SamuiRes

What is it that you might require, O large one?

R

Now then! I might have added a couple of kilos but......!

Anyway - my work phone is a bit battered and bruised and doesn't like the rain - could not answer calls yesterday until it dried out! Needs a general overhaul, cleaning and a few new bits - keypad, etc. Do not particularly want to buy a new one at the moment.

Any updates on the water situation around the island? Chaweng beach road etc etc

I have just driven back from Taling Ngam to Chaweng Noi. The Ring Road is generally passable but there are areas of deep standing water to be wary of. South Lamai was not passable going down earlier this afternoon as we were diverted onto the beach road but when I came back it was passable. North of Lamai was impassable in both directions and you are diverted into the back roads by Tamarind. North from Lamai standing water again but passable.

Does anyone know of a good mobile phone repair shop in the Chaweng area please?

There used to be one juust down from the Post Office on the opposite side of the road but that went some time ago.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Has anyone had experience of acupuncture on Samui - does the service even exist?

...don't suppose it matters too much in the grand scheme of things. nice looking at a map of what it used to be like many years ago.

Samui doesn't seem high on the priorities for updating satellite images and related maps.

Last time I looked (about a year ago) not only was half of the island in LOW res but

Home Pro wasn't even built onto Tesco in Chaweng! I reckon Samui is about 4-5 years out of date!

R

Go and check now as the latest images were put on line this year.

Do you have Googles details?Very broad statement on your behalf. Maybe you can help by posting one.

I made that guess on the basis of this:

...four seasons didn't even exist that i could tell, as the entire ban tai/bang por/bang makham map still shows forest area where four seasons is, no emerald residences along the beach etc...

But then I don't know when those buildings mentioned by Joe84330 were constructed. Getting information out of a Googler about how they work on their maps is absolutely impossible. They have all been sworn to secrecy. One thing I have noticed is that in Italy some rural areas are shown with a lower resolution than built-up areas, and I can well imagine that when it comes to updating satellite images and maps, Google might give a lower priority to Samui than to Bangkok, to Thailand than to the USA and Europe, etc. But this is just my guess, my imagination, because nobody will ever get anything out of a Googler that has not already been publicly announced by Google headquarters or on the official Google blog, and they often make their announcement about a new application after they have already put it online.

After much prompting Google Earth updated Samui last year. Previously the images dated back to 2004. However they only managed to get 80% of the island, leaving the old images for the west coast and an strip of very ill defined area in the centre and heavily cloud covered areas over the NE. In the Google Earth web site there is a page for reporting out of date images, cloud covered images etc. If everyone keep sending them up date requests eventually they take notice.

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/request.py?&problem=billing&extra.customer=GEFree&contact_type=data

Go to this page and ask them to up date due to out of date image or cloud cover. The more people who do this the more likely thet are to take notice.

DHL for sure. They were going to be called DHK (Don't Honestly Know) but they mistyped it when they registered the name

Correct. What is even better is that they have still only delivered two of the three boxes sent.

Unbelievable.

I sent the tracking schedule to the head of DHL in Germany (DHL is owned by Deutsche Post) to see if he saw the funny side of this!

2 boxes from Hong Kong addressed to Koh Samui.

Collected in Hong Kong - very early Fri 12 Nov

Left HK morning Fri 12 Nov

Arrived Cincinnati USA early morning Sat 13 Nov

Left Cincinnati USA morning Sat 13 Nov

Arrived HK afternoon Sun 14 Nov

Left HK evening Mon 15 Nov

Arrived Bangkok early morning Tue 16 Nov

Left Bangkok morning Tue 16 Nov

Arrived Phuket morning Wed 17 Nov

Left Phuket afternoon Wed 17 Nov

Arrived Hong Kong early Fri 19 Nov

Left Hong Kong very early morning Fri 19 Nov

Arrived Bangkok early morning Fri 19 Nov

Left Bangkok early morning Fri 19 Nov

Arrived Phuket mid morning Fri 19 Nov

Left Phuket late afternoon Fri 19 Nov

Arrived Bangkok early morning Sat 20 Nov

Last statement

Delivery arranged no details expected.

Two packages arrived by EMS this morning.

This is all despite the courier company being told from the start (Friday 12 Nov) that the destination shown on their tracking page was wrong.

Downright hopeless logistics.

I need to go to Tong Krut this afternoon from Chaweng, Can anyone tell me if Lamai is still passable please?

Any updates from today so far- Chaweng Beach road? Samui Town Center etc etc...any areas no power? Lamai power ok so far! Touch wood.. unable to venture out today due to fever

Just driven back through Lamai (3pm) Deep floods near the junction to the Beach Road. No one trying to drive through. All heading off up to the back road by Tamarind Springs. Starting to flood along the road near the IT Centre and small areas of deep flooding (but passable) through to Chaweng Noi.

Thai Met Office Weather chart for 10.00 local time shows a Low Pressure system to the south therefore wind direction here will be from the east.

