SUNDAY...part 2

Sunday Lunch at Jimmy's Lighthouse

Our little group is expanding rapidly!! Now we have (left side) Mark, Kim, Steve, Graham. Right side Jai, Lyn, Dawn, Many and at the Head of Table...Sir Gary.






The lads settle down to a quiet game of snooker after the horrors of flying all night froom Frankfurt to Phuket.........

Jimmy's Lighthouse. Situated on the Chalong seafront. Ideal for a gentle introduction to our guests with a range of English and Thai dishes with plenty of good old comfort food on the menu!!

Mandy Takes to The Water

I know there are many of you out there reading about Gary and Mandy....along with Dawn and Lyn and now Steve and Graham who arrived this morning.




And so, all of you sceptics who wouldn't believe it could happen....I proudly present Mrs Mandy Chard who has completed her basic pool training and has dived not once but twice in the past three days!!

Mandy's first dive was at Kata Beach where we started at just one metre and gradually worked our way to 7 meters. The dive took a total of 37 minutes............and Mandy handled it very well indeed.

The seond dive was at Ya Nui Beach and went to 8 meters for 53 minutes. We had to fight a pretty strong current for part of this dive all of which Mandy again handled superbly.

I didn't take the camera as I thought I'd need to concentrate on Mandy's diving..but I didn't realise how well she'd do and so I wish I had taken the camera. We saw loads on this second dive including moray eels, sea snakes, clown fish, fusiliers etc etc and as a real bonus 6 Harlequin Shrimps. Like many of us I have spent lots of money going out to distant islands and reefs and have rarely spotted these colour shrimps...and there they were in just 4 meters tucked up in a very densely packed coral formation.............it was a great thrill for both of us....typical I didn't have the camera.

Now the husbands are here, we have a megga packed week of activites kicking off with Sea Kayaking tomorrow with the famous John Grey Kayaking Company............it's gonna be great!!

PHUKET FISH LANDING QUAY








My next door neighbour, Khun Joel, is a fish buyer and exporter. Today he took me to Phuket Port and to the fish landing quay. This is his wife, Khun Ben, who also works for the family business.

I watched the fish being unloaded. As it's just coming off full moon, the landing were down but Khun Joel assures me that the fishing this year has been very poor and thinks this will be a bad year.





Where have we all heard that before??





Fish stocks have been hammered everywhere and Thailand is
certainly no different.

I saw man baskets of tiny fish bein glanded which were to be bought for 14 pence per kilo and then sent off to be made into animal feed and fertiliser. It's a great waste but that's what's been happening in Europe for years.

If you think UK is any better then take a look at the Deepsea Forum and look up the topic sent in by Scotland's Angling Team Captain and follow his link. It makes very sad reading as he explains that Scotland is finished as an angling destination and that there is no way any more International competitions will be held there again....as there are simply no fish for the anglers to catch.

However, there were some very good fish landed....take a look at the photos of the baskets of Trevelly...that's what we've been after on our angling trips and there are a lot of them about....so we can approach our angling here with renewed enthusiasm especially after our success last week!!

Phuket Fishing Park

The Freshwater lads are coming here in March so today I teamed up with Captain John from Sweden who runs Adventure Fishing trips all over the world to try out a lake about 30 minutes drive away from the house.


I didn't really know what to expect. I know very little about freshwater fishing but I do listen to lots of people here raving about the great big fish that live in the lakes.



We fished for two hours......we lost lots of fish due to our inexperience but we did all land one each.....you experienced Freshwater anglers will have to tell me what species we caught...I do not have a clue!!!

What I do know is that it was very exciting and I intend to spend the whole day there at the next opportunity. This is going to be another very enjoyable experience to add to your holiday in Thailand.

Cost for the day is £30. This includes rod hire, bait and fishing. It's £10 less if you have your own tackle. There are shaded shelters around the lake and a restaurant on site. You can order up lunch or whatever and it will be bought to you..........great service, lovely people and brilliant fishing!!!!





