14th and 15th March, 2016 Relaxing at Khou Lac beach resort.

Our days have become somewhat routine in this glorious resort beside the Andaman Sea in near perfect weather, but the extremely hot and highly humid weather determines what you can do. 

 14th March 2016-  Visit to local Township - Shopping and quiet time in our resort.

The previous evening we had enjoyed a beautiful international buffet in the Olive Restaurant   (our favourite restaurant in this resort), where the chefs developed a superb assortment of foods from across the world and served it as a large buffet from the entrance to the restaurant bout onto the lawn area.  It was framed with a pink and purple sunset with the Palm trees nswaying gently in the evening light wind.  Just perfect in paradise.  The range of varied food was just terrific.

We had earlier spent time on our balcony beside the 3km pool with Ken swimming and then we met and talked at length to our neighbours in Suite 4017. They are a German couple from Dusseldorf, who are spending 12 nights here as their enter break away from the Cold and snow of a late bitterly cold winter in Germany.

They are thoroughly enjoying the run and warmth and swimming.  After a time they disappeared to swim to the Aquamarine Bar and enjoy the cheaper drinks if happy hour. 

Jeanette and I have enjoyed the buffet but felt the highlight was the exquisite desserts and the varied range of sweets etc. 

We returned to our suite at 9.45pm and Ken concluded another book and we went to sleep at 11.15pm after another relaxing and enjoyable day.

We awoke to another perfect morning here in Paradise with clear blue skies,bathe pool and beach shimmering in the morning light.  Following breakfast Jeanette decided that we would travel into the local town , via the resort shuttle at 10.30am, then shop etc for a couple of hours , before returning to the resort after the shuttle picked us up at 13.30pm.  Ken booked the shuttle at cost of 100 Baht per person each way, ie aboutA$8 per person return.

The shuttle picked us up out front of reception and we again took some photos of the panoramic view from reception down to the fountains and then down to the beach.  The trip into town was uneventful.

But our shopping excursion and plans took a change of plan when after some 20 minutes we realised how extreme the heat and the humidity was away from the sea breezes of the beach area.

Nonetheless the town did present some shopping opportunities, where we found items that Jeanette had wanted and we promptly got ripped off at the first store to the extent of a couple of dollars.  He would have been happy and it didn't matter to us.  We walked some 300 metres  down the street and found an outlet where Jeanette was able to identify exactly what she was looking for, then whilst undecided the sales person reduced by another few dollars, so following our initial shopping where we were ripped off, this evened thins out.

At this time it was really too hot to do anything, but we identified a local Supermarket and then found a very pretty air conditioned little cafe, named Duo Cafe, which served very good cappuccino and malted milks.  We took the opportunity to have an extended break here before returning to the supermarket where we purchase beer and soft drinks at a fraction of the cost of the same at the resort.  The total for 4 soft drinks and 4 local beer was Baht 240, ie less than A$10.  Whereas here we are paying over A$8 per beer and A$5-6 for a soft drink.

We haven't been drinking wine because of the costs, which we believe are exorbitant.  A bottle of average wine is somewhere between 1900 - 2600 Baht or A$80-110.  That is wine that I would buy on a cruise ship for US $27 so approximately A$35.  A glass of wine is equivalent of A$13-21 for average wine.  But that is the only negative we have as to this beautiful resort.

The trip to return us passed by restaurants, laundry, tailors and a variety of smaller stores.

We returned to find our bed with Towel dog sitting waiting for us , being the third towel animal being presented by our room maid.  Back at the resort Ken arranged shuttle return to the Phuket International Airport with pickup at 6.45am and our flight departs at 10.15 am flying Silk Airlines the regional airline of Singapore Airlines . We will have a lengthy stopover in Singapore before departing at 11.45pm and we get to Melbourne at 10.10am and Gavin will pick us up a little later.

Drinks on the balcony pre dinner was a lovely way to finish another interesting day.

Dinner tonight is in the Thai restaurant with its Beautiful ambiance and we have thoroughly enjoyed the Thai food.  Ken selects a supposedly mild main course, following chicken satay, but the main course was dressed with a hot sauce and Jeanette couldn't stop laughing as Ken endured the hot spicy meal, consuming plenty of water.  Dessert was banana fritter with coconut ice cream. 

 We went to sleep after reading and Ken completed another sample of a mystery and was quite disappointed that he didn't have the full book.

15 March, 2016. Lazy day relaxing around the Resort 

Ken opens the room blackout curtains to the sound of people swimming down the pool and another clear perfect morning with not a cloud in the sky.

We enjoy the superb breakfast then take a walk to the beach passed the beach umbrellas and the beach loungers covered and reserved by the deep blue towels.  This has s son area of controversy as people are reserving beach front places with their towels early prior yo going to breakfast.

There are supposedly permit checkers who remove towels and place notes on those reserved loungers when people are absent for extended periods, not sure how it works.  Jeanette has a paddle in the Sea and says the water is warm and just beautiful.  We walk along the area loving the turquoise water and the stunning white sand with the dense forest some 300 metres along the beach foreshore. 

Following this we spend time in our suite and Ken does the check in.  Our seats were already booked by Victor, no apparent upgrade this time from Business to First on the Melbourne leg of our flights.

We are planning what to do in Singapore for our stopover and perhaps will do the hop on hop off bus.

This break has left us both fully recharged after our local excursion around this area following our wonderful Tauck - Portrait of India holiday. 

Today will be a relaxing day and afternoon after checking in and then packing mid afternoon with swimming and walking the beach earlier. It has just been great.