Tales of Enchantment

also known as "Michelle and Vern's Excellent Adventure"

03 July 2023
17 June 2022
19 January 2021
11 November 2020 | Phuket, Thailand
08 August 2020
01 March 2020
17 November 2019
13 November 2018
29 August 2018
12 January 2016
27 December 2015
15 September 2015

03 July 2023
Vern Noren
We had been in Phuket,Thailand for 3 years after Covid began. We had been there several times before and now it feels more like home than any where else. But it was time to continue our cruising. Our plan was to join a group of boats sailing across Borneo, Indonesia and S to Australia. We decided to do a few things we had never got around to doing before we left. We had even considered retiring in Thailand but that would come later. This post is a random collection of photos from our last several weeks in Thailand.

Junkyard Theater.....Dedicated to Khun Poom

30 November 2022
Vern Noren
Junkyard Theater has a Cabaret dinner show every Saturday. The theater is behind the Grind Café which is almost completely hidden by bamboo and trees. Ten minutes from the marina, Michelle and I had driven past hundreds of times and never noticed it. A Facebook ad led us to make a reservation to see the show. It was awesome. At the end a woman came by our table and asked how we liked the show. Turns out her and her husband, and son are the owners of the theater. We talked for an hour and we were invited to meet her husband at lunch during the week. John, Judy, and I are all of similar age and experiences and we hit it off right away and become friends.

They moved from Australia to Bangkok 30 years ago and then here to Phuket 20 yrs ago. John has a commercial arts degree and under the theater area is his factory. He has many international clients of the 5 star hotel variety, with current projects in London, Bangkok, and the Maldives.

He opened up this theater a year ago when he realized that that were many talented performers on the island that were out of work due to Covid. He decided to hire a few to entertain at the restaurant which has since grown into a full theater group with about 25 performers and 15-20 support personnel. Lighting, sound, backstage hands, seamstress, stage manager, choreographer, etc.
The Underwoods are very generous with their success. The factory and restaurant workers get free lunches, many live free in various rooms scattered around the huge old building. The Underwoods have given financial support to employees with overwhelming medical bills and other needs. They are very warm and welcoming to everyone and if you are their friend you have an open invitation to "come anytime, just show up".

I came to the shows and rehearsal for a few months just to watch the dancers, they are sooo good. The break dancers are officially the Andaman Crew who have been in several international competitions and won a few trophies. The girls are just pretty to watch :-}.

Now for those that don't know me all that well I have always had a fear of public speaking. I was so nervous about getting up in front of people and speaking I would rather cut my hand off. Then came the John. He first encouraged me just to walk across the stage during one of the bigger street scenes. He wanted more people walking around like the real life Bangla Road. Ok, I can do that, just don't run. So now, 7 months later I am in 2 skits at Junkyard, and 4 spots at the Marriott. Except for Mango Massage I don't really have any speaking parts, which is fine with me. There are many I could take but I am happy with what I do, although I am tempted. John has offered many times to pay me but my parts are mostly trivial and I told him I am retired don't want a job. And Michelle said She is the only boss I am allowed to have!!

Still alive in Phuket

17 June 2022
Vern Noren
I just realized it has been a year since our last post. We are still in Phuket and not a lot new and exciting to report. The borders in Malaysia and Indonesia are open again so we will be leaving before the end of the year. Unless more unexpected things happen. We have said goodbye to friends and left Phuket for the last time four times now. Maybe number five will be more successful for us. We like Phuket a lot and have made many friends but it is time to move on.
I have added some photo’s we have collected over the past year. We hope you enjoy looking.

Thailand bits and pieces

07 May 2021
Vern Noren
We have been "stuck" in Thailand for just over a year now. There are worse places to be stuck for sure. Phuket went 3 months without a new local case of Covid, then suddenly went from zero to 250+ in a matter of two weeks. The rest of the country is under severe restrictions in an effort to contain it again. Officials believe it all started with large groups of partying youths and other "socially entitled" in and around Bangkok. I just read the Thailand ranks 124th in the world for vaccine distribution.
It has not been boring. Since our last update several months ago we have become better friends with many of the locals, had $6,000 in damage to our boat, had our diesel engine commit suicide, and revisited my hippy days.
The photo gallery has many new pictures with no rhyme or reason to the assortment.

