Friends from faraway places

We have been very lucky to have so many friends visit us this year... and it seems that I forgot to mention a couple of dear friends in my Christmas email... so once again, a big thanks to Melinda, Richard & James, Troy & Dannielle, Jollsy, Marcus & Jolanda, and last but not least Ting.

It's great when you have 'visitors' because it gives us an excuse to discover more 'fun' things around the island.

We drove around the southern part of the island with Melinda, and discovered - among other things - the Rum Distillery. We have also been up to the Jungle Club resort - with Melinda, and also Troy & Dannielle - to practice our 4WD skills, chill out and take in the views. And of course, we were able to attend Troy & Dannielle's wedding here in Samui!

When Jolanda & Marcus were here - we spent a few hours bumming around on a quiet beach waiting for the wind to pick up enough for Marcus to take 'Kite Boarding' lessons (it didn't), so we ended up hiring a small boat and touring around one of the smaller islands instead, stopping off for a swim at a secluded beach along the way, and re-discovering the Rum Distillery!

We had a very relaxing weekend with Ting (since she arrived at 7am on a Saturday morning, we had some sleep to catch up on). Ting was lucky enough to visit the hospital with my sprained foot, and has photos of me zooming around the supermarket in a wheelchair. After such an exciting day, we forced ourselves to spend a night at home trying out some natural Thai spa treatments, made from fruit and essential oils. :-)

So, you see we've had quite a busy schedule ... and in between visitors we've spent lots of time doing the boring stuff (grocery shopping), the fun stuff (hanging out at the beach) and the important stuff (planning for our house).

We look forward to more friends visiting us next year !!!

Merry Christmas from Samui

We hope you all had a great Christmas with your family & friends! We had a very international gathering on Christmas Day at Wendy & Roger's - with 18 people coming from UK, Australia, NZ, Israel, Canada, US, Thailand, Belgium, Austria and Taiwan! It was a great day - with a traditional roast turkey and all the trimmings! Desite all the house moves - Santa knew where to find us - and we got quite a few nice presents too.

Apologies for not sending proper Christmas cards this year. We are temporarily moving to this e-greeting! Normal service will resume again next year :-)

As another year ends, it is always good time to plan for the next year. This time last year we were looking forward to moving to Samui and starting the house project. Now, after 3 months in Thailand, I can say that we are enjoying our peaceful island existence. Most of the house planning is complete - and we are getting very close to signing a contract with our builder and looking forward to starting the construction in the new year.

As some of you know, we just moved house last week - into another rental house. It's a cute 1 bedroom house, which is part of a small complex of 9 houses. Although smaller than our previous place, there is plenty of outdoor living space and a big communal swimming pool. We're still living in the same area (Plai Laem), and it's just 3 mins drive from our plot. I'll get some photos on the blog soon.

The house move didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked - and we spent a few nights in a temporary house until our house was ready (long story, and a few beers required). Anyway, we finally got into our house on Christmas eve. I also sprained my foot during the process. Moral of the story - watch out for door mats on shiny wooden floors.

Until next time, we hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

T.

Our hosts - Wendy & Roger

Christmas Day at Wendy & Roger's

Santa obviously got our mail re-direction

Bangkok Airways blues

Hi this an update from the jetsetting international executive - currently sitting in the departure lounge at Bangkok airport.

I'm here because the Singapore to Samui diretc flight was full today - so in order to get back for Christmas I had to book a flight to Bangkok and then a domestic leg back down to Samui. The reason I'm still here at 10:30pm is that Bangkok airways have delayed the flight for 2 hours... I might get home before 1:00 am.

I am bringing some Christmas supplies back to the Island - stuff we can't get easily on the island - good cheese, crackers, mince pies, cranbery sauce, wine etc. Luckily for the island dwellers the new Bankok airport has an ok food court so I haven't tucked in to any of the above YET.

So the question on everyones lips... is it good to back at work, coming up with innovative solutions to clients requirements, and helping to keep the money flowing round the financial markets? The short answer is "sometimes".

