Best restaurants will be hosting 3rd Fine Dining Festival

Make sure to visit the delectable Beyond the Sea restaurant

For the 3rd time, Koh Samui will be hosting the Samui Fine Dining Festival, starting on March 1. This festival will save place for 2 months, the last day of the event will be on April 30. This festival displays food from the islands best restaurants which include hotel restaurants, boutiques and various independent eateries.

The Cool Genie Group organizes this event, they are able to bring together a huge group of hotels and restaurants and treat the local residents with some of the funds food in Thailand. Eighteen restaurants will be participating this year.

If you are staying or planning on visiting Koh Samui between March 1 and April 30 we should definitely check out this festival. Who knows after trying some of the local food prepared especially for the festival you might end up going to that establishment later to eat a full course meal.

The organizer of the event Horst Honung stated that “Diners get value, exclusivity and originality, as every evening the restaurants and an elite of international chefs present the best they have to offer,” added Hornung. “A menu consists of a cold starter, hot starter, fish course, sorbet, meat course and dessert. The menus are priced at B2,800 to B3,500. No extra costs for service charge and government tax. For wine lovers, the menus are offered with matching wines for each course. But you can also order just menu only and order any beverage from the restaurant’s wine or drink list.”

Another top restaurant that unfortunately won't be present at this year’s event is Beyond the Sea. It features Tapas (hand food) and delectable Thai cuisine and has a panoramic view of the beautiful Koh Samui beaches. 

Getting Married in Paradise

Koh Samui is a great place to have wedding

Every woman's dream is to get married in paradise. The ShaSa Resort & Residencesin Koh Samui is able to make that dream come true. This five-star hotel has become well known for its unforgettable weddings. They offer 3 types of wedding packages each of them with distinct features.

Thai Wedding Package

Their 1st wedding package is the Thai traditional wedding. This package includes a Buddhist monk ceremony, long drum parade and water Blessing ceremony. The wedding is full of tropical flowers and comes with snacks and beverages for guests. Other notable things included in this package is a 2 night stay at the ShaSa hotel, winning spa package and bottled wine in the honeymoon room of the hotel.

Traditional Wedding Package

This package comes with a master of ceremony, beautiful tropical flower decorations throughout the venue in house music and DJ plus siliceous ceremonial wedding cake or cupcakes. The newlyweds will also receive 2 night stay at the hotel and romantic dinner for 2, and leading spa package

Private Wedding Package

The last option available is the private wedding package. This package includes a master of ceremony, tropical flower decorations inside or outside the venue and hand crafted flower tray for the wedding ring. Newlyweds will also receive a wedding cake, bride bouquet and corsage for the groom.

Please note that the Thai wedding package can be combined with one of the other 2 wedding packages. If you would like more details about the wedding packages at the ShaSa hotel then leave a comment. The hotel can also arrange for after wedding events such as the release of flying lanterns along the beach. In addition, professional photographers can also be booked through the hotel to make your beach or traditional wedding last for a lifetime.

Koh Samui Wake-up Call

Beautiful of Koh Samui in the morning

After Koh Samui experienced its worst-ever blackout in late 2012, local officials have drawn up plans to address the power supply problem in the island and launch development projects to better serve the 1 million tourists expected to visit the island in 2013. Issues that need to be resolved, in addition to power shortage, include water supply, garbage collection, and flooding.

Funding on projects to further improve Koh Samui’s prospect as a travel destination appears as one major hurdle. From over 500 million baht in annual taxes that have been collected from local business enterprises, only about 50 million baht remain for municipal use in public works projects that will support Koh Samui attractions to tourists, according to former mayor Ramnet Jaikwang. 

This surplus, which comes after deducting regular expenses, is meager, the ex-mayor said, adding that a government subsidy is needed in order to provide the necessary solutions to the problems experienced in the island recently.

Ramnet estimated that the 50-million baht surplus from business tax collections can only cover the repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructures. Additional funds are required for improvements on the 54-kilometer circumferential road of the island, out of which only 17 kilometers have been paved, he said. The 150 tons of garbage that has to be collected daily is another urgent item in the list of Koh Samui things to do for the local government.

The supply of fresh water is an added pressing concern, which Ramnet raised. He said the municipality would be served well if five dams for water supply are constructed instead of having small mires to conform to the green policy in Koh Samui. The ex-mayor decried the regular flooding in the island, blaming the refusal of beachfront property owners and coastal hotels to build drains or sewers because these are potential eyesores or would adversely affect their businesses. Infrastructure guidelines must be developed along these lines so that road drainage can be constructed, thereby allowing rainwater to flow more rapidly into the sea, he proposed.

