We're Sailing

We have now been back in Thailand for a month and it has absolutely flown by (again). It feels like we have just lazed around and not done anything, but when we look through the pictures, we have done a fair bit.

Skipper Gary very generously lent us a boat again and we sailed with Scot out to Monkey Island. We had heard that the monkeys will swim out to your boat and steal food. In fact, one great story we heard (from Pascal - more about him later) was a monkey who swam out, helped himself to a sandwich, unwrapped the cellophane, ate half of it, urinated on the boat and left. Luckily, our experience was not the same. We only had time to sail close to the island but not anchor. All the same it was a great day out. Thanks to Gary for lending us the boat.

Pataya does put on some fabulous events. It has to be said they do try very hard. We visited a street food festival twice! Above are quails eggs being fried. It was a great festival, we ate loads of food and enjoyed the atmosphere. There was singing, dancing and an interesting pub singer with two live stages.
This Garry eating a Thai veggie version of a scoth egg. It is a quail's egg with fish mince. Delicious!
We are not quite sure what these were, but even the woman serving them is holding her nose! Maybe some kind of dumpling, but we gave them a wide berth - too many colours!
What kind of sausage would you like - Thailand has them all.
More unidentifiable food.

Believe it or not these are squid on a stick. The locals eat them like ice lollies!
Beautiful king prawns in the background with more squid on a stick in the foreground. Guess what the local fishermen fish for?
Some kind of odd crustacean. If you can identify it, please post a comment. On the basis that they didn't look very good, we didn't try them. We have developed a theory - if food doesn't look good and doesn't smell good, there's a chance it won't taste too good. This theory has been developed after many tastings.
At the end of this season's racing series, a fun treasure hunt was organised. We had to sail to Crab Island, find hidden messages in bottles using GPS and return back to the yacht club. We provided the quiz questions and the winner would be the team provided the closest answer. Lucky for us there was a dead heat and fortunately we had prepared a tie break. This was for the tied teams to sing Rod Stewart's "Sailing". The other crews would decide who deserved to win. It was great fun and the tied teams gave it their best shot, much to the amusement of the other crews. Sadly, the photos are not publishable! A team of french guys singing "Sailing" is a memory that will remain with lots of us for a long time! The boat above is the beautiful, brand new Jeanneau, owned by Andrew and built by Gary and his team. We think you may have seen it before.
This is part of our team (David and Thane) who were fortuntely spared from singing. You might get some idea of how gorgeous the island is from this picture. Truly paradise.

Some of the competitors anchored just off the island whilst they looked for clues/snorkelled in the clear water over rock reefs/drank green tea aka Heineken.
Another of the boats anchored just off the island. In the background you can see the paradise island. On the boat you can see the famous Pascal, famous for winning races, drinking green tea and singing "Sailing".
Garry part way up the mast - more of this later. This was the day after the treasure hunt. We had had such a good day out on the Saturday, Skipper Gary asked if we fancied a cruise on the Sunday. Probably, the best days sailing we have ever done. Back to paradise island, loads of snorkelling, swimming and some tea drinking. Thanks Gary from all of us!!
We did some cultural stuff and visited the Thai Chinese museum, where as you see they have fabulously manicured plants.

We defy you to look at this picture and not smile. Does it remind you of anybody? These are bronze sculptures of the "Laughing Buddha" in the Thai Chinese museum.
This is a God of Taoism as we learnt. Any idea what he is symbolising? Look closely!
These are horses and a chariot from the Chinese Terracotta army.
More bronze sculpures, with the museum in the background. This place is well worth a visit but not many people know about it.
Another bronze sculpture. The pictures don't do it justice, but the sculptures are very life - like. You almost expected them to move any minute.

We haven't seen many sunrises recently, so we hope this sunset will do. We had a fantastic night out with Gary, Pum, Scott, Ewey, Siham and Tony in a lovely seafood restaurant.
Tony kindly invited us to a party at his apartment. This is skipper Gary showing us all how to use a multigym. Tony thought it was to hang his washing on! Perhaps Tony will now start to use it.
Garry had to take the guitar off Tony as he was struggling to a) read the music, b) read the words and c) make any kind of a tune. However, he did redeem himself- see picture below.
Tony, two hours later (approx 3.30am) playing the drums downtown. He was actually very good - or at least so we thought. Good on you Tony.
Tony with the drummer and his girlfriend Siham. He is not being thrown out of the pub. Picture taken shortly after Tony's performance.

You will need to twist 90 degrees for this video, but this is what happened next after the photo of Garry on the mast.

One more day to go and then we are on our way to Cambodia. Thanks to everyone in Pattaya for making our time here really special. We will miss you!