The first two weeks were good from a novelty point of view - wearing socks and shoes again instad of flipflops etc. It was also interesting to catch up with the company gossip, and I will admit to getting a kick out being able to remember all the technical gobbledegook that you need to understand the system I'm supporting.

But I am definitely missing the Island, and the sense of freedom that comes from not having commitments or an office schedule - In short I'm ready for holiday!

flight finally being called now so this is the end of this impromptue mind dump.

The last few weeks

I really should update the blog more often... and then they'd be 'short & sweet'. But time seems to whizz by on this island, and finding time to sit down & write blogs proves difficult. So here goes;

Ian & I had a great weekend in Singapore - catching up with Michaela, Suren+Zeena, Ting, Steph+Ray and Susie.... eating at some of our old favourites (En Dining Bar, Gurka Grill) and some great new places (Whitebait, The Wine Garage), and of course some retail therapy! :-)

The reason that we were in Singapore you may ask? Well, Ian has gone back to the corporate world for 2 short months - contracting for Citibank (a Wall Street client). He will be commuting between Samui & Singapore (1.5 hour flight), and spending weekends with me in Samui. It's Ian's 3rd week in Singapore - and although he's counting down till the end of the contract (Jan 31), he's been house sitting (and rabbit sitting) for our friend Ting, and indulging in yummy Singaporean food such as Hokkien Mee.

While Ian's doing the big city thing.. I get to do all the hard stuff... like moving house, and ongoing discussions with builders about our architectural drawings! Oh... and in between, hanging out at the beach & some yoga! :-)

Actually we're moving house today, to a smaller 'hut' - aka a cute 1BR house, in a resort like complex with a big swimming pool, just 3 minutes away from our 'plot'. You'd think I was responsible enough to move house on my own (I mean I've done it enough times).. but just yesterday I slipped and sprained my ankle.. so now I'm hobbling around with a walking stick :-(

I took ownership of a set of architectural/structural drawings last week - all 36 pages - and spent a few hours going through them. Marking up the amendments reminded me of marking up brochures in a previous life - but I think the builder wished I hadn't had so much experience in this area - he jokingly commented that perhaps I should spend more time shopping - and less time on the drawings :-)

Anyway, we should have a final set of drawings this week (fingers crossed) and then the quote/bill of materials will follow (what a lovely Christmas present?).

I've just put the Christmas carols on, and starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Tomorrow I'm going to the SOS Christmas Lunch - with a bunch of Samui ladies, and we will be spending Christmas Day with our friends Wendy & Roger (in Samui).

Apologies in advance - we're not sending out Christmas cards this year, but will be sending an electronic version soon.

T.

Yoga

I've been doing some Yoga over the last few weeks at a groovy Yoga Cafe in Bophut. I'm sure that I'm the worst in the class, and some of the moves are way too technical for me... but there's nothing like a challenge, and I've got nothing but time! I signed up for a 2 month course today - so I'll give you an update on my skills in February :-)

Although I'm going to another island this weekend - SINGAPORE!! Wait for the update next week...

The King's Birthday

It was the King's birthday on Tuesday (5th Dec)... when you live in a tourist zone public holidays aren't much different to normal days - because most of the shops were open. However, out of respect for the King, most of the bars were closed!

Yellow is a very special colour this year. The King was born on a Monday, and yellow is the colour for Monday - so most Mondays you'll see people wearing the yellow shirt out of respect for the King... but even more so on his birthday, I was in Tesco and just about everyone had their yellow shirt on. It's quite nice to think that the whole country does this... I just can't imagine Aussies or Brits doing the same for Lizzie! :-)

This photo is of a big mounted picture of the King... on the roadside near where we live.

Beautiful Sunset

Another beautiful sunset, taken from our terrace!

Jolanda & Marcus arrived last night. They are staying for a few nights, on their way to Australia! We had a quiet night in, with dinner & drinks on Wendy & Roger's balcony... chatting till the wee hours.

Ian took Marcus to Lamai this morning, in search of 'wind' - for kite surfing. But the conditions weren't right - so they went to the Rum Distillery instead :-)

Jolanda & I are sitting on the balcony now.. playing on our PC's and chatting at the same time.

