Goodbye to May 2008

Goodbye to May 2008

Time to wave goodbye to May.

Just as last year May, the beginning of May wasn't that great.

This year saw a lot of rain and strong wind, sometimes even thunderstorms. It was also very quiet on Samui throughout May and I'm sure that many business are looking forward to June, so they can pick up on business.

The second half of May turned out rather nice though and at the moment it's very hot again. In the second half of May I stayed in Koh Tao for almost a week to complete some great training dives with Andy, as reported on my dive blog.

The next couple of months should be very good for diving, so if you visit Samui, don't hesitate to contact me or have a look at my website.

Hope you enjoyed my blog this month and look forward to seeing you again next month.
In the meantime, please subscribe to my blog(s).

Camille

31st May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's sun and overcast this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 27C.

Yesterday saw lots of sunshine and no rain with a max temp of 33.5C. It was warm!

Camille

Kinnarees light up Bang Rak

Kinnarees light up Bang Rak

The main (beach) road in Bang Rak has received a bit of a face lift.



The road has been widened and there's a nice pedestrian side walk and new road lights are in the process of being installed. The picture above shows the new, wider road. A good idea by the Tessabaan (the Municipal City Office) and for once it seems well constructed as well.

The new light's look pretty cool. On top of the pole is a Kinaree the Buddhist Mythical half-human and half-bird.

Here's a better look at one of the brand new Kinarees overlooking Bang Rak's new road. The actual lights still need to be installed!

Camille

30th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There seems to be a lot more of blue sky around this morning. Current temp at 7 am is 27C.

Yesterday saw overcast pretty much all day although there was no rain during the night this time around. max temp reached 30.8C.

Tann from Hong Kong, saw your comment but had problems with my mail inbox and couldn't post it yesterday, sorry! Hope you enjoy your stay on Samui.

Camille

29th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's overcast this morning but the sun is trying to break through. Current temp at 7 am is 25C.

Yesterday was warm and sunny with a max temp of 32.5C. Last night around 10 pm we had the seemingly routine rain fall.

Yesterday I installed two new gadgets, a storm tracker and a gadget that shows the current moon phase. Both can be found at the bottom of this page.

Camille

28th May, 2008

Today's weather;

A weather change occurred overnight and it's very cloudy this morning with a current temp of 26.3C at 7 am.

Yesterday was steaming hot, like in late April. However, around 9.30 pm last night there was a shower and after midnight, there was the good old thunderstorm including a power cut! Total rain measured just over 40 mm last night. Max temp in the daytime reached 34.3C though.

Camille

27th May, 2008

Today's weather;

Once more we have a blue sky reigning over Samui in the morning with a current temp at 7 am of 27C.

Yesterday was a nice day with some overcast in the afternoon but dry all day. Max temp reached 31.7C.

Camille

Nathon Market

Nathon Market

Today we visited Nathon and specifically Nathon market and I took the opportunity to visit the market and take some pictures. It's not the most spectacular market but an average sized Thai market with plenty of good photo opportunities and 'smelling' experience, with all kind of new fruits, fish, meat and other things wafting their odors around. In a positive sense!

Nathon Market; Deep fried corn and tofu for sale. A lot of Thai food 'on the go' is deep fried and not too healthy, I tend to refer to it as Thai junk food

It wouldn't be South East Asia and in this case Thailand if food wouldn't be all around and over the place. Here some quick snacks at the ready and totally fresh. Deep fried tofu and deep fried corn or potato.

Nathon Market; Horseshoe crab or Mengda

Here's picture of Horseshoe Crab or Mengda as the Thais call them. The female crabs carry eggs and those eggs are used to make a salad. It's a fairly hard to find dish on a menu but small restaurants catering to Thais tend to carry them.

Mengda is also a reference of Thai boyfriends that leech off their girlfriends. Guy hangs out at home doing nothing and girlfriend goes out to work, a lot of time in the red light/sex industry. These guys are called mengda's.

Nathon Market; Thai curry pastes, they're at the base of each Thai curry and can be bought ready to go

The stuff that Thai curries are made of, the curry pastes. Six different curry pastes are at display here.

