Wednesday was also spent sanitising and stowing the last of our provisions, but we were both delighted to set this activity aside to enjoy a lovely surprise video call from Anne and Stuart, off Time Bandit, who’d made it safely to the Seychelles. It was wonderful to catch up, given that the last time we’d spoken, they were still in the Maldives and we were still in Straits Quay marina, Malaysia, and had no idea about what was about to unfold with the visa amnesty being rescinded. It was wonderful to hear about their adventures in Chagos and their very favourable views on the Seychelles; definitely destinations to look forward to.
We also continued to receive good news out of Arizona, in that Brooke’s dad was on the mend and they all had one remaining day of isolation. However, it seems “no good deed goes unpunished”, given that a video call from Keenan this morning revealed that he had contracted Valley Fever, a lung infection created by spores in the desert dust, acquired by spending too much time outdoors in the dusty, poor air quality, rather than being indoors in a COVID-19 infected house. Speechless! This, unfortunately, also ended up impacting his training and has resulted in his IOE having to be rescheduled until he recovers.
We also had the opportunity to catch up with William, who was riding his motorbike at dusk versus during the day, after getting too much sun from being outside in the pool for too many consecutive days. The twins were unfortunately sleeping again, as it was way past their bedtime, but we received great news regarding them; they have been assessed to start kindergarten a year earlier and will be undertaking their placement tests as a result. What was interesting is that Keenan and Brooke were asked if they wanted to split the twins up once they started school. Curious about the question, it was revealed that their weaknesses cannot be assessed as they compensate for each other; just brilliant! In the end, it was agreed to keep them together, at least for their first year, and to re-evaluate the situation at a later stage.
Yesterday morning we decided a walk around the neighbourhood was needed, followed by breakfast at Dean and Deluca. However, after Elaine’s unsuccessful attempt at being adventurous with her gastronomic selections during our previous breakfast outing at the Hardstand Café, we both opted for a straightforward breakfast special of bacon, eggs and a croissant. Of course, there’s always the opportunity for matters getting lost in translation, so, instead of Elaine getting well done fried eggs, Roy got one well done fried egg and one sunny-side up, which, needless to say, had us in fits of laughter by this stage. On the upside, we had a very pleasant walk before the heat of the day set in and, with the water being so clear, we could see the schools of fish by simply standing on the dock.
Then, while Roy continued his efforts on his Anchor Plus application enhancements, in between walking back and forth multiple times to the various facilities around the complex, including the chandlery and the marina office, Elaine spent her day clearing out, cleaning and sorting out our dry food storage area and was surprised to find that we actually didn’t have too many expired products onboard. It did, however, reveal that we were low on a few staple products like rice, gluten-free pastas and non-gluten-free flours, forcing Roy to make yet another trip to the grocery store, combining that with picking up the last of our laundry. Cleaning the cockpit fridge before stowing all the beverages was the last of the “spring cleaning” activities, but having all the clean throw cushion covers back on just seemed to make all the efforts of late worthwhile; besides looking all shiny and new on the outside, Paw Paw looked all shiny and new on the inside too, especially with the additional touch of some fresh cut flowers and, to add a pleasant aroma to our home, Elaine also baked a Banana Loaf.
Both tired from our day, we opted for a takeaway dinner from the Resort Café; a stir-fried chicken for Roy and a Pad Thai for Elaine, although both were presented a little differently to what we’ve had before; the chicken was minced and very spicy, while the Pad Thai was enclosed in something that resembled an omelette and consisted of various seafood, not just prawns. Tasty nonetheless! A movie night wrapped up another busy day.
Today we treated ourselves to another delicious lunch at the “9th Degree Waterfront Restaurant and Wine Bar”; “4 Balls on a Plank” for starters, which consisted of two items we recognised; goat cheese rolled in herbs and an onion bhaji with saffron. As for the other two, no clue! This was followed by “Khoa Soi Chicken” and “Lanna Gaeng Hang Ley”, both dishes apparently from the northern regions of Thailand. Unfortunately, with a commotion that occurred in between our courses, resulting in us having to move tables, Elaine forgot to take a photograph of our main course, beautifully presented again and scrumptious! We can definitely vouch for the phrase: “Dinner in Phuket blends the most eclectic tastes; Thai heat, Chinese blandness and Indian richness”.
The group of expatriate women who moved from the patio, not a mask in sight, laughing and shouting and blatantly contravening the very clearly stated rules regarding social gatherings of any kind on Phuket Island at the moment, ruined the outing somewhat, though, forcing Elaine to keep her mask on in between mouthfuls. As Roy said: “they’re just out having a good time”, but at the expense of other people’s lives, literally!
This behaviour of expatriates, however, is something we witnessed in Malaysia as well and it’s clearly a problem in Thailand too, to the extent that recently reports indicated that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had reached out to all the Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions to request the cooperation of their citizens to help fight this 3rd wave. Additionally, the Phuket News is consistently reporting incidences of foreigners being arrested for breaching the COVID-19 restrictions, especially holding parties or congregating with alcohol at various venues. As unpleasant as these restrictions may be and, for the likes of us, who have spent the last 18 months in and out of lockdowns in Malaysia, while Thailand enjoyed a very contained 1st and 2nd wave, it’s infuriating to see this behaviour when these people are guests in a foreign country. It’s acts like this that have consequences for all of us, as what happened in Malaysia with the visa amnesty being suddenly rescinded.
