Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 7th July, 2013

Today's weather;

We're in the Kaew Samui resort in Surat Thani and have just come back form this years edition of the Phun Phin Mini Marathon, the 7th edition. There's some heavy overcast and the sun just glooms in the background without really breaking through. The swallows were flying very low during the race which indicates there's rain in the air. Current temp at 7am is 24.7C

On Koh Samui it's fairly cloudy with a current temp at 7am of es rain is in the air. Current temp at 7am is 25.7C

View from a bridge in Phun Phin during the mini marathon this morning

Yesterday was a nice day when we left Samui with the noon boat to Don Sak, once we arrived and during a visit to friends there, it started to pour down. Later in the evening it fired up. Samui also had a bit of rain, but not too much. Max temp reached 33.2C

The forecast predict a couple of cloudy but dry days followed by a bit more sunny days.

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

Surat Thani railway station, or rather Phun Phin!

Although everybody knows about and refers to it as 'Surat Thani railway station', the actual station is located in a small city called Phun Phin.

In the past I have used this station a lot, in my early days, when I was still visiting Thailand as a tourist, to get to bus to Koh Phi Phi or Phuket. Later when I lived on Koh Samui I used the station as a start or finish point for overnight trains to/from Bangkok.

Entrance to the station

I prefer trains over buses in Thailand, especially considering these kind of stories. Accidents with trains happen a lot less and I sleep a lot better on trains compared to buses. The trains in Thailand for overnight travel offer 2nd fan and aircon bunks and 1st class aircon bunks. Comfortable enough to me, compared to a declining seat in a bus.

However, ideally I fly nowadays or take my own car!

Platform 1 with a train waiting to depart

Opposite the station are plenty of food stall, small mini markets, a few budget hotels and plenty of travel agents that can arrange a bus and ferry connection to 'the islands', being Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. Other than that there's not really that much to do, my advice is to bring a good book. Night trains for Bangkok tend to leave around 9pm but your arrive somewhere around 4 or 5pm at the rail way station! That can be a long wait.

The schedule

There are not that many trains arriving and departing in this rail way station, just 14 in total. They actually all fit on this one schedule board, which interestingly enough has space delays. Seems to happen with Thai trains!

In case you just show up, you can't miss the ticket booth directly after the entrance

In general I would assume that you would buy a combi ticket on Koh Samui for ferry/bus train.

All trains are actually managed and run by the State Railway of Thailand.

These signs can be seen on all Thai railway stations

Station master

For departure, the system still relies on man power and signalling flags. From various wagons, employees hang green flags out of the window, indicating that that specific part of the train is ready to leave.

Once the all important whistles are blown, the train can leave

Outside the railway station

Riding trains in Thailand is convenient and a 'real adventure' with stunning sights. It's convenient as well, there's a food/restaurant wagon on the 'bigger' trains and don't forget, you're in Thailand, at each station you can buy food or people wills ell it to you whilst the trains is halted at a station. Give it a go, it's well worth the effort and time in my opinion.

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

Phun Phin run

Race day

Once more it was a race day, this morning the alarm went off at 4am in Surat Thani's Diamond Plaza hotel so I could get something to eat before we got in the car at 5am for the Phun Phin run.

The family together for teh Phun Phin race, promoting the Samui Hill Challenge this coming 2nd September

The kids and my wife ran a 3.5km fun run and I participated in a 13km run. My last training day was Tuesday, when I had a test run on the Hill Challenge route, today my muscles were still sore form that practice run! The first 5km were hard, after that I could pick up the pace a bit.

1st to 10th place for one of the young girls categories

As usual in the Thai races that I participated in so far, there were plenty of participants, a good 300 people were running the 13km run, I'm not sure how many participated in the fun run since they started after us but my wife thinks that were another 300 people.

I enjoy running the regional places in Thailand, slowly I start to recognize faces in the Southern races. This quote definitely comes to mind though;

Not all of us have running stories that include Olympic trials and world championship races. Most of us fight our running battles in community 10k runs, in marathons, or just in our daily workouts. But the lessons are the same.

- Adam Goucher & Tim Catalano

Next week it's off to Pattaya for the half marathon.

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; 8th July, 2012

Today's weather;

Koh Samui is sunny this morning with a current temp at 7am of 26.7C

My whole family is in Surat Thani this morning, we just returned from a fun run for the kids and my wife and a 13km race for me in Phun Phin, where Surat Thani's railway station is located. It's cloudy and cool, here, very nice for a change. Current temp at 7am is 24C

The first ten in the girls category this morning in Phun Phin

Yesterday we left Koh Samui with a sunny sky although there were some clouds as well. Upon arriving in Surat Thani, around 4pm, it started to rain very heavily for about an hour and a continues drizzle during the whole evening.

Samui on the contrast had heavy rain for a couple of hours on an end. max temp reached 32.2C

The forecast moderate to slightly stronger wind over the next 7 days with an occasional tropical shower. No reason to panic, there should be plenty of sunshine around!

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; 4th April, 2011

Today's weather;

At last Samui woke up under sunshine, this morning! Clean up work is going on and repair work started everywhere. New pictures pop up everywhere and I try to give you some idea how mad it was and how things are right now. Current temp at 7am is 26 C

Thanks to Wieslaw for your donation, much appreciated, it helps to keep the spirits up and keep the blog going!

Yesterday saw a tiny bit of rain in the morning on Samui but sunshine during a hot afternoon! Max temp reached 29C

Some excellent pictures can be found on the My Home Koh Samui blog.

Many people keep asking about the condition of the beaches around Samui, well, here's a picture of Free House Bungalow on Bophud beach by Oh, from 2nd April. Later today I hope to get some picture from the beach near Centara hotel in Chaweng.

An aerial picture of Phun Phin, where Surat Thani's railway station is located, 4 meters of water were reported here, picture from the Bangkok Post.

On a good note, apparently highway 44 between Krabi and Surat Thani is open again so my gateway to Samui is open, now I can get to Surat and just need to find a way to get to Donsak and take a ferry to Samui come the 9th April.

How it was, bridge in Chaweng near Ali Baba, picture by Joe Clasby.

Parking

Sunset yesterday on Koh Lanta

Koh Lanta also woke up under a blue sky with a current temp at 7am of 24C

Yesterday saw a nice and hot day on Koh Lanta, max temp reached 32,4C

Camille