Mr Benn's Blog

6th to 12th February, 2024

You have probably guessed from the title to this post, that life in Thailand is going along at a hectic pace!

Starting on the health front, we have some good news. Val’s knees are definitely getting better, we have also been to the dentist and a new denture is being manufactured as we speak (I hope – we leave on Saturday) and Mr Parkinson is behaving a bit better. Probably a combination of warm weather, stress-free living, massages and the pills for her knees having a combined effect – and a few wins at Scrabble driving endorphins through her body!!

My Sciatica is still a bit of a problem, but not enough to stop me doing most things normally. We tried a new massage place and I came under the expert hands (literally) of Tui, a 53-year-old grandmother, who looks about 35, who has a reputation for curing various ills (at least according to the Google reviews). She was definitely good, but unfortunately has not made any difference other than ironing out a lot of knots! Back to my exercises and stretching.

We have been out and about and not just to the hospital, dentist and pharmacy. Our hotel is in a town called Mae Nam and heading east you come to the next town, Bophut. To be honest, unless you read the signs you wouldn’t know where one ends and the other begins, but the latter, Bophut, (not sure how it is pronounced) has an area running along the beach called the Fisherman’s Village, though I suspect the actual fishermen sold up a long time ago. It is a nice walking street with some very fancy shops and restaurants and very busy, especially on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday when they have in addition a large Night Market with myriad stalls selling a wide variety of goods. Some photos…

Fisherman’s Village, Bophut, Koh Samui. Probably the only fishing boat you will see there.

We walked for a while, but my right leg does not, it seems, like shopping and started to have my sciatica pins and needles, so we found a restaurant, which conveniently had an upstairs air-conditioned room overlooking the beach. I had an excellent pizza!!

Lots of punters enjoying the comfy chairs on the beach watching the display of fire dancers.

One of the fire dancers (not sure that is the right term) in full flow!

The troupe of fire dancers moving among the crowd getting tips – the proximity of the flames possibly helping the cause.

I wondered at first if someone’s command of English or marketing had let them down somewhat….

These are, I believe, soap!! Fantastic craftsmanship.

Val looking for a bargain (not many of those, to be honest!)

There are lots of stalls selling food and drinks, particularly cocktails.

I am not sure if the crocodile heads were real or not.

This very skilled chap reminded me of those trips to the Ideal Home Exhibition where there would be someone demonstrating the latest gadget that could cut up vegetables in no time or model them into wonderful shapes. When you get the thing home, you find that it either takes many practised hours to master or that it has a nasty habit of slicing your knuckles or that any time you have saved is used up washing the device up!!

Other than this outing our days have taken on the routine outlined in the last post. It is very peaceful here and we are feeling rested and relatively healthy, which is one of the main aims. We ate out at a nice beach-side restaurant a few nights ago, which had very photogenic lights…. The only reason for my adding the next photo!

See what I mean?? Don’t look at it for too long – you will go crazy!

One major event has been that it has rained!! The first time for two weeks and of course it all comes down in one go (an excellent system, I feel, provided there is no flooding).

This photo really does not do it justice. The pool is full to overflowing!

Ok, another post completed. Can’t believe this is our last week here. We have been looking at Muscat and Oman and possible sights to see there for next week and are already getting excited.

More soon….