Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 1st June, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui's sky is a mix between clouds and blue spots this morning. Current temp at 7am is 26.5C

Some of the mural paintings inside the Wat Plai Laem bot

Yesterday saw a clouded and cool-ish morning on Samui, to be followed by a hot afternoon when the sun broke through. The evening saw rain though and things cooled off very nicely. Max temp reached 33.5C

Camille

Goodbye to May 2011

Goodbye to May 2011

It's that time of the month again and May, version 2011 is about to say goodbye.

The weather this month was excellent on Koh Samui, especially after the floods in March and April, it was good to have a sunny and at times very hot month again. Almost every day was sunny and the temperature kept creeping up, slowly but surely, day by day. Although there was an occasional shower, it isn't until the last few days of the month that we had some more rain than just a shower, actually right now, whilst I'm writing this, it's raining pretty hard since 10 to 15 minutes or so.

The May 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 versions weren't consistently as nice and hot as this years edition.

Sunny days this month at Chaweng Beach

Other than the weather, I had a very enjoyable and successful IDC on Koh Samui this month where all my candidates passed their PADI IE or examination.

The visit to the Coco Splash water park in Lamai was a big hit with the children, just having talked about the recent floods, it was good to be able to help this month again.
A big religious holiday in the form of Visakha Bucha day was also celebrated this month and a visit to the Samui Boat Lagoon Villa's was on the menu as well.
Just today I posted about the murder of an expat on Samui whose murder case initially was classified as a suicide by the local police, interesting to see where the investigation will lead to.

For food, I went to my usual haunts, well known by now!

See you next month!

Camille

Thai police start Murder investigation after drowning on Samui has been ruled out

Thai police start Murder investigation after drowning on Samui has been ruled out

The Thai police have finally started a murder investigation into the death of a British national Kevin Attew, 57, living here on Koh Samui since various years.
After a post mortem conducted in Surat Thani the Surat Thani police requested the Samui police to re-open the case of Kevin Attew, who according to the Samui police had committed suicide and drowned in Chaweng lake after his Thai girl friend told the police that he was planning to do so. Attew's body was found last Tuesday.

Kevin Attew

Considering that Chaweng Lake at certain places is just about 30 centimeters deep and also taking into account that the Gulf of Thailand starts straight off Chaweng Beach, within a mile of where Attew's body was found, a shallow lake is not a very great place to commit suicide if an ocean is just around the corner.

Yesterday the case was re-opened as a murder investigation after the victim's best friend went to visit the local morgue and took pictures that clearly showed that Kevin, who was a motor cycle enthusiast had been beaten to death first and bruises could easily be identified on his body.

Londoner Crispin Paton-Smith, publisher of a real estate magazine on the island and Mr. Attew's best friend, said: “I was appalled to hear the verdict of drowning. It was a no brainer. Kevin was beaten to death and his body was left on dry land for quite a while before being put in the lake.

Paton-Smith a former gunner in the Royal Artillery said: “I have spoken to his girlfriend and she continues to insist he committed suicide. He did not unless he beat himself to death. He would have had to dig a hole to drown himself.

“Kevin ran a very successful bar and was the sweetest man in the world. He had no enemies".

"He was also a biker and he raised a lot of money doing charity rides for the Red Cross and other deserving causes."

Kevin Attew left and Crispin Paton-Smith right, with his girlfriend

It seems that the Koh Samui is trying to play down crime on the island out of fear of upsetting its lucrative tourism industry.

A spokesman for the Regional Police in Surat Thani on the mainland in southern Thailand said: “We are treating this as murder and have asked for the body to be sent here for a full autopsy.”

Mr. Attew, who produced rock and advertising videos in Britain, owned the ‘Honey Bar’ in Chaweng a meeting placed for bikers. He was founder of the ‘Koh Samui Pirates’ motorcycle club, which consists mainly of middle aged men who like touring on motorbikes and like to wear their ‘colours’ but who do not involve themselves in some of the extreme practices with which these groups are often associated.

Thai police have at least once mistaken such motorcyclists for members of Scandinavian and American motorcycle gangs with a reputation for crime.
They arrested and jailed several law-abiding bikers four years ago, including Mr Paton-Smith, a member of the Koh Samui Bandidos motorcycle club, who was eventually released without charge.

A British Embassy spokesman said relatives of Mr Attew had been informed of his death.