Suratthani radar (9 nov 10.00 local)show most of the weather system shows the maini rain to be south of the islands as well so maybe not as bad as expected.

Lets hope anyway!

Well so much for that forecast!

Radar still shows us on the edge of the system so (fingers crossed/touch wood) it won't last too long. (commentators curse there!).

Also had the correct prediction around 4 am., wind & rain

Any heads up on the times of todays drenching?

Thai Met Office Weather chart for 10.00 local time shows a Low Pressure system to the south therefore wind direction here will be from the east.

Suratthani radar (9 nov 10.00 local)show most of the weather system shows the maini rain to be south of the islands as well so maybe not as bad as expected.

Lets hope anyway!

Choengmon was clear this morning.

Driving down the Chaweng Beach Road this morning (09.15)it was clear as far as the Laem Din turn which was blocked off and you could see that the floods were still deep down there.

Still flooding past Centara but passable (even for idiot farang in his big pick-up passing everyone and creating waves into the already devastated shops).

Yes but if he is only coming for one day to see friends and isn't here for a holiday, then do you think thats going to be difficult?

If he is on a cruise ship, they usually anchor off Nathon and use tenders to bring passengers ashore. So I suspect it will depend on the sea state and whether it is safe to bring passengers ashore.

And here was I thinking that Election weekends were supposed to be dry!!

can anyone verify that dr ning's office still exists in nathon? drove past this area today and couldnt find any clinics or even signs of a clinic on the tesco side leading up to the turnaround.

Ring and ask them, maybe they moved

She has closed the Nathon practice for about three months until her new baby is older. She is just using the Lamai surgery next to her house for the time being.

We looked at this two or three years ago for a client. Could find nothing local. Bangkok at the time was the nearest and you have to pay for the repositioniing of the helicopter as well. They are not cheap.

Already seen that the that water pumps are out near bophut traffic lights.

And on the Beach Road near Iyara. Picture at 08.15 this morning

Look out at the 7-11's as well. My wife brought me a small tub of ice cream home a few days ago and the first thing I saw was an August sell by date. It still tasted good and no ill effects! However, the point is that going in yesterday I now see the same ice cream with sell by dates of 2012! So just how long had that ice cream been in the freezer before I got it and what preservative is in it to keep it fresh that long. Something not quite right here>

Sheraton at Chaweng Noi ( can someone please confirm that a actual sheraton hotel is being built, if so exactly where. I'm someone familiar with chaweng but I've only seen 2 new properties going up, one next to buri rasa hotel and another one not far from centara grand. and if you mean the cliff restaurant do you mean the one not from the the IT complex in lamai? also how do you know its sheraton, the only reports I'm aware of is a Hyatt being built on the other side of the island, a Dusit Thani hotel but dusit is actually doing a management contract to run, manage the previous property of the hotel and change it to a Dusit Hotel. I'm aware of the Japanese Restaurant Fuji actually building a japanese hotel here on koh samui. for my details and information i'll be more than happy to link, and post the information.

Sheraton Hotels are part of the Starwood Group.

Starwood are the designated management company for the hotel which will be branded "Vanna Belle".

If you really want to know if there is any hope for Samui, just go up to the Santiburi Golf Club and take a look at the delightful view from there. Spoilt only by one thing! Look slightly left and you will see a monstrocity of a building clearly in breach of building height regulations by X2!

Your next move would be to make a few discreet enquiries as to who owns this project. When you find out, decide for yourself whether there is any hope.

The first person that has the balls to make someone actually pull down one of these buildings, rather than just "halt" construction will be the saviour of the Island on this particular issue anyway.

Yes it's disgusting, built on "agriculture only" land zoned as coconut groves. Another Coco project, it has been taken over by the Thai partner who is in charge of Coco's old " assets " I hear he's praying the swallows will nest there and make him another fortune !

Mmmmm. I may have been misinformed then, because I was told it was owned by the then head of planning!

That is my information too - Coco just advised on the marketing at the time and had no other interest.

Dr Ning is the one to go to.

Nathon Mon - Fri 0800-1530 Sat 0800-1200

She is on vacation at the moment but should be back soon.

Either Dr Ning is still on vacation, or her office Ph Nr has changed.

Anyone here know how she can be contacted?

Drove past her Lamai office yesterday and the shutters were up for the first time in a while so presume she must be back now.

Presumably this was just the application for the extension as my experience in the past has been that you then have to wait 30 days for the 12 month visa to be approved and put in your Passport. Did you actually get the 12 month extension there and then or have you to go back?

No problem with me. With weather the way it is you will lose reception now and then but the signal will com back. Don't panic.

This was not a weather problem - I am well used to that. Clear blue skies here on Samui.

This was specific to BBC and CNN - all other channels operated normally.

Did anyone else have this problem this morning?

BBC and CNN shown as scrambled channels.

All other channels working normally.