We are now in Phuket in Thailand. Staying at a great place called Boomerang Village, which was number 1 on tripadvisor and is the price of a travelodge in England...and........it's called Boomerang! Fun! Why would we stay anywhere else? Unfortunately we have the addition of a new holiday word, rain! A humongous amount of rain! Although it doesn't last too long and it's still REALLY hot! And new phrase is the ubiquitous Thai phrase 'same, same, but different' I know some friends who may read this blog have spent a while in Thailand, so this is nothing new to them, but today felt like the Thailand I imagine. Sat on rugs on a beach around little candlelit tables, watching the sunset with a beer and waiting for fish and shellfish we have just chosen to be cooked on a bbq on the beach, oh and listening to Reggae, of course! This is my second visit to Thailand and for me, the Thai people are the friendliest ever!
Day two and we decided that we wanted to enjoy some of the island, but couldn't bare the thought of being herded around on organised trips, so against my better judgement, we decided to join the locals in their daily 'death wish' journeys - and hire a moped for £5 a day! So our own transport sorted, we set off exploring, Ian driving and me navigating from the back in a 'LEFT!', 'NO NOT THERE', 'Arghhhhhhhhh!' kind of a way. We wanted to take a boat to Phi Phi island, where 'The Beach' with Leonardo de Caprio was filmed, so we set off to Rassada Pier near Phuket Bay . After about half an hour we saw signs to Wat Chalong, 'Wat' meaning temple, so we stopped. This was a fantastic stop and so much less crowded than the 'Wats' I had visited in Bangkok. So after lots of self congratulation about how much better it is to get about ourselves and stumble across great places, we headed back to the moped only to find..........A FLAT TIRE!!! 'Its all part of the adventure' was becoming a mantra...but not working. We are stranded, it's hot, humid and in the middle of nowhere...s***! There was nothing for it but to set off to find a garage, by now it was midday and really, really hot, but quite quickly we found a garage, HURRAY!!!!, but they didn't do compressed air! BOO! Off again and thankfully we found a little shack with a guy fixing......MOPEDS! How lucky! We showed him the tire......and he showed us the huge nail we had picked up along the way. 20 mins later we had new inner tube, inflated and everything! Can you believe, he charged us £4, so a big tip later and we were back en route. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the distinct lack of road signs meant that we didn't make Phi Phi island that day, but we had the best day ever travelling round the gorgeous bays and swimming in Kata bay near where we were staying. That evening Ian had booked a fantastic restaurant in Patong, a couple of Bays along, as he had seen a great review of a restaurant. The weather was weird, really barmy and a bit windy, but off we went in a cab and arrived at the restaurant, which was fantastic. After dinner we decided to have another drink in the bar below, which had an open bar looking over the waves crashing onto rocks below the bar. (Bare with me, I know this is all a bit dull but it gets better) so........the waves are crashing onto the rocks, the weather is getting more dramatic and a fabulous lightening display is lighting up the sky and then...............Ian pulls out a ring...........and proposes!!!! Yes, a marriage proposal! I have never been so shocked in my entire life! At 41, I have honestly never wanted to get married, but it just seemed so right to say Yes! So, finally, I'm going to be a MRS and I couldn't be happier. If you are one of my close family or friends who's reading this and you're really surprised, then, I know! And not as much as me!!! But........, still two days to tell you about and v quickly as im waffling, so in a nutshell, we continued scary moped travel through most beautiful countryside, made it to Phi Phi island, (which was stunningly beautiful but we had a tropical storm and got soaked, although it was immediately followed by gorgeous sunshine). The following day was elephant trekking and more fab beaches and right now we're sat having a beer at the hotel and tomorrow set off to fly to Perth! Cant wait to see Michele and Andy and will update from there, bye for now all!!!