Ciao for now, Tammy :-)

Another weekend in Samui

Yesterday Ian & I went to a Building Trade Show. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I had fun walking around talking to people about house building stuff... for once I am the customer, so I took great joy in asking the sales people questions about their products .. eg. what's the benefit of an ozone generator over traditional chlorine system for the swimming pool? A little nerdy, but for once it wasn't me preparing the marketing spiel for a trade show! :-)

We came home with loads of brochures, and a few good ideas (albeit expensive ones). I found these great wooden shutter blinds (www.finewoodshutter.com/gallery.html), some groovy roof guttering (www.rainwater-solutions.com), and some sunproof/water-resistant outdoor fabrics (www.suniture.com)... just to name a few!

We're still waiting for our architect drawings. They are a few weeks late already... something to do with a PC crash in the architect's office... and they had to get new PC's or rebuild them or something along those lines(?)... anyway, we were hoping to get the drawings yesterday.. but we're still waiting. Hopefully we'll get them next week, and it won't affect our overall project schedule! :-)

It was Troy & Danielle's last day in Thailand, so we took them to the 'One Dollar Cafe' for lunch... an aptly named Thai cafe, where all the dishes are around 1 US dollar! Lunch for the 4 of us, incl drinks, cost less 8 USD. After a quick stop at the 'bug man' for Troy to try some deep fried grasshoppers, we dropped them at the airport (on their way back to Melbourne). Afterwards, we went out with Wendy & Roger. First for a quick bite at our fave Italian restaurant (Antica Locanda), and then to watch the rugby at 'The Office' - a bar in Bangrak.

Most of the people in the bar were there to watch the England vs. Sth Africa game which was shown on the big screen. However, I was shepherded off to a corner to watch the Australia vs. Scotland game on another TV... funnily enough, I was the only Australian in the bar, and I sat next to a Scottish guy called Robbie. He comes from the Shetland Islands, but had also lived in Yetholm, a small village about 6 miles from where my Dad was born. We had a good old chat... and he even taught me a few Gaelic expressions.

Just another weekend in Samui...

View over Chaweng bay

This is the view of Chaweng bay, looking down from 'Jungle Club'. We live in the northern part of the island (obscured by the paw paw tree in this picture).

Jungle Club

During the week we took Troy & Danielle up to the 'Jungle Club' for the day. It's a lovely resort on top of a hill (4WD compulsory), with great views over Chaweng bay and the north of the island.

We spent quite a few hours chilling by the pool, and indulging in fruity cocktails (not me, I was the designated driver!). It's so peaceful up here, and the bar staff are so friendly... I could easily spend a few days in their hammock!

www.jungle-club.th66.com

It's been a long time

I just realised it's been 2 weeks since we last wrote.. sorry about that! The weather's been great recently (good for swimming at the beach), and we've been out a bit with Troy & Danielle (see previous post - it was their wedding on 12th November).

Last Sunday we went to a party at one of the local bars (Club 44). It was their 2nd birthday party (the bar obviously, not the staff). We organised some flowers for them (a huge basket of lilies, roses, etc for less than 10 pounds)... it's something you do in Asia, when places are opening up or celebrating - you give flowers to restaurants & bars. They put on some really yummy food, of which Prem (Kik's daughter) did most of the cooking on the BBQ.

I've learnt another useful Thai phrase - "No Problem". I don't know how you spell it, but it sounds like "Mai Pe Lai".

Wedding practice

We got a surprise email from Tamara in London asking if we could help her brother get married!

Therefore at 7am in the morning we were down at the local temple watching them being blessed and joined together by a very sweet monk. Despite the language barrier the symbolism of most of the proceedings was pretty clear to everyone - it was very touching.

After a trip down to the beach for some wedding photos we returned to Troy and Danielle's resort for a champagne brunch and an afternoon/evening of wild celebration - pictures not included to protect the guilty!

Another Visitor

Yes this is a scorpion... yes it was in our bathroom...

However our cleaner, who found it, had no trouble capturing it on her brush and depositing it outside. While they do sting, these little scorpions (this one was only abut as long as my little finger) are not particularly dangerous.

