I didn’t leave the resort at all on Thursday.  It’s taken me a while to get to this stage!  That doesn’t mean that we did absolutely nothing though.  After the buffet breakfast – which does change a little every day and always has a myriad of tasty options available – Dan went for a walk into the village while I supervised the kids doing water aerobics.

There wasn’t any rain at all yesterday, so the pools and deckchairs were relatively busy all day. At midday Dan and I took part in a Thai cooking class at the restaurant. This was really more of a “give you a printed recipe, here are all the ingredients prepared for you, and some of you can cook them up” than a proper class, but we all got to eat the delicious proceeds. Dan and I were sitting next to two couples from New Zealand, so picked their brains a little in terms of a potential holiday there one day.

The girls then took part in a cupcake decorating class. They always love some icing! Dan took the two of them for a walk turning left up the beach instead of right, to see what they could discover. I stayed in the room airconditioning and caught up on some administrative tasks while they wandered.

Apparently the black sand is the remnants of the former tin mines deep under the ground, as tin was the prime natural resource that was exploited until the demand shifted to rubber.  Apparently the black sand is non-toxic.

I finally took the time to visit the hotel tailor and admire the fabrics that were available, and we decided to order three tailor made business shirts for Dan.  After all, that allows me more time for selfish sewing – and helps the local economy!  And before we knew it the time had clicked over to happy hour and 110 baht cocktails in the Peace pool. This is the time of day when kids are allowed in the Peace pool – they are normally restricted to the Joy pool – so it wasn’t long before the kids were swimming with Dan and I was having a cocktail. It is a swim up bar, so people can have their drinks while sitting in the pool if they wish. There was even a little music from the in-house entertainers.

Dinner was booked at the Floating Restaurant, one of the two restaurants at the hotel. It is located right next to the lagoon, but isn’t actually floating. They were putting on a BBQ buffet for dinner, with the duo from the bar having relocated to entertain us at the restaurant. The food was delicious, especially the steak and the ham, and the music was great too. Clare was excited to order a mocktail, and Dan enjoyed his first dry martini.

The band clearly had an Australian 80s playlist – complete with Men at Work. It took about a minute before Stella began to entertain the crowd with her own brand of interpretative dance.  Those of you who know Stella know how if music plays, she can’t stay still.  This was no different.

But the highlight of the program was the fire dancers! Four of the hotel staff also moonlight as fire dancers, twirling and spinning lit sticks and balls, and occasionally even blowing a plume of flame high into the air (thanks to kerosene in their mouths apparently!!!!! Eerrrggghhhh)

It was an impressive performance. The band then returned, and pretty much all the kids at the resort joining Stella and Clare in dancing along. And at one stage Stella and another girl were given microphones – Let It Go!

We didn’t get them into bed until around 9.00pm. Everyone was tuckered out, but it was a great day.  The resort certainly provides an excellent program to entertain the guests.  Almost everyone we have spoken to is here on a deals package.  We bought our package from a special offer advertised in the local paper, but the price and inclusions were pretty much the same.  Massages, a meal at each of the restaurants, airport pickup, late checkout, breakfast included, cooking class, cocktail making class.  If you are looking for a resort holiday, deals is probably well worth checking out.