Holiday in snapshots

I cannot believe I have been back from our CT holiday for 2 weeks already – the time really does fly by.

Before going to Cape Town, I was so tightly wound I made a stretched Bungee rope look slack!

Tee as usual, read my mood correctly and without pressuring me to talk or entertain her, she made me laugh and listened to my dramas and drank lots of wine with me, and in the end I was just beginning to feel like myself again. What more could you ask from a friend?

The only problem is that I need these holidays on a regular basis!

We visit some of the most gorgeous wine farms & after my 1st wine & chocolate pairing, I am convinced that chocolate should always accompany wine!

Enjoy my collage of holiday snaps!

Bye bye Thailand!

Our final dinner in Aonang was at a restaurant overlooking the sea. Thanks to some well-placed fans, we managed not to melt completely. I sat next to a couple that I hadn’t really gotten to know and spent sometime getting to know them.

Phil is a personal trainer and as a result has some nice biceps going on. The one elephant guide had felt his arms and said, “Nice strong muscles. Mmmhh you have strong cock too!” that same guide asked one of the girls if she was a ‘She-lady”. Ah boy we had a good laugh! 

After dinner the group went out to get completely smashed and Tee and I did what we do best… Shopping. Truth be told we actually went shopping for another bag as we had no more space left for our copious number of purchases. And to think I went to Thailand expecting to buy a small gift for the people who helped me tremendously in getting ready for this trip and in the end I went crazy. My mom is going to get spoiled but she us always so much fun to buy presents for.

The next morning was a late start for all of us and after packing we spent a bit of time by the pool before heading back to Patong beach.

After a brief goodbye to the people we liked, we took a slow, heavily laden walk to our next hotel. Eventually the weight of our bags forced us to get a Tuk Tuk. Good thing as it turns out that we were going the wrong way! Yikes!

We were going to spend our last evening having dinner on the beach at the same place we had enjoyed our first dinner. However, my body had other plans and I ended up spending dinner time vomitting in the bathroom. It wasn’t from anything I ate or drank so it could have been a bug. I’m still feeling drained and my stomach is sensitive now.

I had wanted to spent the last morning lounging on the beach and working on my tan. Thanks to my SPF20 it doesn’t look like much. Instead I spent it in bed and I managed some last minute shopping before the heat got the better of me.

And here we are sitting at Starbucks (who have been our saving grace in the land that does not have any decent coffee) AND they have free wi-fi.

We have a 3 hour wait for our next flight. Then 10 hours later it’s back to the real world. I don’t even want to contemplate all the work that is waiting for me!

I adored Thailand. The beauty exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend a visit to all of you. I loved bartering over prices, I loved meeting the friendly stall workers, I loved exploring the beauty of a foreign land and getting to know a foreign culture. I love that prawns a pineapples are staple foods! 

Saying all that- I don’t think I will will be eating any rice or prawns for a while. I’m looking forward to a nice juicy steak and a good glass (or bottle) of red wine.

I look forward to constant BBM and FB on my Blackberry without having to rely on wi-fi and I look forward to seeing my babies again. I have missed my fluff balls terribly!

Paradise that is….

… …..Phi Phi Islands

After an extremely long wait on a stuffy boat, we eventually arrived on the Phi Phi Islands on Monday. A walk through the town to get to our hotel was a fun way to see the area and see what was up for sale.

The islanders are not as friendly as on Phuket, but at the same time also not as insistent at trying to get you to buy something.

I finally got to see a gorgeous wood carving for the wall and I really want it, but I am not sure whether we will be allowed to take it back into the country.

Arriving at our hotel- The Bay Resort – we were awestruck. Literally on the beach. The sea sand leads right up to the stairs of reception to check in. Our room is on the 1st row and as I type this I am lying on my bed looking out at the tree covered mountains and the gorgeous sea with the little wooden boats sailing by. The water is sparkling turquoise that leads into a dark blue. Oh my goodness, we have arrived in paradise!

