hang time, russians, and waves

This week,much of the same same but different, beaching and eating the Russians food. It`s getting a little embarrassing as I'm cooking but nothing like Victoria. She's got it going on in her kitchen. While I`m doing salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes. She creating meals of prawns, ribs, bortsch,and this wild mushroom and bacon dish, that we devoured last night. They are leaving us tomorrow. Tonight will be our last shared supper. We have toasted (with our left hand) shots of vodka, as those Russians are famous for. We'll miss them, and their son Igor, but will welcome the much needed break from Vodka shots. A couple glasses of red wine is more our pace.
Did a bit of grocery shopping at the BIG C. It's like our Walmart super store, in a big mall about a half hour moped ride away in Phuket town. The mall is typical to ours back home (same same but different). In the entrance they have a kids craft area where the kids can paint little animals, great idea! In the food fair area there is not a burger joint to be found. The food is Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other Asian. You can by sushi by the piece for 10 Baht (30 cents) each, guess what we had for a snack, yummy.
Every couple of days Steve heads out to Flints bakery (the girlfriends will get a kick out of the name) to pick up fresh bread, one nutty seedy kind and the classic bagette.
The beach has so many sights, some very pleasing to the eye and some very scary ones also (speedos, g-strings, topless....). We have enjoyed watching the para gliders take off from two points on either side of the bay. Some times they land on the beach. These guys sure know what they are doing, such smooth landings!
Well homework is done......the ocean is calling, time for Steve to log some more body surfing time, and me I stay a little closer to shore when the waves are big, someones gotta take the pictures, right?

sundogs,spiders and sunsets

Wow, another week has slipped by. More happy kitchen time, checked out a couple different markets, and just diggin the daily nothings. Hit the expats grocery store, great selection from things back home. Scored some good cereal and mustard, not to be eaten together but enjoyed equally. Little pricey but worth it when needing a fix from the home- land. We even bought large bottles of shampoo and lotion with pumps, another sign that we're staying in one place for awhile.
Went out kayaking the other day and paddled out to an island with a big Buddha on it, not too much else there, just another watchful caring set of eyes. The vibe was so peaceful. The water so clear, you can see plenty of fish without wearing a mask. We saw yellow stripped fish, flat skinny ones, long see through sword looking types, all swimming around us. So cool with great visibility.
The Thais are so sincere and friendly. I was out for a walk the other day and a little girl runs down the hill to say hello then runs back up to her house. At the next corner a family was sitting resting in the shade, they wave and say hello, then commented on how hot the day was. They will share their shade as well as their food, can you imagine someone at home offering that to a stranger. We'd be a little suspicious.
We have new neighbors to our left, they are from Russia and the man (Stash) is quite a character. The other day it was funny to have conversations with him as we all were doing the animated charade form of communication. Quite entertaining to observe. Steve has about 5 words of Russian and Stash has a limited English vocabulary. I had a hard time not to laugh as Stash kept referring to his wife as a him. I tried to correct him but it went unnoticed. Wish Steve`s sister Teresa was here since she's studied a few languages, including Russian. As most know I have problems with my one and only language.
Day one neighbor Stash brings us prawns, we reciprocate by sharing our bruchetta. Day two they bring over ribs we share our salad of cabbage, carrots, honey pears, pineapple and nuts. Day three they bring over a Russian dish similar to our sourkraut and wieners. We must go shopping, pick up a some vodka and put a stop to this!
Enjoying more spectacular sunsets, same same but different. Saw a sun dog( it's a circle around the sun that indicates a weather change) girlfriends Tammy and Patti and I saw one in Mexico years ago. At first they thought I was making it up until they announced it over the loudspeakers at the resort (compound). That time it was at night so it was called a moon dog. Same same but different.
On the way to the beach we visit our huge neighborhood spider, even it does not do anything much different, same power line same spot.........
Same same but different.

Simple and simply good!

Booked in at the German brothers hotel, Mediterano, Kata Beach, Phuket. Familiar faces and places. Hung out and caught up on the local gossip and watched a couple videos. One of the videos was a concert at Mc Author park in Germany and what a place to see one of their famous shows, many artists and each sang one song. Very cool! The other video was the last rehearsal made into a documentary of Michael Jackson's last concert prep, quite moving, sad , and definitely worth a watch .
One of the brothers, Kevin hooked us up with a new Honda Air blade. Nice ride with a good comfy seat.Went on the search for a home, bungalo or something set in a quiet area with all the trimmings, wifi, aircon, kitchen,t.v. and a pool. Needed to just chill out for a bit in one spot as we have been on the move for the past few months travelling through Vietnam and just want some down time and I really do miss my time in the kitchen. Can`t wait to make that tuna sandwich!
Checked out a few places and found a nice semi bungalo in a quiet spot 1 km from our favourite beach, Naiharn in the town of Rawai. It came with all the necessities. Moved in and made that tuna sandwich come to life! We both thought it was the best ever!
Next morning it was coffee, fresh fruit with yogurt, and granola, yummy and we didn't even have to leave our phat pad. The things we miss or take for granted!
We had a good laugh moving day as it took us two trips on our moped loaded to the max. Steve was driving with one of our suitcases between us resting on the seat while I hung on and packed a backpack. Back home people would be pointing at the odd sight. Here it was as normal as a family of four riding to grandmas. Then we got to do it all over again. At the hotel they offered us a lift with their truck but we kinda liked the challenge! Later we did a grocery run and hit one of their huge stores, the BIG C, it`s like our Walmart super stores. They have shopping carts with special wheels that stick to the escalator while going downhill, kinda cool, Steve was doing the look at me... no hands trick. The move went well and we're settled in nicely in our new pad. Beach time, pool time even made an egg salad sandwich today, stayed in and just hung out. Life is good! Simple and simply good!

here we go again

Well back to the old neighborhood of Phuket island. We decided to stay in Phuket Town and explore a different area on the island. Incredible buildings and sights. The town is set up with no real planning and getting around is not difficult but we did get turned around (lost) a couple times. The worst being on our third night out and it took many u-turns then finally found the right people to help us navigate our way back to the hotel. It was two ladies and the cutest puppy who helped us. The evening ride about provided interesting sights such as night markets and well decorated traffic circles.
We enjoyed showing up and surprising some of the people we met on our first visit to Phuket. On our moped it was fun to cruise the familiar beaches and sights in the area. The town is at about half of the tourist compacity it had at Christmas and New Years. Definitely like it at less touristy times. We stayed at the phat new modern Hotel Dara and had one of the sweet top floor rooms with a nice king bed and four phat pillows! The pool was awesome and the free breakfast was filling and tasty. We took a ferry to Krabi for three nights and decided to head back to Phuket-land as Krabi is more expensive with lesser beaches and fewer activities. I would descibe it as a super busy Penticton or Osoyoos mid summer, loaded with tourists. Not our style even though the mountains are spectacular and make for some great pics! Nice sunsets and smiles and even saw a monkey riding on a side car! Spent one afternoon with a (typical) realtor and asked to see places to rent at 20,000 baht per month and she showed us beautiful place twice the price. The excursion still provided some good local info. We seem to have expensive tastes with a backpacker budget. Back to the drawing board. The next move is take a ferry back to Phuket island and look for a place we can hang for a couple months. Maybe a place with air con, pool, internet, where a girl could whip up a good tuna sandwich. The quest continues..........