Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Hey everybody, I finally got to spend some time on line and catch up with E-mails and such. Thanks for leaving comments. I really enjoy them, No-Mow, you're the best. I really chuckle out loud when I read yours. I want to congratulate my Big Brother, Paul on his impressive shooting. He and his wife Pat will be in town and I'm sure that Clara knows exactly when. He's a firefighter from Wisconsin and ya'all will be able to say hello when they are there.
I do get homesick, and hearing from you guys really helps with that, so please get some more to join in and leave comments. It's pretty cool now that the instructions for signing up are in Thai on my computer. I hope that these still come through in English!!!
mung mee sree suk............ which reportedly means everything is happy and well.
Jeff
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Jeff's Log ~ Sunday 11/18/07
Sunday, 11/18/07
Sunday’s are definitely a day of rest around here. Most of the businesses ashore are closed, or if they are open, it’s just because the help lives in the back or upstairs. I was going to try to get online, but the internet café was closed. The German bakery was open, however, so I decided that I might as well have breakfast. They have a few small tables to sit at, so I ordered coffee and breakfast. In about thirty seconds the coffee was there, and in about four minutes, my breakfast was in front of me. There was not too much going on in the streets, so I went back to the boat and did some chores so that tomorrow, I’ll be all caught up and will b e working on getting the sails off of the boat for measuring. While that happens, it will be the perfect time for working on the roller furling and the mainsail “stack-pack”.
Yesterday was spent getting completely frustrated trying to speak to people who insisted they could speak English on the telephone. I basically just wasted a few hours of time and got absolutely no where. I decided the only way to find parts is to take a taxi to Phuket town and see what I can find once I am there.
I am beginning to get the lay of the land down and should be able to start getting shopping and errands down pat. Communication is mostly through sign language and pictures. Patience and humor are absolutely necessary to have in abundance. As long as you smile and be polite, the people here will try to help with anything.
Last night after dinner, I was returning to the boat to find a fellow at the dingy dock who had his hands full of five or six dingy lines. The tide had changed, and all of the dinks got tangled up together. I was pretty lucky. Our tender was one of the larger ones in the mess. So we took all of the lines loose and I went down and pulled them all over to the boarding area. It looked like a mother dink with a bunch of dinklings following behind. All of the other lines were tangled around the lower unit of the outboard. As soon as I tipped it up, it just took a couple of minutes to straighten out, and we were both on our way, after tying the other boats back to the dock.
Today, I parked on the other side so that I could keep some separation. I had lunch and dinner on the boat. Just a little soup and cheese and crackers for lunch and a fresh veggie stir fry for dinner with veggies from a small stand up the street. One strange one was like miniature eggplant, but very tasty all of them. I think that I’ll be an expert rice cooker soon, because that’s a lot more plentiful than potatoes so far. I can hardly wait to hit the grocery on Tuesday.
Tonight, I think I’m going to have an ice cream or something like that for desert ashore. I’ll have to see what the selection is like. Mmmm maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find cheese cake……or maybe some nice rich chocolate cake…..or…..
Sunday’s are definitely a day of rest around here. Most of the businesses ashore are closed, or if they are open, it’s just because the help lives in the back or upstairs. I was going to try to get online, but the internet café was closed. The German bakery was open, however, so I decided that I might as well have breakfast. They have a few small tables to sit at, so I ordered coffee and breakfast. In about thirty seconds the coffee was there, and in about four minutes, my breakfast was in front of me. There was not too much going on in the streets, so I went back to the boat and did some chores so that tomorrow, I’ll be all caught up and will b e working on getting the sails off of the boat for measuring. While that happens, it will be the perfect time for working on the roller furling and the mainsail “stack-pack”.
Yesterday was spent getting completely frustrated trying to speak to people who insisted they could speak English on the telephone. I basically just wasted a few hours of time and got absolutely no where. I decided the only way to find parts is to take a taxi to Phuket town and see what I can find once I am there.
I am beginning to get the lay of the land down and should be able to start getting shopping and errands down pat. Communication is mostly through sign language and pictures. Patience and humor are absolutely necessary to have in abundance. As long as you smile and be polite, the people here will try to help with anything.
Last night after dinner, I was returning to the boat to find a fellow at the dingy dock who had his hands full of five or six dingy lines. The tide had changed, and all of the dinks got tangled up together. I was pretty lucky. Our tender was one of the larger ones in the mess. So we took all of the lines loose and I went down and pulled them all over to the boarding area. It looked like a mother dink with a bunch of dinklings following behind. All of the other lines were tangled around the lower unit of the outboard. As soon as I tipped it up, it just took a couple of minutes to straighten out, and we were both on our way, after tying the other boats back to the dock.
