We are getting lazier by the day. Today we sleep until 8 and only get to the gym at 9. After 30 minutes on the treadmill I am dead and Winsome is starving. After nearly a week of noodles or rice for breakfast, I can feel it on my middle and decide it is time to perhaps eat a bit less. Our plan of late breakfast and early dinner (to save money!) is not working – the food is so great here, it is hard not to eat all the time!
Today is the morning of sorting out the PSP purchase for Luc. By now Katie is about to get a Nintendo and I think between the two families we are about to pay for the shop rent for the year!
I quickly make a stop at our back alley DVD shop. The first trip here was a bit scary. They display the DvDs in the street and when you want to buy the say “come to shop”. We had to follow them down a little back alley lined with small local food stalls (the smell in here is terrible), right to the back of the alley. By now any South African is holding on to their handbags, ready to make a run for it. Then he opens a little door and you go inside, waiting for someone to hit you over the head. The little room is filled with any DVD you can name. And it is cheap – with no guarantee that the DVD will play. Back to today – I get a DVD for Ninah and Kyla and the whole collection of James Bond.
From here we set off to Jungeceylon Shopping Centre again. The PSP man is very happy to see all of us. We juggle about the price again, tell him which games we want and what movies we want on the PSP. Uggg – it takes forever because he can barely speak English and keeps on calling me “Yes sir, madam). We discover that the movies will take a whole day to load so we have to come back again!
There is a big underwear sale in the courtyard of the shopping centre so the girls decide to shop. For Winsome it is no problem, but this shopping turns out to be a gigantic challenge for me. These Thai girls are seriously petite and have never seen real African boereboude – so I just manage to squeeze into XL. Ai – I will have to go on a 12-month stint in the jungle to loose enough weight to be able to wear any of the sexy bras and panties!
It is nearly 2.30 when we are done and now we have serious shopping centre fatigue – Winsome needs a massage to recover and I need food! As we are waiting at our hotel pick-up point we see a massage parlor hidden away between Starbucks and Macdonalds called Sala Spa. On their “menu” it says it is the number one attraction in Phuket – not sure if it meant this specific parlor or just going for a massage, but heard later that it is was voted the Best in Patong. We all immediately agree to try it out. The two Strydoms run to get some food before the massage – and we decide to try the local stalls in our DVD alley. Food turns out to be great – at R17 for two Phad Thai.
We then go up the stair to the soft-lit massage parlor. The kids go for a foot & back massage, whilst we opt for the Thai massage. It turns out to be an hour of agony! My legs are in pain because of the running, my back because of all the old stress. The whole session when like this:
Monique : Uggh aaaahhhhh ouch!
Masseuse : Oh sorry…. (with lots of giggles)
It is a great massage. She climbs all over you, pushes your body into very strange positions whilst she exhorts serious pressure on all those aching muscles. Whilst the rest of the group is in total ecstasy….
I am dead after this massage. We get home I hit the bed and try to sleep for a while, as Winsome goes off for another massage (she justifies this by saying it is her job and she has to do research…. She says this sound fine in her head – you let us know what you think….!!!)
I never get to sleep because all of sudden I realize that my camera is missing! I go through the room and suitcases about 3 times. The kids are watching movies so they are not interested in helping. Winsome comes back and helps, but eventually we decide that it must have been taken from the room. I phone the reception and before I can expand on my opening sentence “I have a problem, my camera is missing” the lady informs me that they picked up my camera in the gym and have it in reception! I cannot for the life of me remember that I took that camera to the gym – old age! Well at least I have it back (and that is why there are very few photos today!).
We go into Pantong town to collect the PSP memory card. At the shopping centre we see the end of the water fountain display. The cards are not ready yet, so we have to come back again – we are now truly gatvol of the shopping centre and this loud, bright, busy streets. We all agree that some place quiet and out of town sounds great for dinner. Back at the hotel the receptionist tells us to go to the White Box restaurant, but when she says “they will pick you up”, we realize that it is a tourist trap. She then tells us about a stunning local restaurant of the cliffs. It is about 5 minutes on the Tuk Tuk and turns out to be really good food – at a good price too! Winsome eats a stunning fish in red curry sauce, whilst I try the Masaman Chicken Curry. Luc eats Chicken Stir Fry Rice (which is a winner for kids) and Katie did the Western Menu – hamburger and chips.
We decide to walk the food off. It is an easy 15-minute walk back down the main road. There are some dark sections but the waiter told us it was safe and of course we get lots of offers for lifts by taxis and Tuk Tuks. We quickly dip our feet in the sea – nice moon and sky tonight. As we walk pass the pool I trick Luc and push him into the pool and quickly follow suit – in clothes! He enjoys this very much!
Tonight we manage to get the kids in bed without too much drama – they now have two fold-up beds after Luc woke up yesterday morning with about 25 (he counted them) “itchy bites”. The two beds also sorted out the “sleeping conflict” between the two. Luc, true to his Palm tree Island personality, immediately wants to push the two beds right next to each other, to much protest of Katie!
I am exhausted – must have been the release of the tension, and fall asleep before Winsome and Katie.
(Now you know why the blog posting for today is so late!!!)
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