7.3.23
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meeeeeee, happy birthday to me.

At breakfast Thuy, the gorgeous young lady on reception brought me a cardboard flower decoration with a red rose in it.

She has a habit of covering her face and giggling when she’s shy which is just too cute.

After crambled eggs, John went along to check on the little river dog for me. He was fine, he wouldn’t let John near him, like most of the others around here he barks and is terrified.
My goal is to try and tame one of the ones on the main road that reminds me of our old dog Pluto. He has the cutest face but acts so mean.

After breakfast Lauren called us into her room. Gold balloons, birthday banner, a pile of prezzies and a pretty pink birthday cake were on her balcony.

John had snuck out from his sick bed yesterday and ridden a bicycle into town to get the cake and got it back in one piece. 😍🎂
Woooop. Happy birthday to me…
Lauren bought me some pretty hoop earrings with dark blue stones, a beautiful sarong, Violet Crumble chocolate and a koala shower cap. So spoilt.

We had cake, it was so crazily light and fluffy that you couldn’t actually feel it in your hand.

We saved a slice for Thuy. She was very happy and giggly.

We decided to go for a river walk and explored lots of little alleyways.

My surprise parties were in full swing, definitely a popular day today. I was invited to dance at party 2 but John and Lauren walked away as embarrassed to be with me and my photo taking

We went over Scuffarm bridge and had espresso martinis on the posh side at Mango Rooms.
They didnt contain any Kahlua, just loads of vodka and a dash of strong coffee. A shock at first but more palatable as the vodka kicked in.

Back along Scuffarm Bridge, where we usually see cyclists and mopeds loaded with their days wares, we saw a man in full action taking a pee into the river. We actually had to wait for him to zip up to get past.
It’s quite common to see men having a pee, they don’t seem to worry about being seen, but this guy took the prize.

At 2.15pm a Noddy Car arrived to pick us up from the hotel for our cookery school afternoon. We were very excited, we love a Noddy Car.

Then back down into town where we picked up Ed and Erin, a young couple from Nottingham.
Just 5 of us on our tour, with our guide Hai.

First stop was a short drive to a local market where we were able to ask questions about some of the many fruit and vegetables we’ve not been able to identify, then to the fish area where 2 nasty ladies shooed me away from taking photos. The first unfriendliness we’ve felt anywhere.

We were surprised at how many sellers we saw asleep on the same tiled slabs that they sell their fish from.

I’d mentioned my birthday when booking, hoping they’d take pity and squeeze us in.
Hai presented me with a lovely bunch of carnations from a flower stall.

Next a short drive to the river where we were all allocated a rower, 2 people to a boat and John on another with his rowing lady.
The boats are the small bamboo round boats we’d seen dotted about in a few different locations.

It started off as a sedate river trip with each of us taking a turn to row. The boats were so stable.
I’d been worried when researching as Lauren isn’t a keen sailor.

In the distance it was really loud and we assumed there was a party going on.
As we approached it was just mad.
Some single boats were spinning crazily, music blaring from small platforms with huge speakers, some boats also had huge speakers in them.
We went down a side wide stream through the coconut forest, and then back round into the madness.
Our faces hurt from laughing and smiling.

Erin was squealing very loudly, while our boat captain showed us how to fish for purple crabs.

They then make a thing of pretending to drop it in the boat, Erin forewarned us of this! She was so funny that they caught her a second time.

Next thing we were centre of the madness, groups doing karaoke and boats spinning.
Every sense was overloaded, feeling like we’d woken up in some surreal dream.
Just brilliant. See the madness here.

Time to disembark sadly and then a short drive to the lovely cooking school.

Hai is a fabulous chef, recipes are handed down from his grandma.
We made chilli, garlic and ginger dipping sauce, prepared various herbs and spices, lemongrass, carrots, papaya and chicken for a casserole dish, made spring rolls and bahn xeo pancakes.
We took a turns at frying the pancakes, John even did the flambé part.

Hai of course was amazing at flipping the pancakes and had an amazing catching chicken in his mouth trick, which none of us could replicate.
We sat and enjoyed what we’d made, along with a beautiful fresh papaya salad and some beer. It was all delicious.
Passion fruit with honey for desert.
I now need Turkey to grow passion fruit and papaya to complete my life there.

It was all excellent.
Just the best birthday I could ever wish for, we had a blast. Ed & Erin were great people to share it with too.

The Noddy Car dropped us back around 7pm
We all played rummicub for a while and drank Baileys until exhaustion set in after our amazing day.

What a brilliant birthday, just couldn’t have wished for better.