After an hour or so I hear extremely loud music very close so decide to get up.

Damm has music on and it's playing through a speaker the size of something that Lemmy & Co would have. A few of their relatives are there and they're drinking beer, Thai whiskey and getting into the spirit of things nice and early (or is it?)

The inevitable karaoke starts and though I'm not loathe to singing the odd song or two I have difficulty in making myself understood about the whole idea with karaoke being is that you try and sing the songs you actually know - as most of the songs everyone else are singing are Thai or Cambodian artists it's a little difficult for me. As such I have to gracefully decline.

Fortunately, later on another one of the villagers arrives with his laptop. He is a teacher and teaches IT/computers at a local school and he has karaoke software on his laptop that has a lot of 'western' songs - over to me then!

At around 10 pm it's presents-time. Everyone has brought a present for someone else and all are placed, numbered on the table.

---

The next hour or so is drawing a number and then presenting your gift to the lucky winner.

After that the children and wives kind of disappear and then it's time for the men to carry on drinking and singing - quiet night really :-)

Finally filters out around 1 am (for me), of course I put it down to jetlag

Jane's there to meet me along with her brother Damm and two of her sisters' children, Lom and Am.

I thought Buriram was closer to Surin than this but we stop for lunch by the reservoir and have somtam and some chicken - delicious!

Afterwards it's straight to Jane's mothers' house and then, after 52 hours travelling, it's time for a siesta as it could be a long night.

Taxi from the hotel to Don Mueang and at security I get the, "Cant take that on board!"

This is, of course (as always), referring to the CO2 cylinder for my lifejacket.

"Yes I can, it's exactly the same as the ones in the aircrafts lifejackets."

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

(Escalates to the airport check-in desk)

--- Phone call ---

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can! If you're telling me I have to take this out and can't take it on the plane then you have to remove everyone in the jackets ON THE PLANE "

Show her the cylinder, detached from the jacket, clearly marked CO2.

--- Silence! Thinking! escalation to supervisor ---

Supervisor listens, smiles, makes a phone call.

"Yes you can sir, where would you like to sit!

Thank you

It was a long wait at Cairo and another 5.5 hour wait at Mumbai but we get into Suvarnhabumi Airport pretty much on time.

I was expecting it to be busy but have neve seen an immigration line like this, anywhere. It's a free-for-all for the first 20-30 metres with just a mob and then it's orderly lines, every ne of them, as far as I can see, is open.

As such it takes an hours or so to clear but my bag's waiting for me.

Straight to the taxi rank and get my ticket for the taxi: the fare is 50 baht on top of the meter charge - this is the standard airport surcharge here and is 'normal'.

As soon as I get in the taxi the driver turns to me and says, "400 baht."

Now I've done this journey once or twice now and I know how much it's going to cost (150 baht, 200 max) so tell him "No, meter!" (in Thai).

At this he goes into the old, I'm not sure where it is, do you know where it is...normal taxt driver crap - in my experience this happens in a lot of places. I'm too tired to argue so phone Jane and then pass the phone to him. Quickly enough we're off, straight to the hotel and it's 160 baht (+50 = 210)). A smile, a wish of Happy New Year and he's on his way.

Up to the room and then across the room to the min-mart to get a refresher - boy am I knackered!

We land at Cairo after a pleasant 1-hour flight and after retrieving my bag go through to the main airport entrance. I go to the EgyptAir desk and explain the situation.

"There are no storage facilities for bags at this airport [smile]!"

"But I was told....!"

"Sorry sir!"

"So I have to sit here for 12 hours with my bag?"

"Yes!"

"AAAArrrrgggghhhh!!!"

I was planning on going on a 5-6 hour trip to see the pyramids and the sphinx but now I'm not - what joy!

Check-in doesn't open until 3-hours before the flight and I'm stuck! Cairo International airport is not a good airport to get stuck at, take it from me!

I sent my mate Akmed (from the Clipper Race) an email from the yacht about my stopover but have had no reply so it's probably gone intop his 'junk' email or he's gone back to the UK for Christmas. Am pleased I have some good books with me.

I get two hours kip before multiple alarm clocks sound. My lift arrives early (at 03.45) so we get to Hurghada airport in good time. No sign of the other 3 so good job I set an alarm. I do hope they don't run into any gay dwarfs as the current record is not good!

Now the fun begins....

