Day #139 - Seven Days to Go!

It's hard to believe that in just a week it will be our last full day of the trip. It's been an amazing trip and so many once in a lifetime experiences. However, before I get too caught up in the end, we still have seven days to enjoy and to write about! 

After yesterday's excursion, today was to be a pool based day. It was still a hot day, so just hanging around either the resort's main pool or our own private one, was going to be perfect. 

However, we did have one activity booked in the morning - a relaxing massage in the resort's spa. 

While we had massages at our Phi Phi resort by the sea, these massages took things to a whole new level. Firstly, the spa (as you can see from the picture above I took from the resort's website) is beautiful. We were greeted at the spa's reception with some cool water while we filled out the health questionnaire and then descended into the calm spa situated on a lower level.The slightly darkened space lit with candles helped us get into "relax mode" as did the foot scrub wash we then received before being led into the room pictured. The massages themselves were so thorough and so good! Speaking for myself, I could feel each knot being worked on and the tension I didn't know was there, ebbing away. Afterwards we were rehydrated with some tea before leaving in a blissful state of calm. 

We then took in a light lunch at the poolside restaurant still enjoying our zen like state. This was then followed by a lovely swim in the main pool, sun loungers and the odd cheeky drink. 

It was while looking out across the beach to the sea, that James notice what looked like a sandbar out in the distance. He said wouldn't it be fun to take a kayak out to it. Another guest informed him that actually it was a coral reef rather than a sandbank which made James even more curious. 

He mentioned this to one of the staff members who quickly disappeared only to then reappear with a colleague carrying a kayak between them. The hotel has kayaks for guest to use free of charge it turned out and so that's how we found ourselves heading out onto the water in the midday sun. 

This was the first time we had kayaked together in the same boat, so it was a win for us as a couple that we didn't clash blades or cause the other to fall out. 

We also discovered that we both may have underestimated how much effort it takes or how weak we have become on this trip. We were feeling tired after only about 10 minutes of paddling and we weren't actually heading to the reef anymore, we instead worked our way through clusters of rock to reach the other side of the next headland. 

We pulled the craft up onto the sand and then strolled along the beach. Sadly no shells of interest but it was fun looking at the other resorts along the beach and coming to the conclusion that ours was definitely the best. 

As we walked, an old friend reappeared - the black dog from the other day. We could now see that she was a she and she happily joined us on our stroll. When we got close to the next headland, we turned back and this time walked in a straight line back to the kayak, wading through the shallow waters, with the dog following on beside us. 

We got back in the kayak and paddled back to the resort deciding as we went that we had worked very hard and needed another drink - even though we had only been gone just over half and hour!

The rest of the afternoon filled itself with more pool, more sun loungers etc before we had dinner. 

While at dinner we bumped into another guest who we had chatted to a few times before who suggested we go to one of the gay bars in town. We had thought about doing that tomorrow night, but an offer of having more company quickly brought our plans forward. The sunset at dinner was another spectacular one. 

After readying ourselves for our night out, we all jumped into a taxi to the Chaweng Beach district. Tragically, en route, we came across an accident involving a young guy who had come off of his scooter. Sadly, he was on the road while someone performed CPR. Others looked on and from the numbers of people in the area, we assumed an ambulance had been called. There was nothing we could do assist and so we continued on our way. 

The Chaweng Beach district is a busy part of the island popular with tourists and especially backpackers. As we drove through the main area, this was the most people we had seen in one area since Bangkok! 

The bar we were heading for was down a side street (all the best places are, aren't they?) and when we arrived it was still (relatively) early, about half nine, and so there weren't too many people in. However, after a few drinks and an hour or so of chat, the place began filling up. It was also karaoke night which was popular with some and thankfully there was one singer who was clearly a regular since they could definitely hold a tune, which was a relief! 

The evening did throw up one amazing coincidence. A guy had contacted James last week to book a photoshoot when we are back in England and by some weird twist of fate, that guy arrived at the bar. He didn't know we were in the area and we didn't know he was! So it was good to get to know him before we meet later in the year for a shoot. 

We stayed for a bit longer, before deciding to call it a night and head back. We were both very tired by this point and craving our lovely bed and a late night swim! So that's what we did!