Last week we arrived back from a wonderful week in Thailand.
They call it a babymoon - the last holiday before your first baby arrives and nothing is ever the same again. We just scraped in before the airlines won't let pregnant women fly anymore - they're not keen on in-flight deliveries and I wasn't keen on one either.
September is the end of the rainy season for Thailand which makes it a great time to go - if you are prepared to risk the odd bit of rain. We were really lucky, the rain only affected one day and it was great with so few other tourists around.
We arrived in Phuket and stayed at CC Bloom's which is a boutique hotel in the hills of Kata Beach. It is run by two gay American guys who pay fastidious attention to detail - the rooms were spacious and lovely and our stay was awesome.
Welcome-drink time
The boudoir
The pool
Beside the pool (restaurant) and Blake's still-pale legs
Can you tell the proprietors are gay?
The local beaches are Kata and Karon, both beautiful white-sand beaches with clear (and bath-warm) water We spent most of our time in Phuket exploring, swimming, walking, reading, playing at the beach and eating.
Morning of arrival - beer o'clock
We checked out Kata beach on the first day and spent hours playing in the full-on waves - lots of fun with a slight edge of danger as there were some holes in the sand and some wickedly strong waves. We even saw a woman being pulled out toward the rocks, waving for the lifeguards. They took off with their lifesaving flutter boards to rescue her, but she managed to get swept back in to shore.
Checkin out the water
It was so hot, we were swimming for ages and acquired some excellent tan lines. So then it was recovery time on the sun loungers, such a hard life.
Looking to the hillside on our right, the grey-roofed building on the beach is a restaurant called On the Rocks - this was where we had dinner first night - was fantastic.
At 'On the Rocks', Blake enjoys a nice Long Island Iced Tea
And Adrianne enjoys a lovely water
A few days later we took the ferry to Ko Phi Phi for the day, enroute to Krabi where were staying for three nights.
It was interesting for Blake to see Ko Phi Phi post-tsunami as he had been there a few years prior with some of the Nelson lads.
It's apparently quite different in layout with most of the buildings being new, and quite a bit of construction still going on. Having not been there before, I wouldn't have known what had happened by looking at it - most of it is rebuilt and done very well. But there were quite a few shops/bars, etc showing pre and post-tsunami shots of the island and it was pretty much wiped out.
Ko Phi Phi harbour
Amazing beaches!
The scene of past boyish crimes, apparently
So then it was off to Krabi. Neither of us had been there before and we pleased to find that lived up to its descriptions. Once again our hotel (Duang Jai Resort) was fantastic and very, very quiet with so few tourists about. Our room was huge and overlooked the pool.
On the day we chose to do an island tour, the weather chose not to cooperate. It was fine and sunny until we got on the boat, but then the clouds of doom descended and it was clear we were in for some serious rain.
Our boat was not flash - it had a roof but no sides and before long we were zooming along (accompanied by four thai tourists and a japanese couple) with the rain beating down in torrents - we were instantly soaked but it was okay because the water was very warm so we just parked up at different beaches and islands and went swimming.
The highlight was the snorkelling part at a marine reserve. the sun came out and there were hundreds of beautiful fish and corals all around. As we were snorkelling our driver threw bread crumbs all around us and the fish swarmed around our faces and bodies so you were literally face-to-face with dozens of beautiful striped fish. (Hint - don't put your hand out, they bite and it hurts.)
Hey, Zoro!
During the short sunny patch, we headed to another beautiful island for lunch. The sun was great and really warmed us up as it was getting a bit cold being wet all day and then being on the windy boat. But as you can see from the clouds behind Blake, there was more rain in store.
We scarpered back to the boat as the monsoon rains came down again and then didn't stop for another couple of hours. By this time the enjoyment was waning as we were saturated and cold and had had enough of swimming anyway. Fortunately after sheltering at one beach for about an hour, the driver took us back early which was a relief because I was freezing cold by this point and also had heartburn and toothache.
We went back home and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening recovering, before it was time to go out and eat (yet again) another amazing thai meal. Then the next day we were winging it reluctantly back to Singapore. I can't wait for our next trip there, but next time we'll be travelling with 20kg worth of nappies and baby gear!
