My home Koh Samui

Curfew lifted in Pattaya, Phuket & Koh Samui!

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 12:17:00 +0000

Amazing news today - Curfew is finally lifted in Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui!

If anybody have missed the current Thai events - The Thai military have taken over Thailand due to political reasons and due to this they have announced a nationwide curfew of midnight to 0400 am until further notice. During this time anyone in Thailand must return to their accommodation before midnight and not leave again until after 0400am. So, it seems that it's over for the major touristy places, which is an excellent news for all of us!

I get so many emails about current situation in Thailand, so I am really happy that people can relax and look forward to their trips instead of worry about them!

Issued at Bangkok at 17.30 hrs. (GMT+7) on 3 June 2014

Curfew has been lifted in three major tourist destinations including Pattaya, Koh Samui and Phuket as of today. The move demonstrates the commitment by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to promote tourism, which it identified as one of the key drivers for Thailand’s economic growth.

All other Thai destinations remain under a daily curfew (00.01-04.00 hrs.), but given the hours when most travellers are normally in the comfort of their accommodation, this has hardly stopped any visitors to Thailand from enjoying their days in the sun and taking in the sights of the kingdom’s temples, mountains and beaches.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) wants to assure all tourists visiting the kingdom that tourism remains unaffected since the country was placed under the administration of the NCPO on 22 May 2014.

The TAT also wants to thank and show its heartfelt appreciation for everyone who has taken to social media sites to tell the world that, despite the widely reported and often sensationalised political situation here in the kingdom, it has been “business as usual” at all major tourist destinations.

A few days in Koh Phangan

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:18:00 +0000

As you may have noticed from my Facebook updates, I am back in Samui... although sadly just for a month :-(

And we have just spent three glorious days in Koh Phangan, which is something I do not very often... (unfortunately)

Last time we were in Phangan, my son was 2 months old.. Now he is five (years) :-)

So, basically it's been absolute ages and I really really wanted to go back there... So after 5 years off we went :-)

We stayed in the beautiful spot right at the end of Thong Nai Pan Yai Beach, at the resort called Candle Hut. It was our first time at that resort and that part of the beach, but I must tell you that it was one of the best times I ever had in Phangan..

One word - Stunning!

The pictures will tell the story... We can't wait to go back there one day!

A beautiful day...

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 13:23:00 +0000

My dear readers! You must be wondering why I don't post as often as I used to...

The answer is simple - unfortunately now I am spending more time in London and less in Samui as my darling son has started school in London.

We still go back to Samui 2-3 times a year for about a month or whatever school holiday allow, since we still run a vilal rental business there, but I am no longer there full time...

Samui is very special for me in every sense, and last year we actually tied the knot there :-) ...Finally after 7 years together :-)

Nevertheless, my hubby who is there at the moment, just sent me this beautiful picture, so I thought I will share it with you...

The weather is lovely there at the moment, and I am looking forward to going there in 4 weeks time, will be there for Songkran as well, so expect more posts and pictures :-)

Beauty of Samui through the camera lens...

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 16:33:00 +0000

It's been a while since my last post here... Busy, busy life :-)

I am very happy to be back, although I must admit that these days posting on my blog's Facebook page is more regular and easier to do, so you have a better chance to keep up with Samui's life there.

Anyway, today I feel I want to show something special for you, so I prepared a few great shots of Samui's sunsets and incredible nature, taken by my very good friend Janthima Cha.

Janthima is a local Samui girl who loves the island and her camera, so the final results are very very good, I always enjoy her photos and today I am sharing them with you :-)

Songkran 2013.

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 23:12:00 +0000

Today Thailand is celebrating the Songkran, which is a Thai New Year! The whole country is having a one big water fight this weekend!!!

The forecast was predicting a rainy day in Samui, and we weren't sure about how the Songkran would go. But the rain has stopped just in time for celebrations and streets of our island were full of happy and excited people who came out to celebrate this beautiful occasion. Tourists and locals have united in great water fight and it was bigger than ever!

Unfortunately I wasn't there this year, but my friend Julia Erofeeva took some great pics from the main point of water fight - Chaweng, so you can all have a look and enjoy!

