Too Much Relaxation Leads to Sunburn!

Tuesday 5 September

Yet another day just lazing round the pool, doing very little. It’s amazing how quickly the time goes, despite not actually being engaged in anything taxing.

Have managed to keep up our early morning routine of a swim followed by breakfast – you need sustenance even if you aren’t doing a lot.

We then had more computer time – blogs and photos – Colin has now managed to download all the photo and videos, so we can start trying to put some on the blogsite tomorrow. Dips in the pool to cool down are a regular feature of our day, along with reading and puzzle books. I have found reading while sitting on the edge of the jacuzzi pool is very comfortable – feels much cooler than lying on a sunbed, as the water laps at your bum and legs - but I have got a bit sunburnt now.

In the afternoon I went and explored the village for a massage. The first shop I came across had nobody at home while the second was also offering hairdressing, and was full of men having their hair cut – I didn’t fancy lying on the floor while they were peering down at me. Wandering on a bit further up the road, I came to another establishment offering Thai massages, and this time there were girls ready and waiting. On entering the shop, they let down the muslin curtains and asked me to put on a pair of Thai style loose cut offs,in burgundy red, and to lay down on the mattress on the floor. The girl – probably in her twenties – started by oiling my feet and twisting my ankles round and round and up and down, and bending my feet and toes in all directions. When she got to my legs she pushed extremely hard with her fists into my muscles and then performed some sort of “Chinese burn” movement from my ankles to top of my thighs that was quite painful. She pummeled and slapped and even managed to get my legs, yoga style on the floor – although it was only one at a time – I didn’t think my hips would stand it, but I survived and, in fact, haven’t had any aches and pains since (touch wood). At one point, the girl was also laid on the floor, with her foot in my thigh muscles, and pulling me by the feet to stretch my legs! The massage progressed to arms, back, neck and shoulders, with lots more pummeling, pushing and pulling and by the time she got to my head, I was ready to fall asleep – I had become so used to the tortuous movements. When she stretched my neck it made a series of loud clicks!!

I was in the shop for just over an hour, all for the princely cost of 250 bahts (just over 4 GBP). I will definitely be going back for another massage, as I felt really stretched but relaxed.

In the evening the Frog and Gecko was closed (Tuesdays is their night off), so we strolled further down the main street to find more bars. Passing by the Happy Elephant, there were great banners out on the opposite side of the road, announcing the opening of the Happy Elephant Bar tomorrow night – free snacks for all who come – probably a dish of peanuts – but we will have to go and sample their cocktails. Tonight we hit on the bar next door to the Crows Nest – can’t remember the name at the moment - where we could still watch the sunset while we sampled a Singapore Sling and a Blue Hawaii (similar to the Groggy Gecko). Drinks were OK – still not as good as at F&G - and the music was very loud – hard to talk, so we moved onwards to another bar further down the street (sadly not on the sea side of the road), called the Beatles Bar. This had banquette style seating in the front and some “beds” to lounge on at the back – obviously if you have a few too many and need a lie down, this is the place to be. There were three men – all ex-pats (looking well into their sixties) sat at the bar, discussing life in Bophut. What appeared to be the owner’s wife (you could tell he was the owner as he had no shoes on!) was serving the drinks. We had a Long Island Ice Tea for Colin and a Mango Cooler for me. Both were very nice – so we just had to have another round. The music here was playing gently in the background – not the Beatles, as I had thought would be playing - but other melodious hits from days gone by. Apparently there are Beatles tunes in the music play list, you just have to wait for them to come round.

Feeling a little woozy – we had not eaten anything since breakfast – we headed once more for the Happy Elephant. As soon as we entered our guitarist friend and his young companion raised their hands in welcome and went into another rendition of “Love Me Tender”! Being seated near to the beach, we ordered lobster for me and white snapper for Colin. We both chose to have our fish barbequed with garlic and butter. Colin had rice that was also flavoured with garlic – luckily they don’t overdo the garlic here – in fact, it’s hardly mentioned as an ingredient on the menus we have read here. The lobster was delicious and Colin enjoyed his snapper – he hadn’t eaten white snapper before, or red come to that – but it was a very moist, firm white fish with lots of flavour. Colin followed this up with crepes suzette with vanilla ice cream and mashed pineapple, while all I could manage was a jasmine tea.

Eating out in restaurants in Bophut is not as cheap as eating on the beach near the Imperial, of course, but value for money and standard of cooking, it is cheaper than at home. The lobster was a bit expensive (about 20GBP) – you pay by the weight – but on the whole we are spending about 20 – 25 GBP for two. Apparently all prices have soared throughout Koh Samui over the last couple of years, and the locals think the costs in Chaweng are now exorbitant – we have been warned.