So I went surfing in Kooooda. Had a brilliant time. The guys at Prosurf School were fantastic – Frank and Mauritz were both were great fun and very good teachers. And Mauritz said he thought I was 20 or 21, which made me very happy!! My theory lesson first was v funny since I was stuck in a class with a brother and sister surf combo team from Oz. They were 10 and 8. The 8 year old boy took great pleasure in announcing precociously “Hi, my name’s Riley. I’m 8. I can stand up on a surf board real well. Bet you can’t”. And that was the start of my initiation and humiliation. They continued to out-do me on all the questions and practical skills.
Will reckons my sponsorship deal with Billabong may not transpire after all. He says it’s much more likely that I’ll get picked up by Bongabill, the stoner surf shop. Sadly I think he may be right. But I’m gonna keep trying and when we hit Gisborne Nick is gonna be very proud to be associated with the new surfer chick in town when all his pro surf mates wonder who this amazing new talent is who’s rocked up to the reef. Probably literally rocked up on the reef more like, but gotta keep the dream alive…
We are now in Bangkok after flying here on Air Asia (which, by the way, is surely the best budget airline in the world…?) Weather a bit ropey but having a wonderful time. Staying at the rather lovely Chatrium Suites where Will got a fantastic lastminute.com deal which has enabled us to carry on celebrating the bday (bdays last for a week). And because they stuffed up our booking and tried to fob us off with twin beds, they then upgraded us to a mahoosive two bedroom suite with a huge lounge and kitchen area and two large bathrooms, river views and stunning setting. So, if anyone fancies a quick flight over to Thailand then you are more than welcome to kip at ours!!
Our first night in Bangkok I dreamt that Will got involved in a large drug deal and wanted us to try some of the finest Thai hard drugs. He agreed to purchase a gram of smack and a gram of cocaine from some rather seedy Thai underworld characters. When I raised some doubts and questioned him about the idea, he told me to relax and chill out and not worry about maybe spending the rest of our days eating bugs in the Bangkok Hilton. Thankfully it was just a dream. Don’t worry mum, the drug deal didn’t come off and we are still safely installed in our lovely Chatrium Suite.
First night we hit Khao San Rd which was as mad as ever. Then Yesterday we took a boat and the v efficient Sky Train into the centre of town and did a bit of shopping around the malls at Siam Square and then hit the weekend market at Chatuchak, where I purchased three rather lovely small T-shirts for the bargain price of 150 Baht (about 3 squid). Unfortunately with no changing facility at the market it’s a bit pot luck as to what you come away with and I may have slightly overlooked the size of one of my new tees. With much pulling and tugging I did manage to get it on, but it wasn’t a good look. Later in the evening Will stretched the T-shirt for me by trying it on himself (photo to follow – quite disturbing in a sort of early Take That Could It Be Magic? kind of a way). Yesterday we also got wonderful and cheap (300 Baht for both of us)dim sum in Chinatown for lunch and then eased ourselves into the afternoon with a relaxing Thai massage.
Today we have so far just been to the Myanmar embassy to start sorting our Visas for travel there in the next couple of days. Really interesting process – dusty old counters that look like they haven’t seen a cloth since 1986 to scramble your applications together on, old school style glue complete with dipping straw to stick your passport photos onto forms, broken chairs haphazardly thrown about the room everywhere and inquisitive interrogations from the officials (why do you want to go to Myanmar? How long are you going for? Have you been before? What do you do? What is the name of your company?). All as I guess one should expect. Fascinated to see what Myanmar itself is like if this is the state of a government office!! We now have to wait two days for our applications to be processed. Just about to book another Air Asia flight to get us there as you can only get across the borders by flying right now. I heart Air Asia.
xx
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