the day before. He took us home anyway so we could get ready for our night out with Paul's kids. We all bundled into the cars and headed off down to Zak's, it's an American restaraunt that serves portions big enough to keep any American happy for a couple of days. We all eventually managed to struggle through this mountain of food in the end before heading home to sit down and not move for a while. Spent the rest of the evening watching telly and trying not to fall asleep.

Day 33 25th May

Another early morning.... we took a taxi into town for breakfast in a little French cafe before having a wander around the town. Headed back home, picked up the car and took a drive to a little model shop on the other side of the city to try an buy batteries for Connor's remotre control heli. No luck but Andy managed to buy oone for himself when my back was turned. Another toy for Tarves but at least it won't take up took much space. Went back home, parked the heli and headed out to meet everyone. First stop was the chip shop to see Naomi, she's looking really well. Meeting up with her and Helen Thursday for coffee. The headed up to the Bellevue to meet everyone. Helen, Evan, baby Bella, June, Keith, Glenn (arrived on his bicycle), Graham from Thailand and Paul. Was great to see everyone together again after more than 2 years but we were still missing Mr Geoff from Thailand. So we had to take a wander down to The Alex. Just as we walked in the side door he was about to escape out the front door with Freddy but we managed to pin them down, twist their arms and drag them back in. It was strange being all together again in Norwich. Anyway, Geoff had a bit of a wobble on so had to make his excuses and leave. So myself, Andy, Graham and Paul headed down to the Fat Cat for last orders. Everyone used to call Graham the slow walking mumbling man but he had smoke coming off his shoes to get that last beer, never seen him walk so fast in my life!! Managed to get one last drink and then headed home for bed. Chris from the Fat Cat is leaving on Sunday also to drive up to Aberdeen to live so we told him we'd just follow him - road trip to Aberdeen!!

Day 32 24th May Norwich

Woke up early so we could see the chill blains before they left for school. 7:30am? What time is that? Anyway, we did and then we headed off to the supermarket to but some pegs. Angie was having heart failure, she hadn't done any laundry for 2 days. Went to Sainsbury's in our shorts 'n flip flops, had the traditional breakfast, bought the pegs and a load of beer for the bbq. Back to 1 Armes Crescent, hung out the washing with shiny new washing pegs and strolled into toon in the baking heat. Had a bit of a thirst when we got into the centre so had to sit down and cool off with a couple of cold ones. Had a stroll round the town and then it was time to head back home to get ready for the bbq. Picked up Paul at home and the other Paul at the Fat Cat. Headed up to Hellesdon in a Joe Baxi (complete with gallon of Fat Cat beer) and the bbq commenced. Glen was a top chef, tatties, roasted veggiews, salad, everything. Think he must have marinated the sausages in something as we were all a bit pickled after we ate them. Had a great night. Bundled ourselves (Paul, Paul, me & Andy) into a Joe Baxi and headed back to the Fat Cat for last orders. Last orders it was, Andrew chose to carry all the left over beer home instead of me. Thank god Paul didn't forget me. More tomorrow.

Day 30 & 31 22nd ,23rd May Phuket - Singapore - London

Woke up again to find the rain pouring down again. Bit annoying but at least it felt like home I suppose. The planned of a last few hours at the pool were now fading really quickly so no better time than the present to pack our bags and hope they would check them in ok at the airport. Got a panick phone call from Da to say she had problem with car. We couldn't work out what the problem was over the phone so jumped on the racing machine and headed over to Johnny's hoose. Someone had borrowed the car and parked it back at Johnny's. They'd put the hand brake on so tigtht poor Da couldn't get it off so Andy let it off for her and made sure she could do it herself. Sorted. We said our last goodbye's and headed back to shower and finish packing. It was sad to say goodbye but we had to go home sometime. Got ready, jumped in the taxi and headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed, great. Finally got to Bangkok and almost broke our necks to catch our connecting flight to Singapore. Got it just though. Nightmare. Got to Singers, taxi to hotel, 4 hours kip then up again for our flight back to London. Was absolutely shattered slept almost the whole flight (with a little help from our pharmacist friend!). Landed in London expecting to freeze to bits and it was 30 degrees. We called home to find out what the weather was like - rain. So we headed for Norwich instead. Arrived at Paul's about half past seven and just as we got in the door we had a phone call from Glen (from India) to say he was sitting outside the Fat Cat. Nothing else for it, dumped the bags and took a walk down. Still all the familiar faces, had a good laugh. They'd been out all day so made an early exit. We were just about to leave also when Liz and her new partner (forgot his name already) walked in. So that it it, another round. Managed to escape at closing time. Walking home in t-shirts and vest tops at eleven at night.

