China Trip

Well, as you probably gathered, momentum here is much slower than in China and HK and I have been doing little other than reading, listening to music, eating, sleeping and turning remarkable shades of pink (last part completely unintentional as I'm covered in SPF 25 and in the shade until 4pm each day!!).

I actually left the resort last night to go to Chewang - not really what I expected, sadly. Shop after shop selling pirate CD, dvds, fake baseball caps, t-shirts etc. Not really my scene so had dinner there and came back to the hotel about 11.30pm.

A fabulous BBQ here this evening, all the tables set out by the beach, candlelight, tiny hot air balloons in the sky and great, great food. Of course as it's my last night I had to sample their cocktails - phew!

Tomorrow is my last day :-(( and I shall be heading back home, to lots of cold weather and flooding from what I've been told. Hope everyone is ok and Pen, you are ok in Oxfordshire.

Added a few photos yesterday so hopefully you can see what I am enjoying here and why it will be such a wretch to leave; I know I will be back.

Flight lands at Heathrow 6.20am Saturday morning if anyone needs a wakeup call during my cab journey home!!

See you soon ....

Sarah xx

experienced another thunderstorm last night - about 3.30am until about 6am I think. still not sleeping prticulrly well and so am trying new tactic tonight - aircon off and nother blanket - you should hve seen their fcaes when I asked for an additionl blanket at reception this morning!

So the tough choices of the day now consist of i) wht shll I hve for brekfst ii) wht time shll I hve lunch iii) wht shll I hve for lunch and the often asked question number of times each day - "how much time hve I hd on this side and should I a) turn over or b) go into the shade now??

Before coming away I downloded Jane fonda's autobiogrphy onto my ipod nd I hve to sy tht for the last two dyas I hve been riveted. she reads it which mkes it much more enjoyble nd I'm currently up to 1971 ( good vintge tht year so I understnd!)

the most excitement tody ws stry dog which wndered into the resort - very funy wtching the pool boys try to chse him wy!

Not sure if the rin hs brought the lizrds out but 2 wtched me hving beer on my vernd s the sun went down nd hve run the guntlet with literlly nother 6 on the wy to the br in the lobby. Hving to hve G&T to stey my nerves s I write this before dinner .... well it seems good excuse nywy.

fngers crossed the thunderstorms sty wy tonight lthough more re forecst. shll wnder off to hve dinner nd be mde fuss of by the witing stff (I'm the only person here on their own so quite novelty!).

BTW - a note of warning in cse I have dinner with ny of you when I return - hving relised tht I would hve hd over 60 meals on my own by the time I come bck, if I meet ny of you for dinner nd hve book with me, don't tke offence, it's become habit. and if I forget to talk to you nd just smile at the scenery, kick me under the tble!!

Ok, so now I'm here it's all perfect however it was far from it late Friday night. 12 hour trvelling, a torrential thunderstrom which started just as I retrieved my luggage and far too much in the chinese newspapers about people dying in submerged cars in flash floods of 6' of water in 30 minutes ... you get the picture? suffice to say that all rationale hd left me and tht coupled with a very small plne from Bngkok to Koh Saumui, driver who didn't hve gret commnd of the english lnguge and so couldn't tell me if this downpour was normal or not .... etc etc etc.

thnk your lucky stars you weren't receiving the text messges from me saying how scared I was, and I quote "Proper scared". Also for those of who you know me well, you will know tht frogs/lizards are high on my list of things I don't like. so, fter my journey when I clearly thought I was going to die, wht forms my receiving committee on the steps of my villa? A dirty great toad! And I cn see two lizrds too! dear god!

One thing to mention before we go much further. the key for the first letter of the lphbet does not work on this lptop & so I"m using the onscreen keybord if needed but otherwise I'm trying to us words which do not use this letter so I do not lose my mind whilst updting my blog - see?!?!?

the hotel is beautiful - I have my own villa and go to sleep at night listening to the waves gently breaking on the shore - bliss.

Havent been up to much I have to be honest; relishing in not hving to get up to n alarm (see wht I men?) and trying to ensure tht I don't get sunburnt. so basically in the shde all day until 3pm when I enjoy 2 hours of sun, 20 minutes ech side nd then 20 minutes in the shde agin. BTW dont be expecting too much on the tan front. Will upload pics tomorrow if able - so you cn be jelous of my views this week.

Hope the sun has shone for you this weekend.

Just a quick hello and goodbye from Hong Kong before today's journey to Thailand.

Have about 12 hours travel ahead and fly from HK to Bangkok and catch an internal flight to Koh Smaui from there before arriving at my hotel late tonight.

Have a lovely weekend - I keep hearing that your weather is atrocious, here's hoping the sun shines for you all.

xx

ps can you believe I can buy "Hello" here - essential airplane reading you understand!!

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Made it to Bangkok and have some time to kill before I head out on my connecting flight to Koh Samui. Have managed to end up in the Bangkok Airways lounge somehow "Asia's Boutique Airline" didn't you know??!! Pretty full flight from HK, final destination Karachi with significant noise levels, thankfully only 2+ hours.

xx

Pick up at 9.30am from Four Seasons at Shanghai (up there with the Sofitel in Xian as the best hotels so far) for my trip to the internataional airport and flight to HK.

A different guide (makes it my 5th guide) to escort me and make sure I'm in the right place at the right time, being the VIP I am you know!!

Flight uneventful, 3 seats to myself and an emergency exit to look after - treated myself to a glass of Chenin Blanc with my lunch - what decadence! Limo transfer to Intercontinental (dread to think how much it will be but it was so humid that trying to find the right bus etc just wasn't on my list of things to do) and a greeting by name by one of the staff (how swish is that?) and taken immediately to my room.

The MOST amazing view of HK Island in a picture window - needless to say many photos taken later that evening withthe light show.

More exploring (managed not to get lost this time!) and a little shopping ... For those Lazardians reading this I found the Mont Blanc shop and bought a leather case so my beautiful pen you gave me would be protected when I take it to SG. Quite fitting I thought.

Decided to spoil myself and have dinner in the hotel restaurant to celebrate tomorrow's itinerary free day! Fab dinner and just ever so slightly wobbly on the way back to my room ... sure no-one noticed ...