Sun, sea and 6 pm storms

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The first day passed quietly with a bit of swimming, snorkelling and snoozing. It was a glorious day, weather-wise, literally the calm before a storm. Around dinner time (yes, early for you Europeans, Asians and, well, any country not influenced by those hungry British settlers), the atmosphere was stifling with not a breath of wind. Then, as soon as we'd eaten and retreated to our room for the evening, the wind whipped up and the rain came pouring down. Wonderful.
The next morning we went for a stroll down to the 'point'. Passing beaches polluted by rubbish, it wasn't a nice walk by any stretch of the imagination. However, the cove at the end was beautiful. No litter and pristine water. Eleanor wasn't impressed and stormed back by herself. Teenage mutant ninja tantrum!
The O'Briens arrived late in the day after a marathon journey from Thailand. Jeannine's sister and her family had come over on an earlier boat and were slightly worried about their whereabouts but Dean tried to put their minds at rest by reassuring them that 'Obe time is different from GMT'. Unsurprisingly, it didn't help. Disembarking on the 5 pm boat with another wonderful tale to add to an already impressive chronicle of late arrivals; a broken propeller, a two kilometre walk over the border in the blazing sun and a malfunctioning train are all part of the 'From Chang Mai to Perhentian Besar' chapter in the next edition of Obe's memoirs.
The purchase of two lovely lime green lilos also serve two purposes: 1. My feet don't have to touch the ground 2. My bones are protected from the hard wooden benches masquerading as sun loungers.

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