Tag Archives: cape panwa

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Sun, sand and saltwater

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Tuesday, 25 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Eight Days Old.

Miraculously, I awoke this morning with a full nights rest and hardly any trace of illness… I don’t know how it happened but my goodness, am I grateful!

It meant that we were finally able to have a family outing for the day, our first one in five days and I couldn’t wait to take Ayla on the short boat ride over to Coral Island for some sun, sand and saltwater.

Ayla had a ball crawling around on the beach and Hubby and I found myself keeping track of her by following the strange markings she left in the sand in her wake!

The water at Coral Island was so clear that when we took Ayla in for a swim could see the fish darting in and out amongst the coral.

Ayla also made friends with a couple of young children who were on the tour with us, and at lunch when they started playing hide-and-seek-tickle with her Ayla was so happy she nearly squealed the place down with delight.

On the way back to the mainland the tour stopped for a snorkel in a beautiful bay where we could hand feed thousands of colourful fish within meters of the boat.

Ayla was mesmerised as she looked down at the water from the boat’s flybridge, seeing the bits of bread I was throwing turn into a splashing, shimmering whirlpool of aquatic activity.

All in all it as a great day out, partly because it’s the best we’ve all felt in nearly a week and partly because we are half way around the world, making special precious memories as a family… and there’s not much better than that!

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Bug

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Monday, 24 March 2014: Fifty One Weeks Old

Ayla is all better again thank goodness; although she’s still got no appetite for solids, Ayla has able to keep down full feeds of milk and plenty of water all day.

Hubby is tonnes happier than he has been these past few days as well, and he was finally keen to get out and about and do some exploring, but there was just one problem….

Today it is me who is sick.

I now have so much more sympathy for what Hubby and Ayla have been through and I hope to goodness this horrid bug doesn’t down me for days.

I feel terrible for letting the team down. Today, one of our last days on holiday, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

After literally hours in bed while Hubby sat by the pool with Ayla I was finally able to manage a trip down to the beach for a swim, and of course another rest.

Tomorrow is our last full day of holidays and I hate the idea that all three of us have spent more than half the trip sick!

I’m just glad that it’s not our first time to Thailand, and that all we really wanted to do here was relax, rest and recuperate, which I guess we’re still on track for achieving!

I was also grateful for Ayla today, who managed to put a smile on my face when she started putting on my clothes!

It was the first time Ayla’s ever tried dressing up and when I found her on the bed with my bikini top correctly around her neck and the bottoms in her hand I couldn’t help but laugh – my little girl’s growing up!

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Koala

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Sunday, 23 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Six Days Old.

Last night was the longest night ever in the history of Ayla.

Just as we were finally getting into holiday mode and looking forward to the next few days being filled with snorkelling, shopping and sightseeing, Ayla fell terribly ill.

At 8pm I gave Ayla her regular bed time feed and at 8.30pm, just moments after she’d fallen asleep in my arms content with a full belly of milk, Ayla vomited.

Ayla has never been one to vomit, I only recall one other time when she was a tiny baby that she vomited and I thought that was scary, but this time Ayla kept vomiting, and crying and cramping up in her tummy.

Fortunately Hubby and I were able to catch the resort nurse just before she finished her shift and she gave us some panadol to bring down Ayla’s fever that was climbing up past 38.5 degrees.

I then held Ayla and rocked her and comforted her until the wee hours, upright against my chest like a little koala.

After pacing until my back was sore I resorted to setting up camp in the bath tub, propped up by a couple of pillow and tensely awaiting Ayla’s next bout of sickness.

Poor Hubby’s illness also returned during the night so it was long and tedious for all of us.

This morning Ayla seemed a little better but the amount of milk and water we could give her is limited because too much caused her to be sick.

By the early afternoon Ayla was looking much better, she’d had a big sleep and had been able to keep down some milk and water so we decided to sneak out to an air conditioned shopping centre in Phuket Town for an hour or two.

But the taxi ride there did nothing for Ayla except upset her stomach and reignite her temperature, which shot straight to 39.5!

Luckily we’d packed the panadol and were able to address it straight away but it was a frightening reminder that there is nothing more important than Ayla and until she is well again we will happily stay in the confines of the resort.

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Holiday mode

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Saturday, 22 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Five Days Old.

Ayla is much better today, 100% in fact, and the tooth that had been causing her all the grief seems to have retracted into her gums to return and wreak havoc another day.

Hubby is still unwell but definitely better so that meant we were able to leave the resort this morning and check out Phuket Aquarium.

It was fun; Ayla enjoyed it as we knew she would and Hubby was happy to see Barramundi and Mangrove Jack in one of the tanks!

Ayla’s favourite exhibit was the “creatures of the deep” section where there were strange fishlike creatures preserved in liquid in clear Perspex orbs… I think Ayla might have been more interested in the watery orbs than the creatures though.

We escaped the heat of the day in our hotel room where we had lunch and a nap then in the afternoon we took Ayla to the beach to build sandcastles and have a swim.

We had bought a sand play set at the aquarium and a few of the other children at the beach wanted to share it with Ayla which meant we got to meet a couple of other traveling families and it was nice to make new friends.

Ayla played in the sand for ages and systematically destroyed the castles and sculptures as fast as Hubby and I could make them and when the time came to rinse off in the sea Ayla giggled at the waves as the gently lapped her belly.

It was lovely to be on a beach relaxing, and it felt like we were finally getting into the holiday mode we so desperately needed.

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Lucky!

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Friday, 21 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Four Days Old.

Lucky we didn’t have much planned today because two thirds of us are sick!

It turns out that one of the meat-on-stick “delicacies” Hubby ate last night had probably seen better days, and as a result he was up half the night being sick.

Then this morning Ayla woke up with a mild fever due to teething which understandably made her miserable, irritable and clingy.

Thankfully though I’m ok – a little tired but certainly not sick – because I needed all my energy to keep my little family afloat today!

It was our last day in Patong and we were transferring to the southwest tip of Phuket Island to stay the next five nights at a resort in Cape Panwa, a one hour car trip away.

Fortunately we had a late check out from our hotel which gave us just enough time to get Hubby well enough to travel and allow Ayla a big morning sleep to tide her over for the journey.

It also gave me plenty of time to have breakfast (alone), pick up the laundry, pack our suitcases and book a taxi for the transfer – phew!

The fever meant poor Ayla napped fitfully for two and a half hours and when the time came to check out I unwillingly had to wake her.

Ayla’s temperature had climbed to 38.2 so she was definitely feeling sick and sorry for herself and the only thing that would keep her happy was mummy cuddles.

Don’t get me wrong, I love mummy cuddles but having a sick clingy baby and a sick sleepy husband was exhausting!

When we got to the resort we knew we’d made the right decision in choosing Cape Panwa as our final Thailand holiday destination; it’s breathtaking.

Our resort has two pools, a private beach, sea view balconies and stunning restaurants, the perfect environment for rest, relaxation and recovery. And the local village is quiet and minimalist, with a long esplanade that meanders along the shoreline and looks out across a crystal clear bay to an assortment of nearby islands.

We did very little this afternoon. Ayla’s fever came down after some baby panadol and she able to sleep peacefully for another three hours. Hubby was still ill but slowly on the mend so managed a short walk down to and along the beach.

The day ended with a brief dinner at one of the resort restaurants before we retired to our room for air conditioning, movies and darkness.