11th February 2008

Ratanachai Shipyard
Phuket, Thailand.

Talitha is on the hard at Ratanachai shipyard, teak decks repaired, plumbing fixed, antifouling and topside polishing still to be finished. We have been working hard for the last 10 or so days at a shipyard in Phuket. Ratanachai is in an area of Phuket that services the fishing industry, all services, including ladies of the night. After four days out of the water living on the boat, plumbing bits strewn all over the floor and the teak guys producing clouds of dust we decided to join the other Ratanachai yachties at a motel nearby. Air conditioning, wifi, proper showers and cable TV, not too much of a hardship to move ashore for a few days. The move also meant we needed transport, so we hired a motorbike and joined the other 300,000 motor bike commuters in Phuket. As the locals pass us on their bikes they look twice followed by a smile and a wave, even the motorbike taxis wave they don't seem to mind missing out on a fare.

Ratanachai is only a few miles away from the tourist areas of Patong and surrounding beaches covered in over weight sunburned Europeans yet is a thousand miles away in lifestyle. This is the real Thailand, where the locals look twice at a farang then wave and smile when they realize we are off to work just like they are. This is the everyday Thailand of pork satay and sticky rice for breakfast, monks walking the neighbourhood at sunrise to collect the offerings for the day, a family of 8 riding a motorbike and side car, dogs sleeping in the middle of the road as bike whiz past, shop assistants watching the day time TV soaps as they sell us sandpaper and our local market selling everything from deep fried battered chicken heads to grapes. The crowing roosters make sure we are up early enough to work in the cool morning. The neighbourhood geese honk loudly as they wander past our window. Well someone said there are 3 geese but I only see one at a time, so I'm not sure if it is one goose doing 3 circuits or 3 geese on different time schedules.

There are several yachts up on the hard as well as big fishing boats. The biggest fishing boat is about 3 or 4 stories high, 30 metres long and men have been swarming over it replacing the caulking, filling the seams, checking the hundreds of bolts and painting. The name was painted on the bright red hull today, in Thai of course so unreadable for us, it is now ready to be put back in the water all this in about 2 weeks. Puts us to shame a bit as we are not ready for the water yet. Could be the cups of tea, chats and the checking of each others progress that is happening amongst the yachties that is holding us up! We can't blame the yard workers as they are always on time and work consistently all day. Our teak guys were very patient with Alan, teaching him some Thai words, they tried not to laugh at his miming and limited Thai, luckily the yard has a lovely interpreter who helps with communication, in fact I think Rat, ( yes that is her name) really runs the place, she knows everybody and everything that's happening at Ratanachai.

10am every morning is noodle time, the hooter goes and everyone wanders over to the lunch room for a bowl of free hot noodles, for 5 Bht an egg can be added. Alan has been over several times, leaving me to have my morning coffee in peace. He is catching up on those male bonding sessions builders have at smoko that he has missed over the last 8 months! The language barrier doesn't seem to be too much of a problem when everyone is slurping down their noodles together.

Yesterday I walked up the road to the local hairdresser for a hair cut. Walking into the corrugated iron building with its smooth blue floor tiles, bare rough sawn framing and natural aircon through the wall, I thought thank goodness Sharon had been here first. Her haircut looked good and when Sharon described the neck massage that went with her trim I was sold. Time for a haircut. The elegant hairdresser spoke two words of English, Madam and OK! I can say hello, thank you and count to 10 in Thai, not a big help when it comes to haircuts! Oh, the teak guys taught me water in Thai too but it is still no real help for saying, "Good grief that water is cold!" Still the neck and head massage that accompanied the shampoo took my mind off the cold water. Looking up at the grey iron roof I was relieved that my chair was not directly under the florescent light tied on to the rough rafters with string. After the wash and massage "Madam" was then sat in front of a huge mirror, another huge mirror on the wall behind then given another neck and scalp massage. Eventually the hair cut began, I watched in trepidation as she trimmed the back of my hair, as my hair dried the curls sprung up and I think she thought if she kept trimming she would tame them. Being presented with an out of control, too long between haircuts, curly frizz to cut must have been a bit daunting for someone who cuts nothing but straight hair. I was just trying to work out how to politely get her to move on when she decided for herself that it was time to progress to the sides. After a nervous start I ended up having a pretty good haircut, 200bht, ($NZ8) the neck massage alone was worth much more than that. If my hair wasn't already short I'd go back next week for the neck massage.

Tomorrow we leave Talitha in the ship yard for two weeks and go off to Bangkok, Chang Mai on to Laos go south along the Mekong , cross into Cambodia to visit Ankor Wat then back to complete the antifouling. Our Thai visa needs renewing so a trip out of the country will give us another 30 days in Thailand when we return. At the end of March we will start our journey back down the Malacca strait to Singapore, we have decided to stay in SE Asia another year, going over to Borneo and maybe the east coast of Malaysia. That's the general plan for 2008 always subject to change!