What a crazy day it was. We got notified that we were going to be able to upgrade to a penthouse room for a minimal amount of money. Room upgrades like this are not free. In any event, we had packed the night before and then at 10 o’clock this morning, our cabin stewards took all of our stuff and brought it to the new cabin. We moved from the back of the ship to the front of the ship. We have so much more room. You all know that we are a little bit OCD and by 11 o’clock we had everything put away, hung up just like we’ve been there the whole time.
We had a mission today and that was to go to the beach. According to the schedule, we were supposed to be in Phuket, but wound up on the other side of the island in Penang. Instead of using the ship’s tenders, a dock was brought up to the ship and we used a large tender that we are not sure who supplied it. But it was big and roomy. We made the tender with three seconds to spare! We did not have to wait for the next one to show up. The tender docked at a jetty that stuck pretty far out from shore, and of course, they docked at the very end of the jetty. The beach was right there, but there was no shade and we could see beaches farther down the road that had chairs and umbrellas. It didn’t look that far, but distances are deceiving. With the way I am walking and with the heat, it turned out to be a tough walk for me, but I got there. Very, very hot. Michael rented two chairs and an umbrella for $2.50! Try doing that in Hawaii.
Michael went first to check the water out and came back and said it was absolutely perfect, the bottom was all sand and it was easy to get in and out. I had a chair massage having my neck and arms worked on. For 20 bucks for almost an hour. Can’t beat that. As I was having the massage, Michael went looking for pharmacies that might have the medication I lost, and for lunch. I couldn’t wait for him to get back because I was so blasted hot. There was no way we were going to leave our stuff unattended.
As soon as he got back with lunch, I took off for the water. I walked in and kept walking, and kept walking until the water was up to my knees. I kept walking and kept walking and kept walking and finally was up to my waist; no matter how far I walked it did not get deep so one had to dunk to get wet. It was delightful. So did I get out OK? I was doing pretty good until this man walked up to me and asked if I needed any help as I’m standing there wobbling back-and-forth, and I thought yeah I’ll take it. We took turns going in the water, and I am proud to say I got out of water all by myself the last time – – with no sand in my suit!
Back to lunch for a minute. Michael came back with a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches, Lays potato chips, a Diet Coke for me and a Singha beer for himself. Singha is Thailand’s most popular beer, and served all over the world. Now, Michael has had many Singha’s in Thai restaurants all over the world, but this is the first time he's had one sitting on the beach in Thailand, so it was worth the attached picture.
It was so hot and having to take turns to get into the water, we decided to go back. I struggled to get back, but I made it and we made the tender without having to wait. All totaled I walked 1-3/4 mile. I just can’t walk that much and not pay for it. When on the tender we happen to pass something that look like an island with the house. Closer inspection showed it was a resort! In the middle of nowhere. We arrived back on the ship and we went directly to the pool, which was more like a bathtub unfortunately. It was now time to take a shower and then get ready for our guests to arrive at our new room.
In our old room, there was barely enough room for 2 people let alone guests. We had Melinda and Duncan over for a champagne celebration, and we all had a place to sit! After cocktails it was time to go to dinner in the restaurant. We went to a very delightful show after dinner.