Let's hope that this case will get the attention it deserves and that for once justice will be served and this case won't be swept under a carpet. You can show your support by attending the 'virtual funeral' on Facebook.


Camille





Monday, May 30, 2011

Laguna Phuket International Marathon coming up soon; 12th June 2011

Laguna Phuket International Marathon coming up soon; 12th June 2011

In preparation for this event, I ran a training half marathon this morning, getting as close as possible to the real deal!

I woke up at 4.45am this morning, had my breakfast early and started running at 6am, the same time the Phuket Half Marathon will start, since this is the distance I will be participating in.
I ran 21.5 km in 2 hours, 20 minutes and 45 seconds, on a very hilly course and this is about 10 minutes faster than I expected. The weather over Samui this morning was just about perfect, cloudy but dry without sunshine, just how I like for running!

Finishing during the Samui Care for Cancer run, earlier this year

My run is also a fund raiser for Ocean Protection as part of the Project Aware foundation. Donations are more than welcome and if you want to join in any of the mentioned distances, feel free to join me.

Camille

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 31st May, 2011

Today's weather;

A slightly later update because I practiced running a half marathon in preparation of the Laguna Phuket International half marathon I'm planning to run come 12th June and I started at 6am. I'll do a small write up later today.
Samui has a cloud cover this morning which suited me just fine for the run! Current temp at 7am is 26.7C

Sunset on a slightly cloudier day during the end of this May at the beach end of Samui Mermaids Resort

Yesterday saw Samui under cloud cover and a refreshing shower during the late afternoon cooled things off, max temp was nonetheless 32.1C

Camille

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 30th May, 2011

Today's weather;

At last, there's some overcast on Samui and this morning seems to be promising a cooler day than the previous weeks. Current temp at 7am is nonetheless 28C already!

Chaweng Beach yesterday

Yesterday was very hot, especially during the morning it was almost unbearable when we were at Chaweng beach for the closing of a very successful PADI IE. During the late afternoon and early evening some big and dark clouds showed up and thunder was in the air. In some parts of the island it rained but I didn't see any. Max temp reached 35C

Camille

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 29th May, 2011

Today's weather;

Guess what, Samui is gearing up for another very hot day! Current temp is 27.5C at 7am. It's so hot that the heat almost takes away all your energy.
The PADI IE is also getting ready for it's second and final day, more on this event later on my dive blog.

Sunny skies over Samui yesterday

Yesterday it was once more hot! Max temp reached 34.4C

Camille

Friday, May 27, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 28th May, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui is looking forward to another very hot day! The sky is blue and the current temp at 7am is 27.5C

My candidates of the current PADI IDC on Koh Samui who are starting their PADI IE or exams today in order to become dive instructors. Good luck to them!

Yesterday saw once ,ore a hot day on Samui with plenty of sunshine. Max temp reached 34.3C

Camille

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 27th May, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui is enjoying a nice blue sky this morning with a few clouds in it. It's looking once more like it's going to be a hot day! Current temp at 7am is 27.3C

Today's sunny sky

Yesterday started out with overcast but the sun did come out and burned plenty of holes in the cloud cover. Result; plenty of sunny skies over Samui and hot weather! Max temp reached 33.7C

Camille

The Elevated Expressway from Taichung to Puli Township

On the way from Taichung to Sun Moon Lake, we stop-by Puli Township. I would like to share some photos along the way...
We can't capture a nice photo because it was a cloudy at Taichung that day...

The Expressway is Clean and Nice

Our car went through 3 tunnels (for the whole journey) which are longer than the Perak Tunnel of NSE

Approaching the tunnel

I was attracted by the scenery all the way from Taichung. Especially these type of Protruded Mountains...all of these cause by the Taiwan 921 Earthquake. The stretch of protruded mountains continue almost fews Kilometer along the way...

Protruded mountains cause by the 921 Earthquake



Arca (Betel nut tree 槟榔树) are everywhere along the Expressway

Before we reach the Puli Township, we passed by the Elevated Expressway which was about 20-30 storey high! Amazing!!


Approaching another tunnel

High Elevated Expressway

High Elevated Expressway

Oh! That's Incredible! Isn't it?!
According to our driver, it's because to protect the environment. That was Great! And all these are re-built after the Earthquake.

About an hour on the Expressway, we finally reached Puli Township...

And so were our next destination - Zhong Tai Temple (中台禪寺) at Puli....


