Tuesday

Woke to a lovely sunny day. Breakfast was so much better today. Seems like the weekend is not a good time to stay here as so many visitors come down from the city and they just can't cope. Today we got a nice table as soon as we went in, I know we were there earlier but it was still quiet when we had finished.

It was nice to have some lovely fruit as yesterday it was uncovered and lots of flies which are a big problem here. I then had French toast and maple syrup and some really good coffee followed by some Danish pastries. Jon had an omelette and beans.

We were out by the adult only pool by 9.00 and had it all to ourselves. We spent our time between the pool and sunned and had visits from peacocks, squirrels and two lovely monkeys. The young man looking after the pool supplied us with bottles of water.

At lunch time we went to the cafe and had a pizza again. There is not much choice for light snacks but they make a really good pizza and the beer is cold.

We bought an ice cream and went back and spent the afternoon on our deck

A contact of Mark's rang and is meeting us at 6.00- a bit of business, might be nice if he takes us out to dinner! I'll finish this later as it is time for a shower.

Well, 6.00 turned into 7.00. Jon met him in the lobby and he was with his son and they wanted to take us to dinner so Jon called me and off I went to meet them.

Very polite and both spoke good English, the son studied at Herts UNO. They took us to a restaurant that the reception had recommended as they do not know this area. Unfortunately, we couldn't find it and although we enjoyed the drive around they were embarrassed.

We finally found it after stopping to ask three times! It was called Sea View and served fish - fresh from the tanks in the entrance! It looked pretty rough but obviously popular with locals. We told them to choose as the menu was abou ten pages long.

Jon and I asked for beer to drink and they both had fresh coconuts with a straw and a spoon. The spoon was to eat the flesh when the mill was finished. I asked what it was and they told me they are Thai coconuts and very good and the next thing I had one put in front of me. I wasn't sure I wanted coconut milk with my dinner and beer!

The food started to arrive, raw chopped garlic, pickled green chilli, tofu in a sesame sauce, some sort of cabbage in a sauce, a whole sea bass with veg and sauce, chicken with chilli and cashews and a huge plate of crabs cooked in black pepper and a bowl of rice each.

It was a good dinner but hard work and VERY messy. I really liked the tofu, the cabbage and the chicken dish (apart from the green chilli which I thought was a green bean and I was very glad I had the coconut milk as I thought I just might die!!). The crabs were very hard to eat for little reward and very messy and the portion of fish I had was full of little bones and I don't do bones!

All in all it was a nice evening. They took us back to the hotel and he gave Jon some catalogues and wanted to give us some samples to take back to NZ but we said we had no room or weight allowance left.

Only 9.30 and back in the room so looks like an early night which is just as well as we were awake so early.

WEATHER
Sunny with some cloud 32 degrees