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16.07.’10 Hi Everyone! Wow, these weeks just fly by! We have Shellie, Ryan, Kerris & Jordan here who live, work or go to school in Saudi Arabia, and here at the recommendation of their friends, Jillie & Simon, who stayed earlier in the year. Thank you Jillie & Simon! Hope you are OK! We have Sue & Tom back for the second time, here two years ago, and Bill here on his fifteenth visit, but missing his football and cricket conversations with Robin, whom you know is away until next Monday, (he can’t wait to come back, by the way, although I know he’s had a really good time meeting up with many friends and our daughter in the UK). Lovely new guests like Sue, Jeremy, Hannah & Ben from the UK, (Jeremy & Ben have been taking a diving course), Christophe & his son, Coma, (that’s French for Cosmo and I don’t have a circumflex on my keyboard, do you?), from just outside Paris. Coma and Ryan shared a birthday yesterday, so there were two birthday cakes and fireworks on the beach. Coma told his dad that it was the best birthday he had ever had and that he would remember it for the rest of his life - such a great young man, now of eleven years. Oliver & Melanie were here recently from Germany, Franco and his family just returned to Italy, Prem, Rada, Bavnique and Nicol just left too, a lovely Indian family living in the UK. Thomas, Gregg & Laura from Denmark just left, Rob & Rachel from UK just zoomed over to Koh Tao and Jens & Signe also from Denmark extended their stay and are coming back again today. We’ve had Daniel & Astrid from just outside Paris, Florence & Vianney also from near Paris, Serge & Martine coming in today from Paris itself, (I read recently that there is a big Thailand promotion in France just now), Magdalena & Mercedes from Spain have just arrived, one a Spanish teacher and one a French teacher, neither of whom speak too much English, and I welcomed them in French for at least half an hour which was quite amazing as I have been tongue-tied with Coma all week. Must have been something to do with the fact that two visitors came into the hotel earlier today and asked me if I were French, so I sort of fell into the role after that. Mark & Barbara, Dave & Jill were here from the South of England Sunday Lunch Club - the list just goes on and I’m sorry I cannot include them all. We’ve had lots of bookings over the past week which is a healthy sign and we so look forward to meeting and welcoming everyone to our hotel. I have just updated the room notes as there have been a few more changes in the village and, as I did so, I realised, once again, how lucky we are to be situated so well on a beachfront with a beautiful view and at the quiet end of a charming village with lots of excellent restaurants, bars and boutiques just steps away. It really is an ideal holiday destination. For those of you who used to rave about Tongchai restaurant and then were sad when it left Bophut, (it actually moved to Ban Rak), as from yesterday it is back again, just before the junction/pier where the Indian restaurant used to be, (that’s now further along in the village on the left, where Lord Nelson used to be, by the way). There always seems to be something new happening, never a dull moment! The Friday Walking Street is getting busier. I haven’t walked along it since my return, due to a rather badly stubbed toe, and don’t know if I can today. The stallholders will be setting up again soon, directly outside our hotel, with all sorts of different wares, probably more for the locals than the visitors, but the event is an interesting and authentic ingredient and one very much enjoyed by our guests, they tell me. Khun Raine and Khun Joe brought their little baby, Khun Kran, (short for Songkran), into the hotel to show everyone and he was delightful – 3 months old now. Khun Pim will be bringing hers in soon too, but she’s only 6 weeks, at the moment. So Khun Carol brought hers in, but he’s 19 years old and then Khun Arom, (Cooking), brought her son in and he’s 30 years old! Next time I write, Robin will have returned to the fold and things will be back to normal. Mind you, this is hardly normal, is it? Come and see for yourself. Have a look at your diary and send us that e-mail . . . Best wishes Sue 04.07.’10 Hello everyone, here I am again, albeit somewhat late. Very hot and sunny here, at the moment, in fact we’ve hardly had any rain for months, so the island is becoming very short of water. We have our own well which is fine, so don’t worry, we’ll have enough for you when you visit! Our guests have been enjoying their holiday and four couples this week have extended their stay. We’ve had birthdays, anniversaries and honeymoons to celebrate and we are so lucky to be in such a happy and beautiful environment. Khun Pa has gone to the mainland to rest for a month. We do hope that she will come back to us soon as she is such a lovely girl. We have Khun Jem here temporarily who is doing massages and helping the room maids too. Most of our guests have forgotten to vote for the Employee of the Month this time, so we are postponing it until next month as the votes actually cast are all equal and there isn’t an outright winner. I should like to wish Simon, a friend who has been here many times, and his wife, Pieeza, (misspelt, I know), a long and happy marriage and hope to see them either here or in the UK within the year. They sent me a couple of photos which were wonderful. Glyn