As we are now on the beach, time moves much slower. We got a great night's sleep and slowly made our way to breakfast this morning. What a spread! The breakfast buffet in Chiang Mai had a wide variety that we thought couldn't be topped but this was fantastic. Not only was there a large selection of Western and Asian options (fruit, cheeses, eggs, fried rice, noodles) but the quality of the food was exquisite. We had fresh pineapple juice, dragon fruit juice, and tea for beverages. Keely ordered the eggs and smoked salmon (of course!) and Kevin had an omelet. We sampled most of the cheeses, the hot Asian dishes (Kevin added more chili pepper sauce then usual on his fried rice) and sweet coconut rice in a banana leaf. The highlight of the breakfast was the banana crepes with fresh whipped cream!

After breakfast, we needed to do some exercise before sitting on the beach all day so we went on a guided walk to the Big Bat Caves. The walk took us along the beach, past several rock climbing groups and up some rickety ladders before we arrived at our destination. To get to the best views, we had to crawl through a narrow tunnel out to the rock ledge but it was worth it. We could see the entire beach and many of the distant islands. After taking lots of pictures, we explored several of the caves with our guide. We saw the geological history of the island as the sandstone and lava rock layered inside the cave and created neat rock formations.

We spent the afternoon on Phranang Beach (one of the three close to our hotel) enjoying the sun and occasionally dipping into the ocean. It was a very nice afternoon until, out of nowhere, it started down pouring! We quickly grabbed our stuff and ran under an umbrella. We wrapped most of our stuff in towels and, assuming the rain would let up soon, headed back to our hut. Unfortunately, instead of letting up, it rained harder. The good thing about 92 degrees is when it rains, the rain is very warm but we were drenched by the time we got back.

After drying off, and waiting for the rain to stop for good, we went to the main dining hall for tea time. We then took a walk on the beach and through some of the shops and stores along the way. We passed several other hotels and are very pleased with our choice and our views! For dinner, we heated up the last of the food from our Thai cooking class. Tomorrow, we plan to do some kayaking up and down the coast - hopefully before the afternoon rain!

Kevin & Keely