Saturday 17th – Thursday 22nd August 2024

I have spent the last 5 days getting into my relaxing groove! 😍

This has meant I’ve done very little, so this might be a short post! 

The beach here is really lovely, long with soft sand and no rubbish, which is, sadly, very unusual.  
The sea was so calm that the sky and sea looked as one, making the boats look like they were floating! So beautiful. 💙

I had a better walk along to see if there were any bars etc further along. There are. Having walked not very far on a particularly sunny morning I stopped at one place for some shade and a drink. It was a hotel pool and bar area, looked super nice. I found a table in some shade and ordered a refreshing Sprite. I then sat reading and people watching. Lots of people round the large pool, people doing aqua aerobics (looked fun!) it was fab. Then my bill arrived and I had to pay 120 tbh for my drink! Which is around £2.50! It was then I realised I was sitting in the 5* Hyatt Regency Hotel! 😍 It was amazing, but a tad expensive for me. 

I wandered back along the beach to the place I’d found the other day, called ‘Chaplu’ which is really lush. I had lunch, Vegetable Fried Rice and a beer for 200 thb, much more reasonable! 

I’ve have been making good use of the markets next to the hotel. They are fantastic, especially the food one, ‘Tamarind Market’ so much variety and such amazing food. The stalls are permanent, and offer really delicious food. It seems the most popular are the Pizza place, with their huge pizza oven, the place serving huge racks of ribs and the sweet roti stands! 

I’ve tried a Roti, yum! But my go to is a young woman in the corner who does fried rice…the best and it’s only 70 thb! Next to her is a stand doing an amazing satay chicken, again really cheap and delicious. 

I also love just sitting listening to the live music and watching everyone. Such a fabulous place to get yummy, cheap food. 

There are also a couple of lovely, independent coffee shops nearby, who do oat milk. 👍 They are great places for me to sit and write my blog or as I did on Tuesday do some planning for Vietnam. The great thing is they all provide free super fast wifi! Unlike Australia, who didn’t have wifi at all. 

I went for another lovely beach walk on Wednesday. It was a little overcast but still very hot. I opted to walk in the opposite direction towards the end of the beach. I ended up walking all the way to the end of the beach and the rocky outcrop. It didn’t look that far away, but I guess looks can be deceiving! 😬 It ended up being around 3ks which was not a problem but it was bloody warm! 🥵

Luckily at the end there were a couple of nice places to get food and drink! I sat with my mango smoothie and cooled off whilst watching monkeys on the beach! 😍

I thought about getting a Songthaew or a grab back but in the end I decided to walk, it didn’t seem so far on the way back! 

My only regret was not putting on my swimming costume before leaving, therefore not being able to walk straight into the pool on my return. Instead I had that awful situation of trying to get a swimming costume on a sweaty body, which let me tell you is no easy task!! 😂😂 After much contorting and huffing it was on and I was straight into the pool to cool down! Bliss! 🩵

I also treated myself to a fab foot massage, I felt my feet deserved it!

The lady who did it was amazing, but not gentle. I booked with her for the next day for a full body massage. 

So it’s the next day, I’m writing this in a fab cafe after my full body massage. 

Well I’m not sure what to say really. I obviously knew that the women, Daisy, was good and firm but I hadn’t factored in her hands, arms, fingers, thumbs and elbows being made of Tungsten or that she had the power of the worlds strongest man wrapped up in her 5ft 1 inch, 65 year old frame!! 

OMFG! She had my legs in all manner of positions holding my ankles whilst using her feet to push! It was insane. I can’t say I enjoyed it as such but it was an experience and I came out feeling amazing. 

I’m so glad I opted to go before lunch or I’m pretty sure I would have either farted or been sick or both! 😂😂 She has recommended I have this massage every day! I think physically it would be a fantastic idea, I’m just not sure I’m mentally prepared! 😯

I also Ben doing some more planning and have booked some accommodation in Vietnam. 

I am going to be in Ho Chi Minh City on my birthday. So I have booked a fabulous hotel as a little treat for myself! 🥰

This will be the first time I’ve ever been alone on my birthday, so that’s going to be weird! 

Well that’s about it for now. I’m off to have a swim and read my book. 

Have a great day lovely people.

I am still after Book recommendations. 

Thanks to Kathleen, Laura, Tracey and Jane for yours. 👍❤️

Books read.

I will find you. Harlen Coben. Good (not sure if I have already put this on?)

The Edge. David Baldacci. The 2nd one on from The 6.20 Man. It was ok, but I’m finding the constant the US Army is the best thing since sliced bread references a tad annoying! 

A noise downstairs. Linwood Barclay. OK. An interesting plot twist.