I arrived in Phuket on 1 December 2008. coming from Seattle via Seoul during the Bangkok airport shutdown. I had booked my ticket to avoid Bangkok anyway so I wasn't affected. I'm back in Thailand full-time to live permanently. You asked about new friends photos so here are a couple from Xmas night. I have many old friends here but these are new ones 200 meters from my house. It’s a great place for a sauna and massage. I have a history with Phuket going back to December 1989, when I came to meet up with my old sailboat partner Charles Daley. I spent almost five years here in the 1990s. I returned for the Millennial New Year in 2000 and stayed a few months then. It's a beautiful paradise here -- Jim Urdahl ‘64