(You may have to excuse excessive rambling and miss spelling in this entry, as since this afternoons activities, I have had two very large cocktails and 4 large beers... not to mention the fooking hot stir fry which is still burning my lips!)
This afternoon, Steve and I went for a Microlite flight over the island. Steve had been scared stiff since we booked it, and I knew that he'd love it, he just needed to get there and get it done!
The guys at the site were superb, very relaxed and highly professional. When we got there they were running behind a little, which meant Steve had to prolong his agony further. I was super relaxed, as per usual and just excited about the flight.
I took some quality pictures of Steve as he boarded and got strapped into the vehicle. The 'after' picture was a stark difference, as I suspected it would be, and I knew he would now be intolerable for the rest of the night, now he was suddenly a flying hero! Lol ;)
Once I got strapped in and was approaching the runway, the sun was low and visiblity was not perfect, however the views to come will be difficult to surpass. It is an incredible way to see such a landscape, and I wold recommend it to anyone! The take off and landing were superbly handled and trouble free and whilst flying the pilot instilled more confidence in me by enjoying the views himself as we pottered along at 50 knots and 1300 feet...! Lol! In a way I kind of wanted the engine to stutter and stall a bit, as an emergency beach landing would have been brill!
I took some cool pics, which hopefully transfer well to the web, but was a bit gutted when my battery expired before I planned to film the entire decent and landing! I am usually so utterly prepared, and was slightly pissed off to have not put my freshly charged battery in before this trip... the lazy island life is clearly taking hold! ;)
I had a longer flight than Steve and took in the southern town of Bang Bao and flew north to view the much used (by Steve and I) Coconut bay resort which looked pretty cool from above. The view of the mountain from 1300 feet was good, as was the view straight down out of the side of the flimsy vehicle. The sun looked pretty cool too, and this picture shows up the flow lines past one of the orbiting islands off of the south coast nicely... such a good view of the place.
All in all this was a superb end to an already excellent day, and tonight will be good too!
Once I got back to our resort (and Steve was off at the dentist having a filling seen to!), I ventured to the best eatery on the resort (Cookies) and went for the 'spicy stir fry' with chicken after gently increasing the spice all week. This is one of the hotter dishes that they serve up to foreigners without laughing too much, and boy did it hit the spot! They also provide a side dish of even hotter sauce, which the Thai people thrive on... so I took the plunge and poured some over (even though I'd tried it before). The dish was fluppin hot!!!! My lips are still burning now, but I realy enjoyed it... although I suspect the large cocktails before and the large beers during helped numb the senses somewhat... heheh!
Drunk tonight? Oh yes!
Lie-in tomorrow? Ohhhhh yes!!!
Haha. Laters... ;)
