Chaos! So much busier than three years ago, full of dirty westerners picking up young thai girls. Bad thing is I know that’s what most people think I have done. Ridiculous! SA should pay me if anything.

We went back to the restaurant we went to most nights the last time we were here - Sweet. The food is cheap, and good. We had hot Tom Yum Goong, with spicy chicken and basil, morning glory and shrimp fried rice - yummy.

We then went to coffee lovers for - believe it or not, coffee, and spanktastic Oreo cake. SA had two ice coffees. Feeling like crap, we headed back to the shuttle, not realising we were an hour and a half early, waiting 45 minutes before we realised. We then went back for more coffee before leaving for the hotel. The air conditioning doesn’t help my chest.

We flew to Phuket at 14:05, on the ricketiest plane - moaning and groaning on take off, mid flight and landing. It was good to get away from Bangkok though, and as soon as we landed the heat hit us, much closer and felt alot more tropical.

It was an hour journey from the airport to our hotel at Pansea Beach. After reading loads of negative reviews on Trip Advisor we were a bit apprehensive. These quickly vanished as we arrived. The hotel is all teak woodwork, and quite rustic like the Evason. We were greeted with ice cold fruit juice and freezing cold towels to wipe our face and hands with.

We were shown to our cottage and got our first glimpses of Pansea Beach. A private beach shared only with the ultra high class Amanpuri Hotel. Our cottage is set a few levels up the hillside, close to the beach with views out over the sea. Each end of the bay is fringed with rocks so the only access is via the two hotels.

The cottage is fantastic. Very rustic with nice touches. No manky shower tiles as we had previously read. We headed out for a walk along the beach and a swim in the pool. The pool is tiled in black and shaped in an octagon - the water nicely warmed by the sun.

Now we’re gonna head to Patong for some food and pick up a few bargains [hopefully]. The only downside is that I have picked up cold and feel a bit rough, but I’m hoping the tom yum soup will burn it out of me!

Happy Birthday to Si! The day didn’t start too well. We decided to get the sky train as recommended by our rep to the IT Plaza to try to find a filter and lens hood for my camera. On stepping out of the hotel we were approached by a nice local asking where we were headed. He told us the plaza wasn’t open until later as today was the King’s birthday, and because of this there was a 30% sale on jewellery and Thai silk at a nearby market [bollocks]. Scamming bastard even had a tuk tuk lined up, so we made our excuses and crossed the road, only for another local claiming to be a teacher to give us the same story, with the same tuk tuk driver lined up ahead of us. We went back to the hotel, followed and hounded the whole way by the tuk tuk driver. It’s hard not to get angry when you have these arseholes blatantly trying to scam you. We asked at the hotel and they had lied to us, the plaza was open and the doormen called us a cab and let us know how much we should pay.

We took the taxi to Panthip Plaza - 5 floors of technology heaven - laptops, tv’s cameras and of course, you guessed it - pussy! We passed on the pussy and had chicken rice instead - I bought a polarising filter & lens hood for my camera and we headed back to the hotel for a sleep and a swim.

We went back to the Mango Tree for dinner and had tom yum soup, green curry and shrimp paste fried rice. We didn’t stay out long. The night market is a bit same same, and we decided to put off most of our buying until we get to Phuket - it’s too much hassle here and the bartering is too much effort. From paying 125 THB [£2] for a T-Shirt at one stall to being asked for 750 THB [over £12] at the next - for a rip off that is pretty wank material and will only shrink in it’s first wash. Ah well, tomorrow we arrive at the Chedi and hit the beach :]

After watching the first episode of season 4 24, we couldn’t sleep and ended up in the 24 hour bar at 4am, eating won ton soup and pad thai. Still on UK time!

After packing on Friday, we spent an hour trying to get Sue-Ann’s new combination suitcase to lock. I eventually figured it out but locked it without remembering what combination I used, so we had to start through from 001 at 1am on Friday. Luckily we only had to go through around 200 combinations before we found the right one.

SA bought me a 90-300mm zoom lens for my camera at Gatwick duty free, but it turned out it doesn’t have image stabilisation so will have to return that when we get back.

We arrived in Bangkok at around 8am [2am UK time] after travelling for 20 hours on just one and a half hours sleep and were met by our rep from Tour East - upset to find out that he did not follow in his predecessors footsteps by having a fantastic name such as Mr.Mac and Umaporn, instead the guy was called Phillip.

Anyways we got over that pretty quickly, he was a nice enough guy though and so off we trekked to the Tour East minibus. It was only once we had set off that we were reminded how scary an experience a drive through Bangkok could be. This was only made worse by the fact that our driver tended to drift in and out of lanes and motorbikes weaved in and through traffic without a care in the world.

After many scares and curb collisions, we arrived at the Montien Bangkok [Bangkok is such a dump]. It’s very hot, but overcast - we’re looking forward to Phuket already and are trying to remember why we decided to visit Bangkok at all.

