We did all sorts of things to bring on the wind, even pulled the bladder out of one kite(twice,patches on patches there now) to tease it to blow. Gave up in the end and went off feeding some monkeys at yet another temple in the area.
Was sitting down to breakfast the other day, with the tv on world news. Makybe Diva just won the Melbourn Cup. I'd forgotten about the time difference and thought I had lost a day and now had less than 24hrs to be in Bangkok to be on a plane. When the pulse went back to normal I thought that it wouldn't be too bad to be stuck right here anyway. Phil(a taffy), a club manager from Corfu in Greece, had come back again.........he learned to kite here last year, another Phil( a pom) and his girlfriend Helena(swiss/pom) had turned up looking for wind, and Scott the Australian kiting instructor had finally come down from Hua Hin. Add to that the Pom (Stu) who runs the Bamboo bar down the beach and the canadian(Chris) who turned up last year and has been doing visa runs since, we had a group of Commonwealth piss heads.
Finally I had to hit the road. After a mad drive through Chumphon with the travel agent guy (dont know where we went, my eyes were shut after we went through the second red light on the wrong side of the road) I got on a bus that did the milkrun, the chook run and any other delivery/pick up possible between Chumphon and Hua Hin. 250 km in just under 5 hrs. Time for a massage!!! If you have never had a Thai massage you really should do yourself a favour..........unbeleivable ........(and NO, you don't have a sister in law Moz).
After catching up with Yo, Ohu, Ooh (and A.E.I.O and U, I'm not making up those names by the way. They are nicknames given to children not long after they are born to trick the spirits in case they take an interest in the young kids) it was another bus to Bangkok. This time it was VIP!!! I could afford the 149 baht(nearly A$5) to avoid the constant stop/ start of yesterdays saga. In Thailand you dont book seats on these buses, you show up and buy a ticket then they stick you on the next bus that has room. Bangkok is roughly 3 hrs away, I have 6 to be on a plane. Now this is cutting it fine.
The elderly are almost left to fend for themselves over here, they receive very little help on and off buses at least. The little old dear I got sat down beside all the way to Bangkok didnt need too much help though. When we were getting off I offered to carry her HUGE bag for her down the stairs, she gave me a look that would've scared the Muay Thai fighters I saw the other night. I think she got out alright,I took off down the front stairs and into a waiting cab driven by a guy with less teeth in his head than money in his wallet(at least he looked broke). One thing I will say for the Bangkok drivers though, for all the seemingly lack of any formal road rules, and the constant lane changing without indicating( here's a good one .........if you're turning right ,you put the right indicator on.....uh huh...same for the left. If you are planning on going straight through a crowded crossroads, you put on the hazards so both lights are flashing and everyone knows what is going on),there is bugger all road rage. They do it to each other all the time and expect it.
You want to live............take a Tuk tuk through Bangkok, you want to die........Take a motorbike taxi !!!
Anyway, made it to the airport......bugger it......and now I'm in Townsville wishing I wasn't.
To you guys in Chumphon, I hope it blows soon and blows hard. I s'pose you're in Vietnam by now Phil. Have fun. See you again.
Hey it's blowing in Townsville cheers
