Day 19 Patong – Tue 11th May

Missed breakfast…. Decided to take a walk into town and get breakfast there but it started to rain really bad so luckily for us we were just passing an Australian bar. Buddha obviously looking down on us again. I ordered a glass of coke and was given a corona beer instead, Same same but different. I wasn’t going to get all upset so decided to drink it without causing a scene. We sat there watching the rain and met a really nice Australian couple, Peter and Gaye. The rain kept lashing down so we had no choice but to stay there. Johnny decided to come down and join us and took with him a wee present for Andy. He’s a top guy. Well, that’s until Andy opened it and realized what it was – a man-kini. Well, that was it. He wasn’t going to get peace until he actually put it on. So in he went to the toilet and put the thing on. Omigod, I couldn’t stop crying for laughing and neither could anyone else. Another Aussie lad in the bar offered Andy 1000 baht (£20) to cross the road wearing it. Andy just took 100 baht from him and crossed the busy Bangla road and sat and enjoyed a nice cold beer wearing his lime green man-kini. Everyone was in stitches, even the Thai bar girls were creasing themselves. A couple of Aussie lasses stopped and had their picture taken with him. It was a sight I’ll never forget and I’m sure whoever else saw him won’t either. Anyway, he eventually had to take it off as it was a bit on the tight side and wasn’t too comfy. Had a few more beers then headed back to the hotel for dinner and an early night. A good fun day had by all.

Day 18 - Patong Again

How happy are we? Thought we were going home Saturday but checked ticket and we don't leave 'til Monday. Still contemplating staying a bit longer though. Decided to go and see another bloody buddha. They've been building it for the last 3 years and it's still not finished. This thing is over 45 meters high and all the scaffold is bamboo, safety first !!!The wee bike was huffin' and puffin' trying to get us both up the hill but she made it, did i not say buddha's were always at the top of bloody hills. I did ask Da (a Thai girl that speeks geordie) pretty funny but I was told that they are always high up because they look over everyone and make sure they are safe.
We left there and headed off down the hill again, even I started praying to Buddha that the brakes would hold out until we reached the bottom. We decided to have a pit stop half way down for a Tiger, The view was unbelievable,something you would die for. Never have I seen anything like it, Cool, clean with ice on the bottle, best beer ever as it was bloody hot. We then headed off to Kata beach for a relax and tiger after our road trip. Beautifull beach and will be back there again. Laying there all nice and relaxed and the bloody phone rings, I knew it wouldn't be Tarves as I dont have a driving licence so decided to answer it, It was Johnny, I used to work with him offshore, he came here for a holiday 3 years ago and just forgot to go home, we went for a meal and I was forced to eat all kinds of crap, Crab,Octopus and squid but at least I didn't have to try the dried out frogs. Anyway no need to say any more as we had a couple of beers afterwards, I woke up this morning with a bloody Harley Davidson at the bottom of my bed. What was I saying about the baggage allowance on the plane, im now thinking Fedex or something similar.
Just been and puut the little bike back to where we hired it from, sad to see it go but the confidence was starting to show and the scooter was begining to over take people on the inside, cutting people up driving on drains to overtake, driving through red lights, the list goes on so I have decided to go home intact. Happy day but dina worry Ma i wear my crash helmet. Thank god the sherriff in Aberdeen let me keep my plastic license.

Before I go I have to say good luck because Da's taking her driving test today. Dont get me wrong here i'm wishing everyone else good luck as she's only driven in a car park so far. only thing she has going for her is she can read and talk Thai so theory should be ok. (mai pen rai) I'm sure the big guy on the hill will be looking after her......

Day 17 Patong – Sun 9th May

Day 17 Patong – Sun 9th May
Jumped on the dream machine and headed off to Surin Beach for the day. Another beautiful beach, only about 20 minutes North of Patong. The wee dream machine has been the best investment of the holiday, only 200 baht (£4) a day. Stayed there for most of the day and then headed back to the bright lights of Patong. Dropped the bike at the hotel and went for a pre-sunset drink. Met a couple from South Africa and before we knew it the sun had set and it was almost sun rise. Time to go home. Having an absolutely fantastic time here but every day we blog we can see the days disappearing too quickly. We’re crossing everything hoping the Icelandic volcano blows it’s lid and sends over a massive ash cloud so we can’t get home. Failing that, we might have to change our flights. See what happens.

