Beach time

We are still in Koh Lanta and still in the same bungalow in the Green Garden resort. The place is working well for us. The bungalow is large enough for Kaya to play in, has a shady balcony we can spend time on while needing to be at the bungalow and a large grassy garden outside. The owners are friendly and very helpful in aiding us with a baby, specially in terms of our desire to be able to cook appropriate food for a 9 month old.

The beach is as good as most on the island and we can easily access fruit and veg markets, as well as other supplies needed for looking after a baby such as cotton wool, milk and low sugar/salt weetabix, and a hospital on the island is within driving distance. The sea is good for swimming and there are even some corals, fishes and a spotted moray eel. It has to be said that the coral is pretty much blasted here so far from pristine and the fish few and far between but more than many beaches due to rocks offshore and dead-coral mounds which are slowly being re-colonised.

We have taken turns going on snorkelling trips since Christmas and will do a few more before we leave. We prefer to find an island with good coral just off the beach but these are more remote places that don't have the back-up or shops we need with Kaya.

Our days turn around washing Kaya and changing her nappy followed by her breakfast. One of us may do that while the other one swims or does some yoga on the grass outside. One or both of us then spends time while Kaya tinks around before her mid-morning nap. Then one of us will hang out on the balcony and make her lunch and tea in a rice steamer while the other one swims or does some yoga. Kaya wakes up for more tinking, possibly this time on one of the resort's bamboo platforms and with other children. Then its her lunch and more tinking before her afternoon nap. We fit in our meals and swimming around Kaya. This is followed by more tinking then her tea. Some of her tinking may have been under the shade of a tree at the top of the beach. By this time the sun is lower and we might go for a 'looking' walk with Kaya in the sling before sitting down somewhere for her to have tea on the beach with sunset. We may do this at a cocktail bar. We're then straight into bed time routine for Kaya. Once she's in bed we have our dinner on the balcony or on the grassy area. If we buy from the resort they bring it over to us. We've had quite a few meals under the coconut palms looking at fabulous skies. We'll either hang out on the balcony or one of us will stay while the other has a walk or goes to the internet. I prefer reading in the hammock in the evening while Georgia tends to lie on the balcony itself.

We've been to the nearest town a couple of times to stock up on her weetabix and tea bags for us. Its a short though expensive tuk-tuk ride away. Virtually everything else we need is available in the shops on the road running behind the resorts and parallel to the beach which makes looking after Kaya so much simpler than it could be.

We've also been on a couple of snorkelling trips to nearby uninhabited islands which are full of great coral and fishes. We've seen moray eels, baby reef sharks, cuttlefish, sea snakes, starfish, barracuda, sea anemones and plenty of colourful reef fishes on these trips. We're planning more before we leave.

We've taken Kaya to a hospital and a clinic following her getting a tummy bug on Christmas day and then developing a rash. We spent a good part of Christmas in the hospital to find out it was a minor bug. By the time we were seen she was already recovering and hadn't thrown up for a couple of hours. She did, sadly throw up, on the first present she opened. She was clearly happy apart from when she was sick so we thought it wasn't serious but needed to check. The rash turns out to be an eczema reaction to lots of salt and sand, so again minor. It is good to have medics nearby to go to however as we'd do the same in Sheffield by visiting our GP or ringing NHS Direct.

Christmas was fun despite the sickness and Kaya loved having things to open and glittery decorations to look at. She now knows the word 'balloon'! We spent NYE outside our bungalow, under the full moon and palms, periodically taking turns to check out the fantastic sea gypsy band playing at our bar and drinking the odd cocktail. Kaya also knows the word moon and has loved looking for it as it approaches full because its been nicely overhead.

So, all is quiet on the whole with few excursions away from our beach except to go snorkelling or have Kaya checked up. There's certainly no threat of snow.