Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 6th November, 2010

Today's weather;

Samui is going back to normal, this morning it was dry and the sky looked bright although there was no sunshine but also no rain. Water is receding all over the island but there's a lot of damage amongst other to the road surface, especially in front of Chaweng post office on the ring road.

Electricity is back on at my house pretty much non stop now but some parts still had some power cuts. Tomorrow should see a nice and fairly dry day with some sunshine! Currently Wednesday looks like a rough day again with some strong wind Current temp at 7am is 25C

Koh Lanta sees a light cloud cover today but I wouldn't be surprised if we see some sunshine later in the day! Current temp at 7am is 25.5C

Today is the last day of the IDC here!

A tree felled by the storm at Hua Thanon's 7-11, by Richard ten Brinke

Yesterday saw Samui starting on the recovery path, there was some rain but nothing like the past couple of days. I hope all my friends are ok! Everything starts or is open again, ferries from/to the mainland are back on schedule as well. Max temp reached 28.7C

Koh Lanta saw some clouded skies all day long yesterday with an occasional drizzle but no outright straight rain. Max temp reached 27.8C

Camille

4K restaurant, Hua Thanon

4K restaurant, Hua Thanon

Yesterday we visited the X2 resort (X2 is pronounced 'cross to')in Hua Thanon and had a lovely lunch at the 4K restaurant (4K is pronounced 'fork') at X2. A great day's out was had by my family and the second restaurant review of this year is another good one!

The 4K restaurant is build and designed in the same contemporary style as the X2 resort.

A spectacular view over the ocean from the restaurant.

It's really relaxing to have a seat in this quiet environment and enjoy the tranquility, there are no jet ski's and beach vendors of the resort.

The design is very nice and the menu is a mix of eastern and western dishes and the best of fusion. Local products in season tend to dominate the menu, which is prepared by their international chef.

All through the resort and the restaurant you can experience the fusion by concrete and wood, which has some remarkable nice effects.

On to the food, I had this delicious sauteed chicken liver and banana compote on raisin toast, a real interesting starter with a great taste.

My main was this baked sea bass fillet over Asian mushrooms and wok sauteed rice.

I was full already but when I saw the desert list, this X2 apple tart with warm butterscotch sauce caught my eye and I had to try it. It was served in a different way than I expected but it was really outstanding.

The prices in 4K are very reasonable and I can definately recommend to make the trip over to Hua Thanon beach for a nice, relaxed afternoon at the beach with either lunch or dinner at the 4K

Camille

4th January, 2010

Today's weather;

Welcome to the first working week of this new year and decade!

It's clouded with a blue spot or two and a current temp of 28C at 7am.

Kite surfing at Hua Thanon beach yesterday

Yesterday saw sunshine in the morning and the afternoon but around noon Samui was hit by a serious rain shower. Haven't seen rain like that in a while and I enjoyed it. In the evening it rained again for a short while.

Max temp reached 29.7C.

Yesterday we went to visit the X2 resort (X2 is pronounced 'cross to')in Hua Thanon and had a lovely lunch at the 4K restaurant (pronounced 'fork'). This is a view over the beach and ocean from the 4K restaurant.

Camille

Tarmac, here we come!

Tarmac, here we come!

Having reported earlier on the bad state and safety of the roads around Samui, there's some good news at last. Since about 6 months or maybe even longer, the Nathon beach road has received a tarmac surface.

Road construction between Lamai and Hua Thanon

This tarmac surface is now being extended all around the island and a start has been made between Hua Thanon and Lamai. Hopefully this tarmac layer will prevent the current potholes and cracks around the ring road and all secondary roads around the island.

It makes for a lovely driving experience and your car isn't bouncing along the roads anymore and on a bike you don't have to look out for potholes all the time. The only downside I can see is that because of the great surface, both cars and motorbikes will speed even more than they to currently do.

Other than, Tessabaan, congrats to a job well done and I seriously hope the progress on this project will continue as scheduled and somewhere next year the whole of the island has a nice tarmac layer!

Camille

Hainanese style houses on Samui

Hainanese style houses on Samui

In my blog post last week about the Chinese Temple in Hua Thanon, I mentioned
a Hainanese legacy on Samui. Over the weekend, when we visited the waterfall in Baan Namuang, I went back to Hua Thanon to take some pictures of typical Hainan style houses.

Here are three perfect samples of such Hainan style houses in Hua Thanon, as you can see, they're made of wood and typically have two floors. This one seems to be housing a motorbike repair shop.

Here's an other prime sample of a stand alone Hainan style house in Hua Thanon.

This is also a typical sight in Hua Thanon, a few Hainan style houses next to each other, build in to a variety of shops or restaurants.

Here's a sample from a Hainan style house in Nathon, converted in to a restaurant.

Another excellent place to find houses build in this style are in Nathon and Bophud, although in Bophud, a lot of the original houses have been renovated but it has been done in a nice authentic way giving it a modern flair.

Camille

BTW It's 10 am and it has drizzled and rained pretty much from 8 am onwards and there's a rather dark, cloud filled sky.

Chinese Temple, Hua Thanon

Chinese Temple, Hua Thanon

After my three monthly visit to Thai Immigration in Nathon today, I decided it would be a good opportunity to visit some temples I usually don't go to and which are located a bit further away from where I live.



First one on the agenda was the Chinese temple located in Hua Thanon. As already reported in earlier posts, there's a big Hainanese legacy on Samui.
This temple, run by the Hua Thanon Hainanese Temple Association, is a great sample of this legacy, as is actually all of Hua Thanon, with it's traditional Hainan style houses. More on Hua Thanon at a later time though, now it's time for it's temple.
Before I continue, something that makes me wonder, if this post will receive as much attention as my post about the Chinese Temple located in Maenam, which seems to be by far one of my most visited posts. Time will tell but an interesting observation to make and to follow.

Next to the entrance, at your left hand, is this big plaque, with Chinese characters on it and to be honest, I have no idea what it means, but it looked good!

Inside the temple, it's rather small and relatively quiet, since it's located directly at the ring road, so with it's doors open, noise from the road doesn't find it too difficult to enter.

This picture shows a view of the main altar.

This is inside the room where the main altar is located and shows the Chinese deities that are worshipped and look out over the altar.

Next to the entrance of the main altar room, is this scenic display, with a typical bell and drum. Other Chinese/Thai visitors present during my visit used both of them.

On the ceiling one can find some intricate lampoon style lights.
As an amateur Buddha amulet collector, I couldn't resist buying an amulet here. They had a few on display and the one ended up choosing was the last one available. They had about 15 different amulets for sale, one costing 25.000,-THB since it was made of 18K gold, cheaper ones, which still went for about 9.000,-THB were made of pink gold. I went for a copy that went for 'only' 580,-THB instead and for the first time ever, also received a numbered receipt for my purchase, which I liked very much.

Next door to this Chinese Temple, is very conveniently, a Chinese/Thai restaurant (which I haven't tried yet!), so when on a trip around the island, a nice place to stop, eat some local food and make some pictures from the temple and the very typical Hainan, and therefor also typical Samui houses in Hua Thanon. In my opinion, Hua Thanon has the most typical original style houses in all of Samui that reminds of the old days of Samui.

All in all, well worth a visit.

Camille