A quick update... for family and friends of the hotel

Lucy sent a couple of pics today of the new twin sun-loungers she's had made. Arranged with traditional Thai pyramid cushions and a small table in the middle, they'll do double duty as an agreeable spot to enjoy sundowners or a romantic supper on the beach. There's also evidence in the photos that Tik has got his kayak rental enterprise in operation.

In a January post I described how the beach had been dramatically altered by the tide, winds and raging torrent of the nearby monsoon-swollen stream. Contrast the views above, taken yesterday, of the beach fully restored by the action of the sea, with the one below from early January. "The sea may taketh, but thomtimes, the sea giveth back". Who said that? Doh! Me.

At about the same time in January, with the erection of a huge crane, I posted a warning that the site across the road was starting up again and with it, the potential for some unwelcome construction noise. No sooner had I formed the words than the site stopped and went back into hibernation. We have no authoritative information on when, or if, work will recommence.

For family and former guests, the news and some photo evidence that Blackhead has recovered from her near fatal poisoning. She was saved only by Lucy's quick response when the poor thing had dragged herself back to the hotel to die, in getting her to the vet pronto, Blackhead is seen here, playing like a pup with barman Tik, another faithful friend of the hotel.

I'm soooo looking forward to being in Samui for Songkran this time next month, especially as the occasion brings together the Hotel Family Holt and our partners for the first time in a couple of years. We've also got the bonus of my brother Nick; a good assortment of nephews and a niece, with their partners. Also a work friend and his wife from Dubai, all staying at the hotel at the same time. We'll have a blast and I can't wait to get on the end of Tik's attempts at a Siam Sunray while watching one of our spectacular sunsets.

photo credit: Chris Lyon - friend & multiple repeat guest

Coastal geomorphology at work... hey dude where's my beach!

From before Christmas until we left Samui on 2nd January the weather was not good. Uniformly grey, overcast skys allowed only infrequent periods of weak sunshine to filter through. We had a couple of nights of bucketing rain and several days of that fine, heavy drizzle that wets you through before you know it. To make matters much worse, the whole meteorological ensemble was accompanied, on most days, by strong onshore winds, choppy seas and high tides.

If we had intermittent rain at sea level it must have been chucking it down at the top of Samui's mountain on what remains of its rainforest. I know this not because of my passing familiarity with the water-cycle, but because the volume and velocity of water in the stream (klong) that appears during every monsoon and usually exits to the sea close to our near neighbours at The Waterfront, decided this year to straighten out and carve itself an new anus through our beach.

Planted when the hotel opened four years ago, this palm required Tik's intervention to survive. We have to hope the bar's decking doesn't need the same treatment in the coming days.

Tik directs kitchen staff and guests to lash our threatened baby palm to our biggest

Saved for now, but survival not assured

Assuming a mass of around 2000kg/cubic metre for our wet-packed, beach sand I reckon that we lost at least 500 ton to the combined effects of the weather and tides over a ten day period. Baan Bophut's beach will, of course, return to its normal, gentle slope to the sea once the klong's velocity and pressure gradient reduce. And that requires the period of clear, post monsoon weather that Samui is about to enter.

We love Orchids...

Orchids belong to the most diverse family of flowering plants known to man. There are over 28,000 species and well over 300,000 registered cultivars currently documented. The number of orchid species equals about four times the number of mammal species or more than twice the number of bird species. It also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants. About 800 new orchid species are added each year.

These numbers only begin to tell the true story behind the evolutionary success of modern day orchids. Orchids are the most rapidly (genetically) changing group of plants on earth and more new species have been discovered over the last few thousand years than any other plant group known.

Although orchids are commonly thought of as tropical flowers, they grow naturally in almost all climates other than deserts and glaciers. Despite their versatility, there is something distinctly exotic about orchids. They are intricately beautiful to the everyday flower lover and are considered to be some of the world’s most evolved flowers to flower specialists. Of the many orchid varieties, the Phalaenopsis (or Moth), Cymbidium, and Dendrobium orchids are the most popular types, and the Vanilla Orchid (and its vanilla bean) is the most highly produced variety.

The orchid species of lithophytes grow on rocks or very rocky soil, others grow terrestrially, but a majority of orchids are perennial epiphytes which grow anchored to trees or shrubs in the tropics.

Inspired by the epiphytes, and because they look so pretty we've just had about 55-60 beautiful orchid plants attached to five of our coconut palms. Chopped husk and fibre are the growing medium and trimmed coconut husks are used to hold the plants against the trunk. Symbiotic or what?

The orchids are perilously exposed to strong-salt laden winds and we really don't know if they will survive the inevitable battering from the on-shore winds of the soon to arrive monsoon, but they're receiving a lot of TLC from the staff and, as with all things, we live in hope.

We always have orchids in the hotel. Usually in reception and always on the tables in the restaurant.

Tik will often decorate cocktails with orchids or fruit and if he has run out at the bar it's usually from the restaurant table decorations that he will pillage replacements. We have no intention of 'farming' our new orchids and will still buy-in for decoration. Tik is under strict instructions not to use the new stock for his cocktails. He will be tempted by their proximity and hopefully, their abundance.

One of the best investments we ever made...

Apart from getting hooked up to the municipal water supply when it finally arrived at our end of the street the best improvement we made to Baan Bophut was to build our little beach bar - The Spirit House.

photo credit: Chris Lyon - friend & guest

It's the focal point we needed for guests to meet and mingle, and an idyllic location for a sundowner or three. It really is the perfect spot to enjoy some of Samui's glorious sunsets, and unlike many of the bars in the village, we usually catch the cooling onshore breeze that can pick up at the same time.

Quite apart from paying for itself quite quickly, it must have saved us a fortune as, for our family at least, it's become our favourite haunt of an evening. Since these photos were taken, the bar has been extended by about 70 cm to the west to create more space for when we need to use two barmen. The bar's decking has also been extended by 1.5m all around in response to guests' claims that they fell off - yeah right. Another table and additional stools are currently en route from Chiang Mai.

We must admit that a large part of the bar's draw is barman Tik, an intelligent, intensely curious and entertaining card-shark. He's been warned not to take money from guests, no matter how convinced they know where the queen is, or whatever. Like most Thais, Tik is also an enthusiastic cook and responsible for both, the idea and the implementation of our ever popular seafood dinners on the beach.

Irrepressible barman and card trickster Tik