jfbemanuelorguk

24th to 30th January, 2025

First up, apologies for the very protracted gap between posts. It is partly because we really did do as we said we would, which is effectively nothing, so it didn’t seem worth telling you that every day. As ever, we had fun doing that and did discover a few new places to eat, but a good deal of the time it was either a massage, a swim, a game of pool, a few hands of cards or reading that occupied us. We did manage a few gym sessions and, according to the scales in said establishment, I have not yet ruined all the hard work I have done since I started my diet last April.

The Elements Hotel (hence the title above) has been a great success and we are genuinely sad to be leaving. The staff are universally genuinely keen to do anything they can to look after us, especially Val and after 3 weeks here we have formed quite an attachment to many of them.

At Elements with Head Waiter, Lek – keen Liverpool FC fan!

And the delightful Luis and Sophia, star waiters!

We had the same lovely lady and a young chap clean our room every day (they never seemed to have a day off). They always did a wonderful job and on our last day presented us with this…

Beautiful arrangement that just about had Val in tears…

One part of the hotel I may not have mentioned are the gardens, which are really lovely, on a number of levels, with running water and ponds, all immaculately tended, though with a nice natural feeling to it all. And, you will be delighted to know, a bit of wildlife. As is always the case, I seemed to end up doing the rounds on our last day, so possibly did not give it the time it deserved – no butterflies, for example.

According to my extensive research, these are Costus, also known as spiralling ginger, though not, apparently, related to the ginger plant. We always felt they were about to burst into flower.

We even had some elephants and baby elephants in the garden. Rather in need of a haircut…

Here are some real elephants we passed on the road, at one of the many ‘sanctuaries’, though I am not sure how being chained to a post when not giving rides is much of a sanctuary..

The back end of bird, that I hope is a Piratic Flycatcher, if only for the wonderful name.

This is a Yellow-Vented Bulbul, but then I am sure you knew that.

The swifts (I am guessing they were swifts) enjoyed swooping in, taking a gulp of water and flying off again. Given more time I would have enjoyed trying to capture the moment, but not to be, sadly. It at least saved me from having to sift through 200 photos of water in a swimming pool (with no swifts, who had just flown off!).

One event of note was that Val had her durian, which, together with a daily coconut, is something we always try to do every trip.

We also managed to play many interesting games of pool, though as neither of us were sure of the rules and the table was a bit idiosyncratic (honestly, it sloped into some of the pockets), we are not going to be entering any competitions soon.

Like much of the Elements Resort, the pool table needs a refurbishment!

The view from the restaurant on our last night.

So, it was time to leave the Elements Resort and head for our next destination, Vietnam. We set off at 0815 on 30/1, driving back to Phuket (about 2 hours 20 minutes) to catch our flight to Bangkok and then to Da Nang. All went very smoothly and I was delighted by the sight of how they clean the windows at the airport!

It involved a lot of swinging back and forth desperately trying to weird one’s brush and squidgy.

We were very sad to say goodbye to Elements and the surrounding area. The staff and all the people we met were so nice. It is one of the main reasons for coming to Thailand, with the weather and the food a close runner-up.

Next stop Hoi An, Vietnam.

Author: jfbemanuelorguk

East of Suez, 2025 – In our Elements!