Another 'Koh Samui' Day

Wednesday 15 November

We woke up naturally this morning – no alarm clocks ringing, or cases to put out. But when we drew back the curtains, the sky was somewhat cloudy – high white clouds, masking the sun. The palm trees outside our room were blowing strongly in the wind coming in from the sea. And out on the balcony it was cool – low 20’s at a guess! This was not what we had expected in Cairns. The good news was that by the time we had eaten breakfast – the usual buffet – the sun had burnt its way through and the temperature was rising – fast. We collected our bits – the Thai Shite to download some more piccys to disk, books, swimmers, etc, and made our way back to the pool area, and by now it was hot – over 30 degrees. What a change in just a short time.

Finding loungers in the shade for the rest of the day, Colin worked on the computer while I sat on the edge of the pool and read my book (I am still reading the same book I started when we left Koh Samui – and its not that big – it’s just that there hasn’t been time to read more than about half a page a day – usually at night) and swum in the “moat-like” pool – a strange shape – an elongated teardrop turning through a three-quarter circle?! The maximum depth is only1.6 metres, and you can enter down a slope if you don’t want to jump in. It has a Jacuzzi on one side, and although it bubbles merrily away, it is the same temperature as the pool – cool. It was great to just laze around without having one eye on the clock. We have been traveling constantly since we left Koh Samui five and a half weeks ago, and today was a welcome break. Cynthia, Fergus and Ruth arrived at the pool a little later and we had a long chat to them – mostly dissecting the trip with Ruben and Paul. We all agreed it had been excellent. Cynthia and Fergus come from Bury in Lancashire (somewhere near Manchester I think) and she was a deputy head in a Primary school. Ruth comes from the Lake District, and was at school with Cynthia and her husband has died – they are all about our age. We didn’t speak that much to them before, but we had a good chinwag today to make up for it.

We ate lunch in the hotel – Australian Dampers! – huge steak sandwiches – with chips and relish – far too much for us to finish. I don’t know why Australians aren’t the size of Americans – everywhere you go the portions are huge – and they like lots of vegetables and salads with their meals - everything is on a grand scale – and so far, very tasty.

The “Welcome Meeting” for the new tour group was timed for 18.00, and we were guided to a small conference room and greeted with a non-alcoholic cocktail. Jenn, our new Tour Leader – (Jennifer) - introduced herself and our driver - Tom. She is a round, jolly lady, who tonight appeared disorganized as she tried to inform us of what to expect over the next few days. Nothing was straightforward – people’s names were spelt incorrectly, others kept jumping in and asking questions that would be covered later in her speel, and some people just didn’t seem to understand what she was talking about – they had obviously not read the brochure about the tour. There are only 31 in this group – another assorted band of people – and nine of us were from the previous tour. We have a deaf lady who doesn’t speak much English, and needs the tour guide to speak slowly – Australians always get faster and faster as they speak, so that will be interesting. We have another couple of elderly ladies to replace Iris and Nelda, and a young single American girl, who may turn out to be the replacement for Julie. There are several older couples, quite a few “foreigners”, an English lady on her own and a young couple from Preston.

Sue and Norm (our Canadians) were late for the meeting as they had been on a trip to Cape Tribulation for the day which they said was just too awful – the journey was over 100 kms each way on very bumpy roads, sitting on hard, uncomfortable seats that jumped you up and down (this didn’t do Norms stomach any good, as he is still recovering from the virus), they couldn’t see out of the vehicle as the seats were too high and the windows too small, and on the included boat trip to see birds and crocodiles, the boatmen were asking each other if they had seen any wild life to look at – all with negative answers. The trip wasn’t cheap at about 50 GBP each and they were very disheartened. And on top of that the tour was late arriving back at the hotel.

Tomorrow is our first “option” tour. Most of us appear to be going to Kuranda by train and walking in the rain forest, but some chose a balloon flight, a one-hour spa treatment, or a trip to the now “dreaded” Cape Tribulation – Cynthia, Fergus and Ruth had booked this option, but are now trying to change to the Kuranda option. There is another option during the day on Friday, so the group will not be all together until Friday evening. It appears that on this trip that we have far more time to ourselves, as well as different activities to choose from, so it is possible we will not gel together as a group in the same way as on our previous trip. We shall see.

It was then time to go to dinner – tonight a buffet beside the pool at the hotel. We nine sat together, of course, which left one seat at our table, and Jenn decided to join us! Did she realize she had a group of AAT Kings converts on board? She wasn’t put off at all, and seemed very friendly and pleasant, and to have the necessary qualities of a good tour leader.

What a shame the food wasn’t as good. This was probably one of the worst meals we have had in Australia – and we know the hotel can produce good food – we had eaten breakfast and lunch here - so was it just because we were part of a tour group, or that it had been prepared too early? It was a buffet, with cold seafood and salads, hot meats including kangaroo, crocodile and beef, all of which were dry and tough, although the chicken was acceptable. The corn cobs were the highlight. There were a selection of cake-based creamy desserts and a small plate of cheese. I had a glass of wine which was about half the size of a normal glass, but the same price. We had been told that APT tours were of the highest quality (that was why we had to pay the extra money), but so far it is not as well organized, nor of the same standard to that of the last two weeks – even when we were staying in the back of beyond in a motel. So it had better pull its socks up tomorrow and improve.