Departure Day

Our morning wake up call just flew overhead a few minutes ago! On one hand, it's absolutely astonishing how many planes fly into and off this wee little island each day. It's only something like 56 kilometers in circumference.

On the other hand, it's such an amazing location becsuse you walk out your back door and enjoy the beach resort experience. And, you walk out the front door for all the city, shopping, restaurants and nightlife experiences!

Apparently, the island can be circumnavigated in just a couple of hours by motorbike/car and is home to about 50,000 full-time inhabitants ... 90% of which practice Buddhism.

We are heading to Bali for the next two weeks. I understand that of it 4.4 million inhabitants, 88% of them are Hindu. They have been immersed in this faith since the Stone Age ... 5000 years ago!! Google reports that of the roughly 17,000 islands of the country of Indonesia, Bali is the 11th largest. They say it's about the size of Prince Edward Island!

So, I expect we are in for a whole new experience! The weather seems slightly daunting to me. The forecasts for rain and humidity are not the least bit welcoming for me, Our task will be to make the best of whatever it is, right?

But first ... a shower! Not a rain shower ... the kind where I wash my hair. And then, breakfast! 😋 And then, more final farewells! 😔 And then ... packing. 😬 I'm expecting to be on rollercoaster of emotion today! 🥴

Saying good-byes over breakfast was bittersweet. We are so grateful for the lovely connections we developed with other Canadians. And, I hope we will get a chance to see some of them again ... maybe on another 'live away' somewhere else? Who knows?

John made a particularly strong connection with our rep's partner. They had so many of the same interests. Our rep shared that she had rarely seen him so engages with someone. Here's hoping we'll get a chance to reconnect with them ... somewhere ... someday! There are a few other special souls that we hope to see again. 🤞🤞

We were packed up and checked out by noon. The lovely staff at the restaurant allowed us to put some cheese in their refrigerator because we have 5 hours before we depart for the airport!And, we have about $1000BATleft in our wallets ... so, we had to decide how we wanted to spend it? 🤔

So many choices! We could have lunch ... or .... wine? Probably not both here at our resort, but we could do both if we went for lunch at local place. Or, maybe we should have one last foot massage? Decisions, decisions, decisions ... 😉

The old boy recommended we go for one final foot massage! This suggestion was from the guy who said he didn't like massages. It would appear that Thailand has changed his mind! In the two weeks since our arrival, he has had one regular full body massage on the beach and FOUR foot massages! And, he has determined that our massage today was "the best ever"! He kept repeating that sentiment so I think he means it.

I would concur that it was phenomenal. They used little brown sticks. I have never had a massage with sticks before, but I am assuming they are to stimulate the reflex points in the feet. At any rate, it was absolutely wonderful ... and ... we used up $600BAT!

After that, we went back to Baan ___(?) Jai for lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our choices while wondering if this would be our last couple of plates of Thai food. Our Google search revealed that Indonesia uses curry too ... so ... we are both eager and curious to see how the Balinese food compares.

We couldn't help but wonder why this restaurant leaves the Christmas tree up all year round? I'm guessing it's meant to honor their patrons of Christian faith... but ... I am wondering if they know that Christmas is not a year round celebration?? Who knows?

After lunch, we went back to our resort's restaurant and enjoyed an Iced Cappuccino while I handily beat the old boy at a game of Clever. It seems worth noting that despite our very relaxed time here ... this is only our second game since arriving in Thailand!

We still had 90 minutes to kill before our shuttle to the airport, so we had another game. And, the shuttle arrived early so we were off to a good start. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport, we learned that our flight was delayed by an hour. 😕

The Samui airport, however, is quite unique! I've included several photos. Most of it is outdoors!

It turned out that we were delayed by over 90 minutes! When you add the time change of an addional hour, we landed at 11:30pm. I wish I could say that was the end of the travel mountains! What on earth could go wrong after our arrival the tarmac at Singapore airport???

Its 3:30am and I'm too tired to share now. Stay tuned ... 😉🙄😬
❤️ k&j ❤️もっと詳しく