Day 29 Friday 21st May

Woke up today to find my tattoo, along with myself stuck to the bed and with the rain pounding down outside today wasn't looking like a good one, We had decided the previous night to take things easy on Friday and go for a run on the bike but I had a funny feeling that was about to change as i'd been caught in the rain while on the bike once before and that was not going to happen again. We decided to sit on the balcony and watch everyone else getting wet while having a nice cuppa coffee. It wasn't to long before the rain stopped and we headed off down to the town center for some last minute shopping. Mcdonalds for breakfast!! I't wasn't the best choice but It would keep us alive until we ate something that tasted like food. We headed up to Tri Trang beach resort to see Da and the girls for a manicue and pedicure. It was brilliant, we both came out with shiny new hands and feet and a free head massage from Da. All nice and new for going home. The sun finally came out so went to the hotel pool for our last bit of sunshine before getting ready for dinner. Went to No. 6 on the beach. We made a bit of a mistake and sat down at the wrong restaurant, we didn't realise this until after the menu's had been put down in front of us. As Angie really wanted to go to No. 6 we made our apologies and toodled of across the sand into the next restaurant. Was a bit embarrasing but it's Thailand and they wouldn't see us again anyway. Had a lovely meal right on the beach and then lit a lucky balloon and set it off from the beach and watched it fly into the distance until we couldn't see the flame anymore, how romantic. Then headed off to the Bangla Boxing Stadium to watch some Thai boxing (Muay Thai). It was pretty good to see, started with some small kids about 7 or 8 years old kicking the living sh*te out of each other until the big boys came on. Watched a few matches and then decided to head off down Bangla Road for our last night. Met Joan and Mike at the Kangaroo Bar and after a few beers, couple of bottles of champagne later headed off home. Had to help an Oz lassie find her hotel as she had loast all her mates and was a bit pickled. Found out the name of her hotel, took her in a tuk tuk and dropped her off safely home. Good deed for the day done. Got ourselves home for our last head down before packing.

Day 28 - Thursday 20th May

Got up late, couldn't be bothered so missed breakfast. Had a fall out with the Indian travel agent last night after screwing up our flights so were both stessed out. Had a few choice words with him and got it sorted, twit. We're completely over our baggage allowance so had to pack up a load of clothes and take them to the post office. Nae bother. Took them up in a wee suitcase on the back of the racing machine and the nice posty man packed them all up for us so they should now be winging there way to Tarves and we should see them in a couple of weeks. Must be pigeon carrier airlines. We might see them again or not, this is Thailand so it'll be a bonus if we do. Fingers crossed. Then headed off for breakfast and up to se Da at the massage parlour to say hello. She told us she got her driving license yesterday, we just about fell off our seat laughing - she can't even drive. She said because she paid a man 300 baht to use his car for the test he helped her pass. Says she's not going on any big roads yet but she look at big road and think maybe she go on big road soon. She did get 29 out of 30 for her theory though but had a little 'assistance' to pass the actual driving. She was laughing her head off too, I bet Johnny's not laughing though!! He'll be panicking in case he hasn't got a brand spanking new shiny black Mitsibushi when he gets home. :-) Went back to the hotel, had a quick dip in the pool but it was absolutely red hot so didn't stop long. Was time for Andy to go and get his tattoo anyway. He started at 4pm and almost gave up at 7pm, the pain was too much so said he would come back Friday to have it finished. The tattoo guy convinced him to soldier on otherwise the pain would be worse tomorrow and he would second thoughts about having it finished. So with tears in his eyes and a couple of cigarettes later he went back inside to take the pain. He eventually got out 10pm with the biggest smile on his face through sheer relief. It's really nice and now we know we don't have to back tomorrow so have the whole of tomorrow to ourselves before we leave Saturday. Only thing planned is the Thai Boxing (Muay Thai) which is not til 9pm so all day to chill out, thank god. Cant't go to the beach though otherwise our huddock tattoo's will get fried. Sure we'll manage to fill our day though. Maybe take the scooter for a blast around the island, just have to wait and see what happens.

