Southeast Asia Travel Journal

I’m back in Chiang Mai for the holiday celebrating the beginning of the rains retreat. It’s been more than a year since my last visit, but not much has changed. When I arrived last night, I took it from all the lights on that the Le Meridien was finally open, but it turned out to just be an expensive and wasteful display. The hotel is almost finished, but it ain’t open yet. Apparently, it will soft-open next month. The hotel is located more or less in the heart of the night bazaar, which should make it a good location, especially if you’ve got Starwood points to use. I can’t say that the exterior design really impresses me, but compared to what’s around that area, including the new Shangri-La hotel, it isn’t bad.

The pool and guest rooms of the Manathai Village.

 
As for me, I’m staying at the Manathai Village, a small hotel in the warren of narrow alleys between the night bazaar and the old city. The location is handy, and quiet at night, but the streets around it are quite a maze, so if you have a bad sense of direction, you might get lost trying to find your way back to the place on foot. Many taxis seem to know it, as the airport taxi guy seemed to know exactly where he was going.

Manathai is from the same mold as Tamarind Village and Tri Yaan Na Ros, both of which I’ve stayed at before. All these hotels shoot for designs with a bit of local flavor, through simple white-washed spaces and clean-lined dark wooden furniture. Each of them will appeal to some people, and totally turn off others. My room at the Manathai is comfortable enough, and in looking around at the other rooms this morning, it seems I have one of the least desirable rooms in the property. If you decide to stay here, go for the deluxe or better rooms, and try to get one on the second floor for more privacy.

As with many "design" hotels, there are a few annoying details, or lack of them. The part that’s lacking is any place to put my suitcase, other than on the floor. The other detail is the towel rack, which is on the farthest wall of the bathroom, behind the huge square bathtub. The trouble with this is that if you’re taking a shower using the separate rain-shower head, you have to step into the tub to reach a towel. It’s kind of silly when there’s plenty of space on the wall next to the shower for a towel rod.

Aside from the above minor annoyances, there are some very nice things about Manathai. The room has free wi-fi Internet access, and if you don’t carry your laptop with you, there are some computers in the library to use free of charge. The library also has several DVDs you can borrow to watch in your room, if there’s nothing on the several cable channels that appeals. Breakfast was also a surprise. The buffet is rather small, as you might expect from a place with only 20 to 30 rooms, but most everything is well made, fresh. I haven’t seen any frozen processed hash-browns or warmed up sliced ham. This morning they had freshly shredded potatoes and big chunks of ham stir-fired with onions and sweet peppers. There’s no "egg station" as they do at most hotels. Instead, you order your eggs from a list of half-dozen choices and the waiter will bring them to your table from the kitchen.

From today’s Bangkok Post:

Choochat Dulayapraphatsorn, 46, beat three other candidates during the village head election in his community late last month, and last Wednesday he was effectively appointed by a district chief as the village chief of Ban Moo 3, tambon Tai Ban Mai, Muang district.

Mr Choochat, called "Je Kob’" or older sister Kob by villagers, said he decided to run for the post after serving as an assistant. The election was held after the previous village head resigned.

Mr Choochat said he believes the residents voted for him because they have witnessed what he has contributed to their community over many years.

One of the comfortable departure lounges at Samui Airport

When it first opened more than 20 years ago, the Samui Airport received a lot of attention for it’s “un-airport” style architecture. The open-air terminal buildings were totally unlike anything ever seen in this part of the world. Twenty years is a long time for any commercial building, especially an airport, so it should come as no surprise that the airport has recently undergone an extensive renovation. I got to the airport early this morning to check out all the changes.

Actually, they pretty much built a whole new airport terminal complex south of the original terminal buildings. The new complex is a bit more sophisticated than the original grass-roofed huts, but many of the original design concepts are still there. The departure gates are still open-air pavilions, connected by covered walkways. You’re still whisked to and from the plane in open-sided trams. And, if you’re flying on Bangkok Airways, there’s still a complementary snack bar.

There are a few new ideas at Samui as well. They were just putting the finishing touches on the biggest change while I was there today. The old airport had almost nothing in the way of shopping or restaurants, but now they’re preparing to rectify that in a big way. “Samui Park Avenue”, as it’s being called, is a full scale shopping arcade, with several restaurants as well as name brand shops like Jim Thompson and Harnn & Thann. The arcade is sited between the check-in hall and the entrance to the departure lounges, so anyone departing Samui will get a chance to stroll through it. Even if you’re not flying out of the airport, a visit to the new shopping arcade might be interesting.