Happy Songkran everyone!!!!

Bophut, Friday Walking street

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:48:00 +0000

Another Friday, another walking street in Bophut. People are enjoying the street market in Fisherman's Village, one of the most beautiful villages on Samui.
Tomorrow is the Songkran - Thai New Year, and normally it's a big water fight in Samui ( as everywhere else in Thailand) , but the forecast Windguru shows that it might be raining cats and dogs tomorrow and on Sunday, with waves reaching 2,2 m, so let's wait and see how Songkran will go...

But for now - enjoy the pictures from our lovely village, it's cloudy but no rain at the moment and walking street is in its full force!

Loi Krathong, 28 November 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 06:58:00 +0000

Today Thailand is celebrating Loi Krathong and I wanted to share my first Krathong making experience experience with you.

Every year Thailand celebrates a beautiful experience of Loi Krathong - probably the most picturesque and beautiful of all Thai celebrations. The annual event falls on the night when the tides are at their highest and the moon at its brightest - the full moon night of the 12th lunar month, which is usually in mid- or end of November.

In the evening, people send their hand-made or purchased krathongs (translates roughly as "floating basket") down the river after lighting the candles and incense and making a wish for the coming year. It is said that the wish will come true if the candle remains lit until the basket passes out of sight, and also that the longer the candle remains lit the better the coming year will be.

Originally, the krathong was made of banana leaves or the layers of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. A krathong contains food, betel nuts, flowers, joss sticks, candle and coins. Nowadays kratongs are much more creative as many more materials are available.

Yesterday we went with friends and kids to Sweet Sisters Cafe in the south of Samui, where they held Krathong making workhop. The krathong making process was a great fun, I tried it first time in my life, but the results was much better than I expected :-)

Today most of Samui people will gather in Chaweng Lake and release their Krathongs to the water of the lake. Some people go to the seaside, but Chaweng Lake is the main point of celebrations.

Some pictures from our krathong-making workshop:

All these beautiful krathongs were made yesterday in Sweet Sisters cafe by local Samui people, Thais and foreigners, and I think it's a great learning experience for both kids and adults. We enjoyed it a lot!!

And we will let them go tonight....

Rain, rain go away...

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 04:20:00 +0000

Rainy season is back on Samui. 3 days in the row it rains, rains and rains. My son's school is closed ( Panyadee), the roads are not too good, and it's just very depressing in general.
Really hoping it will go away soon and sun will be back here again in no time!

A few photos and videos from the last 3 days.

Samui Webcam and current weather

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:40:00 +0000

Today I would like to spread the word and introduce a great new website with Samui Webcams:

http://www.samuiwebcam.com/

It's a brainchild of my friend Matt and the quality is amazing, the best I have actually seen here.

So, now you can see Samui very clearly and in the few different points in Chaweng, Lamai, Bang Po.... Also it helps when you want to know about the weather in Samui.

Talking about the weather - it's mostly sunny here, with some rains here and there in the previous few days, especially in the evening... yesterday was an exceptionally cloudy and rainy day ( at least in Maenam), the rain was not heavy at all, more like a drizzle, but still it was a pretty wet day.

Today it's all nice again, some fluffy clouds out there, but still plenty of sunshine!

Don't forget that I update the weather nearly daily on our villa booking website http://samuiconnection.com/weather/
Even when I am not in Samui - my staff and friends supply me with the info and daily picture, so the page gets regularly updated.

Back in Samui + new Vikasa Yoga.

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Hello everyone, I am very happy to be back here, in Samui and in my Samui blog after a summer in London.

A few things have happened here while I was away....

My favourite Vikasa Yoga moved to a new absolutely unreal stunning location, my good friends Bonnie and Ian have opened a long awaited yoga studio in Fishermans Village in Bophut ( I still haven't visited it yet though, so will let you know about it later) , the Montessori school was opened in Bophut, organic dairy shop Lucky Cow has changed the management and added some new very yummy products to their already fantastic range, a few more lovely villas have been built, huge Central Shopping Mall was opened in Suratthani, Bangkok Airways started flying to Kuala Lumpur, and I heard some rumours about possibility of building an airport in Donsak ( if someone doesn't know where Donsak is - this is the place the ferries leave to Samui from).
Probable that's about it....Oh, and the best news is that Bangkok Airways decided to "postpone their price increase", so they will do it after high season... really nice of them, isn't it?

