Strong onshore winds whipping-up the sea from the north east combined with seasonal high tides to dump a layer of beach sand on the lawn. Jonny manfully shovelled most of it back which, together with a recent three-day deluge diluted the salt sufficiently to save the grass.

As is frequently the case during the monsoon, the pier didn’t survive the first major storm of the season and lost a goodly chunk of itself to the seas. We are so fortunate that we have a beach, even during the highest tides, against which the seas can crash. Other village beachside businesses are not so favoured, as can be seen in the photo below, and are doubtless receiving more in the way of damage than a layer of sand.

The staff return to work this Sunday to start the big external cleanup in the run up to our Christmas and New Year peak season, when fortunately, Baan Bophut is booked out.

Baan Bophut’s abiding mantra encourages prospective guests to escape and relax. And while we continue to discourage those looking for action and adventure (including ping-pong and beach volleyball), I feel bound to inform you of the hotel’s only surrender to the potential for physical activity and the opportunity to exercise.

Lucy snatches a paddle-break aboard one of Tik’s ‘Bismarcks’

Inspired by the popularity of Tik’s kayak rental business and her own burgeoning enthusiasm for developing arm and upper-body strength, Lucy acquired a couple of solo kayaks to add to his fleet.

The same Thai kayak builder also makes, what they call Tri-Yaks, to accommodate three people and other larger kayaks designed for fishing. Both are future options for fleet enlargement if there is sufficient interest from guests.

Not yet available for rental are Lucy and Jonny’s new 3.6m (11′6″) Naish Stand-up Paddle Boards .

SUP is an increasingly popular surface watersport, with Hawaiian surfing origins, that benefits paddlers with a strong core workout. Importantly for almost waveless Samui, SUP is a form a surfing that allows one to go places without any need for waves to be present.

Jonny paddles back from breakfast in Big Buddah

Adopted by an increasing number of surfer dudes who appreciate the enhanced wave-spotting potential of being able to stand-up on a stationary board. SUPing offers surfers the ability to catch more waves, as well as providing a better view of incoming waves.

Lucy’s 3.6m Naish SUP with Polynesian design and padded deck area

While I knew of Khao Sok National Park in mainland Suratthani I didn’t know anything about the park until I started to search for a website that I could link for Suratthani attractions in the previous post.

I forgot to follow-up on my pledge to name & shame or acclaim the contractor we used to finally sort-ot the hotel’s WiFi package. I’m delighted to recommend the services of Matthew at Bluechip Wireless who have provided broadband WiFi throughout the hotel and beach. Bluechip also upgraded our reception computer and agreed to become our on-call IT department. Good job Matthew – thanks.

And on the family front…
It’s number one daughter Lucy’s birthday today. When I called her this morning she was into a sausage roll and cup of tea at Big Joe’s and later planned lunch at Ocean’s 11 in Bangrak with Jonny. I hope she had a great day.

It gives me huge pleasure to let those that don’t yet know – number one son Dominic finally asked his Fiona to be our future number one daughter-in-law last weekend. We could not be more delighted with his choice.

After our Dubai friends Sam and Chucky put the date of their wedding at Baan Bophut back by a week, we were free to surprise the family by pitching up at my great niece Giada’s combined christening and 1st birthday bash in Italy, which had clashed with the original date.

A rather more different call to prayer than we’re used to

The celebration with Dom and Fi, my siblings and most of their partners and offspring by Lake Garda, extended to four days of outstanding food, wine and general merriment, amid great company and lovely weather, after the suffocating heat of Dubai. It was also the chance to load up with some fantastic local cheeses and salami for onward transport to Dubai and Koh Samui. We had just 26 hours at home in Dubai before taking-off again for BKK, and once again I was fortunate to be upgraded to Business class (both ways, it turned out).

The wedding at the hotel was our biggest yet, with 48 guests that had arrived from as far away as the UK, the US (actor/rapper Mos Def’s dad no less) and New Zealand, together with a large Dubai contingent. The weather was relatively kind in that it didn’t rain or, unusual for Samui weddings, have anyone worrying that it would. An onshore breeze picked-up in the afternoon to alleviate some of the affects of the heat and humidity on an otherwise clear, almost cloudless day.

This was the first time that I’d been at Baan Bophut to witness the preparations that go into the making of such a special occasion. There are a lot of moving parts to one of these event and I must say that I was so proud of Lucy and all our staff at the way they pitched-in and got things organized. The flowers were beautiful and the crisp linen on the chairs, each with a little posy of orchids on the back looked splendid.