The bucket at the bottom right has a substance in it that in Thai is called 'Kee Plaa', shit of fish. It's the intestines etc of fish, that's eaten. Enjoy!

Nathon Market; Curry in the bag!

Pret-a-Manger, Thai style. The finished Thai curry, ready to be put in a plastic bag and to be eaten at home. These kind of food stalls are all over Thailand and have some excellent food on sale. Besides the curries there are usually also a couple of non curry dishes for sale.

Nathon Market; Durian season is about to start!

At the right side of this picture, the famous Durian is shown, they're in season right now. In the beginning I didn't like neither the smell nor the taste of Durians, but at some stage I came around and started to enjoy this strange fruit. Once I started to enjoy eating Durian, I didn't think they smelled bad anymore, now it's more like, wow, Durian is in the air, let's get some.

Thong Durian, the golden Durian, is the one I like most, there are several varieties of the fruit but this is the one that has the sweet taste, once you can call it that! I've eaten Durian meat and love it nowadays and even had some Durian ice cream in Malaysia! The link to this website even makes it into a drink!

The funniest thing or quote I found is this one though;

"The durian is said to be a 'heating' fruit, which is unusual as most fruits are 'cooling'. Legend has it that this heating property makes the durian an aphrodisiac. A local saying goes, 'When the durians come down the sarongs come off!'."

Thais also say that you shouldn't mix alcohol with Durian, it makes you do crazy things and can get you violently sick!

Last but not least, there are a few Durian plantations on Samui and we just bought the best tasting fruits off of one of my wife's cousins. Hmmm, lovely!

To get back to the picture though, on the left, the green bean string or pod, is a typical Southern Thai ingredient and is called Sator or in English also know as the 'Stinky bean', guess this pictures sums it all up! Durian and Sator all in one picture! Personally I like sator in quite a few dishes!

Here's a link to a website full of Thai vegetables, including pictures and also showing off Sator in picture 25 and a link of a Nation journalist's visit to a typical Southern Thai restaurant in Had Yai, describing a sator dish (update 9 years later in 2017, the link is dead!).

Well, this turned out to be a blog posting full of interesting Thai dishes and food, Mengda, 'Kee Plaa', Durian and Sator.

Not too sure about the 'Kee Plaa' (yet?) but all other food I can highly recommend! Maybe a bit much to try all in one go, but definitely worthwhile looking out for.

Please do 'like' my Koh Samui blog Facebook page and enjoy the beaches around the island or in front of your hotel or resort and get some well deserved rest and a break. If you're done resting or need something else to do, there's plenty of things on offer on and around Koh Samui, you can go snorkeling or diving or take a dive course. You can also enjoy some of the trips I recommend, like a half day gourmet lunch and snorkeling trip at the Southern part of Koh Samui or a photography trip where you get to see the most photo genetic spots on the island or go for a drinks tasting tour if you like a tipple or two. 

Contact me for more detailed information on any of the options mentioned. 

If you like to donate to this blog, use this secure link PayPal.Me/CamilleLemmens.

Camille

26th May, 2008

Today's weather;

Today's another blue sky welcoming us to a brand new day. Current temp at 7 am is 25.7C.

Yesterday was a warm and sunny day with a max temp of 32.9C and no rain!

Camille

25th May, 2008

Today's weather;

A mere blue sky rules over Samui with a current temp at 7 am of 26.5C.

Yesterday was a lovely and warm day with a max temp of 33.3C. It seems however that every afternoon or evening there's a short thunderstorm and yesterday this unleashed at around 5 pm for about half an hour.

Camille

24th May, 2008

Today's weather;

An almost perfect blue sky is welcoming us here in Samui to this new day. At 7 am it's 27C.

Yesterday was a nice and warm day with plenty of sunshine and a max temp of 32.2C. At 9 pm there was a big shower though!

Camille

23rd May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy but small blue patches are around. Current temp at 7 am is 27C.

