After we got back from the beach and showered, I rode the motorbike down to the barber shop to get a haircut. Sim wrote me a note in Thai to tell the barber how I wanted my haircut. Well it turned out just fine. I got a haircut, a shave, a neck, shoulder and face massage, ear, nose and eyebrow hair trim all for $3.50. What a deal.

I ferried Sew, Jai, Fang the baby and Fang's mother to the airport in the afternoon. Jai has some time off so everyone is going up to Bangkok for 10 days or so. The airport is only about 20 minutes north of where we are living. We are actually almost exactly smack dab in the middle of the island. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the south end of the island however, because you have to go through Phuket Town.

Thursday
We got up early this morning. For the next 12 days we have to go to Sew's house and let her dogs out for a potty break and to run around for 15 or 20 minutes. Sew, Jai, her son and his wife Fang, along with their daughter Annfield and Fang's mom all flew to Bangkok yesterday. So we are dog sitting for the next couple of weeks.

After taking care of the dogs, Sim and I headed down to Surin Beach. The swell was still running and I went out for about an hour and a half. I did better today. My longboard is easier to paddle and I was able to catch waves more easily.

The power went out this afternoon. So far we have only lost power twice since we have been here. Solar Power is on the list of options for the house we are going to build. Would like to have some backup.

Friday
Off to Sew's again this morning. The dogs go crazy as soon as we rattle the padlock on the gate. They cannot wait to get out and run around in the side yard. Dogs here in Thailand pretty much just roam around loose. They don't seem to run away and always come back when let loose or let out of the yard. The only really annoying thing about the dogs in Thailand is that they are not trained. Anyone that walks by a yard with a dog gets incessant barking non-stop until you get 5 houses away. Talking a walk around the neighborhood gets quite noisy. I like to linger and make the dogs bark more to try to get their owners to come out and quiet their dogs, but Sim gets mad at me and says the Thais don't understand that barking dogs annoy other people. I give up.

After letting the dogs out to poo, we headed for the beach. I took the boogie board today. I have a nice bruise on my chest from paddling the boards for 2 days. The boogie board has a soft top so I was OK to use that. Going to have to find a way to pad the board or pad my chest. I have an old ski vest that I am going to cut up and try to sew some padding onto a shirt to wear when I use the surfboards.

Saturday
Did the dog thing but no beach today. Taking the day off. Sim's brother and his wife Pai came over for lunch today. Pai made some crab curry that was really good. After lunch, Sim's other brother came by and asked if we wanted to go visit a friend who lived up in the hills. They have a waterfall up there and he thought we might like to see it. Sure why not. Sim and I jumped on the Suzuki and followed her brother. After the pavement ended and we were on a narrow dirt road I began to wonder if this was a good idea. As we climbed the old Suzuki started to complain. I had to stop a couple of times, get down into 1st gear and Sim had to push some too, but we made it. The guy lives with his wife on the side of a hill in a lean to. He grows Durian and makes a living selling it in town. The waterfall turned out to be a stream that fell over some rocks about 3 feet over a small pool. It was hot, and I felt dizzy after the climb up to his house so we did not stay long. The Suzuki ran out of gas on the way down and Sim's brother had to ride into town and bring back a bottle of gas. People sell gasoline in glass bottles. They are strategically located at various spots halfway between the nearest petrol station and are always open 24 hours a day when the gas stations are closed. We got our gas and came home.

We have another guest for a few days. Sim's cousins son needs a place to stay while his Grandma goes to Bangkok. Poo is with us until Monday or Tuesday. I am glad for his sake that he is not in the US with a name like Poo. Poor guy would never make past 3rd grade.

July 5 – 11 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
Dogs and beach again this morning. We took ALL the kids today. Toey, Poo, Mack and we stopped to pick up Tha too. I took the boogie board out and the kids played in the shore break. I had to move them a couple of times as there was a rip current right where they were playing. It is no wonder people drown here. They have no idea what to do in a rip, they stand in the shore break with their backs to the waves, and they don't swim very well. Sim keeps telling me how dangerous Surin beach is, and I keep telling her it is only dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. I DO.

After the beach we came home and the kids rinsed off 5 lb. of sand each. Good thing we have a truck. I make them all ride in the back on the way home from the beach. The sand is easy to wash out from there. No laws against riding in the back of a pick up in Thailand. I have seen trucks with 20 or more workers riding in the back.

The Wimbledon Tennis Finals came on about 9:00 p.m. here. I stayed up until 1:45 a.m. watching Roger beat Andy. What a tennis match. It was better than last year's match with Nadal.

Monday
No school for the kids today. There is a 3 day school holiday that has something to do with the monks staying in the temples for some period of time at this time of year. Sim says in the old days, this was planting time and the monks were supposed to stay at the temple so they would not trample on the newly planted crops. So the kids are all home today. It is laundry time again, so while Sim does a few loads of wash, I am taking Toey and Poo to the beach with me. Sim told them that when I was out in the water they could not play in the surf. When I came out of the water they could play in the surf. I sat them down at the high water mark and went in the water. I kept looking back on shore and every time I looked they had moved closer to the surf. After 30 minutes they were jumping over waves. Kids. Never listen. We stayed at the beach until about noon when we started to get hungary. Went back to Sew's house where Sim was doing laundry we all walked down to a local cafe and had lunch. 5 people with a lunch bill of $7.00, that includes drinks too.

