Day Before Hills

8am, it was. *Guilty* 8.30am (actually) was the time that I showered, changed and appeared at the cafe for our complimentary breakfast. I bumped into Julia, who was on her way to swim. After last night's survey of the pool, it is rather inviting. Anyway, I left my swimming trunks out of my packing list. I was surprised to find that the rest of the guys were not at the cafe and that left me feasting on "the most important meal of the day". After taking my time at sipping coffee, I took a walk to the beach. I figured that they might still be asleep. This morning, the sun was a little shy. With clouds always in the foreground, it casted a dull lighting on most subjects at the beach. Mists formed at remote hill tops. I spent my time photographing things around the beach before receiving a call from Seal saying that they were at the cafe. Reaching the cafe, I had my second helping of breakfast. I needed to carbo-load after all! Angelo (Shamrock's friend) soon arrived at our hotel and Shamrock introduced him to everyone. He will be staying at another hotel. Angelo will be taking the 42km too.

Once done with our breakfast, we took a bus to Phuket Town for more ... shopping? I must say I am not really a shopping person. Maybe that is the "home" me. When I am overseas, I would rather look at the local culture, lifestyle and building. However, this time, I happened to get a good buy for a 5L waterproof bag for kayaking with just $13. It was actually the vertically placed sea kayak that caught my attention before I spotted the waterproof bags. *Growl* ... my stomach protesting for food. I picked a few pieces of pastry and bread with Angelo (a fellow bread lover) and we chatted while coaxing our stomachs with bakery delights. Time passed before we were joined by Shamrock and Seal. While the rest wanted just some coffee or drinks, I opted for a meal instead. We settled down at Black Canyon Coffee with Seal recommending this cafe. Well .. what do you know? My decision to order a meal seem to have affected the rest. Everyone ordered a meal with drink too. I had a Tom Yum Soup with Fusili and Phuket Sunrise for my drink. Phuket Sunrise is actually coconut yoghurt blended with pineapple juice. Yummy! *Slurrp* We had long talks in the cafe before heading back to Patong on a complimentary bus.

We walked around the hotel area and Shamrock's attention was captured by a Crepe stall and next a pancake store. While Shamrock, Angelo and Seal took turns finishing the pancake off, I occupied myself with picture taking of the store and their chocolate banana pancake. Come on! That was just appetizer. We hunted around for a good eatery and settle for Subway for its value and healthy choice. The soft drinks selection triggered our interest more than the sandwich itself. Mirinda has a sapphire blue coloured drink with Berry Punch flavor. Seal tried a drink that tasted like pomelo. Time to retire early. Once back at our hotel, I prepared my gear for tomorrow's race and watched some T.V. programme before falling asleep. Targeted time to wake up would be 3am in the morning. I don't think I will get race anxiety .... too tired to be getting it.