It's the last day of this year and time to have a look back. It's been a busy year for work and I've been on the road a lot but also was able to spend time at home and with the family. I was also able to run a few races, despite the fact that I had to miss a handful due to injury.
This is already the 7th time I can do 'look back' at the past year on my blog. It's going steady and hopefully with plenty of more years to come.
January was a sad month, the three year remembrance of my Dad passing away and during the evening of the 28th, my Mother in law and beloved Mother of my wife passed away. It was good to be at home during this hard time.
It was also the first time this year we went to visit Lan Saka, not knowing than that we would be back two more times and we enjoyed all the stays and every time they were related to running.
Sunset near Big Buddha
During March there was a big uproar about the oil rigs around Koh Samui and we saw the first Samui Midnight run, for which I was lucky enough to be on Samui and be able to participate.
In April we had the Thai New Year or Songkran celebrations and although they're fun, I'm glad they only last for just one day on Koh Samui, in contrast to other parts of Thailand where they can last from 3 days to almost one week.
Beach vendor on Choengmon beach
During May there was the Blue Paradise Fest to celebrate the 24th anniversary of Samui airport.
June started out great with two races, the Care for Cancer run in Nathon and a 10km race in Donsak the next day followed later in the month with my 3rd consecutive year of participating in the Laguna Phuket half marathon and my first full marathon in Lansaka. A great month for running races.
July continued in a running mood with my second full marathon ever, this time on Koh Phangan.
A police officer got shot at a gas station in Chaweng by a drug crazed person and there was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Thailand which mainly affected Koh Samed.
During August my sister and her family were on Samui for their yearly visit but we also saw a fairly big fire in Bang Rak, Central Festival under construction with an opening planned in late March 2014, a parade celebrating ASEAN in which our oldest daughter participated and a famous Samui native Somdej Phra Puttajarn (Kiew) passed away.
A common sight around the island and Thailand, construction workers in the back of a pick up
September saw first of all the birth of our third child, a second daughter. On top of that there were provincial elections, a Dengue Fever danger report, which is still valid by the way and Thaa Yai, a local celebration.
During November the remains of a crashed Bangkok Airways plane at last found a resting place in the form of an artificial reef and saw me running and shopping around Bangkok for a day.
Wat Plai Laem
In November typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda raged over the Philippines including the small island of Malapascua where I have been working a few times and I celebrated for the 2nd time Loy Kratong in Khao Lak.
December saw me almost all month at home, before I take off again in early January, next year!
At last I was able to visit a Samui Green market, which should become a monthly occurrence as of February next year.
The anti government demonstrations also took place on our island and we were able to visit the very nice Banyan Tree Christmas market.
Besides the usual suspects of our fave restaurant list, we had three new additions to that list, first being Nadimos, an excellent and authentic Lebanese restaurant in Bang Rak, Sweet Sisters, a lovely organic restaurant in the deep South of the island and I had two outstanding test tastings for a new Japanese restaurant, Kobori, to be opened in late January next year in Maenam.
Hope you enjoyed the year as much as I did and I hope to see you back here next year!
Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!
Camille
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