Charlotte's Web: Bikes and beaches, Thailand

My post-workshop holiday began with a 100km bike ride with my friend Naomi who lives in London but is working on a BBC documentary at Bangkok airport at the moment. It was so nice to get back on a bike and get my legs moving after a week of walking round 3 points of a triangle. (Hotel room, restaurant, conference room. Repeat.) It wasn't meant to be 100km - we were aiming for 70km but got to our lunch spot early so managed another 30km after lunch. All good training for the RideLondon 100 miler I'm doing in August. Gulp.

In terms of location, apart from going to see the ancient capital of Thailand (Ayutthaya), we weren't really in a tourist area so it was nice to see some of the real Thailand as we peddled the streets with our guide Krit and Bobby our support driver/out-of-the-car-window photographer/ice cold flannel provider. Definitely no slumming it for this one!

Setting up the bikes with Krit and Bobby

Under arches...

And electricity cables...

Past chicken satay stalls...

And elephants...

And paddy fields...

And temples...

And billboards...

And over bridges...

King coconut stop at Ayutthaya

Lunch stop at 70km

Tired (or full?!) after lunch so drafting Naomi (-:

Still fresh 90km in!

Finished!

Celebrating with cold flannels...

And cold beer!

After our day of cycling Naomi had to go back to work so I headed down to Krabi for a few days of beach time. I stayed at a little guesthouse called The Laughing Gecko with bamboo huts set in a cashew nut orchard at the quieter Hat Noppharat Thara end of Ao Nang (the Benidorm-esque centre of Krabi's tourist area). Basic but friendly and with wifi so I could email and call my solicitor about the flat which I was still waiting to exchange and complete on. So I didn't have the most relaxing of evenings (during UK working hours) but kept busy during the days with kayaking, snorkelling and exploring beaches.

On the penultimate day of my holiday I finally received the call I'd been waiting over 5 months for (more about that in my next post) - simultaneous exchange/completion 2 hours before my mortgage offer expired. Talk about going to the line...........

So THAT's what a cashew tree looks like!

Bedroom in bamboo hut

Bathroom

Waiting for the solicitor to call...

Kayak trip to the limestone cliffs, caves and mangroves

Lived off these - satay sellers by the beach - and mango juice from the next door stall

Monkey walk to Centara Grand beach

Centara Grand beach from the Monkey Walk

For Jenny and Penny who actually stayed at the Centara Grand at Christmas - I didn't dare cross the rope but thought you'd love to revisit the sun-loungers!