Lady boxing in Lamai

Lady boxing in Lamai

Tonight, tonight, Muay Thai, Chaweng Stadium, Chaweng Stadium, get the seats early, get the seats early.

Who has been to Samui and visited Chaweng, most likely heard this utterly annoying (at least after 9 years although it become annoying fairly quickly!) on a regular base. Noise pollution is an understatement.

Not being a big fan of Muay Thai, I never been to any fights in either of the Chaweng Stadiums, but funnily enough do find myself back at a regular irregular base in Lamai on Saturday evenings.

Every Saturday there's lady boxing in Lamai and it's great fun.

There are fights between two girls, usually girls that work in a beer bar and they really go for it. If they win they get a couple of Thousand Baht, a lot more than they would make during any given night working at their respective bars.

The lady fights are on and off between guys fighting and again, the guys go for it and it's not the first time that someone had to be carried or helped off the stage.

The fighting ring is located upon entering Lamai's one way street system, opposite the 'original' 7-11 is a cluster of beer bars that never seem to be really busy, except each Saturday night when the boxing event is on.

Chairs and tables are arranged around the ring and everybody is welcome, no entrance fee is required (in contrast to Chaweng where the cheapest ticket is around 1.000,-THB).

The jury at work

The fights usually start around 10.30 pm and there's always a mixed crowd, expats, tourists, families and Thais a like enjoy the relaxed atmosphere surrounding the ring, although during some fights the crowd gets excited easily by the fights and yells support along!

A great time to be had on your Saturday evening, surely not to be missed!

Camille

7th September, 2008

Today's weather;

A bit later than usual, but here we are; It's grey and wet this morning, since about 6 am it has been drizzling, with a current temp at 7 am of 26C.

Yesterday was a nice day with overcast in the morning and some nice sunshine in the afternoon. Max temp reached 32.7C.

The situation in Bangkok seems to be slowing down a bit, the Democrat party blames a minister of the current government for orchestrating the recent clashes and the PAD still doesn't want to talk with the government.
A survey amongst tourists shows that they are unfazed by the unrest and would come back to Thailand again.

Camille

6th September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy with a current temp of 25.7C.

Yesterday saw mostly overcast but no rain until the late evening. During the late evening and night there was a fair amount of rain. Max temp reached 29.5C, the first time since August that the max temp falls outside of the 30C region.

Bangkok saw (hail) storms and lots of rain, so thee wasn't a lot of protesting going on. However, PM Samak and the Parliament still try to formulate a referendum, a group of 100 Senators are trying to come up with a solution and the masses hope that their off spring doesn't become a politician since they're seen with increasing disdain.

Let me express my thanks for following my blog in these worrying times for Thailand. If any major developments happen, I'll update my blog accordingly.

Camille

5th September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's cloudy this morning with a few blue spots trying to spy through the cloud cover. Current temp at 7 am is 27C.

Yesterday was a mixed bag with lots of blue sky at some times and heavy cloud cover at other times. There was however only the occasional shower or drizzle. Max temp reached 32.5C.

The political situation is not improving, the referendum proposed by the Governemnt is under attack, the PM's future is trivial given huge philosophical differences and last night two students got shot and injured during a rally.
Especially the article about the PM's future hits on some good points and explains a bit about the rather strange requests the PAD or anti govnmt demonstrators have.

Camille

4th September, 2008

Today's weather;

A nice blue sky is reigning over Plai Laem but there are big cumulus clouds waiting over the ocean. Current temp at 7 am is 27C.

Yesterday was a mixed bag, over Plai Laem there was pretty much a blue sky all day long and it was very hot, however, travelling around the island between Maenam and Chaweng, there were many heavy cloudy parts although I didn't see any rain.

The big political news is PM's Samak's radio speech scheduled ready to start right now. The big speculation is if he will resign or not.

It doesn't sound like PM Samak is about to resign as we can make up from his radio speach. Unfortunately the near future will be more interesting than anticaped.

Pending on the outcome of Samak's speech, international phone and internet connectivity may be affected, according to the Bangkok Post.

