1st December, 2007

Today's weather;

There's overcast with plenty of blue patches and sunshine. Current temp at 7am is 26.3C.

Yesterday was a dry day but all day long saw grey overcast but no rain! Maybe in some areas of Samui, but not where I was. Max temp reached 28.2C

Camille

30th November, 2007

Today's weather;

The last day of October this year looks good again, dry and warming up today with a current temp at 7am of 27.2C, which makes a big difference compared to yesterday morning!

Yesterday was a bright sunny day all day long a with a max temp of 30C.

Camille

Goodbye to November

It's time to say goodbye to November 2007.

This year's November did honour to the rainy season, almost a bit too much. Early this months we had so much rain, that combined with the rather unusual high amounts of rain that we experienced towards the end of October, that for one day Samui was declared a 'disaster' area in early November.
Luckily enough, that very moment when Samui was declared a disaster area, the rain pretty much stopped and things got slowly back to normal.

Now, towards the end of November, we have very nice weather, since about 10 days we didn't have any rain and the temperature is rising again and we get lots of sun. It seems that the rainy season this year came very early and very fiercefully but that it has moved on by now.

I'm really looking forward to December!

Interesting side effect of the bad weather patch was a very heavily increased amount of visitors to my Samui weather blog. At some days I had over 300 visitors per day, which was nice to see. People from Russia, Taiwan, Hungary, Israel, Australia and Ireland, just to name a few countries visited the site and asked questions.
Thanks for your support and I hope you keep coming back. If you found my blog useful, don't hesitate to make a donation.

Camille

29th November, 2007

Today's weather;

It's a straight blue sky this morning with the sun high and dry up there. It's just cold at night and in the mornings, well, at least of you live here. This morning at 7am it was 24C.

Yesterday was a dry and warm day, with a max temp of 30.7C.

Camille

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28th November, 2007

Today's weather;

Another blue sky is shaping up with a fairly cold morning, if you live here, of just 22.7C at 7am.

Yesterday was a nice day, max temp of 30.7C and the coming 7 days are predicted with lots of sunshine with possibly some strong wind.

Camille

Loy Krathong 2007 in Phuket

After making our own krathong at home on Saturday (see Making a Krathong), there was plenty of time before the evening festivities got underway. We had not decided where to go and loy (float) our kratong... we normally head for the Bang Wad reservoir where hundreds, maybe thousands of people in the Kathu area go every year for Loy Kratong. The reservoir is the largest in Phuket with an 800m long dam and people gather there every evening for picnics by the water and jogging on the dam (see Bang Wad Reservoir). This year we thought about going somewhere different, like maybe Patong (thought again - sure to be a big party, but too crowded and parking a nightmare), or Karon (same as Patong and further from home too), or maybe Rawai beach (much quieter)...

While we chewed over the options for where to Loy our Krathong, we took a drive down to Cape Panwa to see if one of our favourite places had reopened.... YES! The Beach Bar, near the Novotel Panwa Resort is open again. We love it. On the beach, not expensive, friendly owners, very relaxed, we have spent many afternoons here before. Read more here: The Beach Bar is back!



We stayed until sunset and wished we had brought our kratong with us...

So after much indecision we went to Bang Wad Reservoir to float our kratong. It's a busy place on Loy Kratong night. If you want to see some real local colour, it's a good spot to be! We headed for the water and lit the candle and incense and let our kratong drift into the water.. a bit wonky, but afloat nonetheless...





Lots of kratongs were already floating and plenty more people were waiting to float theirs. Hope everyone gets good luck this year!





At the reservoir there's quite a party going on - lots of food stalls and drink stalls and hey! Draft Chang Beer for 90 Baht a liter - can't say no to that! We found a few friends and sat down for a drink and a few snacks...







(above) Food stalls at the reservoir, Loy Kratong night.

As well as floating kratongs, it's also common to float large paper lanterns into the night sky - this is far more common in Chiang Mai, but is spreading! At the dam you can buy a lantern for 100 Baht - its a big paper bag with a wire frame and a "solid fuel booster". We decided to buy one and launch it at home. More personal.

