Friday (26 June 2015)
After we stocked up with all sorts of foods the previous day, we had a great breakfast and then started working. Work was interrupted, pleasantly I might add, with a Skype video call to my colleagues, or should I say, ex-colleagues. We had this ritual at work, when it was someone’s birthday, we would all gather around the person’s desk, I would give the intro with “uh one, uh two, uh one two three four” and the whole team would sing happy birthday. Although I officially handed over this task to KG (Kagisho) at my farewell barbecue, I promised that we would continue with this ritual via Skype while I am in Thailand, when available. Today was the first birthday celebration since I’ve been here and I was available. It was so great to see everyone !

Continued working after the pleasant interruption after which there was another pleasant interruption. Adri was ready to take a break so we went down to the pool area for a bit of a suntan, a read and a swim. After tea and cookies I attempted to work again but it did not come easy, safe to say, I fought the good fight.

Back home, a Turkish restaurant called, what else, Istanbul restaurant, opened a few months ago close to where we lived. We’ve been to Turkey on a number of occasions and really love the food, so when this restaurant opened its doors we had to try them out at the time. We were not disappointed, so much so, that we found it difficult to frequent any other restaurants during our last few months in SA. This is incidentally the same restaurant where we had out last supper the night before we flew out to Thailand. The thought arose whether there were any Turkish restaurants in Koh Samui, the thought, if none, left me with traumatic withdrawal symptoms. After a short search on the Internet I found one, just one, called Roman Restaurant in the Maenam area of the island, I estimate around ten kilometres from where we live. Decision made, tonight we will visit the Roman Restaurant and go Turkish.

We did not find the Roman restaurant on our first pass through the Maenam area and thus stopped off at a beach restaurant, which we visited on our previous trip, for a beer and to eke out our final plan of attack on the Turkish. After the beer/s we realised that we had only one weapon at our disposal, Google Maps. We found the web site with the coordinates of Romans and realised that we were not far away. Oh joy.

With Adri sitting on the back of the bike, holding the Iphone with Google Maps in front of me to steer by, we continued up the road, smug in the knowledge that we will soon be fed. Google Maps got its knickers in a knot, or its balls in a bind, and somehow sent us 6.3 kilometers in a westward direction. When the bitch finally announced that we had arrived at our destination, there were trees. Tress all around, 100 meters westward, 100 meters eastward, no Romans in sight, not even a single one. I keyed in the exact same coordinates, again, this time it took us to a sign that read “Turkish Food”, no Roman Restaurant though, but we were getting close. Having read that this was the only Turkish restaurant on the island, it just had to be the place, but where. Adri enquired at the pharmacy across the road while I put my investigative skills to the test and moseyed on across the road. I am happy to report that these skills did not fail me.

There, behind a sort of a counter, I found the Romans restaurant signboard which had been taken down. The door was all bolted down, closed, so toe soos ‘n klei os se poephol (as closed as a clay ox’s arse). What we could gather was that the restaurant did not actually close down, but rather that it closes during the off season, during which time the family migrates back to Turkey. While they are away they remove the signboard, stash it at ground level, probably in an attempt not to peeve off potential customers who find the signboard but with the restaurant closed. It probably would have been better to leave the signboard up with a large notice on the door to announce when they will re-open. Anyway, we will wait for high season, whenever they deem it to be.

We had to eat so we went back to the Friday night market at Fisherman’s Village. No matter how often one goes there, there is always a good time to be had. While strolling and identifying stalls that we wish to patronize later on, we reached the end of the road, so to speak, where a band was playing. The song that was being offered was John Denver’s Country Roads, with the lyrics going something like “Sancy oad, teh eeh oh” (Country roads, take me home). The English pronunciation aside, let me not take anything away from this lead singer, he was very talented, also an excellent guitar player.

