Ahhh... Perfection

I can foresee that our upcoming days will be stress free and relaxing, and I couldn't be more excited!

Our breakfast this morning was a huge buffet spread on the veranda with one of the most scenic views I could imagine. The solid rock cliffs appear even more majestic in the morning sun.

 

 

We walked to town this morning to see what all was there. By walked, I mean we strolled about 40 paces along the beach. By town, I mean a narrow alleyway full of makeshift stalls with trinkets, beach ware and food for sale. The "town" was still coming to life at 9 this morning, a real beach time schedule. But the kittens were busy chasing one another and pouncing on terrifying things like their mother's tail.

Then, for our morning activity, we got Thai massages. Yep. And if that doesn't sound good enough, here was the setting for them:

 

Not too shabby, eh? My massage was very relaxing and yet unlike any I had had before. First, I was fully clothed, and considering our location, that was certainly for the best! She used no oils nor lotions, but rather there was almost always a thin towel between her hands and my skin. At a couple of points during the massage, she was sitting on me, and the pressure provided by her whole weight was perfect. Many of the things she did were more like yoga stretches that she then pushed my body to go deeper into the stretches. It was an incredible way to begin our day!

After that, we spent several hours reading by the pool, listening to the water lap on the shore, children laughing, birds chirping, a gentle ocean breeze, and conversations carried on in a variety of languages, many of which are not even recognizable to me. We walked back to town for some pizza, smoothies and shopping.

 

Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles, and I can easily see where the nickname comes from. In Europe, if you smile at strangers on the street, they seem to question your sanity. At home, a very small percentage seem to return your smile in response. Here, every local we've met has greeted us with an ear-to-ear sort of grin. What kind, welcoming, humble, cheerful people! I'm glad this is where we are spending such a large chunk of our time.

 

We walked along the beach this evening, noticing the enormous difference in high and low tides. Last night, we noticed strange sand formations and once again noticed those this evening:

 

The ground was practically covered in these formations, tiny balls of sand. Once we stopped and carefully watched, the ground seemed alive. The tiny crabs were hard to spot, but they were certainly the artists behind these creations.

 

Don't let the zoom trick you. This little guy could fit comfortably on a nickel. And his cousin that we spotted could have made his home inside a Cheerio.

We sat, mezmerized by the sunset for quite sometime and had fun experimenting with some sunset pictures.