North Thailand

19 January 2021
Vern Noren
We took a 3 week trip to N Thailand to a region I have never been to before. Michelle toured parts of it several years ago when our son & grandson came to visit. The region is mountainous and mostly remote with many small towns and villages.

Many different ethnic groups live in the highlands, many with their own languages, customs, and beliefs. The weather is pleasantly cooler than down in Phuket, and things are a lot cheaper. Our most expensive hotel was $25/ night, most under $20, and the cheapest was $7/night with a balcony on the river.

Thailand Tales

11 November 2020 | Phuket, Thailand
Vern Noren
It has been a while since our last update and a lot has happened. We returned to the marina for a month to have some boat work completed and repairs made, then returned to Phi Phi for two weeks. There was a big festival starting in Phuket which we did not want to miss so we sailed back to Chalong Harbor and anchored for a week.
We were in a gray area with immigration, we never got visa’s when we arrived last March, just crew papers that said we could stay legally for 30 day, NO renewal, No possibility to get visa’s. We spent two months talking to immigration officials, visa agent’s, other cruisers, with no solutions. Complicating the situation the harbor masters were instructed not to clear out any yachts to leave the country until borders opened up. So one agency says you cannot stay, another says your boat/home cannot leave. Immigration policy changes every few weeks here so everyone remains confused. Eventually it got sorted out after many, many trips to immigration. Every 30 days we have to return to the main office and they will stamp us in for another 30 days until borders open, which could be mid 2021, no one knows. At least our stress is greatly reduced.
To make things interesting the following is how we spent the second night in Chalong.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS

After living on board 16 years, and cruising full time the last 11 years we had a new first. We have been anchored in Chalong Bay, Thailand for the last few days. Big anchor, 200 ft chain on a mostly mud bottom, 10-1 scope. We always back down at full throttle and our reversing prop give us almost full thrust. Around midnight, as another of many short squalls barreled through the anchorage Michelle went out to check wind speed and our position. All good. Ten minutes later the wind picked up again and when she checked this time we were less than 10 meters from a catamaran that used to be 100+ meters away.
For the first time ever we had dragged our anchor but this was not the time to celebrate. I took the wheel as she tried to get the anchor up. The chain jumped out of the bow roller toward the middle so now she is pulling it up across the teak front lip. As I struggled to gain some control and keep us off the other boat the anchor winch breaker kept tripping from the strain of the pull. Too noisy from the howling wind and rain communication was impossible and I could only guess which direction the chain was leading. Complicating the situation was the full awnings we had up. They hindered visibility forward and acted like sails, pushing us around with great force.
We finally got the anchor up and headed down wind behind all the other boats and dropped all 250 feet of chain, the 55lb Delta anchor, large snubber, and a prayer. We wrestled the awnings down, the wind dropped to about 20 kts, and we were happy again.
In hindsight I think the new awnings were the main factor in our dragging since it had never happened before and we have used this anchorage many times.
When we finally settled back down to finish a movie we had been watching my wife gave me a kiss and said we did that whole thing without yelling at each other, like that has ever happened.
Start to finish of our adventure was one hour. Since we did not damage anyone else, worked together smoothly, it was all sort of fun in a demented kind of way.
Vessel Name: Enchantment
Vessel Make/Model: Island Packet 40
Hailing Port: Chicago
Crew: Vern & Michelle
About:
Vern, originally from Chicago, has lived in New Orleans and the Nashville, Tn area. I have been sailing for almost 40 years, have logged over 15,000 offshore miles and hold a 100 ton masters license. I also work as a critical care nurse. [...]
Extra: We are currently finishing with upgrades and improvements to Enchantment in preparation for a 3-4 year cruise from Baltimore to New Zealand. Our cruising kitty will be fully funded and our departure date is set for Oct 2010 with a transit of the Panama Canal late February 2011
Enchantment's Photos - Junkyard Theater
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Junkyard Theater poster
New psoter for the Marriott Resort show
little Man: Jeff was originally from the Philippines but he and his family have been in Phuket for many years.   Jeff is one of the main performers at the show and this is his role greeting guests as they arrive
The theater can comfortably seat 70-80 guests for a dinner show as as many as 200 for other shows.  Everything is made from recycled junk.  Even the curtains are made form old hotel bed covers
Sasha is our MC and actor/singer in the show.  He has been performing since he was in grade school and has established several media related busineses.
The performers rush in every Saturday night on this mini bus as if they are late.  It looks chaotic to the guests who are still outside in the restaurant area enjoying drinks
Everything in the restaurant and theater area is built from recycled junk.  The owner goes to scrap yards and finds interesting junk or specific items he need for a new idea.
Backstage at the Junkyard,  not much room to move with all the scene sets in back.  Michelle and I have been to many plays but I never had an appreciation for how much work goes on behind the scenes.  With all the costume and set changes there is a hustle and bustle the audience never sees.  The stage manager Pang is in constant contact with the sound guy Mango to cue the next acts, makes sure everything is in place, makes last minute changes when a performer cannot show up, etc.
Every Thursday the performers are responsible for packing all their costumes for the night
The Marriott show is only on it
dressing area,  not much privacy
Backstage at the Marriott with most of the sets.
Victoria is a lead singer in the show. She also sings at several night clubs around the island.
Stage lights going up
Mango in the rear is the sound guy,  Marlin in the front the lighting guy.
The stage at the Marriott resort in one of the  patio dining areas.  The area is not really conducive to good sound and lighting due to low ceilings confines spaces.  When the weather stabilizes ( end of rainy season )  they will have an outside stage set up that may work better.
This Marriott is a huge building complex.  This shot is looking out over the Andaman Straights.  200 miles over the horizon is Sumatra, Indonesia
Reflection pool next to our performance area.  John,  owner of the theater,  designed and fabricated all the metal lighting and planters in the resort when it was built 15 years ago.  The manager of the resort saw the show at the Junkyard Theater and asked John to put together a modified version for the hotel.
John Underwood,  the mind behind the madness.  John designs all the sets and props and his commercial arts factory fabricates them in their facility below the theater.

