Monday, 13th January to Thursday, 16th January, 2025

Well, I did warn you that the posts may be less frequent than in the past, a reflection of the fact that Val and I are relaxing and are busy doing very little. The best news is that this is having a very good effect on both of us and we are feeling vastly improved. Even Val’s feet are a bit better, so she is able to walk a lot less painfully than before. So all good here.

We have not been entirely idle. We have been to the gym virtually every morning, we have swum, we have had massages and we have ventured out to the local tourist hotspot, Ao Nang, to go to the night market. In fact we did this twice, in a manner of speaking. The first time we naively thought we could park the car and stroll around the market, but that proved impossible, so we turned around and came back to the hotel. That taught us to take the free shuttle bus from the hotel which dropped us off and picked us up – so much more convenient.

The market is big, with lots of stalls and places to eat (and the inevitable Irish Pub, of course). It is very obviously aimed at the vast quantities of tourists, but it is very well organised, with toilets and seems well managed. A few photos of some of the highlights…

We headed off to find somewhere to eat and ended up having some excellent Italian at a nearby restaurant.

And a couple of random photos…

Well, that is about it for the time being. Val is enjoying my Christmas present from Angie, ‘The Covenant of Water’, a book about Kerala. I have finished the Richard Osman and am rereading ‘Katherine’ by Anya Seton after a gap of about 55 years. It is OK, but the style does feel a bit dated. I remember being very impressed with it the first time around… We have had our first Scrabble game, Val’s pool is improving, we miss table tennis and we are generally filling the days.

The next blog will probably be next week after a big day on Sunday, a certain person’s 70th birthday. Like everyone else, no doubt, you have to wonder where the years have gone. I certainly don’t feel 70! We are both getting haircuts on Saturday (Val has told me I don’t need to dye my hair!) and then we have a massive spa day planned on Sunday, involving scrubs, wraps, massage, facials and manicures and pedicures. I will try to remember to take a before and after photo for you all.

And, breaking news, our very great friends, Ad and Babes are flying up from Kuala Lumpur to stay with us for a few days from Monday…

All the best…