Get all the details at the updated Samui Airport Guide at Asia-Airports.com.

Having finished my initial scuba training yesterday, the instructor invited me on a day trip to Koh Taen, a small island just off the southern tip of Samui. We started out driving up to the viewpoint near the top of the highest peak in Samui, which has great views to the south, where we were heading. Then it was back down the hill and to a small fishing village near Laem Sor. The south of Samui is still mostly undeveloped, although it doesn’t look like it will be for much longer.

The almost deserted beach at Koh Taen, south of Samui.

 
We took two fishing boats out about 30 minutes to Koh Taen. We anchored at the south end of a long beach on the east side of the island, near a reef. The tide was low at this point, so the top of the reef was above water. This was a really great spot, at a pretty good time. I just let myself float on top of the water, drifting along the face of the reef, which was full of fish. It took very little effort to steer in the water. I gave my new pocket camera - which claimed to be waterproof to 10 meters - a try, and got a couple of decent pictures, which you’ll find in the gallery.

Next we hauled anchor and went to a smaller island just next to Koh Taen, called Koh Mat Sum. This island is deserted and has a long white sandy beach facing Koh Taen. Some people sun-bathed, a few went snorkeling again, while I and a few others walked down the beach, looking at the wild plants and trees, and doing a bit of shell collecting.

Lastly, we went back to Koh Taen, where we landed this time and had lunch at a tiny little resort on the beach. There aren’t many people here, and we only saw one other small boat of tourists, so this place is really off the tourist trail. The food was really good (highly recommend the curry chicken). After lunch, I walked down the beach to a small rocky island. Away from the others, I was struck by how quiet it was. There was no boom box blaring, as there almost always is everywhere in Thailand, there was no sound at all. As I was walking, it took me a while to realize that an occasional “shhhh” I kept hearing was the sound of an little wavelet of water running through the course sand on the beach. What a great day away from the crowds!

See the Koh Samui photo gallery for more pictures of this idyllic island get-away.

This is part two of my experience learning scuba. Read part one first.

Today is the big day. I get my first taste of diving beneath the waves. Am I nervous? You bet.

Adam picks me up early and drives us to the pier in Bang Rak. We’re taking the ferry that runs from Samui to Phangan and on to Koh Tao. The ferry is quite comfortable, especially if it rains on the way back, which it can do at this time of year. The ferry also doubles as a day-trip boat for snorkelers, so after it docks in Koh Tao, it moves on to Koh Nang Yuan and pulls up right next to our dive boat. While the day trippers go out the back to fishing boats, we transfer our gear to the dive boat, where a couple of other divers are already waiting. Adam gives everybody an introduction to the rules of the boat, then he and I go over the dive plan, which is pretty simple for my first dive.

We’re moored over a spot known as the Japanese Garden, for it’s many cabbage-shaped corals. We get the equipment ready, then suit up, and it’s over the side of the boat - backwards - another challenge. We swim over to the buoy that the boat is tied to, then follow it down into the water. I’m focused on trying to remember all the things I’m supposed to do to dive safely - breathe, equalize, breathe, maintain neutral buoyancy, breathe, clear the mask - remember the comparison to learning to drive a car? It really does become automatic after a while, and you do get a chance to view some of the scenery, although that too can be a distraction.

Denizens of the deep. I’m the one in back.

The first dive is finished after only 25 minutes. It’s not a complete success – I have problems with the all-important neutral buoyancy – but hey, it’s my first time. We stow the gear then climb up to the top deck, where lunch is served. After lunch, we cast off and move around to the other side of the island, to a site known as the Twin Peaks, or just the Twins. We get ready for the second dive. If anything, I’m more nervous about this one, knowing all the little things that I did wrong on the first dive.

Fortunately, this dive goes a lot better. I get my form in order and move through the water a lot easier, which is just as well, because the scenery here is fantastic. There are many more types of coral, as well as lots more fish, as well as sea slugs, urchins and many others. I’m actually disappointed when the dive ends, but my air gage is getting close to the ‘danger’ zone, so I don’t argue.

My instructor took more pictures of me and what we saw on the second dive. See his photo gallery for more.