Welcome to August 2011

Welcome to August 2011

The stormy season over South East Asia but the Gulf of Thailand and especially around Samui it's usually very nice, with plenty of sunshine and occasional rain during the evenings. Previous have been known for storms as well but in general it's nice, especially after the first week of the month.

Deoksan beach near Samcheok in South Korea, during a sunny day

Currently I'm still in the Republic of Korea aka South Korea and will be getting back to Thailand this coming Thursday and back on Samui by Friday and guess what, a PADI IDC will kick off soon afterwards, this time on home turf again, on Samui!

Looking forward seeing you here on line, visiting my blog.

Camille

Road trip from Osan to Samcheok, South Korea

Road trip from Osan to Samcheok, South Korea

During my stay in South Korea, we had to travel from my home base town of Osan to Samcheok on the East coast of Korea. For the open water dives of the first ever Western PADI IDC in Korea, we needed open water! The PADI IE was also to be conducted at the same location, so off we went.

Korean rice paddies with mountains in the background

I like to travel and thoroughly enjoyed the 4 hours drive, which allowed me to see some bits and pieces of the country side. One thing that struck me was the massive amounts of green from trees and rice paddies.

Fence at the beach to stop North Korean spies to enter at night coming from the sea

Upon arrival at the coast, it was pointed out to me that along long stretches of the coast there's barbed wire and ll over the coast there are watch posts, in order to prevent North Korean spies to get into South Korea coming from the ocean.

Deonsak beach, this is where the PADI IE took place

We had some extreme forms of weather, upon arrival it was nice and sunny, just like the first day! The second day turned out to be foggy and wet and today it was warm but cloudy.

Apparently we traveled parts of the Romantic Road of Korea

Memories of the World Championships football in 2002 in South Korea and Japan

We also passed the ski resorts in PyeongChang, where the Olympic winter games for 2018 will take place. From the road you could make out the ski jumping towers in the distance.

All in all a very interesting trip and fun was had by all, we enjoyed some good Korean food big portions and lots of meat!).

The coming days I will visit Seoul, so keep your eyes tuned to this channel!

Camille

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

Today's weather;

The strong wind on Samui has subsided but it's still cloudy. Current temp at 10am is 29.8C

Yesterday saw very strong winds over Samui and bits and pieces of rain. Max temp reached 32.6C

Deoksan beach where we were the last 3 days, near Samcheok

There's a big weather change at our Samcheok location and as the picture above shows, the damp clouds have vanished and although it's not sunny, it's warm again. Current temp at 8am was 24C. Today it's back to Osan. There I will have three days to relax and do some sightseeing, including a trip to Seoul.

Camille

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

Today's weather

Samui is having to endure some strong wind, overcast and rain. Current temp at 10pm is 29.3C

Yesterday saw a dry but windy day on Samui with a max temp of 31.3C

Sunny Samcheok yesterday

Samcheok, same location, today at 7am

The PADI IE kicked off in a wet Samcheok that undergoes a constant drizzle. Current temp at 9am was 22C

Camille

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

Today's weather;

Koh Samui had a sunny day with some strong wind during the afternoon. Current temp at 7pm is 27C. It's a late update because I've been busy diving all day on the East Korean coast in the city of Samcheok and the PADI IE kicked off here today!

Yesterday was a nice day on Samui with a max temp of 30.3C

Samcheok beach

Samcheok on the East coast of Korea had some nice sunshine today and at 9pm the temp is 24C. It was sunny and despite some cloudy periods, my face got sunburned on the surface of the ocean in-between skills for Open Water training of this current IDC.

Earlier this evening the PADI IE kicked off and tomorrow and Sunday it's going to be once more a busy schedule.

Camille