You have to hold the lantern until the fuel heats the air inside the lantern enough to lift it.. then let go and make a wish. We watched our lantern float high into the clear night sky. I told our kids it had gone to join the stars. We watched until the last flicker of light had gone.

 

Happy Loy Krathong - see you again in 2008!

27th November, 2007

Today's weather;

The sun is burning through the hazy layer this morning and there's plenty of blue sky with a few scattered clouds. Current temp at 7am is 23.5C.

Yesterday was a nice day, dry and warm with a max temp of 30.5C.

Tomorrow I start another IDC again, the last one of this year. Tomorrow kicks off with the IDCS course and Thursday the actual IDC will start, regular progress and updates can be followed on my dive blog.

Camille

A donation to the local Temple

Sometimes during a Buddhist Holiday, people donate a large amount of money to the local Temple.

This year's Loy Kratong saw such a donation being made by a local women from Plai Laem to Wat Plai Laem.




At Wat Plai Laem I saw all these 'money trees' lined up. The money on the trees are gifts by 'normal' people, like you and me, or my wife. In general people give anywhere from 20 to 100 Baht but also donations of 500 and 1.000,-Baht are no exception. The money is attached to the tree and that's it.

The money that is attached to the money trees is given to the local Temple, to buy bricks, paint, wood, you name it, so a new part of the Temple can be either build or completed.

In this picture, the money trees are all loaded on to cars and driven over to the Big Buddha part of the Temple, where there will be a ceremony, not only the money trees will be handed over to the monks, but.........

..........also the gifts these people are carrying. This local family is donating 100.000,-Baht to the Temple. This is a relatively common happening at various Temples over the island, I assume that a lot of local Samui people make or made good money on land sales and donate part of that money to the local Temple. During my 8 years here, I heard of a few of such happenings, mostly when relatives where involved but so far I never witnessed such an occasion.

The 'anonymous' money trees and the big 'spenders' have arrived at the Big Buddha part of the Temple and the money (100.000,-Baht) is placed in front of the monks. The people who donate the money get to sit with the Puu Yaai Baan (Headman of the village) in font of the Monks during the ceremony in special chairs.

There are lots of people following the 'spenders' and there's music and dancing going on, on the way to the Temple. Once arrived at the Temple, all the money is put in front of the Monks and a ceremony is held, where everybody attending is seated in front of the monks, on the floor.

An interesting Thai tradition. Next time you see a new part of the Temple being build, you can silently wonder who donated part of that money.

Camille

26th November, 2007

Today's weather;

The sun is burning it's way through a whitish layer of overcast. Current temp at 7am is 23.6C.

Yesterday was a nice and dry day with a max temp of 30C.

Camille

Loy Kratong 2007

This years Loy Kratong was a good festival.

At last, it's November's Full Moon and time for this years Loy Kratong. We celebrated at Wat Plai Laem, which is rather unusual, since all other years it has been celebrated locally at Big Buddha. There always was an entrance fee at big Buddha however and now the Chaweng lake is in place, where no entrance is charged, Chaweng Lake grew overnight in popularity and Big Buddha has now been replaced by an entrance free Wat Plai Laem. Big Buddha and Wat Plai Laem are 'run' by the same monks.




This is the Kratong that my 5 year old daughter made at school, with some help of her teacher.

Traditionally the Kratongs are made of a section of the banana trunk but was recently replaced by foam, which caused damage to the environment. Now most Kratongs are again made of banana trunk or bread. It's the second successive year that they had Kratongs made out of bread at the local temple, like these in the picture, for 50,-Baht each.

We had my daughter's Kratong this year and a bread version for our 2 and a half year old son.

At the lake surrounding Wat Plai Laem are hundreds of fish, mainly cat fish and they are an attraction in itself. They obviously love the bread made Kratong but still tried to eat all other Kratongs, as you can clearly see in this picture where they are chasing our daughters Kratong.

This is our sons bread made Kratong, being chased down by dozens of catfish.

The temple had plenty of visitors early on. At around 7pm when we arrived it was already full and there was a blessing ceremony for the King followed by a money offering event which happened at Big Buddha about which I will report later.
This photo shows some of the many dozens of Kratongs floating at the temple lake.

