We arrived in Koh Samui with only the luggage that we could carry after a hectic few months of packing up our home, selling virtually everything that we had and trying to keep up with the normal life that we had decided had to change. We were exhausted and needed to relax.
Clair's parents, Maureen and Mike, had already booked their usual British winter escape to Singapore when we announced that we would be leaving Singapore when our housing lease expired and so they were happy to come along with us from Singapore to Koh Samui until the end of their holiday, which was a week later. They had never been to our house in Thailand and were happy to see where we planned to base ourselves for the next little while.
After Maureen and Mike left, we started to really relax after the week before had been spent unpacking, settling in and showing them the Island. It was so nice to do absolutely nothing after so long of doing exactly the opposite and not having an end date to it. We slowed right down that we hardly got anything done! But then the self doubt and panic started to set in. It's so scary, not to have a plan. Not having a set date for this idyllic life to end and not be earning any money, but still spending it! We had to keep telling ourselves to relax and give it time, we still have moments of self doubt!
Our 10th Wedding Anniversary.
If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be spending our 10th Anniversary having dinner with the kids at a restaurant at the end of the street, I would have completely dismissed the idea for thoughts of a much needed weekend getaway with my husband but that's exactly how we spent it! Actually, it was lovely! The restaurant down the end of the road, just so happens to be one of Koh Samui's top restaurants, called Barracuda and the food and service is excellent. The kids were so sweet and there'll be plenty more Anniversaries in the future to go away with my husband, I'm sure.
Clair's parents, Maureen and Mike, had already booked their usual British winter escape to Singapore when we announced that we would be leaving Singapore when our housing lease expired and so they were happy to come along with us from Singapore to Koh Samui until the end of their holiday, which was a week later. They had never been to our house in Thailand and were happy to see where we planned to base ourselves for the next little while.
After Maureen and Mike left, we started to really relax after the week before had been spent unpacking, settling in and showing them the Island. It was so nice to do absolutely nothing after so long of doing exactly the opposite and not having an end date to it. We slowed right down that we hardly got anything done! But then the self doubt and panic started to set in. It's so scary, not to have a plan. Not having a set date for this idyllic life to end and not be earning any money, but still spending it! We had to keep telling ourselves to relax and give it time, we still have moments of self doubt!
Our 10th Wedding Anniversary.
If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be spending our 10th Anniversary having dinner with the kids at a restaurant at the end of the street, I would have completely dismissed the idea for thoughts of a much needed weekend getaway with my husband but that's exactly how we spent it! Actually, it was lovely! The restaurant down the end of the road, just so happens to be one of Koh Samui's top restaurants, called Barracuda and the food and service is excellent. The kids were so sweet and there'll be plenty more Anniversaries in the future to go away with my husband, I'm sure.
Our Anniversary
My Birthday
Then followed a series of other celebrations to keep us busy, including UK Mother's Day and my birthday.
Sonkran - Thai New Year.
We were excited to experience our first Sonkran festival. The Thai's celebrate the New Year by having a huge big waterfight. As Koh Samui has a ring road, the locals drive around the Island spraying or throwing water at people on the streets. We were excited to take part in the waterfight and armed ourselves with water pistols and stationed ourselves on the ring road. It was great fun, but the water that was thrown was iced water and was a bit of a shock!. Samuel didn't find it amusing at all and didn't understand why he was constantly getting drenched, so he spent the whole time crying.
Sonkran - Thai New Year.
We were excited to experience our first Sonkran festival. The Thai's celebrate the New Year by having a huge big waterfight. As Koh Samui has a ring road, the locals drive around the Island spraying or throwing water at people on the streets. We were excited to take part in the waterfight and armed ourselves with water pistols and stationed ourselves on the ring road. It was great fun, but the water that was thrown was iced water and was a bit of a shock!. Samuel didn't find it amusing at all and didn't understand why he was constantly getting drenched, so he spent the whole time crying.
Easter 2014
As the Easter bunny has a fair way to come to Thailand and the chocolate would melt very fast we had to wing it a bit. The Easter bunny left a note at the office on the compound where we live, saying that the kids needed to paint the eggs and leave them out for the bunny to collect and hide later. So paint they did and then once they were dry they magically disappeared until the next morning.
On Easter Sunday, the kids soon discovered a trail of flowers to follow to the central gardens on the site. The kids then had to hunt for their eggs in order to receive a KitKat or two (no Easter eggs in Thailand). They searched and found most of their eggs but as the morning got hotter, we struggled to find the eggs that Samuel had painted black - camouflaged! Finally we found them all and headed back for a drink and chocolate.
As the Easter bunny has a fair way to come to Thailand and the chocolate would melt very fast we had to wing it a bit. The Easter bunny left a note at the office on the compound where we live, saying that the kids needed to paint the eggs and leave them out for the bunny to collect and hide later. So paint they did and then once they were dry they magically disappeared until the next morning.
On Easter Sunday, the kids soon discovered a trail of flowers to follow to the central gardens on the site. The kids then had to hunt for their eggs in order to receive a KitKat or two (no Easter eggs in Thailand). They searched and found most of their eggs but as the morning got hotter, we struggled to find the eggs that Samuel had painted black - camouflaged! Finally we found them all and headed back for a drink and chocolate.
After 2 months our Thai visa ran out and so we used our return ticket to visit our fabulous friends in Singapore. And what a rushed trip it was. Thank you to our friends that kindly let us stay with them. It was so nice to spend some quality time with them. We managed to find time to get to Universal Studios whilst we were in Singapore and celebrated a very good friend's 40th birthday at her Arabian nights themed party.
 |  Arabian nights |
After our whirlwind trip in Singapore we left for Siem Reap.....