Thaksin's Sister to be the next Prime Minister Of Thailand

A surprise for many but Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, scored a clear victory with her party Pheu Thai (264 seats to the current incumbents 160). A political novice but a business woman in her own right, Ms Shinawatra will become the first female prime minister of Thailand.

Yingluck Shinawatra

However, many see her appointment as merely the voice of Thaksin, the Prime Minister who was ousted out of government by a military coup and then forced into excel to Dubai over corruption charges. Her victory was delivered by a huge vote in favour of her party in the North of Thailand where Thaksin and his party are hugely popular, here in the South there is considerably less support for her and there was a high turnout for Prime Minister Abhisit.

Thaksin Shinawatra

But all parties fought the election on a promise of unity and reconciliation and both the Thai population and the Westerners living here really hope that she will deliver, but clearly the army generals who deposed Thaksin in 2006 and the Yellow Shirts (those who have shown vigorous opposition to Thaksin) are not going to be happy with this result.

However, the wonderful thing about living on a island such as this, is that you feel remote from all politics, Thai, English and World and envisage any disruption caused by dissenters will not affect our beautiful island. So our one day of politics is over on the island, today the sun is shining and sea is tranquil, something we hope for the whole of Thailand.

Mellisa x

Red Snapper Open Agains on the 7th July

Joyce and Ed have been on their travels and after being away for far too long, Red Snapper, their fantastic restaurant is opening up again on the 7th July. Serving delicious Tapas, the best steak and some great wines.

So head down to their jungle location about 100m south of 7/11 in Phrae Ae (Long Beach), beachside.

Joyce, get the big wine glasses out...... I will be making a visit!

Sore Neck?

Well I have got this blog bug real bad, so i am now suffering for my art and my neck and back started to seize up from sitting in such a bad position.

So a friend of mine, Steve, recommended a masseuse (as mine was busy!!!! hello it is low season), Manee Lanta (Klong Dao beach, just off main road near the Flintstones restaurant). Beautiful place and the staff speak good english and more importantly know what they are doing. This lady actually teaches here and in Bangkok.

So how was the massage? Wow it hurt! but it was good, at one point i thought she was going to kill me with some maneouvre she did with my neck. Her hands are like steal! I am told they adjust the massage to the pressure you prefer, but I was trying to be brave! But most importantly it worked and everything moves as it should now!

Election Time in Thailand......

So it is election time right now, every road is littered with large placards advertising one of the 34 candidates for the post of Prime Minister of Thailand. After the battles over the last few years between the red and yellow shirts, I unfortunately don't think this election will resolve any of the issues. It is highly unlikely anyone is going to get a majority verdict and so horsetrading with those parties with only a few percent of the vote is a necessity (hmmm sounds like the UK right now).

For us on Lanta, well life, as always goes on as normal, except for the next few days we will all be teetotal as there is a blanket ban on all alcohol sales.