Koh Samui Sunday 9th April 2017 Day 13

TEMPERATURE SCREENSHOT

AMETHYST AND SAPPHIRE BALCONY CAFÉ

ADVENTURES OF THE DAY

Sitting on the balcony this evening watching the sun set slowly behind the palm trees the thought was that Sunday is Sunday no matter where one happens to be. There was an air of peacefulness and restfulness settled over what they’d come to consider “their” part of the island. “This is our ‘hood’ baby”, as Richard would eloquently put it.

After an unusually early wake-up this morning, their weekly washing and weekly shopping trip to the Tesco Lotus was the order of the day. (Not much excitement but necessary).  Over a breakfast of Weetbix pimped with broken up bits of Timtam biscuits (Courtesy of Mandy), the shopping list was finalised.  The only concern, was how to get what was needed back to the Hotel on one scooter? LOL

As taking a Songthaew would probably cost about 500 Baht which could be much better spent, shopping list in pocket, they scooted off on “scootie” South, down Moo road, heading towards Chaweng Beach. The roads were pleasantly quiet with not much traffic and the ride was really enjoyable.

With the roads being so quiet, the turn-off towards Tesco was reached so quickly that they missed it and had to backtrack a bit. It was so great passing sights they recognized.  The drive started to feel familiar and like this strange place was slowly becoming “home” to the two intrepid adventurers.

The large Tesco Lotus on Route 4169 is huge, spacious and incredibly clean. Probably a type of up-market Pick ‘n Pay crossed with Macro and with generally affordable prices. So much better than the Tops Shopping Centre and somewhat a step up from the Big C Shopping Centre of their first shopping expeditions.

With their shopping done, logistical miracles were performed by dividing the groceries between two back packs, a shoulder-bag, a shopping packet between Richard’s feet and the rest stashed in the helmet compartment under the scooter seat.  But they did it!  Back on their faithful “scootie” they zipped off towards home.

And so they were faced with another logistical challenge!  How to pack all their groceries in the tiny bar fridge and shelf space available in their “make shift” kitchen.  But they did it yet again.

Lunch was freshly baked Ciabatta breads from the Tesco bakery. One “rosemary” and the other, “black olive” which Mandy filled with frilly lettuce, ham, Camembert cheese, tomato and mayonnaise, seasoned with salt and freshly crushed black pepper and lots of yummmmmm (Richard is fast becoming a professional black pepper crusher as they are still to find a grinder on one of their shopping expeditions).

Fending off the Sunday afternoon nap-attack they dumped the weekly load of washing in the coin operated hotel top-loader and then went to cool off in the pool. Wisely avoiding too much direct sun, lobster-Richard and not-so-lobster Mandy swam, floated, dived and generally just chilled while waiting for the washing to finish.

With the washing hung, they retreated to the hotel room to relax and plan the rest of the afternoon. Having found that another Buddha Temple they had wanted to visit (Wat Plai Laem) is close by, Richard wanted to check out the route and details. Mandy started reading the latest Mary Higgins Clarke book downloaded on her phone.

The peaceful relaxing vibe, the lull of the cooling aircon and the soft music wafting from the laptop was just too much. Both drifted off to sleep and they only woke up an hour or so later. Hey, let’s not be too harsh on these two.  Its not unusual for most to take a Sunday Siesta and these two 50-somethings, after the week they had (scooter tumbling included) could do with this sunday afternoon nap.

Now, Blog done, they have decided to save their energy for a fun-filled and adventure-packed week ahead. Maybe catch a Sunday night movie . . . . .

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY

A much needed and truly relaxing lazy Sunday as Sundays should be. A day of rest.