Day 11 - Monday 15 January 2024

Day 11, and I had absolutely nothing planned.

I went to sleep last night to the sound of waves breaking against the beach; I’m in an overwater bungalow, but only just as I’m the one nearest to the beach, so I have the waves breaking directly beneath me. Still, it’s a sound that I find really soothing, so had no trouble sleeping last night.

Into breakfast at 06:30 as has become my habit, and then into the Wi-fi area to have a video chat with Mum before retreating to my balcony to finish the Dan Brown book, Origin. I’ve had the hardback sitting in my bookcase for ages and hadn’t got round to reading it, so I bought a Kindle version as I knew I’d have the opportunity to read in the first couple of weeks of the trip.

I went for a bit of an explore of the site, and then decided to see where Mantira beach is as apparently that’s the place to go for sunsets; it’s only a 10 minute walk down the road, and looked ideal when I arrived there …. I’ll be back this evening.

Back to the hotel, and all of this walking in the heat is hard work, so a beer was in order; as the restaurant/bar is a wi-fi zone, I caught up on what’s happening. A year ago I was in Andorra (doesn't seem possible), and five years ago I’d just skied Le Face in Val D’Isere ….. I’ve said it a few times; I’m missing skiing (notably my comrades) but there are compensations!

I'm in the bungalow furthest left.

Into the afternoon, and time to start an old favourite of a book; a work of pure Science Fiction and a damned good story to boot (which John Travolta made into one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen!) … Battlefield Earth.

A swim in the sea which was really just a little too rough to swim in, before heading back to Matira beach for the sunset; the plan was to timelapse it. It didn’t quite work out as planned as there was a bank of cloud all the way to the horizon that the sun dipped behind 40 minutes before sunset, so back to the hotel, dinner and then time to get the blog done today.

I have an excursion tomorrow, so it should hopefully be a bit more interesting; it’s been a nice relaxing day for me though.

One final item for today; I finally persuaded my travel companion to step in front of the camera. I'd like to introduce you to Ellie.

I've heard loads of stories about people 'borrowing' gnomes and the like and taking them abroad, and sending the owner back photos of them in famous locations. I thought I could do the same without the borrowing, hence Ellie is travelling with me ..... there is one very specific Lord of the Rings location in New Zealand where I'm hoping to get a good shot!