24 Apr

April 24 - The Koh Chang International Triathlon Championship, is set for May 21st. Competitors will start at White Sand Beach with a 1.5km swim, then cycle 40km before a 10km run to the finish line at the Koh Chang Lagoon Hotel. Prizes, medals for participants and no doubt lots of posing and handshakes from local dignitaries. No idea how you can enter though as the tourist authority's finely tuned publicity machine hasn't made this info public yet.

Spa Samui, will open their new Koh Chang operation aimed at the healthy and want to be healthy sections of the tourist market, on May 1st. The new venture is named either 'The Spa Koh Chang Resort' or 'Seamazon Spa the Health Resort Koh Chang' depending on if you read the info on www.spasamui.com/spakohchang.htm or www.seamazon.com. It's located down in Salakkok, hidden away amongst the mangroves. I had a quick look in when I was in the area the other week and very nice it is too but still needs quite a lot of work doing if it really is opening on May 1st. But it may well be the resort to put Salakkok on the tourist map.

Anyone want an internet cafe on Whitesands? Good location, well known, everything in place - just turn up, hand over 320,000 baht and it's yours.

Anyone want to rent a bungalow long term. A friend has one for 10,000 baht/month to lease long term - 6 or 12 month renewable contract. Bedroom, bathroom, living room and additional room that can be used for storage/spare room etc. Quiet location, off road parking, and has a private swimming pool you can use. (We lived in the bungalow next door to this when we first came to Koh Chang.)

Lots of traffic jams on Koh Chang over Songkran, the Thai New Year holidays. The Bangkok Post reckoned on over 2,000 cars coming onto the island. The traffic flow wasn't helped on the day when everyone was leaving, as a Thai royal decided to come here for a day trip which resulted in roads being cordoned off for her and her entourage. The party ate at Aana Resort, (wouldn't be my choice for a mid-afternoon meal) and I'm sure my excitement at seeing her matched her delight at watching the farang opposite.

The second installment of my 'Koh Chang Real Estate' trilogy for Thailand Real Estate Magazine is online now at their site and in print in the magazine. Read it on www.thailand-property-guide.com.

Down in Bangbao it appears a new housing project is underway, a couple of signs for 'Aana Resident Project' have appeared. Call me cautious but it's always a worrying sign when a developer doesn't make any effort to check the three words of English on the sign.

A new coffee booth opened a week ago in Kai Bae, Sawasdee Coffee. The good news is that it's cheap - 35 baht for iced coffee. The bad news is that it's undrinkable.