The check-in at Hurghada is smooth and the girl checks my bag all the way to Bangkok.

10 minutes later she comes to see me and tells me that as I may want to leave Cairo airport during the day (I have a 15-hour stopover there) I will need to get my bag back in order to leave the airport. Now this seems stupid to me. I don't want the bag in Cairo, I don't need the bag until I get to Bangkok so I don't want it. Strangely enough, when dealing with this kind of situation, the almost fluent girl suddenly seems to not understand anything and a blank look appears!!

She takes my boarding card (Cairo-Mumbai) and returns with a new luggage ticket saying I need to retrieve my bag in Cairo. I ask her if there are facilities to stow my bag at Cairo and get another blank look and something mumbled in what sounds like the affirmative. Even at this stage I know something's not going to be good!

Before the agent comes out to us again we get a call saying we have been cleared and can now come into the marina.

The rib comes out to guide us again and this time we ARE allowed to stay.

The marina manager, etc., are there to meet us and come on board and have a beer. All smiles this time and it's nice to know that all is good.

After a few beers Tim, Jonnny and Sam decide that they're going into 'town' but as I have to be awake at 0300 for my lift to the airport I sensibly decline. I do get a promise that they'll wake me when they come back in at [about] 3 am :-).

Approaching Hurghada as the sun dips down behind the mountains:

We're in VHF contact with the marina and they inform us they'll send a rib out to meet us and guide us in.

Problem, problem

We tie up in the marina and even before the engines are off we get a phone call from customs telling us we're not allowed in the marina! We have to leave and go to anchor outside. Now this is extremely frustrating (to say the least) and no-one there can guarantee us that we'll get cleared that night. One guy (who remains on board as we go out to anchor) keeps muttering he'll be back the next morning!

All is not lost however as shortly after we tie to a mooring ball, a rib comes out to us with someone on it who knows what he's doing. He takes out passports and other information and promises he will be back as soon as he can and that the neccessary formalities shouldn't be a problem.

What to do in the meantime...

Tim calls the agent in Hurghada and is told that he will be there to meet us and is made aware of flights booked. We're told that shouldn't be a problem and all, at this stage, is looking good.

Again the grib was accurate and the wind kept us from making good speed towards Hurghada until early morning. When it did drop off and the sea flatted we were then making 10 knots on course to our destination :-)

We're now north of the Egypt/Sudan border and as we get closer to the Egyptian coastline start to see the mountains.

ETA is tomorrow (28th) at around 1600 hours.

We've been getting grib files via mailasail and on the whole they've been pretty accurate. Local anomalies, as always, exist but they've been fairly good in terms of wind direction, speed and timing.

It therefore comes as no surprise when we start getting northerly winds when we are North of Jeddah, Sea state is not much but it's enough to slow us down to around 4 knots sometimes. We don't have a main sail and our ability to go to windward with any force is non-existant: on one particular 12-hour period, our distance run is pathetic and it's looking like we're now not going to be arriving until the 29th. Not much of a problem there but Annie has been hunting around for flights and has got me one at 0600, from Hurghada, ON THE 28th!!

Let's hope the next 12 hours of grib is wrong and the wind is due to get lighter earlier than forecast.

One positive though is we do catch pur only fish of the trip:

Sunset's can be spectacular:

...to one and all!

Hardly merry on board but now we're only a few days from our destination they'll taste better when we arrive :-)

Tim's turn to cook today and he knocks up a delicious Christmas dinner (sorry Tim, at time of writing I can't remember what it was :-) and the day passes with flat calms and no danger from ships or anything, happy days!

The following winds didn't last much past midday yesterday and after a few hours the sea state had dropped to calm.

Weather forecast is typicla of this time of year and we expect light airs for the next day or so and then northerlies for the last 600 or so miles.

We're not really bothered on board as we're now in a 'safe' area and we finish our four hours on - four hours off dual watches and go back on to 2 hours on, 6 off - happy days

Fishing looks to be getting better and Sam reals one in:

Ah well, who cares, Christmas tomorrow

Decent following winds from the end of the corridor all the way to the Red Sea see us surfing up to 16 knots going through the Large Strait between Djibouti and Yemen.

Nice to get a phone signal and to get belated birthday messages and, obviously, to be able to send some. An hour later and all was lost - c'est la vie :-)

237 nm to the Saudi border

Another one bites the dust!

