koh phangan

Getting a bit better with this now. Here is a shot taken from where the Thai fishing boats dock in Thongsala.

Christmas and new year were busy for the southern-islanders, Had-Rin is always bouncing but this year I hear it was quite busy. As per usual the northern end of the island was pretty dead, not much happens up this way, but thats the way we like it.

By all accounts the island seems to be developing into an ibiza-style of resort with ee-d up tourists spending a couple of days here during the full moon and then slinking off on the Raja to the mainland. Indeed the island [and Samui] is attracting a lot of big name DJ's to the bars and clubs, one such recent visitor is Brandon Block, who done a few sets at various venues here and on Samui. When I say he 'done-a-few-sets', I should have said he was 'booked-to-do-a-few-sets". I have never really rated these DJ-gods, at the end of the day its down to how good the music is, not who puts the records on, well Mr Block it seemed wasnt quite up to scratch with many people saying that he played crap tunes, sometimes at the wrong speed, every one of them regretting paying over the odds for a ticket.

I remember in the not too distant past I could go out and party all night quite easily, I am sorry to say that those days are long gone.

We have been driving past these guys for a few days now, they started digging a well for a neighbour but were having trouble finding water. This is the second 20m deep hole that they dug - the first one was dry at that depth. So they filled it in and started digging another about 40ft away.

This section of the blog I am going to dedicate to the rigmarole of living in Thailand as a foreigner. When we used to come to Thailand on holiday, the visa was no problem at all, fill in the little card on the plane and hand it in at the airport – easy. Now, after living here a little over a year, like so many foreigners living here full time, I am now a bit of a legal wiz with tit-bits of Thai laws regarding entry visa’s, work permits, company setups and just generally integrating with Thai society.