and Emi, guests who have visited us twice in the past few months, should be taking their vows in Geneva around this time. I wish them well and hope that they too can find the time in their busy lives to send me a couple of photos of their happy day. Robin has been in the UK almost two weeks, with another two to go. Like the rest of England, he was so disappointed with the football team in the World Cup and he immediately turned the channel to watch the cricket which was much better, of course. And Bill’s special trip here, primarily to watch the World Cup with his daughter, Julie, took on rather a sad turn at the match aftermath. However, a couple of Bacardi & Cokes later, (no ice), and Bill was back to his old self. Had roast chicken with him today, actually, and Michael, our son, too at the Lazy Coconut. Excellent! Then, one of Khun Fon’s cappuccinos when I got back and I was yim, mark, mark (very, very full)! The Friday Walking Street is becoming quite busy, by all accounts. I couldn’t walk along it this or last week as I’d hurt my foot, but I hear that there are lots of stalls each side of the street now and they actually start directly outside the hotel. Shall be walking and looking next time. Well, without Boss, Madame has to keep the home fires burning and I have more daily tasks to tick off my list, so I’d better get to it. I hope you are arranging your holidays and I hope that you are seriously thinking of coming to see us. It’s amazing how many guests, on arrival, say the word ‘paradise’ and we’d so love you to come and see for yourselves. Just send an e to sue@thewaterfrontbophut.com Best wishes Sue 22.06.'10 Hello from sunny Samui! First of all, so sorry if you haven't been able to access this page over the past couple of days. Thankfully, it's OK now. I thought we had lost years of news, so have copied it all into Word should anything ghastly happen again. Well, I'm back in the fold and how lovely the hotel is looking! The gardens are lush, the buildings are gleaming and the staff are still smiling. I always realise how lucky we are when I've been away. Our hotel and our village and, indeed, the island of Koh Samui seem a million miles away from everywhere, just the place to escape to if you're feeling in need of a good holiday. Sadly, Khun Poll has left us. He had family problems and is moving back to the mainland to be with his family. We shall miss him greatly as will many of our guests, I know. However, he has been admirably replaced by Khun Joe, Khun Raine's boyfriend, who has helped us in the past and who recently stood in for Khun Poll whilst he was away on holiday. Khun Joe is a super guy and I am sure our guests will love him, indeed I have heard many comments to this effect already. Khun Raine came back early from her maternity leave and is well ensconced, bringing a smile to everyone's face as she goes about her daily duties, and Khun Pim is also coming back early from her maternity leave too. How marvellous! Khun Pa, our excellent masseuse, is still away on sick leave, however. She had breathing problems last month, but I am pleased to say that she is on the road to recovery. We wish her well and look forward to having her back with us soon. I wasn't too well myself when I returned, but had to get a move on as Robin left last night for the UK via Dubai where he is visiting our friend, Richard. He is flying on the A380 for three hops of his trip, so I hope he enjoys it. He is seeing our daughter, Charlotte, on Friday evening whom I miss already even though I was only with her a week ago. Still, I am happy to say that I have our son, Michael, here who treated himself to a brand new motorbike today. He is feeling very proud of it and himself. He's helped me enormously over the past 24 hours, so I am being very ably assisted in Robin's absence. Whilst I was in the UK, I had dinner with Peter, Dot, Rod and Jo, guests of ours who met here earlier this year. It was a wonderful experience as both the company and the food were excellent. Peter gave me a hat which I just had to wear during dinner and which I shall treasure. Thank you again, Peter! I tried to see most people whilst I was back, but couldn't see Tony and Hilary, Steve and Val, Mark and Jan or Paul for which I profusely apologise. I had intended seeing them during the last part of my stay, but then had car problems so spent most of my time on foot. Unusual weather there, actually, sometimes boiling hot and sometimes cold enough for a winter coat, scarf, gloves and hat. It's certainly been hot in Samui this year, but is cooling down slightly although Bill, who's back again to watch the World Cup with his daughter, Julie, is finding it somewhat warm. He'll be OK though. Nothing gets past Bill! Having said that, he was looking rather perturbed during the first two England matches . . . I am gradually getting to know all the guests especially as new ones arrive. Robin says that they have been very happy and many have said they are coming back, which is always a good sign. We are very lucky indeed to have so many returning guests and we always enjoy seeing them again. Peter said that I was a bit Mills & Boon in a recent news report, so I shall watch that I don't get carried away with myself. Sometimes though, it all seems like a fairy tale here and plain facts don't always do it justice. Come and see for yourself. We'll be waiting . . . Very best wishes Sue 29.05.'10 Hi Everybody! Still in the UK and experiencing both very hot and