Koh Samui Taekwondo championships

Koh Samui Taekwondo championships

Today the 2nd Koh Samui Taekwondo championships are being held in Nathon, opposite the Seatran pier. As posted on 24th February, our son has taken up this sport and after gaining his yellow band a week or two ago, today was going to see his first fight.

In almost three months time he learned a lot but it looks like he still doesn't really understand the concept of fighting, which may not be a bad thing at all.

The color codes of Taekwondo rankings

Dennis warming up before his fight

His fight didn't go that well, during the first round he received two hits near the head and the coach wisely called the fight. His opponent had a green band, which means he has better skills and more training than our son and this clearly showed during the fight.

There were some disappointment tears but nothing that a visit to the local 7-11 couldn't heal quickly and right now the motivation for a next tournament and fight is rather low, no real surprise there.

It was a very busy event, with Taekwondo clubs from all over Samui but also schools from Patthalung, Hat Yai, Phuket and various other locations participated.

The Governor of Surat Thani, Khun Damri Bunching, Samui's Mayor and a few other political hot shots attended. A good event and I hope our son starts to enjoy his current fave sport again, soon!

Camille

Coco Splash water park in Lamai

Coco Splash water park in Lamai

Samui's first water amusement park; Coco Splash, down in Lamai! Yesterday we visited this park with our two children and two friends and although we didn't arrive until just after 1pm, we had trouble getting them out of there again by 5pm. It was a great success and they can't wait to get back again and get wet! The place is open now for around a month.

The park is set up and run by a French couple and they seem to have hit the nail on the head, this is something that Samui has been lacking for a long time, a great day out with your children!

Although the park isn't that big, approximately 30 by 70 meters I would guess, for a 5 years old it must be big enough, especially looking at the reactions of our kids!

The smaller glide, for 5 years and older with a max height of 160cm. A big fave by all the kids that we took and the kids already in the park or who joined later.

The big slide, for 8 years and older or at least 125cm height. A big hit with especially my son. I rode it a few as well and it's surprisingly fast! Be warned!

An overview of the park, there are two main slides and a water basin with some minor attractions. Opening times are between 10.30 and 17.30 and it may get crowded during the weekends or school holidays. Birthday parties are also available at request.

How to get there

Entrance fee is 200,-THB for the day for swimmers/players and free for non swimmers. A membership card is available at 350,-THB with each visit only being 100,-THB, however the membership card is only valid for 6 months. I'm sure we will visit again but most likely not to justify the expense of a membership, especially considering we live relatively far away from the park. Information can be obtained on 08 1082 6035

Food and drinks are also available at the park.

I'm happy the park is here now and I'm sure we will visit again, don't hesitate and have a visit, your kids will love it!

Camille

Koh Samui, Thailand daily weather update; 24th February, 2011

Today's weather;

Samui has a fairly clouded sky with just a few blue spots currently. I would expect it to clear up more during the day though. Current temp at 7am is 27.5C

My son at his first Tae Kwon Do practice earlier this week, very proudly showing off his new suit

Yesterday saw a warm day over Samui, not that overly sunny but enough to keep the beach goers happy. Max temp reached 29C

Yesterday saw also a PADI Member Forum on Koh Samui at the Kandaburi Resort in Chaweng.

Camille

Food on wheels; Children crepes or pancakes

Food on wheels; Children crepes or pancakes

The Thai government schools on Samui are closed or about to close down, our daughter still has two days of exams ahead of her and our son started his 4 week reign over the house already.

Since it's time for another entry in the Food on Wheels series, I thought that a school related entry was in place.

This is a very popular lady at my sons school in Chaweng, the same school our daughter visited as well for 4 years. She sells crepes or pancakes with all kinds of wild options, as can be seen in front of her cart. All the boxes contain sweets in various sorts and forms, ranging from chocolate flakes to various kind of jam and also contain some very typical Thai treats like pork skin.

Plenty of liquid add ons are available as well, like fluid chocolate . Get the picture? The kids are in pancake heaven with this lady!

She's got a routine of spreading the dough on the hot plates which shows years of experience.

