Life's a Beach

We are staying in Koh Lanta one of the Islands of Thailand ... Rosie recommended it. This island is beautiful and relaxing as we imagine most of them are. We have not been to Bali, which looks pretty nice in Dean & Carly's photos, we have been to Hawaii, we like Thailand as a romantic destination. We originally thought that we would do a bit of island hopping, but we arrived here and have stayed. We don't have the energy to shift and we like it here. We have been staying in a great hotel, we had a big room, air con, great wifi, warm water and we are right over the road from the beach. We are spending our last 4 nights on Koh Lanta at a resort which Pete managed to get for half price. A nice way to end our time here. It is on a part of the beach which we both like and there are lots of families ... we really enjoy watching the little children playing in the sand and the ocean. The ocean is great but without sounding pretentious ... I think the Mediterranean is my favourite swimming ocean of all.

We don't do much with our days. Wake up, get up when we feel like it, there is no hurry, eat breakfast, go for a ride on our scooter to a beach, swim, sunbathe, maybe buy a fruit shake or fruit juice, come back to our hotel room to rest and change and then go out for dinner. It is very exhausting work sunbathing and swimming day after day. We found a really good massage stand on the beach and they are doing wonderful things for Pete's sore shoulder, which has been causing him some discomfort at times. I make the odd visit to a yoga class or do some in our room. I guess this is what a holiday is like. Doing nothing but what we want, everyday, we can't remember ever having a holiday like this. It has taken a bit of adjustment, but we are getting used to it.

I think we have really needed this break ... doing nothing. Travelling is exciting and interesting but also very tiring. Having this time in Thailand to do nothing has been very relaxing for us. We have been able to talk about what next when we get back to Christchurch, which is getting closer. We've discussed what we would like to do with this next part of our lives and think about some goals for our future and for 2015. I am pretty clear about what I want to do. Pete is not so sure and feels pretty burnt out from his time at Canterbury and would like to approach his work differently. Its been a great opportunity for us to reflect. Thailand has been a really good place for us do that, no pressure, slowly, slowly as our guide GS would say.

Anyway here are some photos ... This is what a romantic holiday looks like. 

The King of Thailand. He is loved by the people and it is a criminal offence to say anything bad about him, I think I may have mentioned that in my previous post. Apparently Thailand is under Martial Law as the result of a Military Coup last year. Which might be one of the reasons why the tourist trade is slow here this year. Whenever we talk to a westerner who lives in Thailand they mention the political corruption here ... we have not noticed it, but we are tourists.  

We took a scooter ride to Old Lanta town on the East side of the island and had breakfast. There are always yummy fruit platters to start your day. The West side is better for swimming and has beautiful sunsets with wonderful light. This is the side of the island we are staying on.

Morning yoga at the beach. How can yoga not be relaxing and therapeutic when looking out to the ocean to start your day. Location, location, location is everything.

Gasoline for scooters is bought by the bottle. There is the odd petrol pump on the island for cars, but scooters usually buy from street vendors like this one. I thought these were bottles of homemade spirits being sold on the side of the road for a while.

This photo cost us $B10 ... there are roasted silk worms, beetles, praying mantis, some of the bugs I could identify. It would have taken someone paying me more than $B10 to even try one of these. Apparently they are a delicacy. I am not sure I would buy anything from this lady ... she was not very friendly. 

A piece of family nostalgia ... I do have to mention that our VW Kombi never looked as good as this one!

Peak Cafe is right across from our hotel ... a western fix for us tourists. They make yummy sandwiches and great homemade muffins and cookies. It is run by 2 sisters, they do yummy breakfasts as well. We have made ourselves known here. Pete buys a muffin from them nearly every day. We went in for a sandwich for dinner the other night and one of the sisters said she had just taken muffins out of the oven and they were cooling down, waiting for him to purchase.

They also make quite a nice hot chocolate ...

Good to know danger is restricted ... I can approach the cliff edge with confidence.

Taken at Koh Lanta National Park ... the bottom of the island. Imagine day after day after day of sunny hot weather ... 

The remains of tourists ... they recycle all their plastic bottles and cans. 

I like Bamboo Bay, but it is not a good swimming beach. We made a couple of visits here, swam and ate and then went back to our hotel for the evening. I thought lucy might like this photo, she likes Thai food, do you recognise the salad? We have a choice of restaurants on the beach every night. 

Sanctuary Bay ... this is a really nice beach. I attended a couple of yoga classes here and we had a meal, which was not that nice. This is one of the nicest bays on the island I think. These resorts are so romantic.

  

We did 4 Island tour in a long boat. We did some snorkelling, swimming, visiting  Emerald Cave and then home again. Can you see a pattern here. 

Pete was fascinated with these longboats and their engines, a diesel turbo. Anyone who knows Pete well will know how much he loves cars and is always interested in their engines, speed, how they handle on the road etc. When I met Pete I didn't really pay much attention to cars at all, of course his influence has rubbed off on me and my experience of cars and driving has completely changed in the last 35 years.

Bat rock ... I am not sure if you can make them out, but there were at least 100 of them hanging of this rock face. I found this really freaky ... I have never seen a bat before and I was surprised to see them hanging of the side of a rock in the middle of the day. 

We stopped of at  Emerald Cave as part of our tour ... there were 2 boats full of Muslim school girls, about 600 of them, they were fully clothed, with their head scarves, wearing life jackets clinging on to the ropes you can see, working their way into the Emerald Cave. 

Emerald Cave ... we had to swim through the cave and came out onto a beautiful small beach which looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. I thought of Cave Stream when we were swimming through the cave in the dark, with life jackets on ... good memories.  

Thai long boats ... we stopped here for a swim, sunbathe and drink. As you can see by the colour of the ocean this is high tide, I love the contrast of colour in the ocean.

Our hotel room ... one of the best rooms we have stayed in since we have been travelling and it costs us $NZ40 a night.

Sunset on Long Beach ... every time I see colours like this I think Monet. We never get tired of going down to the beach and watching the sunset, the light is amazing.

Night, night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

A Rob moment. He did a great bonfire. 

This is what happens when Pete has nothing to do ... he gets on Trade Me and finds a car for us to buy ... a Peugeot 206 GTI. He even rang up about it and then asked Gail to go and test drive it which she did with Kieran. We didn't buy it, thank goodness.

Then he found this very cool turntable that is made in Wellington. He rang up about this as well. Something for us to look forward to buying when we return to NZ.

We took Alice's advice and booked our last 4 nights on Koh Lanta at Thai House Resort which is right on the beach ... this is our chalet.

The view from our room deck ... what is not to like here in Thailand.

On Wednesday we fly out to Cambodia, starting with a 5 day yoga and meditation retreat.