We have a meeting every Mon & Thur to discuss improvements, skits to add or take out,  sets to build.  Every act has to be approved by John or son Zack following a dress rehearsal before it is goes on stage.  If the audience reaction is good the act stays, if not it goes.
On the right is Pang,  our stage manager giving a pre-show briefing to the performers. I think Pang has one of the hardest jobs on the set.  Keeping everything moving smoothly is sometimes a challenge.
The dancers at rehearsal getting instructions from the choreographer and stage manager.  I get very envious of their youth and vigor when I watch them dance.
Captured from a video of Bangla Road skit.  I am the fat guy with a pony tail, tattoos, and leering look.   Hoping to find some young Thai girl who will be my bride.  You see a lot of guys looking like that and trying to pick up women.  Most likely he will pick up something else and pay for the privilege.  Typical story here,  guys meets girl, marries girl,  house in her name because expats not allowed to  own property.  Girls sells house, disappears with the money.
You can
Back in civilian clothes from left to right.  Ta, Fang, Biw, Apple, Mon, Ying.  Not stage names, real names.  This is how they have their parties and get togethers. People bring food and sit around cooking it in hot pots, drinking, sharing the night.  very laid back and casual.  Even though I speak no Thai I had no trouble communicating.  I now everyone there from the theater.
It was a sad day on the set yesterday.  Khun Poom died as a result of a motorbike accident when another biker driving into his lane at high speed crashed into him.  He was well liked by everyone,  always had a smile for you when he said hello, and always gave his performance every thing he had.  
     There were many teary eyes at curtain call when it really sunk in that he was gone.  His funeral ceremony is tonight
Khun Poom
At final curtain call the dancers left a space where Khun Poom usually stood.  Nothing was said to the audience about his death per the wishes of his friends.  Not the Thai way.
 
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