Four nights at Koh Ngai

This is the last night at this paradise island.

We have been snorkelling, swimming in the pool, reading, eating and repeated this for the last couple of days. Somehow I have managed to get some colour; if one do not compare me to Annika. 

Snorkelling was amazing today. I have no idea how many hours we stayed face down. Will try to find the names of the fish we saw, but every single one was a first for me. I saw some of Nemo's friends and at one point I was some clown-fish as well. That was real fun, I smiled so that my diver's mask filled with water, I lay in the waves above them for a while, enjoying seeing them in their natural habitat and how incredibly cute they were in their little purple anemon.

At one point I needed to find some sand where I could stand and fix my equipment. While standing there I suddenly felt a quick and rather harsh bite on my right leg. Not used to being bitten in the sea I got scared and clumsily swam (more like a panicked waggle) to Annika. She then followed me back to the sand and circled me with bubbles to keep the fish away. What happened instead was that the fish swan closer to my legs for protection. I was their fish mom. I was nervous for being attacked again, but they did not and when I lay back on stomach and looked down, they kept swimming after me for a while. That was such a special moment, except for the little wound on my leg.

The pool had salt water but no jellyfish and no waves. I liked it there, although I missed the fish. We had a lot of fun in it; talked about life and played games that we made up and had a great time. Annika gave me an empty plastic bottle which I found so many uses for as a toy in the pool. We settled down in two chairs to lay in the sun to read and get burned... I mean get some colour.

Tuesday night we booked thai massage. Only one masseuse so I went first while Annika read in the other bed. This massage was not like the other ones. It was strange, weird angles and painful pinches. I laughed when she did some of the stranger moves, like putting my foot in the fold of the knee and then push the other foot towards the butt or when she twisted and turned my leg and then grabbed the foot to lift it high up in the air. The little woman struggled with my long legs. She pinched my skin, which I assume was suppose to do good, could not be for it to feel nice at least. Clenched my teeth to not make a sound.

Tomorrow we will take the forty-five minutes long ferry to Pak meng (mainland) and then share a private van with a couple of Americans to Krabi Town. It will take two and a half hour total. Then we have a night to explore, which will probably only be exploring one restaurant and then sleep. The plane to Singapore leaves at half past eleven, which is why we wanted to be in town the night before.

Alright. I will probably blog tomorrow night when we are at our new apartment.

Until then!

Trip to Paradise

I greet you once again.

This morning we woke up half past six, even though the alarm was put to seven. Made the morning routines and packed our things, ate breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. While Annika paid and bought sun cream, I was searching the shops for a shirt that covered my shoulders and back while swimming. Eventually I found one, white with long sleeves, very thin and perfect for swimming. The man we had booked our boat tickets from found me outside the shop and said that the boat was waiting, so I went to find Annika. We were on time but the man had already taken the other people to the boat so we walked there to find them.

The boat was a long wooden thing, very thai and very unstable looking (to me). This boat was already occupied by around ten people. We found places and it took off. Already I felt seasick, even though the engine was barely on and they were slowly moving towards another boat to exchange things. (Even writing this puts the feeling right back into my body while I am sitting in the reception listening to the waves.) I was seasick and worried that my bag would jump overboard, the boat was crashing over the waves.

I survived though. I leaned my head on Annika's shoulder and lay in her lap for a while, but after forty-five minutes we arrived at Koh Ngai/Hai (I recommend Googling this, I will not be able to post pictures). The welcome at this hotel, Koh Ngai Resort, was the kind you wish you had everywhere. They carried our luggage without question and served cooling orange drink while at the reception. Annika went with a guy from the hotel to see some rooms to decide which one we wanted. I sat very still and convinced my body I was at completely still land.

The room was simple: no fridge, dusty AC, difficult closing the balcony door, but overall could not complain. The view was great, location like paradise and included in the price is snorkelling kits and kayaks. We started off with snorkelling, we saw lovely fish and corals. I swam in my white tunic. It was hard getting out of the water, but we managed when the hunger set in.

The restaurant was a bit overpriced and the food was nothing special, but it is the only one at this beach. We had a simple lunch, a quick break at the room, then we took the kayak and paddled around the cliffs to snorkel at a new place. New fish, lovely fish, I enjoyed it so much. We swam with the kayaks thin rope in our hands to not loose each other nor the kayak. Slowly we swam back towards the beach. After a long while we went back up in the kayak and paddled back.

