Finally, the day had arrived. The packing was complete and we were off to Thailand for 2 glorious weeks. Not even political protests in Bangkok could put us off! We boarded our Thai Airways plan to Bangkok and we arrived after a good flight (even though my headphones didn't work) to get our connecting flight to Ko Samui.
At first I thoguht we were in trouble as some airports were closed due to protests and when we went to check in the lady said that they weren't running that flight today - however they had a flight that went in 45 minutes and they would book us onto that! Result! No 3 hour lay-over at the airport.
Anantara Resort
When we arrived at Anantara we were so ready to relax and we had chosen the right place - from the minute we drove down the flame light entrance way over a pond of water lily's to checking in sat down with an ice cold lemongrass drink and cool face towels we were in heaven.
I took off last week to "Springboard" - a week long strategic thinking/planning 'course' put on twice a year at work. I attended Springboard about 18 months ago as a participant of the course but this time I was back to co-facilitate a group of 7 through the process.
The week is incredibly grueling with long days and early starts but it is just an amazing opportunity to learn. Last time for me was all about learning the methodology but this time it was to put into practise my facilitation skills. I had an absolute ball (I was blessed with a fantastic team who naturally seemed to get on really well together) and even Thursday which is the killer day went well. On Thursday all the teams break-up to put into action all the things they have learnt over the past 3 days. You start at 8am and finish when you finish. My team finished around 9:30pm which was pretty good! We finished at 11pm when I was taking part in the team. It must've been my excellent facilitation skills that kept us on track :D
How much am I looking forward to our holiday to Thailand!
For my birthday this year amongst many other pressies (I was sooooo spoilt!) I received 2 tickets to see Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson play at the State Theatre. Their new album "Rattlin' Bones' is one of my favourite releases this year so I was really excited to see them live.
Tonight was the night and Jo & I had a great time. You really do have to see Kasey Chambers live to understand what a great show she puts on - she can talk until the cows come home and it incredibly funny, humble and excited to performing for the audience. Shane on the other hand is really quiet except for some well-timed and amusing one-liners, you end up thinking "how the hell are these two married!".
They played all the killer tracks off their new album mixed in with some of Kasey's old hits and some of Shane's too from his many "award losing albums".
Kasey is just a real pleasure to watch and is a far as you can get from all the polished and pretentious MTV stars of today - you feel like you're in their lounge room watching them jam. The whole family is involved with Kasey's dad Bill playing guitar and singing while Mum takes care of the merchandise! All round great show, this is the second time I've seen her and I hope it's not the last.
Anantara Resort
The pool over looking the beach