After the ceremony, while guests headed for the bar (itself beautifully decorated), our staff wheeled-in the eight, large circular tables which they unobtrusively set for dinner, on this occasion a combined buffet and barbecue. The bride’s choice, a combo of Thai, western and vegetarian options seemed to go down well and I was pleased to receive several compliments for my fabled, twice-cooked, oven baked ribs. Unused to praising food he hasn’t cooked himself, Tik said they needed more pepper.

We met some wonderful people that we hope to stay in touch with, as well as many old friends and Sam’s brothers and sisters that we’ve known and caught up with, on and off, for many years.

Unable to focus, I put the camera away before the fireworks, fire balloons and many guests sought a form of recovery in the pool. For interested family and guests an album of my photos of the day can be found here.

__________________________________

I’ve avoided all mention of Koh Pha Ngan’s notorious FMP in the year since I’ve been writing this blog, simply because I’ve had no direct experience of it, nor a desire to acquire any. But I’ve seen my children, various younger relatives and innumerable hotel guests return from the event, wasted and daubed in florescent body paint, having lost their shoes or shirts or phone. I’ve heard their stories, I’ve seen their blurry photos, I’ve smelled their fetid dog-breath. I have a much better idea of what goes on than most of you reading this. I’m qualified.

What was popularized by backpacker visitors to the islands has since become a right of passage for many hedonist travelers to SE Asia and depending on the season, between 10,000 and 40,000 can attend the monthly FMP.

Koh Pha Ngan, the island silhouette visible across the bay from any of our rooms, has been hosting the FMP for over twenty years. In the late eighties it was a very different affair with small groups of dread-locked free spirits (that a decade earlier would have been called hippies), a guitar or two, cassette-player and a bonfire on Haad Rin beach. The ninety’s saw the FMP grow and commercialize and in the past decade the introduction of professional, often international, DJs.

The event is a major, perhaps the principal source of income for Haad Rin’s commercial community who, in recent years have attempted to exploit the concept with Black Moon and Half Moon parties for those sybarites that missed the boat (sorry).

The event kicks-off shortly after dusk, as the moon rises. Small tables are set out on the beach before the dance action starts and it gets too crowded for safety for a chance to watch the fire-twirlers and jugglers.

Drinks of choice are beer or buckets – vodka or Sangsom, a Thai rum, with Coke or Red Bull. After a couple of these, and in the swing of it, it’s probably time for a bit of luminous body paint.

So adorned and sufficiently anesthetized, next, a wander up the beach to get one’s brain fried by the wall of competing sound. Don’t get me wrong. I like drinking, partying, beaches and being around young people. For me the awfulness of the FMP is the thought of the 15 or so competing sound stages belting out psy-trance, techno, hip-hop, drum/bass and house (whatever they all are) simultaneously. Each bar determined to be the loudest. Beaches in general offer very little in the way of acoustic properties, so the sound systems consist of large powerful walls of speakers which throw sound out towards the beach dancers, and fill me with horror as I imagine the cacophony.

The party ends, theoretically, with sunrise. But so many partygoers are still left on the beach awaiting a speedboat back to Samui the following morning, without a pair of sunglasses between them, a torpid, squinty-eyed version can still continue.

Party schedules for 2009 – 2010, tips, important do’s and don’ts, ferry or speedboat details and much more information can be found here and here.

Writing about the flossing monkeys of Lopburi and brief reference to my own dental hygiene, are a reminder that for me, my family and many of our hotel guests, a holiday in Koh Samui is not complete without a visit to the dentist.

“Successful signature drinks are one way to fast track holiday destinations on to the world tourism map, and can contribute some added identity to the local food and beverage scene in the hospitality and tourism industry,” slurred the TAT spokesperson.

If you want to try this at home rather than wait until you can try Tik’s version, here’s the official recipe.

Siam Sunray recipe
Ingredients:

	30-40 ml. of Smirnoff vodka
	30 ml. of coconut liqueur
	15 ml. of syrup
	¼ cm. of Thai chilli pepper
	3 slices of young ginger
	1 Kaffir lime leaf
	3 slivers of lemon grass
	3 drops of lime juice
	Soda water

Preparation:

	Crush the small Thai chilli pepper, young ginger, Kaffir lime leaf, and lemon grass together in a shaker to bring out the aroma and flavour of the Thai herbs.
	Add syrup, lime juice and Smirnoff and shake well.
	Strain into a glass with ice; top up with soda water; garnish with chilli, lemon grass and a slice of lime.