Seeing as the Siam Royal View development will now cover the entire length of Chang Noi Beach on Koh Chang it's hard to ignore what will eventually be the largest luxury development of it's kind in Thailand. (Well over 50% larger than the next biggest development which is in Phuket.) In addition to the beach front villas & bungalows, a 50 Rai plot of land has been bought inland for developing into cheaper housing for people who are happy to walk to the beach in return for saving a few million baht. Big developments such as this aren't really my cup of tea, although I wouldn't mind one of the waterfront plots with boat mooring that will be on sale later this year or the large plot at the very end of the beach - a triangular shape with water on two sides and private beach area. Very nice if you've got 20 million baht handy. But I can see the advantages for people who aren't yet living in Thailand permanently or are just looking for a holiday home and aren't interested in all the hassles that go along with watching over Thai labourers and dealing with petty bureaucracy. Therefore, there's now a Siam Royal View section on this site covering pretty much all you need to know.
We've had some nice weather recently which is good. However, just because the sun is out that doesn't mean that the sea is safe to swim in at this time of year. (The white topped waves crashing against the shore should be an indicator.) If it's cloudy no-one goes near the sea, but as soon as the sun comes out people go in & forget about the possibility of riptides etc. Unfortunately, this is what happened on Aug 12th when a Dutch woman drowned off Whitesands Beach, her husband & sister were rescued, but she died. The news reports of this incident went for the sensationalist angle and described a them being washed out to sea by a tidal wave or mini-tsunami - which is nonsense. Just down to people not expecting currents & undertow and then panicking when they get swept out to sea.
Meanwhile on Klong Prao, beach four Thai tourists also had to be pulled out of the water after being taken out to sea by the current. BUT . . according to a Thai guy we know who works for the local rescue organisation, and was at the scene, three of them died. However, there haven't been any news reports about this. (Maybe four people drowning on the same day would be too much bad publicity.) There are no official lifeguards or red warning flags on the beaches so if you do see anyone out patrolling the beach that almost certainly means that an incident has recently taken place.
Totally unrelated to Koh Chang . . . but the Hollywood remake of 'Bangkok Dangerous' (called 'Time to Kill') is currently being filmed in Bangkok and they're looking for extras right now. Both the original and the remake are directed by Danny & Oxide Pang from Hong Kong but Nicholas Cage will be playing the hitman this time round rather than an unknown Thai actor, although he won't be a deaf mute as in the original movie: "We'd like to keep him the same, but we understand that from a marketing point of view Nic needs to have some lines", Oxide Pang is quoted as saying.
The original is one of the best Thai movies you'll come across and it's well worth picking up a copy simply for the scenes in which Kong, accompanied by the ghost of his dead friend, walk through a Japanese restaurant in order to gun down the guys who killed his mate; and the super slo-mo ending where you see individual glasslike, rain drops falling as Kong does what he believes is the right thing to atone for his crimes. (I won't spoil the ending for you.)
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Just added more details of the lovely little housing development on Koh Mak. I just received a detailed plot plan and some floor plans for the two styles of house. Nine of the sixteen plots have already been sold with seven remaining. If you've got 60 -75,000 Euros to spend on an island retreat with a large garden (500sqm of land) and only a few minutes walk from two long sandy beaches then take a look.
