It’s so hot here ranging from 35-40 degrees each day. I don’t think I have ever drank so much water in my life but instead of achieving supermodel clear skin I have turned into one huge mosquito bite. These flying blood suckers have got a serious attraction to me, every day I wake up with new red blotchy bites all over my legs. I have resorted to smearing mosquito repellant gunk over me, lighting an incense stick in my room, sleeping under a net and even drinking copious amounts of gin and tonic as there is apparently some chemical in that which mozzies don’t like. Even if this is not medically proven I don’t mind testing this theory out.
We decide that the best way to cool off is to take the children to the nearby swimming pool for the day. I love that we are a little gang now that includes the peace cafe family, London expat Jonny and his brother Justin, their puppy nirvana and me!
It was so nice to jump in and splash about with the children as it reminds me of messing about in the local pool with my own younger siblings. The pool belongs to a swanky hotel that is on the riverside and you should have seen the dirty looks we were getting from staff when we all traipsed up with boisterous young boys, an excited puppy desperate to swim, loud and opinionated Portuguese guy reassembling the furniture with chain smoking tattooed London geezers and the two ladies of the group sat on the swings drinking beer and gossiping. We must have looked a sight but we were having a great time!
A few hours later after getting chatted up by some dodgy Israeli guy when I was sunbathing we decided to head home,
him: ‘alo I want to take you on my motorbike out tonight yes? Just me and you. You show me good time?’
me: ‘Err no, think I’m busy cutting my toenails’
I know it was in broken English but do chat up lines like that ever work for anyone? That is one thing I am enjoying staying here that there are hardly any drunk sleazy guys, well apart from this dude, as it is a small town with more Thai people than tourists around. However, there is a large number of lady boys that work in the bars here and most nights you will see old ex pat westerners being entertained by beautiful tiny Thai women with immaculate makeup and hair, until you spot the Adam’s apple or extremely large hands and jaw line.
That night after another fantastic family meal of grilled red snapped in garlic and tomato sauce we had planned a girls night out. Myself, Thidarat, and the two Mongolian sisters left the men in charge and went to a local reggae bar for drinks and dancing. We met a group of french and german volunteers who were based at a nearby animal sanctuary and soon took over this tiny bar. I was practicing my GCSE French with one patient guy and in my head I was as poised and fluent as Carla Bruni or Marion Cotillard but the next morning through a gin and tonic haze I remember I was not that cool. I actually just kept repeating random phrases that I had been taught back in the classroom in year 10, such as ‘where is the library’, ‘open the window’ and ‘My name is Katy, I am 15 years old’. Hmm no wonder the French guy made a quick exit!
