Splashing Out Again ... Adults Only Resorts ...

Day 94 ... Boat transfer day. After cooking our last breaki we were picked up and taken to the pier to get the catamaran over to Koh Phanang at 9.30am. Thankfully it was a lot smoother ride today so I felt fine the whole way which was a nice change! Once we arrived and collected our bags from the boat it was time to find a taxi, there were plenty people about, most of them wearing hi-vis jackets. What we didn't realise is these were taxi bikes! Which meant we needed to get a bike each. So we asked how much and the guy said 200 Baht each, which is £4.60 each for a 6 minute scoot away...I don't think so! But before I could get my bartering frame of mind in place, Adam had jumped in there and was saying 'no that's too much, 100 each'. Eventually the guy agreed and off we went to get on the bike. I'll be honest I was a little dubious about our big backpacks fitting on the scooters, we'd had a similar issue in Bali and it didn't fit. But these guys put our bags on the front of their scooters which came up under his chin and he could only just see over the top. I had my small backpack on and held on for dear life and off we went! In all honesty, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and for £2.30 each it was the cheapest taxi we had taken yet! We arrived and checked in at Nidhra Boutique Resort, it's just a cheap ish place for 3 nights before we get to Bluerama which is the nice, adults only, fancy place. But it's clean and it will do for a few nights! Once we'd relaxed for a while we went for a walk to find some lunch and found a lovely little cafe with a great club sandwich and as Adam found out, really really fast WiFi! He does a speed check in most places we stop off at that are nice which is handy when the hotel WiFi isn't great like Krabi so we went to Starbucks, here we can pop into this little cafe for some decent WiFi. After a walk around the area to see what's around, we headed back to the hotel to cool down a little. It feels so much hotter than Koh Tao and the sun a lot stronger, even though we're only an hours boat ride away! We went for a walk in the afternoon to see what the nearby beach is like. It's nice enough but very narrow so not really anywhere to lie down and relax as you'll just get soaked by the waves. We found a cute little beach bar so stopped off for a drink but the sun came out from behind the clouds and we were literally roasting! So we didn't last longer than 30 minutes before we went back to the hotel. After a little wobble on my part, feeling a little home sick, which always seems to happen recently when we move to a new place, we went to find somewhere for dinner. We decided we'd try out a cheap Thai place for tea, but not a street food stall, the next level up from that, it was a actual restaurant and it was the busiest one in a row of about 4 or 5 different but the same same ones. We decided to order 3 dishes, and seeing as they averaged about £1.40 each, it wasn't going to break the bank. I can't believe it's taken us this long to try one of these places! We ordered chicken cashew, pineapple chicken fried rice, a plain rice and yellow noodles with pork, with a Singha beer and a diet coke. The bill came to £6.90. The chicken cashew was a winner and we'll more than likely go back for another cheap meal.

Day 95 ... We're off on a beach tour of the island today, Adam & Lauren's beach tour, not an organised one. So we rented a scooter after breakfast at the nice gourmet bakery we spotted yesterday and planned a rough route around the south of the island. We were headed to Rin Nai Beach

but ended up at Haad Rin beach, which we weren't too bothered about going to after most people say stay away from the Haad Rin area as it's the party place in Koh Phangan where the Full Moon parties are held. But we were there so we parked up and walked down to the beach and it wasn't actually a bad beach, it seemed pretty clean and not huge but big enough for people to lie on. So we stayed there for a while before jumping back on the scooter and headed to Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach. We got there and it looked pretty similar to the last beach, so we got some lunch at the beach bar (going against what we've said about beach bars and food) and had a chicken pad thai each and it was actually pretty good. After that we decided to head back tot he hotel as it had clouded over and neither of us were bothered about sitting on the beach this afternoon. It was a good half an hours scoot back to the hotel over some winding roads but Adam was enjoying the ride and I was enjoying the views! We stopped off at the little cafe we went to for lunch yesterday to refuel with a coffee/banana and mango shake/chocolate brownie which was so delicious! Then off to the cheap Thai place again for tea.

Day 96 ... Thai cooking class today. So our alarm went off at 7.45am and we went to the French Bakery place for breaki then walked the couple of minutes walk up the road tot he cooking class. When we arrived we were greeted by a worried looking Thai woman. So I asked if we were in the right place and she yes but have I booked. So I said yes and showed her the Facebook messenger messages from 2 days ago with them confirming 9am on Saturday 6th January. But unfortunately she had either forgotten or

because no one else had booked on to the class she wanted us to come back at 3pm because she had nothing set up. A little annoying but not much we could do so we headed back to the hotel and I went back to sleep for a couple of hours as I didn't have a good nights sleep. After lunch at the local cafe, we went back for our Thai cooking class at 3pm. There was another couple there, Adam and Eva from Poland so I'm guessing Chef Oy just wanted to do one class with 4 people. Anyway, when we arrived we chose what we wanted to cook, spring rolls, massaman curry, chicken & cashews, Thai green curry and Pad Thai. Then we hope on the bikes and off to the local market to buy the ingredients we needed. Once we had a wander around the market and got our freshly made coconut milk we went back to the kitchen and made out spring rolls, curry and other meals we picked and then got stuck in to the best part...eating! There was so much food! We are stuffed. It was a great experience and we got the recipes to take and try at home which is a definite! I've promised Hannah spring rolls and Pad Thai and she's pregnant so I can't let a pregnant lady down!! Looking forward to trying them out at home!

