Thongsala Night Market = Yeh Haa Grandma!

The Thongsala night market is awesome for several reasons:

1. It's the cleanest I've seen, has seating, is well lit, and like most local markets is ultra cheap cheap!
   
2. The coconut shakes are perfect, ask for nit noi naam taan (just a little sugar)
3. You can buy the best smokey bbq'd chicken ever for just 20 baht (NZ$0.80)
   
4. Last but by no means least, there is a mango and sticky rice stall (oohhh yeeeeaah!)
   

Here are the lovely ladies that have provided Bighead and I with (far too many and no where near enough, if you catch my drift!) delicious tender smokey chicken pieces. Mmm...

Below, hiding behind her fruit, is the master of the coconut shake.

And here is one of my favourite places on Koh Phangan. The mango and sticky rice stall. 50 baht (NZ$2) for a whole sweet, juicy mango and the most tantalising coconut flavoured sticky rice I've had the pleasure of tasting. I had no idea. Here I was, all this time, thinking that I had tried this local delicacy. But no... now I have and I am hooked. Completely, utterly, whole heartedly, can-I-live-on-just-this-one-meal, hooked.

If we end up living here and you come to visit, you have my word I will shout you a night out at this market. It's a must do.

A Cut Above

So I guess you may have been thinking that I'd disappeared off the face of the earth. No blogging for 3 days! Heaven forbid, I think I've even experienced a teeny bit of withdrawal.

There is no doubt that Koh Phangan is a cut above Koh Samui in its beauty. The island is littered with coconut groves, granite boulders, breathtaking crystal clear bays, fine white sandy beaches, stunning mountain vistas, laid back people, and local reefs that offer some outstanding snorkeling. Koh Ma (pictured below) is teaming with different species of fish that can often been seen in large schools. We're getting into a bit of a routine with the old early morning snorkel. It's got to be one of the best ways to stay fit!

Can we live here? Possibly. Thongsala is the main town and seems to have everything we might need. If we'd like to go to a cinema, then we could skip across to Samui, no problem (12 mins via speedboat! Hey, I could even commute to work this way! How cool would that be?!).

We spent a couple of nights in Haad Rin (home of full moon party). The party was a few days prior to our arrival so we practically had the whole place to ourselves as the party is what most people come for. The vibe there is pretty cool and there are lots of cheap eateries with a range of food on offer (which is good for us!). There's even a place called 'Same Same Burger Bar'. Most of my dear friends in Welli will know that I was a wee bit crazy about Brooklyn Fish Supplies cheeseburgers, so seeing this spot had me somewhat excited. I miss my cheeseburgers (but not my thighs!).

There's quite a few more shops and roads in Haad Rin than there were last time and the beach is as stunning as its always been (bar the 2 zillion cigarette butts and bucket of joy straws strewn all over the sand).

It's amazing how quick and easy it is to get about on the island. They have a new highway that shoots straight up the middle, taking only 15 mins on the scoot from Chaloklum in the north to Thongsala in the south. That means we can pretty much live anywhere on the west coast and still be nice and close to town. The beaches on the west coast are sublime, Haad Yao being our favourite (which is where we are now).The accommodation here is the best value we've found. Bay View Resort has low season rooms for 900 Baht (NZ$40) a night with sliding glass doors onto a large patio overlooking one of the most stunning bays on the island, a gorgeous swimming pool (also overlooking the bay), and it's only a hop, skip and a jump to the beach.

Here are some other spots we've had the privilege of staying as we've fluttered from bay to bay (some not all that cheap!).

The internet here is not as fast as Samui but Bighead has managed to forgive the slow connections when working from his mobile office.
Stayed tuned for night market and sticky rice with mango (O.M.G!)

Chillin

Ode to the Banana Pancake

Dedicated to my dear friend Leah who is about to have her first child any day now (and for obvious reasons can't be here) and my little bro who is a slack ass and spent all his money on a car instead of a trip to Thailand!

This is not the first time I've looked and acted like a complete tourist and I'm certain it won't be the last. I just want to make it clear to you all, the sacrifice I make to show you my gloatos (that, and I'm a sucker for a good shot!). It's tough being a photographer and a traveler because I truly want to photograph every single thing I see that I find beautiful but I also don't want to be so busy taking photographs that I miss the moment for what it is. This is and always will be a dilemma for me.

You can't come to Thailand and not have a banana pancake (or Thai roti). These are very similar to the martabak we drooled over in Bali. You can choose any filling combo you like from a list of tasty choices including coconut, banana, chocolate, peanuts etc. For this particular pancake we chose coconut, chocolate and peanuts... "Yum!", or as the Thai say "Aroi mak maa!", which means really delicious. I still think the banana and chocolate is my favourite.