Otherwise the life is going on here in the same way, my son has just started in Panyadee school, which is lovely, my beautiful garden has almost died during the summer ( 3 months no government water in Samui and I didn't have a tank with a pump), but now it's recovering as it started to rain here nearly on a daily basis, and the water is gradually coming back.

Today I am going to show you some photos of a new Vikasa studio, which is not just a studio any longer, it's the whole resort with the rooms for those who are staying there.
Vikasa now located after Chaweng Noi, in Coral Cove area, one of the most beautiful spots in Samui. They were oficially opened a short while ago, the monks gave them the blessings, and the classes started. They will also have a retreat coming soon 23-30 december 2012, I will let you know more after the photos. Enjoy!

Now a few more words about the retreat they are having.

Start date : 23 December 2012, finish 30 December ( just in time for you to enjoy New Year!)

This is an introduction to Vikasa Yoga retreat, suitable for all levels of practice, whether you are considering taking a longer course at Vikasa, or would just like to shape up before the new year. This is a rare opportunity to practice all-week long with the founder of Vikasa Yoga – Konstantin Miachin, as he has been extremely busy during the last year opening the Vikasa Retreat center, leading teacher training courses, and presenting at yoga events around the world, it was really difficult to catch him teaching regular classes throughout the year.

This course is totally suitable for beginners, and for long time practitioners as well. You will receive a lot of personal attention during this course, and a personal program can be tailored for you upon request by Konstantin upon completion of the course.

What you will learn:

Fundamentals of Vikasa Yoga methodology
Alignment principles of asana that can be applied to any practice afterwards
Breathing fundamentals – how to maximize your breathing potential and connect it with the rest of your practice.
Basic Vikasa Yoga sequences
Core salutations

Complete info www.evolutionofyoga.com/ny2013
If you register before November 1st, you will get 20% discount. Good present for X-mas IMHO.

Have a great day, everyone!!!!! We are so happy the dreadful forecast has changed and instead of 99mm or rain we got sun today! :-) Even the best forecasts are no always right :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:38:00 +0000

Emirates to start direct flights to Phuket in December

Posted on August 3rd, 2012 by Phuket Observer in Travel

Emirates Airlines continues its network expansion with the announcement of the start of daily flights to Phuket. Phuket will become Emirates’second destination in Thailand.

Operated by a three-class Airbus aircraft, EK378 will depart Dubai at 1245hrs and arrive at Phuket International Airport at 2155hrs. The return flight, EK379 will depart at 0035hrs the following day and arrive at Dubai International Airport at 0435hrs.

“Emirates is looking forward to the launch of our non-stop, daily service to Phuket, which will be just in time for the holiday season. We have always had a strong affiliation with Thailand and have been operating flights to Bangkok since 1990,” said Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline.

“Thailand is an important market for Emirates, we currently operate four daily flights between Dubai and Bangkok, including one with our Airbus A380 aircraft. We are confident that Phuket will prove a popular destination for our passengers, especially those from the UAE, Middle East and Europe,” added Mr Clark.

Phuket will become the 15th route launch for the airline this year and the second in South East Asia following on from Ho Chi Minh City in June.

Emirates Holidays, the airline’s tour operating arm, offers tailor made holidays to Phuket, that include a hand-picked selection of five, four and three star hotels.

Emirates offers its customers in all cabins meals prepared by gourmet chefs, award-winning service from the airline’s international cabin crew recruited from over 120 countries, as well as ice, the airlines’ entertainment system which offers over 1,400 channels of entertainment and the facility to send and receive emails and text messages. With a fleet of 178 aircraft and already the largest A380 operator in the world, with 22 in service, Emirates currently flies to 125 destinations in 74 countries.