Day 27 Wed 19th May

Yawn...... bit tired this morning but managed to get outa bed, We decided to fire Johnny’s racing scooter up and head off to Kata. The scooter struggled but finally we managed to reach the top and down the other side to the view point. Beautiful views over Kata and Karon but after telling some bloke I didn’t want my picture taken with an Eagle we decided to head back to the beach. We got around 1500mts before we stopped off at the Monkey Bar to see the Minky (I know we said if you’ve seen one minky you’ve seen them all, this minky was a minky in himsel, legend). He used to run roon the bar and clean your ears and your nose and your hair. Nae minky today though. The bloody thing had bitten somebody and ended up behind bars. He was still there though but we had to trek up the hill to see him banged up in the nick. The owner said he got a bit grumpy in his al’ age so had to be put behind bars. Got up the hill and there he was taking the piss out of an Alsatian dog that was chasing him around the outside of the cage but the dog just couldn’t keep up with him. We’ll give the dog a bone for trying though. The minky just kept winding him up and he couldn’t get at him. Left here after that and went to Kata beach. The waves were absolutely brilliant, we could go in and enjoy them without getting rumbled about on the seabed. Had a really great day on the beach. When we packed up the lady at the beach bar remembered Angie, couldn’t believe it. Bit sad that it was our last day on that beach but we had to head back to Patong for the tattoo that won’t let us back in the sea again. Angie got in the seat at the tattoo studio and I went for a Tiger at Patrick’s to wait for her, it only took 4 hours but she soldiered on. The tattoo shop was like a fish bowl, right on the main street. Every tom dick, harry and Johnny foreigner were stopping and looking at her getting her tattoo while Angie was quite happy listening to her ipod. Anyways, She’s now got a fish on her back. Nae a Huddick or a troot though, it's a koi carp. Andy’s turn tomorrow and it’s gonna be a sair een.

Day 26 Tue 18th May

Got up at the crack of dawn for our trip to Phi Phi Islands. Went to Phuket Royal Boat Marina with the Kamikaze bus driver and headed off to see Phi Phi Islands on a big speed boat. A couple of Ruskies barged passed and took our seats on the front of the boat, Buggers but well well we decided to just sit down inside and enjoy the boat trip. We arrived at Maya Bay for a spot of the tourist thingie and decided to have a look around and take some pics. Beautiful place and it was where they filmed the movie The Beach. We wandered around for a while before we boarded the boat to the next pit stop. Monkey Island but the tide was in so we couldn’t get off the boat. Not to worry as once you have seen one minky you have seen them all. We carried on around the island a little further and decided to throw anchor for some snorkling. The water was nice and loads of fish but I was having problems trying to get them to stay in one place for the photo so decided to give up on them. Back on the boat again to head off for lunch, The minute we left it started to rain, he he the Ruskies were up front with no cover to protect them from the rain. How happy were we ? Had our lunch which was nice then back on the boat again to Bamboo Island. Was still chucking it down rain and the snorkelling wasn’t good so sheltered from the storm in a wee bamboo bar before getting back on the boat again. Our last stop was Khai Island and before we got there the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to shine through, thank goodness. Da had thankfully told us the day before to take a loaf of bread to feed the fish. We really liked this island. You only had to wade up to your knees and there were loads of fish. We chucked the bread in and they surrounded us like Japanese snipers. We were really enjoying it until Angie let out a scream and run as fast as she could back to the beach. She’d been bitten in the back by one of the fishes, well so she says. You would have thought by the sound of her and everyone’s expression on their faces that there was a shark in the water. We decided to head back to our chairs before there was any more confusion on the matter. Had a nice cold beer and a barbecued corn on the cob before we got called back to the boat for the journey home. Only took about 15 minutes. As we approached the entrance to the posh marina we noticed signs saying speed limit was 5 knots – our driver must have been going about 20 knots or so but he was flying. So that was the end of our Phi Phi Island tour. Headed back to the hotel to catch up on our blogs (sorry if we’ve missed any!) and get ready for dinner. Hope you like the pics, more tomorrow.

Day 25 Mon 17th May

Got on the racing bike and decided to head for Layan Beach further North up the Island. Everything was going well until we realised we were on the completely wrong road. So we headed back down and took the right road or so we thought. Apparently we had ‘the best map oh Phuket’ but could we find this beach? No. And to make matters worse the heavens opened and we’d nowhere to hide. All we could do was stop at the side of a country road and try and hide under a tree. Pointless really as we were both soaked by this time and the tree wasn’t very waterproof. We found a pink polythene rain saver thing under the bike seat, Andy didn’t fancy wearing it so I stuck it on, dunno why as I weas soaked to the skin by this time. Were both really pis*ed off so left the shelter of the tree and headed back to Surin beach. The sun came out and we dried out so hung about there for a couple of hours. Went back to Patong and went to Da and Johnny’s massage parlour at Tritrang Beach Resort. I had a lovely facial massage from Wanna and Andy had a full body oil massage. I decided against the oil massage after my experience with Meta a couple of years ago. Meta was just learning her massage techniques back then and used me as a guinea pig. I couldn’t walk the next day!! She’s completely competent now though so I might have one before we leave. Went to the Hard Rock cafe at night and cost us a bloody fortune. And the waiters were completely over the top. I think they went to the American school of Hard Rock and won’t leave you alone to enjoy your food. They asked us about ten times if we were enjoying our meal and changed our napkins every 2 seconds. The meal was good though and the live band they had were excellent. The band were Thai and the two female singers were Filipino, absolutely brilliant. Had to head home early for our 8am pick up tomorrow. PS – Angie hunted the room for a pair of lost flip flops and the lost camera suddenly turned up. Can’t believe it but at least we now have our pictures of Bobby. Still no sign of Angie’s slip flops though, must have left them in Bangla Road somewhere!!

