Honeymoon - Day 2 - 29th October 2011 (Saturday)

Didn't really sleep that well, as time zones (4 hrs) & routines meant we woke up around 2-3 a.m. I am used to this, so turned over & went back to sleep, but H struggled a little. Anyway, around 8am, we surfaced, and went for a walk along the beach before breakfast. Our hotel is a rarity in the area, in that it has absolute beach frontage. Most other hotels are the wrong side of the road, or up a cliff face - even the very expensive ones.

Helen was fascinated by the little crabs scuttling around on the sand, ducking into their little holes as we approached. They absolutely rocket along sideways, and are impossible to catch (at least by us!). Helen was also keeping a very close eye on the beach for shells to add to her collection, but was very disapointed in what was available.

Nice full breakfast of bacon & eggs etc etc etc. Enough to keep us going for a while. Wandered around the hotel to scope out the amenities. There are a large number of pools to choose from, but only a few had swim-up bars. The one that our ground floor room looked out over had such a bar, so the choice was easy. Helen had her first cocktail at 10:30 in the morning!

Also met with the travel agent looking after us, & she did the medium-hard sell on all the tours. I normally want to scope things out myself, but in this case figured it was easier to just go with the flow. Arranged for a day trip to James Bond Island on Tuesday, dinner at the Fantasea Caberet on Wednesday, and an elephant ride on the Thursday. I think we found the right balance between relaxing while still covering the essential tourist stuff.

Spent nearly all day lounging by the pool, with a short break late afternoon to take a stroll out on the main road for a sticky-beak, as well as get some bottled water (50c for a 1.5L bottle!). Some light rain mid afternoon (as is common during the season), but this was a convenient time for H to go and get her hour long massage (for only $10).

Lunch was a club sandwich by the pool.

For the evening, we headed into Patong, about a 15min drive in the back of a truck/bus. This is where all the bars & restaurants & street stalls are. I was expecting Helen to be in 7th Heaven with all the markets, but she surprised me by not spending very much at all. I showed her the strip of girlie bars, and we sat in one across the street watching the ladyboys in action on the other side. Helen was quite insistent that not all of them could be ladyboys, as they were too pretty. I just smiled & nodded... :-)