Vikasa yoga teacher training 15 April-13 May

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:45:00 +0000

Some time ago, in November, I wrote about an opening of a new yoga studio - Vikasa

Today, after being a loyal member of this place from the day one, and after watching daily studio life, I want to share with you one of the most incredible journey, which I have ever witnessed in Samui (pity - couldn't join) - Vikasa first yoga teacher training 15 April - 13 May

For those who didn't read my post before - Vikasa Yoga in Koh Samui, Thailand is a boutique yoga studio and raw food organic restaurant, created by Konstantin Miachin and a team of professionals.

Although this might be hard to believe, this is the only open-air yoga studio in Koh Samui at the moment, located in a beautiful Zen Garden, between Chaweng and Bo Phut, just opposite Makro supermarket on ring road.

Konstantin is an international yoga teacher and founder of Vikasa Yoga studio. He has been passionately learning, practicing, and teaching Yoga for over six years, and his passion has lead him to search out his own personal development throughout the world, with many different schools and masters all over the world, in places such as Rishi-kesh, Uttar Kashi, Gangotri, Kerala, Goa, Canada, Thailand, Hong Kong and Ukraine to name a few. He has completed teacher trainings in three different disciplines, including Ashtanga Vinyasa, Yoga 23 (by master Andrei Siderski) and Sivananda.

That's what our typical daily class looks like (well, a bit slower than that, but you get the idea :-)

This first Vikasa Yoga Teacher Training at Koh Samui, Thailand welcomed 26 amazing people from all over the world as the students. Like the relaxing pace of the island life style, it went by smooth with teachers and students getting closer with one another. There is a great deal of respect between all of them. There were many nice relationships developing, and also amusing, or provocative interactions amongst them all.

For four weeks they’ve been working really hard on practice, anatomy, and philosophy.
Amongst the students there was a very talented photographer, R2. She was daily documenting and producing an amazing album of group classes and everyone’s Asana, she also took a camera with her while going to the beach at Chaweng Noi for sunrise pranayama and swim.

Here’s some photos from her amazing album, which the studio let me share with you, and by the way - the next Yoga Alliance Certified 200 Hour Teacher Training in Vikasa studio will be taking place September 16 – October 14, 2012.

Wasn't it amazing?....... I think it truly was...

Buddy Resort Kids Club

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:06:00 +0000

I would like to apologise again for not posting more often, but for the past few months I have been terribly busy with work, my baby changing nurseries, also changing and training my office/shop staff, renovating our house, trying to get back to my yoga routine...basically just too busy...

Plus a week ago we left Samui for our annual European vacation ( well, not much of vacation for me - still working every day, and well - not exactly European, just stuck at the moment in really cold London :-) Anyway, I have a few things which I wanted to share with you, and now I have a little bit more time, so here you go....

A couple of weeks ago I had a "working mum" moment.... Had to urgently reply to a few clients' emails and deal with some problems, while driving around Lamai with my 3 year old son. Obviously I couldn't do any work with him being next to me, so I had to look for a quick solution, trying to find a place with WI-FI and babycare. The solution suddenly came in the shape of a beautiful kids club in Buddy Resort in northern Lamai, and Coffee World cafe with free WI-FI literally next door to it.

I was surprised to see that he didn't even say a word, just went there, said "bye mum" and started to play. So, I was working for about two hours, and then came to pick him up, and he didn't even want to leave. There were 2 other kids there, so they played together.

Of course I didn't have any camera with me, just my crapy mobile phone, so pardon me for the quality of the pictures, but I just wanted to share them with you guys, in case someone needs a day time babycare in Lamai area - this place is just great. For 200 THB/hour they look after your kids, and normally it's not very busy, so kids get really personal attention. The girl who looks after them, is watching them for the whole time, and when they run out of ideas she would just play with them, paint, draw, make some toys, etc...She would take your tel. number in case a kid wants mummy back, but she wouldn't bother you if she can sort out the problem herself.
There is a large sofa inside the club room, sort of a waiting area, in case you want to stay there with your kid, but honestly - do yourself a favour, go across the road to The Spa resort for an amazing lunch or/and massage and have a few minutes to yourself.

So, I was really happy with this place and can highly recommend it to you.

