Il Duomo, Italian Restaurant, Chaweng

It's time for another restaurant review, today it's; Il Duomo an Italian Restaurant in Chaweng

After today's Beach Clean up, I had lunch at an old favorite of mine in Chaweng, Il Duomo.
Il Duomo has been around for 8 years now and I've been visiting on a regular, irregular base, if you get my drift! Over the years the quality has been very consistent. My favorite is a pizza with 4 different kind of cheeses but they have plenty of other good choices on the menu, including a wide arrangement of fresh pastas, like gnocchi.

Massi, who was in my last IDC and consequently successful in the PADI IE and who's Italian, visited here at least once a week during his two months stay on Koh Samui.

The name Il Duomo refers to the city of Milan's Cathedral!


Il Duomo is located almost opposite the big Starbucks in Chaweng, in a small soi or side street. This is how it looks from outside.

This is inside Il Duomo, just after opening up, so not all the tables have been completed with all they put on there, like serviettes, cutlery etc.

Today I opted for this absolutely lovely 'Gnocchetti neri alla polpa di grancho' or also known as 'Black potato gnocchi in fresh crab meat sauce'. The black gnocchetti made for a nice and 'something different' experience. Il Duomo's menu is riddled with such interesting dishes and it's definitely one of the better Italian Restaurants on Chaweng Beach. Highly recommended by me!

Camille

20th September, 2008

Today's weather;

A fairly blue sky is shaping up, there are still plenty of clouds around, but also with lots of sunshine. Current temp at 7 am is 25.2C. A perfect day to start our Project AWARE beach clean up day, more on this later in my dive blog.

Yesterday started out cloudy with bits and pieces of sunshine but later on in the day it turned really nice with lots of sunshine and a max temp of 34C. Last night there was some rain though but that was a good thing.

Floods in Thailand hit 36 provinces so far
Floods have caused damaged worth Bt686 million in 36 provinces, caretaker Agriculture Minister Somsak Prissanananthakul said Friday.He said floods affected 13 northern provinces, 12 northeastern provinces, 4 central provinces, 6 eastern provinces and a southern province.A total of 724,931 rai of farm land were inundated and a 2.7 million of farm animals were affected.

The political situation lingers on; A new cabinet line-up to finish in a few days : PM and Somchai is upbeat after 'good' phone talk with pad leader Sondhi.
There's also more and more criticism coming up against PAD from various groups, here's a University professor from Thammasart Uni speaking up; PAD supporters should dump leaders.

It's not all love, peace and understanding yet; Leaders of pro-government demonstrators threaten to lead provincial people to crush PAD and because of this 14 companies soldiers and police to be deployed to prevent clash between PAD, DAAD.

An interesting small 'snippet' about the recent coup; Coup 'failed to get things back on track'.

Camille

19th September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's very cloudy although it looks that there are some blue spots in the distance. Max temp at 7 am is 26C.

Yesterday started out with plenty of clouds but during the day we got a good amount of sunshine. Max temp reached 33C.

Thailand's political situation keeps lingering on. His Majesty The King has signed a royal command to appoint new PM.
New Team seeks talks with PAD and there will be no Honeymoon period for the new PM an article that discusses how long Somchai will last and raises some good points.

Camille

18th September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's very cloudy this morning with a max temp of 26.5C.

Yesterday it was cloudy as well, although the sun peeked through some watery cloud holes a few times. Max temp reached 31.7C.

On the political front, Somchai Wongsawat, a deputy leader of the People Power Party, was elected the new prime minister Wednesday Thailands 26th PM.

Not surprisingly the PAD says no to new PM, Somsak (a PAD Leader) claimed that Somchai was involved in many irregularities linked to the Thaksin government. This is the main issue, how will Somchai react to all things Thaksin related, like bringing him to justice and revoking his diplomatic passport.

Ending political crisis should top Somchai's agenda and the new PM-elect sees few changes ahead.

Here's a link to an article that fellow Thai blogger Richard Barrow wrote; Bored with Thai politics.

Camille

17th September, 2008

Today's weather;

A thick cloud layer is out there this morning with a current temp at 7 am of 26.5C.

Yesterday saw a cloud cover all day long with no sunshine and also no rain. Max temp reached 30.7C.

On the political front, the PPP party has closed the ranks and all voted for Somchai, former PM Thaksin's brother in law, to be the new PM.

Thaksin is once more in the spotlights, today's Ratchadaphisek case verdict will only widen political divide whatever the outcome although there seems to be no hard evidence against Thaksin which leaves the court in a quandry.

There's also a second arrest warrant against Thaksin.

The PAD is concerned how Somchai will act towards many Thaksin related cases and issues considering that he is Thaksin's brother in law.

Camille

16th September, 2008

Today's weather;

There's overcast this morning although hardly any wind and the current temp at 7 am is 26.6C.

Yesterday saw a good amount of overcast with tiny bits of sunshine. The max temp reached 33.8C making it very warm day.

