Friday, November 5, 2010

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

Hole In The Wall Floating Restaurant at Kilim Geoforest Park, Langkawi Island

On the 3rd day early morning (our last day in Langkawi Island), I went to purchased the 5.30pm return Ferry ticket then proceed for our breakfast follow by shopping for whatever we haven't buy...

After everything settled, we check out from the Grand Continental Hotel from Kuah Town and headed to The Hole In The Wall Floating Restaurant (N6 25.018 E99 51.793) for our lunch. (We were actually attracted by the name)

The Floating Restaurant is located at Kilim River which is at the East of Langkawi Island (You can refer to the picture of Google Earth here). The duration took about 20 minutes from Kuah Town to Kilim Jetty. Once we reached the Jetty, I made a call to the restaurant, and we waited for the boat transfer at the Jetty. (Please call the restaurant before you drive to the Jetty to make sure they are open, then call them again once you reach the Jetty. The boat transfer is Free Of Charge)

After about 10 minutes from the Jetty, we reached The Hole In The Wall Restaurant.

The Hole In The Wall Floating Restaurant


The surrounding of the Restaurant was calm and cooling, like it very much! There were many yachts anchored within the river too! The restaurant was not crowded when we arrived, maybe because the lunch time was over. :)

The area is Clean and Tidy!

We were starving at that moment, quickly placed our foods order without wasting time!
Before the foods serve, the restaurant invited us to walk in their Fish Farm. Nice!

The Fish Farm of Hole In The Wall Restaurant

This fish farm was bigger and more organized compare with the One we visited yesterday. And the Show was same as every fish farm.

Stingray feeding...

The Excitement of the Ray...! :)

After 15-20 minutes, the waitress informed us that our lunch was ready and already served on the table!

Special Fried Rice

Pineapple Fried Rice

Mango Salad

Baked Fish - Ikan Bakar

The food was Delicious!
I like the Special Fried Rice served with 3 big prawns and fried chickens, the fried rice was tasty! The Pineapple Fried Rice was nice with the presentation. Mango Salad was above average. We liked the Baked Fish very much!

We spent more than 2 hours to enjoy our lunch on the river because of the atmosphere. The Beautiful Scenery hold our legs to keep us stay longer...The air was cooling on the river even in the Hot sunny day...we Like it very much!

The Damage : MYR103.95 for 2 adults and 1 child included drinks. The charges was reasonable especially the environment. I will be back again!!

Rated : 4.8/5

Once we paid the bill, the boat was waiting to take us back to Kilim Jetty...(but you are allow to stay as long as you want)


We supposed to have some shopping before we leave Langkawi Island, just because we spent more than 2 hours at The Hole In The Wall Restaurant which was not in our schedule, so we had to catch our Ferry in time and forget about the shopping.
Once we reach the Langkawi Jetty, return the Red Isrrari and got our deposit back...we jumped into the Ferry and said Bye-Bye to Langkawi Island! We will see you again in next year! :)

The Hole In The Wall Restaurant
Tel : +604-9675301

Related post :
*  My Trip to Langkawi Island on September 2010
*  Grand Continental Hotel at Kuah, Langkawi Island
*  Underwater World of Langkawi Island
*  Sunset Of Cenang Beach (Pantai), Langkawi Island
*  The Lighthouse Restaurant at Tengah Beach (Pantai), Langkawi Island 
*  The Langkawi Cable Car at Langkawi Island.
*  The Famous Sky-Bridge of Mount Machinchang, Langkawi Island. 
*  Restoran Nasi Kandar Tomato at Cenang Beach, Langkawi Island
*  The Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island
*  The Eagles Feeding at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island
*  The Fish Farm at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island
*  The Bat Cave at Kilim Geoforest Park of Langkawi Island
*  Wonderland Seafood Store at Kuah Town, Langkawi Island

Location map of The Hole In The Wall Floating Restaurant


Thursday, November 4, 2010

Directions on Web near Completion

Proud to announce that our very own Directions on Web website is now on its final stage of finishing its design.


Now shaping up, we are now beginning to see the whole picture of this blog site and what it has to offer to Filipinos both living in the country and overseas.


Once completed, posts will pour in and vital informations will become available 24/7 like a power ready to be tapped.


Watch out for the first post of this very promising Filipino blog. COMING SOON!!!

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 5th November, 2010

Today's weather;

Samui is doing a lot better today. This morning has some strong wind but no rain and all night there was electricity. The forecast for today is still a bit of rain and than a few days with hardly any rain and actually some sunshine. Time to do laundry! Current temp at 7am is 27.3C

For everybody planning to travel to Samui in the near future; It's not an all clear yet, the aftermath of this storm will require a lot of cleaning up and some roads will need to be fixed but right now most important thing is to keep an eye out on a depression that's forming over Vietnam and Cambodia and hope it's not coming Thailand's way! Things are easing up though for right now although more rain is predicted early next week.

