Terry"s Pong Pong Tree

Just wanted to mark this date, July 17th, as the first anniversary of Terry"s passing  (Nina's brother) and whilst this past year has had its challenges in coming to terms with our loss, it seemed fitting to leave a memorial in Thailand, being Terry's favourite destination during the last few years
We have planted a local indigenous tree in the garden of the Outrigger, it's called a "Pong Pong Tree"!!

The operation in progress:

And the final result with ribbon, so we can ensure that the thoughts and memories of Terry will remain and continue to grow stronger just like his "Pong Pong".

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Moving on....Palace of the Elephants (FantaSea) & Moped No.2
We went to see a local Thai extravaganza on Wednesday, this included a look around the Carnival Village, which is really a place to ensure the tourists part with some additional money on entertainment such as Elephant rides, bespoke T-shirts and some local hand made crafts, we restrained ourselves and only indulged in some very nice popcorn, presented in a bucket size pot, needing to be fully consumed before entering the show, luckily I was fully prepared to do this, as this is one thing Patrick is not so keen to gobble up, yeah!

That aside the show was very entertaining and we were quite impressed by the pyrotechnics and the trapeze artists were brilliant. However the inclusion of live animals did not sit comfortably with either of us and I do not think it added any value, although I think certain cultures may feel differently, to us they seemed more like very out of date circus tricks and I'm not sure the elephants or tiger wanted to be there.
All in all a surprising and different evenings entertainment.

Funky Moped No.2 has been delivered and Patrick thinks this is more powerful than No. 1!!
I'm still to be convinced, but after a quick jaunt on his own yesterday he did come back with much shorter hair, so either he took a chance and went to a local barbers or the speed of his journey caused a lot of friction under that helmet.
No he is very chuffed with himself as managed to get a 100bht (2quid - cannot find the pound sign)   haircut.

We will be leaving Phuket on Monday and travelling via Silkair to Singapore for the week before we head "downunder" to Brisbane for August. Thailand has been amazing and is a beautiful and relaxing place, it will be a shame to leave but who knows......we could be back (close eyes and think Arnie......or maybe not!!.....Hasta la vista baby!!)