You might want to grab a cup of tea and an Iced Vovo for this one, it's a looong one (!)
If you've read the papers, you'd know that Annice Smoel - the mother jailed in Thailand for apparently stealing a bar mat - has been released and is on her way home to her 4 daughters. Thank god. Common sense prevailed on the part of the Phuket Governor Wichai Praisanob who not only organised her release but paid her fine. Of course it would be motivated by the effect the story had on tourism, but whatever the reason, I am personally overjoyed for Annice and her family.
Maybe I could put Thailand back on the map of holiday destinations... Or, we could take our in-laws with us to Bali and then we could supply them with Bintangs at breakfast which will surely calm them down for the day. You see, I spent some time last night researching holiday destinations in Australia and I've come up with nothing - except our own holiday house which is absolutely luxe. We will pop down there soon - well, when it's available, because it is booked out whenever we really want to go - beachmour.com
So what to do? Contemporary Hotels have some amazing homes like ours. We've stayed in quite a few over the years. Once we booked their house on Beddara Island (there is an amazing hotel on there but it DOESN'T CATER FOR KIDS). We spent some time at a property on Mission Beach which was ok until a neighbour told us about the crocodiles sighted roaming the yards fronting the beach (which is exactly
where ours was). So instead of romantic walks along the beach, we were holed up in the house with Jonah who was about 2 then (snack size) counting down the days until we could get the hell out of there.
Finally the day came and we had to drive about 1.5 hours south to catch a Ferry which would take us to Dunk Island and then the Beddara Boat would come and drop us off on the shore of private house/beach we had rented. But of course, in keeping with the theme of the holiday thus far (let’s call it a disaster) there was a fierce storm and no boat would cross over to Bedarra. We had picked up our pre order of fresh produce, including fresh seafood for our 5 night stay which was boxed in ice. What to do? Two options. The big boat could take us to Dunk Island (!) or there was a 'luxury' hotel down the road where we could wait out the storm. We took option number 2. Knowing how OTT I am about luxury being luxurious, Brad asked for the honeymoon suite thinking that would be the best they had. My concern was getting Jonah comfortable and Brad's concern was storing the box of fresh produce. Said luxury hotel wouldn't put it in their store room - alert number 1. Then he had to carry our luggage down to our room by himself from the car park - alert number 2. I made it to the room with Jonah who was so hungry at this stage that I was prepared to let him choose whatever he wanted from the mini bar. He opens the fridge and to our f------ surprise, about 4 mice jump out and start running around the room. I slammed the door shut and managed to pretty much decapitate one which totally freaked Jonah out (and me, but I had to keep it together). I grabbed him, our bag and did a runner. We found Brad who had carried about 3 suitcases
down and as I ran past him I said "Just look at the bar fridge". I went straight to reception, gave a mouthful to the manager, got our money back and went back to the car to wait for Brad. Tears turned to laughter when we put the whole day together but it didn't stop there...
The only other option was to stay on Dunk Island for the night, take a chance that the weather would clear and get over to that luxurious house that was awaiting us. Brad called, asked what was the best accommodation they had, which was a 'villa' right on the beach (no plunge pool), but according to the bookings person - the most luxurious 'villa' they had on the whole Island. $1200 per night. We discussed, agreed that it must be fantastic for that price and booked it. Now, we have stayed in some 'villas' in Bali and Thailand which are indeed something to behold, and not as expensive as this. So we were excited and sure the weather would clear.
We arrived at Dunk Island. Nicknamed it Junk Island (they at least took our box of not so fresh food to store in their cool room) and we were shown to our villa. I seriously could have thrown up. It was so far from what they described it as, and so utterly disgusting that we were sure they had made a mistake. A call to the Manager swiftly confirmed that no, we were indeed in the correct Villa. Then, we get a call to say that our dinner time was at 7pm. Sorry? Yes, 7pm. Because they had a buffet, everyone was allotted a specified dinner time. I could have thrown up again. We said make it 6 so we could get the ordeal over, get to bed at 8 and hopefully wake up to a sunny day. We get to dinner
which was like a suburban club bistro and as tears started to well in my eyes Brad ordered me a vodka lime and soda (I never drink spirits) which cheered me up somewhat at his thoughtfulness. Then the piece de resistance - the drink arrived with a dead fly in it. We had baby food back at the room so we walked out, deciding to forgo dinner that night and just get to bed.
The next day was torrential rain again. More tears. We decided we couldn't stay on Junk Island a minute longer and so caught the next ferry off there. The people at Contemporary Hotels were so understanding and totally refunded us our money and suggested another place to stay at Palm Cove, so they booked us in there for a few nights. Because we were on our 'most lavish holiday in a few years' we booked the best 'villa' with plunge pool (yay!) and they organised a limo to come and get us. We sat in that car, Jonah asleep and just breathed out.
Palm Cove was actually quite nice and I'd forgotten all about it until now. It was just developing when we were there so you'd imagine it would be quite grown up by now. I think Palm Cove here we come (when the football season is over - the weather should have cleared by then too).
xMel
- Thailand... sigh!
