Thursday July 6

We started out intended ‘stay in’ day with an excellent buffet breakfast, followed by a stroll down the street for a trip to the 7-11. Whilst this might seem like an unlikely holiday activity, Hamish and I have been watching various TikToks about Asian 7-11’s and the cool things they stock, which we don’t stock in Australia. So we were pretty excited knowing there was a 7-11 within 1km of our hotel. The irony is not lost on me here; we’re staying in a lavish hotel, yet we’re spending our money at the convenience store…

The walk into town follows a steep and narrow road which at times, has a dedicated footpath. Rod and I have already made this trip, so we are aware of the road dangers and alert Hamish to them. He is quite possibly confused by our safety tips, as we hurry across the road to dodge traffic, in lieu of waiting ten minutes for a long enough gap in which we can saunter at our usual pace.

We stick to the slightly safer side of the street and come across some road safety maintenance, in the form of a red and white striped pedestrian crossing being painted (by hand) under supervision of the local traffic cop.

We find the 7-11 easily and enjoy our time there working out what some things are, what we’ve seen online and what we’d like to try – you may have seen the dedicated post on my socials. We walk back home and Hamish doesn’t complain about the steep incline; he’s doing well in the tropical weather and we’re proud of him.

The resort pool is next on the list. Hamish is keen to try the underwater scooter, which is, as our new American friend tells us, “…like a Navy Seals jet pack” – he is not wrong. That thing flies! Hamish challenges me to a swimming race – I beat him, but I suspect it was because he didn’t have it switched to the fastest mode: turbo. Hamish is the envy of other kids is the pool; he offers them to have a turn, but they’re too polite and or shy to accept. Hamish sets a trend though, as when his time is up on the scooter, other kids have persuaded their parents to cough up the relatively small price of $35 AUD for 30 mins.

Rod bails from the pool after a relatively short time, but is enticed back to the pool when I say to Hamish, “go tell Dad I’ve bought him a Pina Colada” Rod does a Phelps and is at the swim up bar in no time at all.

Rod and I return to the shopping area in Kata Beach in the afternoon, as Rod says he hasn’t packed enough clothes. I successfully haggle with one shop keeper for 2 x fans and 1 x bottle opener – which ends up being 200THB instead of 300THB. I wasn’t rude about it, but looked disinterested (some of you have probably seen this expression on my face) and ask how many for 2? (instead of the price for 1 fan). She does us a ‘special price’ – which as we’ve found out, is a key phrase.

Rod goes into a clothes stall and the lady there does him a ‘special price’ for a button up cotton shirt and one ‘rip off of a sport brand’ tee shirt. Does Madam want a dress? Madam does not. However, Madam is returning to the night markets tonight where she just may in fact, buy a dress. Rod doesn’t have cash, so she escorts us to the auto-teller a few hundred meters away. This would NEVER happen in Australia: Rod says there’s no way she was going to lose the sale. On our way back to the resort, we stop for a couple of beers, enjoy the warm afternoon, and plan the next few days:

• Saturday – 30 min massages (one each for Rod and I), Kids cooking class for Hamish
• Sunday – Potentially heading into Old Town for the once weekly night markets
• Monday – Half day tour: Big Buddha, Wat Chalong, Karon lookout and Old Town

The pool is visited again, where we have found happy hour with the promise of ‘buy 1 take 1” – we do. Buffet dinner and lights out by 930pm. We are tired having basically done not much at all for the day.

Friday July 7

After breakfast, Hamish is not feeling great. Possibly because when I said “for God’s sake, please eat some fruit” he came back with 2 x mini bananas and chocolate dipping sauce…after eating fried rice, red curry and some waffles…

We leave him to soak up the airconditioned comfort of our room and an anti-nausea tablet. Rod and I catch the resort shuttle bus to Kata Beach for a quick swim (he was perfectly safe Mum, I promise). Question: if a resort has a shuttle bus to local attraction, is it because: A) it’s popular, B) it’s too far to walk or C) A & B. The answer is A – it’s popular. The beach is a mere 600m from our resort and we feel slightly embarrassed for having caught the bus. Rod reminds me the bus will be sensational on the trip back. Of course, he is right.

Kata Beach is just beautiful. For about the 5^th time, I tell Rod I really don’t want to to go back to Australia: and “why can’t we just live here?” We didn’t take our phones as we were only going to be an hour, but I wish I had photo’s. The water is clear and clean. It’s cool without being cold. There’s street food, drinks and people politely trying to sell me a sarong/beach mat/shell jewellery. We’re heading back there this afternoon and will update another time.

Upon return to our room, Hamish is miraculously well enough for the next planned event of the day:  Neko Cat Café. I don’t know how I stumbled across this, but I did and I knew Rod and Hamish would love it. We hired a taxi, negotiated a price with Mr Somnuck and are whisked away in his well maintained and fresh smelling Nissan Tiida across the Island. Look, I’m not into it, but the look on the boys’ faces are well worth the trip. There are 3 little ‘Jessica’s’ already in the café having a lovely time, and another couple come in whilst we are there. It’s a cute, clean little place, although one of the cats tries to give Hamish a nip when he goes to pat it.

Mr Somnuck patiently waits for us and drives us back to the resort, telling us, “oh, you stay at Novotel, it’s very expensive” Rod tells him we got a special price, but he doesn’t believe us. He says, “ahh, but it’s an Accor (brand hotel)” Mr Somnuck is no dummy and I feel bad for bargaining down his return fare by $10 AUD. I am reminded of how very, very privileged we are to have the means to travel, but I also feel OK for supporting the local business out of the resort, so my conscience is settled.