1st August, 2007

Today's weather;

It's overcast but dry.

Yesterday it was OK during the daytime but in the early evening, around 6 pm it started to rain and there were a few hoses during the evening.

Hope this is not setting a trend for a normally very sunny August.

Am starting a new IDC today, so I'll try to do my best to post as much other Koh Samui related stories as possible.

Camille

Zazen restaurant and boutique hotel

Zazen restaurant

Was visited by us yesterday because of my wife's birthday. In my opinion it's one of the best restaurants on Koh Samui, although by no means one of the cheapest. It's a also a Boutique Resort & Spa and well worth checking out


To concentrate on the restaurant part, it has a very nice menu which consists of a Western and a Thai section. We went with two friends and our children, and they also have a children menu!
Our starters ranged from a half lobster tail with a salad, a fried goat cheese to tuna and white snapper carpaccio.

As main I had a delicious tuna with a fantastic sauce. My dessert was a Zabaglione which was outstanding!

They have a Belgian chef and the place is run by Alexander, a Belgian guy who married Thitima, the daughter of the original owner of Zazen and they made it what it is today.

Here's a shot of the entrance from the ring road, the entrance will lead you to the resort / restaurant. It's located almost next to World Resort, where I conduct my IDC's. Only Sandy resort is in between them. The location is between Bophud (aka Fisherman's Village) and Maenam in the north of the island.

Here's an impression of part of the restaurant, what I especially like is the lightning of the place.

Here's the same picture without a flash and hopefully it gives a better impression on what I meant with the lightning. It's very intimate almost to the note that it's too hard to read the menu!

There's also a kind of patio facing the beach, shown here, with very intimate one on one hamlets.

Zazen supports a very nice wine menu and on their menu is a very nice selection of aperitifs and digestives as well as cigars and Belgian beers!

For a meal with starter, main and dessert, easily calculate on 1.000,- to 1.500,-Baht per person not including drinks.

I really wish I could afford to go there more often!

Enjoy and bon appetit,

Camille

Goodbye to July 2007

July 2007

Weather wise not one of the best July's I've experienced on Samui in the past 7 years. There was more rain than usual and I can only hope for better weather in August.

Thanks for reading posts and I'm looking forward to your comments!

Camille

31st July, 2007

Today's weather;

It was grey this morning but slowly blue patches are breaking through, current temp is 28C.

Yesterday was on and off a bit of rain, some sunshine and sometimes even getting hot. Max temp was 32.3C

Camille

30th July, 2007

Today's weather;

It's grey and overcast with the sun struggling to come through. Current temp is 27C

Yesterday it was a mix of sun and clouds with in the early evening some rain. Max temp was 30C

Camille

29th July, 2007

Today's weather;

It's a blue sky with scattered clouds in it over land and it seems there are more clouds over the Gulf. Current temp is 25C.

Yesterday was wet in the early morning but than the sun broke through. Max temp was 30.4C

Camille

MK Suki Restaurants

MK Suki Restaurants,

Are located all over Thailand and most of all in shopping malls http://www.mkrestaurant.com/. In Samui there's one located at Tesco Lotus. It's not the most usual choice for a restaurant recommendation, but Thailand has lots of 'chain' restaurants and MK is one of them and a very popular one as well, especially with the Thais. So, in due time I'll tell about the various chain restaurants in Thailand, and MK bites the bullet.

The MK restaurants have an easily recognisable logo, you can't miss it.

Their menu is in two languages, English and Thai and each dish has a photo of itself. One can order as much as he wants, vegetables, pork, assorted fish, all pre-fabricated and refrigerated and they bring it out on small trays which you dump in a hot water cooker and than you wait a few minutes for the food to get ready and you dig in and take the food out of the cooker. MK's main winner in my opinion is their excellent sauce, which makes the meal.

The sauce comes with a small tray which contains garlic, green chilies and lime.

The Samui entrance to MK.

They also serve a lot of side dishes, from green noodles to excellent duck. The duck I can highly recommend. Various drinks are on offer as well but free cold tea is served during the whole meal.

This is how a typical table looks upon entry and clearly visible is the big hot water pan in which the food is cooked. Children plates are available.

This is the battlefield after we're done.

Now it's time to clean our hands and pay the bill. Oh, it's cheap as well, with 4 persons, 2 adults and 2 kids I paid about 400 Baht, not including drinks.

