Chestikov is going away

Hellooooo

Starting to feel much better...after pretty much doing nothing all yesterday and enjoying hearing the rain lashing down after I went to bed last night..I had another lie in (I always seem to wake up at 10:30 here...no matter what time I get to bed...)

The thunder and lightening storms the last few nights have been incredible to witness. A few nights ago I was sitting on Brett's porch and we just sat there listening to this howling noise comoing across and with what light there was I could see a really dark patch moving towards the camp. It was so loud and consistent we were seriously thinking there might be a swarm of something or a hurricane...all it was was just rain but it came down with such force it really was awesome to experience.

Last night though after I'd gone to bed was the most incredible claps of thunder which kept rolling and rolling. There were a few which were so loud I was listening to the bungalow rattling and I could actually feel the vibration from the noise moving my bed! It's one of those, isn't nature awesome and aren't I tiny moments. Very humbling and beautiful to witness...I've missed this side of life so much living in the UK. There's just so much life around here as well..

The last few nights all the flying ants have been coming out of whever they've been hiding. They go nuts looking for some hidey hole to burrow into and lose their wings in the process. For the most part the geckos get a good feed and in the morning there are hundreds of wings around on everyone's porches. Last night though it was raining hard again and there were frogs absolutely everywhere. I've noticed a few squashed on the road when I've been walking to and from Don's but last night they were in the gullies between the bungalows on people's porches and were chomping up the flying ants and hopping all over the place. It's so nice to be surrounded by so much life. It reminds me of being in the rainforest in Sabah, Borneo about 10 years ago. There's a connection to life that you just don't get when you're living in a city. By morning the various colonies of ants have usually recovered all the flying ant bodies as well..so you kind of have nature cleaning up nature.

I noticed with the heavy rain last night the ant colony in my bathroom (the larger of the two..the little ones seem to have moved out)..was on the move. They were carrying all the larvae or pupae (perhaps Nix can correct me here!) to a new safer home. Every time it rains it seems ants have to rehome themselves into somewhere dry and safe. I have to admit I left having a shower until after dinner so they had time to move in properly! (The ants have set up home behind the tiles in the shower and also in the wall where the tap sits for the shower). When I finish my shower there's usually a few drops which go in behind the tiles and they all go nuts thinking it's raining.

It's the little things in life isn't it! A saying that keeps coming up while I've been here. I've been getting so much joy out of the little things I've noticed through the day. I'm so glad I'm here for longer than the standard 1 or 2 week break that you'd be able to get off work. I know I've said it before but I am so glad and so grateful for making the decision to come here and being able to!

So today...
I got up at 10:30 and finally got rid of the washing I'd managed to leave in the sink the last couple of days while I've been ill (actually I sort of stopped my routine when I got too sick to move..so it might be time to pay for laundry again!). I re washed the load and hung that up to dry. Said hello to my neighbours..Ollie and Jacks and wished Brett a happy birthday.

I picked up Sam and we headed off to Cheap Ass for brekkie/lunch and the 3 of us had a natter, as per usual. After lunch we headed to the beach (Brett was still enjoying his coffee...he enjoys it until well after it's gone cold usually). We had a walk along the beach, by now it was 2:30 ish and planned to head back to camp for the afternoon training. Lately the red flags have been going out on the beaches because during the middle of the year there are a lot of rip tides on the west side of the island. When I was here 9 years ago I remember hearing 2 tourists had died a few days before we arrived because they hadn't heeded the warnings. We got to the left hand side of the beach and noticed a couple of guys in the water. The waves were quite a bit bigger than I've seen them before. One of the guys was only a wave or two out but the other guy was clearly swimming and seemed to be getting further and further out. Sam noticed he looked like he was getting tired and we watched for a little while...
At this point I'd been asking about rip tides..most Ozzies seem to either know enough about them or have experience with them..so Sam had pointed out where the water went a bit smoother and you could see where the current was going...and this guy was in it and heading further into it. Sam went down to talk to the friend who was closer to shore - who apparently said of his mate - 'oh he's ok he's just swimming'...at this point it was starting to get a little worrying..you could see the guys arms flailing a little and from where I was (the sand is pretty level in the water but suddenly rises up once you're onto the beach forming a natural shelf to look out from) I could here him yelling for help. Because Sam and I had stopped and were watching this guy a few other people started to take notice and not too long into this a Thai guy (who later turned out to be a lifeguard) came down the beach with another Thai guy and a short foam board and set off into the water.
The guy who was struggling was starting to go under the water for longer and longer periods of time and wasn't able to keep himself above the top of the waves and at one point I thought he wasn't going to come up again. They managed to reach him though you could see they were really pushing it to reach the guy- he'd been taken so far out by this point. They all got hold of the board and the 3 of them together had to really push it to get back in.
When they did land the guy who'd gone out with the board was really out of breath and the farang who he'd saved was just spent. I did find myself thinking: 'you idiot!!'. There are two huge red flags where the rip tide is and there's a massive sign showing a picture and stating 'rip curl' and they'd chosen to swim in this particular part of the beach.
He's very lucky to be alive and I'm glad we were there to kick start the ball rolling. By the time he was being brought ashore I looked along the beach and noticed that a lot of other people had gotten up and were looking out to see if things were ok too.

So now I've updated my blog..I'm going to head back to camp where there are plans afoot to celebrate Brett's b'day in style.

Love to all XXXX