Monday, February 21, 2011
Thailand Posts
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Thailand-Patong Walkabout
This edition features a collage of photos taken as we have strolled the busy streets of Patong. As I've said this is tourist central and unbelievably busy. There are restaurants of every description. More bars than one can imagine. Endless alleyways of shopping stalls. Most streets are one way and crowded with cars, motorbikes and the local taxi referred to as a tuk tuk. We hope you enjoy the views.
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Thailand-Longtails
I keep mentioning the "longtails" these are a unique local boat that we have actually seen variations of since Indonesia. The "Indo" variety was powered by a small gasoline engine and reminded one of a weed whacker attached to the stern. In Thailand we see the evolution! The boats are approximately 30 feet long with pointed bow and stern. I would guess at one time a sailing design. They are now powered by 4 cylinder diesel engines. They have been adapted to direct saltwater cooling and most have no muffler. They are VERY LOUD!! The engine, trans and tiller all rotate as one.
From the photos you can see where the name was derived.
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Thailand- Shopping
So it's now been more than 2 weeks since any blog updates, you'll notice we are still in Patong Bay but we have actually moved around. Not much but the anchor has gone up and down. We have not grown to the bottom.
We continue to keep busy both with little bits of boat stuff and lots of land chores. Thanks to our friends Phil and Nuch we are provided with transportation around. We now know all the stores along with visits to the marinas, chandeliers etc.
This edition will highlight photos of various shopping adventure's. There is a mix of Thailand's version of "Costco" called "Super Cheap" and then a trip to a large outdoor market. Kathy and I spent most of our time in the food area but along the shopping stalls most everything was available. I figure you would much rather look at photos at your leisure than read my baloney. Now of course this will be determined if I can manage to load the photos to this bit of writing. I am writing this and a couple of more on our sailmail. Things on the blog are set to immediately publish it when sent; then when we go to the "Ocean Front" bar this afternoon I'll attempt to edit the photos onto that blog. Only time will tell. I think I have organized the photos to blog subject and they hopefully have captions.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The first is easy Kathy as we approach one of the many islands.
Here we see a local street vendor selling fruit from the back of her motor scooter
A view of the busy marketplace "Super Cheap"
The beach front massage, manicure, pedicure facilities along Patong beach
My new anchor, perhaps I'll use it for the dinghy.
Views along Patong beach
Well you get this one twice! I am only equal to a 8 year old as far as the computer goes.
Our friend Phil
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Thailand
Here we still sit in the busy bay of Patong, Phuket island, Thailand. I keep trying to write to keep things up to date but as you can imagine we're busy. So after having just finished a book this afternoon I figured it was time to try and get caught up.
We arrived here in Patong on the 17 th of January and it seems non stop since then. We enjoyed a home cooked dinner with Phil and Nuch the day we arrived, I even got to see a bit of an NFL playoff game. Then for the next few days they transported around. First to "Super Cheap" a huge wear house shopping complex that seemed to have everything. It made the largest "Costco" seem tiny. Next day it was to another large grocery store fore more. We also had a stop at the hospital for Kathy to visit the dermatologist and me a dental appointment.
The anchorage here is nice but very busy. Two cruise ships a week stop for visits. The local "longtail" boats are busy with either tourists or off fishing. There are dive charter boats, other cruising yachts and our favorite the PWC's or as most would refer to them "jet skis" zipping about. We're anchored in 25 feet with a sand bottom and good holding we've not moved since dropping the hook. Somehow it seems that others aren't so lucky, or that there anchoring techniques not so good. We have watched a number of boats drag when the wind picks up. They all seem to be the local boats. They don't seem to care how close they are to anyone else, we've moved once when a boat came to rest about 20 feet away and use home made anchors with only rope rode and 3 to 1 scope. All of this means that things go BUMP in the night.
At 0230 on the 23rd Kathy woke me with "we've been hit"! Once on deck we find an 85 foot dive charter boat dragging along our port side. Their anchor is still out and it's line is tight over our cabin top and around our headstay. Kathy and the other boats crew are fending off. Knife in hand I cut their anchor line and away the drift. While Kathy is busy with a damage assessment I'm off in the dinghy to get some identification. This has all taken place with no current and only 12 knots of wind. The "Jetiya" is drifting out the bay and as we have no common language the operator only shakes the cut anchor line at me. On Po'oino Roa we have only minor damage three bent stanchions! The "Jetiya" either drifts or motors all night, it seems they have no second anchor. The "Jetiya" motors through the anchorage in the morning saying nothing and I'm only guessing looking for their lost anchor then departs. Daylight shows we have no further damage and we recover the "Jetiya's" lost anchor, all 25 lbs. of it and about 60 feet of line. Now for our 44 foot boat we use a 66 lb. anchor and all chain rode. Herein Patong I have 150 feet of rode out. this 85 footer had a 25 lb. anchor and only poly line for rode, perhaps that's why the drug. We did file a report of the incident with the local police though they said any damages were between the other party and ourselves. We do have their anchor and line which I'll just give to a local fisherman. the best is no real damage to our home. Since that night we again awoke to have another local yacht drifting by and believe it will continue, we now just try to keep out of the way.
The shore side of Patong is even busier than the water. Hotels, bars and restaurants and massage parlors abound with people everywhere. One main street closes to vehicle traffic at 6 pm and in a half mile must contain 100 bars! This is a party town and we've yet to experience it after 7 pm. Most of the visitors are European and not English speaking. The beaches are crowed with lounges, umbrellas and people.
So our adventures continue. Last night and this morning we had winds in the 25 to 30 kt. range but no dragging, now it's calm. I managed to do an oil change on the engine before finishing my book and now have posted an update. Next a cold beer!! Tomorrow we'll try to get some photos posted using the wi-fi at our new favorite bar.
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