P.S. The resort also has some turtles by the beach, so after the club time you can cross the road, and go and feed the turtles. Your kid would love it!

Here are some pictures (sorry for the quality):

Songkran

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:26:00 +0000

Songkran celebrations in Samui, 13 April 2012.

We went to Chaweng in our truck, I was driving, my hubby was filming, hope you all enjoy!

Happy Songkran!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:44:00 +0000

Happy Songkran Festival!

In case you don't know yet what it is - Songkran Festival is the traditional Thai New Year celebrated on April 13th. Families and friends get together to celebrate by visiting temples, sprinkling water on Buddha images and on each other's hands as an act of wishing good luck.

In recent years, the tradition of sprinkling water has mostly become a water fight, especially in the touristy areas and it is not uncommon to have buckets and containers of water thrown at you as you make your way down the street - particularly in major tourist areas.

If you decide to go out in Songkran - you should get a water gun and enjoy! Just leave your cameras and anything likely to suffer water damage behind in your hotel room, because you will get wet.

We will try to get to central Chaweng tomorrow, the area where most of the fun will take a place, so expect some photos from Samui's Songkran celebrations.

Have a great day, everyone, enjoy as much as you can!

Anantara Bophut Spa

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

This year I had a very special Valentines Day treat - a visit to a spa in one of my favourite hotels - Anantara in Bophut.

I don't usually have time for a spa, as running my own business means that I never have time for anything but work :-) But of course there are some days when I feel like slowing down and having a good rest, so that visit to the spa was a gift from Heaven...

The Anantara Spa itself is an absolutely stunning place. In order to get there, you have to go through tropical alleyways, over small bridges across water ponds, pass many colourful tropical flowers and plants on the way, listen to the wind chimes above your head, and when you have done that journey - you find yourself in a beautiful reception where you are immediately greeted by smiling staff and offered a face towel and a cold drink made of plants and herbs. Pure Bliss!

I was about to have an Anantara Signature massage, so they gave me different kind of oil to choose from and a form to fill.

I dragged my hubby along and asked him to take some pictures, as I wanted to write a post about it, feeling that it would be a bit selfish not to share my experience in Samui's best places with you guys.

So, he did :-)

After I filled out the form, my lovely therapist took me to a changing room which was very lovely as well, with many beautiful touches, pieces of art, oriental ornaments and beautiful, looking like rose petals, small stones in the sink.

After I changed, she took me to a treatment room, which was like....WOW!

Your personal bath with real rose petals...Rain shower, rays of sun shining trough bamboo...Everything was just so beautiful..

First she washed my feet before the treatment...

Then I had a dip in this bath...

and then the treatment started...It was a full body massage plus neck/head/face massage.

After the treatment I felt so relaxed, I could hardly move and to be honest didn't really want to leave, so the therapist brought me some ginger tea and I went to chill on the couch in a small garden by the pool.

Unfortunately all good things tend to come to an end, so I had to go, but I stopped on the way to relax in the small Sala with a book for another half hour, just couldn't bring myself to leave this stunning and welcoming place :-)

So, I had an amazing experience there, and would recommend this place in a heartbeat, it's beautiful, it's highly professional, it's very customer-friendly and I couldn't wish for more. Not cheap though, but if you do it once in a while - it is totally worth it!

Fairways - kids' favourite spot on Samui

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Fairways - place to go with your kids.

I thought I will write another post about "what to do with kids in Samui". This is the question which I have to answer about 5 times a day to my clients and readers who are coming to Samui with children, so to save myself some time I decided to post it here.

Fairways... We go there nearly weekly as my son is mad about it. He is only 3.

I see different kids there, from about 1.5 to 8-9 years old...They all love it there and we, parents, love it too :-) Ok, I am going to expain a bit more about it.

Fairways is a Soft Play Center, which is located on the airport road, between Arrival and Departure terminals. There are 2 fully air-conditioned floors, size of the area is 3,444 square feet (320 square meters).

