Having enjoyed a fabulous Christmas at the E&O Hotel on Penang Island, Malaysia, last year, we had absolutely no idea where we would be this year for Christmas. Well, of course, we now know, but it doesn’t feel like that long ago Elaine had packed away all our Christmas decorations when she had to turn Roy’s cabin upside down this morning to get everything back out again. This year has flown by in many respects, mainly because we’ve had the opportunity to sail and explore new cultures, customs, cuisines and tourist attractions, but with all our adventures, it’s always the people of a “new” country who leave an indelible mark on our hearts and the Thai people are no exception; they are friendly, welcoming, humble and grateful, traits we’ve experienced all over SE Asia and something we will definitely miss about this part of the world when we set sail again.

Although we had some rain overnight, it had cleared by this morning, so Roy took the opportunity to enjoy his long walk ashore, while Elaine decked the halls, accompanied by her favourite Christmas tunes and started to wrap what Christmas presents we’d purchased so far, since some are still on Santa’s Sleigh.

We also woke to videos from Keenan of the grandsons learning to fish. Besides the mishap of William flinging his rod into the water by accident, which was thankfully recovered, and Brayden requiring a few attempts before he got the hang of casting, it was Carter who was indeed the natural, taking after his dad who spent entire summer school holidays fishing with friends in his youth.

After lunch, Elaine had every intention of cracking on with more paperwork; resurrecting our Red Sea passage notes; our backup plan, but, instead, an afternoon nap won the day.

This evening, though, while Roy prepared our barbecue dinner, a little Christmas sparkle was added to Paw Paw when the twinkle lights were switched on; anything to lift this mood of uncertainty again!