Then we spent a few hours in the pool, stretching and talking. It was such a great time. A parrot flew in to sit in the palm trees, being so free and wonderful as birds can be. The most amazing thing was watching it and thinking that we are not at a zoo, this is its home and we are the visitors. I am blown away by this paradise, this is amazing. I love it here!

We showered at the room, got dressed and ate dinner at the restaurant. The fried rice with crab meat had no crab meat in it, but they insisted that it had. Instead of just putting more crab meat in there they asked me to order something else. Their fish and chips were not so bad though, nothing extraordinary but good.

Internet here is problematic. There is a lot of different ones, but right now there is only one working and only at the reception and it goes on and off. Well, if you are at a paradise island, maybe you should not be online all the time. I will write posts when I have internet and the time.

Now we are off to bed! Good night, readers.

Lazy start with windy end

Good morning.

Yesterday was a very relaxed day. We ate an American breakfast with omelette, sausages, watermelon and banana, toast with butter and marmalade, juice and tea. Went back up to the room and packed a bag with necessary beach-things. Found two chairs by a parasol and settled in. Immediately we walked to the ocean and swam back and forth along the beach. I found out just how annoying tiny jellyfishes can be and their stinging treads. It was a first and a second and a third time. I lost count, it stung to swim.

Back on land I was completely in shadow, expect for my feet but I put my hat over them for safety. I was reading many chapters and Annika a few before she fell asleep in the sun. After a long while we took another round to the sea, swam back and fourth and then up on land. Moved the chairs so that I could still be in the shadow and kept reading. We were never really hungry but walked to the nearest restaurant and ordered green curry soup and I had satay with rice. It was okey, nothing extraordinary but still satisfying.

Back to the beach, I moved around again and lay down to continue my reading. I do not know for how long I lay there but the sun was going down behind the cliffs and soon their was no need to move the chairs. It was not dark yet, so we stayed a while longer. Eventually we decided to get massage again and headed back up to the bungalow to change out of the wet bikinis. I noticed that I had gotten burned somehow, probably while I was in the water. My shoulders and face and even behind the ears were red and painful.

We went back to the Mini Mouse Massage since they were really good and very kind. Annika took a back and shoulders massage which was more than just the back and shoulders, but it focused on those areas. I heard her moan and sign, so it must have been good. I took the aloe vera oil massage; something nice for my burned body and not so painfully executed. It was nice, not as good as the thai massage but the burn felt better afterwards.

After that we went back to the hotel. Our usual spot was free so we sat down and ordered salad for dinner. Easy and tasted good, though Annika remembered afterwards why one should not eat salad in Thailand (they wash it in the tap water). It was a lovely late night with the company of a cute black cat who really wanted to have some of my shrimps and Annikas tuna. It stroked her feet and sat beside me and was under the table and tried in many ways to get to the food. Gorgeous cat, I wanted to take it home with me.

The wind was very strong and the wooden platform we sat on creaked and swayed in an unsettling way. A little bit terrified I told Annika we should move to the stone instead and so we did. I talked to John for a while, hearing his sick voice made me miss him so much. He is eating medicine so he will be fine soon, I just wish I could be there for him. Around eleven I went to bed, found it hard to fall asleep because of the intensive wind and then we woke up somewhere in the middle of the night by a gecko screaming on the wall opposite the bed. Not a good night sleep one could say.

It is still windy today. The breakfast was a bit less than yesterday, no sausages nor banana. Still enough to make my stomach happy. Will try not to burn myself, hope I will be lucky.

We are staying at this hotel for another night and then hopefully move to Koh Ngai, if we can get a boat to take us there. I do not know if there will be internet there, but I might suddenly disappear from blogging. In that case I will be back on Thursday when we are going to Krabi for the last night. The flight back to Singapore is on Friday 11:30 am.

Have a great day, people!

Another place to stay

S̄wạs̄dī (which I just googled to say hello in thai)

I woke up early, around six or seven, and was really desperate to fall asleep again. Instead my mind kept thinking the alarm will go off soon and I checked the clock every now and then. I must have fallen asleep since I woke up later by Annika sitting on the edge of the bed.

We ate breakfast at the restaurant by the hotel; mushroom omelette and I ate American pancakes with banana inside and I drowned it in honey that came on the side. The room was only booked for one right and since we did not like the beds, we started the day with walking on the beach looking for hotels. An interesting task to say the least; nothing I have ever done while on vacation before but enjoyed doing so.