The guy making our pancake was a real show man. I should have actually filmed him as he was making it with the same vigour that a bar man would a fancy cocktail. Classic.

Just down the beach a bit further I couldn't resist taking a shot of this 'Armani' store which was sitting right on the sand, sandwiched between fancy restaurants. Awesome.

I've discovered that one of my favourite fruits here is the pomelo. It's very similar to a grapefruit but much sweeter (and much bigger). Some of them are as big as a bowling ball and you lite

rally have to wrestle with it to get to the scrumptious, juicy pieces inside. I reckon that much like a coconut, there must be a special technique. Still, that didn't deter me and about half an hour after beginning to peel it, I finally had my first piece. Sweet and sour at the same time. Loaded with juicy wee pods of goodness that pop in your mouth as you eat.

One of my other favourites is the dragon fruit. The reason I like it is more to do with the way it looks, it's so pretty. There are two different types, one with a white centre and the other with a pink. We had our first pink one the other day and I still can't get over how ridiculously pink it was. I did my best with the photograph but I simply couldn't capture it's true luminescence.

Weighing up the options + other bits & bobs

So Samui looks like it could be a good contender, although (this may sound bizarre), there doesn't appear to be that many options in terms of great beaches. Remember that we can't be too remote as Bighead needs a good internet connection for work and I need one for... you know... mucking around.

One of the best beaches, Chaweng, is over run with party people and the other, Lamai, is lacking that 'something special' we're looking for. There are however, some great looking international schools and even a 3 theatre cinema! In fact, there is also 3 large supermarket/malls. The amount of new development here at the moment is truly mind boggling.

We've pretty much decided that the best approach in our search for 'the location', is to visit each spot briefly to get an overall feel. Check amenities, beaches, restaurants, possible accommodation etc. and from there, attempt to narrow it down. We'll then spend a few months living in each. Who knows! Perhaps after seeing the choices, it will be obvious where we belong. We do both feel (and have done from the day we arrived), that Thailand is the place for us.

We've been cruising around Samui on the scooter today and although I knew this particular sight existed, we actually stumbled upon it by accident (truly). It's called Grandfather and Grandmother Rock. It's basically some rocks that look... well... vaguely phallic. The location itself, is actually gorgeous. A crystal clear bay with large granite boulders tumbling into the ocean. I find it quite strange that it's actually 'a sight'. I mean, when we were there, there were a whole bunch of people (on a tour of some kind) posing for photos in front of a penis shaped rock. It baffles me, mind you I suppose a lot of tourist attractions baffle me. Especially the new 'Ice Bar' with life sized tuk tuk ice sculpture (apparently) and Thai waitresses wearing Eskimo hats! What a funny species we humans are.

So anyway, enough of the ranting. We're off to Koh Phangan (otherwise known as Paradise Island) in a few days. I'm keen to spend some time exploring the rest of the island as last time (when we were younger) it was all about the full moon party.

Interesting

Koh Samui - We have arrived.

Bighead had to drag me from May Kaidee's kicking and screaming but eventually convinced me that it was time to head to the islands. Enough of those super mall shenanigans, it sure does feel great to be at the beach (and a tropical one at that!). Something about the ocean warms my cockles.We've been in Samui for a few days now, having done everything we needed to do in BK (besides devouring May's entire menu). Samui truly is a beautiful island. We're feelin it. We've already scored this humble abode in a quaint little spot called Bo Phut and stocked up on local fruits. The view from our studio is pretty damn special and it's really nice to have the extra space to spread our wings for a bit. The owner of the apartment is really lovely and full of useful info with regards to setting up and living on Samui.
All 'photos' will now be referred to as 'gloato's'. You know that if you want it, you just have to grab it. I'm lucky that I have Bighead as he truly is the motivational force behind this mission :)

We thought we'd have a bit of a night out on Saturday. So we threw on a clean shirt, chugged down a few Chang's (still acquiring a taste for this as not the smoothest of brews) and took off into Chaweng Centre to get the party started. As it turns out, there was a liquor ban on due to elections on Sunday and everything was closed! Maybe we'll meet some new friends next time :(

I've contacted a few schools in the area to see if I can spend some time with them, maybe I'll even try to get a job! We're still undecided as to how long we'll stay here. Do we give it a month or do we scout out other islands first in the hopes of narrowing it down a little? So many decisions!

There's one thing I know for sure and that is that Bighead is going to have an awful lot of trouble convincing me to leave this view.