BRIEF UPDATE

I've already spent too much time on the computer this morning getting caught up on e-mails, message boards, and some news so I will try to summarize yesterday in a few short paragraphs.

Our electricity failed again around 11:30 in the morning.  It turned out that this was part of a scheduled blackout (I had an e-mail announcing it when I checked my Inbox this morning) but I couldn't find an explanation.  But both sides of Chaofa West Road had this blackout during the hottest part of the day.  We opened the windows and read for a while until the power came back on.

With the power restored, I made another stab at designing a new business card with my Thai address and phone numbers.  I had made previous attempts through my favorite printer, Vista Print, but had inadvertently used the wrong phone number and I didn't want to send another box to my sister's house (they don't ship to Thailand).  I found a printer that does ship here and prepared to order 100 cards for USD $9.95.  However, when I was preparing to check-out I found that it would cost $72 to ship the box to me.  I think I'll try to find a local printer next week — perhaps I can even have it printed in Thai on the back of the cards.

While I was finishing this project, Tim's friend Puk arrived unannounced to take us on a "tour" of Phuket using her boss's car.  Tim has come to the conclusion that Puk likes me and wants to break us up.  I acted like I was too busy working and this woman left after a short while; Tim was happy as well.

Later in the afternoon, we set off with the vague idea to take scenic photos with no destination in mind.  Tim took me over the familiar route to Patong and I snapped several photos from the back of the motorbike; I'm trying to build a stockpile of "local color" photos to use for several planned projects.  We ended up driving along the spit of land that forms the southern part of Patong's bay and found a nice beach down the road from the Merlin Resort and at the entrance to the primitive road leading around to Paradise Beach (Tim was afraid to drive that road with me on the back).  We purchased some water and sat on the beach for a while; we took some photos and moved rocks to uncover small crabs and other funky critters.  On our way back, we stopped briefly at a view point where we had some fruit to eat.

We drove south from Patong and then spent some time taking photos of the sunset at the twin Kata and Karon beaches.  Tim had never stopped here before so it was a brand-new place for her as well.  It was very scenic and some VERY large waves were coming in; Tim thought it looked much like the tsunami waves she'd seen pictures of (she stayed at home the day of the actual tsunami) and was afraid to get too close to the water.  I waded into the surf and tried to inch Tim ever closer as well.  We did come away with my best surf-and-sunset photos yet.

Our final stop before going home was the open-air market east of Karon where we bought some excellent corn-on-the-cob and watermelon, eating a nice dinner when we got home.  I read for a couple of hours before falling asleep while Tim watched a really odd movie on television.

Today, we need to go to the bank so Tim can make a monthly payment.  While there, I might look into opening an account for myself.  Other than that, we have no real plans other than avoiding another visit by Puk.  We had thought about going "clubbing" in Patong tonight but the bars, etc. are closed because of another round of elections (Phuket failed to meet the minimum number of voters in the last election so they're trying again).