She's also very busy and at the end of the school day, when she shows up, waiting times can be serious, especially enjoyable if you have to wait in the blazing sun! She only has two hot plates, fired on by a bottle of gas, well hidden in the inside of the bike.

Hope you enjoy this entry, if you have children here in Thailand, you may be familiar with this lady's sisters who stand outside schools around the country!

Camille

New addition to the family

New addition to the family

Yesterday was a big and exciting day for our kids, the reason being that we were about to pick up a cat that is going to live with us.

She's about 8 weeks and ready to move away from her mother.

Here she is, Thuung Thong or Golden bag as she has been named by my wife, or Tee tee for me.

The kids are over the moon with our new family addition and she's busy exploring her new surroundings, tumbling over her own feet once in a while and being distracted about every two seconds whilst wondering around.

It's great to have her around!

Camille

Major Cineplex in Tesco Lotus in Chaweng

Major Cineplex in Tesco Lotus in Chaweng

Going to the movies on Samui, Major Cineplex in Tesco Lotus in Chaweng is the place to go. I must admit that I completely overlooked this option for having something to do during the day or early evening time. Major Cineplex has outlets all over Thailand.

The Major Cineplex in Tesco Lotus in Chaweng is located directly next to the Bowling alley at Lotus, near the food court. It's only the second time I visit the movie theatres here, mainly due to not having time due the kids. Now, at last, I remembered the movies and realised we can visit them during school time!

It's also a great place to bring the kids in the weekends!

Going to movies is really cheap, the most expensive ticket is around 160,-THB and for that you sit in a reclining seat with adjustable arm rests with cup holders! A bargain, really.

A nice touch is that you need to stand up when a special song for His Majesty the King is played.

No kidding, don't forget to do this, the whole theatre will stand up and you can get arrested for Lèse majesté if you don't follow suit. This has happened before in Thailand and is considered a grave offense to the King and has severe penalties. Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that actively uses the Lèse majesté laws, but is a topic for a different post.

There are three theatres in Samui so plenty of movies to choose from. For a rainy day or just to cool off on a hot day, the Major Cineplex is a great place to visit. Be sure to wear long trousers and a warm shirt since sitting in a very cold air conditioned room for over two hours in shirts and Tee shirt will be an unpleasant experience!

All movies will have subtitles, Thai movies will most likely have English sub titles, but check before you buy a ticket and all English movies will have Thai subtitles.

If you're in the boonies or non tourist cities, it's quite possible that the English movies are dubbed in Thai without subtitles, not very likely to happen on Samui though.

Camille

Kila Amphur Koh Samui 2010

Kila Amphur Koh Samui 2010

Today was a busy day, starting out with this years version of the Kila Amphur in Baan Namuang. Remember last years version? No worries if you didn't, my wife thought I wasn't there, but I got the pictures to proof it!

After visiting here, I went home for some work on my website and after that we visited my sister and her family in their hotel, the Chaweng Cove Resotel and enjoyed some relaxing time at the pool and the ocean.

The Kila Amphur is a gathering of the school tribes and is held throughout the country, at different days in various provinces.

This years edition was a hot variation and I was very glad to know that my sons school was number 4 in the picking order and it was over and done with a lot earlier compared to the other schools and and kids and parents, who had to wait a lot longer before their tour around the track field could start. We were out of there in a flash today! It was uncomfortably hot, that early in the morning at 8am!

The place was packed with kids, teachers and parents however, just like each year. The interesting variation for me was to see a lot more Westerners out there today, compared to 4 or 5 years ago when I went for the first time and I was about the only Westerner out there!

The mayor and his compatriots are sitting high and dry in the shade, can't blame them! They have another two days to go of this gathering! I do pity them in this case.

Up to next year, when we probably have to be there for two days, one day for my son and one day for my daughter, maybe I need to coordinate this next year better and plan some dive courses around this time.

Camille

Dream World, Bangkok

Dream World, Bangkok

Today we left by now familiar sights of Pattaya for a trip to Thailand's best known amusement park; Dream World in Bangkok near the old Don Muang airport. With free flowing traffic it's about an hour and a half trip from Pattaya. Their website explains pretty straightforward how to get there.