Our last day in the corridor before we head NW to the entrance to the Red Sea.

A glorious sunrise seas a warship-escorted convoy of merchant vessels heading East.

It's always nice in this area to see coalition warships or aircraft and I liked the fact that this convoy (of 25+ merchant ships) was escorted front and back by warships: now I have no idea what they must pay to have this escort but I bet it isn't petty cash!!!

What I also liked was seeing, about 2 miles from the back of the convoy was another merchant vessel following them whose owner gets their ship escorted for no additional cost - merry christmas

The planning for this delivery had started many months ago by Tim and Annie when they got on board in Mumbai.

We'd all done our own bit of planning, keeping up with news, etc., and were aware that the main piracy threat now seems to be focused on the East coast of Somalia and not the Gulf of Aden: over the last few months approximately 40 warships are not patrolling the GOA.

Nevertheless, this doesn't detract from the fact that the threat most definitely exists and it pays, as always, to be professional and to be diligent.

Being an unarmed vessel our only options are to run away: as an ex-soldier this doesn't sit well with me but given any likely situation and the local balance of [fire]power, there is no alternative.

Anyway, the weather forecast was very good and we had full tanks so made good progress from Salalah to the entrance of the corridor.

We had a few fishing dhows close by on the way there but no suspicious activity. In fact, other than one other [non]suspicious looking dhow on the afternoon of the second day in the corridor, there was no threat or potential danger from pirates.

HOWEVER, what there was a danger from was - and there was quite a bit of that - large merchant vessels WITHOUT any lights on at night - w*****rs! Now for those of you who don't sail, this is in direct contravention of the international regulations for the prevention of collision at sea.

Our first night in the corridor there was a vessel heading East with no lights on. For some reason it then decides to cut across our path - very close by! Now not only are we motoring with correct lights on, in a designated channel that we have permission to be in, but they are contravening every possible regulation I can think of.

In addition to collision avoidance our main thoughts are towards is that a pirate vessel, running dark, coming towards us?

Anyway, it passes to the North and then stops, EVERY SINGLE LIGHT ON THE VESSEL COMES ON (this is standard procedure in the event of a suspected pirate attackt) and they start calling for a coalition warship.

We try and call them on the VHF and tell them we are the vessel they are scared of but they tell us to clear the airways. We carry on our way and inform UKMTO of this incident.

Ten minutes later they call us on VHF and apologise - wankers! Apparently they have a security team on board who are in charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Must be scary being in a 200'+ metal vessel with a top speed in excess of 20 knots and a security team (with weapons) on board.

Oh yeah, didn't know if I mentioned the name of their vessel: GEOCELTIC, that's GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, GEOCELTIC, that'll be GEOCELTIC then - wankers!

We had extra fuel storage containers on board but didn't have enough to motor all the way from start to finish.

The sails on the yacht are in a poor condition and only the jib is useable: the main sail is in a terrible state and cannot be relied on for any weather conditions.

Consequently we have to stop to refuel before getting to the Red Sea. Choices were Djibouti or Salalah and, given current updates fro UKMTO, the decision is Salalah.

Mohammed Saad (99499390/99088206), an agent in Salalah, was contacted prior to leaving Dubai and again before getting to Salalah. I got his information off of the internet and other postings stated he was very good. He is to arrange our clearance, fuel, etc., and due to our delays in leaving Dubai we hope that he can arrange this quickly so we don't have to stop overnight.

He doesn't disappoint! He is ther eon arrival and handles the clearance, the fuel, fresh fruit, Omani sim card and top-up vouchers all in a matter of hours.

Fuel arrives by truck (in 40 Gallon containers) and is siphoned into the tanks and containers via local lads and all is in, cleaned up, food eaten, cleared out and departed by 2100 hours.

Now for the fun bit, the Gulf of Aden

A busy night after leaving Dubai: lots of shipping, rigs and other stuff about.

My watch happens to be quiet and after my 6 hours off watch (whole night in my bunk - bliss :-) we've rounded the Straits of Hormuz and are in the Gulf of Oman.

Beautiful sunrise over Iran:

and the stunning mountains of Oman:

---

We are cleared out (at a cost of £1,000 approx - don't want to cruise here :-) but still have problems with the shaft seals. As we can't leave, we have to clear in again: [unnecessary] problem, [unnecessary] problem, [unnecessary] problem!

