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Day 85 20th feb
As 8 o'clock clicks by we're both awake.... Shiree's horrific evening mood from yesterday has merged into a happy one and she's in her element handing out a selection of gifts and cards... It's a nice start to the day, topped of by coffee in bed thats accompanied by a pink birthday cake with hearts on it... It's about 3 inch by 3 inch and around 1 inch deep..... It's a good job it's no bigger.. It's lovely, I'm very happy with it and its very thoughtful, but I suspect it might have an unprecedented E number content within its ingredients list, so this combined with the coffee might set us up for an uncharacteristically
twitchy and excitable day.
Once we leave the room we head off to the central T junction by the pontoon... There are a number of bars and restaurants around that area and we soon find one we like.... It's called Kama Surta and it's located directly on the corner of the T junction.... This gives it a very open feel as the sea breeze passes through both the open sides of the building. We'd noticed that every time we'd passed in the evening that it had always been busy, but as we are up and out so early we find today in contrast and have free choice of the seats.... We oped for a raised seating area like a bed which has a short legged table in the middle, so with shoes off we crawl on and take our seats...
The breakfast was really good... Just like having an English breakfast at home... We'll be sorry to leave Kho Samui... It's been an enjoyable place to spend time but as the day ticks on our departure time of 13.00 ebbs ever closer.... We go for a final walk around the main streets.... I'd had and idea about a possible birthday gift idea for someone so we are shoppers with intent, but unfortunately Kho Samui shops do not seem to open particularly early and we have no joy looking for what we want....
After checking most places we deside to cut through a restaurant to gain access to the beach beyond for our walk back to the hotel... We pass some guys setting up an on water adventure playground, which we likened to Total Wipeout.. It's called Aqua Asia and we'll be looking out for them on Kho Phangan when we arrive later...
The tides out durring our walk, but having ten mins to spare we decide to walk the floating pontoon again and enjoy 5 minutes at the end with our feet in the warm sea before heading off to the hotel....
We are back in reasonable time and our bags are all sorted so we spend the last half hour talking with the hotel owners.... There a nice couple who have a 9 month old son called Harvey.... There well known in the area and many people stop by for a chat.... Before we know it our collection time has come and gone.... Again ! So with a few calls made our van turns up to take us to the port for our ferry crossing with minutes to spare....
For some reason I'm knackered and could quite easily of fallen asleep on that 45 min sale between islands, and I think it was only the desire to be the first off the boat that prevented it....
We were not late when we joined this ferry... Many people followed us on to the boat, but somehow our bags ended up being placed on top of the pile, so I was adamant I'd have our bags away quickly and be stood at the door before the inevitable mayhem of baggage reclaim and disembarkment began.
We load our bags onto the roof of one of waiting taxi pickups and climb into the back, and once 10 other people have done the same we head off in the direction of " Sunset Cove Hotel" and after travelling for around 25 mins and dropping off a few other people along the way we arrive... Along the trip we'd noticed that Ko Phangan is far from what we'd worryingly expected, and we are actually pleasantly surprised.... Ko Phangan is a small island and the destination for the official "Full Moon Parties" so having spent some time on a party island we came here a little apprehensive about the amount of noise there may be but we needn't of worried... On initial observation this island resembles the quietness and isolation of Koh Phayam more than it does Koh Phi Phi's party life so we are pleased...
The walk from the road side drop off point to the hotel reception
is a gentile walk down hill along a raised wooden walkway that's surrounded by trees, wildlife and pot plants.... We pass the bungalows and arrive between a large bright blue infinity pool on our left that's lined with Palm trees that are angled slightly out towards the sea and the hotel reception and dinning area to our right...
It's a larger bungalow complex than we've stayed in before and is equipped with all the mod cons like air conditioning in our room and wifi... The whole complex is very very nice...we like it !!
The whole front edge of the complex is decked and raised above the beach level by around a meter, its lined with palms along the full width with one protruding through the centre of the decking... This tree then lies across the top of the decking and continues around 30ft of the edge, going over the sand and stopping above the sea water.... It's am impressive sight and the designers have made good use of the oddly positioned tree that seems in very good health despite its angle.
We leave our bags in the room, change into swim gear and with snorkel in hand we hit the beach..... Around 60 meters off shore is a small island with surrounding stones that sit half covered by the sea... There is a sand base for the entire stretch of sea between and we enjoy an hours snorkelling around the island before heading back to get changed... Shiree's managed to cut her hoof on something on the sea floor, but it's clean and not very big, I'm sure the salt water will sort it out quickly...
By the time we leave the room for some dinner Shiree's forgotten about her hoof and we wonder off down to the communal area of our hotel with the much troubled bottle of Raspberry Vodka.... The suns setting over the sea so we sit back and enjoy before joining the beach and heading towards a group of lights on the sand in the distance... When we arrive we discover a restaurant with a specials board that boasts "2 for 1" on cocktails so we take a seat around a table in the sand and study the menu...
It's not long before we agree on a drink that includes a locally produced whisky, so satisfying our need for a local connection to our first cocktail we order a couple...
We order a number of drinks that night and every one comes with a Orchid so Shiree's hair looks pretty colourful by the time we think about eating...
Having enjoyed a variety of different cocktails we order a sharing seafood platter consisting of octopus, steamed fillet of mackerel, squid and king prawns with a baker potato and salad which all tasted fresh and delicious from here we head back to the room for a well earned rest... Travelling days can really take it out of you and we are pooped....
Thanks for a lovely Birthday honey....
And thank you to all who sent best wishes.....
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