Thursday 12 April

We returned to our most reliable restaurant for Breakfast - Shelley is loving the fresh fruit each morning. And then back onto the beach at Kata Noi. Kata Noi is the smallest of the beaches on this Western coast but we have found it is the quietest and also has the best snorkeling. We snorkelled twice, the second time Shelley and I ventured a little too far out and Juney got into a minor panic as she couldn't see us. We were fine but it didn't help her worrying so we must try and all stay together. The snorkelling is fabulous though. Hundreds and hundreds of tropical fish feeding off the coral. Angel fish, pink fish, spiky fish, big ones and titchy ones… Just lots to look at. Crabs, star fish, nasty looking spiky things. Great fun snorkelling - I just wish I knew more about what we were looking at.

We came back and after a shower grabbed a Taxi up to the Big Budda. June and I had seen it a couple of years ago whilst it was being built and so we were keen to see what it looked like when finished. I think we may have to return in a couple of years because there doesn't seem to have been much work at all , bar a bit of landscaping to the gardens. The views at the top were stunning and we had a good chat with our taxi driver about the Tsunami threat yesterday. It transpired that following the introduction of a sophisticated Tsunami warning system, yesterday was the first time it had been used for real and that the system is triggered automatically when the sea level rises.

Shelley seemed to enjoy the Big Budda and took loads of photos. We got the taxi to drop us off in Kata and went to have a look at a painting we had been admiring - It is a montage of different shapes and colours of Bamboo - I think we will buy it.

We enjoyed a lovely Mojito cocktail before choosing a seafood restaurant for a meal. What a difference a day makes. Yesterday we ate in a splendid restaurant called Mom Tri's, where the food and service were impeccable. Today we may as well have been in Fawlty Towers. We ordered 3 starters and 3 Main meals. The starters arrived but I had my starter, June had hers but the one presented to Shelley didn't seem right - It turned out to be Junes Main course. June ate her starter - but then noticed that her main - Prawn, Cucumber and Mango salad didn't contain any Mango !!!! Shelley was half way through her starter when her main arrived…. All a bit of a calamity really. However, we ate 3 meals each of 2 courses (I had Lobster tail) with drinks and the bill came to £26. Bargain.

We all then went for a bit of foot worship. June and I had a Pedicure whilst Shelley had a fish treatment - really good as after it her feet felt like velvet.

We walked home in the middle of a water pistol fight, all the start of Songkram - the Thai New Year celebrations which start tomorrow.