Nai Harn - Rawai

As we woke up to a beautiful day yesterday we decided to take a road trip South of the island with Lola.  It is so strange that Nai Harn is only an hour South but feels like a whole different place.  We have been there before but never really took the time to look around properly.  It is so lovely and the best bit is we found the BEST Vegan restaurant ever and learnt that there are loads more in the same area.  If beautiful beaches were not a reason enough to go there more often the restaurants certainly are.

 Most Southern view point elephants

 Even five weeks away I have finally noticed a change in the plastic situation.   My local supermarket you get extra points for brining your own and I see many more places offering alternatives to plastic straws.  Still much more to do but it is a start.

 Chilling by our lovely guest house pool

 Buck wheat pumpkin risotto, the best ever!

A short break away, but super lovely!

Friends Reunited

After a long summer it is great to catch up with some of your school friends and now with only a few days left of holiday every one is slowly returning.  Last night we meet up with some friends at the Friday night market, which I think I mentioned before is so much better than it use to be (and it use to be good).

Now with only a couple days left it is great to wake up to a beautiful sunny day and start a mini road trip with Lola.

The Oven

These last few days of holiday have been filled with some chores, relaxing and just getting caught up on our busy summers.  The most exciting thing that has happened is today when we finally bought an oven.  I was so excited about this, that I actually cooked (having vowed never ever to cook again).  The most surprising thing is that it was actually a lovely lasagna.  Like real life delicious!  As next week starts my attempt at full time vegan, it is good to get all these dishes in now.

 A virgin oven, all clean (give this two weeks)

 It cooking

 Luis loving it, and he admits he was scared.

Even Lola loved it.  We will now finish with another night of movies before heading to the final weekend of my summer (Luis has another week errrrrr!).

KL to Phuket

Great weekend in KL, too busy to post even.  We then took a super early flight yesterday to have one last day with Jimmy and Jessica.   We had a great time in KL visiting some of our best friends and then had a lovely day yesterday playing cards and just chilling.

 Banana leaf curry in KL, delicious!

 Petronas towers

 KL city centre

 Best dinner out ever

 Coolest secret bar ever

 KL airport has the best food.  We were told we had to go here and it did not disappoint.

 Vegan delicious 

 Back in Phuket for a day of cards

 Then out to dinner for amazing Thai

 Lola was the funniest.  I have never seen her so excited in a restaurant.  She walked in wagging her tail a million miles a minute and loving all the smells.  I then put together that this restaurant is known for soft shell crabs which is also Lola's favourtie thing to chase on the beach.  I have never seen her so happy.

Jessica, I miss her already and can't wait to see her in South Korea.

KL, Malaysia

You know you are going to have a good time when the Ecua crew are involved and I have been lucky enough to have a second summer full of them.  Cody and Des in Romania, Jimmy and Jessica in Phuket and now Sparkles, Nick and Vanessa here in KL.  It is great to visit a city when someone lives there and Vanessa has had us all over seeing new places and eating great food.  

 We have arrived and staying with Jimmy Sparkles for his birthday weekend!

 Straight out for drinks, dinner, a little beer pong..

 and some dancing

 Birthday cake for the birthday boy

 Day two started slowly but we made it down town for some food and fantastic views.

 Helipad cocktail fun.  

 Out to eat on a foodie persons dream street.  I cannot believe how much food was eaten!

A surprise drop in from Mark Russo!! Love this man and hope we can get him out this way too!  Lovely first two days, tomorrow touring arund and hoping for another lovely day.

Nai Yang

I believe there are 36 beaches in Phuket and I think we have been to about half.  In fact, I think our house sitters went to more than we have in two years in the five weeks they were here.  We plan to fix this and started yesterday by going to one fairly close to our house that we might have snubbed before due to its proximity to the airport.  Well that was stupid as now we have discovered it is our new favourite beach, Nai Yang.  It is a huge beach with waves just how I like them and Lola had plenty of crabs to chase and it was just the water that she would get in.  There were plenty of restaurants and small cars on the beach, just the right vibe for us.

We still have loads more to visit but will have to take a time out just now as we are busy packing for a weekend away in KL!

Luis is Back

Yippee finally I have both my L's with me again!!  Luis arrived very early in the morning yesterday and was not given much time to recover from jet lag before we took him on a night out.

 We had a yummy breakfast and also very exciting taught Luis euchre.

 Some bubbles before heading to the infamous Patong.

A very fun night out.  Jessica and Jimmy somehow boarded a plane this morning to head for Singapore for a couple of nights but they will be back on the weekend.  So happy to have Luis back as missed him loads this summer.