There are bouncy castles, bridges, aerial runways, a ball pool, slides and swings – everything the kids need to enjoy freestyle creative play in a safe indoor environment ( ok, I stole this line from their website but I couldn't possibly describe it better :-)

There is also a great cafe downstairs, which serves amazing coffee and delicious Thai/European food. Our personal favourites there Tuna Baguette for myself, chicken curry for hubby and Thai Fried Rice for my son, he absolutely loves it there. Besides a fresh delicious all-day menu, there is a wide variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and a great selection of freshly brewed coffee.

They are absolutely packed on weekend days, and pretty quiet during the week as all local kids are in schools, so it allowed them to recently open a very reasonably priced Monday-Friday day nursery there.

This is amazing news as most of the schools/nurseries in Samui are nearly oversubscribed now in Samui...There are different packages for everyone, prices depend on amount of hours, days, etc... And they nursery rooms look really nice.

Another great thing about them - you can have a party there. It's possible to hire a whole space, or just a part of it. You can order a DJ, food buffet, face painting, games, fireworks, basically anything. We attended about 5 birthday parties there already and each one of them was a success.

For ll the details about this place check out their website http://www.fairwayssamui.com/ and I am going to post now some more pictures from this great place...

Hope you have enjoyed this virtual tour around this great place, and hopefully see you there at weekend.

Weather in Samui

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Just wanted to remind you guys, that I am posting daily weather update on my rental website http://samuiconnection.com/weather/ so please follow that site too if you would like to be weather-updated.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days. The weather in Samui has been amazing and just couldn't be better.

I am personally in freezing London at the moment, going back to Samui on 25th of February, so that's why I am not posting much here, my apologies! But I am still updating http://samuiconnection.com/weather/ daily as I have all the weather information and photos from my hubby and friends back in Samui.

Elina xxxxx

Magic Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:58:00 +0000

A few days ago we took our friends to Samui's Magic Garden. I've been there before, but a very long time ago, so I decided to refresh my memories :-)

The "Magic Garden" or "Secret Buddha Garden" is located in the hills of Samui. This a stunning collection of beautifully handcrafted statues, made by a local fruit farmer, Khun Nim Thongsuk, who started to build the garden in 1976 when he was 77 years old. Amazing job he's done!

You will also see a statue of Khun Nim himself - here he is, sitting peacefully and watching us exploring his beautiful creation.

There are two main roads leading to the garden, they both are shown on the Samui maps: The old road is coming from Nathon, it is a "military road", but for some reason most of the people trying to use exactly this road before realising that this road is now closed for traffic.

The new road and the only one which you need to take, is originating across the road from the temple called Wat Kunaram on the south of the island. Here in Wat Kunaram you will find another Samui's attraction - mummified monk. Also worth looking at. Wat Kunaram is shown on every Samui's map and it's easy to find, it's located right on the main ring road near Namuang Waterfalls.

The entrance fee to the Garden is 80 THB.

There are many nice restaurants and view points along the way and I strongly recommend you to stop at some of them and have a drink/lunch and don't forget to take a camera with you on this trip, as you will have a chance to take many amazing scenic pictures along the way and inside the Garden.

P.S. If I could give you just one tip, I would recommend you to combine Magic Garden with a trip to Samui Paradise Farm Park, which is amazing animals and birds sanctuary, located on the same road as Magic Garden, only a bit higher up in the hills. This is a great place to visit, one of Samui's best kept secrets, fantastic trip especially for families with kids, you will love it.

I wrote about it here - http://www.myhomekohsamui.com/2011/02/places-to-go.html

Chinese New Year, Maenam, 23 January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Yesterday Samui had one of its major events - Chinese New Year’s Eve celebration. There are plenty of Chinese origin's Thais living on Samui, so CNY is a pretty major event here, on the island.

We went to the main village of Maenam as Chinese New Year has been celebrated there for a quite a few years now and had proved very successful.
Nathon is also having celebrations, but since we live in Maenam, it's just much more convenient for us.

Chinese temple at Maenam is Samui’s focal point for Chinese New Year celebrations with lion dancing, drums, acrobatic performers and endless crackers going off.

I heard that lots of people came there very early to get the best places to watch the performance, but we came about 7 pm, and the square in front of the temple was totally packed already, with performance going on.