The Montien hotel is a bit crap, not like it’s sister hotel we stayed in a few years back, the Montien Riverside. The bathroom is a bit dirty but the people really nice & friendly, except those that give me the look as if I just bought Sue-Ann - tossers. Another bonus is the hotel is right on Patpong Road, which come night time turns into a great night market. You get offered many different things from jeans and dvd’s to ping pong shows and pussy! Not tried the pussy but the jeans and dvd’s are a hit!

We had dinner at a restaurant called the Mango Tree. The food was good: tom yum goong, garlic squid, stir fried morning glory [ung choi] and carb meat fried rice. The drink was also good: Singha beer and frosted orange cocktail, We skipped desert and went right onto liqueur coffee - mine was the b52! [kahlua, gran marnier, baileys, espresso, milk] and Sue-Ann had a cold one - the banana split [creme de cacoa, banana liqueur, ice cream, whipped cream, cherry].

Digg dot com is such a fantastic site. Providing the Internet Super Highway [official name] isn’t populated with braindead arsebleeding morons, the site cannot fail to interest.

Anyways, to the point, Digg is where I found that beauty of an image above. The image is a photograph taken of the Aurora Borealis [also called the Northern Lights] from space, an image that now has pride of place as my desktop background.

The Aurora Borealis, is a bright glow in the sky caused from the collision of charged particles in the magnetosphere [sounds like they made that up] with atoms in the earths upper atmosphere [ src: Wiki].

Usually seen at night in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in areas within the polar zone such as Greenland and the like, it is a spectacle I have always wanted to see - so majestic and at the same time eerie, it’s another thing on my list of things to do.

[Image taken from: Tivac].

Another fantastic find is from Beecy, and is called “Round Like a Shot”:

GOING to bed the other night, I noticed people in my shed stealing things.
I phoned the police but was told no one was in the area to help. They said they would send someone over as soon as possible.
I hung up. A minute later I rang again. ‘Hello,’ I said, ‘I called you a minute ago because there were people in my shed. You don’t have to hurry now because I’ve shot them.’
Within minutes there were half a dozen police cars in the area, plus helicopters and an armed response unit. They caught the burglar red handed.
One of the officers said: ‘I thought you said you’d shot them.’
To which I replied: ‘I thought you said there was no one available.’

:] Awesome.

What is it now - month until the Free Lolita petition is hand delivered to the Miami Seaquarium? I remember thinking when the signatures hit 500, it would be good to see them hit 1000 or more, and it looks like it’s on course to do just that.

I think the main problem is people finding the story about her and the link to the petition. If there was more awareness, there is no doubt in my mind the majority of people would sign.

Still, 827 in a few months is fantastic!

Why is it that time off from work goes by so fast? Sue-Ann and I have booked the week off to get some chores finished, the week is nearly half over and we have barely even started!

It’s always the way. We saw this week as a chance to get things done, and to catch up on some much needed wanted rest. Wednesday is here and we are as tired as we were on Monday and we still have a huge list of things to do.

Today was good though. We saw the wedding planner and discussed food (yum) and some relatives were down from Malaysia so we got to see them in the evening which was great.

Tomorrow we are seeing a wedding photographer, painting the bedroom (boo!) and hopefully having a lie in (yay!).

My neck is still in place, although I can barely move it, or any other part of my body for that matter. Training was great fun, and wasn’t simply learning to fall as was expected and it wasn’t until today that I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Even getting in and out of my car is an effort, and the steps to work are another hurdle.

I haven’t hurt this much since I had a go on the free weights with Casey.

Sunday nights I dread now. Not just because it’s the start of a full working week the next day, but every Sunday I find it increasingly more difficult to get to sleep.
It isn’t uncommon to be still glaring at the alarm clock at gone 3am, at which point it just gets worse, knowing how tired you’re gonna be the next day only makes you more determined to sleep - a determination which ironically results in it only being much harder to fall asleep.

Ah well, early[ish - it's half ten already!] night tonight - work tomorrow :[

After I started working in Brighton, I stopped reading. It wasn’t a particularly long commute, but long enough to make me tired enough to not feel like reading when I got home. I have since moved jobs, much closer, and have started picking up the book again.

Current read is Book 8 of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. It’s a great set of books, immense! I have lost track and am trying to regain the trail. It’s the type of book that can go on for a few chapters with little happening, and then suddenly it will grip you and pull you right in.

I believe there are 13 books in the series, the final hasn’t been written yet. I would try to summarise the story, but it would be impossible, it would end up as an essay.

It’s good to be reading again. Need to get back into it ready for our holiday, and order the next couple of books.

See also: [ Dragonmount: Robert Jordan's Official Blog ]

For those that don’t know, Jiu Jitsu is a martial art that focuses on ground fighting using joint-locks and choke holds to force an opponent to submit. It supposedly enables a smaller, weaker person to obtain victory against a stronger opponent using leverage and proper technique [lets hope so - for I am a skinny wimp].

Sue-Ann has made me take out life insurance [not a good sign] and I hope my neck holds out :] having injured it years ago.

On a happy, bbq season is in, and we know what that means. It means Ribs [I love ribs]. BBQ ribs, nothing beats them, in sticky sauce, flame grilled for hours on end, meat falling off the bone - hungry!