The park is fun and our kids, now 7 and 4 loved it but the pricing structure is rather strange. For Westerners there's one price that probably includes all rides, but is a rather expensive price compared to the Thai rates. Having said that, the Thai rates are confusing, you can get a simple entry ticket and pay for every ride you want to take in the park an additional fee between 20,- and 120,-THB or for about twice the price you get a ticket that will get you once in almost everything or for a bit more you can get a visa that will get you unlimited in everything or so you think!

Some of the rides, like the new Sky Coaster and the tremendously popular Snow Town are not included in any ticket and are as much as 180,-THB per adult. We paid more for our party to get into Snow World than the initial entrance fee was!

The park is split up in 4 parts, Dream Plaza, Dream Garden, Fantasy Land and Adventure Land. You can walk everywhere easily, it's not that big. being a Friday today, there were loads of schools on a day trip and I guess that in the weekend the families come out. Be aware that the park opens around 10am but most of the rides won't open until 11am.

Some of the popular rides like Space Mountain and Grand Canyon had long waiting lines of an hour around 2pm. It may pay off getting there early!

A very popular ride is also this Super Splash, a classic in most parks where there's plenty of sunshine.

The Sky Coaster was cool, it took me about 20 minutes to get on the ride, which lasts about a minute and 40 seconds, Asia's first hanging coaster. It was a very good ride!

Snow Town was already and it's immensely popular since it must about the only place in all of Thailand where snow can be experienced. It's a great sight to see all the Thais (especially the Thai girls in their skirts, legs exposed) freeze their respective butts off in the freezing hall temperature and they love it! My kids went berserk in there and my 4 year old son went 3 times on the ride as pictured above in the video.

A great day was had by all and the kids were already making plans when we would return! Having said that, if you've experienced Western style amusement parks, Dream World is good and lots of fun but it's not gonna hold up with a good quality Western park. Still not a reason to skip it! We will be back!

Camille

School year is finishing

The school year is finishing

This week we went to register our daughter for her new school. Currently she's at a pre school, in Thai called Anubaan, she is in grade 3 out of 3 so she needs to go the 'real' school next school year.

We chose the Bophud school for her despite having one school around the corner at Wat Plai Laem. The Bophud school gets the thumbs up and here are the kids all lined up for the school day starts, looks like she will learn to be disciplined there.

Camille

School party time again at Plai Laem

School party time again at Plai Laem

It's that time of the year again. The local school located at Wat Plai Laem had it's yearly party, as I reported also last year.



The stage was set for performances of the local students and plenty of local folks came out to eat something, have a drink, chat with friends and watch the dancing.

What the head master of this local school does very smartly, is to arrange for all food and gifts to be donated by locals but mainly by hotels and resorts in the area. From the sales of said food and the donations everybody give during the evening, they have a perfect fundraiser in place.

Interestingly enough, it was the first time that on the invitation envelope, my full name was written in Thai, a personal invite, my first one, usually it's always my wife's name with the addition 'and husband'. I'm moving up on the local society ladder! As you may remember from previous posts, the invitation letters are supposed to be returned with money inside them. Same principle works for weddings and the like (house warming parties with monks, for instance).

One of the dancing groups performing yesterday evening. Our children enjoyed the evening very much, they met lots of local friends and liked to watch the on stage performances.

Camille

Babylon Bar, Bang Po

At last, there's a place to go to with your children.

It's the Babylon Bar on the ring road, just before the mountain into Nathon, if you're coming from direction Maenam.

So many times we wondered where we could go with the children during weekends and we always ended up driving around the island and go to the beach. Babylon Bar is offering a new option.

They have three big bouncy castles and set up with some glides. A children's swimming pool is in the making with more toys near the pool.

It's also a great place to have a children birthday party. You can order sets of meat for the BBQ and off you go, the kids have fun and you can BBQ some meat! Excellent.

They also have a restaurant and bar and we ordered some Thai food which was excellent, my wife really enjoyed her Yam Bunsen and Patsa Iu and I had a lovely Matsaman curry.

For the kids it's only 50 baht to play in the fenced off play ground. All in all a very good deal and highly recommendable for a day out with a nice stop at the beach!

For reservations or birthday party info call 08 5792 8806 or 08 7876 6068. I'm sure we'll be back more often!

Camille