Koh Lanta, where I'm about to finish an IDC, two more days to go, including today, has overcast and right now it doesn't look like we'll have a lot of sunshine here today. Current temp at 7am is 24.8C

Yesterday saw massive improvements around Samui, a lot of the flooding receded, most shops are open again although some shells are emptying out quickly, ATM's were working again and the airport was in full swing, trying to get to grips with the backlog of passengers. Very important to many people was that their electricity was back on again and that the rain stopped pouring down like it did the previous days. max temp reached 27.2C

Koh Lanta had a nice and sunny day. Max temp reached around 31C

Camille

Visiting the Phuket Butterfly Garden

We've been to the Phuket Butterfly Garden a few times, it's only a couple of miles from our house and keeps the kids entertained in an educational way. I have blogged about it before a couple of years ago, but I knew that the place had expanded, and indeed is still expanding, currently adding a section all about the life cycle of the silk worm/moth (educational, and with the added bonus of being able to sell silk souvenirs in the gift shop!). A perfect mornings entertainment for the family - we went again on a grey October day after some noodles at a nearby restaurant. Was not really a beach day, or a day for outdoor exploration, and who doesn't love butterflies?

Mum and Dad were visiting from the UK, and were armed with cameras. I wanted to get some new butterfly pictures, and my daughter brought her camera too. I think Mum and Dad could have stayed all day! Entrance is still 300 Baht for adults. There is a lower entry fee for locals, which I qualify for too. If you want to see lots and lots of butterflies, this is the place to come. There are also large numbers of insects and other creepie crawlies and lots of educational displays. When you enter, you pass through the insectarium first. And then through a door made of hanging chains into the butterfly garden. Umbrellas are provided in case the weather is not perfect. Despite the grey skies during our visit, there was no rain.

Butterflies!

Orange Butterfly

Butterfly Blues

We all wandered our separate paths around the garden. Many photos were taken. My first proper camera was a hand-me-down from my Dad who was always a keen photographer. My parents never go anywhere without cameras! And the Phuket Butterfly Garden is a photographers paradise. Although butterflies are hard to catch... some sit still longer than others.. some just don't stop moving.

Mum in the butterfly garden

Dad photographing butterflies

Don't get the idea that the air is thick with flitting wings, but there are a lot of butterflies of all different colours. Mostly they flit and flut and land on flowers.. sometimes they find other places to land...

Butterfly on glasses

Butterfly landed on her head

Our son couldn't get one to land on his head. Not for want of trying. He decided the best place to wait patiently was next to the butterfly feeding station where bits of fruit are placed for fruit loving butterflies...

Please land on my head

We had an enjoyable hour or so, about half of which I spent trying to get a photo of one particular butterfly which seemed flittier and fluttier than the rest, no fancy colours, just black and white, but always on the move. Finally got it. Mum was after the same one.. in fact there were 2 the same. My favourite butterfly...

Butterfly at Phuket Butterfly Garden

Phuket Butterfly Garden - Location Map


View Phuket Butterfly Garden in a larger map

Related pages:

• Phuket Butterfly Garden 2008
• Phuket Butterfly Release (July 2010)
• Phuket Butterfly Garden (Flickr Slideshow)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Sitemap

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 4th November, 2010

Today's weather;

Samui's situation should start to ease up as of today. Almost all night there was electricity and although currently it's still raining and the roads at lower parts of the island are still flooded, the rain and wind should slow down essentially in the course of the day and I would expect water on the flooded roads to recede accordingly.
One of the problems that occurs each year with rains like this will be the run off water from the hills which may continue for days after the rain has stopped. Current temp at 7am is 24.7C

Yesterday saw Big C, Tesco Nathon and a few others open their doors again, the difficulty was in getting there! Many 7-11's were closed though, especially during power outages.
The amount of rain that came down yesterday was a bout a third compared to the previous day, 'only' 107mm.
Another blog where you can see loads of water and rain pictures is Elina's Samui blog.
The airport opened again yesterday at 3pm and the the forecast would allow the ferries to pick up their services very soon as well. Max temp reached 27.2C

It's been difficult being away from Samui during these times but I'm glad that I can have very regular contact with my wife and children and also with many other people on Samui and even Koh Tao.

The real problem areas in Southern Thailand are around Hat Yai and my thoughts go out to the people that are affected by all this water and the flooding there.

It's been amazing how many visits my blog had, just over 1.000, two days in a row with well over 4.600 page views and loads of enquiries and comments. If you're happy with my blog and updates and the information you receive, feel free to leave some beer tokens! Thanks to all who visited and left messages, keep coming back when Samui starts to turn to 'normal' again.

Airport road, with thanks to Richard ten Brinke

Getting back to my situation on Koh Lanta which is in total contrast to Samui! My IDC is coming along nicely and weather conditions are just fine here. Although a lot of rain is predicted for today, there are plenty of blue spots in a partly overcast sky. Current temp at 7am is 26C

Yesterdays sunset at Klong Nin on Koh Lanta

Yesterday morning started out with rain until about noon when it cleared up and the remainder of the day was sunny and agreeably warm and people came out to hang out on the beaches. Max temp reached 31.2C

Camille