There were hotels by the road, a bit longer walk from the beach, and even though we looked at them I never really wanted to live there. We passed a dive-store and sat down for a chat with the owner. He was very kind and recommended other hotels, beaches, restaurants and obviously diving areas. He talked about a kayak trip which sounded amazing, so that I really want to do! We left and walked to another store. In there we tried out bikinis for a while; I bought two and a hat. After that we took our luggage and moved into a bungalow on top of a cliff at Marine Park View Resort.

The ocean called and we changed into bikinis, walked down to the beach and had lunch. Very soon we were walking towards the waves. Unfortunately there were a few boats in the water and the surface was covered in bubbles from the gasoline. Still, the temperature was like a bathtub and the sand so incredibly soft. Hard to be annoyed really. Until we saw plastic wrap from a beer package float by.


When we eventually got out of the water we found a massage board. Looked amazing. We put clothes over the bikinis and headed to the ATM. By the road we found a recommended place called Mini Mouse Massage and walked in there instead. They cleaned our feet and showed us to the mattresses. I found it new and interesting to receive clothes to wear during the massage, but was very happy to remove the somewhat wet bikini-top and put them on.

If you have had thai massage before you will understand what I mean with nothing like Sweden. Hopefully you have been to Sweden to understand this reference. It was so much fun laying there and figuring out what part of their body they used to massage a part of mine. A foot pushing the underside of the thigh, knees pressing under the butt and they kept hitting the parts when they were done with it. I enjoyed it immensely. After an hour I still wanted more. Quite an experience, I can not believe I have never had it before now! Should I feel bad about only paying 350 THB (80kr)?

The hotel apparently had street access so we simply crossed the street. Left our things at the bungalow and went to their own restaurant. I had seen that they had satay on the menu earlier that day and had been looking forward to that. They did not have it. He said I could get spring rolls instead. Not the same thing to me. No hanging lip though, instead I ate rice and chicken from a pineapple. Tasted good, pretty special, something I have never had before.

Tomorrow will be a chill day, but that might change, we will see!

Good night!

Suddenly Thailand

I am so tired my eyes can barely stay open.

One month ago John and I left Sweden and moved to Singapore. The company arranged an apartment for us for a month and that has now expired. This morning we packed everything we had and were surprised to find out just how much that is. Well, not everything belonged to us, Annika had her stuff there too, but mostly ours. We tried to get a van or something large, but were unable to. Instead we booked two XL Ubers and packed everything into them. Both drivers being not too happy about it but very helpful and kind in the end.

Stuffed cab with all our things.

Since there is a gap here between the 23rd of March and the 1st of April, we had to solve it somehow. John is working so he had to have a bed for nine days. At AirBnB we found just the thing: a single room and space for the things. Unloaded the cars and brought everything up to the 8th floor. John is now staying with a couple and their friend. Also, when I left him he was feeling pretty sick, so I will worry about him even though I said I would not.

So where are Ellie and Annika? We booked a flight to Thailand, Koh Lanta. Here we are! Nine days in this new country, except for for Annika, she has been here before. We travelled directly to the airport after leaving the temporary apartment and took a two hour flight to Krabi. Annika made sure we got a private taxi for a better price than they wanted at first, so eventually we sat in a very luxurious minivan for almost three hours.

Luxury cab with room for six people.

When we got to the hotel we were very tired and very hungry. It was a gorgeous place and amazing room, but something needed to be wrong and that was the bed. Like sleeping on a stone. They tried to make it more comfortable with a blanket, but no. They were very kind though and helped us find another hotel with better bed, though a bit more expensive. We have booked just one night here and will look for other places tomorrow, depends on how our back feels in the morning.

Good night, new world.

Finally at a hotel with sleepable bed, we ate late dinner at the beach.

IKEA - why buy it when you can move in at the store?

Good evening.
I might as well write this in Swedish, but I will not.

I started this morning fixing our list on IKEA's website. Added furniture, removed furniture and nodded to things already in place. After it was somewhat done Annika and I walked over to the store, less than five minutes walk.

We had lunch and went through the catalogue looking for missing items and confirming others. I had a very simple version of a Caesar-salad, containing salad, chicken pieces and croutons. Annika chose two croissants with salmon-cream-thing that tasted good.

Then we walked around the showrooms, found the things we wanted, checked them off the list and added the things that were not there. Found a cheaper bed in as is (items that has been on display or somehow broken; this bed had small holes in the packaging and therefore cost $280 less). Unfortunately it was firm and not medium firm, so it would not do.

