Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 9th November, 2014

Today's weather;

It should come as no surprise that it's grey and wet and rainy around Koh Samui. The expected stormy Sunday has toned down a lot but rain is expected pretty much all day long. Current temp at 7am is 27.5C

Rain water coming off our drain

Yesterday saw all day long rain, from very hard to a drizzle and everything in-between with 34mm not bad. Typical monsoon weather. Max temp reached 28C

The forecast predicts rain tomorrow and after that the clouds should ease up and we may have some blue moments, although rain remains a prospect at all times.

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 November, 2014

Today's weather;

It's grey and wet this morning over Koh Samui and the start of a long and and wet weekend. Rainy season or monsoon is officially upon us. Current temp at 7am is 26.2C

Heavy rain a few days ago, flash flood left a parked motorbike submerged, opposite Big C

Yesterday saw a cloudy morning, a strong shower around noon and a fairly sunny afternoon. Max temp reached 30.3C

The forecast shows rain over the whole weekend and into Monday with strong wind and lots of rain tomorrow. It looks like nonstop rain until Monday afternoon and possibly some sunnier moments after that with still the possibility of rain.

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

Loy Kratong 2014 on Koh Samui

Here's an impression of my Loy Kratong yesterday at Phru Chaweng or Chaweng lake yesterday.

All the family went to float the kratongs and it was busy but fun.

A very big Kratong on display at Central Festival

First some background information on this Buddhist festival;

The origins of Loy Kratong have been traced to Sukhothai, but, more recently, it has been argued it is actually an invention from the Bangkok period, According to the writings of H.M. King Rama IV, in 1863 the originally Brahmanical festival was adapted by Buddhists in Thailand as a ceremony to honor the original Buddha. 

Very original and colorful kratongs made out of ice cones for sale at Central Festival

'Loy' means to float and a 'kratong' is a floating object. In the case of Loy Kratong, this typically is a slice of a banana trunk that is decorated with elaborately folded banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks. 

Thai people also add some cut off hair and fingernails and 9 Thai Baht to the kratong and float them off in a river, lake or the ocean as a way of letting go of the bad in them and they believe that the festival will bring good luck.

A busy platform at Chaweng Lake to put the kratongs in the water

Nowadays it;s also common to lit the so called hot air balloons, but I'm not a big fan of these, since they have two iron parts that are not very environmental friendly and every time I conduct a clean up at Chaweng Beach we find dozens of these hot air balloon frames.

Phru Chaweng was busy yesterday evening

This brings me also to the kratongs and the materials they are made of. Traditionally banana trunks and other natural products are used, which is good, Alternatives are kratongs made out of bread or as shown in the second picture of this article, creative ideas like suing ice scones. They will hardly any detrimental impact on the environment.

The last picture of this article gives you an idea what we're dealing with around the country.

One of the many hot air balloons being released during Loy Kratong

As the pictures show, it was busy but enjoyable and there was a big fair along the waterside and all around Phru Chaweng. Many food stalls and attractions similar to a typical temple fair and lots of attractions for kids could be found.

Part of the fair, a motor bicycle making it's rounds

One attraction that stood out was the motor cycle driving around in a cubicle, partly without hands and partly just inches away from your face. All not as stable as we may be sued in the West with all it's regulations but fun to see such an 'old fashioned; fair attraction again.

Chaweng lake the day after

Hope you had your fun yesterday during the Loy Kratong festivities on Samui or around Thailand.

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; 7th November, 2014

Today's weather;

Yesterday's blue skies have been replaced with cloudy skies over Koh Samui. Current temp at 7am is 26.1C

Very colorful kratongs made out of bread, for sale yesterday at Central Festival

Yesterday saw a lovely day with blue skies all day long and nice 31.8C max temp.

The forecast predicts possibly some rain today, rain tomorrow and a stormy Sunday petering out on Monday and possibly blue skies for the rest of next week.

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; 6th November, 2014

Today's weather;

There's a very nice blue sky this morning over Koh Samui with just a few thin, fluffy clouds in it. Current temp at 7am is 24.7C

Today is also Loy Kratong, don't forget to celebrate tonight!

