First Day in Khao Lak

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Well we made it to "The Sands" at Khao Lak in the early hours of the morning today after our uneventful flight from Bangkok to Phuket, followed by an immediate transfer in a private minibus direct to the Resort. We were so thankful that the driver was waiting for us as we had 3 boys who were SO TIRED but coping really well with the long trip over. I think Scott and I were trying to keep our eyes open on the drive north, but with so little sleep and the time approaching 1am local time (which was 4am Brisbane time) exhaustion set in and we "nodded" off here and there along the way. The driver was fast (which normally sometimes concerns me) but we were thankful as the sooner we arrived in a bed the better!

After a quick check in we were relieved to fall asleep by 2am .... and managed to sleep solidly until about 7am.

It is always nice to wake up and wonder what you will see when you open the curtains in a new place. We were thrilled to see the Resort we are staying in is stunning! The grounds are immaculate and it looks very impressive both in daylight and lit up at night. I must get some photos and add them at a later time.

With three boys ready to go, we set off early in the day for a lovely breakfast, followed by some fish feeding and exploring the resort grounds. In fact this place is HUGE ... but we were told the occupancy at the moment is only around 55%.

For a day with extremely tired boys we actually achieved a lot. We spent the morning at the pool ... the boys were excited to spend some time on the kids slide. We then ventured out for a walk onto the main street through Khao Lak. After establishing our escape plan in case of a Tsunami warning (see the picture attached) we found a lovely local restaurant for a yummy "thai style" lunch. Of course, with that came my first MOJITO and Scott's first Singa Beer (oops - he might have had a couple on the plane!). Dad also tried his first Singa and LOVED it too!

After lunch we booked ourselves in for some massages tomorrow .... we have 40 massage vouchers to use between now and when we leave. Mum and Dad have an additional 20. They are for 1/2 hour sessions so we will double them and go for hour long sessions every second day. The boys think they are in heaven and are looking forward to getting their "rub down" tomorrow.

Then .... to our excitement the local market was scheduled for a Wednesday night - YIPPEE!! That meant a quick trip north in a taxi and a couple of hours of browsing through typical Thailand tourist stuff. We were of course in search of some cheap Mojitos ... and we finally found them - just 60Baht each!!! That's about $2 Australian 😊

By 6:30pm the boys were falling asleep on their feet and we were all ready to head home. The Boys ate Banana Pancakes for dinner (well it IS holidays) and we bought some local Street Market food to take home. We were not quite sure what we got because it came in a plastic bag with a bowl thrown in the carry bag on top. There was no time to eat then so we quickly arranged a deal and we were in a local taxi in no time for a cheap ride home.

We headed straight back to the room so the boys could shower and fall asleep. We also said goodnight to Mum and Dad as we knew we needed an early night too (even though I'm now still awake!). Then we emptied our dinner into the bowl and ate it - I'm sure it was Tom Yum Soup with noodles because it was SO HOT!!! Our lips were burning for ages after we finished!!! Mum and Dad ordered the same thing so I can't wait to hear if they could eat it or not. I'm sure Dad would have coped with the spice ... but I'm not sure about poor Mum who normally does not like hot food. Oh well ... that's one of the fun things about eating local foods - you never know exactly what you will get!

Right I'm off to bed ... I need about 12 hours sleep tonight to make up for the lack of sleep last night!

Bye for now ...

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