Samui had a stormy night, all night long and right now there's lots of rain and it's about to continue until Tuesday when it starts easing up. Current temp at 7am is 24.4C
Yesterday saw plenty of rain all day long on Samui and this out of season rain is causing more and more flash flooding, well, if by now they still can be called flooding! There was 145mm of rain. Max temp reached 28.1C
Stranded car being pulled out of a flooded road near Donsak, see yesterday's blog post
Koh Lanta has a relatively nice sky, clouded but not grey and it looks like the sun is trying very hard to peek through. It's dry here for a change. Current temp at 7am is 24.6C
Yesterday saw lots of rain on Koh Lanta, upon arriving there was a drizzle but it changed sometimes to very hard rain combined with strong wind which lasted pretty much all night long. Max temp reached 29.9C with just 17mm of rain.
The forecast on Lanta looks a lot better compared to Samui, with a lot less rain and hopefully sunshine again for the next week(s). Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm starting another IDC today!
Road flooding on the mainland, Donsak ferry road to highway
This morning it was raining all the way from home to the ferry in Nathon. The road in Bang Rak was still flooded and this morning two firetrucks were pumping water instead of one as previously posted in one of my posts. This was all just warming up for what still was to come!
Once I got off the ferry in Donsak, about 5km onto the road direction main highway, I passed through a flooded road bit slightly too fast which caused big water fountains all around my car and a slightly higher heart rate for a moment or two. The first seriously flooded areas I encountered next to the road almost look idyllic, like the picture above shows. This changed rapidly though.
Next I knew the road was about to be flooded and the view changed drastically. People were out on the road, either watching the rain and the traffic go by or just because they couldn't literally stay in their houses because they were flooded.
The water looked more and more aggressive and willing to come and spoil my travel party to KohLanta.
That's when I hit the first patch of serious flooded road and my speed which was already reduced by now, was now down to walking speed. After this little patch of flooded road, I was wondering what else there would be in for me on today's travels! needless to say that rain was never really far away, although it was merely a drizzle at this stage.
Just a few kilometers after the first flood, almost near the highway, maybe just 6km away from it, this piece of work came in front of my car, a section of the road covered at it's deepest point in about 1 to 1.4 meters of water. In my broken Thai I conversed with a local policeman who thought that I would be able to get through with my 4 wheel. Well, my car looks like a 4 wheel bit it's not a 4 wheel, so I didn't follow up on his invitation to give it a go.
Soon after he came back and explained that a big truck would come and we could follow the truck so we didn't get lost on the road. I still wasn't completely convinced and righteously so.
A truck came from the opposite direction and was way up to it's doors covered in water, as the picture shows. The guys in the little boat just went out for just in case the truck would get in trouble. A very nice gesture!
Within a minute a second truck made it through, coming from the opposite direction. Soon enough a truck came from out side of the road and started to make it's way through, quickly followed by two cars. The truck stalled just before it started to get really deep and the two cars were caught out. One SUV could make it back in reverse but the other car got stuck as well and needed to be towed out.
I was just able to catch the children (!!) get out of the car and look at the shows floating inside the car, the whole interior flooded whilst they were out there!
Now my day was really made and I was already making plans to find a hotel and get some food. A couple of calls with my wife and friends of her who are from this area didn't help unfortunately and it was not looking too bright in chances of making it to KohLanta today so I could start the IDC tomorrow!
After a good 10 minutes the one police guy who initially suggested I travel through the flooded road came back and told me that if I would follow all the cars that were reversing, they would follow a road that wasn't flooded and would lead to the highway.
This was indeed the case and after about a 60 km detour and just one flooded are, see video above, we fin ally made about an hour later into Kanchanadit where I could get some diesel (!) at last, get something to eat and continue my travels for the day! Since Kanchanadit is more or less where the road to Krabi starts it was not too much time wasted. There was some heavy rain and very dark clouds on the way but also some dry patches. Around 4.20pm I finally made it on to KohLanta, slightly knackered but very happy to have made it in one piece!
Did I mention that it rains in Lanta?
The city of Nakhon Si Thammarat is heavily affected by today's flooding and Thai TV showed footage of search actions on one of Samui's beaches where a boy went missing in some big waves.
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Going over to Surat Thani to sort out a new Thai passport for our daughter brought me to the mainland by car and more specific to Surat Thaniexactly to the day it was a year ago that I last visited, with my Dad, I just found out going through my own blog!
Sorting out the passport turned out to be a breeze, the passport agency or office wasn't busy at all and we were in and out of there with a mission completed within half an hour.
This opened up some time and resulted in a visit to two different Wats or Temples and a visit to the Donsak Orchid Garden.
It's located about fifteen minutes at most after arriving at Donsak ferry terminal and leaving there direction Highway 401 to either Surat Thani or Nakhon Si Thammarat
Besides hosting a beautiful orchid garden and being located in a very nice and relaxing setting, they offer food and they also have rooms available for an overnight stay. In case you miss the ferry and could do with a laid back evening? Here's a picture of an eating/sitting area with a lovely overlook over a small river floating by in the background.
This restaurant looks very inviting to just sit down and spend a couple of hours over a meal. It overlooks the orchid garden, where my wife stocked up on some real bargains in the flower dept!
One of the main buildings on the premises with a real homely feel to it. The bungalows are cheap and scattered over the area.
This orchid came out really well on the macro setting of my camera and there's plenty more to see in all kind of shapes and colours.
The visit to the orchid garden was a pleasant and unexpected stop over, before hitting the ferry back to Samui and I can highly recommend stopping by if you visit or leave Samui by car. As already mentioned before, if you miss the last ferry and don't need any bright lights, this would be a perfect place to spend the night within a few minutes of the ferry.
The wedding party was in the early afternoon near the Donsak pier in a local school.
The location was inside a gym hall, which was turned into a giant room with dozens of tables where all the guests could eat and drink.
This must've been one of the prime weekends for weddings this year so far, all over the place wedding parties were held and we met and saw various wedding convoys, on their way to their respective parties.
Here's a view from the back, in front you can clearly view the typical table set up, with 8 covers, a bottle of Thai Whiskey, a big bottle of Coke, a couple of smaller bottles of Soda water and a bucket of ice.
Once a party of 8 (or less) is seated, the food starts arriving. In this case we were served Moo Waan (sweet pork, delicious!), PlaaNungManau (Steamed white snapper with chili sauce), Yam SaamKlob (spicy mixed salad), Pat PakRuam (mixed fried vegetables), Tom Yam Talee ( sour sea food soup) and Kao Pat (fried rice).
The couple had to endure loads of speeches and here they are with the MC.
Outside the people that left were donating their envelopes, which contain money. The amount of money in the envelope depends on how well you know the person in question, and ranges from a couple of hundred baht to a couple of thousand Baht or sometimes even more. All envelopes are named, so the receiver now knows how much he has to give next time you throw a party.
A view of the entrance of the hall, on the left the table with the white boxes for the envelopes, in front the entrance to the hall and on the right a picture of the wedded couple with flowers.
All in all a great day which went by rather quickly. The kids had a blast, met some old friends and played till there was no tomorrow. They're both dreaming right behind me in the room.
My wife had a great time since it was her best friend being married and she met various other old friends, amongst other Kob, who she doesn't get to see that much, since they live about 1500 KM away.
Tomorrow morning it'll be a relaxed breakfast in the hotel and than off to Phuket, unless we have lunch with Kob first!
Hope you enjoyed today's pix and I'm looking forward to hear your comments.
