Day 45 – 48

Sunday

My first day in Bang Tao without Rebecca & Chris, also my first night in my new hotel last night.

The hotel is fine, not brilliant and certainly not as lovely as the apartment, especially the pool area! However it is clean, cool, central and very reasonable. It also has a restaurant right next door. 

After Rebecca & Chris left yesterday which was emotional, I unpacked and got settled into my room, had some food and got an early night. 

This morning it feels weird waking up somewhere new and not with the guys. I decide to start my day with a swim then spend a good while updating my blog (posted on Sunday) it takes longer than you’d think! 😀

I’m in desperate need of a pedicure, I had one before I left, but I think the sun is making my nails grow extremely fast! I could just cut them myself, but as a pedicure is £5 I think I’ll treat myself. 

It was very pleasant, and I now have nails and not talons! 

I walk across the road and go to a Beach restaurant that we didn’t get to see last week; The Beach Cuisine, it’s pretty nice, has a good menu and it sells Minuty Rosè, another of my absolute favourites 😍 I’ll definitely come back, but for now I just have a coconut & mango smoothie and watch the ocean, or The Andaman Sea, it’s very peaceful. 

I decide against having lunch here as it’s a little bit more expensive, they  specialise in European food, particularly French, hence the Minuty. 

As an aside this whole area around Bang Tao seems to have a strong French influence, lots of French restaurants, French owned businesses, my hotel, ‘Ma Maison’ for example. We have met and heard a lot of French accents. I will try to find out why. 

I have a walk down to our favourite Beach Bar, the guys welcome me and ask why I’m on my own, I explain that my daughter & son-in-law have gone home, they share my pain! ❤️

I spend a nice few hours chilling at the beach, reading, eating spring rolls. Then take a walk back to the hotel. I get straight into the pool to cool off 🥵 

I’m going to just have dinner at the restaurant next door tonight, I feel really tired, possibly the emotions of the last few days. 

The restaurant is really quiet tonight which suits me perfectly. I have a yummy Pad Thai, I contemplated a dessert, but just before I asked they gave me a plate of watermelon 🍉, I forgot they do this, it’s enough to satisfy my sweet craving! 

Then it’s back to my room, read, I’m now on book 21! 

Then off to bed. 

Monday

I’ve spent the last few days just relaxing at the beach or by the pool.

The weather has continued to be great, lots of sunshine and no rain! 

The hotel I’m staying at ‘Ma Maison’ is absolutely fine, clean, comfy and cheap but although it has a pool it doesn’t get much shade during the day and it has no Umbrellas, which makes it tricky to hang around. 

There are a couple of nice big resort hotels nearby, which have much better facilities. One of them is called ‘Arinara Resort’ Rebecca, Chris and I had a look around, and I spotted that you can get a Pool towel for 100tbt ( around £2.30) this then means you can use the pools, the sun beds, the restaurants and bar, also their beach Sunbeds! Seems like a bargain to me! 😃

On Monday I’d decided that I’ve missed having a nice walk each day so as the beach here is around 8k I figured I could walk along the beach. 

I checked the tide times, as the beach is almost gone at high tide, the lowest tide was at 12.30 so I thought I could have a nice slow walk along the beach around 11.30/11.45. So that’s what I did.

The problem with walking on the beach are 3 fold. 

1. Walking on sand is hard work! But not a huge problem. 

2. The bigger issue is walking on sand on a big slant! Very tiring. 

3. By the time the tide is out the sun has also risen over the tree cover so you are also walking in full sunshine! 

These 3 combined made it bloody hard, hot, work! I managed to walk around 5k there and back, but the sun was fierce. I walked back to my usual/favourite Beach Bar ‘Silmie’ to cool off and hydrate in the shade! (I did have water with me) 

I need to think of a better walking option! 

Tuesday 

Today I’m going to try ‘Arinara Resort’

It was so simple, I just strolled in grabbed a towel, paid my 100tbt and off I went. 

The resort is not very busy so there were lots of Sunbeds available, although there were some with towels on and no people! 😂 

I got a lovely shady spot right by the pool and settled in. 

Another great thing about this place is it has a swim up bar 😍 I love a swim up bar! 

I order myself a nice iced latte, and enjoy the cool shade of the bar whilst reading my book. 

I had a great day, swimming and reading in the shade, watching all the families enjoying the pool. 

I stopped on the way back at ‘Silmie’ just to say hi and have a sneaky beer! The guys here are always so lovely to me, it’s fabulous.

Dinner was at a restaurant 1 minutes walk away a bloody delicious Chicken Biriani, something a little different. I got chatting to a couple from Newcastle, who are staying at ‘Arinara’ I’m not sure how they felt when I said I was staying elsewhere but came in to use their pool 😬

To be fair, I googled it through Tui and to stay there for 2 weeks costs more than double the amount that I’ve paid for ALL of my accommodations for the entire trip! 😁 (even after taking off the air fare) 

Wednesday 

Back to ‘Arinara’ again. More fun in the pool. 

On the way there I passed Mr Mike the tailor, who made Chris’s suit. His wife has a shop next door selling dresses and beach clothes. 

I only have 2 long dresses with me and some beach/pool coverups, which are great but not really suitable for walking around the streets, a little short. 

I called in and asked if she had anything, she did, they were 300tbt. I tried one on, it was lovely, just what I needed. She sold it to me for 200tbt, approx £4.70!! 😍 so sweet. 

Now the weather has changed my long Thai trousers aren’t always the best, especially in the day time. 

I also seem to have avoided getting bitten much the last week. Which makes me very happy. I think it’s all the Thai food I’m eating!! 

After I left ‘Arinara’ I stopped at ‘Silmie’ for a late lunch, spring rolls and some water. Then as the tide was right out I had a walk along the beach, not far just down towards my end of town. However even in that short space of time I have caught the sun on my back, the area I can’t properly reach with the sunscreen ☹️ it’s not bad but it is a little red! 

Another small issue when you are travelling on your own! 

I think I’m going to book some day trips out for next week. 

I’m going into Phuket old town on Sunday for the Night Market and to have a look around. But I might book a day trip to The Phi Phi Islands, and a tour of Phuket. 

That’s all for now. 

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Newquay friends, enjoy the Boardmasters frenzy 😍😍