The Year of the Snake (21 January 2014)

Not much interrupts the serenity and rhythm of beach life here but yesterday snakegate changed all that. I had just got back to my room when suddenly the housekeeping girl shouted "Madame, Madame" aimed at the German lady who was having a post breakfast nod in the sun. A kerfuffle broke out and I thought a child had fallen into the pool until I spotted a dark green piece of hosepipe wriggling around a few feet away from me. As its head turned in my direction I quickly computed that hosepipes don't have heads... With the speed of an Olympian long jumper, two paces saw me in my room with the patio doors firmly closed. The rather large snake turned its head towards me and then decided I was more scary than him. Knowing I wouldn't follow as the water's still a bit cold, he slithered over the edge of the pool and swam (rather well I thought) to the far end. There he was met by the rag taggle band of hotel people bearing long sticks and finding it funny as they poked, prodded and bashed away. They tell me they had killed it and chucked it over the wall but I wasn't convinced. The housekeeping lady didn't help when she announced "it could have been a cobra". It could have been but I don't think it was...



A couple of minutes later I went to the small reception area to show them my very brave picture of the swimming snake (above) only to find another kerfuffle going on - another snake had been spotted and the stick bearing crowd were in action again. This time they definitely did kill it. The PC part of me says I really should talk to them about calling someone in who could remove the snake and take it back to the hills but the truthful part of me says "kill 'em while you can". Strangely, the hotel didn't ask for the picture for their website...



I have to say, it did spook me out a bit, all being so close. I am careful to walk along the middle of the village roads so the three times I have seen a snake out walking it felt sufficiently far away. This time it felt it was right in my territory... But I think of the women I have seen sitting in the fields where these snakes are, happily settled, picking, trimming and bundling up their lemon grass for sale. Or the older ladies in their sarongs and bare feet bent double as they manage their gardens, I am just being a (careful) wimp! It is unusual. All the times I have stayed in Samui over the years I have only ever seen one snake and that was a long time ago.
But we are coming to the end of the Chinese year which finishes on January 31st. Here in Samui, Mae Nam where I am staying is the Chinese part of the island and the street is decorated and ready for the celebration of their New Year. I'm just wondering if the snakes are a bit fed up and letting us know that they don't want their year to end - it still is, after all, the Year of the Snake...



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Observations (15 - 20 January 2014)

The Thai people aren't backward in coming forward when it comes to asking personal questions, "how old are you" and "what do you earn" are often early questions in any conversation. But even I thought calling a shop for the more curvy Thai woman "Fatty Fatty Girl" was a bit uber personal! Lots of shops and bars here have the same statues of slim locally dressed ladies outside, not sure what they represent but there are a lot of them, but this shop has replaced them with these two rather bigger ones.... Not sure I'd want to be seen shopping here!



And not only is the language non PC at times. Whilst we are trying to drastically reduce the use of plastic bags there seem to be more and more used here. It really came home to me as I saw the parade of mopeds leaving the morning market, each festooned with lots of carrier bags on the handles. On a positive note this demonstrates that a lot of people are still shopping and cooking fresh ingredients daily rather than living on packaged stuff, but all of it from the single lime to the chicken leg is in a separate plastic carrier. They also have nifty little hot/cold coffee cup carriers, like the handles of a plastic carrier that fit round the top of your drink, so much easier than the Starbuck's cardboard collar... All the street vendors sell their Pad Thai and Thai soup in small plastic bags. Even in the big Tesco Lotus Superstore, meat is not prepacked. It's sold like veggies where you shovel what you want into a plastic bag and take it to the counter to be weighed and priced. I'm sure it's different in Bangkok, but as you wander past the village houses here the "kitchen" is outside, a small tin BBQ, a gas ring and a hosepipe for washing up. Nowhere to store food. And it only struck me recently that none of the convenience stores here including the ubiquitous 7/11 has a frozen food section. Even a lot of the small cafés obviously have no freezers as the iceman does a roaring trade each morning filling up the insulated ice buckets left outside like a milkman of old. But why bother with frozen chicken when the fresh stuff stays fresh by scrabbling about your garden and reproducing itself...



The weather here continues to be a bit odd. Some rain, but not the monumental downpours of the wet season. More cloudy and cool. Even requiring long sleeves at night. There has been a real cold snap up in the North with the government giving out extra blankets, perhaps we are getting the edge of that. Today the German's are lying out on their sunbeds in the cool, determined to catch any stray ray on their face but with the rest of their body wrapped up in their sarong like an Egyptian mummy!Occasionally of an evening I have found myself going inside to get warm - a real reversal of the norm! Evenings see the latest Thai cold weather outfits - coats, anoraks, hoodies.... The wind is so high and the sea so rough today that there were no boats this morning at Lomprayah Pier where usually lots of daily boats go over to the smaller islands and on snorkelling trips to the National Park. And whilst from this pic it doesn't quite look ready for surfin' in Samui, for this part of the coast that really is a high sea! But don't get me wrong it's still a lot warmer in Samui than Swanley!


