27 Jul

27 July - Google Earth has updated their high resolution photos and the northern section of Koh Chang can now be seen in detail, rather than a blur. Even down to zooming in on individual houses - such as the red roofed house in this photo which is mine. Well worth a look if you're planning a trip to KC, but the photo used is over 18 months old, as our footbridge was built in Nov 2004 and doesn't appear on it. Also everywhere south of our place isn't in high resolution.

Here's a very good deal for anyone wanting to have a business on Koh Chang. Forget about renting a little shop unit or taking over a restaurant or internet cafe and rent yourself a resort which was built under a year ago. 3 Rai (4,800sqm) of land with 15 ensuite fan bungalows, a 300sqm restaurant, quiet area on a hillside above the main road in Lonely Beach. Bars & shops are only 5 mins walk away. Land rent paid until May 2007. 11 years lease remaining. Price: 2.2 Million baht - including all kitchen equipment, all bedding, two phone lines & a website. Annual land rent is 110,000/year - fixed for the next 11 years. All you need do is hire a couple of staff and you're up & running. (This is genuinely a very nice little resort with great views, I've been recommending it to people who email me looking for quiet, clean, good value, conveniently located backpacker huts.)

The Larry King Award for insightful questioning this week goes to, ironically, a CNN producer who stayed at our place last week. Using his searching journalistic mind to discover what really makes 'Baan Rim Nam' tick, his leading question was "So, where does the dog shit?" It had been playing on his mind for a while apparently, and the idea of the dog taking himself off down the footbridge to the coconut field hadn't been considered as a possibility. Taking another leaf out of the 'King of Talk's' book, we then spent the next half hour discussing the plight of those caught in the middle of the Israeli shelling of Lebanon - featuring the story of an IDF gunner who tripped over a spent shell casing and twisted his ankle, leading him to miss his brother's Bar Mitzvah the following day. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.

Another week, another warning/threat email from an expat living on Koh Chang saying that I shouldn't mention any businesses or any specifics about Koh Chang "Just talk about the island" because "30 baht of gas and a match later...Think about it, people have time on their hands during low season" Fortunately that was countered by just over 100 emails this past week from people thinking of visiting the island, all of whom seemed pretty happy about what they've read on the site.