A couple of times per day, the staff is required to perform a little dance, when we entered today at 11.30am it was just on and it's rather funny to watch.

All in all it's a recommendable experience, not necessarily for the top quality food, that's decent but rather for the whole experience in itself, the ordering and the cooking of the food.

Enjoy,

Camille

28th July, 2007

Today's weather;

This morning it was raining and there's overcast right now but it's dry. Current temp is 26C.

Yesterday there was rain and drizzle all morning, until about noon. In the early afternoon the sun came through again and it was a lovely afternoon with a max temp of 30C

Camille

Temple party at Wat Plai Laem

Temple party at Wat Plai Laem from 26th to 30th July 2007

It's time for another party at the local temple, the by now familiar Wat Plai Laem, for my regular readers, or have a look here. The 29th and 30th July are Buddha days (respectively Asarnha Bucha Day and Buddhist Lent day). All public buildings will be closed and bars are closed as well. Restaurants are allowed to open though and funnily enough are also allowed to serve alcohol.


It's not a big party and we were a bit early, so not all stands were open yet.

The kids had a field day however in this play ground, filled by air and they had a lot of fun.

For the older kids, the boys, there was an electric racing circuit and I had a walk down memory lane to my Scalectrix days.

Gosh, I wish I was 8 year's old again. My friend Dave in Okinawa has gone past those days I guess, he's doing this with his own car

A few meters down to the beach, this spectacular sun set was unfolding.

Very nice view over the Bang Rak and Bophud bays.

Near by where also some fisherman's boats moored.

In the meantime, back in the boonies, the obligatory open air film screen, where open air movies are shown later at night.

Our big man is doing fine as well, in the early evening, with a full moon soon rising

Here's a picture of a room with illegal one armed bandits, oops, I mean, Buddha statues to give merit to each day of the week.

If you visit Thailand, there's similar parties on all the time, mostly in Temple grounds but sometimes just along the road. If you have the time, stop and have a look, they're interesting and a lot of fun to check out.

Camille

27th July, 2007

Today's weather;

Some overcast and small patches of blue sky. It just rained a tiny little bit for a few minutes. Current temp is 26.3C

Yesterday was a nice day, warm with sunshine and no rain.

Camille

Early Morning at Chalong Temple

Chalong temple is the largest temple in Phuket and I happen to pass by almost every morning (and evening) depending what route I take to work. The early morning light makes temples shine, and the early morning means no day visitors have arrived at the temple yet. For more about the temple (which I have blogged before) - see here: Chalong Temple.

One morning last week I stopped on the way to work to enjoy the temple in the morning light. There were already a large group of Thai tourists there at 8am, but they were watching a dance routine that had been put on for them, so I got the temple grounds more or less to myself and enjoyed wandering around in the sunshine. Hope you enjoy the photos, and hope that if you visit Phuket that you remember to visit a temple - it's not just beaches, you know!

• Temples in Phuket
• Chalong Temple on Google Earth

 

 

26th July, 2007

Today's weather;

Over land a lovely blue sky with scattered clouds but over the Gulf more clouds gather. The current temp is 25C

Yesterday was a nice day with plenty of sunshine and a max temp of 31.3C

Camille

25th July, 2007

Today's weather;

It's a nice morning with lots of blue sky and sunshine. Current temp is 24.6C

Yesterday it was a nice day after a cloudy start with lots of sunshine after noon. Max temp was 30.7C

Camille

Aux Amis, Restaurant in Bang Rak

Aux Amis, Restaurant in Bang Rak

Aux Amis has relocated to Bophud/Fisherman's village

Since a while I'm thinking about including reviews from restaurants and possibly hotels and other places of interest on Koh Samui, that I personally like and therefor want to recommend on my blog here. More and more I'll try to not restrict myself on the weather part of Samui, but give you some more information on good or fun places to visit, restaurants that do it for me and so on.

The first restaurant to bite the bullet is a long time favorite in Bang Rak, Aux Amis.
Me and family and some friends just visited it tonight again.


The restaurant is located in Bang Rak, facing the Ghost Road junction, at your right hand, maybe 500 or 600 meters, towards Bophud (aka Fisherman's Village).
The place is easily recognisable by it's sign, the French version of a smiley. It's run by three French guys and they enjoy doing it. They have a nice menu which contains French and Thai dishes. Prices start around 100,-Baht to 250,-Baht, so all very reasonable.

