Goodbye to July 2018

Goodbye to July 2018

It's the last day of this month and a good moment to say Goodbye to July 2018.

Like the previous five years, there was plenty of tropical showers and a few thunderstorms. Some 18 days in this July saw rain, with a few days topping 40mm. 

There was also plenty of wind, at times even very hard wind and for a couple of days we had a bit of a storm going over the island. The temperatures reached a maximum of 34C and a minimum of 25C during this recent month.

All in all a fairly typical July. Having aid that, there were also sunny days and once the sun was out, it got warm to hot fairly quickly.

This morning there's cloud cover over the island and the current temperature at 6am is 28C. It looks more likely for a small and short shower to happen than the sun to come out today.

Goodbye to July 2018; Very old Buddhist amulets on display at Wat Bo Puttharam, near Fisherman's Village. The display can be found inside the ship look alike building with the big statue of the monk.

Now that this month is almost over, it's time to look forward and meet and greet August! Hope you come and visit us on Koh Samui and you will enjoy your time on the island.

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. 

You may also opt for a very special dinner experience at The Thai Experience. 

Behind closed doors, reservation only and a very enjoyable and well worthwhile way of spending an evening on Samui. Authentic Thai food and a great atmosphere. Can highly recommend this experience. 

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

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Rajavoravihara, Chiang Mai

A visit to Chiang Mai is almost not complete without visiting Wat Phra That Doi Suthep or วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพ.

It is a  a Theravada Buddhist temple and is most often just referred to as Doi Suthep, although this is actually the name of the mountain it is located on.
We arranged for a tour with our airport taxi driver. We quickly checked into the hotel and off we went.

 

The main pagoda, probably the best known and most photographed part of the temple, completely covered in gold. It was bathing in sunlight when we visited

'Doi' means 'on top of the hill'. It's around 15km from downtown Chiang Mai including a fantastic drive up the Doi Suthep hill of almost 10km long with plenty of hair pin curves. Many people ride it on their bikes, I would love to run it!

The white elephant

There are various legends about the founding of the temple, one involving a white elephant with a relic tied onto his back who climbed the mountain and died. The spot where the elephant died is where the temple has been build, going back to 1368 by King Nu Naone of the Lanna Kingdom .

A view inside the busy temple

The temple is a very sacred site to many Thai people and many Thai people and tourists alike flock to the temple grounds, especially during the weekends.

There's a 30.-THB entry for foreigners or 50.-THB if you want to use the tram system up the mountain. Otherwise it's up 309 steps.

 

A great view over the city of Chiang Mai can be had

The view over the city of Chiang Mai is fantastic and going up the road to the temple there are a few scenic view points and inside the temple grounds it's one of the most popular and busiest spots

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White Buddha statue opposite the Tan Jan Vihara

Aspects of the Wat or temple draw from both Buddhism and Hinduism. There is a model of the Emerald Buddha and a statue of the Hindu God Ganesh

The 'Vihara' shrine

There are two levels at the temple, the first level your reached goes all around the second, higher level and hosts a museum, temple hall, a Buddhist book shop, a minimart and a coffee shop among others and the viewing area over the city.

A scary 'Mom' at the Tan Jan Vihara entrance

The second or top level has the pagoda as center point with many shrines around it and a copy of the Emerald Buddha statue on display as well. The original Emerald Buddha can be found at Wat Phra Keow in Bangkok nowadays.

No Thai temple is complete without it's fair share of Buddhist amulets. We also bought a few!

It was a great way to spend an afternoon around Chiang Mai and a beautiful Temple and I can confirm that is a 'must' see when in Chiang Mai.

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

Tod Katin or Royally endorsed money offering at Wat Bo Phuttaram

This morning was an early morning, first I had a 14km run and by 7am we were expected at Bophud Temple or Wat Bo Phuttaram in Bophud for a Royally endorsed 'Tod Katin' or  ทอดกฐินพระราชทาน พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว and as part of the ceremony, our eldest daughter would participate in a classic Thai dance.

Posing in front of the car in front of the procession with holey relics

The 'Tod Katin' event take place on a regular base around he country. It's a ceremony during which money is handed over to a certain temple, so they  an build something new or fix something broken or just maintain the Temple in question. The money in question is donated by local people and many times you can see small money trees in shops or restaurants and the like.