This year also saw the traditional beauty contest and dancing by local school girls but I missed out on these events this year and went home early.

Camille

Loy Kratong - 24th November 2007 - Making the Kratong

Loy Kratong is on a different day each year, falling on the Full Moon of the 12th lunar month, which is normally sometime in November. Last year was November 5th, this year November 24th. Loy Kratong is celebrated all over Thailand with particularly large ceremonies in Bangkok, Sukothai and Ayutthaya. Here in Phuket, festivities are quite extensive at the main beaches such as Patong and Karon, and anywhere else you find water - which is everywhere, being that Phuket is an island. We normally go and float our kratong at Bang Wad Reservoir, which is the largest reservoir in Phuket and is not far from our home in the Kathu area of Phuket. The word "Loy" means Float, and the Kratong is what you set afloat - read on...



Making Our Kratong

Of course there are stalls all over the place selling ready made kratongs, but we decided to DIY this year, ending up with a kratong that just about floated without tipping over! To make a kratong you will need - cut slices of banana stem to make the base, banana leaves to decorate, flowers, incense sticks, candles and pins to hold it all together! And voila - you have a kratong...

  

The banana leaves are cut and folded to shape and pinned to the base... My wife did all the hard work - she had never made one before - I mean, you can buy them everywhere very cheaply ... She made a special double decker kratong. I think it turned out beautifully!

  

Add some flowers, and it's ready... Our family kratong! Into the kratong we also add small cuttings of hair and nails from family members which will float out into the water with the kratong. Now we just need to float it! I'll update the blog with some more photos sometime soon...

 

25th November, 2007

Today's weather;

It's a hazy blue sky right now, with all the ingredients of becoming a very nice sunny day. It was cold though this morning with a temp at 7am of just 22.6C.
It seems that the rainy season is over.

Yesterday was a dry day with mainly overcast and a max temp of 29C.

Camille

24th November, 2007

Today's weather;

There's overcast but it doesn't look like it's going to rain, there's a blue patch or two as well. Temp at 7am is 25.3C. The plants are being watered today in our garden, that's possibly the first time since a month or more!

Yesterday was a nice day with plenty of sunshine and a max temp of 30.5C. There was no rain!

Camille

The not so mummified Monk in Wat Lamai.

On the search for Mummified Monks on Samui.

Monique told me about a supposed Mummified Monk in Lamai's Temple and immediately my interest was peeked and I felt the urge to investigate.


Having already visited the Mummified Monks in Wat Kanuram near Lamai and Wat Kiri Wongkaram in Baan Taling Ngam this was too good to be true to find a third one and it was too good to be true, so read on if you made it this far.





The entrance sign to Wat Lamai or are we more into Motocross events?

Here's a picture of the supposed Mummified Monk, he's however sooo well preserved, that it doesn't take long to realise that it's a wax figurine. Nonetheless, a very interesting way of displaying a well honored Monk and in sharp contrast to the very common glass boxes with a more 'simple' statue in it.

Here's 'Lang Poo Thuad Yeb Num Thale Jued' or the 'The Monk who walked on fresh water'. There's not any more information available at the Temple, at least not what I could find.

This is the area where the Monk is displayed, accompanied by more Deities. The carpet in front of the Monk is used for worshippers to sit down on and pray.

On the premises of the Temple are also the Natural Museum of which I already reported (part 1 and 2) and a couple of more areas with more statues of monks, like this 'hole in the wall' alike part of the temple.

All in all a very worthwhile destination if you're doing the almost compulsory 'trip around the island'. Wat Lamai can easily kill an hour during your trip with all has to offer.

Camille

23rd November, 2007

Today's weather;

This morning sees a strong wind with an overcast but light sky. Unfortunately not too much blue or sun at the moment but it's dry. Current temp at 7am is 26.4C.

Yesterday was a nice, dry and sunny day with a max tempo of 30.8C.
Everything and everybody seems to be getting ready to celebrate Loy Kratong tomorrow, many Temples have parties/fairs at their grounds and TV is showing all kind of Loy Kratong related programs, even the daily soaps have Loy Kratong in them!

