Two major things happened today.....1.   Raymond returned back from his very short trip to Australia. He had left us a couple of days ago to go to Australia, where he had a tourist visa already set up. When he arrived at the immigration desk at the airport, I think that he must have told them that he was going to start to look for work while he was here. This is a big no-no as they held him in a detention centre for two days and then shipped him back on the ...

Today, I heard from Richie and Luke and they told me that they were definitely going to go and sort out this big house that we had planned to rent out between us. The only problem now was, that because I had come in to Thailand via the bus from Cambodia and they had flown in, I had a 15 day visa and they had a 30 day visa. So I had a chat with Steve and Sarah as I knew that they had had the same problem and extended their visa for a few days.Steve and Sarah tol...

After all this drinking and lots of late nights, I decided last night that I would have an early night so that I could hire a motorbike (moped) today and go out and about and see some of the sights of the island. I had also met an American guy who was staying at the hostel who was also called Peter who said he would like to join me today. So we both booked two bikes with reception and waited for them to turn up. Peter ordered and automatic and I ordered a manu...

Today was the first of two days celebrating Buddha's birthday. Traditionally, Buddha's Birthday is known as Vesak or Visakha Bucha (Buddha's Birthday Celebrations). Vesak is the major Buddhist festival of the year as it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha on the one day. This celebration is called Vesak being the name of the month in the Indian calendar.For the history behind this celebration, see here:-Vesākha is an an...

At least when I got home this morning from Phuket with Steve and Sarah at around 04:30 I was pleased to find that Raymond had not brought his lady of the night back to our dorm room and had checked out of the dorm and moved into a double room at the hostel.I bumped into Raymond at around 14:00 today when he had just been out for lunch with his lady and then sent her packing. She had asked him for 2000 Baht (about £40) for his night of passion but he had refused...