Kata Beach

Our first full day in Thailand - cool, but hot, oh so very very hot!

Highlights

• A swim before breakfast at Kata beach, our first time ever in the Indian Ocean!  The water was surprisingly warm and the waves were fun to play.  The sand was really white and there were hotels dotting the hills surrounding the bay.  There were hundreds of deck chairs laid out on the beach but you have to pay to use them.
• Great food!  Harry, Jess and Sophie had fruit smoothies and spring rolls for breakfast. "we may never eat weetbix again".  Dad had chilli chicken and vegies (for brekkie?!) which Jessie liked too - Dad reckons he's not eating any western-style meals while we're here - we'll keep you posted, especially as he has a chippie addiction!
• Quotes on highlights:
• "Doing flips into the pool" - Harry
• "The beach is the warmest I've ever been to!" - Jessie
• "The beach and the pool" - Sophie

What Dad reckons

• I'm not normally a beach person (Waitarere or Himatangi)... much to my wife's dismay... but these beaches are fantastic and if you bring me to these beaches I'm converted.
• Thai food rocks... I can't wait for my next meal, delicious and a bargain.
• Thank goodness for doing some research on where to stay before we came over.  We ventured to Patong Beach today and it is just over run like being in the middle of a big dirty, noisey city.  Kata Beach where we are is much more peaceful and laid back.  Although, even quiet over here is like Palmy on a very busy day.
• What a fantastic experience this is seeing such a different way of life... I can cope with long air plane travel to get to places like this and sample the sights, sounds and smells of the World.

Lowlights
Ok friends in NZ, we can't say it's all great.  Here's a few things that haven't been so fab:

• The heat!!!  Yes we know we've been craving sunshine, but this photo of a dog sprawled out on the footpath taken at 9am on our way to the beach shows exactly how exhausted we felt!

• Going to 3 different shopping malls and not finding many bargains - we'll stick to the markets and little stalls near the beach from now on.
• The busy streets and crazy traffic.  We saw 2 car crashes within 5 minutes of each other!

What we learned today

• 'Papomka' is how to say thank you if you are female. 'Papomkop' if you are male.  Well that is what they sound like to us anyway.
• That even though rambutans look strange (they are red with soft spikes), they have a delicious soft white fruit inside that is quite nice.
• That Thai people working in the little shops on the way to the beach - selling clothes, shoes, tatoos, braiding, massages etc - are very friendly to foreigners!  But it is a bit awkward when they come up to you all the time asking 'where are you from, what is your name' etc. 
• Photo below Harry asks "Dad, can I please get an Arsenal tatoo"?