Durian

I felt like having some icecream. So I thought – let’s try durian ones. Such a famous, controversial fruit – and I have never tried it. This needed to change.

Mistake. Big mistake.

My foster puppy decided that as long as there is durian ice cream in her bowl, she does not have to steal cat poop. Durian smells better. It probably tastes better too – I do not know, I have not tried the cat poop. I am trying to kill durian with some watermelon, coke, and fish stripes. It works. Partially.

It is a massive NO from me 😀

 

From the Internet:

“Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance, whereas others find the aroma overpowering with an unpleasant odour. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as rotten onions, turpentine, and raw sewage.” /wikipedia.org/

“Its odour is best described as pig shit, turpentine and onions garnished with a dirty gym sock” /R. Sterling, food writer, Internet/

 

Curtain.

photo: Internet

Decency

In Thailand – and especially on Lanta – decency is very important. One has to remember to cover up when going to public placesand temples.

A little scene in a bank – four foreign ladies, one of them in a strapless dress and one in a noodle straps top. They did not stay long. A very polite but concerted guard asked them to wait for their turn outside…

Enough said. When in Rome …

Mother Nature

Before coming to Lanta I read a lot about animals that can be seen here. I am not overly nervous around wildlife but I wanted to be prepared for spiders as big as cows. The fact that our centre is close to the sea so going to a jungle would have to be an extra adventure was definately helping me to stay calm.

And there you go. The Mother Nature decided to surprise me with this beautiful creature in our own dog area:

 

Yes. This is a King Cobra.

So what you are doing when you are not working?

When I am not working, I sightsee. And rest.

For example today I had a massage on the beach. Literally – on a mattress, under a straw roof, to a calming sound of an Andaman Sea.

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There are several types of massages to choose from – a traditional one, an oil one, for certain body parts, Thai (with elements of acupuncture) or not. I was warned of the Thai massage but hey, let’s be brave – so I chose that one.

This beautiful, tiny Thai lady proved to me that I had never had a massage before. I only thought I did.

There were tears. Enough said.

These braids adverts are very intriguing:

photo: Internet

What about these were also hair stylists’ signs?

The next stop was a journey to the Old Town – a charming little village on the east side of the island, with one main road filled with small restaurants and souvenir shops. Every restaurant has a little deck facing picturesque islands, with their vertical rocks literally rising from the sea. A lazy, hot and very safe place – I left Henrietta in the car park with keys in ignition …

 

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Additional attraction were flip flops which so far I had only seen on the Internet – but here? They come in all shapes and sizes 😀

 

 

I was so looking forward to seeing a monitor lizard! and here he was – a little guy living between two restaurants and not particularly scared of tourists.

 

The icing on the cake was a beautiful walk on the beach – a bunch of people, a few dogs, wine, and a breathtaking sunset … Bliss …

 

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Good-night.

photo: Lucy W.