I am a bit tired and can not understand how we managed to spend so many hours in there. Around five we went back to the restaurant to have a fika, cinnamon bun for Annika and I had a blueberry cheesecake. Checked the list because we thought we could order online and not have to walk around picking everything up. No, this we could not do, the only online function was doing a list.

So we went to the self storage and Annika put together a cart with the tables and chairs and legs and all the bigger furniture. I was outside getting some air, but noticed my phone was dying and we needed the online list to collect all the other stuff. We went home and left our things standing near a help desk.

John got of work twenty minutes to seven and came home. Just the two of us went back to IKEA, checked so that our things were still where we put them and proceeded to the restaurant. A lot more people there now, strangely enough Singaporeans seems to think IKEA-food is the best dinner you can have. It was the third time that day for me. I had salmon and potatoes, John ate Swedish meatballs and potatoes.

After that we finally got two carts and walked around for I do not know how long and filled them up with all the things we wanted. Glasses, plates, kitchen wares, pillows, rugs, towels, clothes rack, lamps, etc. etc. You get it. We bought a whole home.

While John and Annika paid for the three large carts I stood in line for home delivery. We filled out the form with our new address and date of delivery and felt queasy about leaving everything for almost $4000 in their hands to be given back on 2nd of April. We left the store half an hour before they closed at eleven.

And all I have to show you is one picture.
(The phone was busy being the thing keeping track of everything.)

Two big Events in One day

"Hello hello hello!" 
- Annoy-o-Tron

Great day! We woke up early and even though it was really hard getting out of bed we left the apartment at ten o'clock. A taxi picked us up with a female driver and we both agreed it was a long time since we have had one - wonder why they are so rare. She was nice, but unfortunately the GPS showed the wrong address even though she typed it in right; so we got a tour to see the border. We then used John's phone to navigate instead and arrived at the destination five minutes before the appointed time.

We arrived at a street called Jalan Bumbong (a name so good you want to say it twice and then a third for good measure). The people who lived in the house we were invited to were cat breeders! We sat on their couch and really seemed to hit it of with both of them. They introduced their cats and kittens and we were sold. Well, the cats were for sale, not us.

Four females and one male kitten were up for adoption. The girls were grey and the boy was white or beige, cream-something I think she called him. All had different personalities; one girl ate our fingers and fished with her claws through the cage to get them back when we retrieved them, another was less fierce but curious and sniffed at the weird human sausages put through the bars, the third female was very unsure and kept close to mommy. The last one was a bit older and in another cage, I did not turn around to see her because I was very busy with the younger ones.

The only male, he and his sisters being almost two months, acted very shy and did not approach us until they took him out of the cage and put on the floor next to us. Tiny whiskers tickled my leg. I picked him up and put him in Johns lap. The cat sniffed all over his shorts, tried to explore the hole John had created between his crossed legs but never got the chance to go there. He sniffed John's tank top for a while and then climbed his arm to get over to my leg - but failed and fell only to desperately attach himself to John with sharp claws and a dangling butt.

This is the one we fell for.

After that big step in our lives (we will talk to them tomorrow and confirm we want to adopt this darling) we ordered another taxi and went to the zoo. We had heard that the Singaporean Zoo is one of the best in the world and it did not let us down, but first we ate a moderately expensive lunch outside and then bought the tickets.

John had deliberately forgotten to mention one thing about this zoo - the less dangerous animals are not in completely sealed off compartments. First animals we encountered were three monkeys climbing the trees on the other side of the entrance. I will not mention all the animals we saw because they have so many species, but I will tell you about the favourites and the first timers and the shows.

Ever since I bought my dressing-gown (named Icebear) I have started to love polar bears. They had a large male that seemed a bit bored. He swam around the same circle and half jumped up to a fake ice raft and dived into the water. One round took maybe twenty seconds. I found it quite sad, he did not have any company or anything to do it seemed.

We saw a wolverine but were offended when their map showed Russia, Finland and Norway as the only places in the world it lived. Strange how they managed to miss Sweden, we are kind of in between the two mentioned countries.

I saw zebras up close and not blurry (only time I have seen them before were without lenses/glasses and on distance). They were gorgeous and I wanted to take one home to treat with infinite love. Zebras are one of my favourite animals since I started playing Zoo Tycoon 2 when I was a kid. Also their sounds are adorable.

They had a cheetah, leopard and pumas, all three beautiful animals. First time seeing these (for me). Wanted to go in there and cuddle, but John said they would not like me very much. I think he is wrong.

