We are staying in the most beautiful resort, called the Dewa Nai Yang in Phuket - it is in the National Park at Nai Yang, which is very quiet. (see Tripadvisor for the full review of the resort)
This is the entrance to our Villa (it is pretty cool being able to say that)
Steve (in his swimmers) in the bedroom, looking in from the lounge area - this is really well set out - we'd stay here again (but when it isn't quite so hot)
The Villa has an outside bathroom - a very big bath, and outside "rain" shower - it took us a bit to get used to this, but we are fine with it now. The Villa has 7ft high walls, and 3-4ft of bamboo above that, so it is very private.
The Villa has it's own pool - it is only 1m deep, but it is perfect when it is hot (which is all the time) - we are swimming in the pool at least 3 times a day.
The hotel has dinners each night (for the first few nights we ate here, but for the last few nights we ate "in town" at the restaurants on the beach). On the "Thai" night at the hotel restaurant, they had traditional dancers.
In the true spirit of being on holidays, we are enjoying the happy hour, watching the world ride by on their motorbikes.
We have seen a lot of whole families on motor bikes - if one person is on a motorbike it is like they aren't really trying
Nikki got to go and give alms (food, bottled water, flowers) to the local monks at dawn at the temple down the street. After giving the alms they gave me a blessing, and it was beautiful. I can't imagine having to beg for food every day - it just goes to show we are really lucky in Australia that clergy only have to pass the plate around once a week & pray that you don't piss the congregation off too much. I also got to spend time at the local temple on the walk home (it was only 300m but the hotel sent a car to pick her & the guide up). Whilst waiting for the monks the guide & I spent a lot of time talking about what we do (home, family, work etc) - when we got back to the hotel he asked me to give him a christian blessing (he was buddhist & our driver was muslim) - so I gave him a blessing & he had tears in his eyes - it was very precious.
There are also these shrines all over Nai Yang - no one could really explain them to me - they aren't buddhist - I suspect they are some sort of animism - they are pretty, whatever they are.
This is us setting up for batik painting (attaching the fabric to the frame). The hotel staff wanted me to do a small t-shirt or bag (which are small and quick), but I figured I was on holiday & wanted to paint & this was the perfect opportunity. Eventually they relented and let me paint the sarong.
Nikki painting - the batik painting at my level is just like colouring in really. This was a BIG sarong though - it took me a little over 2.5 hours to paint. I would have liked to do more shading and texture, but it was 38c and I was painting outside (in the shade thankfully), & I just couldn't do anymore towards the end - but I had a ball of a time, & I loved it. Since then the hotel staff have been coming up to me and asking if I was the lady who painted the sarong, which has been lovely (I think they thought I was nuts to give it a go).
This is one of the staff members who helped me. Towards the end he actually bumped the frame, which made it jump, and 15 pots of paint and water flew up in the air (you can see the splodges of paint on the sarong). Paint went all over me, all over the sarong, all over the floor. He was horrified, and had a terrified look on his face - when I started laughing, he was hugely relieved - I told him I wasn't painting a piccaso for an exhibition, I was on holiday having a great time, so not to worry - he was so hugely relieved. One of the staff members came and asked me if I would like to get him fired, and when I stressed that no, I didn't want to put in a complaint she was hugely relieved, as it would be almost impossible for him to find a job during the low season at the moment. This lovely man had helped me all day (getting me water to drink etc) & if he hadn't bumped it, I probably would have. Whilst I was painting this, this gentleman and the other staff member were having a ball too - I was occupied, and they didn't have any children in the kids club, so they were playing table tennis and generally mucking around - it was a lot of fun. Steve was back in the villa, having fun playing WOW on his computer, so we were both having a good time.
This is the main street "in town" - about 300m from the hotel (the hotel itself is in the National Park). The beach is on the left, and the shops are on the right hand side.
we were actually a little wary of going into town, as the vendors in the shops can be pretty agressive, but they were friendly (being the low season probably helps). We actually haven't bought anything whist we've been away, except for food ..... lots and lots of food (off to the ADFA gym when I get back to Canberra)
There are reminders of the Tsunami everywhere in Nai Yang - most of the buildings have rebuilt, but some, like this, haven't. Nai Yang wasn't as hard hit as Patong (the main tourist part of Phuket), because they had some warning (some tourists recognised the signs and ran to the hotels and restaurants warning people). Most of the people killed in Nai Yang were sleeping in tents in the national park. The building across the street from the hotel is derelict, and the bottom floor is being used as a taxi rank - with taxi's parked in the bottom floor, and taxi drivers sleeping in hammocks or sitting around eating in the rest of the building.
Chocolate Banana Roti- YUM (so going to learn how to cook this at home)
we are loving spending a lot of time hanging out together - this is us in the departure lounge in Kuala Lumpur (the photo makes it look a lot nicer than it is - the "budget airline" part of the airport is really run down and dingy, and we've decided it is the Rovanemi of Malaysia).
from facebook - ok, I officialy have the best kids in the world - even though I am loving my time away with Steve on holiday, I was feeling a little ripped off we'd be away for Mother's Day (yep, my own fault, but it was the only week we could get away for the next 9 months). The kids surprised me with some gifts the night before we left, and I got a beautiful card this morning, that they'd got Steve to hide away and bring with us - love you all heaps, you truly made my day great. Thanks Jacqui, Hannah, Connor, Kierryn, Maddi & Steff
Nikki got to do a one-on-one cooking class with the head chef of the hotel -he was really lovely. We made this salad (the camera broke, so this is from the internet), Som Tam (green papaya salad), chicken & coconut soup (delicious) and a beef stir fry (which was also delicious). Steve & I got to eat the food at the end (the class was at 3, & we ate so much we didn't have dinner). It was a lot of fun & I look forward to trying out the recipes at home on the family.
The hotel has been lending us bicycles, so when it hasn't been too hot (most days it has been getting up to 38 or 39) we've been riding in to town for dinner. It's been a lot of fun. Our camera broke, so this is a stock photo - but it captures just how "cool" we feel riding down the street!
We have eaten a few nights at Phen's restaurant in Nai Yang - it is on the sand on the beach, and the location is beautiful. The food is ok and cheapish. Nai Yang doesn't have the massage people etc on the beach like elsewhere in patong, it is mostly a few restaurants, some sun lounges you can rent, a kit surfer, and just expanses of sand - it has been very quiet and relaxing, and beautiful. (the camera broke early on in our trip - we hope to get a new one duty free - we decided to not stress about it, and just live for the moment. This is a stock photo).
We've been watching a lot of Game of Thrones whilst we've been away - and decided we needed a cheat sheet to keep up with who was who. We learnt early on to not get attached to any of the characters, because as soon as you do, they die (even the dog)
On our last night here in Thailand we bought a balloon to light & release into the night. The boy who sold it to us kindly lit it & helped us wrangle it in the wind so it didn't go up in flames. We waited about 3 mins for the balloon to fill with hot air & then we released it into the night - it went very high up into the air, and sailed away. We had slight concerns it would go into the flight path of the airport that is nearby, but thankfully it blew the other way.
We've had an incredibly relaxing holiday - being very slothful and doing very little. It would be good to come back to Thailand one day when we aren't so tired, so we could explore a little, but we enjoyed our time here. We would definitely come back again, but not during the hot rainy season (it only rained once, but the humidity has been pretty unbearable, even the staff have been struggling). It didn't matter so much on this trip, as we had planned to watch movies, read, and just hang out - a chance to recover from a couple of pretty hectic months (years), and that is exactly how it turned out.
Until our next travelling adventure.... ลาก่อน
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