Tuesday
Dogs and the beach again today.

Wednesday
Dogs in the morning. I did a little yard work. Too hot to stay in the sun very long unless you can cool off in the water.

Thursday
Dogs again today. I am getting tired of the dogs. You let them out and they do not want to come back. Of course they do not listen to me. They probably obey Sew but as I have said many times before, the Thai's pretty much let their dogs run free around here. And training them is out of the question. Maybe I will become the Dog Whisperer of Thailand. The Cesar Millan of Phuket. Hmmmmm.

Friday
Dogs again this morning. Only a few more days. Boy, will I be glad when Jai and his wife get back from Bangkok. The power went out again today. I think it was only down for 30 minutes or so. No big deal. I am kind of getting used to losing power, the internet going down and general infrastructure breakdowns here. Sa bai, sa bai. Kind of like Que sera sera.

Took Sim to the airport today around 11:00. She is going to Bangkok for a Small and Medium Business Seminar. They do these yearly and Sim's friend in Bangkok suggested Sim go to this one because Sim wants to start some kind of business here in Phuket. So I am going to be on my own for about a week.

Saturday
Dogs in the morning and pretty much stayed home with the two boys all day. We played some Wii games, watched some TV, rode the bikes and tried to communicate using sign language. Neither of the boys speak English and my limited Thai will only get us food and drink at a restaurant.

July 12 – 18 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
Yea! Last morning for the dogs. I picked up Jai, Fang, the baby and Fang's mother today at the airport.

Monday
Happy Birthday Bill and Bob Scudder. My twin brother's birthday is today. I sent off an email to each of them. Lucky I did it early in the AM because the Internet went down again today. I wonder if TOT, the internet provider, will allow me to deduct a pro rated amount from my monthly bill bases on down time. Probably not eh?

Tuesday
Internet down again today. Boy this is a long outage. Good thing I don't have a business dependent on an Internet connection.

Wednesday
Sim is coming back today, Yea! I have to pick her up at 3:35 she said. She called me 3 times to adjust her pickup time. I got there and she was waiting out front. The airport is pretty small so driving the 'Loop' takes about 2 minutes. Parking is free for the first 15 or 20 minutes then it is about $1.00 per hour.

Friday
Today we went sailing on Pon's sailboat. He has a 24' Bruce Farr Pathu. It is an IRC racing boat. There was Pon, and Chuy and Sim and I. Chuy is Pon's buddy who sails with him all the time. We got underway and headed north, but there was a weather front coming and the winds were really freshening so we turned and headed south. We really had too much sail up and they did not have the correct reefing gear so the boat was really overpowered and we spent a great deal of time fighting to keep her on her bottom. Sim and I were hanging off the rail most of the time. It was fun. We had a thundershower come through and we all got soaking wet. But an hour or so later we were dry, the sails were dry and we headed back to port. On one of the last tacks before we tied up there was a scramble from port to starboard and my foot got caught in the lines and my little toe was tweaked WAY out of line. I think I broke it. Sim also took a nasty blow to her knee that is going to take 10 days to heal. We had a great time. I am limping and Sim's knee looks ugly.

Saturday
Today we are off to Phuket Town for the 2nd Annual Worldwide Photo Walk. People who like to take pictures gather in select cities all over the world on the same day and take pictures. We met our leader at a cafe next to one of the big hotels in downtown Phuket. After introductions and instructions on safety, we all headed out to fill up memory sticks with photos of the town. I was not walking very well with my injured toe, but Sim and I spent a couple of hours walking around taking photos. It was fun. We are supposed to submit 2 pictures to the Worldwide Photo Walk Site for entry in a competition. The group is also supposed to get back together to share their pics and stories some time later this month. This is one of the pictures I am submitting.

July 19 – 25 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
Sim is doing laundry today so that means I am off to the beach. I know that sounds a bit strange. Why don't I help with the laundry? Sim likes doing it. She gets to socialize with her relatives and I just get in the way. I don't understand how the washing machine works anyway. They fill it with a hose and they are always pushing buttons. I am used to throwing in the clothes along with some soap, setting the time and pushing Start. I come back when it is done. They have to attend to the darn machine all the time. It confuses me so I go to the beach. I do usually help hang the clothes on the neat clothes rack we bought. See, we don't use dryers here. All the laundry gets hung up outside on various objects. Some people use their fence, others use long wood sticks but most have some kind of rack. We have a 6'x6'x4' aluminum rack on wheels that we can move into the sun and out of the rain.

So while Sim did laundry, I went to Surin Beach for some surfing. I did cut up an old ski vest I have been moving with me wherever I go for the last 20 years knowing I would use it someday. The back piece of foam works really well tucked under my rash guard shirt that I wear when surfing. It pads my rib cage nicely and makes for pain free paddling. No more bruised ribs.

