Everything in its Time

Everything in its Time - Corrine May

"I just fall on my knees and I try to pray
In the silence I can hear Him say
The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold onto patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its Time "

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11

In its time. Its funny how these past 2 days as I was anticipating the return back to Sydney, back to reality/work etc.. wondering God what am I doing with my life..
The first time when I was praying silently under the covers in my sister's bed, Lister put on Corrine May's song, everything in its time. 2nd was in the shower yesterday morning, Little B came home from her morning brekky and put it on...
Journalled about it on the plane.. as I said yet another good-bye to my family.. man I'm getting sick of waving bye to them behind the glass panel, am I waiting for the "sign" from God or am I just afraid to return having left it 8years ago for the great southland.
Perhaps the song was also to prepare me for the disappointment when I got home, amidst my pile of mail, a letter from RPAH, finally the answer after my interview in May for the trainee Food service manager position.
"I regret to advise that in this instance there was another applicant whose overall skills, knowledge and experience more closely matched the position requirements" --- super duper sian man......

Reminding my heart "Everything in its time"

KSM Day 2.5

As we were hunting for adventures in the morning we were drawn the hotel staff setting up chairs and beams, overlaying them with flowers and garlands. A quick question revealed that there was to be a beach wedding at the resort that afternoon. Check out the gorgeous wedding set-up. We lounged by the pool, doing Sudoku. Everyone/busybody tourists like me craned our necks to catch glimpes of the bride once we saw the guests taking their seats. The manager told us the wedding was meant to be at 4pm, and the bride was fashionably late! So me and little B entertained ourselves with balls by the poolside.
Later we managed to capture a glimpse of her as she walked by us kaypoh people at the pool. Only my dad could manage to take such close up photos of the bridal couple!

Unfortunately, it started to rain as predicted by our "thunderstorm" leaf.. Went back to the rooms to try out our bath tub with bath tea and change for yummy dinner at the full moon restaurant.

Ekers at full moon restaurant!

We started with a scallop entree accompanied by a bread and bread stick platter served with 4 different dips. I was fascinated by the roasted garlic in own of the quads and stuck a bread stick inside while little B was telling me its meant to be spread!Next we had a seafood platter, grilled lobster with bacon and scallop skewers on a rosemary stick, calamari rings, hot cut wedges, fish chunks and grilled tiger prawns.
Next, my newest favourite pasta squid ink spaghetti! This one came also with giant scallop skewers in a provencale sauce and squid rings with tartare sauce on the side.















Then linguine seafood hotpot, very generous with seafood, we even lamented that we could do with more pasta!
That was topped off by desserts, Lychee cheesecake and yes there was yummy lychee peices generously distributed through out, chocolate mud sandwich and a trio of thai influenced ice-cream jasmine, lemongrass and coconut. The lemongrass one excelled! Walked back to rooms, tummy truly satisfied

Koh Samui Day 2

Above: The sight that greeted us as we stepped out of our rooms to go for breakfast.
The Ekers woke up at 830am to go for complimentary buffet breakfast, brings back happy memories of childhood days when we went on holidays with Dad and Mum where my favourite table was the one where the chef would make your eggs anyway you like it, day 1 I opt for the omelette with the lot!
The setting of the breakfast place warm and welcoming, Dad orders a fresh pot of coffee and we a pot of tea. The selection is overwhelming, food for almost any type of breakfast habit. The glutton in me making mental calculations of what I can stomach at a sitting, what tastes good enough for 2nd rounds and what deserves only a mouthful. There was a whole table of tropical fruit galore that changed daily, cantaloupe, mangosteens, longans, watermelon, pineapples and papayas. Table of lemongrass tea and freshly s queezed daily juice. (Top: Bircher muesli, watermelon juice, fruit platter)
A table of a wide variety of breads, brioches, danishes, sun-dried tomato loaf, buns, wholegrain breads, sunflower seed loaves, rye bread , muffins, fruit bread etc.. Next to it a REAL honey comb dripping pure honey to a platter below, and a pots of different jams, pineapple, strawberry, marmalage and coconut jam. Cereal bar of bircher muesli (something I've always wanted to try), coco poops, jars of sunflower seeds, almond flakes, just to name a few, and yes yoghurt, fruit salad, cottage cheese. Then there's a deli sections with cold cuts platter with ham, pastrami, and salami; brie, blue and cheddar cheese, smoked cod and salmon, sushi, salad leaves. Then comes hot foods, thai breakfast, always rice congee of some kind chicken, seafood or prawn, fried rice/noodles pad thai, hokkien noodles served with 7 types of condiments, sausages, crips bacon, hot potato dish (cheesy bake/rosti/roasted), roasted tomatoes, spinach with feta cheese, waffles, pancakes.. AND not forgetting, the egg section! Omelette with you choice of cheese, capsicum, onions, mushrooms and bacon, sunny-side up eggs, poached eggs, scrambled, soft-boiled in those cute egg cups.
I feature my selection for day1, omelette with the lot, 1 sausage, bacon, wilted spinach and feta, potato cake, smoke salmon and cod and thai prawn noodles with plenty of chili, that and a good cup of coffee. And then it happens, a thai waitress walks and asks us in her lilting thai accent "Madam, warm croissant?" ARGH! who could resist!? Haven't had one in eons, I nodded eagerly "YES please!" the rest of the gang follows suit, I rationalize my gluttony in the few and far between mentality, just cos i'm on a holiday, I have had one in ages so its ok but Mr Broc knows that I'm just greedy.. and I love good food. My warm croissant. He doesn't mind my burgeoning waist line apparently but I do know that it could be a threat to my livelihood, I mean what kind of dietitian eats a croissant for breakfast after that massive platter somemore! har har in the words of my Sydney foodie friend "I dont' karrrreee" arnie style. I grab my warm croissant and have it with fresh honey from the honeycomb, I luxury I've never tried before... Sensational! Stomachs groaning, we explore the resort in day-time! These happy scenes greet us with a promise of a relaxing weekend. Above: Resort pool that looks like it leads into the ocean.