Yesterday was a lovely day on Koh Tao. After the current delay of the Seatran departing, an hour and a half late!, which seems to be happening daily now, we arrived in Samui around 6.30pm greeted by rain. It rained for over an hour and just as we docked it eased up.
Max temp reached 32.9C.

It's good to be back home again!

Camille

22nd May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's my last day of my current Koh Tao trip, this afternoon I'm back on the boat to Koh Samui. For a full report of my dive adventures here, see my dive blog very soon.
This morning looks fantastic, a blue sky laced with some clouds and a current temp of 26.2C.

Yesterday was a nice day, lots of overcast with bursts of sunshine coming through. Max temp reached 34.8C.

Camille

21st May, 2008

Today's weather;

The internet is working at my usual posting time!

This morning sees a partly cloudy sky over Koh Tao and the sun seems to be working hard to break through. At 7 am it's 27.4C.

Yesterday saw heavy overcast and rain in the morning but after noon it all eased up and the sun broke through again, although there was still plenty of overcast. Max temp reached 33.3C, so it's still warm!

Camille

20th May, 2008

Today's weather;

Again, a bit later than usual, but there are some issues with internet connections here on Koh Tao right now. Anyway, at 10 am it's 30.7C and there are a lot of clouds, this morning around 7 am it was raining and there was a strong wind.
In Samui it was nice and sunny around 7 am!

Yesterday was nice in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon, max temp reached 34.3C.

Camille

19th May, 2008

Today's weather;

A bit later than usual, due to internet connectivity problems, here's today's weather from Koh Tao.
This morning was really nice, hot and sunny.
The afternoon saw some overcast but no rain and around 4 pm it was 34.2C.

Today is also a national holiday in all of Thailand and many Asian countries because of Visakha Bucha Day.

Yesterday was very hot and sunny with a max temp of 34.4C.

Camille

18th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's a thin slice of overcast that the sun will burn away in no time, current temp at 7 am is 27.3C.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, hot and blue skies all day long! We arrived in Koh Tao fairly early and it was the first sunny day they had in over two weeks. Max temp reached 34.3C and it even felt warmer!



We went to Koh Tien to relax and swim a bit with the children. A nice quiet beach easy accessible from Mae Haad.

Sunset at Koh Tao yesterday.

I'm off to complete some diving the next couple of days, have a look at my dive blog for some updates.

Camille

17th May, 2008

Today's weather;

At last, there's a blue sky this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 26.7C.

Yesterday was a cloudy day with occasional sun rays. Max temp was around the lower thirties.

Today I'm off to Koh Tao for a couple days, consequently my updates will be from there.

Camille

Update on Chaweng's Pagoda

It's time for an update on Chaweng's Pagoda

It's already three months ago that I first posted about this Pagoda looking out over Chaweng, promising a monthly update. Ouch, that didn't happen, but last month during Songkran we planned to go when our visit was cancelled at the last moment due to family obligations.
Ah well, here we are today.

The temple has had some serious progress over the last three months, the Pagoda's stupa has been painted completed as can be seen on the picture above.

During my last visit, I took various pictures inside the main building but didn't post them, since they weren't that exciting in my opinion, but today I will post a view, since there was significant progress. The pillars have been painted and give an idea how the inside is going to look like. Pretty nice in my opinion.

This Buddha statue is part of the ceremony that we missed during Songkran. It has been set up during Songkran and I wish I would've been there!

This Footstep of Buddha was also put in place during the Songkran ceremony. It's interesting to see that all these ceremonies take place whilst the building is not nearly completed. Reports from Songkran also state that it was really busy during the ceremony.

Despite all the progress, there's still a lot of work to be done and here are some ornaments that are waiting for placement. In front, behind the black tub is a mould in which smaller parts of the ornaments are made.

On the way out I noticed some real nice flowers which I like to share with you.

If in Chaweng or on Samui, visit the Pagoda in progress, it's worthwhile, especially for the spectacular views over Chaweng and strangely enough, the airport!

The Pagoda is located near the Q Bar and road leading to the Pagoda can be found opposite the entrance of the Black Moon party place; Lakeside.