The power supply should likewise be improved, the ex-mayor said, to cope with the rapid rise in the number of tourists that the island hosts.  Ramnet also called attention to the issue of foreigners acquiring land in Koh Samui through Thai nominees. He said this situation needs urgent government action, which may require a policy change. Moreover, he called for long-term zoning to designate land use for tourist-related, residential, and financial for easier management and property valuation. 

The Benefits of Eating Organic Grub in Koh Samui

Eating right in Koh Samui (photo courtesy of flickr)

A healthy, laidback and exciting lifestyle is one of those Koh Samui attractions, which have successfully lured  vacationers throughout the years. The health and wellness industry of this charming little tourist destination is impressive, as numerous establishments incorporate the use of state-of-the-art facilities, equipment, and special dietary programs.

Eating right is a key element in order for anyone to attain a happier and healthier lifestyle. In addition to the fact that Koh Samui weather conditions play a major role in growing healthy food, Samui farmers also exclude the use of extremely harmful pesticides and preservatives during cultivation periods.  

This is something that almost every major food corporation in the western world unfortunately doesn’t do. Canned goods, processed meat, packed fish, as well as “naturally-grown fruits and vegetables” are loaded with preservatives and other chemicals to prolong their shelf lives in order for their manufacturers to significantly widen their profit margins.

Other unnatural additives have also been included to reduce production costs to rake in even larger profits, and compete with their rivals. Allowing these detrimental elements to accumulate within the body is proven by scientific research to lead to the development of disorders such as diabetes, heart disease, brain tumours, cancer, and cardiac arrest.

Organic food – of which plenty may be found in Samui – don’t come with those nasty additives or preservatives to achieve better flavours or delay spoiling. They also have minimal exposure to pesticides that contain toxins – including lead, mercury, benzene and toluene -- which have been associated with allergic reactions, nerve disorders and cancer.

Aside from being insanely safer to digest, the nutritional value rendered by organic chow grown in this tropical island is comparatively greater. According to several recent studies, organic edibles have 29 percent more iron, 27 percent more vitamin C, and 14 percent more phosphorus.

Moreover, industrial broccoli was found to have significantly decreased amounts of vital nutrients, including 63 percent less calcium, and 34 percent less iron.

With all that said, its no surprise that people want to live a healthier lifestyle, which is easy to do in Koh Samui. Add this huge perk to the fact that the Koh Samui weather conditions are favourable throughout most of any year, a diversity of premier accommodations, a plethora of commercial/entertainment establishments, and plenty of nature reserves, and any individual would easily think that they truly are spending a vacation in paradise.

Drinking and Driving Don’t Mix in Koh Samui

Drinking and driving is not the smartest decision you can make in Thailand

When the Koh Samui weather conditions remain dry throughout the week, what’s the best thing to do in order to enjoy a lonely night? For many of this island’s visitors, that’d be heading down to a club and getting intoxicated with the local crowds.

As tempting as this may be for anyone belonging to the younger generation, sometimes its important to limit alcohol consumption, most especially when the party-goer chooses to drive himself home instead of hiring a taxi.

From the law’s point of view, the permissible limit of BAC levels for drivers is 0.5 grams. But for the bloke who had his driver’s license for less than five year, this limit drops down to 0.2 grams. The Thai government is doing everything that it can to reduce the number of drunk-driving incidents. Anyone that’s caught driving beyond the accepted BAC levels will either be heavily fined, or sentenced to jail – depending on how bad the accident is.

Thai police come equipped with breath test detectors for catching drunks. They also setup outposts throughout the entire country – Koh Samui included – and are given a greater level of freedom when it comes to dealing with woozy drivers.

It’s not surprising that the government is trying to clamp down on the issue, as studies show that there are roughly 25,000 deaths caused by intoxicated drivers every year. The frequency of such related accidents is even worse during festivals and special holidays, and reach as high as 800 deaths per day.

In the worst-case scenario, a vacationist could easily contribute to the statistic of dead motorists due to intoxication. He may even bump the annual figures even higher if he has passengers, or crashes into another vehicle or individual.

In other cases, the tourist may be lucky enough to walk away from the vehicular accident, with nobody – including himself – harmed. However, this leaves him in a world of trouble with the law. Again, he’ll most likely be made to be a hefty fine, or spend the night cramped in a jail cell with other sadistic inmates who’ve been waiting to get their hands on a foreigner!

When out partying, it’s always best to leave the car behind, and take a taxi home instead. Koh Samui government highlights the importance of setting limits for alcohol intake for the sake of personal safety, as well as the greater good of all.