Thai huts scattered on the lawns between the rooms with balconies that face each other, in it a square table with books or games you could play, triangle back rest on mats and lit up lemongrass fragrance that supposedly helps with keeping mosquitos at bay.

Below, the water feature of lilies, water lotuses which lead from the lobby to the restaurant Full Moon which overlooks the hotel swimming pool.

We decided to enjoy the resort today, after spending sometime walking along the beach for some water sport thing to do, sand was not very impressive I prefer Aussie's Coogee beach and prices were pretty exhorbitant, tourist prices of 14,000 baht = SGD$700 for a boat to take us out to the marine national park or another island Koh Tao for snorkeling etc.. No way man.. we talk to some F&B manager guy who wasn't much help and quoted 18,00 baht: SGD$900.. WHAT THE??!?! My sisters look at him in disbelief and decided we'll go find out on our own. We change into our swimmers, grab some books from the hotel library and settle on benches next to the pool, I need some sunshine given I'd just come from winter in Sydney. Dad was funny and took out his laptop and printed pieces of paper for us to do a family Soduku family challenge! argh.. he even brough pencils and erasers for everyone.. funny ol dad.
Yummy pool-side lunch of salmon bento, seafood pizza and thai appetisers.
Left: Salmon Bento
Seafood pizza






Thai appetisers

Almost thankful that we didn't sink to the bottom of the pool! Little B and I went swimming after lunch and tried to entice lister to join us

Lister and Little B looking cute with matching volleyballs,

Just us sister Little B, Mum and Me,

I'm tired.. more next time..

Koh Samui Day 1

For you sweetie, my fat man who wants to know what I've been up to.

6th July, Friday 630pm, the ekers called for a London cab off to T-1 Changi airport boarding the only direct flight from Singapore PG___ at 840pm for a 1hr 40min flight to Koh Samui Thailand.
Mum looks on excitedly into cab.

On board Thai airways, Dad doesn't seem very happy dunno if its the fact that his belly has grown to such enormous proportions that its touching the tray table! or that he's not too impressed by plane food. Haha
We arrive safely in Koh Samui to be greeted by this---->
our transport to the immigration counter. My sisters and I enjoy the ride the night breeze,
delighting in the fact The airport looks like a seaside hut, immigration booths made of wood, bamboo netting etc, luggage laid out on concrete paths.
Our pick-up takes us to Anatara resort and spa our hotel for our 4 nights and 5days here.
We were impressed by the "getaway" feeling of this place, a long moat-like wooden path driveway flanked by large ponds of water lilies, lotuses and flame torches that lead up to the hotel reception fronted by a large water fountain with large monkey statutes in it. Bster commented that she felt like we were entering a scene from "survivor" when we were greeted by this! The hotel lobby... wow. Efficient thai staff immediately appeared with cold towels and refreshing pineapple juice as we waited for our room keys.
We were ushered to our rooms, Dad was annoyed cos he paid more for a deluxe room (i.e room on level 1 where we can walk out to the pool area). So we settled in room 212 first. It was gorgeous, spa and hot tub bathroom that has doors which can slide open into the view of the room, i.e you could watch TV from the bath tub if you wanted, beds on elevated step, robes already laid out, an incribed leaf to tell us what the weather would be like the next day etc.. you get the picture, many details to make it like a retreat, representative of tranquility thai lifestyle.










We snuggle in for the night though Samui is 1hour behind Singapore..

HOLIDAYS!

YAY!

I truly lead of pampered luxurious life! Tonight I fly out to Koh Samui with Dad, Mum and my two sisters Lister and little B!
Its unbelievably fantastic to have to wake up whenever and wonder what shall I do today after weeks of 5 or 6AM starts to the day and not having a long list of "to-do"s.
We'll be there for 4nights and 5days, too much according to Mum who says "you can't expect me to go to the spa everyday!".. oh yes you can.. hehe. Me and my sisters a long list of water sports to try out, snorkelling, para-sailing...

Will be back to Singapore for 2 nights, Tues and Wed before flying again on Thursday morning to Hong Kong for shopping for another 4 nights 5 days and back on Monday then finally back to Sydney on Wednesday night red-eye flight...

Can't wait.. Little B's got her driving test this morning, pray that everything goes well. Dad's got the day off so I'm going to sneak downstairs to see what he's up to...
Only thing missing is that I'm missing my Fatty quite a bit especially when I see the places I brought him to in February when he flew up with me... Miss you dear...