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a day off

I have actually had two work days this week, but that’s not what inspired the title of the blog. It’s my sister. She’s been here in Thailand for almost a month, and I’ve spent every day with her since the 13th. I’ve enjoyed spending the time with her, but it’s been tiring… for her and for me.

Because we see each other so seldom, and because she may never come here again, we’ve been packing days as fully as we can, starting out with breakfast and staying busy late into every evening.

Yesterday I introduced her to one of my good friends… a lovely and hard working Thai girl (a commissioned sales woman) and they got along famously. They decided to go shopping together today — continuing to push my sister along at a busy pace, but giving me a much needed day of rest.

Bangkok Pundit and the White Elephant

Back on the 15th of June the Bangkok Pundit published a blog about the Royal Succession that I thought was both interesting an useful.

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/succession-white-elephant-in-room.html

Today he has published an expansion to the blog.

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2009/06/succession-white-elephant-in-room_22.html

This is one of the biggest, yet least understood (at least by me) issues in Thailand. If you are intersted in the Royal Succession issues I recommend these two blogs as interesting reading.

IF you aren’t interested in the topic then I’d suggest that you stay as far away as you can.

sunburned

I’m in Koh Samet.

As I type this I am sitting on the beach under an umbrella.  Portions of my body are red from too much sun yesterday.  My sister is sitting to my right staring out at the ocean, a novel forgotten on her lap.

I did byoTg this trip… bring your own Thai girl.  She’s on my left.  She’s been sitting with her MP3 plugged into her ears, but now she and my sister are about to go swimming… or maybe my Thai girl is gonna buy some hot noodle soup from one of the ladies that tromp up and down the beach offering food to tourists.

It’s been a relaxing week.  This is my third day of relaxing in a chair on the beach under a large umbrella.  In addition to my byo-girl, there’s been plenty of eye candy, including a surprising number of very hot white girls.

Sis and I have been travelling for eight days now, and in spite of the fact that it’s the middle of the rainy season and that we’ve it two of the notoiously wettest venues (Chiang Mai and Samet) we’ve only seen rain once — in the taxi on the way to the bus station on the afternoon that we left Chiamg Mai.  Sis has been a good luck charm for precipitation.

This is, from memory, my fifth trip to Koh Samet.
If you’ve never been here, it’s a great place for a three or four day beach holiday if you really like the sun and sand.  It’s a smallish island that offers a variety of accommodation, and a limited list of activities to supplement swimming and suntanning.  You can ride a banana boat or jet ski, take a speedboat tour of the area or go snorkeling or even scuba diving.  There are probably a few other activities as well but it’s primarily a quiet kind of weekend-getaway place, just three hours from Bangkok.
If you want to go there you can grab a bus from Ekkamai station (or a car if you prefer) to Rayong Province.  The jump off point is a small town called Bang Phe, and it takes between 15 and 40 minutes by boat (depending on which one you take) to reach the island.
I planned to write a bit more, and to upload some pics, but I just got the low battery warning from my  ‘puter.  I’m just gonna post and say goodbye.  I’ll check in again on Sunday night.

a really great decision

It was one of those decisions that you congratulate yourself for later… looking backwards you feel a sense of pride that you showed so much insight. In reality, it’s a decision I almost didn’t make.

Her name is Jen, and she’s a Chiang Mai bargirl. She was a fantastic ending to a really good day.

on the bus

I’m on the bus out of Chiang Mai with my sister beside me. We’ll be in Bangkok in about 9 hours. Lots of fun in Chiang Mai and I’ll be posting a full report soon. Unfortunately I didn’t charge my laptop battery before leaving Chiang Mai so I don’t have enough power to write the blog now while I have plenty of time.

Someone asked in the comments section if I would be able to get laid in Chiang Mai (given that I was travelling with my sister). The good news is that, yes, I did get laid by a Chiang Mai lovely last night and this morning — 3 pops — and yes she was great great fun!

I even went to Chiang Mai Zoo to see the three pandas.

See y’all in the morning….