“I remember once, in Japan, having been to see the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto and being mildly surprised at quite how well it had weathered the passage of time since it was first built in the fourteenth century. I was told it hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt to the ground twice in this century.

“So it isn’t the original building?” I had asked my Japanese guide.
“But yes, of course it is,” he insisted, rather surprised at my question.
“But it’s burnt down?”
“Yes. Many times.”
“And rebuilt with completely new materials.”
“But of course. It was burnt down.”
“So how can it be the same building?”
“It is always the same building.”

I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survives. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.”

- Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See

After a highly entertaining lunch party on our first day which left all of us in a seriously inebriated state, we stumbled aboard and departed at 9pm. Then, in the way that only murphy’s law can strike, we proceeded to have various things go wrong with the boat, starting with the engine leaking diesel into the bilges and finishing with us somehow tearing a whole in the zodiac. The long and short of these events that we decided to abandon our plan to go up to the Similan islands north west of Phuket because we realised that we wouldn’t have enough time.

Instead we decided to stay around Phuket going to the islands in the area, and spent the rest of the week doing lots or snorkelling, diving and sunbathing. It was a very relaxing few days and at the end of the trip, I actually felt rested and ready to face the world again, rather than the usual requirement of another holiday to recover from the first one!

Anyway, enjoy the pics.