After crossing the bridge and going down a longish road, we turned into a side street with an orange dusty road, small shops/places, tuks tuks and bicycles and stopped almost directly opposite a place with cooked chickens hanging up outside, the smells of which were delicious. And there was my accommodation.
The first thing I noticed was the lovely profusion of bright pink flowers over a blue and white sign which said "Two Dragons Guesthouse and Restaurant". As my driver took my luggage from the tuk tuk, I saw bicycles, lots of tall palms and an inviting area of shade.
I walked through a menagerie of sights and sounds which was all a bit of a blur at the time, gave my name received my key and checked in at the bar/counter.
Walking ahead I had to navigate a sea of shoes and sandals (I became quite adept at not stepping on any of them) and went down to my room. If you look closely, the last door on the right is my room.
This was my room, my haven against the heat and very comfortable it was too. The bed was on the right hand side of the door, to the left of the door was a cane stand with open shelves and hanging space, and to the right of that was the door to the bathroom/toilet. On the end wall was a window with fuschia pink curtains, and under this was a cane chair, table and stool with the television on the right. The air conditioning was remote control and worked wonderfully. You get a free bottle of water each day.
This is the restaurant which is at the front as you can see - there are no doors or shutters so even at night it is open, but there are double doors just before the counter which are locked at night for security. The lady in pink is Da, one of the ladies working here.
Coming from my room, a few steps away are the stairs that lead to rooms upstairs and the balcony. Free tea and coffee and drinking water are provided for guests 24 hours a day - you can see them on the table over there on the right hand side. You don't get fresh milk, rather you get what's called "creamers" - powdered milk. Coming from a country where fresh milk is "normal", it was a little strange having to get used to powdered milk. It's not too bad in coffee, but in tea it's a bit on the yucky side. Still - if powdered milk is all there is, then powdered milk in tea is what you drink. Like anything, it all comes down to what you are used to...Believe me, you can get used to anything if you have to.☺
(I remember some Lebanese people telling me years ago they were amazed when they came to Australia because we have fresh milk - an unheard of thing in Lebanon. Everyone, they told me, used powdered milk. Indeed, one lady always heated the milk first, because it was cold when she took it out of the fridge and would (so she said) make her tea/coffee go cold)
This is the balcony - the photo's a bit on the hazy side as I took this in the wee hours of the morning before the sun was up. I spent many a lovely time here drinking tea and relaxing. (Oh well alright - sitting here have a smoke as well)
"My" chair was the spot on the long bench seat on the left - the spot nearest to the balcony. I did try the other side and the cane chairs, but the fan which is positioned on the upper wall on the left side of the photo (you can't see it) - well, I found the best pozzy to get the best benifit of the fan was right there in "my" spot. Two lovely plants were in each corner - one with a yellow flower, the other with a salmon pink colour.
This is a partial view from the balcony. You can see so much more when you're actually standing on the balcony. You can also see the sun rising on the right - I'll show some of these sunrise shots later.
In the restaurant with two of the lovely ladies working here, the Chinese lady (whose name I can't remember as it was very long) was similar to my age and smiled a lot. The other lass is Da, who posed for me in the other photo.
The chair I am sitting in, I came to think of as "My" chair - I sat in this same chair each and every time I was in the restaurant. Until the last day when disaster struck - somebody was sitting in my chair at my table. (Yes, yes, I know I sound like the Three Bears from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears!)☺
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