We can swim on this private beach whenever we want to,we just have to roll down the hill!

Our first night we had a group dinner buffet style at the hotel overlooking the water.

I never thought I would say this, but I am getting a bit tired of the rice and curries and prawns (yes I have eaten prawns almost every day!) I have been craving some pizza!

 Afterwards we visited a place called Hippie Bar and watched the Firedancers perform their magic. Its a great show to watch. The bartender also gave me a free Mojito- score! 🙂

Yesterday we took a boat tour out to all the islands. The speed boat collected us on the beach and off we went. With stops at Maya Bay (the famous beach in the movie The Beach) and Monkey Island (where people can feed the monkeys) Bamboo Island (no bamboo in sight) and also Viking Island, we got to swim in each areas seas and watch the little yellow and black fish devour slices of bread. These fishes are not scared of you and swim literally 3cm in front of you. 

The scenery surrounding us while swimming was breathtaking as the magnificent rock faces rose majestically out of the water around us.

You could feel their presence as they watched over us and marvelled at all they have silently seen before us.

Exhausted at the end of the day, we nibbled on fresh pineapple and watermelon pieces as we were dropped back on our beach. A few hours to recover and find ourselves a white tshirt and we joined the group for a western style dinner. After some huge pitchers of cocktails (Tee and I shared the Sexy Beach) and Towers (literally) of beer, we began writing and painting all over each other. The things that came out were hilarious:-

“I am gay- and not in a happy way”

“Rub and tug- 5 Baht” 

“I can Ping Pong better”

“Does this shirt make me look gay”

“I like to Phi Phi (pee pee)”

We paged through a tattoo book and I was so tempted to get a little chinese sign (Love) on my hip. I’ve been wanting to do it forever and to get it in Thailand would be awesome!

We made our way to another bar called Slinkys and watched an even more spectacular Firedancing show. Around midnight we made our way home and showered and fell into bed. Exhausted!

Today is a go slow day. We dragged ourselves out of bed to quickly get breakfast and now we are relaxing. We will be going for a massage just now – I would like the coconut massage- and then some bits of shopping and then lounging on the beach to try get a tan.

I have been slathering on the 20SPF sunscreen and as a result I am not tanning. As you put it on, you have a swim then you re-apply and so it repeats! Its just too hot to lie still for long enough to get a tan!

The tour that wasnt

We overslept. Again

As a result we missed the bus to our meeting place for our first scheduled tour to James Bond Island. Bye bye 1500baht!

I’m disappointed in our tourguide as we missed them by 5 minutes, he didn’t leave any instructions on where to meet them and his phone was off. What the hell?

In the end Tee and I decided to spend a day on Patong beach. 

With almost everything to buy on the beach- we didn’t have to move off our seats

A bit later a group of guys started playing soccer. Shirtless and muscled- suddenly the heat wasn’t only from the sun!

Tee went for a swim a bit later and the guy I’d had my eye on came and chatted to me. I’d been teasing Tharien that I’d happily rub sunblock on when somehow he asked about it and asked if I had any. Seriously? Could the day get any better?

Chatting to Tommy, he is a 22 year old final International Business Student in Malaysia, but originally from Indonesia.

Tanned, charming and intelligent with super long eyelashes. I was itching to run my fingers over that muscled chest and tummy of his, but I had to settle for his arms and the side of his torso.

I made my first barter sale by haggling on a pretty pink beach cover top. I got the price down from 850Baht to 530Baht.

You’ll notice in all these and upcoming photos – I am not one of those glamourous bach girls. I have straggly hair and I sweat in humidity – so i do not wear make up, I warned you!

 

Thank goodness for that top and my sunblock. I have a nasty red sunburn, but considering we were in the water for about an hour and under the umbrella for about 4 hours. I can’t say its too bad.

The lesson I did learn: listen when they say to leave 30 minutes before going into the water once having applied sunblock!

I can even see the spot where I rubbed lotion on my leg and scratched it soon after- I have the sunburn in the pattern of the nail marks- hilarious!