quite cold weather. It's still beautifully hot in Koh Samui and our guests there have been enjoying it very much. Khun Pim had a baby girl a couple of days ago, but no name as yet. Both girls are doing well and I'm very much looking forward to seeing them. Khun Pa, one of our massage girls, was rushed to hospital earlier today with breathing problems, so we hope that she will be well again very soon. These girls of ours are really lovely and I just want to give them a big hug! Although we have had some fantastic reviews on www.tripadvisor.com, we just had a bad one. These guests booked at the last moment and, as they were in a muddle, Robin and I collected them from their hotel. I treated them to coffee there as we had to wait for Robin to collect another couple just nearby and had a huge chat with them about their life and, when they arrived at our hotel, they loved it so much that they immediately booked two further nights. I asked them if they were sure and, yes, they were. The next day, they told me that they decided to move on as they couldn't jog along our beach very easily and that our swimming pool wasn't big enough for them to swim lengths. Had they spent longer looking on our website, they would have seen the size of our pool and that our sand is not the softest, but that it is clean and our view spectacular. Anyway, they assured me that they loved the hotel, but that it was just a question of keeping fit and so they moved on. One of the last reviewers said that they themselves had received red carpet treatment when they arrived at our hotel, well I can assure you that this couple did too and both Robin and I are amazed at this review. Oh, well! Also, I know that other guests were not grumbling about the pool as we had thirty returning rooms, (guests who had stayed from two to fourteen times), before, during and after they stayed and the majority of these have already booked again. I would just mention that we have been living here for seven years in August, we opened the hotel as The Waterfront nearly six and a half years ago and every day, never mind every week, month or year, we are painting, varnishing and keeping our hotel in a splendid condition for our guests whom we love to welcome, so 'ten years ago' does not really come into it at all. This is only a short one as I cannot tell you about the daily happenings in our lovely hotel except to say that Robin is, as always, doing his utmost to give our guests his best attention and, as I said above, they have all been enjoying it very much. Juan, who stayed nearly three weeks, left for his two weeks in Phuket which he had booked before leaving the UK. He had only been there a day when Robin picked up the phone to hear, " . . . could I come back, please? I don't like it here very much . . " and so Juan is back and very happy again. I am meeting Peter and Dot in Norwich next weekend. You may remember, they have stayed with us three times and they have asked Rod and Jo, whom they met here and whom I also mentioned in these notes, to join us all for dinner. That should be a very enjoyable evening and I look forward to it very much. And I look forward too to returning to my little piece of paradise where I shall be next time I write. Meanwhile, look ahead to your next holiday and start planning to spend it here. The troubles in Bangkok will be over soon and everything will be back to normal. You'd never know in Koh Samui anyway and it's only affecting a small area in Bangkok and nowhere near the airport, so flights are carrying on as normal. You could always fly here via Singapore or Hong Kong . . . See you soon then? Send us an e-mail and we'll write straight back with our availability. Best wishes Sue 10.05.’10 Hi There! Thought I’d just write a little one before I jet off to the UK. I must say it will be very sad to leave this wonderful paradise. The sun is shining, all the reds, oranges, pinks and purples of the bougainvilleas are in vibrant mode because of the bright light as are the frangipanis now dazzling us too with their whiteness, the greens of the leaves are luminescent today, the blues of the sky, the sea and the swimming pool, cerulean, aquamarine, sapphire and turquoise are all so different, but piece together beautifully as in a mosaic, the gentle breeze softly sways the whispering fronds of the palm trees, the freshly swept beach begs you to walk along it to pastures new or to dip your toes into the sea, but the sea itself gently pulls you in, daring you to swim over to the now indigo island of Koh Phangan which sits on the horizon, queen of the archipelago, totally calm and majestic. All of a sudden a guest jumps into the pool to cool himself, splashing the water as he goes, whilst the girl in blue silk throws a stainless steel shaker from side to side, that rhythmic clatter of ice mixing and blending Bacardi, Malibu, pineapple and coconut. She knocks the freezing shaker with a spoon to release the air and pours the frothy nectar into a highball glass. She then decorates it with pineapple and an orchid and puts it on the bar in front of the guest who is now rubbing a blue towel over his deeply bronzed body, refreshed from his swim. He thanks her, throws the towel over his shoulder and sits at the bar. He looks out at the view, picks up the Pina Colada and takes a sip. Sheer bliss. That guest could be you. I certainly wish it were me, the female version that is. Yes, the weather has been superb and, Friday night, we had our