We backtracked and bought food from the stalls we identified on our first pass and then went to the area with the stage where the man and woman were still practicing to play CCR. We dumped supper, which consisted of pad thai, fried rice, spring rolls etc. on the table and went to buy a Singha and Coke Light to drown out the music. No sooner had we returned and a nice young man, probably in his very early thirties, asked whether he could join us at the table to have his supper. We got talking and he informed us that he was a banker from Switzerland (what else ?) and needed to get away for a while, so he is travelling on his own, staying on Koh Samui for a week, then moving on to Phuket for another week of indulgences. It’s nice to be young and carefree. Come to think of it, it’s probably better to be old and carefree.

Saturday (27 June 2015)
Went for a “park-run”, or rather a ‘park-walk”, on a northerly direction from where we stay, i.e. to the most northerly point on Koh Samui. On the way there we took a left turn down a side street, hoping to end up on some unexplored (by us) beach. A stray dog started following us and kept on cutting in front of us in an attempt to play, friendly chap. At one point during this journey two dogs stormed at us, vicious as Vikings, the attack probably more directed at the playful mutt that followed, rather than at us. And did this friendly mutt defend his new masters, no, he cowered behind us and left Adri and I to fend for ourselves. I did say he was friendly, not brave. Anyway, the attackers seemed to understand the obscenities I directed at them, but probably more so the big stick that Adri was brandishing in the air, and they backed off. We made an unplanned u-turn at this point, so never got to see that beach that must be out there somewhere. The mutt kept on following us, probably trying to show his gratitude for saving him from certain injury, so Adri brought out the big stick again, brandished it in the air, and the mutt strutted of.

We kept on walking and the area we entered were scattered with mansions perched high on the hills of the area. “So this is where the rich live on Koh Samui”, I thought to myself. Have a look at the pictures and you will see what I mean. We entered a house that was being built and was wowed by what the end product will look like in due course, as per the pictures. The roads range from steeper to steepest and we surely got the workout we were after. We probably did 10 km rather than the required 5 km, but it was great fun.

Got home and filled our mugs with a fine smelling freshly brewed pot of coffee, a blend of Robusta and Arabica, delicious. While reading the daily news we listened to Darryl Hall and John Oats (Greatest hits), used to call them Darryl’s Hall and John’s Oats, no disrespect intended. I saw a documentary a few months back of them being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame with other greats such as Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, Nirvana, Kiss and the E-Street Band. They performed a few songs and I realized I liked their music more than what I originally thought, hence the reason for putting them on now. They have some really good stuff.

A second cup of coffee was brewing while I put on The George Benson Collection, smooth, very smooth, or as some would say, smoof, very smoof. Little River Band (First Under The Wire) followed which brought back memories of the very late 70’s. You should take a listen to Cool Change, herewith a snippet of the lyrics “And now that my life, is so prearranged, I know that it’s time, for a cool change). On the album version of First Under The Wire that I have there is a bonus track, track number 11, which was not available on the original version, called When Will I Be Loved. There literally must be hundreds of versions of this song from other artists out there, this is the best, trust me.

Sometime during the course of the day the lady from the complex’s restaurant strolled among the palm trees growing here, pointing vigorously here, there and seemingly everywhere. Extending my field of vision beyond the lady I saw the gardener with the relevant tools at hand, ready to cut loose the coconuts his chef was pointing out that needed to be slain. Hanging from balconies in an attempt to please a chef’s desires is not my idea of spending a relaxing Saturday afternoon, but the gardener seemed to be up to the task. After I pleaded with the gardener to be careful after seeing him leaning precariously over a balcony railing, I disappeared into the apartment for another beer to steady my nerves, you see. My concern was for the safety of the gardener, of course, but I must admit it was also a bit selfish in nature. I just could not picture myself, with a broken gardener on the back of my bike, looking for a decent hospital to tend to my wrecked cargo.

I watched the two Super Rugby semi finals i.e., the Hurricanes/Brumbies game and the Highlanders/Waratahs game. The first game was great, the second so-so, the beer was much better. I had a Leo, a beer from Thailand during the first game and a Lao, a beer from Laos, during the second game. By the way, Laos is a country situated to the north-east of Thailand which we would love to visit, but not sure whether there will be enough time for that, but we’ll see.