We entered the snake house and it was the best snake house I have ever been to. I remember two names, the curled up Anaconda and the big bad King Cobra. This animal is the most beastly snake you can imagine. Unlike all the other snakes it moved, raised itself in attack position and even went into the water to slither around there for some time. He was very curious about the people following his every move and the tongue flickered close to the window. We sat on the floor for a few minutes and just watched this majestic animal move.

First time I saw giant tortoise and we had the option to go in and pet them, but I did not do it. First of all it was a long queue and second I heard a worker there that they could give you salmonella. Not interested. Maybe another day when there is less people and I am more hygienic.

John found the komodo dragons devilish and would not look at them for too long, fearing they took mental notes of his face to put on their to-kill list. It is a very reasonable fear to have, as they are fierce, violent and sadistic animals. I am blessed with a partner possessing great survival instincts.

The moon bears were asleep but their fur looked so soft. Met eyes with a intelligent orang-utan who wore a piece of cardboard as hat. Quick stop at the restaurant in the middle of the zoo for some fresh fruit, water and pee-break.

We saw the Rainforest Fights Back Show. Some primates, cute not-raccoons, birds and snakes. One lady from the audience got the chance to go up on stage with the little snake and when she was picked I thought it was me but it was the lady right behind me. I was a little bit disappointed. She stood on stage, ready to hold a normal size snake but was a little afraid. Behind her a large yellow python was being carried in by four people. When she saw it she freaked and almost went into the pool at the front of the stage. It was fun, I enjoyed the show but I really wanted to be the person on stage showing of how brave I am. Next time!

Half an hour later there was the Elephants at Work and Play Show. I love elephants so I laughed loudly when they waved with their trunks and ears, when the people said their rehearsed jokes and when the elephants shook and nodded their heads. The work part of the show was to shuffle large trees in the water and pull them back up, John asked me if I understood why these animals are used for working in jungles. They also balanced on a tree, splashed water and did what elephants do. Lovely to watch and wonderful show. It was so much fun!

After that we were getting tired and headed back to the entrance. Before we left we went to see the white tigers. This was absolutely my favourite animal to watch (even though I wish they had done more than lay in the sun/shadow). They looked like angels of orange tigers. Magnificent as they moved. I might adopt one of those instead.

Thank you for reading this long post and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did living it. This day was one of the best yet.

Zoo long!

Shopping day

Thursday to Friday.

Things have been happening. I proclaimed myself well on Tuesday. Annika came back from Langkawi on Wednesday, but I wanted to stay home to write. I ate lunch alone at the food court with a book and delicious sweet and sour shrimps. After John got off work we met up at Buona Vista and walked to Holland Village. We met a British guy whom John had conversed with over Reddit. It was a pleasant evening with a lot of talking and a few beers.

Thursday: Annika and I took the bus to Orchard Road. We found it extremely fun to do so. Stepping out of the bus we went straight inside the first mall we found. It was hot outside and cold inside, something very common here. The mall had all the expensive stores and some we recognized such as Marks and Spencer. At the top floor we found a restaurant with a sushi-go-round, had a really good talk and were surprised by it not being that expensive.


We proceeded to Forever 21, a store with five floors. Picked some clothes and tried them on. Chose two of the eight garments and continued. After rummaging through the top floors it was time to try the new batch. I got the cubical right in front of the queue. Each time I opened to show Annika, the queue, consisting only by women, leaned out and stared at me. Annika asked me to turn around and I twirled before them all, feeling rather observed and uncomfortable. Something that made it a bit more worth it was seeing a girl in the back that I had taken an awesome yellow shirt in front of, it was the last one, looking really jealous.

After an unknown amount of hours we emerged with clothes worth $70 (only one shirt belonging to Annika). Found the bikini at the Billabong outlet but unfortunately it was too big. Annika found a dress at Cotton On, which I bought and also signed up for their newsletter to get it even cheaper.

John called and said he would just go home so the two of us had dinner without him. Found a Japanese restaurant a bit further in on a street and further away from the busy Road. I ate cold noodles with something very spicy on top but when I took that away it was very good. I also decided that I liked cold salmon. Listened to Japanese men talking in the booth next to us and I realized it was the first time I heard that language spoken in person. Such a lovely experience!

We came back home around half past ten.

Today, the most exciting thing that happened was that the three of us went to IKEA and John and I decided what bed we wanted for the new apartment, along with sofa, table, chairs and more.