September 14
Kata Beach
Staying in one location and using it as a base camp has some advantages I didn't foresee. Take yesterday for example. The monsoon season was rearing its ugly head with the rain just pouring down, so Jon and I holed up in our room and just had a chance to talk. We both agreed that if we had to be holed up some place we had an awesome room for it.
Instead of discussing the plans for the next day, the route we would take, how we would get to point B from point A we were actually able to have a full on conversation. It was really nice and it felt like we hadn't had a chance to do something like that in a really long time.
We're starting to figure out this monsoon season thing. The clouds look really threatening in the morning but nothing really happens until later in the afternoon if at all.
We had been planning to rent a moped for the day and wanted to do it when the weather was really good as we had been advised to definitely not ride when it's raining, or in the dark and not at all if we could help it. Well, we took most of the advice to heart and decided to go for it today and rent one moped - Jon would be driving.
The rental shop was just at the bottom of the drive to our villa. The bikes looked really nice and were clean and appeared to be in good condition. While Jon filled out the forms I tried on helmets until I found one to fit my fat head.
That being done, Jon took a solo test drive while I waited on the sidewalk. He wasn't gone long but looked pretty darned profficient to me!
"How'd it go? How does it feel?" - S
"I'll just need to get used to it." - J
Now, Jon used to own and ride a motorcycle so I have the utmost confidence in him, it's just that his words made me a little nervous. The roads in Phuket are good but can be super (duper) steep.
I climbed aboard.
"Hold on tight." - J
I'd never ridden a moped with someone else and I've never ridden on a motocyle before so I wasn't sure where to put my hands for the best grip and also not to hinder Jon's driving ability.
Right above the bladder seemed pretty comfy to me for stability and unobtrusiveness. Jon didn't say anything so I figured it was ok besides I think it looked a lot better than the woman who was holding onto her significant other's manboobs. Going down some of the hills I would start to slide forward on my seat they were so steep and then there was the joy of climbing back on a seat that had been baking in the hot Thai sun. I also kept bonking my helmet against Jon's which I'm sure got annoying for him after a while but he was too nice to say anything.
We road around the southern tip of Phuket. There were a couple of view points and a cape we could have walked out to but it was getting on in the afternoon so we didn't walk to the cape - maybe tomorrow. The cape looked out over another island that had this massive golden Buddha on it's shores. You could see it from Phuket and the island was maybe (maybe) a kilometer away. I took a picture but I'm not sure if you'll be able to make it out. The east coast of Phuket is as beautiful as the west coast but with more islands. Despite the weather that we're starting to work around I would definitely come again during the low season of September.
Neither one of us went jogging this morning. Jon, under my suggestion, took a dose of Tami flu with a cookie before going out jogging yesterday for the first time in weeks and it didn't go too well. After we got back to the room he wasn't feeling well at all and ended up throwing up - like, two or three times. I felt kind of bad about that. Since Jon is nearly never sick and doesn't like to take meds in the first place (now I can see why) I forget how sensitive he is because in every other aspect of his life nothing phases him. Sorry Jon.
I got an email from my little sister who is in Hawaii studying for her Master's degree. She forward me a picture of her, her coworkers/friends and two of the stars from the TV show Lost. It was the korean couple - whose names escape me at the moment. She explained that her friends were too shy/star struck to ask them for a pic. Not Sue, she had no problem what so ever asking for a group shot (that's my sister!) and it was cool. Jon and I are still trying to see her on our way home from New Zealand in the beginning of 2007 - I haven't seen my little sister for a long time!
Jon got his haircut yesterday. I was offered a seat behind him and it was funny because the gal cutting his hair kept asking me if it looked OK which is when I would ask Jon if he liked it. That girl knew who was the right person to ask!
Today we got back to our place just before it started to pour down rain. It got super windy and rainy for about an hour and now, as I type in my preferred coffee shop, the sun is shining.
We not only were sightseeing on the moped today but we were scouting around for another place to stay but it turns out that the southeast side of Phuket is mostly industrial so we'll have to regroup tonight. I told Jon that I'm still perfectly happy with the place we're at now. We had originally thought we would stay a couple nights then it turned into a week and now we're thinking about staying through the weekend. We'll see.