Money flower

The Royally sponsored events, like this one today, are a lot more rare. The idea and principle are still the same though and today it was thought to have at least generated one million Thai Baht.

A more classic money tree

The way part of the money is collected is a rather unique Thai way; so called 'money trees' are being delivered to the Temple and since this was such a big event, some of the money trees actually had taken on different shapes, of which some samples can be seen here and on my Koh Samui Info Blog Facebook page.

Posing in front of the money trees

There was a fairly long procession between Bophud school and the Bophud temple and some of the traffic today got held up this morning, between the school and the temple between 8.30 and 9am.

Island officials including the vice mayor

It was an interesting event to witness though and once back in the Temple, there were free drinks, ranging from water and Thai tea variations to herbal juices.

Have money will travel

Don't forget that we're in Thailand and a free meal was also provided, with a dozen or so different options available, ranging from Khanom Chin to Pad Thai, among others.

On the go

All money trees are being hand carried from the school to the temple and was the procession had arrived, all money trees where diverted to a part of the temple where all moneys were being harvested off the trees and counted, to go into a bank account tomorrow.

Blocking the road

It was great to being able to take plenty of pictures and in a rather unusual move, I have posted a lot more pictures of this event than I usually do. So scroll along down the page and enjoy the pictures.

At the entrance to the Temple, two women at each side of the entrance were throwing flowers on the procession participants

A 'Por' or 'older monk' handing out Buddhist amulets which caught a lot of attention and many people went up to him to get an amulet

The money is gathered at the temple and ready to be 'harvested' and counted

More counting and taking the money forest down

The harvest has been collected

Sure hope you enjoyed these very typical Thai pictures. Tomorrow I will write a follow up about the Manora dance drama that originates from Southern Thailand and has very specific clothing and dance passes and rituals.

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

Welcome to January 2014

Welcome to January and the brand new year of 2014.

Usually January is a nice month with plenty of sunshine and sometimes a bit of rain. Scrolling back in my blog only shows 2008 and 2011 as not being that great for the local weather conditions and the forecast looks good for the next 7 days!

Buddhist amulets for sale at Wat Kunaram

Enjoy the month, Samui will still be very full, probably until the weekend but things will slow down a bit again soon afterwards!

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

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 3rd July, 2012

Today's weather;

Lots of blue sky can be spotted this morning around Koh Samui with a current temp at 7am of 27C

Buddhist amulets for sale at Wat Plai Laem

Yesterday started out very cloudy and I thought we wouldn't see much sun, how wrong was I! It was sunny and very warm all day long with eventually a shower and a few short thunder bursts around 9pm. Max temp reached 33.5C

The forecast predicts some wind including next weekend with the possibility of a shower or two. It starts to ease off on Monday again.

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

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 21st June, 2012

Today's weather;

How about a near perfect blue sky, it's here today this morning over Koh Samui! Current temp at 7am is 27.2C

Buddhist amulets for sale at Wat Plai Laem

Yesterday was a sunny and hot day. Max temp reached 33.8C

The forecast is looking for the next 7 days. All wind has disappeared now and the forecast seems to be giving us blue skies and hot weather.

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

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 10th February, 2012

Today's weather;

Today's sky over Koh Samui looks blue again. Current temp at 7am is 27.2C

The information desk and place to buy Buddha amulets at Wat Plai Laem

Yesterday saw a lot more clouds all day long around Koh Samui than was expected by me during the morning, especially the late afternoon was cloudy. It remained dry though with a max temp of 29.8C

The forecast for the next 7 days looks dry and very sunny. Enjoy it, in February the sun tends to not get as warm as for instance during April or other months. The average temperatures are a lot more agreeable during February.