The political remains fairly shaky, with first seeing Somchai seemingly being the best bet from PPP as new PM. He got opposed by 73 MP's of the own PPP party however and the Newin faction unfurled its banner of revolt.
What they say about Somchai Wongsawat.

Camille

Thaa Yai 2008, Wat Plai Laem

Thaa Yai 2008, Wat Plai Laem

This involved getting up really early! We were up at 5.30 am with my wife getting up around 2 am in order to prepare all the food! After last year's absence, it was time to visit this years edition.



Under the almost completed view of the new Bot at Wat Plai Laem we gathered with a lot of other local people from Plai Laem to pay our respects to and welcome the deceased for the Thaa Yai event.
During this event the deceased are welcomed back to earth for a few weeks and than after those few weeks send back again.



The welcoming is done with plenty of food. One table is covered with dishes and everybody walks around and piles more food on those dishes, which eventually are being offered to the Monks so they can have breakfast after their seemingly endless chanting.

During any event at the Temple, the guys typically shoot the shit under a big tree while the women attend to the prayers inside of the community room and do all the work.

A great social gathering this is indeed!

On a separate table from the food destined for the Monks, are the dishes for the deceased, beautifully crafted and piled with copious amounts of food. This picture shows a more delicate plate with loads of different foods in various small cups.

A table full of food for the deceased

The small white flags have messages for the deceased written on them.

After the chanting of the Monks is completed, we all go and eat food. Each family picks a spot to sit and food is shared, loads typical local stuff which some can't be found or very rarely in a shop or restaurant. Octopus curry and various dishes I don't even know the name of it or what is in them are amongst them!

As desert there are various sweets that are only prepared and cooked this once a year for Thaa Yai.

After all is eaten and everybody is full, the women complete one more ceremony, the 'Yok Taat Bin, Tamboen Kluat Naam' prayers are being said for the deceased and water is given and than the food is distributed amongst the living. During the prayers everybody holds on to each other, so everybody 'gives' water to the deceased.

In a few weeks time, the deceased are being sent back again and if possible at all, I'll report from this again.

Camille

15th September, 2008

Todays weather;


It's cloudy but very dry with a max temp at 7 am of 26.8C.
Today's update is later than usual since we just got back from the Temple in Plai Laem, where we attended this years Thaa Yaaj, a report will be coming up soon.

Yesterday saw a warm and sunny day with a max temp of 33.6C.

On the political front it's good to see that the lifting of the State of Emergency is going smoothly.
A major reshuffle of cabinet is expected this week and here's some insight why the Country must embrace 'New Politics' or implode -by Suriyasai explaining some points of view by the anti government PAD.

Camille

Municipal elections on Koh Samui

Today there are Municipal elections on Koh Samui

The need for these municipal elections comes from the fact that Samui gained Tessaban or City Status. Samui is and still will be part of Changwat Surat Thani or the Province of Surat Thani but can now govern over it's own finances among other, rather than Surat Thani taking all of it and hardly giving back anything. It's a similar set up like Pattaya has in the province of Chonburi.

It has been a long fight to get there and Surat Thani officials tried to prevent this from happening with all their power, they didn't want to lose the goose with the golden eggs.

The actual election today is to vote for a new Mayor to govern Samui. There will be a bit of restructure around Samui, for instance the Pu Yai Baan's or village leaders position will become obsolete but in general I think this is a major step forward in Samui's general development and I hope it will bear fruit and Samui will see vast improvements on it's infrastructure.

At the local government school, next to Wat Plai Laem, under a beautiful and sunny blue sky, today's elections take place between 8 am and 3 pm.

One needs to vote for a party and than for a member in that party, as this sign explains.

The school accommodates two voting districts, one on each side of the playing ground and in front of the actual voting locale, there are boards up with the participants and a list with registered voters for that district.

It's interesting to see how versatile the school is by the many functions it has, besides being just a school.

The short time I went there so my wife could vote, it was very busy and there was a steady flow of people coming and going and for a lot of folks it's another great opportunity to hang out and chat with friends and neighbours.

In the background of this picture you can see the actual ballot boxes.

Tomorrow is Thaa Yai and the socialising will continue. more on this event tomorrow, although it will require a very early get up!

Camille

14th September, 2008

Today's weather;

It's sunny and there's hardly any wind anymore. Current temp at 7 am is 26C.

Yesterday was once more a lot overcast, especially during the afternoon with occasional strong winds. Around 10 am we had a real storm, short but powerful accompanied with hard rains, the rest of the day it stayed dry. Max temp reached 30.7C.

In the meantime, 25 provinces are on high alert for danger of flooding, all provinces are located in the North and North East of Thailand.

Today are municipal elections on Samui, more about this later.

On the political front, very good news is that after two weeks of no trains in the South, all trains in Southern Thailand have resumed their services again yesterday.
More good news is that today most likely the State of Emergency is going to be called off. The State of Emergency was only called out in Bangkok.

Ex-TRT executives join PPP talks on next PM and the PPP now backs Somchai as new PM, Somchai is former PM's Thaksin Shinawatra's brother in law.

Camille