Our massive windows
There are loads of exciting birds today too. Massive wing span. Ian tells me some are fish eagles and some are Brahminys kites. No snakes.
After a bit we wandered down to breakfast. It was in the same restaurant as we had eaten last night. The doors were flung open and the sun shining in. Once again probably the best hotel breakfast I am likely to have. French toast for me and Thailand’s version of a full English for Ian.
Yes that is a giant block of chocolate!
Ian with his sweet young coconut
Down at the buffet bar there were the usual things, pastries, cheese, noodles etc. Loads and loads of fruits. A block of honey
Look at that!
And you could have toast. Not on one of those tasting machines like the one where Kathy set the Hotel on fire in Paris. Oh no. Something much more special.
Buckets with hot coals in!!
You tell the guy which type of bread and he tosses it on the fire back for you. Wow! Ian had a slice and said it reminded him of when we were little and used to do it on the coal fire with a toasting fork.
View at breakfast. The islands look nice too.
Stuffed, we mosied back to the room to cream and DEET UP, the skin so soft has run out. I have a New bite on my leg, but at least it’s only one and easily dealt with. I packed a bag of essential beach items, that’s one thing this Hotel could do better, no beach bag. Then we arrived in the foyer for our trip to the Beach Club. Because the beach around here is no good for swimming, the hotel has one on a nearby island. To get to it we had to jump in a mini bus which took us to a harbour. If the harbour where we got the boat to Cape Kudu was Rotherham United, this one was Barcelona. Much posher with loads of big yachts bobbing about. We were lead to a gleaming speedboat and told to put our life jackets on. (It had life jackets and we had to use them!)
The ‘club’
It didn’t take long till we docked at the end of a long, wobbly, jetty, made of floating Lego bricks. We staggered along it to land where we were met by smiling people and our mandatory cold towel and flower drink. Cheers! Choose a lounger, any lounger, or even a cabana. We had a look at a cabana up in the trees. It was nice but a bit far from the action down by the beach, so we returned to a shady bed under the trees.
Cabana with private shower and toilet away from the action?
Lounger close to the action?
Just behind us was a small pool, so we lazed a bit, then had a swim, then lazed a bit more. We were fetched icy water on a regular basis. I can see that at busy times it would be really crowded but today there were maybe 20 people on this private bit of beach. We did have neighbours however. Behind the hedge there was another beach and this one was heaving. Every half hour or so a large boat or catamaran docked and disgorged loads of Chinese people. I began to wonder what was happening behind the hedge. Where were they all going. A small section of sea was cordoned off, shared by both us and them. Their side also had jet skis, banana boats, and paragliding. As we lounged around their side was having the time of their life. Loads of them were in the sea, mostly fully clothed with life jackets on, just lapping it up. They were also venturing onto our side of the beach. There was a rope with ‘private’ behind which they weren’t allowed, but the beach must have been public so they kept venturing along. Every now and then one or two would make a break for it towards our lovely empty loungers and inviting pool, only to be intercepted by our ‘guards’ and tossed out.
After a while we decided to have a go at what we had really come for. Firstly, the canoe. Life jackets on, obviously, the safety elf is strong in Como Point Yamu. Our friendly guards readied it, and we were off. Great. I was in front so set the pace, ian was struggling to keep up, but we managed a couple of circuits. And from the sea I could see around the hedge. There were loads of tents set up, filled with loads of people. I was feeling a bit guilty about our side being so empty. Anyway, canoe mastered we beached ourselves.
Next, the big one, stand up paddle board. “Any instructions?” Ian asked the bouncer. “Well, just knee up, then stand up.” . Right, will do. Ian went first and while they were faffing getting me a board I got my phone. And he was up, yayyyyy!
He’s up!
He’s off.
“It’s too shallow, there are rocks” he shouted across. Well, of course, after that I couldn’t stand, so I just scootled about on my knees for a bit. I think I did Ok. Although steering was a bit of a problem and I did almost run over a couple of the helpless Chinese that were thrashing about. Unfortunately Ian couldn’t get any photographic evidence. I’ll have to have Another go somewhere deeper.
After the fun we decided to get some lunch. Just behind our lounger was a lovely outdoor restaurant so we didn’t have to walk too far. We ordered the crab salad and beer. Just us in there of course. The waiter and other staff were really chatty. Everyone loves it when you tell them you come from near Manchester. “Ah, Manchester United!” Ian regaled them with tales of the number of different types of beer in England. They loved it.
As we were eating a Chinese guy came along the beach and started taking photos. The guard rushed over, stuck his hand over the mans camera, and said sternly, “No photo”. Harry and Meghan eat your hearts out.
We could return to the hotel at 3 or 4, we chose 4 and most of the others chose 3. That left just us on the beach and a group in a cabana. Eventually the speedboat came back for us and we staggered along the Lego jetty. We had had great fun at the private beach club.
Back at the hotel I had a go in the bath. We discovered that you can open the blinds in the bathroom and look out to sea. Around sunset we went up to the pool to look at the view.
One of the few perks we get at this hotel is a sunset cocktail each, so we had ours while watching the sunset. Unfortunately The mozzies forced us indoors. Just us in the bar.
Sunset cocktails, dried fish and beetroot crisps
Ian had had some good news workwise that morning so we treated ourselves to the worlds second most expensive pizza, after the time Asda tried to charge me £100 for one. The food here is not cheap. They do have their own massive pizza oven though (of course they do) and it was delicious pizza.
Now back to the bar for two Jack Daniels in happy hour, the price of Brandy is through the roof.
Man of the day
Our fabulous guard/bouncer/waiter/board instructer who kept the riffraff away
Toilet watch
The one on the island was nice, it had gaps through the floorboard and water from the shower just ran through. 7/10
What a lovely hotel! Fancy having guards to keep the riff-raff away. I'm so glad you are having such a lovely time.
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