Camille

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 7th July, 2011

Today's weather;

The sky over Koh Samui is a mixed bag this morning, plenty of blue sky pieces but laced with clouds. Current temp at 7am is 26.5C

A common sight at plenty of temple parties, Buddha amulets and accessories for sale

Yesterday I was proven completely wrong, after the dark sky and shower early in the morning, the weather surprisingly did a 180 degree turnaround all over Samui and it became sunny and warm for the remainder of the day. Last night there was some more rain though. Max temp reached 31.6C

Camille

Temple Fair at Wat Bophud

Temple Fair at Wat Bophud

Yesterday we went with some friends to the Temple fair at the local Temple in Bophud, being held from 17th through 28th July. Once the Fair is finished in Bophud, parts of it will travel to another Temple on the island and there will be a fair in that Temple. Bophud houses one of the larger Fairs though, together with the Chaweng Temple.

Not having visited one of these fairs since a long time, because I felt a bit 'over killed' by them, it was nice to go again and kind of re-discover the Fair again.

It was also funny to hear from my Thai friend who was with us, the comment he gave when he saw my pictures, he asked me if I was in Thailand for the first time! Good on him! Nowadays I do note that I take pictures with a couple of things playing in the back of my mind. I like to take pictures for this blog, and I assume that a lot of my readers have never been to Thailand, hence pictures that may look like 'first time visitor' pictures (with all due respect!). Secondly, I also try to catch a certain 'Zeitgeist', because I do notice big differences in the Thailand that I got to know just 9 years ago and the Thailand as it is today and if you followed my blog than you may have noticed that I like the old style Thailand a lot. Anyway, I hope I can catch the right pix!



Having taken plenty of pictures at this Fair, it was difficult to decide which ones to publish. However, in good Thai tradition, the first picture had to be of food and I ended up posting the pictures in the same random order as I took them at the Fair, given a bit of a taste of the fast changing scenery of the Fair.
The picture above shows corn and Jog, the Thai version of cooked rice porridge or congee.

There are also loads of different games to be played, this picture shows darts and balloons, get the picture? 7 darts for 20 Baht, you hit a balloon with each of your 7 darts, you get free choice of the stuffed dolls. Or alternatively spend two or three hundred Baht and you get free choice as well, don't ask how I know this!

Here a more hard core gambling enterprise. A glass ball rolls down in-between a tight pattern of nails and ends up in a numbered gate at the bottom. Players can put 20 Baht notes on triple, double or single numbers. A kind of a roulette feel to it. Very distinctively.

A golden oldie, Bingo Thai style. It was relatively early in the evening and not that many players were participating, later on the tables filled up rather nicely.

More food, soup on wheels. This car comes in a customised version, with a soup cooker!

Since we're at the Temple grounds, there's also parts of the actual Temple that play a part in the Fair. Here people worship Buddha whilst visiting the Fair/Temple grounds.

My Buddhist amulet collectors heart started to beat a little faster, since although I visited this Temple umpty times (i really lost track), I never bought an amulet here, so this was my chance! A local Monk gave me even 100 Baht discount on the amulet I choose and my Thai friend gave me a copy of another amulet today. Thanks Tee!

Here's some classic Isaan food, deep fried bugs! Som tam is probably the best known Isaan style food, but I guess that these bugs get more tongues rolling! Various kinds of bugs are being consumed, amongst other Grasshoppers or Takataen, which are probably most popular. Scorpions or Meleng Pong are also on the menu.

Each Fair has some stages for live music or other shows and here's a picture of the smaller stage. The bigger stages host sometimes very popular Thai artists, like Jintara Poonlarp or others.

Last but not least, another food picture, this time it's Khanom Chak, rice with coconut milk prepared inside the leaves of a nipa palm and then roasted over a charcoal fire. My children love it, as they love the Fairs.

If you see a Temple Fair advertised, go and visit it, if it's your first time, it will leave a nice impression!

As usual, enjoy and I hope you like my post. If you like this blog, subscribe to it, so I know that there's folks out there reading it.

Camille

Buddhist Lent Day at Wat Plai Laem

Buddhist Lent Day at Wat Plai Laem

Today it's Buddhist Lent Day or Khao Pansa in Thai, and I thought this would make for a good opportunity to visit the local temple in Plai Laem, just around the corner from our house.




It's interesting to see that the brand new Bot is almost finished with construction, a stark contrast to the state of this Bot one year ago or even in March this year.

Since the Monks stay for three months inside the temple grounds, candle wax is used to enlighten the Monks during their 'journey'.