Camille

16th May, 2008

Today's weather;

Overcast this morning but the sun peeks through this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 26.5C.

Yesterday was a cloudy day but it stayed dry, max temp reached 31.4C.

The forecast for next week looks very good with lots less wind and more sunshine.

Camille

15th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy today but the sun is trying to peek through the cloud cover. Current temp at 7 am is 26.5C.

Yesterday saw overcast most of the day but it remained dry with a max temp of 30.8C.

Camille

14th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy this morning with a current temp of 26.7C.

Yesterday was a lovely day with lots of sunshine and fairly hot untill around 4 pm, when the rain and wind came back again. Max temp reached 31.9C.

In Phuket they're having similar conditions, according to Jamie's Phuket weather blog.

Camille

13th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's very cloudy today with a current temp of 25.3C at 7 am.

Yesterday was a very wet day, there were showers throughout the day and max temp reached 29C.

After cyclone Nargis the region got hit by another natural event, a 7.8 Richter scale earth quake in south western China, in the Sichuan province, with currently a death toll of 10.000. Vibrations of the quake were felt in Bangkok!

Camille

12th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy and grey this morning with bits of a drizzle and a current temp at 7 am of 24.8C.

Yesterday saw overcast all day but it all turned loose in the early evening when around 7 pm a storm seemed to have unleashed. Strong wind gusts and hard rain for about half an hour. There was also a power cut, another one. Recently there have been plenty of power cuts, something I thought that the local powers that be had a grip, well not! Max temp reached 29.7C.

Camille

11th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's a little bit cloudy this morning with a current temp of 26.3C at 7 am.

Yesterday was nice and warm but in the afternoon there were some very hard wind gushes. Max temp reached 33.2C.

Camille

10th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's a beautiful blue sky above us this morning but strong wind still persists, current temp at 7 am was 26.5C.

Yesterday was another warm and sunny day with a max temp of 33.2C.

Camille

Feeding time on Samui

For the restaurant lovers on Samui,

There hasn't been a review of restaurants for a while now, this doesn't mean however that we don't go out to eat anymore! Not at all! We just haven't visited any new places but there are plenty of old faves that I can highly recommend.

For starters, Aux Amis who have relocated to Bophud, don't forget their Mussels day on Tuesdays or how about Il Molino for some good Italian lunch or rather, the best Italian lunch on the island. Angela's bakery in Maenam remains high on the fave list for breakfast and lunches.

Today we had lunch at Dcheed 2 in Chaweng on the ring road, man, are those sateys tasty!

Or how about lunch or dinner at Gai's in Maenam, an old fave that stills rocks my boat!

If in Lamai, we always visit this Kao man gai place, make sure not to miss it.

Last but not least, our almost neighbours; Clok Lana for some awesome Isaarn food.

As you can see, we're still eating out, these are some of the places we've recently been to and had good food, over and over again!

Hope you can find the restaurants, they're worth it. Some are very authentic and not to be found in any tourist guide. It's appreciated that if you do find them to let me know if you liked them.
Please post on the blog.

Camille

9th May, 2008

Today's weather;

A clear blue sky is shaping up with a current temp at 7 am of 26.3C.

Today is Royal Ploughing Ceremony Day in Thailand and Cambodia, a national holiday in Thailand with all governmental and other institutions such as banks and the likes being closed.

Yesterday saw a nice and warm day. Around 8 pm we experienced a power cut in our part of the island for about an hour which also had some light rain. Max temp reached 33.4C.

Camille

8th May, 2008

Today's weather;

A very blue sky is reigning this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 27C.

Yesterday was warm and sunny throughout the day, although it started out rather cloudy. Max temp reached 33.8C.

By now I assume that everybody is well aware of the human tragedy happening in Myanmar, due to cyclone Nargis. A death toll possibly reaching 100.000. Pictures that I saw last night on TV showed a completely changed coast line. similar to the Tsunami effect on Bandah Aceh.
Let's hope the aid workers are allowed full access soon.

Camille

7th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's fairly cloudy but thee are small patches of blue around as well with a current temp of 27C at 7 am.