Related post :-
*  My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 26th May, 2011

Today's weather;

The sky over Samui has a lot of overcast to show for this morning and it could well be that the sun will only pop up sporadically today. Current temp temp at 7am is 27.1C

The pagoda overlooking Chaweng

Yesterday was a sunny day on Samui although some dark clouds showed up around 6pm but I didn't witness any rain. Max temp reached 33.1C

Camille

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Food on Wheels; Truck for construction workers

Food on Wheels; Truck for construction workers

Here's a slight variation on the Food on Wheels series; today I highlight a form of food delivery by means of a truck instead of the all too familiar motorbike and it's not a finished product that you can buy neither.

Samui boasts lots of building sites, some might argue too many but that's a different discussion. All these sites have construction workers on them and they need to eat as well. Since they're on small wages, they mainly tend to cook themselves and the trucks pictured here basically serve the building or constructions sites or possibly even the areas where they live, which many times are relatively isolated areas and since the workers most likely don't posses a bike, they can't go out at their convenience and buy food and or ingredients to cook. In come these trucks!

Besides food and cooking ingredients they also sell many other small items like baby powder, soap etc. It's kind of like the supermarket truck that used to make it's rounds back in the days in Europe when I was a kid.

A couple of times I've seen these trucks already stocking up early in the morning at the Samui Makro store before they go out and start selling their goodies.

Another , more hidden and less viewable sample food on wheels!

Camille

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 25th May, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui's sky has some overcast to show for and I wonder if the sun will burn it away. It doesn't look like it will rain though. Current temp at 7am is 28C

Life's a beach on Samui and you get to sit under a coconut tree on top of that

Yesterday saw plenty of sunshine around the island with a max temp of 34.1C. The wind has picked up though and it does cool things down a bit.

Camille

Master Of Mushroom (菇神) Restaurant at Taichung, Taiwan

The Master Of Mushroom Restaurant (N24.20089 E120.79925) is located along the XieZhong Street which is about 2km away from the Xinshe Castle. This was the restaurant we had our lunch after the photography session.

Master Of Mushroom Restaurant

The Trademark before we step into the restaurant - 菇神

Once we stepped in, the was a corner selling all types of mushrooms and souvenirs on the left...

Mushroom and some cans food...

I believe the Giant Mushroom was also one of their trademark.

The restaurant had 3 sessions of dining area and divided into 2 storey. The photos below was the lower level of dining area.


The main counter of the lower level

Both dining area of the lower floor have different of setup. As you can see from the tables and chairs...
And we chose the upper level for better scenic view from the restaurant.

One of the Unique table at the upper lever

The dining area at upper level of the restaurant

The scenery was Marvellous! It was a different Dining Experience at the Master Of Mushroom Restaurant! We were busy taking photos of the surrounding before the food serve...

The scenery view from the window

The protruded area of the mountain was due to the Taiwan 921 Earthquake.

There were many mountains in Taiwan have the same scenario and some of them protruded much more than this!

The two small plates of special appetizer for us before the food serve...

The Appetizers

The Manager came to our table to explain the proper way to enjoy our Organic Mushroom lunch, she told us the procedure and the time to cook for various of mushrooms...
That moment, our table was full of fruits and mushrooms...once the soup was boiled, we had to put half of the fruits (the 2 plates below) into it...


Then wait for 3 minutes to continue 30% of each type of mushrooms (below) for 20 seconds...

Types of mushrooms...

I like the colour of this mushroom very much!

The main bowl of soup where everyone waiting for it!

Beside the fruits & mushrooms we put in, there were others ingredients cook together in the big bowl of soup...
Once the bell rang! That was our First taste of the Organic Mushroom soup!

It was YUMMY! This was my first Organic Mushroom meal! Awesome!
The Manager did told us not to take too much rice, but we Can't resist the pork gravy with some minced pork which for mixing with rice. The taste was so nice!

The pork gravy and the rice below...

Then we continued the formula circles and together with the pork below...

The meal was So Delicious! Especially the Special Recipe of the soup. I will strongly recommend to all my friends to try it if you happen to the Xinshe District.

We spend more than 1 hour and slowly enjoyed the foods and with the cooling environment before we proceed to our next destination. We were Overloaded!
The Damage : TWD300.00 for each person included drink. Reasonable!!


Related post :-
My Taiwan Trip on May, 2011

Location map of Master Of Mushroom Restaurant at Taichung, Taiwan