And in my efforts not to be a fatty fatty girl, I still enjoy the sights and sounds on my walks. The influence of the Russian tourist is seen by the ever increasing use of their language to the colourful shopping opportunities along the road.






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Carole the weather guru (7 January - 14 January 2014)

Not sure how Carole does it but guess she could make a fortune. Before she came, the weather was windy and unsettled. Carole arrives and it becomes calm, sunny, predictable. Carole leaves this morning and the wind has started up, it's rained and the storm curtains have come down on the beach restaurant.... Come back Carole, but not just for the weather, we had a great time! Not that we did a lot apart from gossip, walk a bit, well quite a lot really, minimum five miles most days and enjoy the search for a decent why why, the one bit where we failed. There was even very little shopping apart form mozzie milk, wine and, randomly, a couple of doormats from the local market that Carole took a shine to.
Our morning walks continued to introduce us to a variety of wildlife, the usual water buffalo and chickens supplemented one day by the trained monkeys on very long leads scampering up the really tall coconut palms to pick the coconuts. And the sighting of a second snake on the piece of path we renamed snake alley. But that was good. We revisited Ulaiwan, a girl who has a bar I got to know last time. She advised us that seeing snakes was lucky and means money is coming to you - I had to agree as I realised I had won £25 on the lottery the day after seeing the first snake, sadly I am still waiting for the benefit of seeing the second one....



But I still look at all the dogs around.









There are some really sad ones but also some seriously cute ones, my especial favourite is "Darling" a stray who has attached himself to the local businesses, full of life, but he is obviously fourth in line for my affections after the Dyl, Totie and Gracie. Well perhaps even fifth as I need to include Alfie too. Now what is Thai for "Aunty Allsorts"?





The national politics are big news here with the close down Bangkok Day on 13 January, designed to stop the election on 2 February. So far everything in Bangkok seems peaceful and locally it doesn't even seem to register. Ulaiwan was telling us that "yes, politics are fine but if you want to get involved, go to Bangkok. Here on Koh Samui we need to survive, we can't get involved, we need the business." Politics v economics, an interesting debate... It does seem quiet here though, apart of course from the influx of loud Russians celebrating their Xmas on 7 January, lots of flights into Bangkok have been cancelled due to the political issues and the knock on effect is felt here. Such a shame, the local businesses have a short season to make any money, this must be a real setback for them.
But now Carole has gone I am back to being Norma No Mates. But the staff here are so nice, they all said this morning "You sad, your friend gone, but no problem, you still have us, we look after you". You can't say fairer than that.


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Here we go again (28 December 2013 - 6 January 2014)

The New Year celebration here felt a bit like Groundhog Day - the hotel threw a party which was, apart from the fireworks at midnight, something of a carbon copy of the returning guest party and Xmas Day! There were a few more food stalls and a cocktail stall but the band, featuring Angel the receptionist, still had a starring role. One addition was the really bad cocktail juggler who was also a feature of last year's show, in danger of creating mayhem as he continued to drop his bottles. But again thanks to the hotel for putting on this free evening for their guests and there still is something rather special about bringing in the New Year on the beach.
It did take till New Year's Day though for the weather to start to settle down. This happened just as Carole arrived so I think she must have brought it with her!
So our days are running to a settled routine, most mornings we make the effort with our four mile walk before it gets too hot. But as that makes us feel virtuous it gives us an excuse for a little cocktail at lunch.... And there's lots of choice for dinner locally now the weather is settled and the restaurants on the beach have opened up. Including that well known Samui delicacy, steamed Gill with garlic...



Carole and I are seeing lots of wildlife on our morning walk through the villages - water buffalo, hens and their chicks, ducks, ponies and today a snake slithering across our path. And checking out the many dogs and trying to identify which are the puppies we saw last year, now grown up. But I think the scariest piece of wildlife was the huge Russian in the smallest swimmies and nothing else walking nonchalantly along the main road, you gotta love the Russians' sensibility to the local culture.... We also admire the skills of the local dogs driving a motorbike!



This time of year also sees lots of very fancy offerings including this colourful one on the edge of a field.


So all in all the New Year is proving to be a relaxing one for both of us. We've not done much but did make the pilgrimage into Chaweng for Sunday lunch at Tropical Murphy's.



Chaweng is the main "tourist" area and is really changing. The bad floods there a couple of years ago seem to have kicked off re development instead of just re building. There is a huge shopping mall being built which will have a Central Department store, two big supermarkets and lots of other shops. It will certainly change the feel of the place from what it is now, a long, jumbled strip of small stalls, restaurants and bars selling all kinds of odd things. Not sure it will be a change for the better and certainly not good for all the little stall owners who I guess will lose their pitches. But my main pre occupation at the moment is the political situation here. There's lots going on in the press about whether the election called for Feb 2 will go ahead, are one party trying to manipulate a military coup, will the red shirts stage counter demonstrations, will the shut down Bangkok Day next week create violent disturbance? Singapore Airlines and Cathay have cancelled loads of flights to Bangkok as demand has plummeted. I don't think these issues are ever going to affect Koh Samui to any great extent however I still need to prepare. The days around any election are alcohol free so I need supplies...

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Location:แม่น้ำ,Thailand