This is the blog/travel journal for Chris & Joanne Reilly from Glasgow, Scotland. After quitting our jobs and selling our house, we plan to travel around the globe for the next year.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Busy Doing Nothing

We managed to get to the ferry and on it without any great hardship and found ourselves a good seat on the deck so that Joanne could see the horizon, in Joanne’s mind this helps her avoid being seasick. For someone who’s just spent the last year travelling round the world she ain’t much of a traveller; she doesn’t like flying, she can’t read on buses, she’s sick on 90% of boats and she usually fights with taxi drivers. Five minutes after we sat down the heavens opened and we had to retreat under the canopy for a few minutes as the shower passed, so much for our plans to sit in the sun all week.

On arrival at Thongsala we had to run the gauntlet of taxi and hotel touts thrusting flyers into your hands and squealing into our ears about cheap accommodation and fast cars. As usual we tried to pick out the least annoying and quietest person of the crowd and were soon in the back of a pickup with another few couples as we sped along the coast road. John & Vanessa had recommended Chills a small resort that they had been to a few weeks earlier, I’m not sure having a pool table and a small rock pool justifies calling it a resort but we headed there anyway. The place sat right on the beach and all the rooms and chalets faced onto the water, so after having quick look at our room we decided to book in for the week and try and do as little as possible over the following seven days.

The owners were away on a visa run and Steve a friendly English guy gave us the lowdown on the place and the rest of the island. We were told to help ourselves to the fridge full of beer and juice and just to mark what we drink on the tab. The place also had three resident Thai’s (Daa, Ball & Mo) who made the food, cleaned the rooms and joined in with the fun. All the amenities were right on our balcony and we didn’t really have to leave the place so we didn’t for the next two days. That afternoon we took some books from the large library and sat and read while sitting on the beach.


The place was really peaceful and there were only five other guests staying on the day we arrived, one of them was the owner’s friend John who had been here for quite a few weeks. The other four were some teenagers from Ireland, yes even more Irish. I’m not sure why but we have only met a handful of Scots over the last year, but we have met at least thirty or forty Irish people. I find it quite sad that two countries that have a similar population have a real different attitude to travelling, most young Scottish people you meet are quite happy for week in Ibiza but everywhere we've been this year there’s been crowds of Irish out there doing it and living it to the full. Sorry for the crass generalisation but that’s just the way I’ve seen it, and I doff my cap to all the Irish we’ve met on the trip who’ve been full of fun and adventure.

The resort had a small lounge area with a few low tables and cushioned mats to spread out on, I’m sure this was just a rouse to get you so comfortable that you wouldn’t leave and just drink more beer from the too handy fridge. That night we all watched Walk the Line the new movie based on the relationship between Johnny Cash & June Carter. Although the storyline takes a few liberties with the truth the music is the real star of the show. Joaquin Phoenix looks uncannily like Johnny Cash at times and the director of photography does a great job in replicating some of the famous still photos from the Folsom & San Quentin Prison gigs.

The days started to merge into one another as we lazed, ate and drank all within 30 meters of our bed. Joanne was up to reading two trashy novels per day and I got a head start on a few websites that I planned to work on while back in Scotland. Now time for an advertisement for Dubcentral: One hardworking, enthusiastic web designer, application programmer, photographer, blogger, graphic designer, musician, collagist looking for an interesting job in Glasgow and the surrounding areas.

After a few days we had enough of sitting in the one place and we decided to head down to Thongsala to maybe use the internet or find out the best way to get back to Bangkok the following weekend. We asked a few people the best way to walk into town and they all looked incredulous that we would even think of walking. We worked out that it was just over 6 Km’s and that it wouldn’t take us much over the hour in the heat. We soon realise that one of the reasons that no one walks is because of the really bad driving on the island and the packs of skanky dogs that congregate at almost every corner. I’m not really much of a dog lover, as well as being allergic to them I think they smell the fear and always seem to snarl and snap anytime I’m near.

Thongsala was a bit of a disappointing place with loads of shops selling fake Ministry of Sound CD’s, juggling balls and head torches to the crowds who pour in for the Full Moon Parties. As usual we were going to just miss the big party but I don’t think either of us was too bothered and chilling out for a week was more than enough consolation. We got all our business done and popped into a busy café for lunch, we had loved the Thai food so far but we decided to get a burger for a change. The burger was fine but the highlight for me was the bottle of HP Sauce that materialised on our table, I can’t remember the last time I saw a bottle never mind covered my chips in it.

On the way back to Chills we noticed a sign for accommodation that would be ideal for Joanne when she trying to blow off some steam.


On the Wednesday night the owner Karl and his girlfriend Becks returned from their visa run to Penang in Malaysia and suddenly the place became a whole lot louder as the Ben Elton lookalike told us how much he hated Penang and how he was so glad to be home. Pretty soon a game of Killer pool was organised and everyone was in the pool room knocking back beers and cranking up the music, I didn’t play too badly that night but the following nights I could hardly hit a ball. The last time I had played Killer pool was on my stag weekend when Gary (The Shark) said he had a great game for a crowd and by the time he had explained the rules he had just lightened everybody else’s wallets and made his a whole lot heavier. Here's some of the rules I remember from Killer pool.

• Everybody starts with five lives
• You must pot a ball or you lose a life
• You can pot any ball
• Everybody has one shot

We were still playing at three in the morning when I realised that Celtic were playing, I didn’t think the game would be on TV as it was midweek. So as I sat in the deserted lounge flicking through the satellite channels I got a great surprise to see rainy Glasgow appear on the screen and Celtic v Falkirk already kicked off. So for the first thirty minutes of the game I ran back and forward from the pool room to the lounge trying in vain to get myself knocked out the pool tournament so that I could watch the rest of the game. Usually I never have a problem getting knocked at pool but tonight it just wasn’t happening quick enough, luckily I was in the lounge when Roy Keane got his first goal for Celtic since signing from Manchester United in November.

The next day Joanne headed off with Daa & Ball to go crab hunting, what they never told Joanne before she headed off was that they would be going on a motorbike. Joanne hates motorbikes as much as I dislike dogs, so you can imagine her face as they whizzed along the bumpy roads. They came back with a large bucketful of crabs, Joanne said she caught about a dozen but she was no match to the locals who caught bundles. That night we all had some crab for dinner, but to be honest I found it all a bit too much like hard work biting through the shell and sucking out the meat. Daa & Ball had also made a small raft from some old plastic barrels and polystyrene that had washed up on the beach, they had tied it all together with tyre tubing’s and had planned to sail out over the reef and get to some of the bigger fish.


The rest of the week we spent doing more of the same and when it was time to leave on Saturday the idea of travelling overnight to Bangkok was not nearly that appealing as lying about watching the sun set from our balcony or from the lounge sipping Changs and wondering whose turn it was to head up for the next beer. AAAAaaaaaa the Life of Reilly!!!!!

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