The new one's are still not doing the job so Tim decides to put the [5-year old] seals back in to see if that works.

It's going to be far easier with someone in the water so we go and get some dive equipment.

I kit up and go in the water and fiddle about with the prop and shaft whilst the grease-monkeys do the dirty.

It does!

We can leave (once we clear customs again, another £1,000)

The initial departure date was the 9th and we'd engaged a company to facilitate departure (and paid the fee) but customs insisted we had to move into a marina in order to get permission to leave.

There's no problem with this it's just that the marina we were told to go to was the Jumeira Beach marina, nice enough in itself. next to a couple of resorts and a staggering £350 per night mooring fee.

Now you don't get whistles and bells with this, just the pleasure of tying the yacht alongside and being able to step off and go for a walk.

We have to do this to get clearance to leave. Nice view though

Tim, Annie and Sam had a helluva problem getting the boat prepared, ready to go and actually nursing My Way the 1,200 nm from Mumbai to Dubai but the problems most certainly aren't over.

The Yanmar techs are still working on the exhaust problem, the shaft seals on both engines are still leaking and it doesn't look good to go.

Dubai was chosen as this was the place in this part of the world where it was hoped the work could be done. Tim spoke of the catalog of work that had already taken place and a lot of it was just not up to scratch: not for this delivery, in THIS part of the world.

Add to that the immigration and customs problems, the actual cost of all this and I'm pleased it's not my wallet emptying.

One of the problems - and this is faced in a lot of countries, not just here - is actually getting the nexessary gear/spares/equipment.

Sam and myself spend a few days hunter-gathering.

---

Off to Dubai today.

Up at 2 am to drive to Heathrow.

Roads are clear so get down there in good time and then check in at terminal 2.

Flight to Zurich leaves on time but the security at Zurich is painful. Very thorough but we land, are shuttled off the plane straight to the security area and are then made to go through again - why? Where do they think we have been since security at Heathrow: complete waste of time and f**k about!

Flight leaves in due course for Dubai and is heaving. Land a little bit late and immigration is slow.

Annie meets me outside and a taxi to the Irish Village and a few beers with Tim, Sam, Annie and Jonny.

Back to the boat in due course and a messy one drinking till 6 am - ouch!

A couple of days before I left the UK for Thailand in August I went into the LloydsTSB branch in Gorleston to report that my cash card was not working.

I spoke to one of the bank teller's and was told that my card had been stopped but she couldn't give me a reason why??

I ordered a new card but didn't need a new PIN. This would be waiting for me on my return - no it wasn't!

----

To cut a long story very short, this teller in August changed my home address to a fictitious local address. Thing is, she didn't do it once, she did it twice, in the same day!

Now, this is a bank, they hold my money and, in these days of serious risk of identity fraud, she changes my details without any authorisation from me, realises she's made a mistake and then changes the address again. Only problem is, she doesn't change it to my actual address, she changes it to another fictitious local address.

----

Now let's look at this. She works in a bank realises she's made a mistake and rather than make any steps to actually rectify it, i.e. contact a supervisor or even perhaps contact me to find out what my actual address is, she changes my address to something totally different - I might add that I have never lived at either of these two addresses - and lloydsTSB think this is acceptable?

Not only that but they then send my card to this new address!!!

Fortunately I never requested a PIN because I think that though there are a lot of decent people in this world, the chances are that Christmas would've come early for some one!

Not only is it hard to believe that this has happened - not once, but twice - but I find it equally hard to believe that this has actually been allowed to happen! An employee can just change your details without any authorisation or request from the customer!

I have written a very snotty letter to LloydsTSB, unfortunately I'll have to wait untill I return to the UK for the reply.

Flew with Jet Airways again. The long leg of the flight (Mumbai to London) is fairly pleasant (in as far as long-haul cattle class can be), but the Bangkok to Mumbai leg starts off the worst ever!

I'm seated in the row in front of the emergency exit row. This means that I can't recline my seat as it's an emergency exit row but the seat in front of me can!!

In addition to no in-flight entertainment, this means I have bugger all leg room and about 5 inches of room infront of my head: not even enough room to read a book.

Fortunately there is a spare seat in the emergency exit row behind me and I slot into that: pity the other poor sods who have to stay in the EA+1 though.

Shouldn't be allowed or at the very least, they should give those seats away free!