Day 97 ... Moving day. To Bluerama Hotel, still in Koh Phangan, just a 10 minute drive further north. We were picked up at 11am and dropped off at our new home for the next 5 nights. If we thought Plantation apartment was a hike up a hill to our room, this was a 3 day trek in comparison. There is no way we would manage a walk down the road and back up in this heat! But we can only imagine what the views are going to be like! Our room wasn't quite ready, so we were shown up to the pool/restaurant and oh was the hill worth it for the views! (I'm not saying we'll actually walk the hill but if we did, it would be worth it!) We have doubled our budget for this hotel but it is definitely worth it. It's amazing what a really nice hotel can do for your mood. It just makes you feel so much more relaxed and we'll actually want to spend time around the pool area and the room (although not quite worth the £60 price tag) is nice enough, it's a little hut with a great view, and I think we're paying more for the whole resort rather than the actual room. It's our first double bed instead of kingsize, so we'll see how that goes! We stayed at the hotel for the rest of the day around the pool sunbathing and coding (Adam, not me). Such a relaxed vibe, seems to get busy with outside visitors too who must be staying local but don't have the same facilities as this hotel does.

Day 98 ... After the torrential rains last night, we woke up to blue skies and sunshine which was a nice surprise. We had lunch at the hotel and got some laundry done at the hotel, it was a reasonable price and we are more likely to get everything back as it's done in house which is a bonus! We decided to have another lazy day but the pool and make the most of the hotel today. So it's more of the same, sun, food, laptops and relaxing...it's a hard life! We got plenty research done on Cambodia, and our hotel booked for when we land in Siem Reap, sticking to our nightly budget for a change! We've been told they're offering a free yoga class on Thursday at the hotel so we've signed up for the class at 9.30am. I'm just hoping it's in the shade, even at that time in the most it's pretty hot!

Day 99 ... After having the chicken Panang curry last night and wondering if my chicken was cooked through properly, saying 'well I guess I'll find out tomorrow'. It definitely wasn't cooked through properly, and I have a poorly stomach today so it's another unplanned lazy day at the hotel. We collected our laundry and although we got everything back for a change,

they had shrunk a few of my things and made everything that was white, a lovely (horrible!!) grey colour! Not having the best luck today!

Day 100 ... Yoga class this morning, and it turns out, apart from one of the 3 brothers that seem to be the managers/owners of the hotel, we were the only ones to take them up on the offer of the free class. We almost pulled out of it too as I wasn't feeling 100% but we went. It was 26 degrees but thankfully in the shade and the weather isn't as good as it has been so a little breezier which is nice! Half way through and we were dripping in sweat! It was so hot but we really enjoyed the class and both noticed a difference in how we felt afterwards! It's so true what they say about exercise and releasing good endorphins, we notice it even more while we're not training numerous times a week anymore! I think the main reason for the free class was for promotional reasons, the guy wanted to get plenty photos of the yoga class to put on their Facebook/Instagram, which was okay by us. Unless he photoshopped us, I actually don't look as though I've put as much weight on as I thought I had, phew!! After a tough hour of yoga, it was time for a well earned breakfast, so I treated myself to the French toast and mango and ohh was it worth it and a nice change from the Granola Bowl which is actually more of a yogurt soup bowl with muesli in it, but still yummy non the less! Seeing as I'm still not feeling a 100% and Adam is on a roll with his Experimentlog coding work, we

decided to put off the scooter trip another day. We figured we may as well make the most of the hotel facilities while we have these amazing views seeing as we'll be being slightly more professional backpackers/tourists for at least the first week or two in Cambodia, before we find another beach to lounge on for a few days to top the tans up!
For dinner we stayed at the hotel again. The rules are, you take your shoes off before you go in so everyone leaves them on the steps up to the restaurant, which we have done every day and night since being here. Tonight was particularly busy so a lot of shoes on the steps. While having dinner I thought to myself 'what if someone takes my shoes'. I should know to ALWAYS listen to my instincts, especially after the under cooked chicken issue the other night. As we were leaving I was looking for my black Haviana flip flops on the very dark steps and could only find someone else's dark blue ones. Some idiot has taken mine! Great! I'd been living in these all week as they were easy to just slip on and off and now I have someone else's shoes. It's not been my week this week!

Day 101 ... Awch, a little bit sore after yoga yesterday! It's our last full day in Koh Phangan today. We woke up to rain and I think it's more of the same for most of the day. So it's another day of relaxing, research, coding work and food. After a bit of thinking, I suggested a slight detour in our itinerary again...! I wasn't sure we would want to spend a full month in Cambodia, so I suggested going to a couple of places in the Philippines seeing as we missed out when we went to Dubai because of the typhoons, flooding and landslides there in November. So after 2 weeks in Cambodia, we're planning on heading to the Philippines for 3 weeks before going onto Vietnam. Let the planning commence...!

Day 102 ... After breaki at Bluerama we got a taxi to the pier where we caught the Lomphraya boat back to Koh Samui. We checked into our hotel in Chaweng and went for a walk around. it's the main tourist area and plenty shopping. I can't believe we've been in Thailand for a month and I've only just bought a pair of elephant pants...mainly for temple attire but they're so comfy!