A DAY OF SWIMMING

Ever since I'd taught Tim how to swim in Bangkok two months again, she's occasionally wanted to go swimming again.  She's still afraid of swimming in the ocean (she saw a lot after the tsunami; plus, the surf is too violent during this year's monsoon for even me to want to risk venturing into it).  Her friend, Puk, works at a resort in Kathu and had been pestering us about coming to use the swimming pool for quite some time.  We finally got over there one afternoon this past week and had a ball.

Yesterday, I thought it would be nice to make an entire day out at this particular swimming pool.  I even suggested that Tim call Lek and Jum and ask if they could join us (I usually prefer for Tim and I to be alone rather than having the entire "gang" along).  We set out for Kathu around 10:30 in the morning.  The sky, as usual, was overcast with dark clouds but there were some breaks with visible blue as we got closer to Kathu.  Upon our arrival, we had the pool to ourselves and had a lot of fun splashing around and racing from one end to the other.  Tim does great at the breast-stroke and also swimming underwater (she does hold her nose, as do I); I'm much better at swimming on my back.  Despite it still being fairly cloudy, I was careful to put some SPF 40 cream on my shoulders, forehead, and nose as these still do burn despite my having become almost the same shade of brown as Tim (at least on the bits not covered by shorts and shirts).

Jum arrived about an hour after we did and we ordered a nice lunch (spicy prawn salad, some squid, a BLT sandwhich, and french fries with water and ice coffee to drink).  Jum didn't bring a bathing suit and sat under the big umbrella while Tim and I frolicked in the water. Later, I found out that she doesn't know how to swim (she says she's scared of the water).  But watching the fun that Tim was having in the pool caused her to ask if I'd teach her to swim next time.  Lek finally arrived and immediately jumped in the pool fully clothed!

Although the clouds remained dark and ominous over the mountains and back towards Chalong, the sun poked out enough directly over the pool to keep the water nice and warm.  There was a very nice breeze during most of the afternoon that made the air temperature pleasant (it had been EXTREMELY hot the past couple of days).  In the end, it never rained at all.

When Tim and I departed around 5:00, we decided to take a very long route home — over and down the mountain into Patong, across the moutainous coastal road over to Karon and Kata, and finally over the moutain heading inland towards Kathu.  We made a brief stopoff in Patong where I snapped some photos of the beach because the surf was especially rough and high (from the road, we couldn't even see the sand!).  We also made a stop at a temple market between Kata and Karon to buy some veggies (most of which still look like weeds to me but they are nice supplements to rice and fish).

All in all, it was a very pleasant day and I'm looking forward to another day of swimming.  Tim loves the water and I've swum more in the past week than the entire 12 years I lived in New Mexico!!