My Little Ones

Did I tell you what happened in Phuket?

We have a two month stint in Phuket at a high-end luxury resort, darlings, Kate Moss and James Packer stay here and now so do we!
Lucky ducks that we are have been given a pool villa as well, so we are very spoilt and while I'm talking about ducks. When we walked in to the resort, after a long road trip from Si Kao to Mai Khao beach, we were greeting in part by several beautiful white ducks, big ones, all swimming around happily the lagoon right there in the resort foyer. It is a lovely touch!
We were very excited, both my artist in residence husband and I, we have stayed in some lovely resorts over the years but this one looked very promising. Shown into our pool villa by a very capable Thai 'greeting-host' who pointed out all of the features. These included our very own view of the lagoon thought quaint little windows made like the old fashion Thai-teak houses. There was an enormous marble bath sitting right in our swimming pool, sweety really, all ready of us with bright pink rose petals floating on the surface, very inviting! Now to get rid of our tour-guide.....heehee......not to be put off, she continued into our huge walkin robe and then into a big room where she explained at great length all of the features which included all the usual really darling....twin vanities, a shower, dressing area, w/c....when will she leave! and then, if that wasn't enough, into the outdoor area adjacent to the bathroom. Here she promptly turned on the outdoor shower, wetting us all. Then we stepped down into the sun-bed terrace where was a pretty little lanai, or outdoor room, clad in teak with a lovely king-size lounger, a couple of chairs and a big bar. The bar was very unusual in that it has a wine-fridge, temperature controlled and full of fine wines. These wines have big price-tags, mostly because all imported wine is expensive, sometimes up to 450 percent duty is added by the government and then you have service charges and VAT.

That should have put me off breaking the seal, but no, after my detox days I am right back into it!

Well, finally, she left us in peace......where is that wine fridge......but, no, the phone starts ringing....'Can Khun Christopher please join the GM for his cocktail party' (where KC has to help entertain), but not a bad gig! Lots of nice icy cold Chilean white wine and the view from the deck at the Sea.Fire.Salt Restaurant is spectacular especially with the firey summer sun setting into the Andaman Sea.

Had a fine time! Meet some nice people from China and enjoyed the ambiance, some minor problems with lights but nothing to spoil our cocktails. That over, it was time to wonder through the lsuh garden landscape and head for dinner.

We just sit down and bang. The power goes out. Don't worry they say. Everything is OK, what would you like for dinner, hey, can't read the menu no lights? A little bit later, I can smell smoke, Chris says it's the fog machine for the insect spraying....yeh, well it smells like plastic and wires. With the smoke came lots of shouting and running around....FIRE. Well it was an electrical fire and for safety sake, everyone was evacuated to the JW Marriott which just happens to be next door, good old US of A - always there when you need a helping hand!

We stayed there for four nights, very boring. No classes, no work. Not much of anything really as we waited for word of our next move. Do we go or do we stay. Finally Chris must have felt sorry for me and we broke out and had a lunch and few beers at the pub as well as a quick trip into Phuket, we're 25 minutes by car from the main action and the cost of taxis here is high, Bth1600 round trip.

Anyway, we are settling back into our pool villa, now, they changed villas on us and we are no longer a Lagoon view, but we are happy here in Villa 68 just floating around our pool. Today finally, a couple of Russian's signed up for a class, so all'good and this afternoon we are going over to the pub again, this time to watch the AFL and be part of the post-fire party. The pub's really great, good Aussie girl running it, Nicky and loads of atmosphere for a pub that's only 18 months old and owned by a billionaire!

New paintings

My artist in residence husband, Christopher, has been painting so new works.

Photos of Si Kao, Southern Thailand

From the lobby looking on to the roof-top pools at Si Kao.

Another great sunset......

Good results for the GM's art class, they posed it up in the Herb Garden. Phillip GM nice guy! He did the detox as well when I was there.

The beach from the Beach House at Si Kao

Lazing by the beach at sunset, lovely!

Cruiser @ Sunset at Si Kao, Southern Thailand.

The beach out front of our resort in Si Kao.

That's me in one of my favourite places, on a swing at dusk by the sea at Si Kao!

Posing it up, been detoxing so looking a bit slimmer these days........

The gardens are lovely here.

DETOX

I decided that I should do a few treatments that are offered at this resort. It has a Wellness Centre. So ten days ago I decided to go and have a chat with their resident doctor, well he is described as a doctor but is in fact an Ayurveda natural remedy guy educated in Indian.

The treatments all sound wonderful and after a consultation I was convinced that all my worries would be eliminated along with the body waste. Although the cost was exhort I thought that the massages would of course make it all worthwhile, not to mention the veiled thoughts of weight-loss that I had as I left his rooms.

Well to make a long 9 days into a short paragraph and so not to bore you all, the massages turned out to be a trial, especially the one where they lay you on a wooden plank for 90 minutes and pour hot oil on your forehead. Something a kind to water torture, after the first 2 minutes I could feel the fear running through my body and if it wasn't for the fact that I thought I couldn't actually walk, I would have jumped off the rack!

This treatment was followed by a deep tissue massage and then, of my god, another torture, the masseurs, there were two most days, used herb filled bags to drag in long painful strokes all over my body. So painful but hey I thought, losing kgs, so bare it Beres.

The final day of detox loomed. Dr Gopta gave me very grave looks and a long list of do's and don'ts', the don'ts' seemed a lot longer than the do's. Downed a little black pill at 6.30am and from then on it was on.......spare you the detail, but it was awful. I lost 5 kgs and my pride, after hearing doctor discussing my bowel movements with another guest!

I am continuing on my search for a better looking body, no water with meals, salads with every meal and no coffee....wish me luck!

Our resort at Si Kao

Well our time in Si Kao is rapidly coming to an end.

It has been incredibly quiet here at this resort, it has 134 keys, that's hotel-speak for rooms and for the past week there has been an average of 6 guests in house. Apparently it only gets quieter from now as it is going into the rainy season, but it's a lovely place so close to the islands off Southern Thailand, but not much to do.

My days are filled with swimming in the pool, reading under an umbrella by the beach, staring off to sea, eating and enjoying the occasional drink with my artist in residence husband. There is no 'town' handy, just a little beach side cluster of seafood cafes that have their kitchens on one side of the road and the tables and chairs on the other by the beach, really very quaint but that's a very hot walk and with 36oC+ temperatures a little out of our scope. Si Kao is a shitty little Thai village about 15 minutes down the road and the closest big town is Trang. We went there last week to get our supplies of beer and chocolate and our driver took us straight to Tesco, seems that the new shopping malls have hit Thailand in a big way, real shame I think. So we didn't get to spend much time in Trang. Hua Hin was very different, lovely little town, good seafood places and personality, somehow Si Kao just doesn't do it for me.

It's Friday, it must be Si Kao!

This painting is not one of Christopher's but it is at our resort here at Si Kao. Chris and I love it so much because it says so much about us as a couple and what we are doing. He took this photo for himself, but I wanted to share it with you all.
Good news is that I have been on a detox, so my ankles are not that size any more..heeheehee.