Today we woke to unsettled weather, which dissipated around mid-morning, allowing Elaine to dinghy Roy ashore so he could enjoy a long exercise walk, following which he met Elaine at the Ao Po Grand marina dinghy dock before we had another coffee morning at the Port of Call restaurant. In between this arrangement, Elaine enjoyed a “dinghy visit” from Yim and Richard, off Charon, who were out on a dinghy exploration. We returned to Paw Paw just before the heavens opened again and stayed that way for the remainder of the day, allowing us to replenish our rain water. This is the first time we’ve ever collected rain water, but given the amount of rain that falls here, it would be sacrilege not to.

So, with the rainy weather, while Roy pottered around, Elaine completed the cataloguing and uploading of all our Thailand photographs. These can be found by clicking on the “Last” tab of our Circumnavigation Album on the Gallery. Enjoy!

Looking back over the photographs we actually had quite a few adventures before the COVID-19 cases started to spike and Phuket Province was closed off from the rest of Thailand. Hopefully those days will return fairly soon so we can get back to our sailing as well as enjoying the many festivals normally celebrated.

Another one missed due to the lockdown is the annual “Por Tor Festival”, also known as the “Hungry Ghosts Festival”, celebrated this year without the street processions. It’s held in the 7th or 9th Lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which is believed to be when the gates of Hell open and spirits are allowed to wander the Earth and revisit homes.

During the festival, people bring food and decorated fruits to offer to the God of the Demons, “Por Tor Kong”, for him to pass along to the spirits, similarly to what we saw at the birthday celebrations of the Jade Emperor on Penang Island, Malaysia. An essential offering for this festival, however , is red turtle-shaped cakes called “Ang Ku”, symbolising longevity.

Not sure this particular festival would be one we would be keen on celebrating, though, as there’s enough badness in the world without opening the gates of Hell to welcome more, but that’s usually the essence and joy of a sailing adventure; to experience all these other cultures and customs of the world, so we’ve included some photographs, complements of others who have attended this festival in past years.

Our day ended with what has become our own custom during this pandemic, our monthly family get-together on Zoom. We certainly had plenty to chat about, eventually saying goodbye some two hours later, making for a rather late night for us having accommodated all the time zones.