Off to Salad Beach....

On Sunday we packed up again and moved to the Salad Beach Resort. We had spoken with the cottage owner, Mike who was really nice about our move. Was happy to refund some of our accommodation that we had already paid for, which we were not really expecting. We have got the new bungalow for 1400 baht per night which includes buffet breakfast so was quite a good deal. About $50 per night. However the bungalow is a lot smaller than where we were and much older too. The gardens and pool are lovely but the rooms are a bit run down. Not complaining though as still good for the price. They let themselves down with things like ripped towels and bath mats. If they fixed up the little things like that it would be even better. And they don't supply a kettle or hair dryer! Pretty stupid really! How much do these things cost! They change the sheets and towels everyday regardless of whether they needed it. Most places these days let you request fresh linen and towels and you reuse them if you want to. So they waste a lot of money that way and then are tight in others. I did ask for a hair dryer... And the first day was told they were out and would get one the next day! Nothing the next day! Asked again on Tuesday and one was delivered straight away! But when I went to use it later it wouldn't work and then started to smoke and catch on fire! Lauri took it back and the girl said she was sorry about that! But there were no more to have! Oh the dramas to use a hair dryer!!!!

On Sunday afternoon we rode the short distance up to Koh Ma and Maehaad beach. Lovely little spot but was a bit windy. We tried snorkelling there but we didn't really see a lot. A few fish but not many. We then rode a bit further on to Haad Khom a little beach in the north. Water there was crystal clear and fine white sand again. Very pretty. It was a bit too late to try snorkelling there though.

We came back and had dinner on the beach at the hotel restaurant which was very nice. Red snapper.

On Monday we rode back down to Thong Sala to change some money and catch up with Mike for our refund. On the way back we saw some monkeys being used to climb up the coconut palms and get the coconuts down. They have them on long strings and the monkeys go straight up and then twist the coconuts until they fall down. Fascinating! They are very clever.

We came back home and had a swim in the pool and then dinner on the balcony. The weather was starting to turn a bit, getting quite dark and windy.

On Tuesday we woke to a very dark, gloomy morning. Very windy and had been raining a lot overnight. The rain, although only light persisted all day on and off. And it remained windy. We decided to have a quiet day at home. The beach was deserted. I stayed on the balcony and read for much of the afternoon, and Lauri watched a couple of movies. It was nice to have a lazy day. We went down the beach about 5pm and had a happy hour cocktail at Salad Hut. Lovely spot so we decided to go back there for dinner about 8pm. It was very nice food and lovely atmosphere.