Christmas Crafts

Well we are keeping very busy with the guests.  The latest ones requested the TV so we have had to read and chat to entertain ourselves.  The house is boiling as we have it all blacked out to give privacy and we sit out on our back little paved spot chilling most nights.  Last night I had a little escape as one of the ladies at school had a Christmas craft making night.  Totally not my thing, but thought it would be nice to go along (in the effort of making some friends!).  Libby, the lady who hosted it did a great job.  People made loads of Christmas things, I had a drink, some nibbles and a chat. I did not stay too long as have an important guest arriving today and needed to prepare!

 Our classy nightly spot.  It looks so bad!

 First signs of Christmas

Look at all these crafters.  It was fairly impressive.  I do not want some Christmas decorations for our up coming party but my lazy backside is probably going to go and buy them today!

Kata Beach con Lola y Luis

Yesterday we went South for the night.  The places to stay are so cheap we thought we would take a mini break.  Actually, the place we stayed was really nice and really well situated so it was perfect.  Kata is almost an hour South and just super beautiful.  I cannot believe how much the sea has changed since when we arrived, it is now crystal clear and so so warm.  Warm enough that even I go in all the time!

 Lola was super excited when she realised it was beach time.

 A good time for a visit as high season is only just beginning so it was not super duper packed just yet.

 When we have stopped running on the beach and swimming and the sea and I want two minutes of rest Lola just sits and glares at me until I get up again.

We had a perfect day on the beach.

Zoe and Jaye

Zoe and Jaye were our latest and longest guests having come on Sunday night and left this morning.  They are also now amongst our best friend forever group, we had such a good time with them.  They are now off to Bangkok for the weekend and then return to Phuket on Monday.  They will be staying in the South part of the island but I am sure we will see them throughout the week.

 We took them to our Friday night market which they really enjoyed.

 Got some take away from our favourite restautrants.

 Basically we just ate a lot.

And Lola waited patiently to finish off whatever people did not.  Well not my food, she is not really into veggie spring rolls.

We had a lovely time with them, they live in London and am sure we will meet up one day again.

Luis Ecua Lunch

This airbandb is definitely keeping us on our toes!  I have never been so busy and definitely never cleaned so much.  In ten days we have had four sets of guests, which means washing, scrubbing, mopping, windows every couple of days.  And as we are trying to be that 'extra special' place the little individualised extras are taking a lot of work.  But I do love it and all worth it!  

However, it does mean that we have no time or space (as we give up the pool area) to do my other favourite thing entertain.  This weekend we had a free day in between guests so took the opportunity for Luis to show off his culinary skills.  He prepared a fantastic two course lunch that he spent all day on.  I could not eat as am veggie, but I could tell by the faces and the effort that it was fabulous.

Everyone left with full tummies and then we did a huge turn around and waited up until 4am for the next guests!

Ryan Seeds!

What a fabulous night we had last night!  A few days ago I saw on Facebook that a very good friend that I have not seen in many years was on their way to Thailand and even better Phuket.  Ryan Seeds, an Acton buddy, who is a big player in many of my high school and University memories.  I was so happy that him and his partner Jamie made the effort to come and spend a night with us after I contacted him to say we lived here.  Ryan now lives just outside of Calgary with Jamie and their daughter Jasmine (a name I use to call myself!).  He has actually lived there for the past 12 years which means I have not seen him over the years when I visit my father and friends in Ontario.  I was so happy to meet Jamie, who is great and Luis was so happy to meet both of them.  We had an afternoon/evening at the beach, followed by an Indian take away and a huge catch up.

 It was so nice to see them!

 A beautiful evening

Ryan told this story, about the year we all went to Sunshine Park for a long weekend and me and Tracy got busted on the second page of a major national newspaper.  Being under age we told our parents we were going to Mandy's grandmas cottage and not the biggest under age camping site in possibly Canada!  I then remembered I had a clipping and went and searched it out.  So much fun remembering all these fun times.  This morning they went off to Phi Phi, I am sure they will have an amazing time.

Beach Clean Up...