Loy Kratong

It was the Festival of Loy Kratong at the weekend in Thailand. This involves the making (or buying for lazy farangs like ourselves) floating "Kratongs" of flowers, incense and candles and the launching them from an auspicious place (e.g "Big Buddha" temple). Apparantly the further they float away the longer a couple will be happy together - ours was still going when we left!

In addition to the floats, there was a real party atmosphere at the temple - Bingo, dart throwing games and even a "Miss Loy Kratong" Samui 2006 competition!

Of course no event in Thailand would be complete without the food stalls selling everything from noodles and fruit, to deep fried bugs - Yum!

Coconut tree doctors

The cocunut tree doctors came to the hill today. [We only have two trees on our plot, but others have lots]. These fearless individuals climb up the trees and cut away the dead leaves, and harvest the ripe coconuts -yum!).

They also "treat" the trees to protect them from the dreaded coconut weavil that is threatening to destroy the Islands famous foliage. [We've heard that they actually use DDT, and are not entirely sure this is a joke] .

Several trees in the surrounding area are just leafless trunks having been killed by this pest, which was accidentally imported into the island and has no indiginous predators. (Apparantly squirrels would do the job, but unfortunately these are considered a delicacy in Thailand - so would probably be eaten themselves by the locals before they had a chance to kil off the weavil!)

Godzilla or Godzukki

In addition to our visitors, we have a semi-permanent house guest, meet our Gekko.

We think he? usually lives in the roof but many evenings we have spotted him? running round the walls, hunting flies and smaller reptiles (known as chit-chats).

He? is pretty camera shy though and rarely poses for photos - this is the best we've managed so far.

More visitors

After seeing Melinda off at the airport (thanks for coming Mindy!) we were looking forward to some well earned rest and relaxation.

But no - that very same day we received an email from our friends James and Richard in Singapore...

They are currently staying at a "detox" Spa on the Island - no real food for almost a week! This didn't prevent them from enjoying some high speed fun and games on the jet ski's though.

Visitors

Melinda is currently visiting us, for a relaxing break from the big smoke (Bris-Vegas!). Last night we went to 'Crystal' seafood restaurant down at Cheong Mon and enjoyed a great feast of prawns, fish, squid and crab! The night ended with a few cocktails - Pina Colada's for the girls and the Pineapple Matador for Ian!

Today we did some sightseeing - showing Melinda around the 'Big Buddha'. Melinda & I also got a good luck blessing from one of the monks (the monk tied a small white string around our wrists, said a little prayer and shook some water over our heads). This afternoon we had lunch at the beach followed by 1.5 hour long massages!! Tonight we're staying in for a quiet meal, and a 2 hour CSI special.

(PS. Don't you love the 'Burberry' table cloth in the photo?

Alien Invasion?

We went swimming in Choeng Mon today,as the changing weather has made Samrong bay a bit choppy.

After our swim we were splashing around in the surf when we spotted this little fellow. (apologies for the poor photo quality - I only had my phone camera with me).

Apparantly this is actually a kind of Jelly fish - they do have a bit of a sting but nothing dangerous. You can't really tell from the photo but the centre looks very much like a shell and the tendrils are a bright blue.

The eco warriors amongst you will be gald to hear that we released this guy back into the ocean after taking this picture -the nervous swimmers will no doubt be resolving never to set foot in the ocean if you come and vist....

Drinks and Nibbles

We hosted our first gathering last night, for our neighbours on the hill. It is amazing how many different types of people end up in Thailand - in no particular order our guest included: five Brits, a French lady and her son (who lives in Bali), a German with his Taiwanese partner, a Kiwi with his Isreali partner and a Dutchman - plus three dogs.

To complement the beer and wine on offer, we decided to try and make some maki-sushi (rice with various bits, wrapped in dried seaweed). The group verdict was - not bad for a first attempt.

Unfortunately we didn't have much luck with the weather, the sunset was obscured by clouds and the rain came down a couple of hours later, at least it was fairly cool.

World Toilet Summit

An article in 'The Bangkok Post' today was entitled 'Spending a penny', outlining some of the issues encounted at the recently opened Bangkok Airport. Baggage handling has been an issue, but this article focused on the inadequacy of toilet facilities at the new airport. Toilets are seemingly sparce!

