Ever wondered what the first symptoms of heartworm in a dog look like? Neither had I until blood started pouring out of our dog's nostrils the other day. Fortunately we were in Rayong at the time and know the vet there very well. So after three injections, a course of pills and a day spent holding an ice pack on the dog's snout 'Santa' made a quick recovery.
It's around this time of year that our thoughts turn to the annual commemorations of the Battle of Koh Chang, a France vs. Thailand naval encounter in January 1941. Our thoughts also turn to thinking that it'd be helpful if certain websites mentioned the annual celebrations in advance in the future. So, had you been at the naval memorial on the mainland a couple of days ago you would have seen naval top brass staring out to sea in obligatory sombre mood. If this sounds like a reason to visit Koh Chang in mid-January 2008, best pencil it in to your diary now.
Thai TV station iTV ran a series of news features on Koh Chang. They had their helicopter buzzing around the skies over Koh Chang 3 weeks ago and the results of their trip were aired last week. I only saw one as I tend to have better things to do that watch any Thai TV channel. This was about the changes in Bangbao and how the poor fishing folk had moved out to be replaced by restaurateurs and dive companies. Not exactly ground breaking investigative journalism but some nice aerial pictures.
Dominic from 'Six Billion Others' was on Koh Chang interviewing Thais for this art project which will result in a video installation in a Paris gallery. The project, headed by French artiste Yann Arthus-Bertrand is sponsored by Apple & Air France amongst others and consists of a team of six people travelling the world conducting identical interviews with people about their lives, hopes and dreams. The end results should see the light of day in 2008. For now see www.goodplanet.org for more info. Is it only the French who can get away with this type of thing, call it art and find corporate sponsors to boot?
Mr Kampon Jaroenkajornkul, head of Trat tourism business association, spoke to the Bangkok Post regarding tourism post NYE bombs ''After the bombings, around 10% of visitors to Koh Chang decided to leave the island for fear of their safety.'' So where did these tourists who felt they were holidaying in an unsafe environment whilst on one of the sleepiest islands in Thailand go to? They couldn't go home as flights were full. They couldn't go to Bangkok obviously. Other tourist hot spots would be far higher up a list of potential terrorist targets than Koh Chang, so Samui, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket etc were out. My guess is either they all went next door to the peace loving nation of Cambodia or Mr Kampon may be talking nonsense. Ruling out the first option on the grounds that I only included it so that there'd be a choice of options, you're left with the second. Given that a lot of people had only booked into Koh Chang's hotels until the 2 or 3 of January there was bound to be a definite drop off in hotel occupancy for the following week, which has picked up again now. Why the quiet second week of January? Possibly because a lot of money grabbing resorts charge 'Peak Season' prices until mid-January so unless you really have to visit in the first two weeks of the year anyone with a brain will delay their holiday until the second half of the month and prices have come down. (The full news story including Mr Kampon's 15 minutes of fame is here).
Google hate me. They stopped me showing ads on this site for a reason they won't specify so there goes a couple of thousand baht in monthly ad revenue. So if you've got something crap you want to advertise let me know and I may be desperate enough to take you up on the offer. Otherwise, I've still got two kidneys and so one is up for grabs to the highest bidder.
Need a Buddhist prayer for a special occasion? Perhaps one to keep you safe whilst riding your motorbike? Or do you simply to ward off ghosts but don't what to say? Mam donated a couple of thousand prayer books to Klong Prao temple as they didn't have any. So it's bonus points for us in the eyes of the Lord Buddha and my thoughts of reincarnation as a cockroach are now firmly in the past.
Try Tapas Bar on Whitesands for a pre- dinner drink on the beach. Nice, friendly little bar on the sand with no thumping music.
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