Just after sundown we took a walk to buy some water at the water machine down the road. We got home and settled for a glass of white wine while waiting for supper to be prepared, or rather heated up, leftovers from our pasta evening on Thursday evening, yummy.

Sunday (28 June 2015)
After breakfast we prepped for the beach and ended up at Chaweng, at the southern end of the beach. We drove down the Chaweng beach road which, from its northern tip where it becomes a one-way, all the way up to the point where it once again becomes a two-way. At that point we took a left into a little side street that leads to the beach and where one can park one’s bike. From there we walked along the beach to the most southern part of the beach. There was a stiff breeze blowing off from the sea which was very refreshing on this very hot day. Staked out our claim under a tree, got comfortable with a book and as I felt my eyes close, Adri coerced me into the water for a quick swim. We spent about three hours on the beach, and then went for an ice-cream, as per usual.

On the way home we stopped off at the Chaweng Tesco for a couple of odds and ends, eggs, milk, yogurt etc. When we got home Adri prepared the rib-eye steak that I’ve been eyeing since we bought it on Thursday. It turned out great, served with chips, and a starter of vegetable soup which contained shallots, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, and of course chilies.

I e-mailed Ian, the motorbike man, in order to extend the bike rental for a few months. He returned my e-mail promptly with a “no problem”, we will probably meet up with Ian on Thursday morning to hand over the Baht for our July rental period.

Monday (29 June 2015)
After gym, breakfast, washing etc. I tried to work, I really did, but was just too darn tired from the excursion to the gym, so I did the next best thing. I took a snooze. I was woken with a sprightly “let me take you to the Sunset Bar for a sunset and a beer” coming from some other part of the apartment I could not identify. Adri was up and ready to go. It was a beautiful day which promised a beautiful sunset. We got to the Sunset Bar, not more than two kilometres away in quick time but found that it was filled to capacity with tourists upon tourists. They have a beautiful spot with a completely open view to the sea, but I could not handle the droves of tourists, so we continued on to an old haunt of ours just up the road, the Boat Bar. The beers were cold, the sunset great, I could not stop snapping pictures as the sun performed its magic.

After a good few beers we dragged ourselves away from there as the hunger pangs began to grow in number and intensity and could no longer be ignored. While driving home the chef rebelled and announced that there will be no cooking tonight, but that we should rather stop off at our local roadside restaurant. I had the fried rice with chicken and Adri the spicy papaya salad.

We got home, nurtured a strong gin and tonic, watched a bit of television, read and got to bed reasonably early for a change.

Tuesday (30 June 2015)
We woke up to another beautifully clear and sunny day, visions of my spreading myself out on a beach somewhere filled my mind’s vision but was quickly eradicated when my sane mind returned and  I realised that it was not a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday, our official off days. If we were not so far behind with our work we probably would have played truant today, but there is still plenty of time for these indulgences.

I received an e-mail from my landlady informing that she will be on Koh Samui today, and that if we had the time, she would like to meet us. Nueng grew up on the island but now works in Bangkok and visits Samui only once a month. I thought that I could use this opportunity to pay her the rent for July so I took a ride down to the Krungsri ATM at our local 7/11 minimarket. I wanted to draw a bit more cash for our personal use but this ATM could only dispense 20 notes at a time. I thought that maybe I should try the ATM at the Krungsri bank in Choeng Mon and took a drive out there, but unfortunately it was same same. So I withdrew what I could, at least it was enough to cover the rent.

Adri and I met with Nueng later in the afternoon and what a delightful and witty person she turned out to be, her English was also very good. She was the bearer of gifts and presented us with a beautiful little incense burning container, as per the included picture. We will surely put this to good use.

