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From memory (at) blank.org Wed May 23 23:11:21 2001 Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 02:06:06 GMT From: "Nathan J. Mehl, Road Worrier" <memory (at) blank.org> To: memory (at) blank.org Subject: exiled from paradise Just a quick update this time. We're sitting in the departure lounge of Phuket International Airport, where we have a bit of time to kill before our flight leaves. First we have a 12-hour layover in Singapore, then the 13-hour leg-crusher flight to Amsterdam. I'm looking forward to seeing Amsterdam, but can't say I'm all that happy to be leaving Thailand. Only in the last few days have I been feeling actually adjusted to the local time, and... well... I suspect that somehow I could cope with a few more days relaxing on the beach and poking through marketplaces. Oh well, something for next year... Yesterday we spent on a "Snorkel Safari" tour. It was kind of a bust as far as the snorkling went, but mostly a good time regardless. We were driven down to the Phuket marina, where a stereotypically obnoxious tanned swedish scuba diver met us, and we were ferried over to a tiny island off the coast of Phuket, where we had the afternoon to ourselves to snorkel, sunburn, swim, whatever... Unfortunately, between the heavy waves and the silt that they kicked up, we didn't see anywhere near as much interesting stuff as we did snorkling in Hawaii... a couple of schools of iridescent tropical fish and some coral, but none of the tiger sharks and dolphins that the tour brouchure breathlessly spoke about. Probably another artifact of being here at low season. The island was mostly populated by a large gaggle of Japanese tourists, who had brough a very small dog with them, "Momo" (Japanese for "peach"), who was perhaps the most entertaining thing on the island, as he spent most of the afternoon digging himself into the sand and chasing bugs... Amazingly during all of this, I've mostly avoided getting sunburned. With my snorkling debacle in Hawaii firmly in mind, I kept a shirt on the entire time, and got away with only a touch of red on the top of my feet. Miranda was not quite so lucky, and despite having repeatedly slathered on quite a bit of SPF45 sunblock, managed to tag her arms and legs. Ah, the benefits of being really, really pale. :-b There's not too much to tell after that... we got back to the hotel in the evening and hung out on the beach through sundown. Miranda got a beach-chair massage and I took a few more photos and read until the light got too dim. Then we ordered dinner and went to bed relatively early in order to be up in time to catch a miserably early (0800) shuttle to the airport. We noticed two visitors in the bungalow before we went to bed: a tiny green lizard (very, very cute), and a large brown spider (not at all so cute). Neither of them seemed inclined to bother us much, so after I took a few photos of the lizard, we turned in. And here I am, typing away at an internet access point in the airport. Did I mention that I really don't want to leave? Oh well, too late, paid the departure tax and everything... Next stop: Singapore. No clue what we'll do for 10 hours there...probably go shopping like all the other tourists. Then, Amsterdam. If I can still remember how to type after the first coffeehouse, I'll send an update from there. Then, home! -n p.s. I've added a few people to this list that I left off previously due to my usual spazziness. The previous travelogues, if you're at all interested, are at http://apocalypse.org/~memory/travel/