Day 4 - Rest and Recovery!

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Today was a day of much needed rest and recovery. We must have been exhausted after the big day on the Lake yesterday because we all didn't wake until nearly 8am today .... well at last I speak for Scott and myself. The boys have an interconnected room and perhaps they were awake earlier ... but they were very quiet so they did not disturb us 😊

After breakfast the boys decided to visit the gym for a workout. I don't mean Scott ... I mean Kobe, Blake and Dylan. Honestly I wish I knew where they got their endless energy from. I know Scott and I are pretty active BUT our boys just DO NOT STOP!!! Dylan and I went for a nice little walk to the beach front after Dylan got tired of running on the treadmill and we watched the waves crashing in right up to the resort wall. The tides here at the moment are very high and as I've mentioned previously a lot of the beach front was recently washed away in a large storm that came through 2-3 weeks ago. It was a good opportunity for me to sit quietly with Dylan and explain to him a little bit about the tsunami that devastated this area on boxing day in 2004 - nearly 10 years ago. I imagine it would be hard for him to understand ... but there are visual reminders all around the area of the loss of life. It is more imaginable when you are here just how difficult it would have been to escape the path of the water ... but thankfully since that time there are warning systems "apparently" in place in case of another event like that.

The boys decided to spend some time in the kids club together so Mum, Dad, Scott and I thought we'd take the opportunity to walk through the local town centre for a spot of shopping - Thailand style 😊

It turned out to be a successful little trip and we picked up lots of bargains. Watch out for the new "genuine original" handbags, t-shirts, shorts, sunglasses etc ...... but I must say some of it is good quality for the price you actually pay! Whilst we were out and about we managed to secure a booking for a rental car which we will have delivered to us on Monday morning. That will give us a bit more flexibility to move around the local area as we have found Khao Lak is quite spread out so getting from the resort to the main area of town is a nice walk for us ... but a stretch for Dylan when it has to be done both ways. Luckily we don't have to go further than the end of the driveway of the resort to find some cheap local restaurants so that can be done of foot unless we want to venture further afield.

We raced back to the resort, collected the boys, had a quick lunch which we picked up whilst we were out and then headed to our hour of bliss!! We had our massage booking which I must say was needed after yesterdays adventure. The little boys had the relaxation massage - Dylan fell asleep again. Blake struggled to stay awake but got through it. Mum had the foot and hand massage and the rest of us had the Thai massage. Kobe said he enjoyed it much more than the relaxation massage he had the first time. In my words, the Thai massage was a fine line between pleasure and pain!!!! It was fantastic as I hate soft massages - waste of time for me .... but this was something else completely! At times she was using her forearm on my quads (which were so sore after yesterday) and at other times she was using the flats of her feet to push into my hamstrings. I was twisted in ways I didn't know my body could move at times - what a learning experience! I'd asked for medium to hard intensity ... and that's the limit of my massages I think! Scott went for the hard intensity ... and he said his lady was standing on his back using the balls of her feet on his pressure points!! This is a type of massage that I've never experienced before. It releases all of the pressure points and when it is finished you feel much less tense and completely invigorated. When people say they love massages because they can fall asleep during them .... I'm confident they are not getting this type of massage!!!!! There could be no sleeping during that .... but it was absolutely amazing and I can't wait for the next one! Oh .... that's right ..... we have booked another hour tomorrow so we don't have to wait long after all 😊 Looks like Dylan will get another day time nap!

After the massages today, we all went for another beach walk - this time we headed north from the resort. Just past the resort in this direction we saw a memorial for some Swedish people who died in the tsunami of 2004. Another moving moment and another opportunity for questions from the boys. It makes it real for the kids when they see photos of other children who perished ... one little boy whose photo we saw was just 5 years old 😞

On a brighter note ... we did find a couple of beach bars open in this direction. We stopped for a drink at two of these ... it is good to support the local people (well we actually feel sorry for them as we were nearly the only customers at each place!).

We noticed on our walk in this direction that the beach is lined with local restaurants and bars but that most of them are either closed or severely damaged from the recent storm. It is really sad to see as these people rely on tourists like us to make a living and yet mother nature rips through their businesses and damages what little they have. Many of the thatched roofs were caved in (probably due to heavy rain and winds) and the tides have washed away so much sand - so much so that many of the trees have their roots exposed. I hope that most of them are able to rebuild their businesses in preparation for the busy season which is over our Summer months. They have a lot of work to do based on what we saw today.

After our beach walk we got a lift down to the main street area with a hotel driver and found a little Thai restaurant for dinner. We all thought it was out best meal yet - and meals were just 90 Baht each (about $3) for things like Penang Curry, Massuman Curry etc. The boys were happy too as they made some western food too - hand made chicken nuggets (real chicken pieces!), pizza and good old spaghetti bolognaise.

Back at the hotel the boys went straight to bed. That's where I'm heading now ... good night everyone!

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