PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
Last Week in Thailand
Week 84 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
It’s always the same. Time is flying when you’re having fun. And trust me, we had lots of fun in Thailand. Since it was our third time in the country and the second time freelancing for this company, we knew already how to get around and where to get the best food.
We stayed a bit over three months but it didn’t feel like it. Of course, we had lots of free time. Tourism still hasn’t picked up and is far from pre-pandemic times. We knew that. We knew we wouldn’t be working much. But we also knew we would make the best of our time here.
And we did.
So here we are. 30 hours to departure. 30 hours left until we have to get onto the flight taking us across the globe. And we’re still on the island. Enjoying the last moments of our time here.
Life in Thailand isn’t possible without dogs. Or getting in contact with dogs. Dogs are simply everywhere. Even at work. At the airport. Some of them are owned by the staff. Some are stray dogs but taken care of by the locals. And some just live there.
These two aren’t stray dogs and are the only ones tolerated in our instructor's room. Air conditioning, you know? It’s hot in Thailand. Dogs love it a little cooler two.
But this time they got stuck on the wrong side of the glass door. Someone came into the room telling us the barbeque guy was outside. It’s one of the street vendors having his food stall on his motorbike. And he’s selling stick meat. We all love that.
The dogs as well. But nobody asked them if they wanted some. And nobody opened the door for them. These poor dogs weren’t getting any of the delicious meat.
Another day at work is another day of teaching in the sky. On jump number three of the skydiving course, the two instructors both try to release the student who has to fly now by himself. We’re still there, like right there. But we release him at least for a moment to see if he can fall stable.
Guess what, he did do pretty well, which is why I showed the two thumbs up to the other instructor on the other side of him (can’t see him in the picture).
Since our time here is coming to an end, we decided to make a barbeque and invite all the crew. Mostly the local Thais, our parachute packers, drivers, and scooter boys came and they love preparing the meat themselves.
When I looked at the grill the one time I saw these ice cubes in between all the meat. I had lots of question marks on my eyes and asked why?
“To make the fire go down” was the answer I received.
I’ll leave you with that statement. This is Thailand.
Anyone who’s been for a while with me knows that I love sushi. I can’t get enough of it and surely cannot overeat on sushi (I think). Unfortunately, in most parts of the world, sushi is rather expensive and out of my budget.
Not so much in Thailand. Especially not on the local markets. And while you think it’s not a good idea to eat raw fish on the streets, I tell you that it is safe as long as you follow some rules.
- Never buy sushi when there are only a handful of pieces left. It’s obviously the left-over batch.
- Don’t get sushi when there are no customers buying any pieces at the stall.
- Go to the food stall where the queue is the longest. The turnaround is high and therefore the fish and sushi pieces get replaced all the time.
- Go where the locals eat. When you see lots of locals buying sushi at one place, you know it’s safe.
And then you can enjoy mountains of sushi at 15-30 cents a piece.
Last day at work. We actually got placed together on this last jump in Thailand. I was filming my husband as he was launching out of the plane with a customer attached to him.
I don’t know about the guy in front, but the two of us (my husband and I) had lots of fun on this jump together.
And no, we’re not packing our bags yet. Right after our last jump yesterday, we said goodbye to the crew, grabbed our paddleboard and kayak to go straight back to the island.
Enjoying our stay to the last minute we’re back in paradise spending the day on the ocean. And since it was such a great day and this challenge isn’t tied to a limit of 10 pictures anymore, I got a few more images for you today.
We pumped up our boards last evening already so that we’d be ready this morning for a day out on the crystal clear waters.
My husband was planning on renting a fishing rod and heading out at sea with it. But as we were chatting with the waiter last night at our favorite restaurant (it’s our third time on Koh Larn), she said he shouldn’t rent a fishing rod, she will just give him one.
My husband walked to the place this morning and they had the rod already prepared including some bait ready for him. This is what you get for connecting with the locals and being loyal (and generous) customers.
My husband had a blast fishing from his kayak while I was on the stand-up paddleboard next to him or snorkeling in the water checking out where the fish could be.
He caught two fish and was happy as a child when he pulled this one out of the water. Yes, he got sunscreen on his nose, because you know, men don’t always take sun protection so seriously, so sometimes you just have to layer them up.
After a day out on the water what else to do than sit back at your favorite restaurant and watch the sun disappear on the horizon.
With a cocktail in your hand of course. And it’s not any cocktail, it’s one of the best-decorated cocktails I’ve ever had. They know their art over here. I tell you that.
(The cocktail on the left is inside the pineapple.)
We’re at 30 hours on the countdown to our departure from Thailand and we are far from being packed. We are still on the island. One more breakfast with a sea view. One more last swim on the ocean.
And one last picture taken on this little piece of paradise.
We did leave the island today, drove back to our flat, packed a bunch of clothes we wanted to send via post (to make our checked-in luggage lighter), and dropped off the parcel.
We still hadn’t packed anything but decided to enjoy sushi one more last time at our favorite all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. We did not eat any rice but ordered loads of sashimi and a few other unique dishes.
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett was the one starting this photography challenge in summer 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny
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