A completely humourless post containing a few shit photos of my journey to Koh Samui...Seriously. Humourless. Don't blame me if you continue after this title...

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(Edited)

We haven't been down to Samui since Songkran in April after which lockdown 3 started in earnest as all the water splashing gave everyone Covid.

Now, however, with things much more relaxed and schools on a two-week break, we thought it was time to visit Khun Paw and Khun Mare and try and get some builders sorted out to get the house restarted.

Most journeys start like this, loading the old scooter up for the three-kilometre trip to Don Mueang Airport where we abandon it in a parking area reserved for staff and hope it will still be there when we get back as I'm too stingy to pay more for the parking than the bike is actually worth.

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At the airport, there were lots of hoops to jump through, barcodes to scan and proof of vaccine to be shown before we finally managed to jump on this...

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There used to be five flights a day down to Surat Thani, but now, just one and it was busy.

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Recline your seat onto my knees and I will spend the whole hour practising double-kick bass on your seat back...just saying!

So first we went up...

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... and then we came down...

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Flaps set at Position 3 (flap 150) for finals. Note the neat rows of trees. These are Palm Oil plantations.

No lovely, friendly Orangutans were harmed as we don't have native Orangutans in Thailand. Only nasty, chip stealing, thieving gipsy monkey bastards.

And after being very disciplined and compliant, by leaving the aircraft three rows at a time...

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... we finally disembarked, walked into the terminal and fannied around on our phones to show our vaccine certificates whilst using another app to check into Surat Thani provinces track and trace system...

...before being shoe-horned into one of these...

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... for the 90-minute drive to Donsak and the Seatran ferry terminal for the 90-minute crossing to Koh Samui.

Before leaving the mainland under a leaden sky...

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Upon arriving, we were ushered into tents like Lepers to again have our vaccine certificates checked, fill out another Google form about our recent travel history and departure location and download the Samui locator app.

We finally arrived home whereupon despite much 'manifesting' and 'attracting', the house had not miraculously been finished by the house fairies and was even more shagged than it was in April having lost two roofing panels in the wind...light breeze actually, although some of the concrete floor has become a rather natty shade of green...

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Friends are flying down tomorrow for a few days so it will be nice to tour them around the touristy things which we never normally do and they want to, having never been to Samui before.

OK, it won't, I hate the touristy things which is exactly the reason we've never done them.

Got appointments with various builders and architects all week, so stress levels will be high. Apologies in advance for the many 'coffee' posts that will be appearing in the coming week!

Thailand as usual being Thailand, multiple apps, paranoia check-ins and your whole life controlled by a phone that shares every piece of your personal data to god-knows who!

Welcome to the new normal!

*told ya!


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9 comments
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I won't blame you for continuing beyond the title but someone other than myself should be held accountable for this.

Barcodes for what, airline tickets? That's Mornal. What were they checking specifically as far as personal medical history, will a CDC card that says Johnson n Johnson work?

Thank you.

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Barcodes for boarding passes ok....but Thailand is QR code crazy. Vaccine passports, multiple check-ins, track and trace apps. Everything paid for using mobile, even logging on Binance on my PC can be made faster by verifying on my mobile...all tha data pinging through the air....

Ok..enough, I'm going to send a carrier pigeon with my letter of resignation from the rat race!

Take care mate, hope Pura is on the recovery , send her my best wishes :-)

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While an idiotic cabinet member of the government here thought of having the vaccination cards laminated and worn at all times when outside to indicate a person being vaccinated therefore safe.

seriously this pandemic ate a couple of braincells of the people in charge

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Mavvvvvvv, it's a lovely surprise to see your name pop up! How's life treating you these days mate?

The whole world has gone wacko mate...we have to just keep going , doing our thing, whatevers best for ourselves.

Take care mate. Get some posts written, you've been missed :-)

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Oh gosh, the terribly built house. Still no update on that?

I'll throw in some humor without context.

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Humour without context works for me. Thanks you...and finally seeing some progress . Signed off new contract and remedial work started yesterday and thanks for asking :-)

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No lovely, friendly Orangutans were harmed as we don't have native Orangutans in Thailand. Only nasty, chip stealing, thieving gipsy monkey bastards.

But were they (the nasty, chip stealing, thieving gipsy monkey bastards) harmed? 😂

Thailand as usual being Thailand, multiple apps, paranoia check-ins and your whole life controlled by a phone that shares every piece of your personal data to god-knows who!

This is not just/only Thailand, but the whole world.

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Lol...after my terrible experience in the forest last year after losing my last bag of Lays to one of the Thai hooligan monkeys, I no longer care lol...seriously these buggers can look after them selves and would no doubt turned the situation to their advantage !

In Lop Buri, the monkeys took over the town and now the townspeople all live in caged houses. Seriously, here's a link...

https://www.livescience.com/macaque-fight-thailand-temple-coronavirus.html

I just read about you saving up for a sail boat. Brilliant, maybe we can get a sailing community going one day!

Can I ask which sailing channels you're following in You tube? Sam Holmes? Svenyevind, NBJS? ..

After I get my damn house finished , next job is. Building my dream sailing boat .

Best wishes and thanks for stopping by :-)

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