{"id":904,"date":"2017-07-12T20:59:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T02:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/?p=904"},"modified":"2017-07-15T06:06:58","modified_gmt":"2017-07-15T12:06:58","slug":"hello-from-phuket-thailand-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/?p=904","title":{"rendered":"Hello from Phuket, Thailand (part two)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Hello from Phuket, Thailand (part two)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Thursday morning&nbsp; &ndash; July 13, 2017&nbsp;&nbsp; (Fifth &nbsp;post of this travelogue)<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Tuesday our excursion was a Thai cooking class.&nbsp; They bused us to a fancy Thai restaurant that also holds cooking classes.&nbsp; Right after we arrived we walked to a nearby open air market (photo).&nbsp; Our instructor showed us the various ingredients that we would be using and let us sample some.&nbsp; When we returned we met in an air conditioned class room where the instructor prepared each of four dishes.&nbsp; After she prepared each dish, we then went to an open air cooking room where each of us had a heating stove and all the ingredients to duplicate what she prepared.&nbsp; That area was pretty hot and humid.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<div id=\"attachment_909\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-909\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Cooking-Class-Location-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Location of our Cooking Class\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-909 wp-caption aligncenter\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the market for our coking class<\/p><\/div> <div id=\"attachment_912\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-912\" alt=\"The Chefs\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-912 wp-caption aligncenter\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/The-Chefs-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chefs<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Two of the four dishes had squid in them (one was like a crab cake).&nbsp; That was not our favorite ingredient, but we sampled anyway.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">After we had completed the meal preparation, they served the dishes that we prepared in a rather fancy dining room (photo).<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_913\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-913\" alt=\"The meal we prepard\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-913 wp-caption aligncenter\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/The-results-of-our-cooking-class-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-913\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The meal we prepard<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">On the way to the market we passed a large Banyan Tree that begged to be photographed.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_907\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-907\" alt=\"Banyan Tree \" class=\"size-medium wp-image-907 wp-caption aligncenter\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Banyan-Tree-225x300.jpg\" width=\"225\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Banyan Tree<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Wednesday, we changed our plans so that I could go diving and Pat could have a down day.&nbsp; I was really nervous about the dive.&nbsp; It had been four years since my last dive and that dive was very marginal (both scenery and dive company).&nbsp; If you have not dived in the past two years, you need to sign up for a refresher course.&nbsp; Instead, I fudged the application and studied about 2 hours of video from my original diving class (2005).<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">The dives went very well.&nbsp; It took me a couple of minutes to feel comfortable with the first dive, but after that, it went well.&nbsp; Well, almost.&nbsp; On the first dive my weight belt was too loose and I almost lost it and my swim trunks {grin}.&nbsp; Then on the second dive I slipped on the top step going down to the dive platform and made a big scene &ndash; but no injuries.&nbsp; The first dive included swimming in a &ldquo;wrecked boat&rdquo; (really a boat that had be sunk to provide an environment for the fish).&nbsp; The second dive had great plant life and a ton of fish.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_911\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-911\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Diving-Boat-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Diving Boat\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-911 wp-caption aligncenter\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-911\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">For my log book<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">I have shown the two dive locations &ndash; mostly for my reference.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Diving one location&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/7%C2%B036'30.9%22N+98%C2%B022'46.2%22E\/@7.627687,98.3023636,27089m\/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d7.608586!4d98.379496\">(link to Google map of dive location)<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">{google_map}7.608586 98.379496{\/google_map}<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">Dive two location:&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/7%C2%B036'50.2%22N+98%C2%B022'13.7%22E\/@7.6076705,98.3699571,3458m\/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d7.613937!4d98.370482\">(link to Google Maps location of dive 2)<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">{google_map}7.613937 98.370482{\/google_map}<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n\t&nbsp;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">As has been the case for the past SU trips, we receive lots of gifts.&nbsp; At the General Meeting Pat got several products and I got a neat shirt.&nbsp; Then each night we recieve &ldquo;pillow gifts&rdquo; that are really neat.&nbsp; Quite a bit of the product she has received if from the new catalog which will be released September &nbsp;first &ndash; so we can&rsquo;t show pictures.&nbsp; However, I am including a picture of the great carry-on bag.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_906\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-906\" alt=\"One of Pats pillow gifts\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-906 wp-caption aligncenter\" height=\"225\" src=\"http:\/\/beltguy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Bag-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Pats pillow gifts<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\n\tToday we have a great excursion, but you will have to wait for the next post to find out what it is.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<span style=\"font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">That is all for this post.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello from Phuket, Thailand (part two) Thursday morning&nbsp; &ndash; July 13, 2017&nbsp;&nbsp; (Fifth &nbsp;post of this travelogue) Tuesday our excursion was a Thai cooking class.&nbsp; They bused us to a fancy Thai restaurant that also holds cooking classes.&nbsp; Right after &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/?p=904\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=904"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":936,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904\/revisions\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beltguy.com\/Travelogue\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}