We finally got our first Thai massage today. If I thought it would be relaxing- I was soon relieved of that notion!!

Add in some pain, mixed with a bit of contortionism and some elbows, knees, knuckles and other sharp bits and no muscle was neglected. They don’t just rub the skin and muscle, they move and manipulate the whole muscle itself!

We paid about R100 for a full hour. You really can’t believe the price of things. Deep fried Prawns: R35.

Pineapple on the beach: R7.50!!

All in all, it was a successful day and I can’t say I am too sad about not being with the rest of our group on the tour today. Tee and I will be doing the tour on our own tomorrow and afterwards we will be joining the group for a Cabaret show- all She-Ladies. Think this will be fun!

Now its off to bed again- hopefully we wake up on time.

On to Thailand

After an early start this morning, the day seemed to be full of hurry up and waits.
Eventually we landed in Phuket and arrived at our hotel. The sun was shining when we arrived but soon turned into rain as we sat in the traffic jam on the windy road.

The town of Patong was our destination and we have been greeted by the really friendly Thai people and made to feel welcome.

Already dreaming about our first massage, we have just awoken from our mid afternoon nap and will go on to meet the rest of the Contiki group before we spend an evening together exploring the town.

Evening:-

Met our group- of the 30 of us there is 1 New Yorker, 2 Canadians and 3 New Zealanders. The rest are Ozzies.

We had our first dinner on the beach and it was awesome to have the sand sifting through your toes.

I had a delicious dinner of prawns cooked with mushrooms, spring onions and corn with a delicious sauce
The pineapple juice was just too delicious and they make good cocktails too.

Tomorrow we go on a speedboat tour to the famous island seen in a James Bond movie and I am looking forward to lying in the shade of a tree on the beach relaxing with a cocktail in a coconut or pineapple!

I plan on bringing plenty of sunblock and here’s to hoping I don’t get sunburnt!

The shops are small, and the Thai people are all very relaxed.
I love the fact that we can walk in the streets at night and not worry about being mugged or murdered.

Our tour guide is Ed, he is from Wales but with a mix of a heavy Ozzie accent! You can tell who he takes out on tours the most! 🙂

Looking forward to getting an authentic Thai massage on the beach either tomorrow or the next day, but we will probably do it on Patong beach as the view will be amazing and we leave Patong, Phuket day after tomorrow, heading for Phi Phi. So it would be quite nice to have a massage in each place we’re in.

Last day in Malaysia

As I write this on my last day in Malaysia I am currently undergoing a form of torture commonly known as Reflexology.

After walking up all those steps and walking most of Malaysia flat, our legs and feet have a taken a bit of a pounding.

I can’t say reflexology is fun but I reckon we needed this!

Today we went on our final tour through the butterfly park filled with gorgeous varieties of butterflies flitting around- never sitting still for long enough for us to get a really nice photo.
With all the butterflies gaily flying past our heads, you can’t help but want to twirl around and burst into song ala Disney Princess.

We also paid a visit to the Bird Park. Being the largest covered bird park in the world, it houses a host of birds: parrots, peacocks, Hornbills (Malaysia’s national bird) etc
The heat put a bit of a strain on us today and the sweat was literally running in rivulets down our body.

A lovely Arab couple asked us to pose with them for a photo and I was pleasantly surprised that the lady lifted her veil for the photo.
A couple of waterfalls made the gardens very picturesque and Tharien avoiding falling on her bum…. 4 times!!

 

We had 30 minutes to explore the gorgeous orchid gardens (they are actually called the Hibiscus & Orchid gardens, but we never saw any Hibiscus plants- which are actually the national flower) I strongly suspect that we missed an entire section of the gardens, but by that time I think we were just exhausted from the heat and loss of water.

We came back to our hotel and promptly fell asleep to replenish our energy levels.

Our last night was spent eating sushi,  with ice cream (not our usual donut tradition) for dessert.

We browsed by the huge, multi storied electronics mall and stocked up on another memory card for our camera as only a few days into our holiday we have used up almost all our memory capacity!