Monday
Sim had so much fun in Bangkok at the SME seminar, she has decided to back again this week for another 4 days of sessions. This time focusing on the Accounting industry. So I have to take her to the airport this morning. She is staying until next Monday. Another week on my own. Hope I make it.

It turned out that Sim's brother took Sim to the airport. I got an invitation to go sailing again on Pon's race boat, so I took it. I met Pon at his business and we rode up to the marina in his car. Chuy was waiting for us and the three of us set sail south. It was blowing pretty good and again the boat was way overpowered. But Pon had reefing gear this time and we set a reef in the main and the boat righted nicely and sailed really well after putting in the reef.

Now neither of these guys speak English so it was fun using hand signals and some nautical terms all day long. We sailed down to Phuket town and it took about 3 hours. I was really getting fried on my legs, the back of my neck and arms and was really relived to learn that we were not sailing the boat back to were we started. Pon had one of his crane trucks drive down with the boats trailer and he picked the boat up out of the water using the truck crane and set it on the trailer. He is entered in the Six Senses Phuket Regatta and the boat is staying down here for the race.

Tuesday
Today I am beat for a full day on the water so I am just staying home and playing on the computer. I am addicted to the game of Mafia Wars. And today I played all day. This is a computer game played daily by about 4 million people. It is played on Facebook, MySpace and several other social networking sites. I have been playing now for a month and really enjoy it. Although Sim nags me from time to time saying I spend way too much time sitting in front of the computer. She is probably right as usual. But she is gone for a week so I am going to get in as much game time as I can.

Wednesday
Mafia Wars

Thursday
Mafia Wars

Friday
Mafia Wars

Saturday
Got up early this morning and went for a long bike ride. I rode over to our land near the Banyan Tree Golf Course and around the Laguna Complex. I ended up riding about 20 kilometers total. Got back home had some lunch and took a long nap.

July 26 – 31 (Phuket, Thailand)
Sunday
I had so much fun on the bike ride yesterday that I went on another one today. Not quite as far but in a different direction.

Monday
Sim is coming home today. Hooray. I picked her up at the airport at 3:35 as directed. It is nice to have her home again. I was getting tired of eating at the restaurant up the street. The food is okay and the prices are very reasonable but the service is bad and I get frustrated every time I go there. I just do not understand why the service is so crappy at a lot of the restaurants here in Phuket. You would think that since Phuket is an International tourist destination, that service would be high on the agenda with training and attention. Nope. Getting an empty plate taken away, having the wait person stop by to ask if you need anything, or asking “how is your food” just does not happen. If you want or need something you have to raise your hand, catch and eye or get up and get it yourself. Empty plates and dishes are rarely cleared until you and your party clear out.

Wednesday
Sim did laundry today and I, you guessed it, went surfing. The waves were really good today and I had a blast. Seriously thinking of signing up for the contest in August. I know I don't have a chance in hell of winning, but it will be fun to it anyway.

Thursday
Sim got a phone call early this morning. Her cousin's daughter was killed in a car accident last night. She was heading to the airport early in the AM to pick up some tourists and a car came into her lane on a corner and a head on collision occurred. The girl was killed instantly and the other driver, a farang is in the hospital in serious condition. The funeral party is being held at the temple that is just down the street from us. So Sim is off to the temple this morning to join in the party.

Funerals here are a week long party. They set up tents, block off streets and the whole community participates. There is food, and lots of conversation about the dear departed and then there is more food. Finally on the 5th or 6th day the body is cremated or buried.

Friday
Played some Mafia Wars today then after Sim got back from the temple we headed over to Pon's. I want to get my cot out of storage. In the afternoon, I like to take a short nap and the cot will be perfect for setting up outside in the shade. I can take my naps out there.

We got to Pon's and I opened up one of the 2 crates we still have in storage there. I found my cot and also grabbed the aluminum picnic table we used in the RV. I can set that up outside on the back porch to store some stuff that is currently on the ground. I also grabbed some DVDs that I saw in a box. I could not find my folding Army shovel though. I wanted that to throw in the back of the truck.

After Pon's we headed home, but first we stopped at Pon's sisters place. She is opening a bike shop in Thalang. They are in the process of finishing the interior and assembling inventory. The shop is going to cater to high end clients with bike running from 10K baht to 100K baht. Wow, I can buy a brand new Honda 125cc motorbike for 46K baht.

Well that is it for July. It is midway through the summer here in Phuket. The weather is not as hot as I thought it was going to be. It has not rained as much as I thought it might. It has really been very nice. The water clears up in one day after a rain storm and the rain is not really much of an inconvenience. Sim just has to move the laundry under the carport.

Coming up in August, Sim is going to make a speed run back to the US to pick up 6 months worth of medications for us. We figured out it is cheaper for one of us to fly to the US and bring back 6 months of meds, rather than buying them here.

We also have our first visitors coming next month. Craig and Maew will be here for a couple of weeks the first part of August. We met Craig and Maew in San Carlos, Mexico in the first month of our RV adventure in the US. We have been fast friends ever since.

July is in the books......