Hi all, been a while writing up our latest blog due to searching for a new home and taking Thom Khune, a 7 year old elephant to a luxury villa in Maenam for a wedding ceremony. Finally, after traipsing around to look at many houses and apartments, we have secured a 6-month lease on a beachfront property. More on that later.
A beach wedding in most people’s eyes couldn’t be more romantic; throw in a baby elephant and a beautiful Thai bride and bingo – it’s the stuff dreams are made of. We travelled about half an hour from the Safari Park with Thom Khune in convoy behind us in a truck. On arrival at the villa, he was dutifully unloaded and was able to roam about on the beach and in the sea for about an hour before he was needed to perform his duties. A sight to behold. Imagine the cost and H&S issues involved if you wanted to have an elephant at a wedding in the UK – doesn’t bear thinking about. This cost the happy couple the equivalent of £300! The beach area just outside the back of the villa had been set up with rows of chairs and an awning where the ceremony was to be performed and was all decorated in white voile and purple orchids. There was a carpet of orchid petals winding from the back of the villa to the wedding awning and each chair was covered in white lace with a banana leaf tied around the upper part and this was fashioned in such a way that on each chair back there was a small palm leaf rolled up into a small cone which held purple and white petals to be used as confetti to throw over the newly married couple. We felt so honoured to be part of the wedding party and the ceremony was just beautiful. A Scottish minister delivered the wedding sermon and the couple declared their love for each other with personal vows which were actually quite moving. Their choice of music for the proceedings was somewhat twee though, Lionel Ritchie’s “Endless Love”, Minnie Ripperton (you all know the one!) and Bruno Marrs’ “I want to marry you” wouldn’t be my choice but there you go – each to their own! The new couple then “boarded” Thom Khune and were taken down the shoreline of the beach on his back while all the guests took photographs (including us). We have been lucky enough to be invited to another wedding on Boxing Day – a huge affair apparently – that will require several elephants! Can’t wait!
Thursday 10th November was Full Moon in Thailand. Thousands flock to Koh Phangan for the famous full moon parties! You would imagine that Dan and I would be first in the queue for this experience. Not so. We were invited to an annual festival called Loy Krathong and were keen to sample a real Thai custom. We spent the afternoon making little boats from banana leaves and trunks. We had to make a 4-inch or so disc out of the trunk which involved cutting and chopping and shaving it so that it was perfectly level. We then decorated the edges with folded up banana leaves and flowers and in the centre we placed an incense stick and a candle. Some of the Krathongs (that’s what the boats are called) are huge and so intricately made it put ours to absolute shame, but it was the first time we had done it and we were pleased with the result. That evening we met our friends, Nuch and Sombat, and they took us down to Laemsor Temple, which is 2 mins on the bike from our house and we, along with hundreds and hundreds of others set our boats off, candles and incense burning away, from the shore into the sea. The custom is that you ask the Mother Sea to forgive you for a bad deed you may have committed in the previous year and to ask for good luck for the following year. Some people even put a lock of hair or toenail clippings into the little boat as a symbol of throwing away the bad. The whole shoreline, as far as they eye could see, was filled with all manner of Krathongs, all twinkling and burning away in the distance under the light of the full moon. Beats any alcohol-fuelled party on Koh Phangan any day. Now don’t think we’ve gone all Buddhist and holy – we did end up back at the safari park afterwards for our own full moon party with the tiger trainers. They had invited us for a few beers and offered to cook dinner for us too. These guys get paid a pittance so to be invited for dinner was quite humbling. They know that I can’t eat anything too spicy so made allowances and we were presented with a chicken broth, pork curry and some vegetable dishes and rice. And it was delicious. We all sat around the tiger enclosure with a makeshift electric light above us, listening to Pit Bull (they love it!) and tucked in, spooning great mouthfuls of food into us. All was going extremely well until Dan and I noticed something strange. Our rice was moving! Yes actually moving in the bowl. Ever noticed how similar in form rice is to maggots!!!!! A big slug of beer and closed eyes ensured that we were able to continue eating without fear of insult to the boys! ITV should come here for the real “I’m a celebrity”!!!!
Now, back to the property search. In order for us to be able to stay in Thailand for as long as possible, we needed to find cheaper accommodation. After a week or so of searching and just not finding anything that we felt we could make home, we found the perfect place! It’s a small beach house that sits practically on the shoreline and is still only 10 mins from work. We have a basic kitchen and bathroom, one bedroom and a large living room. The only modern feature it boasts is a flushing toilet and shower (cold water mind you which might take some getting used to!) There is no glass in the windows, just traditional Thai wooden shutters with mozzie screens in the openings and the front door looks like it’s been nicked from the local Co-Op and shoved in an opening at the front of the house! You think we are crazy and I can understand that but when you open the back door you are presented with a little terrace, with three perfectly placed palm trees in a garden of sand (perfect for hammocks) and a view of the ocean and Koh Tan, a small island in the distance, which is just amazing. And all for the princely sum of £20 a week! Yup that’s right – no zeros missing - £20 quid a week. That wouldn’t buy you a round of drinks in a pub at home! We signed the 6-month lease pronto and have started to make it home. I am currently writing this blog whilst sat outside, under the roof terrace with a terrific storm going on, rain pelting down, the sea kicking up huge waves and y’know what? I couldn’t be more content!
Speaking of content and of course why wouldn’t we be, living in this tiny bit of paradise, not all things in Thailand are so easy going. We’ve mentioned before about the stray dogs and whilst they are mostly friendly, we had an unfortunate incident with one not so friendly pooch a few days ago. Driving along one of the beach roads, as we have done so hundreds of times before, a large tan coloured dog started barking at us as we rode by. OK, a bit scary but usually nothing a quick forward hand movement on the accelerator doesn’t fix and the dog can’t be bothered to run any faster and stops and you go about your business. Not so on this occasion! It carried on chasing us and then started to snarl and gnash. Just as our luck would not have it, there were two or three large speed ramps in the road and you have no choice to but to either slow down or bottom out the bike on them and possibly risk coming off! Dan was trying like crazy to get over these safely and ensure we both stayed on the bike and this bloody dog was getting nearer and nearer and more and more ferocious to the point that its teeth were centimetres from my bare legs! I do not exaggerate! It was terrifying. The sounds of terror coming out of my mouth were like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It was like I was looking down on my own nightmare! My knees were somewhere up over my own ears so hard was I trying to get my bare flesh out of the path of the dog’s teeth; we had no protection at all (we carry a big pointy FO stick everywhere now) and it took all my soul and being not to excrete a large house brick into my pants! Being attacked by a dog is bad enough but to know that it might carry rabies gives a whole new dimension to the word fear! Thankfully we managed to get away, flesh intact albeit very shaken up. We stopped as soon as it was safe and got some water but my hands were shaking so much, not much of it reached my lips – I promptly burst into tears. I think it was some sort of shock taking over. I never, EVER want to experience that again. It was horrific!
We’ve still lots of experiences to blog about not least Dan being MC for the animal shows in front of 100s of tourists and us making a TV programme about the Safari Park yesterday for Thailand TV but will save that for the next time. Please don’t worry about us as despite moving rice, rabid dogs and mozzies the size of small bats, we are alive and well, have not contracted any tropical illnesses or met with any accidents and are having the time of our lives. If everything goes according to plan, we’re not planning on coming back to the UK anytime soon.
Take care M&D x
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