POSTCARD FROM THAILAND 17 December 2018 – 5 January 2019

I left cold miserable London on Monday afternoon, had a relatively smooth flight and landed on time on Tuesday morning.  New food on BA which was good and new glasses, which did not impress – it was more like drinking wine out of toothmugs!  On arrival at the Grand Hyatt Erawan I was greeted by the General Manager and was taken straight to my room.  The weather was gorgeous so after unpacking, I went to the pool for the afternoon.

The following two days were beautiful although a bit ‘smoggy’ on my last day but I spent my days by the pool.  It is rather sad that it has become a noisy pool now that the sky train travels right beside the pool!  I met up with friends for two very nice dinners while there.  I did in fact have a very pleasant stay in Bangkok!

On the Friday I flew down to Phuket and was transferred from the airport to The Sarojin in Khao Lak for week of relaxation.  I spent my days lying by a beautiful pool [even if the sunbeds were not the best] and in the evenings I dined in their Mediterranean restaurant.  On Christmas Eve there was an evening of carols and dinner in the garden at £100 pp so I gave it a miss and enjoyed dinner in my room.  Not sure how they all survived as it tipped with rain from 3.30 – 5.30pm and the garden was a swamp!  I thought the hotel and my room were very average and in need of an upgrade. Everything was very expensive – dinner was more expensive than London’s West End!

On Friday 28^thDecember I was driven down to the ferry terminal for Koh Lanta – a three and a half-hour drive from Khao Lak to just south of Krabi, and there I went by speedboat to the Pimalai Resort.  The Manager met me [I had an introduction to him] and he upgraded me to a beach suite, where a bottle of wine awaited me!  All very civilized!  I unpacked and watched the sunset with a glass in hand and some delicious smoked salmon canapes from my fridge!  

I spent the next day, Saturday, on the beach, which was hot but enjoyable.  It is a long time since I have swum in the sea which I enjoyed.  However, I do hate how sand manages to get into everything!  Tried the lower level pool on Sunday [there is another pool much higher up but a long walk away] but it was very noisy and too much shade, so went back to the beach.  Sadly, I got my wrist caught in the very heavy sunbed whilst trying to move it so got a very badly bruised and tender wrist for the remainder of my stay.  Was lucky not to break it.

For the rest of my time in Koh Lanta I spent my days on the beach with my Kindle, swimming in the Andaman Sea, and my evenings in either the Spice n’ Rice or Rak Talay restaurants, both close to my room.  Sadly on the last day a tropical storm decided to come up through the Gulf of Thailand so I had a very cloudy and rather wet

 last day.  Departure day weather was pretty awful with heavy seas so I was taken across to the mainland by car and ferry, rather than the speedboat, which took me to the island.

 

Had a dreadful flight from Krabi to Bangkok [and no alcohol on domestic flights!], so downed a few whiskies in my airport room on arrival  The BA flight home was pretty awful too to start with, as we crossed the Andaman Sea, but at least there were drinks to calm the nerves! Thankfully safely home on Saturday evening.