What made me laugh (and also the journalist) is that the 'World Toilet Summit' is to be held in Bangkok next month. The theme of the Summit is 'Happy Toilet, Happy Life'.

What will the toilet specialists of the world think of Thailand's public toilet facilities when they arrive at Bangkok Airport?

:-)

Haircuts and flat tyres

On Friday I (Tammy) got my first haircut in Thailand, down at Cheong Mon. My hair was cut & styled, and shoulders massaged for 100 baht (that's around $3 Aussie). I was a little concerned about the 'style' because I didn't really give much guidance to the hair dresser - other than it's been around 2 months since my last hair cut, and can you make it shorter! It's quite hot here this weekend, so I'm happy to have short hair again... and will be going back next month. I'll post some pics soon.

Onto another completely unrelated story.. flat tyres. Last night we were driving towards the beach for a refreshing swim, when a bloke on a motor bike pointed at the tyres on our jeep... and said something in Thai that we didn't understand. Never mind, the universal pointing at tyres thing did the trick, so we pulled over to check them out. One of our back tyres was low, so we aborted the swim idea and drove towards our nearest petrol station, about 10 mins drive away... only to find out that they didn't have any Air. This confused us, because we had stopped at a petrol station on the other side of the island only a few days earlier and saw that they had air. Anyway, we drove on to the 2nd petrol station, normally around 15 mins drive... but we were in rush hour, and it took longer. Only to find out that they didn't have air either... I was baffled.. where was the air... the petrol attendants somehow communicated to go back to the lights & turn right (since there's only a couple of traffic lights on the island, the directions were easy to follow). On the way, we fortunately drove past a tyre shop and asked them for their (by now) much needed help... to fill our tyre with air. Which they did for free. Very nice fellows, so we have them a tip.

Onwards, now, and probably an hour later... we decided to go to the beach for a couple of refreshing ales... and stopped off at the 3rd petrol station... this time to fill up with petrol. Hhere in Samui they have petrol attendants standing by the bowser and you don't have to get out the car. The girl who served us looked like she was in her early teens, so I'm hoping it was her weekend job, and not a full time job!

Anyway, with the jeep back in working order, we then headed back to Chaweng, and enjoyed a couple of drinks at a beachside bar. Epic journey over... we could finally relax!

The hill

This shows some of the houses that are on the 'hill', looking back from our land. Most of these houses are finished.. just the big one on the top isn't.

Today we met with another builder & architect down in Lamai (about 30-40 mins drive south from our place). After our meeting we had planned to go swimming at Lamai beach and try somewhere new for lunch. However, it was raining and not 'warm enough' for a swim, and too early for lunch! So, rather than taking the direct road home we decided to take the long way home (around the southern part of the island). We made a few stops along the way - trying to find somewhere that was open for lunch was a challenge. We also stopped to take a sticky beak around an Ikea-like furniture store which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We didn't buy any furniture, but ended up eating at an Isaan seafood place near Nathon. Isaan is a region in north-east Thailand, renowned for yummy/spicy food, and also where our friend Kik comes from. We indulged in Papaya salad and Crab in curry sauce. Yum! :-)

Before we moved to Samui last month, we had enough Thai vocab to get by in a bar or a restaurant (saying hello, ordering food/drinks and paying the bill). Kik has now extended our vocab, and taught us how to say 'Sabai dee mai-ka?' which means 'How are you?' and also the reply (if you are well, or otherwise). I'm hoping to take some proper Thai language lessons in the next few months, just as soon as we get the house contract signed.

In case you want to get to know the island better, here's a link to a map of Samui. We live in the north-east tip (north of Cheong Mon beach).

http://www.samui.org/map/

Ciao for now,
Tammy

not a bad spot for dinner?

No unfortunately this not where we eat most nights, it is one of the most sought after dinner spots in Samui, in the Sila Everson resort - Yes there is only one table on the deck and apparantly it is booked out weeks in advance, wonder why?

The buildings spoiling the view on the hill are part of the villa complex that we are in - sorry romantic honeymooners...

