My plan is to walk from the Big Buddha, Koh Samui, to Bophut Fisherman’s Village. Will meet Rich and Barb there, in an Irish pub, at 8pm. Time on my hands. An adventure to be had.

It didn’t seem too far by car. On foot, it probably takes me two hours. This is with some dawdling, first to wield my camera at the Bangrak food market I find just beyond the causeway that leads from the island the Big Buddha is on.

Food markets, anywhere, are fascinating and photogenic. At the Bangrak food and fish market, fishermen are pulling in on the beach and unloading their catch straight into the market. It’s busy, busy. Locals shopping on Friday arvy for the weekend.

A TV crew in action at one of the stands.

The vendors an eclectic bunch, ever ready to engage in hand-gestures and attempts to explain.

Other places I stop en route are at the Secret Garden, to see the place by day and to book my ferry ticket to Phuket City, where I am heading on Monday for two days.

I detour to walk along the beach where this is possible. To stop in at Orgasmic (check out their nipple pink website) , a restaurant we’ve driven past a couple of times. Seeing pleasure and orgasmic eating are subjects of my memoir Cravings, and my therapist friend Helen Perry has sent me a mouth orgasm scale to play with, I want to check this place out.

“Why that name?”

“Because that’s what the food is.”

I find a French chef at a French restaurant and ask if I can snap a pic of him.

And then weave my way along a stretch of road that has no pavement, hoping the cars will see me and avoid me, hopefully clearly visible under my reflecting umbrella.

Finally I make it to Bophut Fisherman’s Village as they are setting up the Friday walking street.

Wander. Snap. It’s crammed, Jammed and jammin. Food stalls. Clothing. Souvenirs. Cafe’s. Bars. People. Bugs.

Buy sun glasses.

Try a crispy grilled cricket proffered by a French woman who is braver than her daughter, who won’t. Bugs are big in Thailand. Need to brave up.

Nibble here and there and snap pics. Then find the Irish bar and Rich and Barb as a deluge comes down.

© Wanda Hennig 2016, story and photos.

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