Almost Paradise…

Spirit houses found on the corner of properties so the spirits will be happy with their new homes after the land is disturbed for building and farming.

We’ve had questions about Phuket.  Well, we were near Phuket, but not there exactly.  We were in Ko Samui, which is supposed to be the NEW Phuket.  For those of you not up on resort areas in travel magazines, Phuket is one of those areas that was struck by the humongous tidal wave that killed thousands of people a few years ago.  In fact, before coming on this trip, Bos and I had just seen the movie made about that tsunami!  Yes, it was really scary.  So we were interested to see what the area was really like!

From the ship we had to “tender” in.  See, we are getting into the ol’ salt talk with that tender stuff.  What that means is the cruise ship can’t get close enough to get to a dock, so they drop anchor in the harbor and take down a couple of the little boats called “tenders” and take people to the pier that way. 

Then, of course, we got on busses to go on our tour.  In this case, we chose to do a Thai cooking school at a local resort.  While the drive there reminded us a bit of Bali, with lots of small shops lining the roads, the resort was like finding a “garden of eden”.  Built on many levels, with infinity pools snaking their way throughout the resort, we were led to a special open air dining area all set up with individual cooking stations, complete with professional aprons, toques and even certificates when we “graduated.”   And, as we were high above the gorgeous beach, we could watch the impressive waves in the Gulf of Thailand and also enjoy the breezes that cooled us in the un-air-conditioned dining area. 

Bos just dove right in, with crab patties as our first dish.  They had done all the prep work, so it was squishing the crab and ingredients together and then quickly frying them in little round balls.  Delish.  Next came an Indonesian soup made with coconut milk, chicken, and various things like lemongrass for spice.  Not so fond of that, I must admit!  Our final cooking attempt was phad thai, which was wonderful --- and that is really just stir-frying in a wok with shrimp, chicken, and all sorts of vegetables and spices.  I had heard that Thai food was very spicy and on up.  But they told us that we could control that heat by how much red pepper or red pepper flakes we put in.  Needless to say, I was very careful with the pepper!  And our final course, which was prepared for us, was coconut ice cream with fresh fruit. 

After the lunch, we walked to the infinity pools and rolled up our pants, so we could wade in the water.  Another way to cool off!  Then back on the bus and back to reality.  For a few hours, we felt we were in paradise.  Swaying palms, crashing waves, cool breezes, exotic atmosphere and food!  What more could one want??

Us at the pool.

View from the cooking area.

The Pool, waves and palms waving.

Sunset as we leave