Well in theory it was a beach clean up but I am not sure how much good we did.  Today a group of teachers took the year 9's to clean a near by beach.  They did some picking up and of course we made a bit of a difference.  But then I must admit that I was a little disappointed to see that it had been organised that we then gave each of them a bottle of plastic water and a lunch in a styrofoam container!  I obviously did not organise this bit,  I just do not know they cannot carry their own water bottle and maybe pack a lunch..  I just felt that the whole point was a bit lost.  

 But I do have to admit the beach looked much better.

The other disappointing factor is almost all the waste was left over from the festival I so enjoyed, Loi Ktahong.  We made all our float wish boats out of fish food or safe material but I can see that this is not caught on all over Thailand.   I just get so sad seeing the sea so full of human waste.

Loi Krathong

Yesterday was Loi Krathong which is a festival celebrated mainly in the South of Thailand.  The festival involves making a Krathong, using banana stalk, folded leaves, incense sticks and a candle.  On the night of the full moon in November Thias launch their krathong on a river, canal or pond making a wish as they do so.  The floating Krathong symbolizes letting go of one's hatred and anger.

I made two yesterday in school, one for Luis and one for me.  We went down to the running lake near by to take part in the festivities.  What a beautiful tradition it is.

I am not really sure how the wishes work, but I am assuming like birthday ones and I cannot tell what I wished for. I tried to sneak in two as well, which also might be a bit greedy but they are two fairly important ones so I took my chances.

Shameless Self Promotion

Well we have had two sets of guests so far and two great reviews.  We have definitely we found our calling in life!  First we had three Germans for three nights and we have leaving today a couple from Texas and their daughter.  Well more accurately, Carrie lives in UK right now and her partner in Texas.  They had a bit of a rough start having an accident with a bike just up the road from us.  But we tried to help them as much as we could and take them out with us after that as they were nervous to drive.  I fell totally in love with their daughter and we had a great couple of days with them.  She then added me to Facebook and I just saw this post, which actually had me near to tears!

I also had to post it as I know that not everything will run perfectly and there will be times where the review is not what I had hoped for. This has the potential to ruin me, as slightly sensitive, so hope I remember to look back on this one!

Finally the Tides Change

What an amazing weekend we had enjoying our beach and celebrating Lola.  I was told that one day in November the weather would change and so would the sea.  Well the weather has now definitely changed and the sun is shining brightly. But the most amazing change is the sea.  A week ago it was still rough, the beach small and I would not really go in it.  This weekend it was just beautiful, much calmer and the beach just lovely.  So excited for the next six months!

Apparently it just gets better.  A lovely Lola weekend.

Lola's 11!

I cannot quite believe my girl is 11 today, seems like just yesterday I picked her up on a snowy night in Devon.  Well I probably do not need to mention this but I love her with all my heart and so happy to be celebrating her today.  Actually the celebrations started yesterday with a 'Lola Birthday Day' with all my classes. I made a game for them, they had to solve a crime a robbery of Lola's birthday toys.  It was so great, they were so excited to play it and solve all the clues.

 These were the first slides of my presentation to them on the crime and what they needed to do.  Basically they solved six clues to unravel the puzzle.

 This was the first clue, finding out who committed the crime.  It was so funny and I just laughed all day with them.

 This morning before we head to the beach for a Lola day, Daddy spoiled her with a meat cake.

She was a pretty happy girl!  Now we are off to enjoy a day all about her!

Increasing Numbers!

Wine night number 2, was a great success, numbers are up and people are excited about it.  Every wine club goes off in its own direction and it will be interesting to see where this one takes us.  Last nights theme was ' colour' and we were to interrupt it how we wanted.  I brought rose wine and matched my clothes to it, others looked for labels and names and some just the colour they liked.  

 The group which has doubled and size, very excited!

I love when cultures learn about each other.  Especially between the Brits and the Americans.  Kim learnt last night for the first time, that her 'peace' sign might not be so appreciated in the UK!  It was a very funny moment.   It was a much needed break after a difficult week :)