21st February - run through the jungle - leaving Yacht Haven

Friday 21st February

First of all – a photo of 2XS, gleaming in the morning sun!

Our non-chandlery/non-hardware/non-supermarket excursion was wonderful.  We were trying to get to a gibbon sanctuary, where they are rehabilitating gibbons which have been cruelly treated, and sending them off to live in the jungle.  So…we got to a national park, paid our 200 baht ($6)  each and asked the attendant where the gibbons were.  OOOOH OOOH OOOH he said, doing a FunkyGibbon.  You will hear them, in the jungle!  Ummm…well no we didn’t; it was far too hot for any self-respecting gibbon to be going OOOOH OOOH OOOH!

We were nowhere near the sanctuary, but we were in a very beautiful bit of jungle, with a 2-3 kilomete circuit up and around a (small) waterfall.

We saw some butterflies, a lizard or two, and some very nice French people, Jean-Luc and Michelle, on holiday in Phuket for two months.

There was majestic bamboo

wonderful ficus trees

 with very impressive buttresses

And, best of all, native palms, found nowhere else in the world, and named…Dransfield!

 Pete was delighted by this discovery.  Rex Dransfield worked for him on Rosehill (farm) for thirty years and was a most beloved friend and employee.  He is greatly missed.

After our run through the jungle, we still had time with our Mr Boo car before I turned into a pumpkin.  Nai Yang Beach beckoned – and oh how lovely!

A big wide beach, with peaceful blue water, warm and balmy.

Little thatched restaurants and bars.

Planes flying low overhead.

Russians snoozing…

We had a cool drink.  I ordered lime juice and it came absolutely unsweetened – very unusual, there is usually LOTS of sugar in everything.  It was very refreshing as it was but…I did add all of the sugar syrup they had put, tactfully, near my glass…

Mr Boo was waiting, so we tootled off to Yacht Haven and had lunch in the little restaurant overlooking the bay.

The cook’s little daughter was helping set the tables… She is, apparently very shy…

Today we are leaving our cosy berth to go and explore some of the nearby islands, which promise – how surprising – to be very beautiful. 

I have taken advantage of the marina water supply to wash everything I can lay my hands on, so our bedlinen, teatowels etc will match the pristine outer surfaces of 2XS!

After I had posted this epic Run Through the Jungle saga I got an email from Michele…with a photo of me, pausing in the jungle…

So I sent them back the photo of her and Jean-Luc, also pausing in the jungle.  Isn't cyberspace wonderful??