A quick visit to the pool refreshed us- for once we were actually cooled down! Thank you to the kind gentleman who allowed us 15 minutes in the pool after closing time had already passed.
Puppy dog eyes always work!

The Royale Bintang hotel has been a great hotel to stay at, with everything a traveller needs: WiFi access, a spa, a gym and a pool and extremely friendly staff who have helped us with everything we have needed.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Malaysia as much as I have as it was merely supposed to be a stop over to Thailand, yet I have been thoroughly surprised!
The nightlife is infectious. The shops all stay open from 10am-10pm. With some establishments only closing after midnight.

The people mostly speak english, which has been a great help and overall have been very friendly and helpful.

I highly recommend stopping by for a visit as you won’t be disappointed!

Malaysia continued

Took in a Malaysian cultural show tonight.

Was a nice mix of Malaysian, chinese and indian dancing. Its amazing how the cultures all live harmoniously and have embraced each others cultures.
Colourful costumes and traditional dancing made this a very enjoyable night!

The city is so pretty at night. Fairy lights hanging from the trees and fake blue and white trees- yet it works!

 

Dinner tonight was not as nice as the prawns and rice last night but nevertheless, it was good
The humidity here seems to make me hungry all the time! Perhaps all the walking has something to do with it? :-p
There is a donut shop here that has the most awesome donuts- light and fluffy with a variety of toppings. Everytime we buy 1 and eat it, we wish we’d bought another!

The coffee is not the best though- we finally went and bought ourselves a Starbucks because we both seem to be having coffee withdrawals!

While getting our Henna tattoo today a little boy came up to me and asked me for a photo. I smiled at him and then he hid away- probably took a lot of courage to ask me but when I looked again, he was gone. I wish I couldve found him again for the photo because that was so sweet of him to pluck up the courage!

Off to the Bird Gardens tomorrow and we’ll also get to see the orchid gardens and butterfly park. Should be a pretty day.

Let me Go!

Thailand is so close I can taste the tropical air with a hint of Strawberry Daquiri!

Only 14 more sleeps & our Asian adventure begins!

I have been obsessing over how little I can get away with packing to ensure I have the lightest suitcase ever! (I used my trip to Clarens as a practice run and all I had left out were socks and a long pair of jeans)

Being in hot humid Asia I still plan to have a long sleeve top, but I doubt a jacket is needed.

A pair of closed shoes should I need to walk a lot

A pair of slip slops that are plastic, which makes them easy to clean and give good grip on slippery surfaces

1 pretty dress for dinner out at night

1 pretty top to alternate with dress – can team it up with a pair of cropped jeans and closed shoes

1 sleeved Tee to protect my shoulders at Midday

2 summer tops & 2 summer dresses

3 Sarongs (can be doubled up as skirts and are lightweight & dont take up much space!)

The key will be accessories and mix n matching the items.

In my toiletry I have everything in miniature:

Shampoo and conditioner

Face wash, toner and moisturiser

Toothpaste (alas my toothbrush is adult size)

I am super excited! I need this holiday like an Italian mob boss needs his Mama!

A trip to Clarens…

…. Just what the doctor ordered.

Clarens is a lovely smal town situated in the Free State – about a 4 hour drive from home.

It is a quaint little town filled with the most gorgeous antique stores (real antiques, not junk) and home made goods.

3 days away from my life is just what I needed. I have been having heart palpitations and terrible chest pains, so I have been ordered not to exercise & on Tuesday I am undergoing an ECG Stress test to see what the matter is – I can tell you now that it is the bitch woman I work with who is driving me insane.

More importantly, i cannot exercise and I have only 23 days til Thailand!

Anyway, I digress…

We stayed in a cozy guesthouse called Periwinkle Blue – Just too pretty with lots of little details that made it special.

Here is my weekend in pictures:

 

 

My room @ the guesthouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olivia Hope who lives in a carpet shop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clementine who lives in a restaurant