Yep.....and even I caught one...whatever it is.

KOMLOI

OK............for sure I have spelt it wrong...but there you go.


Last Night was Komloi Night. The photo shows a Komloi having achieved
'Lift Off'.......





Komloi's are big as you can see from the photo. They require at least two people....preferably tall...otherwise a step or a ladder is required!
The spirit soaked wax 'candle' is lit and the hot air from it slowly fills the very light paper 'body' of the Komloi. It's important to get it right! If lift off is not achieved smoothly then the Komloi will tilt as is rises and catch fire...then burn and crash.............thus one wish is lost!!!

Here, Captain John Pearce (ex UK charter skipper, living in Phuket) and our one of guests Lyn Morrish from Poole prepare Lyn's Komloi for lift off!






John being the tallest was chief launcher...here being helped by Jai and Phat
...to prepare Dawn's Komloi.

Dawn's Komloi just about ready for lift off...Jai and Phat holding it steady....waiting for the moment!

And now Mandy Chard's Komloi achieves lift off.....











The gals are really getting in on the act now...now stoppping 'em. Lyn's now chief Launch Assistant.........










The Thai ladies expertly prepare the all important initial stage.....the careful unfolding of the delicate Komloi and fixing the 'fuel system' in place ready to ensure a smooth take off and lengthy flight.

The Komloi's travel a very long way and achieve great heights before running out of fuel.


The evening was rounded off with fireworks and BBQ. I think we'll make this Komloi evening a regular welcome for you all when you come...it's something different and a great way to introduce you to a bit of Thai Culture and fun..........very enjoyable.

Could you imagine doing this back home????? Nope; I didn't think so...a simple tradition like this would bring the Emergency Services to immediate Response Level.............

We now have four guests. Gary and wife Many Chard, Lyn and Dawn whose husbands will be ariving from their ski-ing holiday in Switzerland next week........

Sunsets .....

Everyone has to take sunset photo's when on holiday. There's a headland about 5 miles away from the house called Promthep Point. Every evening the place gets busy...sometimes packed...with tourists and locals arriving for the daily ritual of the sun going down.

There's a 'temple' up on the point so time for a few prayers before the sun sets and there's a lighthouse with some information about the Father of the Thai Navy there....so a bit of culture...a bit of history and of course the sunset.

Now as so many of you are coming to Thailand I know you are expecting me to provide even more information so you can impress the locals....

The 'temple' has lots of elephants. Thai's like elephants. As you all knw there are three main Hindu Gods...Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva. Brahma is the four faced God and is called Pra Pom in Thai. The temple features him. Ganesh (the elephant god), called Pra Kinnet in Thai, is the son of Shiva and the god of learning, memory, the arts........and a few more things.

Sunset..............inThai is Athid (the sun) doc (setting) talay (the sea). So, Athid doc talay.

Wow....ain't you gonna be impressive wandering around displaying your knowledge when I take you there.

What IS nice is that when there is a great sunset, it's really appreciated and there's applause and cheering for the end of a good day.....and no doubt the start of a good night o come!!!!!

Fishing and Diving only????....Nope...there's lots more to do here


On the main website you will see a link to Thai Cooking.

There are several Thai Cookery schools nearby offering anything from one day to two week Thai Cookery courses.

Two of our guests have just completed a one week course and presented the
rest of us with a fine fish based Thai dinner last night.

Thai food is reknown for its colour and variety as well as its spices (optional!). The course was
'amazing' and of course it's all about the interesting people you meet. There were Italians, French, Koreans, Japanese and Swedish on the course so plenty of new friendships were established, emails swapped...and maybe our guests will be off to their new friends' countires in the future to meet up again and cook for each other.

Ain't 'travelling' just great???

There will be a big change tomorrow as our lads all leave except for Gary. Gary's wife Mandy arrives along with two of her friends and their husbands will be joining us in a week's time. So, I foresee Gary being able to take his ladies to all the exclusive up market air conditioned shopping malls and of course Thai Cultural events each evening.............

What fun!!!