Heavy rain and lots of flash flooding yesterday afternoon at the Western side of the island. Here the gullys can't deal with the amount of water and little water fountains erupt

Yesterday saw a cloudy morning and some very heavy rain around noon that lasted for a while and caused lots of temporary flash floods. The late afternoon saw a few sunbursts again. Max temp reached 29.8C

The forecast is predicting overcast until Sunday, that day there should be a tremendous storm with lots of rain all day long but by mid next week we may have sunny skies 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; 5th November, 2014

Today's weather;

Koh Samui has overcast this morning with possibly some rain coming in later today. Current temp at 7am is 26.2C

The entrance to Fisherman's Village

Yesterday saw mostly a cloudy day with occasionally some sun breaking through. Max temp reached 29.9C

The forecast predicts mostly clouds, occasionally some sunshine and stronger wind and lots of rain come Sunday and Monday.

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

Umbrella workshop in Chiang Mai

During our recent trip to Chiang Mai over last weekend, with the obligatory visit to Doi Suthep, also included a visit to an umbrella workshop, not to be confused with a factory!

Although they can be referred to as 'factories', the hand made manufacture of the umbrellas does not really resemble a classic factory line of production. Hence workshop is a much better description.

Finished umbrella's on display, a colorful scene

With our taxi driver from the airport, we arranged a trip to Doi Suthep and for good measure (and his commission) he threw in a visit to various factories/workshops, ranging from umbrellas to silver, silk and wooden handicrafts.

Luckily for me (in contrast to my wife's opinion) we visited the only one I was interested in, the umbrella workshop. It was nice to see the lay out of the place and how the umbrellas go through stages of manufacturing.

Umbrella's in various development stages drying in the sun

There's a small restaurant/coffee shop and a handicraft/umbrella shop, with hundreds of different sized and colored/themed umbrellas for sale, at really good prices! We got two traditional umbrellas in a classic design, fairly big ones each only being 350.-THB. A good deal in my opinion.

An intriguing motive

One of the more remarkable designs is pictured above, it looked like it was not a finished product but unexpected and intrigiung nonetheless.
All the umbrellas are made out of bamboo and are available in various sizes and designs and bamboo hand fans and other items are for sale as well.

The shop

There are plenty of similar umbrella workshops in Chaing Mai and this one was conveniently located at a road with a couple of dozen other workshops. Instead of going to a restaurant, which I requested, our next stop proofed to be at a silk factory/workshop with a very distinguished Chiang Mai family name, well known for being a big political player during the last decade in Thailand and currently in exile. Upon seeing the name I politely told the driver that we had no interest in visiting this place and if he could please bring us to the restaurant.

Amazingly the restaurant was just another couple of 100 meters down the road and the food was excellent.

If in Chiang Mai, the visits to all the various workshops can be a great way to kill a day or afternoon, including a visit to Doi Suthep, Highly recommended!

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

Loy Kratong around Koh Samui, 6th November

In two days time, Thurday 6th November, the yearly Loy Kratong celebration will take place around Samui and all of Thailand.

Loy Kratong at Phru Chaweng or Chaweng Lake, looks like a big event this year

There is a big event scheduled at Phru Chaweng or Chaweng Lake but also the various Temples or Wats around the island will stage events. I expect Wat Plai Laem to have an event this year, especially since they have a small lake around the temple.

It's the first Loy Kratong since Central Festival opened it's doors on the island and they are planning a big event as well, with prices to be won for the best Kratong.

Please buy or use only natural made Kratongs, to diminish the potential environmental damage. since a few years Kratongs made out of bread are on sale at various locations around the island, they may be a good alternative.

Enjoy the festival and let's cross our fingers for a dry event!

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 November, 2014

Today's weather;

It's cloudy all around Koh Samui this morning and it won't surprise me if there will be rain later today. Current temp at 7am is 25.3C

Kratong in Chaweng Lake, waiting for the 6th November

Yesterday saw a fairly nice day with occasionally some sunshine but during the evening we had some strong rain and it looks like it rained during the night as well. Max temp reached 30.5C

The forecast still predicts the typical November mix with cloudy days and possibly some sunshine and a shower here and there. The rain and wind expected for this weekend has softened and been pushed back a day, there may well be no hard rain in that period at all. Let's see how this pans out.

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

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

.

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