We went to the Tesco Express down the road to buy a couple of ingredients for supper and on the way back we stopped off at the Sunset Bar, despite all the tourists, but admittedly there were less of them today than yesterday when we gave them a wide berth. The sunset was great from here, as per pictures, so I can understand why the sheep flock here. We had a Chang and San Miguel Light while taking pictures and watching a local farang business man, constantly on his phone, seemingly doing property deals, the sunset totally wasted on him. The manager/owner of the pub is a Thai national and speaks perfect English. He was very helpful and friendly, making everyone feel welcome and comfortable. I was astonished when a French couple walked in and he switched to perfect French, without missing a beat, having a full-on conversation with this couple which he had obviously met before. Oh, and his Thai was not bad either.

It is now mangosteen season, a fruit I have never tried before, so we purchased some to try out. As per the pictures, the fruit is a red/purplish colour on the outside with a very thick skin. The skin contains a purplish sap which is a clothes stainer of note, so one has to be careful when peeling. The inside contains little white cloves, similar looking to garlic cloves. They are soft and white and just about melt in your mouth. It tasted like nothing I have ever tasted before, simply divine. In the aftertaste I did find some far-off familiar tastes that my taste buds and mind could just not agree on. I checked on a few web sites and the best way they described the taste is that it is a mixture between strawberries, peaches and vanilla ice-cream. That’s close enough for me, and what’s there not to like.

For supper we had red curry and for desert, another Thai delicacy, sticky rice pudding. This pudding is made of steamed rice with coconut milk, served with slices of fresh mango. Simply delicious.

Wednesday (1 July 2015)
After coffee, news, coffee, gym and breakfast, I got a missed call from a local number while I was in the shower. I called the number back and it was Nutty, the lady we met on our previous trip, the one that Adri got her Thai cooking lessons from. It was great to hear from her and we made arrangements to go for a drink sometime real soon. She is very busy though, effectively works seven days a week, thus her time is very limited, but we will get together soon, really looking forward to that.

The alarm went off at the apartment building at 15H15. Fire ? No smoke though. Fire drill ? Maybe. We used to have these fire drills all too regularly at work. Alarm goes off, mass exodus to the front of the building where everybody meets and has a chat. Fifteen minutes later the fire marshals will advise that it is safe to go back inside. The last fire alarm drill we had a few months back turned out to have not been a drill, but an actual alarm, not life threatening though.

One of our colleagues, probably so focused on his work (yea right), forgot his bread in the toaster which was situated close to his desk. The toast, now black and burning, caused smoke which triggered the fire alarm. Fifteen minutes after we were back in the office a general communiqué via e-mail was received that forbade the use of toasters or any other foodie equipment in any area other than the designated kitchen areas. Anyway, it turned out that the condo complex was merely doing fire alarm maintenance and was busy testing the system, no toasters involved here.

We got quite a bit of work done and at 18H15 we headed down to the local beach to watch the sunset. The last few days have been absolute brilliant sunshiny days and the sunsets were amazing. Took a couple of pictures and then headed to our local no-name pub. They unfortunately do not have San Miguel Light, so Adri settled for a Sprite, mixed with some of my Leo beer to make a refreshing beer shandy, her first one on this trip. We asked for a beer glass for the shandy, and the guy refused to give us a glass before he had re-washed it for us. The people here are just so damn decent.

Got home and enjoyed a glass of white wine while the leftover red curry from last night was re-heated for supper. I should not say leftovers, because when Adri makes curry she intentionally makes enough for two suppers, which halves the cooking effort. And I was serious when I commented previously that I could have green, red or yellow curry every day of the week, simply divine.

Thursday (2 July 2015)
It’s Thursday and our off day from our sabbatical. We had a quick breakfast of yogurt and oats and were off for our jaunt. We needed gas so stopped off at the closest petrol station which is situated in Choeng Mon. Stopping at the petrol station, lifting up the seat, opening the fuel cap, asking the petrol attendant to fill up with 91, tank filled, fuel cap replaced, seat returned to the down position and money changing hands, took all of about two minutes before we were on our way again. Things are just so simple and easy over here.