Today, I parked on the other side so that I could keep some separation. I had lunch and dinner on the boat. Just a little soup and cheese and crackers for lunch and a fresh veggie stir fry for dinner with veggies from a small stand up the street. One strange one was like miniature eggplant, but very tasty all of them. I think that I’ll be an expert rice cooker soon, because that’s a lot more plentiful than potatoes so far. I can hardly wait to hit the grocery on Tuesday.
Tonight, I think I’m going to have an ice cream or something like that for desert ashore. I’ll have to see what the selection is like. Mmmm maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find cheese cake……or maybe some nice rich chocolate cake…..or…..
Jeff's Log ~ Saturday, 11/17/07
Saturday, 11/17/07
Yesterday, I took my first real day off in a long time. In the morning, I stopped at a waterfront restaurant for breakfast. While eating, some beautiful wild parrots were messing about in the trees, and all of the excursion and fishing boats were loading up on supplies and passengers. Whoever told me I wouldn’t be able to get decent coffee here was mistaken. Every cup that I have had ashore has been delightful. After breakfast, I decided that I have had it with this long hair, so I stopped at this little beauty salon up the street, and asked the woman there if she cut men’s hair. She didn’t speak a lick of English, so we communicated with gestures, and snip snip. No massage chairs for the pedicure, but she really did a fine job cleaning me up. Along with the haircut was a shampoo and head and neck massage. When she was finished with me, the bartender and customers from the little bar directly behind stood up and clapped. I guess the change was pretty dramatic. It sure made me feel like a million, I’ll tell you.
After all of that, it was time to celebrate the day with an ice cold Tiger beer. The bartender at coconuts took my picture in front of the Christmas tree that they had just completed decorating complete with “snow”. She called a friend with a car service for me and I was off on my excursion. The first stop was the Phuket zoo. It’s very small, but I enjoyed a quick walk through. I was there just in time for the gator show, and the guy was putting his head in the gator’s mouth. They had feeding stations all over where you could buy expensive food for the animals and hand feed them. The tiger photo booth was really cool. For 200baht, you can sit next to the tiger and get a Polaroid picture. I snuck around the back and took the tiger’s picture, and he seemed really interested in me as he did not take his eyes off of me while I was there. While the people are sitting with him, he is trained to growl on cue. I thought that was cool.
From there, we went up to the big Buddha that I can see from the boat. As the crow flies, it’s about two miles away. By the road it’s about twelve miles, because of the winding necessary with the elevation change. Buddha is up almost two thousand feet above sea level. The scenery from up there was really something, and the camera sure doesn’t do it justice. There were multiple shrines and a big meeting hall with photo displays. There were some pictures of Bill Clinton taken when he visited, along with various other heads of state.
After all of that Buddha stuff, it was time for some lunch, so Tu took me to a restaurant with a spectacular view of Karon Beach on the west side of the island. Food was really good too. I really like Thai food. The spiciness kind of creeps up on you slowly, and it’s a minute or two before you really taste it. So far, I think I’ll be eating good for the duration of my stay. The next stop was Kata Beach overlook. I don’t know how high this was, but it sure was great scenery. There were some guys with a sea falcon and a sea eagle there and again, for two hundred baht, you could get a Polaroid. I just took a picture of the birds. We stopped at the Phuket yacht club for a look around, but the place was way too stuffed shirt for me, so we didn’t stay.
Then, it was back to coconuts for another Tiger. I picked up the rest of the laundry, got some more time on my phone, and then back to the boat. The bay was quite rough as I was heading back to the boat, so when I got there, I just picked the dink out of the water, and called it a day. I gave Clara a call while I had the generator running to make a little water and charge the batteries, and then hit the sack for a very good night’s sleep.
Yesterday, I took my first real day off in a long time. In the morning, I stopped at a waterfront restaurant for breakfast. While eating, some beautiful wild parrots were messing about in the trees, and all of the excursion and fishing boats were loading up on supplies and passengers. Whoever told me I wouldn’t be able to get decent coffee here was mistaken. Every cup that I have had ashore has been delightful. After breakfast, I decided that I have had it with this long hair, so I stopped at this little beauty salon up the street, and asked the woman there if she cut men’s hair. She didn’t speak a lick of English, so we communicated with gestures, and snip snip. No massage chairs for the pedicure, but she really did a fine job cleaning me up. Along with the haircut was a shampoo and head and neck massage. When she was finished with me, the bartender and customers from the little bar directly behind stood up and clapped. I guess the change was pretty dramatic. It sure made me feel like a million, I’ll tell you.
