I have been often asked if I miss Christmas at home in England. Whilst I obviously miss my friends and family at this time, I have always been surrounded by expats, tourists and Thais who all share the holiday spirit. So this is my Christmas:
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| Santa Visited all the Bungalows |
6:30am Santa goes to every bungalow on the resort, unfortunately we have no chimneys, so he leaves the presents on the door.
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| Our Guests made Bucks Fizz for Everyone |
7am breakfast starts, and Christmas Day is always busy with over 70 breakfast for guests and outside guests to make. Bu our Waiter and Pi Deng. our chef, do an awesome job and Nick and I help when it gets too busy. Two of our lovely guests brought Champagne and offered everyone at breakfast a Bucks Fizz (Orange Juice and Champagne).
After breakfast I finally had a shower and went to collect a guest from another resort.
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| Secret Santa Presents |
At midday we close the reception, bar and restaurant and have lunch with the staff. All Thai of course (as we are the only Westerners working at Mook Lanta Eco Resort). Then we do Secret Santa. For those that have never done this, we all pick a name out of the hat to buy a present for. Nobody spends much money and the presents can be funny. Bu, the waiter got a alarm clock, because he is not the best at waking up in the morning. Kai, the cleaner, got a big box of chocolates, which caused her to whoop with delight (as she has been on a diet and lost loads of weight). Ya, the handy man, got some awesome combat design shorts and I got wine, so my staff know me well!
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| Christmas Lunch, Thai Style |
However there were 2 notable presents; Pi Deng, our Chef, had to curiously stand on a chair whilst opening hers, when she unwrapped it, it revealed a very sexy apron! The crowd went wild (I was starting to worry I was going to start seeing #metoo trending) and honestly it was hard to get her out of the apron, or get the staff to leave her alone! The other present was instant snow, which was not real snow, but for the first time our staff had a snowball fight.
So at 2pm, the party ended and Nick and I planned to go to the beach, but just as we were leaving the house, we receive an urgent call from a friend who lives in Old Town. He had been driving home in his car and another car overtook him and caused our guests to swerve off the road. Thankfully the guests had only scratches but were too scared to get back on the bike, so Nick and I collected them in he car and I drove the bike back. Beach was going to have to wait.
I cleaned their wounds and ensured that they were ok and took my only 30 minute break of the day and we used this to wish our families back home a Happy Christmas.
At 4pm I I was heading back to the bar as my neighbour's wife (who is Muslim) swung by with her 2 little kids in her tuk tuk. The little girl screams 'Happy Christmas Mellisa' and the little boy High Fives me! Back at the bar, celebrating Christmas with our friends and guests, Nick and I opened all the traditional English Chocolates that you eat at Christmas; Terry's Chocolate Orange, After Eights and Matchmakers. By 7.30 our work was nearly done when we received a phone call asking us to pass a message on to a guest regarding their dive course the next day. Luckily we knew where they were eating and popped in to give them the information.
Finally at 8pm, I was in the pub, relaxing with a lovely glass of wine.
Merry Christmas to you all
Love the Mook Lanta Eco Resort Team
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