One of the owners sings every Tuesday and Friday some French chansons during a couple of sets. Lots of locals meet here and not only French. Opposite them is a very popular English pub located but they still attract English folks, almost every night.

One of the best nights to visit them is on Tuesday night, when they have a special deal on Moules Marinieres Frites or Mussels with French Fries (am I glad they're not called Freedom fires anymore! Who came up with that anyway, one of GWB's buddy's?) for just 150,-Baht. On request they also have home made mayonnaise.

One gets a massive pan filled to the rafters with mussels! Enjoy it!

Every Friday they serve freshly made Paella (one of the three owners is French with Spanish parents). Once more, a giant plate of Paella is served for just 250,-Baht.

Besides these two days, they're worthwhile visiting just for their regular menu.

Bon appetite,

Camille

24th July, 2007

Today's weather;

Overcast again this morning, with varying degrees, some places just a thin milky layer where the sun wants to break through and in other (unfortunately most) places a thick layer in varying shades of grey.
Current temp is 26.4C

Yesterday it turned out to be a lovely day after a wet start. It was sunny and hot in the afternoon, max temp was 30C

Camille

23rd July, 2007

Today's weather;

It's raining (drizzling) this morning. Current temp is 26.5C

Yesterday it was so hot all day, that any activity was almost burdensome. Hot and sunny it was. Max temp was 33.2C

22nd July, 2007

Today's weather;

A blue sky with clouds in it but it's hot this morning. An hour ago it was only 25C, it feels very hot already right now.

Yesterday was a sunny day without rain and max temp was 32.8C

Get the sun lotion out!

Camille

Saunthamma Temple at Hin Lad waterfalls

Saunthamma Temple at Hin Lad waterfalls

Part of a nice day trip around the island can be to visit the above mentioned temple near Nathon.
If you're coming from the direction of Maenam, it's at the red lights, about three kilometres outside Nathon, to your left, or if you're coming from Lamai, at the traffic lights before you enter Nathon, to your right.


The location of the temple is most amazingly located in a lush jungle setting and there are beautiful Buddha statues hidden everywhere. Above is the entrance sign to the temple.

Here is the actual entrance gate to the temple complex, just before you hit the waterfall, it goes off to your left.

At the actual waterfall there's lots of places to sit, hang out, eat (like all the other Thais) or swim as shown above.
A simple but beautiful Buddha shrine with an amazing background. The temple grounds are very peaceful, just wandering around and following the small paths makes your pace drop a bit.

A three headed Buddha statue with colourful guirlandes or 'Puang Ma Lay' (see my article about the school party in Wat Plai Laem

Next to the three faced Buddha is this Buddha statue with a spectacular rocky background.

Strewn around the whole temple grounds one can find these 'words of wisdom' by Buddha.

Another statue with amazing light falling through the surrounding trees.

Time to ring the bell. This can be found on a small open ground.

Another word of wisdom by Buddha, although with a slightly older piece of iron as a background.

I can highly recommend this rather lesser known temple on Samui, since it's set in beautiful and lush jungle surroundings with not too many people visiting the place.

Enjoy your trip around the island.

Camille

Phuket Big Buddha - Getting Bigger...

When the Big Buddha is finally finished, it is going to be magnificent. And I am pretty sure it will be on the tourist trail. When we first went up there a few years ago, the work was just starting and the road was hard work on our car. We've been up the mountain many times and I have blogged about it before (see Buddha Mountain 1 - Buddha Mountain 2). We realised that we'd not been up for about a year, and it's clear that the project has been making great strides in the last year. The Big Buddha is getting bigger. You can clearly see the shape of the Buddha now, despite it being covered in scaffolding. Looks like the major building work is almost done, and it's time to add the decorations.

 





The road up the mountain is being improved too. A concrete road now exists for much of the climb, though there are still some stretches of dirt. But it's not damaging our car any more! Having a good road will be essential once the Big Buddha is complete to allow the tours to include it in their itineraries.



 

The weather last week was great - I still wouldn't trust the road in wet conditions. The views were great (as always). We go up there for the views and the fresh air. The Big Buddha itself is nothing to look at just yet - a pile of concrete in the approximate shape of the Buddha, covered from top to toe in scaffolding. We'll be sure to drive up again when the project is complete.