After all of that, it was time to celebrate the day with an ice cold Tiger beer. The bartender at coconuts took my picture in front of the Christmas tree that they had just completed decorating complete with “snow”. She called a friend with a car service for me and I was off on my excursion. The first stop was the Phuket zoo. It’s very small, but I enjoyed a quick walk through. I was there just in time for the gator show, and the guy was putting his head in the gator’s mouth. They had feeding stations all over where you could buy expensive food for the animals and hand feed them. The tiger photo booth was really cool. For 200baht, you can sit next to the tiger and get a Polaroid picture. I snuck around the back and took the tiger’s picture, and he seemed really interested in me as he did not take his eyes off of me while I was there. While the people are sitting with him, he is trained to growl on cue. I thought that was cool.
From there, we went up to the big Buddha that I can see from the boat. As the crow flies, it’s about two miles away. By the road it’s about twelve miles, because of the winding necessary with the elevation change. Buddha is up almost two thousand feet above sea level. The scenery from up there was really something, and the camera sure doesn’t do it justice. There were multiple shrines and a big meeting hall with photo displays. There were some pictures of Bill Clinton taken when he visited, along with various other heads of state.
After all of that Buddha stuff, it was time for some lunch, so Tu took me to a restaurant with a spectacular view of Karon Beach on the west side of the island. Food was really good too. I really like Thai food. The spiciness kind of creeps up on you slowly, and it’s a minute or two before you really taste it. So far, I think I’ll be eating good for the duration of my stay. The next stop was Kata Beach overlook. I don’t know how high this was, but it sure was great scenery. There were some guys with a sea falcon and a sea eagle there and again, for two hundred baht, you could get a Polaroid. I just took a picture of the birds. We stopped at the Phuket yacht club for a look around, but the place was way too stuffed shirt for me, so we didn’t stay.
Then, it was back to coconuts for another Tiger. I picked up the rest of the laundry, got some more time on my phone, and then back to the boat. The bay was quite rough as I was heading back to the boat, so when I got there, I just picked the dink out of the water, and called it a day. I gave Clara a call while I had the generator running to make a little water and charge the batteries, and then hit the sack for a very good night’s sleep.
Jeff's Log ~ Friday, 10/19/07
Friday, 10/19/07 13 04.9N 52 00.6E
Another day of sailing in the Gulf of Aden. We had a rain shower this afternoon. It was the first rain that Pipe Dream has seen in months. It didn’t last long, but the boat sure did brighten up a bit. After the shower, when I came on watch, I noticed a warship on the starboard horizon. Our angle to the course happened to get very bad at about the same time, so we tacked and our new heading took us right past the Augsburg, which is a German warship. As we got close, they pulled ahead of our port bow and did a complete circle around us. When they came around our stern, They were less than a boat length [one of ours, not theirs.] away from us. Their crew was all on deck, and on the loud speaker they wished Pipe Dream and her crew a good voyage. The wind was up at the time, and they had to put some turns on to keep up with us. It made all of us feel very comfortable, and I was in awe from just sailing a boat in that close proximity to a beautiful warship. That was quite a salute to us on their behalf also. They gave us a big blast on their horn too. After our meeting, they went back on station, and we sailed on for the Maldives, and watched as our protectors disappeared off our transom. We should be entering the Indian Ocean tomorrow.
Another day of sailing in the Gulf of Aden. We had a rain shower this afternoon. It was the first rain that Pipe Dream has seen in months. It didn’t last long, but the boat sure did brighten up a bit. After the shower, when I came on watch, I noticed a warship on the starboard horizon. Our angle to the course happened to get very bad at about the same time, so we tacked and our new heading took us right past the Augsburg, which is a German warship. As we got close, they pulled ahead of our port bow and did a complete circle around us. When they came around our stern, They were less than a boat length [one of ours, not theirs.] away from us. Their crew was all on deck, and on the loud speaker they wished Pipe Dream and her crew a good voyage. The wind was up at the time, and they had to put some turns on to keep up with us. It made all of us feel very comfortable, and I was in awe from just sailing a boat in that close proximity to a beautiful warship. That was quite a salute to us on their behalf also. They gave us a big blast on their horn too. After our meeting, they went back on station, and we sailed on for the Maldives, and watched as our protectors disappeared off our transom. We should be entering the Indian Ocean tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
+(2).jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.JPG)