The Nation, an English newspaper based in Bangkok, has a very interesting article today about Loy Kratong. The article talks about Loy Kratong's tradition and history and a couple of thoughts about where it's going nowadays.

Camille

Natural Museum Lamai, part 2

Here are some more pictures of the Natural Museum in Lamai.

After my post of part 1 of the Natural Museum in the Temple in Lamai, I thought it to a good time to post some more pictures about this fascinating place.




There's a big cabinet displaying all kinds of various Thai bank notes through the 'ages'. There are quit a few that I remember, even the 10 Baht notes and also a wide variety of 50 and 500 Baht notes. Interesting to see, in my humble opinion.

These 3 vases are also on display. Chinese I would guess, they're beautiful but unfortunately there's absolutely no information on them whatsoever.

There are a few (push) bicycles on display as well, to my rather big surprise. Than again, some of the things on display will most certainly raise a few eyebrows, rather obscure to say the least but I think that's also part of the charm of the place.

An intricate weighing system, similar to one that my wife's Mum used to have, a long time ago.

This is a very interesting set of items. Have a good look, see anything strange? Did you notice their iron or steel tongues sticking out? These figurines are all used to split the coconuts open, so the coconut flesh can be taken out. This is some real good and original Samui tradition on display. Similar items can sometimes still be seen in use in real life nowadays, although the 'tongues' aren't attached to such beautiful tongue holders. Most of the time it's just a steel rod connected to a piece of wood.

As already mentioned in some posts, Samui used to be Thailand's main coconut provider, until a few years back, tourism took over as the main financial provider for the island.

A funny anecdote about the coconuts is this one;

In the older days, not even too long ago, all the 'good land', being land with lots of coconut trees on it, was given to the favorite sons and/or daughters and the less popular off spring 'got stuck' with the worthless beach land. In the more popular areas like Chaweng, beach land goes nowadays for anywhere between 30 to 50 Million Baht per Rai.

Hope you enjoy these pictures and make sure to visit this Natural Museum in Lamai.

Camille

Pasir Gudang Ferry Terminal, Johor

Pasir Gudang Ferry Terminal, Johor (N01°26.015’ E103°55.201’)
Jalan Feri, Pasir Gudang.
Tel : +607-2543990, +60197273990 (Ms Selina)

The Ferry terminal started operations about one year ago, located at left of Johor Port entrance.

Providing daily ferry services from :-

• Pasir Gudang <-> Batam (Indonesia)
• Pasir Gudang <-> Tanjung Pinang. (Indonesia)
• Pasir Gudang <-> Leisure World Gambling Cruise

Information about the Leisure World Cruise as below:-

Counter at PG Ferry Terminal
Mon
0930 – 1130 hrs
1230 – 1415 hrs
1630 – 1745 hrs
2000 – 2115 hrs

Tue – Sun
0830 – 1000 hrs
1200 – 1330 hrs
1630 – 1745 hrs
2000 – 2115 hrs

From Ferry Terminal to Leisure World Cruise
Mon
1115, 1300, 1730, 2100 hrs

Tue – Sun
0945, 1315, 1730, 2100 hrs

From Leisure World Cruise to Ferry Terminal
Mon
0430, 1700, 1730, 2245 hrs

Tue – Sun
0730, 1700, 1730, 2245 hrs

Free Shuttle Bus Services to & from Ferry Terminal
Mon
From :
The Zon – 0930, 1230, 1600, 1930 hrs
Jusco Permas – 0945, 1615 hrs
Giant Plentong – 1000, 1630 hrs

Tue – Sun
From :
The Zon – 0800, 1200, 1600, 1930 hrs
Jusco Permas – 0815, 1615 hrs
Giant Plentong – 0830, 1630 hrs

Charges
Adult
RM50.00 per person

Children below 18 years
RM55.00 per person (Because they don’t encourage children on board)
RM75.00 per person (School holiday season)

Check out time : 1600hrs

Cabin Prices
Mon-Thu
RM70.00 (From 2 – 4 beds)
Fri & Sat
RM140.00 (From 2 – 4 beds)
Holiday
RM160.00 (From 2 – 4 beds)

Beside the Ferry Terminal, there’s a new budget hotel started operations 5 months ago.

