Who did a rain dance?

Wednesday 22^nd August 2018.

After the sunniest day of our trip so far yesterday, the rain has returned with a vengeance. It poured the whole time we were at breakfast and Ben shook her head when we questioned whether the sun would come out later. The roof of the Waterfront north wing leaked again in the same places as the other day, and a few more as well. Apart from the leaks, I can’t say I’m bothered by the rain. We haven’t seen much at home for such a long time, this is making me happy and we didn’t come here to lay on a beach in the sun anyway. Although I do hope to get out to the beach massage huts for a foot massage later today. And I’d really like to have a meal at Pinky’s too before we leave. I could easily come back here for some more relaxation! Even without the all-inclusive meals package that we’re on, you wouldn’t go hungry from what’s available nearby, and the prices for some of the meals here are fairly comparable to back home. We’ve had some good meals outside the resort.

I’m wearing my ‘honesty’ pants to dinner and I’m not sure if they’re getting the tiniest bit harder to do up. According to my fitbit, my steps have been down for the last 2 days, I think we’re settling in to lazy mode, so I’d better put on my joggers and go for a proper walk. I don’t know where the time is going, it seems we eat breakfast and before you know it, it’s lunch time, time for a swim and Happy Hour and then dinner! It’s hard work keeping up! Kat and Phil have decided against doing the cooking class on Thursday so I message Pam with what we’d like to make, so that’s all sorted. Might have to set an alarm tomorrow so we’re ready in time for a 9.30am pick up!

I thought I’d pop over to the massage hut on the beach before lunch or else I’ll never get there, expecting a foot massage to only take 30 minutes but it seems all the massages take an hour, so it’ll be a slightly late lunch. That’s ok. The 2 massage ‘therapists’ are both busy with clients but they ask me what I would like and if I can wait 10 minutes. Sure, I can wait 10 minutes. Take a seat kaa. Bang on 10 minutes, a motorbike arrives with my massage lady driving. Happy days, let’s begin. 

foot massage?

One hour for a foot massage for 300 baht sounds like I’ll be in heaven, but I got more than I bargained for! I had no idea that my feet went nearly all the way up to my crotch! There you go, learn something every day. And then to finish, there was the complimentary shoulder and scalp massage and a bit of arm pretzelling. A friend told me I should be having a massage every day. I don’t think I could!! And Trevor declines totally. After watching me get massaged, he tells them he thinks they would break him and I think they would too!! 

The Beach Bar is closed totally, not even open for drinks. We expected that we wouldn’t be able to get lunch there after Kat and Phil’s experience yesterday so we go to the Infinity bar to eat. Kat and Phil have just finished their’s so we sit with them and have a chat while we wait for our lunch to arrive. I finally get my banana colada and it’s not bad although I think I prefer the Pina. They remind us that the Bang Niang markets are on today and I remember saying that we might go, but I don’t know if we will. The weather is not the best and we still have one more chance to go while we’re here. They’re going to Olive for dinner and so are we, but I said we booked our table days ago, we’re not stalking them or anything creepy. Kat said, that’s ok, we’re stalking you! Ha ha! They couldn’t get a table at 7pm so have had to settle for 7.30. They head off to the beach for a massage and I felt like saying good luck but instead I say ‘enjoy’.    

so tiny!

The rain has eased up but the clouds still threaten so it might be a good chance to go back the the Quan Spa courtyard and take some more frog photos. I don’t think what I took on my phone turned out too well. No frog sex today though, thankfully. The rain must have put a damper on them. Just enough time to squeeze in a bit of blogging before swimming to happy hour. Good motivation!

The phone in our room rings. ??  It’s Phil. He wants to know if we want to share a taxi to the Bang Niang markets with them. It’s their last chance to see them before they leave, and regardless of the threatening skies they’re determined to go. I had planned to go today, but being a fair weather friend, and because I also forgot and settled into relax mode today, I’m not keen. The sky looks nasty. Thanks anyway guys, we’ll pass. 

It starts to rain but I figure if I’m going for a swim I’m going to get wet anyway. I didn’t take into account the amount of splash each raindrop causes and the heavier it rains, the bigger the splash. As I set off, even I question the sense of my decision but not being one to admit defeat so easily, I press on. Trevor has arranged to meet me at the Infinity Bar with a towel but I only get as far as the Reception area (about halfway of the planned swim) before my eyes sting so much I can hardly see and take refuge under a bridge to wait for the rain to ease. It doesn’t. Time to give up, get out of the pool and walk to the bar in the rain. The swim up bar is under cover, so at least I can wait for Trevor out of the rain.

There’s a group of 4 young women sitting in the bar who we’ve seen around, mostly at breakfast. Apparently the stupidity of swimming to the bar in the rain has garnered me ‘legend’ status and they cheer when I tell them the story. Trevor is waiting with a towel and umbrella. The traditional, complimentary bar snack is a small bowl of spicy peanuts and a bowl of in-house made banana chips. One of the barmen told us they kitchen thinly slice small green bananas and deep fry the slices. They’re delicious and yet another thing I’ll have to try and replicate when we get home.

On the way to dinner we notice that there's a lot of silt in the pool, you can't even see the bottom. The rain has been heavier today than any other day so far and has caused a lot of runoff. I wouldn't have thought it would go into the pool. The filters will be working overtime to clear it up for tomorrow.

Dinner at Olive looks to be a bit more upmarket than any of the resort’s restaurants, they actually have white tablecloths and dim lighting. Mr and Mrs Grumpy-Bum are seated next to us and Mr GB immediately starts to complain that he can’t see the menu, there’s not enough light. Well, why did you agree to be seated at that table when there are others with better lighting? It’s going to be a tedious dinner although Trevor isn’t bothered, he can’t hear them! 

For entrée, we both order the gamberi all aglio, which is just ok, the prawns taste like they’ve been frozen which is a shame and doesn’t bode well for the rest of the meal. Fortunately, my Rolle di Pollo is a taste sensation and Trevor’s Saltimbocca is very tender and tasty. Maybe we’ll come back here again after all. Trevor has ordered the apple struedel for dessert which arrives looking like something else, not sure what, but he says it’s nice. My crème brulee is massive! It’s in a cereal bowl!! I can only eat half! Kat and Phil arrive about 8pm, they’ve had fun at the markets and we agree to meet at Happy Hour for a farewell drink tomorrow as it’s their last night. Trevor and I have only had a look at the Czar Bar, haven’t had a drink there so we decide to go home that way and have a nightcap but by the time we get there, we realise that we don’t actually want one so continue on home. Another big day.