Day 34-35 / Tag 34-35, April 15-16 Quiet days in Kata. Lost and Found

Hello and Sawasdee to everybody!
If you risk something, be prepared to take some losses...

And here is to you directly from the "Lost and Found"-Department, balance sheet after 33 days of travel:

1. Forgot a fine, handmade straw hat from Spain on a minibus
2. Can't find my black Jeans and olive color shorts with the many handy pockets. Must be at TT Nai Yang. I'll write Meow later. (Update: she never answered the email)
3. My simple phone for calls in Thailand stopped working. No way to re-animate it.To the bin.
4. Worst of all, I obviously forgot my Visa card in the ATM of Bangkok Bank on Koh Tao, close to Ban's Diving... Those were the fever days, looks like I was not quite myself...
   This was a good one, because that bank refunds you the fees for using the card abroad. Noticed only yesterday, after 7 days, because I didn't need the card until then.
5. Update April 18: Just broke the left glass on my glasses on Koh Lanta,...

OK, so the travel becomes lighter (less luggage) and more expensive (backup visa card charging fees for use abroad).

I want to buy a reef hook for Raja Ampat at Dive Supply in Chalong, but everything is closed, we had Thai New Year, Songkran, the day before yesterday, and most shops take that opportunity to make a short vacation. By the way, Thailand is now in year 2560!

Went to see my friends at the "On the Rocks" beach restaurant at the southern end of Kata Noi, they are closed today, have a wedding with 80 guests for the entire afternoon.

My favorite Beach Bar in Kata Noi, "On the Rocks"

I could be of some help for them
writing the sign "Sorry, we're closed today for a wedding", they had no idea what or how to write it, they thanked me and simply nailed it to the palm tree at the entrance.
Checked my backup credit card, works, picked up my laundry, paid the room and started logging dives to the database, write a bit, go through my fotos and videos, and enjoy my air condition and balcony.

Late Pad Thai somewhere along the road, a small bottle of white wine on the terrace,

following the balloons going up into the night sky, accompanied by a guitar player singing standards from the eighties somewhere down the road in a restaurant or bar...

Quiet days in Kata Beach...

Day 35, Easter Sunday, April 16
Oh, that smell of drying Neopren...

If your room looks like this, you know you are on a true dive vacation ;-)

I have breakfast, complete with omelette, bacon, toast, jam, pineapple juice and some coffees again.
I am still looking for a reef hook for Sipadan and Raja Ampat, try my luck at Oceanic and Asia Divers on the road from Kata to Karon. Oceanic is very friendly and and helpful, Asia Divers staff tell me they don't sell them, because in this area hooks, pointers and gloves are strictly forbidden. I feel and see complacency and self-satisfaction in the way they speak to and look at me. Got the message, get the f**k out of their shop.

Fed up with my ears, I get out the bazooka (Or as John Malkovich put it in R.E.D.: Retired & Extremly Dangerous:

"Can I get out the pig? Finally get out the pig?") and  I buy antibiotic ear drops and Amoxycillin in a pharmacy nearby, get those buggers washed out of my system for sure now!

Light lunch at "On the Rocks", Tuna sandwich, white wine and water. I notice I am running out of cash and drive back to the hotel. Somehow I must have fallen asleep and took a little power nap til five...;-) Who cares, anyway? I am on vacation, I am not on the run, you know...
Last visit at "On the Rocks",
the boss is not there, maybe yesterday's wedding business was a bit demanding. I have a Sangsom Soda with the boys,

 say good bye until next year and Chok Dee na!

Pack my bag for tomorrow's trip to Koh Lanta, a last drink at Ska Bar,

My favorite Beach Bar in Kata Beach, south end: The Ska Bar. Great music, chilled vibes

and finish the day with a 400 Baht Aloe Vera massage somewhere along Koktanode Road.
As I mentioned earlier: Quiet days in Kata Beach...


See you under water