PPT Terminal Hotel

Related post :-
* Leisure World Cruise, Johor

MY TRIPS - Home

22nd November, 2007

Today's weather;

It's mostly clouded but dry with bursts of sunshine and blue patches. Temp at 7am was a whopping 26.1C.

Yesterday didn't start very good, dark and grey but very quickly, around 8.30am the sun broke through and stayed out pretty much all day with nice blue skies all over. Max temp reached 30C.

The upcoming Loy Kratong festival has been moved from Big Buddha to Wat Plai Laem and is toned down a bit since the main monk is in a Bangkok hospital and isn't doing too well. This year will only see a beauty contest, Miss Loy Kratong, but no dancing by the school children.

Camille

21st November, 2007

Today's weather;

It's grey, wet and cold this morning, it's only 23.4C at 7am. It's not
raining but the air is wet and it has been raining, there's a lot more wind
today as well.

Yesterday didn't start that great, grey and wet but the afternoon was a lot
nicer with lots of sun but still an occasional shower.

Camille

20th November, 2007

Today's weather;

It's been raining all morning (and all night) but it just slowed down to a drizzle. I think that there's a good chance for sunshine as well today since the clouds aren't grayish but white. It seems there are also some blue patches coming up. Current temp at 7am is 25C.

Yesterday was a very nice and hot day with plenty of sunshine, all day long actually. Around 10pm last night it started to rain and didn't really stop until this morning. Max temp reached 29.8C. I spent all morning and a bit of the afternoon in a swimming pool teaching and got slightly burned!

Camille

Layan Beach

Layan Beach is not at all well known, so if you want to find one of the quietest and most beautiful beaches in Phuket, try to find Layan Beach. Hard enough to find it on a map! We first found Layan in January on a rather grey day while driving around the back roads in the North of Phuket. You have a choice of small roads to reach Layan Beach. Last weekend we drove through the Laguna Resort complex, the road turning from good, to bad, to "oh-my-god-i-wish-we-had-a-4wd". The last 100m took about 5 minutes. OK, that's the back route in, you can also go via Naithon, or via Thalang, following a long twisty road through the villages. OK, enough directions. Go find it, or check the location on Google Earth

Seek and ye shall find paradise. Or at least a very peaceful, picture postcard beach. Layan Beach, just North of Bang Tao Beach, has two halves. The southern part is simply stunning if you like blue seas and white sand. The land is privately owned, well cared for and kept simple. We were there at the weekend for lunch in the high season and I counted about 12 other visitors and I reckon half of them were local residents. You'll find a small restaurant, a small collection of beach chairs, palm trees and the sound of waves gently lapping the shore. Too good to be true?







The restaurant has basic Thai food, sea food.. not super cheap, but hey - look at the location. I guess we are used to local prices, so 80 Baht for fried rice seems expensive! It was tasty food, though and if you are coming for a holiday, lunch for a pound or 2 dollars is not going to break the bank! Next to the restaurant is "Beer Conner" :)



Just behind the beach, you have a mix of local life and modern development. This stretch of coast is being invaded by a large amount of villas, sea view apartments, hillside condos...and yet you also find scenes like this...



A little further North, Layan Beach is split by a small island and sand bar, creating a semi enclosed lagoon and a natural paradise. A sign at the edge of the beach says this area is to be made a National Park.. although I read recently in the Phuket Gazette that a marina might be planned for this location. It's a beautiful spot. I'd like to walk out along the sand spit to the island, but not with the little kids - it's quite a hike on a hot day.





You'd hardly know it, but there are 2 small, quite exclusive, very nice looking resorts in this section of Layan Beach. They blend in with the scenery, offering beachside or hillside bungalows. If you like a bit of seclusion, the Bundarika Resort or the Layan Beach Resort might be for you.

• Bundarika Resort
• Layan Beach Resort



Layan Beach is perfect for me and the family as a little getaway for a couple of hours - we like the small scale, the little restaurant, the fact that the beach is clean and hard to find. How we never found it until this year is beyond me.... Well, I guess we are not on holiday so can't be out exploring every day, but it's pleasing that after 8 years here Phuket still manages to surprise me.