2010-10-25: Phuket Town - do not miss this!

Yesterday evening we went into Phuket Town for a meal, and if possible some entertainment. We asked the taxi driver to take us to a specific restaurant we read about, in the central parts of town. The driver had no luck in finding the place, so we asked him to pull over and let us out. After a short while we found a nice restaurant with only thai people. The food was excellent and the prices on the very low side of the scale.

Some more pictures from Phuket Town and Boat Lagoon: PhuketTown

What you shouldn´t miss if you ever come to Phuket Town is the place we went to afterwards. A tiny bar called Rockin Angels, Fantastic live music and a relaxed atmosphere. We really enjoyed ourself, and stayed until they closed.

2010-10-23: Boat Lagoon, Phuket.

We arrived to Phuket, Thailand Wednesday morning after being travelling for 30 hours. Everything went according to plan and when we arrived to the hotel we got our room directly - much appreciated as we
were rather tired. Boat Lagoon Resort is a big resort built around a well equiped marina, The reason why we choosed Boat Lagoon is the fact that three of the biggest brookers in Thailand has offices here.

Apartments, offices, shops and restaurants all around the marina.

View from the balkony of our room.










Already the first day we had meetings with 2 of the 3 brookers. They helped us alot with information concerning buying process, insurance, registration, etceteras,
Thursday we looked at the first boats. One 42 feet monohull that was not for us. Neither condition nor planning was what we looking for. The other one was a 47 feet monohull that could have been acceptable if the condition was better.
During Thursday morning we also managed to meet the third brooker. He had a new boat for sale, and by coincidence the seller was in the office as well, It was a 42 feet monohull that very fresh and not very old, We feel that 42 feet might be on the smallish side, but it is still very interesting as it is equiped almost as we want it, and only a couple of years in the water.
Friday morning we looked at a 49 feet monohull with all the equipment we ever could dream about. The condition of the boat was also good, and the boat is inside our budget even if we need to invest in new sails and renewal of some of the rigging. Our main concern is that the cockpit is very small for a boat of that size, and we expect to spend a lot of the time in the cockpit.
In the evening we took a taxi to Phuket Town, and had a good thai meal. We ended the evening on Timber Hut - a bar with live music and a lot of people. 
After a late night we have spent the day in the fantastic pool area relaxing.

We do not use our Swedish telephone numbers anymore, but we have a thai number now: +66807403493.

2010-10-07: Phuket and Langkawi - here we come!

We have now booked tickets for a 7 week trip to Phuket. We will also spend at least a week in Langkawi. The purpose of the trip is to find our future home - the boat of our dreams. We are already in contact with a number of boat dealers, and it is obvious that there are several intersting boats to look at. We are fairly open to what kind of boat we would like - both catamarans and monohulls are possible. What we want to have is a boat that provides good living space, and is in good condition. Of course there is a long wishlist of functions/equipement we want to have, and maybe we need to compromisse in some areas.
When we are away, we will try to see as much of Phuket as possible. That means that we will not stay at any hotel more than a week, and move around the island.

2010-10-03: Weekend in Stockholm

Yesterday we arrived to Stockholm by train. We had tickets booked for a show by Jerry Williams (born as Sven Erik Färnström). Jerry is kind of a rock legend in Sweden, and now at the age of 68, he have a fantastic show called Dynamite. Watching the show and realizing his age impressed us - we wish we have that energy when we are 68! We enjoyed the evening and continued after the show to an Irish pub in the Old City with live music. If you feel like listening to and watching Jerry on You Tube, you can click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-zwp7A3a3w&a=GxdCwVVULXehZna9ibO9lL_55TAS8MMZ&list=ML&playnext=1

After a late evening, there is nothing like a good brunch. We joined a 3 hour cruise in the archipelago of Stockholm taking us to Waxholm and back. A beautiful trip, and everything you could wish for on the table.

2010-09-28: Status update

We are still in Sweden and spend our time with our university studies and outdoor activities. The autumn in Sweden is beautiful, but it is now getting colder and winter is getting closer day by day. Although the sale of our house is not finalized, we have decided to spend some time in Thailand before Christmas. Most probably we will leave around 20th of October, and stay till 10th of December. The idea is to go to Phuket and investigate the boat market there. We know that there are several potentially interesting boats there. If we have the opportunity we will also go to Langkawi during this trip.

Last weekend we visited Österlen, and the famous "apple market" i Kivik. A lot of people, and a lot of good tasting fruit. One of the trade marks of the market is the big sign built up by apples. This year the motive was Fritiof Nilsson Piraten.

Going back home from Kivik we passed some nice forrests and we stopped for some mushroom "hunting". We normally don´t go mushrooming, so we don´t know all the different kinds. We go for the favorit - chanterelles, and this time we were lucky. Look at the size of the biggest in the middle!!

There is an amazing amount of mushroom in the forrest right now. Some are suppose to be good eating and some are deadly. We take no risk, but enjoy the beauty.

2010-09-10: My eyes got a "touch up"

Last week I visited Capio Medicular, and doctor Wamidh again for a check up. Dr Wamidh was convinced that my eyesight could be even better with a small laser operation, and we agreed to do it the following day.
Just like the first operation it was painless, and the staff was excellent.
Directly after the operation we did a test of the eyes, and my vision was totally clear! Good was getting perfect!!!!
I was prepared that I was going into a healing period, that would be both painful and take some time - up to 3 months to gain the same kind of vision I had straight after the operation. It was good that I was prepared for the pain, becouse the second day after operation was not fun at all.
One week after the operation my vision is not 100% yet. I can now work on the computer, read newspapers and with some effort read the subtitles on TV, etceteras - but on longer distance it is not clear, even if I feel it improves day by day.

2010-08-29: A couple of days on the West coast

We are back home after a couple of days in Lysekil on the Swedish west coast. We had the opportunity to visit our dear friend Ingrid when she rented a fantastic apartment next to the sea. The day we came to Lysekil it was storm and rain, and it continued the next day.

We spent the rainy day in the car and visit a lot of the small villages that are totally crowded during summer. Now it was amazingly "dead" and even a lot of shops where closed.
When the storm and the rain was gone, we strolled around in Lysekil and the surroundings.

 North of the city we found this wonderful place.

Every evening we had fresh fish and shellfish on the menu. Our host served wonderful Norway lobster, scrimps, crab and scallops.