We needed dough so stopped off at the Choeng Mon Krungsri ATM which was out of order. Yes, that happens here too. We continued on to Chaweng and extracted our booty from a Krungsri ATM, so we were ready to hand over some baht for the use of the bike, without which life would be a drag. We found Ian, the motorbike man at Ozo, a high end hotel in Chaweng, where he has a contract to supply motorbikes to their clients, should they so desire. Nice business he’s got there.

We hightailed it out of there, heading south on the ring road to Lamai. We first stopped off at a health shop in Lamai where the attendant did not understand what we required and requested that we come back later when the boss is back. Fair enough. Adri has been on the lookout for a Thai iced tea which we first saw being made at the Fisherman’s Village night market, and now she spotted a spot across the road from the health shop which offered just that. Thai iced tea is made from strong Thai tea with condensed and Carnation milk (evaporated milk) added to the concoction, with sugar added to taste.

This brew is then poured into a takeaway paper cup filled with ice cubes, which is then shaken, not stirred. The lid is put in place and a plastic bag kind of a strap is then placed around the cup, with the strap at the top, by which one can carry it around, much like a handbag. This I believe is mostly done for the benefit of someone on a motorbike as it would enable the rider to still steer with both hands, with the iced tea dangling from one of his wrists. This drink is very tasty and very refreshing on a hot day, and it was hot.

So, off I rode with my tea drinking partner on the back, unselfishly holding the tea in front of me, from time to time, to take a swig from her tea via the straw provided. And so the tea swilling ensemble finally reach their long intended destination, Lamai beach. We beached on the same spot as a week or two ago, under the swaying palm trees, where else. It was a glorious day and we swam, and read and snoozed and people-watched and… then it was time to go. We stopped off for an ice-cream and then at the Lamai Tesco for a few items of sorely needed produce.

The time was now just after 16:00 and we decided to beat the clock… the happy hour at the Black Duck pub which I made mention of on Thursday, 11 June 2015. To recap, between 16:00 and 18:00 the earlier you start drinking, the cheaper you can drink for, i.e. the beer start off cheap but go up by a few Baht every half an hour. We got to the Black Duck at around the second lowest price, in other words, just after 16:30. Adri had a San Miguel Light, I started off with a Carlsberg.

If I tell you the beers were cold it is an understatement, way understated. Man, these beers were a fraction above freezing point, my Carlsberg even came with a thick ring off frost around its neck. It’s a sin to serve beers any other way I decided right there and then. That Carlsberg disappeared so quickly, I looked around to see who had stolen my beer. No one was in the immediate vicinity, so I ordered another and the same thing happened again, so I ordered another. This was all had for the princely sum of 185 Baht.

Hunger was now overtaking thirst in the fast lane. We decided to have a burger for supper as we have not had one in a long while, and certainly not since we’ve been on the island. We never got a chance to go to the newly opened Burger King in Sandton, so decided that we will try out the Burger king here in Chaweng instead. I ordered the Whopper with extra large chips. Note, you no longer get small, medium and large chips, it’s now medium, large and extra large. Who the heck do they think they’re fooling… your clients are not idiots, idiots.

Adri had the chicken burger and pinched some chips from my “extra large chips”. Regarding the burger, well, I was underwhelmed, actually, I was downright disgusted. The meat tasted like cardboard and the rest of the trimmings were tasteless. I have eaten bad burgers in my life but this one was near the top of that list. Burger King advertises that their patties are 100% pure beef, I dare them to prove that to me. Will I ever eat a burger at Burger King again ? Never. I somehow will have to restore my faith in burgers, just not sure how. I do remember seeing that the Black Duck pub have a cheeseburger special on Saturdays so I would probably try that sometime in the future. One can only have faith…

I could feel my arms sunburnt but the rest of my body was fine… This was quite baffling until it struck me that it must be from the time we spent on the bike when one’s arms are 100% exposed to direct sunlight. Ouch, lesson learned, either put on sunscreen before you leave home, or put on a light long sleeve cotton shirt. You can always roll up the sleeves after your ride.

Got home tired, showered, watched an episode of Burn Notice, read some and then ZZZzzz…

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