Photo: Leaving Boat Lagoon, refit complete.
We settled into a routine of Brian working on the boat each day and Gail doing the household chores and any other jobs that were required. As there is no potable water in Phuket, all our drinking and cooking water has to be boiled, this adds time to basic chores, e.g. making the Easiyo yogurt where we boil the cool water, (we never think about buying bottled water), unlike on the boat where we have a watermaker and therefore can drink the water out of the tap.
Progress continues to be good on the refit with the number of buckets containing boat parts reducing each day. We need to get the job finished so we can leave and stop spending money. The positive is that it is monsoon season in Thailand with heavy rain for sometimes a week at a time, combined with the wind; it is nice being on land and not at anchor.
On Saturday 8th June we went to watch the first All Black rugby test against France with Mike and Juanita "Keris", Frank and Barb "Destiny" and Paul and Gloria "Scallywag" at a pub up near Yacht Haven. It was good to catch up with everyone; Destiny and Scallywag are waiting for the ship to arrive that will take them to Marmaris, Turkey, due mid June. After the game, the All Blacks won, we all went to dinner at a small restaurant by Yacht Haven to end a great afternoon. We took a taxi back to Boat Lagoon with Mike and Juanita, who then jumped on their motorbikes back to their boat anchored in Ao Chalong. Given the late hour we had an assurance from them that they would contact us when we they were back on board, so we knew they had arrived safely. They did not send a text; Mike phoned and spoke to Brian who had no recollection of the conversation the following morning. It must have been a good night.
There are thousands of motor bikes on the road; with traffic congestion everywhere it is the easiest way to get around, especially on the 402 - the main road that runs the length of Phuket Island. The Thai's are practically born on them, it is not unusual to see mum, dad, several children and babies weaving through the traffic, many without crash helmets. It is not even safe on the pavements, as the Thai's ride on the footpaths to avoid the traffic congestion and travel the wrong way down the road. The median strip that runs along the 402 outside Boat Lagoon and Royal Phuket Marina means when travelling north you have to go 2kms past the entrances to a set of traffic lights and do a legal U turn back. We will miss the traffic lights here; they all have digital countdowns of the time to the next light change, very useful when at busy intersections and the timer states 320 secs to the next change. Very useful but would probably cause drag races or racetracks in NZ.
With no public transfer options, taxi fares in Phuket are on the expensive side, we decided on Sunday to rent a small car for the remaining few weeks we will be in Boat Lagoon. This will encourage us to get out more and save us some money. We picked the car up and drove down to Ao Chalong, picked up Mike and Juanita and drove to Nai Harn for lunch followed by a walk up Phromthrep Cape and drinks back in Ao Chalong before returning to Boat Lagoon, another good afternoon.
Whilst in Boat Lagoon we have taken to eating dinner at least several times a week at one of 2 cafes across the busy 402 road, Chilli has a more authentic Thai feel to it, whereas Eat is more western in the décor and is a cooking school during the day. Both have very good food, reasonably priced (we would say cheap by NZ standards). Thursday evening, 13th June, we had a lovely home cooked lamb roast dinner at Marieke and Bert's house in Ao Yon; with Paul and Gloria "Scallywag", Frank and Barbara "Destiny" and Chris, a friend of Marieke and Bert. It was the last time we would see them for a while as the ship to take their boats to Turkey was due on 17th June, it also turned out it be the night of Gloria's birthday with dessert a birthday cake complete with trick candles.
Saturday 15th June, it was another All Blacks vs. France rugby test match. We arranged with Mike and Juanita 'Keris' to join them at a bar in Ao Chalong. We arrived at 2pm and were joined by Pete and Pearl 'Simply Sensational' and enjoyed a great afternoon of sport. The All Blacks game was followed by the British and Irish Lions game. Towards the end of the game we noticed the bar staff, all female, went inside and changed into skimpy red dresses and with their hair and make-up done, sat on stools on the kerb outside the bar, you can imagine the discussion as to what happened in the massage parlour connected to the bar, in the evenings. Following the games we walked down to a nice restaurant for dinner, then home in the monsoon rain.
Sunday, Brian's 'day off', we took the car over to Patong on the west side of Phuket. What a difference from the last time we there, anchored in the bay, this time with the SW monsoon season; there was a big swell and surf in the bay. We took the opportunity to book to see Fantasea, billed as the must see show in Phuket. To fill in the time before the show started, we drove further up the coast and stopped in Kamala Beach to watch the NZ Warriors defeat Sydney Roosters at the Black Cat pub. This is probably the nicest 'pub' we have been in for a while; it's a shame that the banning of smoking in public places has not occurred in Thailand. How we adapt. After the game we drove back to Fantasea, a theme park based on Elephants, for dinner in an enormous dining hall and then the show. It was worth going, a different style of show than we are used to, with at times 20 elephants on stage. It was a bit like Circ de Solle, with dancing, magic acts, trapeze artists, lots of pyrotechnics and acting, telling the story of the evolution of the Thai kingdom.
Another week working away on the boat with a couple of milestones, the mast was stepped on Tuesday 18th June and the boat went into the water on Friday morning at 08:00. We took her around to Royal Phuket Marina, which has more depth of water and is cleaner. We plan to stay there a week to clean and put everything back on board before leaving on a 3.2m tide Friday.
Saturday 22nd June was another rugby test day. We picked Peter and Pearl "Simply Sensational" up at Ao Chalong, and with Mike and Juanita "Keris" on their motorbikes we went to the Irish Times Pub in Jungcelyon mall, Patong. Another good day; ending with dinner at the Urban Food Café. Sunday we picked Peter and Pearl up again and went to see Big Buddha, a white marble Buddha statue that towers on the hill in Ao Chalong. It is 45 meters high and 25 meters wide, very impressive. On the way down we stopped and fed the elephants, as elephant trekking is popular on Phuket. After dropping Peter and Pearl back at the pier in Ao Chalong, we stopped at the Wat Chalong temple on the way home. We must read more about the Buddhist faith, as the temples are impressive, very ornate but we don't really understand what all the shrines alters, chanting and rituals mean.
With the boat finally spring cleaned, Tuesday was a big day. We borrowed a Ute and loaded it with all the boat squabs, saloon and cockpit, sails and other paraphernalia stored in the condo and headed out of Boat Lagoon to Royal Phuket Marina to load them onto the boat. On the way out of Boat Lagoon we were stopped by the security guards who wanted to check we were not stealing them. That evening having reassembled and re-wired the mast, we went back to the boat after dark to check all the lights were working, again the security guard at Royal Phuket came down to check we were not illegally accessing the boat.
Wednesday was a half day on the boat, finishing around 13:00 after Muzza had been to fit our new shade covers, very sexy. We showered and changed then headed to Ao Chalong to meet with Mike "Keris", Peter and Pearl "Simply Sensational" and Liz and Chris "Rumrunner 11" to watch the State of Origin rugby league game with dinner afterwards.
Final cleaning of the condo on Thursday morning and we moved back onto the boat. In the evening we again met with Mike, Juanita, Peter, Pearl, Liz and Chris and went to the Siam Niramit show. We enjoyed the dinner and show; it was more of a theatrical experience than Fantasea, and each act was introduced by subtitles and depicted a different era in time. The costumes and many actors were amazing, Brian was 'used' in one scene, (celebrating the major festivals) when he was blessed for New Year.
The following morning we were up in preparation for leaving, when Brian found a problem with the newly fixed battery charger. If we cannot get it fixed in the next couple of hours we will be here until at least 5th July as the tide depths will prevent us leaving. Just heard from electricians, battery charger will not be ready until early next week at the earliest. Oh well, that's cruising.