I was up very early and as it was so hot I went for a swim in the pool at 6:30 am. Only after I got out did I see the sign that said pool open between 8:00 am and 8:00 pm.  Oops – Oh well – there were staff about and they said not a word.  I think as long as there is no noise they don’t really mind.

Because of our late arrival the day before we were unable to book any tours for that day. However, the agent at the tour desk told me to be there at 7:00 and she would see what she could do. But there was nobody there and she only turned up after 8 and then in spite of trying very hard was unable to book us a half day tour. After breakfast Earl and I went in search of a travel agent and found one two minutes down the road. She suggested a private tour to where we wanted to go – it was at double the price but worth it as we could spend as much or as little time at each stop as we wanted. It was well worth it. It would have cost 800 Baht for 2 on a normal tour. Ours was 1 500 ( R600) for 4 hours which was really not bad at all!
We visited a beautiful Buddhist temple and went to the Big Buddha

At a viewpoint there was a kiosk with coconut ice cream for sale.  I am not fond of coconut but thought I would try it.  It was delicious.

 

We asked not to be taken shopping or to see elephants in captivity! We did however see them at the waterfall we visited and I found it quite upsetting to see two tethered elephants and a few taking people for rides.

Another interesting stop was to see a temple where there was the mummified monk.

We left at 10 and were back by 2 so spent some time on the beach – right in front of our hotel. There are a string of hotels along the beach and each has its own section  with loungers  for their guests.

 

Most of the guests seemed to prefer the swimming pools all of which were full of noisy kids. Our beach had very few people on it. There was an informal kitchen set up in a canoe on the beach. The cooks were grilling all sorts of delicious things over coals made from burning coconut skins and I finally got the earl to agree to buying us each a chicken kebab for lunch. Later we saw him row his kitchen home!

Before lunch I went into the calm sea for a swim. There were two dogs belonging to the beach cooks in the water too. The one came and swam with me. He was so cute.

Earl wanted to swim in the pool so when it became less crowded we spent some time there. Two little German boys aged 5 and 2 took  a shine to Earl and wouldn’t leave him alone. They were in tubes and swam up to him and shrieked and played, jumping from the edge of the pool right next to him. He was exhausted afterwards😂

Dinner was at the pool bar that evening. We had green chicken curry which was delicious. At home we would order medium strength – In Thailand – mild – and a good thing too because otherwise our Western palates would not have coped.  It was a perfect evening in a perfect setting.