Nearest Beach

This is the nearest beach to both the place we are currently staying and our plot of land - we will be amongst the trees at the back of the photo.

In the last couple of days this has become our preferred swimming location as it is quieter than Choeng Mon and the water seems a bit clearer.

breakfast

Just a quick update to reassure the fitness fanatics that we are trying to take advantage of our freedom from a strict work schedule to enjoy a healthy breakfast. There is a lot of fresh, cheap fruit on the island, we generally try to enjoy some before our morning swim...

Thai mobile phone

Sawadee-ka!

We both have Thai pre-pay SIM cards for our mobile phones. You can get the top-up cards (they call them 'Refill' here) almost anywhere ... we got ours at the 7-11 store. We have very peculiar ring tones... if you try to call us you will hear Thai music rather than a ring tone. We haven't worked out how to turn this off - or change it to English music. Don't be put off by the music... you won't be charged for listening to it.

This picture shows the instructions for how to top-up the SIM credit and the pretty top-up card (with orchid picture on it). It's mostly written in Thai, but I worked it out.

Introducing our jeep

When we pick you up from the airport - you're sitting in the back!! :-)

Another pic

One of our favourite beaches - Cheong Mon! It's only 5 mins drive from the house. We're trying to swim here every day!

Over the last few years there's been a lot of development on this beach - you can see the sunbeds, beach umbrellas and jet-ski's in this photo... but it's still fairly quiet compared to the main touristy area 'Chaweng'.

Also, our favourite seafood restaurant, 'Crystal' is on this beach.

Some photo's

Where we spend most days - the terrace of the house we're currently living in...

September end

Apologies for the delay - amazing how the days can pass so quickly on the island - swimming, exploring,drinking etc...

We have been busy getting ourselves established as well, we are renting a humle two bedroom place near the plot from our friends Roger and Wendy on a month by month basis for now. Can't upload pictures at the moment so you'll have to imagine it...

We are also the proud owners (for 6 months anyway) of jeep, it has 100,000 on the clock and the speedo doesn't work (not a problem on the island - speeds rarely ever exceed 20mph anywhere!) , but it has 4 wheel drive and gets us from A to B in relative comfort.

I have also set up a local bank account, much easier than expected, the main challenge was selcting which of the 10 different funky ATM card styles on offer to choose!

In terms of the project we have been tinkering with our design after seeing some of the other houses on the hill in a completed state, and talking to a few builders. Luckily the recent oil price increases haven't had too much of an effect on building costs yet, there is also a greater chice of building materials and fixtures,fittings etc available than a few years ago - we now have a wide range of toilet seats to choose from!

Will try to update the blog on weekly(ish) basis from now on, cheers

Ian and Tammy

Saturday night in Samui

I've spent the last couple of days trying to remember my password (obviously I worked it out). We'll write a new post tomorrow with more details of our first week in Samui, more photo's and an update on why we're here... Tammy :-)

Day 1 - Koh Samui

Well, we arrived in Bangkok on Friday night, and spent 3 days unwinding from our London pace of life... eating yummy Thai food, drinking cold beer, and lazing by our hotel pool. Flew down to Samui last night - and now chilling out 'island style'...

We've only been in the country for 4 days, and already there's a possible 'coup' in Bangkok... which doesn't affect our personal safety (fyi, Koh Samui is 1050km south of Bangkok). We wanted to get away from it all ... and it seems we have, because we can't get transmission on any of the satelite news channels.. BBC, CNN and CNBC all have a black fuzzy screen tonight.

This is a picture of our sunset view from our friends' Wendy & Roger's place... where we are currently relaxing on the balcony - drinking cold beer and G&T's. There's been quite a lot of change since we were last here (9 months ago).. there's even a cinema complex on the island!

I'm really loving the value of the Baht... everything seems quite cheap compared to the Pound. We got 4 bags of groceries for around 8 pounds, and Thai food and beer is great value. More soon...

We're in London still...

Here we are in Chiswick... only 4 weeks till we leave London!
We still have a lot to do - but we are confident it will all be done in time!
Come back often to see our adventures on Koh Samui...