A Chinese street celebration always has a traditional Lion Dance which is supposed to bring good luck, but we came a bit late and missed that part. But the most disappointing thing for me was empty battery in my hubby's camera, so as a result the whole event had to be filmed on our mobile phones. (Sorry!)

Maenam was busy. Very busy. This year is a bit crazy anyway, I have never seen so many tourists in Samui in the last 5 years. So, Maenam was packed with tourists, locals, street vendors, food sellers, children, dogs....you name them...

Red lanterns were everywhere welcoming good luck, wisdom and long life. There was a huge choice of local Thai and Chinese food on sale at the endless stalls on the streets. There were plenty of places selling famous cheap Mojito cocktails, the most busy one was on the beach, just outside of Cafe Talay where we finally parked ourselves for a Chinese NY Thai dinner :-) ...... Sounds ridiculous, I know :-)

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:32:00 +0000

From now on I am going to post daily weather information on my http://samuiconnection.com/weather/ website due to many requests from my clients who book accommodation with us. So, if you want to be weather-updated - please follow that site too.

This site (www.myhomekohsamui.com) will be used mostly for general information about the island, places to go, things to do, although I am planning to gradually transfer all the information to www.samuiconnection.com as it's very time consuming to maintain 2 websites. Hope you understand, thanks a lot.

Samui 17-18 January 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:20:00 +0000

Hi, everyone, this is a quick update for you. The weather in Samui has been amazing for the last few days and I have finally told myself to stop working for a couple of hours and go to the beach :-)

I guess we are so tired of the funny weather we had for the last 2 months - the sea was so rough and dirty that it wasn't possible to swim, the sky wasn't really blue, and it was raining quite often. Basically it was pretty depressing and my mum has left Samui after 1 month non-swimming holiday :-)

Anyway, now it looks like it's all settled, and nice sunny weather and blue sky are here to stay :-)

Beaches are full of happy people, beach restaurants and watersports are back in business, and everyone is happy. Except working people like me :-) It is easier to work when you know that there is nothing else to do :-) When the weather is great - we just want to have a permanent siesta and forget the work :-) I wish.......

So, here is a few pictures for you from yesterday and today, and the colour of the day is blue :-)

Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:46:00 +0000

Hi guys, hope you all had a great New Year celebrations and have fully recovered by now :-)
Our last and very final ( I hope) celebration was yesterday - Russian X-mas on the beach with many frineds and kids:-)

I always celebrate Christmas two times - on 25th December and on the 7th of January, how good is that!!!

Samui's been having an absolutely fantastic weather for the last few days, sunny, no single drop of rain, the sea is finally quiet and clean and swimming is great again. Beaches are full of happy people.... but don't get too happy - next week we are gonna have some rain again :-(

My friend Maria Ambrosova has captured this beautiful sunrise this early morning in Maenam beach:

We went this morning to Bophut , which was equally beautiful..

Here are some pictures from the last few days :

A couple of days ago we had a great evening on Bophut beach in a restaurant of a small resort called "Free House Bungalow" .
I love the food and atmosphere there, and the view to Koh Phangan is so peaceful and beautiful...They have a very extensive menu with a large vegetarian section as well, plus amazing home-made pizzas.

Jake really enjoyed his simple food - chicken and french fries :-) He is not a fan of Thai curries yet :-)

Happy NY!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:46:00 +0000

Samui had a fantastic night of NY celebrations. We went to Nikki Beach to dance the night away with all our Samui's friends, and had an amazing time there. Expected rain didn't happen, the weather was perfect, and it just couldn't be better.

Here are a couple of pictures of the celebration - from Nikki beach ( by David Sambor) and the perfect view of Chaweng bay ( by Janthima Cha)

Happy New Year 2012!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Elina) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:17:00 +0000

On the last day of this year, I would like to thank all my friends and readers for their support and interest to my blog! It is very appreciated! Thank you guys and my best wishes to all of you in the new year 2012. Be happy!!!

В последний день этого года, я хотела бы поблагодарить всех моих друзей и читателей за поддержку и внимание! Спасибо вам за то что вы есть, и мои самые лучшие новогодние пожелания всем вам. Будьте счастливы!

Elina (Элина) .