I’ve written a long post this morning, complete with photos, but it keeps disappearing so I’ll try a text only post and save the photos for later.

The beach we’re staying on is absolutely beautiful and the resort is possibly the most luxurious I’ve ever stayed in. It is on a headland between two beaches and, although it’s a bit of a hike to get back up to our bungalow (particularly during the day when the heat is in the high 30’s and the humidity is extreme) the views are amazing and it’s turquoise water, white sand and coconut palms as far as the eye can see.

I don’t know much about Koh Phangan, but if someone were to suggest that this was the most quiet, middle class beach on the island I’d believe them. It’s super clean, no people walking the beach trying to sell anything, the price of everything is about a quarter what you’d pay at home – but I’m sure things are cheaper elsewhere. Except sunscreen. We didn’t bring any and it’s ridiculously expensive here. It also seems that there aren’t many people here right now.

Luke and I were pretty tired when we landed in Koh Samui but after many days of naps and relaxing we’re feeling great. Today is our last full day at Panviman resort and tomorrow we’re heading to Mae Had, where the snorkling is supposed to be reasonable.

So far the things I’m enjoying most are the food, swimming, the vistas and learning a bit of Thai. I think the best thing I’ve learned is ‘alloy muk!’ = ‘too delicious!’. People smile a lot when you say that.

Things I am not enjoying so much: the humidity and not being able to communicate with Thai people very well. Apart from one guy at reception, there’s no one here who speak much English at all and I am full of questions about what people here do and think.

We’re sitting in Bangkok airport waiting for our connecting flight to Samui. We’ve had a pretty smooth trip so far. Anth drove us to the airport and we had a short line in customs – in fact there weren’t many people in the airport at all. We decided, since we had some Australian coins on us, that we’d have a celebratory glass of sparkling wine to commemorate the beginning of our trip. Sitting down on the plane made it all seem very real and we got as excited as you can get at 1am after several nights of short sleep and a number of glasses of wine.

We flew Thai Airways and, as far as it possibly could be, it was a pretty good experience. Good food, huge selection of things to watch, many drinks being offered and we even had a spare seat in our row so, while Luke had the window seat, I got room to stretch my legs a bit. We slept for about 4 or 5 hours and right now I don’t feel too bad at all. We have a 2 hour wait before our next flight then it’s on to Koh Phangan.

Today is it! We leave for the airport at 9pm after a birthday dinner for my housemate Jess. Last minute tasks involve:
*sweeping everything I haven’t packed (that is staying behind) into some garbage bags and throwing them under the house.
*properly packing my travelpack and carry-on bag.
*buying a couple of last minute things, including some clear zip lock bags for toiletries and clothing that won’t be used til Europe.
*writing a gardening list for my friend Julian who’ll be maintaining the garden.
*taking photos of the car so that if Anth (my housemate who is taking care of it) notices any scratches he can check the pictures to see if they were there before I left.
*charging devices.
*doing the web check in and print out boarding passes.

You might be shaking your head thinking ‘Amanda! Why leave all these things til the last day?’ But if I don’t have last minute things to do I fill the time worrying about what I’ve forgotten and pacing the house.

Oh, and of course all the stuff we took camping needs to be put away. Pretty much all Luke and I talked about at the stinking hot, fly-ridden festival was how we would shortly be in a pool in Thailand drinking cocktails full of fruit.
Bring it on!

This post is partly to thank Jeremy for such a fantastic farewell dinner and partly to practice inserting photos in text and experimenting with layout and coming to terms with this whole WordPress business. As Kat has observed, the ‘reply’ button is at the top of each post, so if you’re thinking ‘gosh, I’d love to tell Amanda how much I’m going to miss her!’ but you can’t find where to do it, go to the top of each entry. Voila!

…ooo000ooo…

On Sunday Jeremy cooked up a storm but unfortunately the turkey had been carved by the time I thought to take a photo. Still, here’s Jeremy being all Canadian and suchlike in the kitchen.

The food was A-mazing. I ate til I was extremely full then ate two slices of pumpkin pie for dessert. I had to lie down on some cushions so my insides didn’t hurt. In fact, I still feel full almost 24 hours later.

Candace made the pies. They were like gingerbread mixed with pumpkin. So spicy and delicious!

There’s nothing like an extravagant dinner in one’s honour to make one feel really special. Aw!