Still on Koh Phangan

Still having a great time here on Koh Phangan. 
Lots of swimming in the pool, massages, great Thai food, frisbee on the beach and not that much else.

Yesterday a fun snorkelling trip on the 'No Woman No Cry' boat (?)  Great snorkelling, lunch at the very beautiful Bottle Beach and a very rocky hike to some waterfalls.  Lots of anenomes, multi-coloured fish, hard and soft coral and much more.

One more day at Salad Beach, then we head to Thong Nai Pan for our last couple of days.

Koh Phangan

Today arrived in Koh Phangan via ferry from Koh Samui.  Fairly stress-free logistics, although the trip was (enjoyably) delayed by Songkran (New Year) festivities.  Lots of water being thrown and/or splashed on cars driving past (and from cars driving past onto the many revellers on the street).  Simultaneously, Bangkok is in crisis - the country looks to be in the midst of revolution and/or military coup. 
Luckily we have a TV in our room at Cookies at Salad beach.  Unfortunately, the English-langugage channels consist of an english-langugage German general-interest channel, and an english-language Russian news and sport channel which is headlining its latest bulletin with a story on possible voter fraud in Moldavia (Moldova? who knows and/or cares).  Events in the pacific are a fairly low priority for the Russians and Germans.  We also have HBO - which also gives events in the Pacific a low priority.
Otherwise, all is good.  M is having fun.  Very hot.  Chang is still a good beer.  Thai massages remain great.  Our hammock is comfortable.  View from our deck is incredible.

timing

good timing by M and I - we managed to time our visit to Thailand with the (now cancelled) ASEAN summit, massive protests and the declaration of a state of emergency.  All calm in Koh Samui as far as we can tell...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/12/world/AP-AS-Thailand-Politics.html?_r=1&hp

 

In happier news, just had an amazing massage. 

Having a great time and managing to endure the soothing music which seems to play constantly.

Thailand part 2

Still having a great time - Zazen is fantastic - www.samuizazen.com - and yesterday we watched a buddhist wedding for 2 middle-aged heavily-tattooed Germans with heads shaved at the sides and long on top.  The tattoos on the sides of her shaved scalp were very fetching and spoke of a deep inner serenity.  Otherwise - good food, massages, heat, humidity, backgammon, the Bangkok Post (a really good paper), wandering along the beach.

Singapore

Had a great day in Singapore as day 1 of our Thailand trip.  Enjoyed the qantas Melbourne first class lounge (nice work Marc Newsom) (sp?) and its excellent restaurant, then the upgraded premium economy seats (the benefits of being married to a platinum frequent flyer).  a good flight (loved the Wrestler), then a day in Singapore.  Ate 3 amazing meals at hawker centres.  I'm yet to discover food better than Singaporean hawker centre food.  It's just incredibly good.  Wandered around Singapore.  Sweated.  Some beautiful old buildings and some interesting new ones.  Now at the airport for our flight to Koh Samui.