Day 16 Patong Sat 8th May

Day 16 Patong – Sat 8th May
Heavy night last night with Geoff and Dai, Anyway we missed breakfast and decided to head off to Kata noi beach for some more chilling out. Water was really nice but some big rollers coming in, Was really good fun until Angie lost her bikini bottoms but never mind as I had just bought some snorkeling gear and managed to find them pretty quickly allowing her to get out of the water before she turned into a prune. We then headed up the road and stopped at the after beach bar to watch the sunset over a Margarita. Had our dinner and then decided to head back to Pucket, Just as we were getting into town there was a police road block, after some serious thinking I decided to stop as I only had a 50cc bike and he could have probably just ran after me. He then pointed for us to pull over and park up at the side of the road. He then asked for my driving licence, I was trying to decide which licence to give him, my UK one or my nice shinny new United Nations licence, I decided to go for the easy option here and give him my UK licence, thank Christ he never asked for the paper part as it’s in Swansea somewhere for safe keeping. (ps Angie never even got told off for not wearing a helmet.) Maybe that’s because the motorbike clothing here is a compulsory, shorts, flip flops and a pair of shades. There is a new law coming into effect of the 1st of June to make you wear a helmet but they say they will take a couple of years as that’s how things work here.
Still in the process of deciding what to do tomorrow but I’m sure it will involve a beach and a beer at some point, I will keep you posted and hopefully have some more pics for you. Went down town for a couple of beers and was back in the hotel for just after midnight so breakfast will be easy tomorrow then fuel the bike up and head off. No petrol stations here, you just stop at the side of a street and a little kid will sell you a whisky bottle full of petrol for 50 THB, around £1 so it’s not all bad.

Day 15 Patong Friday 7th May

Met Bobby last night and went three up into town on the Honda Wave. After sitting on the back of Bobby it has given us greater confidence in the motorbike taxis. Had a great night, was really good to see him. Well it was good until we woke up this morning and couldn’t find the camera. Big bug*er. Bobby left us quite early as he had to leave to go to work this morning so Andy and I decided to jump on a motor bike taxi and hit Bangla Road. Went to the katoi soi (lady boy road) and got chatting to a nice lady boy called Katerina (we think that was his/her name). Eventually Andy had to give in and go for wee, he’d held it in long enough. When he came back he was like a frightened rabbit. He’d gone into the gents and the urinals were busy so he went into a cubicle and left the door open. Next thing he knows there’s a lady boy in there with him and the door was closed. She demanded money from him so Andy told it/he/she to f*ck off. He had to enlist the help of a couple of other tourists to get out of there with everything intact. Luckily he did, Always use the urinals. Poor Andy. Anyway, he managed to de-traumatize himself with a few more Tiger’s and then we headed home – minus our camera. Got up bright and early for breakfast again and then hired a little scooter, no licence required. Andy was gutted he didn’t ask for it as he was dying to hand over his shiny new United Nations driving licence. So off we jumped on the dream machine and headed over the hill to Paradise Beach. Stunning beach but no photos I’m afraid, we stayed there a while then headed into town to see if we could get another camera. Job done but I still have to go to the Plods to report the missing camera so we can get insurance when we return home.
Meeting Geoff tonight so here we go again, will be a quieter night tonight though, just a few beers down near some of the local bars. Not sure about tomorrow yet but sure the scooter won’t be happy about wherever we go as you have to rev the engine to get anywhere, I almost had to throw Angie off today after we left the beach as it’s a really steep hill and we only just managed but had to use our feet at the same time to push the bike along. We may need to upgrade to a bigger engine next time.

Day 14 Patong – Thurs 6th May

Managed breakfast again today, pretty surprised as we didn’t arrive until after midnight and had to check in which takes some time over here. Decided to have a walk this morning and check the place out to see what was around the hotel. You want a Tuk Tuk? Jesus we must have heard that around 20 times before we arrived back at the hotel so decided to spend the day chilling at the pool. No sooner had we lay down at the pool fixed our beds out and opened my book then it started to rain, Never mind it will pass in a couple of secs so we decided to sit at the bar with a soft drink and wait. It wasn’t until we started thinking about calling Air Asia to book flights back to Vietnam that the rain finally stopped. Anyway the weather cleared up and we managed to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the pool.
I reckon we will have an easy couple of days and then maybe take a trip out to James Bond Island, Will post some more pics when we see anything worth taking a photo of. I think we’ve photographed just about everything so no surprises now. Sure we’ll find something though. Away to meet Bobby for a few beers here in Patong so could have some interesting pics tomorrow.

Day 13 - Ho Chi Minh to Phuket - Wednesday 5th May

Just scraped by making breakfast this morning. We're blaming it on George 'n Charlie from good old Norfolk we met at the hotel bar. You have to blame someone. Got our breakfast and headed up to the pool for our first bit of r&r in vietnam. Every day's been full on here since we arrived so it was nice to get up and chill out. Managed to keep the room 'til we checked out (for a small fee). Did a bit of jiggery pokery with the luggage and got checked in nae bother. If we'd known that, Andy wouldn't have had to throw away all his clothes. Oh well, I'm sure we'll manage to find him a pair of cheap charlie shorts in Phuket.
Now sitting at the airport trying to negotiate our dinner with chop sticks. If I'd known there wasn't any johnny foreigner cutlery (forks 'n knives) I wouldn't have ordered the noodle soup.
Really sad to be leaving here as it's a brilliant place, even better than Thailand but will definitely have to return at some point for a full tour of the country on scooter. Angie's not so keen after experiencing all the traffic and risking our lives just crossing the road but I'm sure I'll manage to convince her.