Yesterday was a great day, sunshine all day long and it heated up with a max temp of 33.2C.

Nargis keep upping the ante and the death toll is supposedly already around 22.000. The Thai news hasn't been updated yet, but is currently still at 15.000.

Camille

6th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's a lot of blue this morning and the sun is heating up. Current temp at 7 am is 26.5C.

My mother in law was on a trip to Prachuap Kirakan and Jamie, who runs a Phuket weather blog was recently in Chumpon, not too far away from Samui and both encountered lots of rain.

Nargis supposedly claimed over 10.000 lives in Myanmar, here's an article about this.

Yesterday saw a lot of overcast and there was some drizzle on and off. Max temp reached 30.2C.

Camille

12 provinces warned of flash floods

12 provinces warned of flash floods

As a follow up to yesterdays news about tropical cyclone Nargis, here's a news flash from today's Thai papers about possible flash floods in some provinces. It comes close to home now since some of those provinces are neighbours to the Province of Surat Thani, which Koh Samui is part of;


The Meteorological Department Monday warned residents of 12 provinces to brace themselves for heavy rains and possible flash floods due to an influence of a monsoon wind.

The department said the southwest monsoon over the Andaman and Gulf of Thailand would unleash heavy rains in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Chanthaburi, Trat, Chumphon, Ranong, Phang Nga and Phuket.

The Nation 05/05/08

5th May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's loads of overcast today and the current temp at 7 am is 26.5C. There's a bit of minimal drizzle.

Yesterday was mainly overcast with a max temp of 30.5C.

Camille

Tropical depression “NARGIS”

Tropical depression “NARGIS”

Since a few days this depression is raging and closing in on Thailand.

The Thai meteorological Department has issued various warnings, here's the latest;

Warning

"Tropical depression “NARGIS” "

No. 13 (63/2551) Time Issued : May 04, 2008

At 07.00 a.m. today, tropical depression “NARGIS” was downgraded to the low pressure cell over Thai-Myanmar boundary and Mae Hong Son province of Thailand. This active low cell is expected to weaken and dispel then. Abundance rainfalls with a succession of isolated heavy rain likely remain over the upper part of the country especially in the North, the Central and the East until 5 May. People in disaster areas should beware of flooding conditions during 4-6 May. The areas include as following provinces: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Tak, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Chumphon, Ranong, Chanthaburi and Trat.

In the Andaman Sea and the upper Gulf of Thailand, high sea remains from Nakhon Si Thammarat northwards. All ships should proceed with caution, and small boats should keep ashore until 6 May 2008.

4th May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's very cloudy and some sparse raindrops tumbled down this morning, At 7 am it's 27.5C.

Yesterday was nice and sunny until the late afternoon, around 4 pm there were some hard wind gashes and it became very cloudy. Max temp reached 33.2C.

Camille

New weather website

Found a new weather website

It's called Weather Bonk and covers the province of Surat Thani, of which Koh Samui is part.

It has a nice map of the province and a weeks forecast. I will make a permanent link for this site in the sidebar.

Camille

3rd May, 2008

Today's weather;

There's a haze this morning and it's already warm with 27.5C around 7 am.

Yesterday was hot and plenty of sunshine was around during the day with a max temp of 33.8C.

Camille

2nd May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's fairly cloudy this morning and warm, at 7 am it's 26C.

Yesterday was a hot day. Plenty of overcast but no rain and a max temp in the early thirties.

Camille

Welcome to May

Welcome to May 2008

May was a bit of a mixed bag last year, rain in the beginning but getting better towards the end of the month.

May carries plenty of sunshine, so the beach lovers should get enough action!

Enjoy this month and if you're up for some diving around Samui or Koh Tao, have a check here, conditions should be good enough!

Camille

1st May, 2008

Today's weather;

It's fairly cloudy this morning with not much blue to enjoy although it's very warm, very early. At 7 am it was already 29C.

Yesterday was a warm day with a few raindrops in the morning but lots of sun in the afternoon.
Max temp reached 31.5C.

Camille