Day 53, Year 5: Alone in a Crowd
Date: Friday, December 18, 2009
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot; E Winds 15-20
Location: Ao Chalong, Phuket, Thailand
Our early morning was spent on the boat. I was working to get more photos named and organized so they can be put on the website and Mark was working to get our BIOT Permit for the Chagos filled out and ready to send. He was also doing some route planning for the upcoming season and somehow the whole morning was almost gone before we realized it. So before noon, we headed to town. We saw Ed and Lynne of Constance on the jetty and then ran into Robert and Tina of Shirena on the little main street in town Both were headed back to their boats to move across to the eastern side of this bay. High winds have been predicted and it will be much more protected over there. But we have decided to stay put unless it gets really untenable. We want to be back here early on Monday morning to make a Skype call to Justin and Jo. It will be our Christmas call to them as they are leaving on Wednesday for England. We might get to talk to them again once they are there, but we want to see Ziggy opening presents from us and that will happen on their Sunday night.
We also stopped and bought a CAT international calling card on Ed and Lynne’s recommendation. We paid $10 US for this card and evidently it will give us upwards of ten hours of long distance calling time to anywhere in the world. We call an 800 number on our little cell and then enter our card number and the number we are calling. And BINGO, we are connected. So watch out, you might be getting Christmas telephone calls from us. Since we plan on being down in Nai Harn Bay for Christmas and we are not sure about the internet situation there, we figured we should buy this card just in case. We are also renting a jeep on Monday and headed back to Phuket to look for a 3G phone. Many of our friends connect to the internet right from their boat as long as they have a cell signal. And in Thailand, you have a cell signal almost everywhere. But you have to have a way to connect your cell to your computer and right now, we don’t. So that will require a new phone. I’m not sure how Skype works with this system, but we’re going to give it a try.
It was time for lunch and we headed to the Twin Coconuts. We both thanked the young waitress for her help yesterday, had a great lunch, and connected to the internet. I’m still doing research on the possible destinations for this coming year and Mark uploaded photos and did a variety of other things. But we didn’t stay for five hours this time. We wrapped things up fairly quickly and headed to the new Villa Supermarket. We went there on the first day in town, but I just had to return to absorb all that is there. It is really unbelievable. There were Butterball turkeys of all sizes, fresh salmon from Tasmania, from Scotland, and from Norway, prime beef from Australia, Grapenuts, pecans, sage (couldn’t find this anywhere in Malaysia), safflower oil, grape seed oil, every Old El Pasa product you can think of, Carnation evaporated milk, Paul Newman’s Balsamic Vinaigrette salad dressing, Kraft and Hellman’s mayonnaise, canned artichoke hearts from Spain, whole wheat flour, spelt flour, and on and on and on. You pay US prices, but it is all there. We’ll buy most things at other places where it is cheaper, but for Christmas we will definitely give the fresh Tasmanian salmon a try.
We pulled our little cart back through the traffic and back down the little main street in Ao Chalong to the jetty. And then we started the half mile walk down the jetty. It must be the longest jetty in the world. The next time I am on the internet, I’m going to research that one. We got back to Windbird, weaving through a multitude boats, but no one we know. Barbara and Cory on Increscent Moon are still here, but every one else we know has either escaped to the other side of the bay or have moved down to Nai Harn. We will stay here until Tuesday and then we will move to Nai Harn, hoping to connect with some of the folks we know that will be there for Christmas. But in the meantime, it is strange to be so alone amidst so many boats.
