Bikes

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Today we had a slow morning which is okay because I don’t mind doing my own thing for a while. Once everyone was up, and we are in the afternoon now, we headed for some food and the boys couldn’t wait any longer to rent bikes. Now, with not even a decent level of cycling proficiency in me, I decided that adding a motor to the equation may not be my best move. But with Alex - our friend from home who we’ve met up with again, who’s ridden in Thailand for a few months - I figured I’d be okay. We took it really easy, the roads are clear and it’s a pretty quiet place. There you go Mum and Dad, we were fine. Andy on the other hand rented what is most definitely not a moped but a full on motorbike. No clue about bikes but apparently it was a big deal, a lot of power, all I can tell you is that is was green, huge and fast. I caught a ride with Alex and it was a lot of fun. Like I said it’s an easy journey when you know what you’re doing and it took us away from the touristy mess into the open air. We followed the coastline to get to a beach which had been highly recommended and even the 45min ride was worth it even if we’d of turned around and come home. The heat was easily fended off by the breeze when you’re on open straights and the roads were, in all fairness, in a pretty good condition. A lot of the typically Thai bends in the road and plenty of steep slopes but it was a great way to travel. Once there we could appreciate all the fuss and had a look around the gorgeous bay with ice-lollies. There is a straight of sand which you can walk along right onto a tiny little island which has rocks you can climb up onto and mostly jungle otherwise. We enjoyed a swim and I made a pretty successful attempt at evening up my very uneven sun exposure. Got home before dark, what a lovely day. Now, it’s a long story but on top of the minor injuries I’ve acquired -that one gets when they are a little clumsy, over excited and in flip flops - I managed to knock myself a little harder today. I am absolutely fine but as the injury is mostly to my foot, I am now officially hobbling about feeling like a complete looser. Made a good attempt at first aid and I want to say that my first aid kit is crap but the truth is you just never know what’s going to happen to you and be prepared for everything. Anyway, mostly it just hurts and it’s the one place where you have to put all your weight through it right the way through the healing. So I’ve swapped the beer for codeine and lots of ice. I think if I tried hopping I’d probably just completely total myself so I’m just limping around. I have managed a dressing and secured a bandage, thank you Nicky, the nurse who led our first response class a month ago, figure of eights are the one. Again I am fine so it’s not to worry but if anything want to defend that the next few days will be a bit gentler because I’ll be dammed if I’m too broke to scuba dive next week. It’s a shame, I’m getting bored resting it but in the grand scheme of things I can still potter around and better just pace myself for the rest of the month while the boys run around and make me jealous.

Love, love and more love from Katie

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