We Enjoyed Our Trip To The Coral Islands So Much A Few Weeks Ago,

we decided to go again,

Riza also came along with us as she had not been to the islands for over 4 years,

we parked our bikes by Bali Hai pier and noticed this display on our way to the jetty,

we were not sure what this was all about but the floral displays looked very nice, the girls pose before the walk to the boat,

and so do we, 'Ah!',

we caught the same boat as before at 10.00, but this time two things were different, first for many it was standing room only,

and second instead of going to the beach on the far side of the island the ferry took us to what I guess is the main town,

we are now pulling up to the jetty,

it all looked very nice with houses

and restaurants on stilts over the water,

the girls happy to be on dry land again,

there was not much off a beach so it was on to motorbike taxi's

for the 30 baht ride up the hill,

to the top and down the other side,

racing at break neck speed we were on our way downhill heading towards the beach we were on last time,

a quick picture over my shoulder of the girls following me,

we came to a stop at the bottom of the hill,

then just a short walk to the beach,

it was a lot more crowded today than just a couple of weeks ago,

but there were still plenty of places to sit,

we asked to see the menu, but the cheapest dish was 250 baht going rapidly up from there, then of course we guessed it, the owner had given us the tourist menu, a quick word and the food was ordered at the 'normal' price,

a beer and a plate of chicken fried rice for me,

fried chicken and some Thai food for the ladies,

well after all of that excitement Mr. Sleep paid a call,

I first realized that when the talking stopped!

batteries now refreshed it was time to take a dip,

Riza strikes the pose,

and Diana, I stayed in the shade reading my book, it was so peaceful with the girls in the sea!

later in the afternoon clouds started appearing from the main land, but in any event it was nearly 4.00 in the afternoon and that is the time of the last ferry from this beach so time for the 50 minuet or so trip home, a great day out and for only 30 baht per person each way, having said that it was another 30 baht to get to this beach but still silly money cheap for the distance travelled,

when we arrived back we were at the tail end of a procession, I did not see anything advertising what was going on, which is a shame as it looked to be quite a happening,

there were people in different costumes and bands all over the place,

and two hundred or so navy cadets,

so I guess it could have been a passing out parade? on our way home we overtook many baht buses with people in costumes, it must have been a huge event,

then home feet up for Mercury Rising, basically the US has developed a 'super code' that cannot be broken, but a 9 year old autistic boy does, so everyone who knows has to die, well not the hero of course!

although a work of fiction there is a grain of truth in there some where, in December 1955 Sears publish a phone number for Santa, unfortunately, the phone number they offered was one digit off; instead of Sears, it linked to a top secret line at CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command, when Colonel Harry Shoup, the commander's director of operations, answered the phone, he expected to hear about a missile strike against the US, instead, he got a little kid who wanted to talk to Santa,

the above is true, I really could not make this up! although the conversation ended with the child crying and Shoup fuming, the Colonel eventually came around and began giving the children updates on Santa's travels through the night sky, the following year, CONAD offered a new, non-secret, phone number that children could call, in 1958, when CONAD became NORAD, the new command continued the tradition,

in 2007, Google came on board, giving NORAD access to its 2-D maps and 3-D Google Earth resources to improve its tracking, Gmail also provides an address that children can use to email their lists directly to Santa, in 2008, 1,275 people, 100 phones, and 25 computers handled 69,845 phone calls and 6,086 e-mails from around the world, in order to ensure that the many volunteers don't issue conflicting reports and I thought it was all fiction! after all of that the last series of One Foot In The Grave then off to bed.