Day 24 Sun 16th May

Easy day, nothing much to report here. typical sunday but will be going to Patrick' to watch the F1. Bike and beach so hope the rain stays off.

Day 23 Sat 15th May

Woke up to find the skies had opened up and the rain was really pouring down, Just like home I guess but a little warmer rain. We waited for it to stop then headed down to Kata for breakfast and some strong coffee before driving back to Johnny's to say our goodbye's before he headed off back to work. He had been sitting there all morning waiting for the news that they had closed Bangkok Airport but sadly that news never came. Sad to see him go as we've had a great time but I guess we can sober up a little now he's gone. :)
Spent the rest of the day changing flights and hotels until the end of the week, now leaving on the 22nd so hopefully all the crap in Bangkok will be over by then.

In bed by 11pm so Sunday should be a nice day, weather depending.

Ps. no pics as the camera battery was flat,We used it all filming Angie dancing the night away the previous evening.

Day 22 Patong - Friday 14th May

Another easy day at the pool with Johnny. Had planned to go to the Thai boxing stadium that evening but Johnny got a call from work to say he had to fly to the UK on Saturday so he couldn't risk having a big night before he left. Met a few folk and had a good night. Da decided she was a bit peckish later into the evening so popped down the road for a snack to keep her going. She came back with a bag of bloody maggots - yuk!! She enjoyed them though but we declined them point blank. As it turned out Johnny didn't make it home 'til 3am - best laid plans!!

Day 21 Patong – Thursday 13th May

Before I start I have to say sorry to Johnny, no sooner had I posted the blog yesterday my phone was ringing, His motorbike was 110cc racing scooter with a blue Chelsea exhaust and not a 50cc as I had said. I managed to make it up to him be letting him borrow my sun hat so he didn’t burn his napper while sitting at the pool so he started to cheer up after that. Johnny said Da would give me a hair cut but I had to think about it, not sure how much I would have left if I went for a #2 on my napper, I would probably get burnt the same as johnny’s so still contemplating. Left the pool and decided to show face at Bangla again. Peter and Gaye were there so had a couple of beers with them, they leave Friday. Talking about dinner we all decided that a BBQ would be the food for tonight, no sea food I thought so this was defiantly a good idea and no way were they changing there minds. We took off on the racing 110cc scooters and headed for the BBQ bar. The food was brilliant and enjoyed by all. We left there dumped the bikes and headed off into Bangla again for a few beers to finish the night off. We met up with one of Johnny’s mates Neil for a couple of beers but decided to head home after Angie went off on one drinking Thai whisky………

Day 20 Patong - Wednesday 12th May

Johnny had let us borrow his bike for the rest of our stay, he said he would drop the blade off in the morning. Wow I thought, a Fireblade would get us tearing all over the island in no time. We met up and the keys for the beast were handed over. We went for breakfast then headed off to look for the bike, “don’t worry Andy you cant miss it, it’s the one covered in Newcastle FC stickers”. I looked for ages then found a scooter with the same reg plate then realized Angie had once told me that you get 50cc Air Blades over here. Things had already turned a little slower and we hadn’t started off yet. We headed off to Laem Singh beach for the day. Angie had forgotten to tell me how many steps you had to climb down as we might have reconsidered this road trip. Once we got down to the bottom though it was definitely worth it. It’s a really small, quiet beach. Probably because nobody can be bothered getting down to it. Had lunch there, Andy did a bit of snorkeling but kept getting battered against the coral reef so gave up in the end. Chilled out for a bit before tackling the climb back to the top, should have taken hiking boots not flip flops. We headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out. Johnny and Da picked us up in their shiny, new car to take us to a floating restaurant further up the Island. We eventually found the place (they hadn’t been before either) and parked up. We had to get a long tail boat from the jetty out to the restaurant. These long-tails are like huge wooden canoe things. They’ve got 4 clylinder turbo charged diesel engines out of a car or truck bolted onto a huge rudder. They go like sh*t off a shovel but you wouldn’t really think it when you look at them. The driver got us safely to the restaurant which was basically a big wooden platform in the middle of the sea. Looking at it and walking on it you’d think it would disappear into the sea but it must have been sturdy enough. Ordered our food which was only seafood (Andy was over the moon). Had soft shell crab curry (almost blew our heads off, even Da struggled), steamed fish, fish head soup and sea snails. Andy struggled through. It was different, that’s for sure. Jumped back into our long tail boat and went back home. Passed up on going to Bangla Road for a cold beer as we were all stuffed and I think Andy wanted to keep a low profile after his man-kini stunt the day before. So another early night for everyone.