If there are any important updates, I'll keep you informed.

Camille

Update on the current political situation

It's time for an update on the current political situation;

The big news/rumour right now is that PM Samak Sundaravej is going to resign tomorrow morning, according to the Nation;

Rumours had it throughout the day that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was granted an audience with His Majesty the King to inform His Majesty of his intention to resign.The rumours said Samak had booked time slot of Radio Thailand at 7:30 am to announce his resignation.

More interesting news today was that the Foreign Minister, Tej Bunnag resigned, as mentioned in the Nation;


FM Tej quits

Foreign Minister Tej Bunnag has tendered his resignation from Samak government, just 40 days after taking the office.

His reported resignation came a few days after his secretary, Poksak Nilubon, former ambassador to Sweden, resigned, saying he could not serve Samak Government.

The sources said Tej, former permanent secretary for foreign affairs, reasoned his resignation that his wife, Pensri, is sick.

Tej has been appointed to the position on July 27 particularly to handle the Thai-Cambodia dispute on Preah Vihear Temple.It is still unclear why he wished to resign.Tej is scheduled to visit Vietnam on September 10 and Indonesia from September 16 - 18.

Tej, 65, was the second foreign minister, under Samak Government

I'm also receiving a lot of emails from readers of my blog asking about the current situation and if it affects Samui.
In my opinion Samui won't be affected that much, since Samui's airport is privately owned and therefor not a direct 'target' for the PAD (People's Alliance for Democracy).

If the above mentioned rumour is true, it looks like the current situation may ease up quickly. It will be very interesting to see who will follow up Samak.

Camille

3rd September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's good to be back home again and with the current political situation and Bangkok's current State of Emergency it's also good to be reunited with the family. A lot of tourists are also cancelling their trips and it's expected that around 700 billion THB will be lost.

On to the weather though, there's a thin white layer and the blue sky is waiting to break through. Current temp at 7 am is 25.3C.

Yesterday was rainy in Pattaya but warm and hot in Samui with a max temp of 31.8C although it felt a lot hotter than at any time of our stay in Pattaya.

Below an impression of Wat Plai Laem on Samui shortly before our plane touched down.

Camille

2nd September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's very cloudy and wet in Pattaya. It just stop raining with a current temp of 27C at 7 am.

Yesterday saw a little bit of rain in the morning but it cleared up after that with sunshine in the afternoon. Max temp reached 29.4V.

Today I'm off to Samui again, providing the political situation remains stable enough and the airports aren't closed down. Although Samui is a privately owned airport and unlikely to be closed down and U-Tapao near Pattaya is a Thai Air Force airport, meaning that this airport is also very likely to remain to open, the current situation is very shaky and that's the main news right now.

During riots between the PAD, the anti government protesters and pro goverment protesters people died last night, at least one but possibly more and a state of emergency has been declared in Bangkok.

Due to being busy with the diving over the last couple of days in Patttaya, I haven't been following the news as close as usual. I can only hope that the situation turns for the better though!

Camille

Welcome to September 2008

If this coming September follows Augusts weather pattern, it's going to be a good month.

Unless, the social unrest in Thailand keeps growing and the current political situation doesn't stabilise.

Having said that, usually September chills out like August with lots of sun and nice, warm weather but not as hot as August, so actually very agreeable.

Last year September wasn't that great, as was as August last year, things are looking up though.
I sincerely hope that none of my blog readers cancelled his or hers holidays yet and that we can welcome you soon in Thailand and especially on Koh Samui.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope that you keep coming back here to follow my daily rantings.

Camille

1st September, 2008

Today's weather;

A cloudy sky with bits and pieces of sun reigns over Pattaya this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 27.4C.

Yesterday was a sunny day with a max temp of 31.5C.

We also completed our diving yesterday, have a look at my dive blog if you like to read more about this.
Below is a picture of a cleaner shrimp we saw during one of the dives, more pictures are on my dive blog or on Facebook.

Tomorrow it's back home to Samui again.



Camille