Lots of local and not so local people who are on Samui visit the Temples around the island and make merit and give gifts to the Monks. This happens all around Thailand. Here a small group of merit makers are together with a local Monk. Note the big 'money tree' on the right hand side.

An older Bot on the premises doesn't look that great from the outside, but once you enter inside, spectacular wall paintings surround you, left, right, in the middle and above you!

Khun Jarit Humdonming, artist of this temple, spent more than three years adding finer details to the external parts of the temple. The tradition of temple art follows the dates back to centuries and providing a good example of the influence and style that are still significant in modern Thai religious architecture. The elaborate entry doors were made from two enormous slabs of Laotian hardwood and are intricately carved with images of the life of the Buddha.

Here's the painting on top of the main entrance gate. Watch the ceiling paintings as well. Absolutely amazing!

Each window has two wooden panels with wood carvings. In between the windows are big wall paintings, on your right hand side is such a wall painting. Both depict stories of Lord Buddha's previous lifes.

The side walls, covered with more Buddhist paintings, depicting Lord Buddha's previous lifes.

A better view of one of the paintings in between the windows.

The main Buddha statue that is worshipped in this Bot at Wat Plai Laem. During this Buddhist Lent day, plenty of, mainly local, Thai people make merit inside the Bot wearing white dresses.

Outside the new Bot, are new Kinnaree's, similar as in Bang Rak along the road. All well done in style.

Oh yes, and don't you worry about the power supply for the festivities, it's all under control, I brought my power suitcase. TIT or This is Thailand!

Part of this Wat are also the Big Boy and the 14 armed Deity with Big Boy's heart on display a year ago.

For Buddhist amulet collectors, this is an excellent temple as well, currently they have two sales points for amulets.

This temple is one of the high lights of temples on Samui, in my opinion. It's located near Big Buddha, which is much more well known but this Temple is definitely worth a visit!

Camille

Wat Racha Tamaram, Lamai

Wat Racha Tamaram, Lamai

Or better known as Wat Silah Nguu (temple of the Stone Snake) by the locals, just a bit further down the road coming from Lamai, going towards Hua Thanon, was visited by me after my trip to Immigration in Nathon and after my stop at the Chinese Temple in Hua Thanon.
It's called the Temple of the Stone Snake because all over the temple, there are plenty of Stone Snakes, mainly next to all stairs, as (over sized) hand railings.




Located directly at the ring road, this picture taken going in to the direction of Lamai, it has always been a very small and simple Wat (temple) with no bells and whistles so to speak. I visited this Wat once before during a Temple fair when my sister and her family were visiting.

Right now there's some serious construction going on and a Bot, as pictured here and a big Sala is almost finished. In a Thai temple, the "BOT" (โบสถ์) is the finest building where monks are assembled for religious rites (สังฆกรรม) such as morning and evening prayers, ordination. It is the most sacred part of the temple.

Here's the almost completed Sala, which is serving as a community meeting centre during activities at the Wat.

Both building make for a tremendous impact and change on the Temple grounds.

Almost directly next to the entrance of the Wat, slightly to your left, you can find this big Banian tree or "Bo", surrounded by all kind of Buddha images and other deity's. Trees are considered holy in Thailand and many times trees are worshipped, like this one.

Further down on the premises, towards the ocean, the Wat is located at the top of a cliff with a beautiful view, you can find this Phra Thaat. This is a building where a bone or other relic of a local, famous monk is kept.

Below the Pra Thaat, down towards the ocean, this cemetery can be found where the urns of the deceased have an eternal view over the Gulf of Thailand.

At the back of the Wat, at your left hand, you can find these two Buddha statues, which are worshipped by the local visitors.

Interestingly enough, sitting right next to the two Buddha statues, is this Buddha statue wrapped in plastic, ready to be painted in the right colours.

Opposite the two small Buddha statues, is this Sala dedicated to Lung Phra Phum, a local monk who is revered here.

At the end of my visit I bought some more amulets, There were a few on display, including a beautiful box of a set of two amulets for 1.500,-THB.

During a trip around the island, this a small but nice Wat, not very spectacular but in all it's modesty, it has some great views over the Gulf and the local bay and you can get some good shots here. I enjoyed my visit more than I anticipated and I posted more pictures than I usually would do.

Camille