walking street again which was busier than before. We think it will be a very good thing for the village and that our guests will enjoy it very much. I’ve written today just in case I can’t write again as soon as I’d like, but I must tell you that, if you haven’t been here, you should really give it some thought. If you don’t know where to go for your next holiday, why not come to see us? Come to see our delightful island, our delightful village, our delightful hotel and our delightful staff. Whatever age you are, wherever you come from, whether you are alone, one of a couple or one of a group, we shall do our best to make your holiday one to remember. Look at your diary. Promise yourself a break. Come to see us. You won’t be sorry. Best wishes Sue 01.05.’10 Hello to you all after a week away enjoying a holiday of our own. A week in Hua Hin, as I said before. Yes, it was very nice, and no, we did not receive a royal invitation. I am pleased to be back in our little hotel, however, especially for the following reasons: I do not like having to walk miles to get anywhere and here it takes only seconds to get to the beach, (well, we’re practically on it!), it takes only seconds to get to the restaurant, it takes only seconds to get to the bar, it takes only seconds to get to the pool, it takes only seconds to get to your room and it takes only a gentle walk to the village to enjoy many lovely restaurants; our view of the outlying islands takes a lot to beat; our beach is much better than many, many other beaches in Thailand and it is clean; even though our sea here is only swimmable four months out of the year directly in front of the hotel, you are still able to swim outside the reef where the sea is deeper, (a gentle walk along the beach of, say, 65 metres), for the other eight months and, of course, we have a pool, (not huge, but adequate for cooling off and very good for socialising – didn’t speak to one guest whilst we were away which is unheard of here); our chairs are actually comfortable; everything works in our rooms which themselves are constantly maintained; our cappuccinos are twice as big at half the cost and are of a much, much better standard than any we sampled; our internet and wireless is free, (we paid 450 Baht per day for wireless); you can swim here late in the evening if you are quiet and considerate, (which our guests are, of course); our staff actually understand the menu and are able to understand and speak an acceptable standard of English, (Raine can even speak Dutch); our breakfast offers, amongst other things, eggs which are cooked properly, bacon and sausages of a good quality which are also cooked properly, toast which is actually toasted and you don’t have to wait an age for it; there’s a daily newspaper and lots of books and magazines and last, but certainly not least, there is no music invading our wonderful peace and tranquility! No, we’re not perfect. No, we’re not five-star, (we only have eighteen rooms and don’t have the space or the facilities or indeed the inclination to be so), but we do offer many things free of charge for which many five-star establishments charge dearly and our room rate is far, far less. We only add on a 5% service charge, not a 10% service charge plus 7% tax – our tax is included in the price. Also, being a family-run, boutique hotel, it is not impersonal here, you are not a number. We do our best to make sure that your holiday is a good one, that you feel welcome, that you have good memories and that you receive good value for money and maybe, just maybe, you’ll come back again for more. On our return, I spoke to Lynn, Charlie, Sandra and John from the UK who said that it isn’t going to be ‘if’ they come back, but ‘when’ they come back as they’ve thoroughly enjoyed their stay. They said that the staff have been looking after them admirably and that it has certainly been ‘a holiday to remember’. Tom and Marietjie, from Cape Town, stopped at the pool for a swim and I found out that we had been recommended to them by Melody, a work colleague in their Johannesburg office who was here earlier in the year as the mother of the bride. Remember that really nice wedding party of ten, here to celebrate the wedding of Justin and Tarryn? Thank you Melody! Obviously, the Bangkok tensions are worrying people which isn’t helped by the media. However, the troubles are around the Victory Monument and nowhere near the airport, thus we have quite a few guests transiting Bangkok without any problems whatsoever. We are aware that many embassies are telling people not travel to Bangkok, but here on Samui there are no problems at all and it’s business as usual. We had another walking street last night. A few more stalls this time and such a lovely atmosphere. Walked to Villa Bianca and enjoyed their menu again. Just as good as the last time, of course. I’m off to UK again on May 11, so my next couple of newsletters, (I hate the word ‘blog’) will be from there. I shall, of course, be receiving up to date bulletins from Robin, so I shall be well-informed. Whilst there, I shall be doing daughterly things for my mother and Robin’s mother and motherly things for our daughter, Charlotte. Hopefully, I shall be able to eke out a little time to see friends too. Our son, Michael, who is here, of course, is 25 tomorrow. My goodness, how the years fly by! I don’t want the next 25 to go as quickly. Stop the clock! Now! Our Employee of the Month for April is lovely Khun Pim who officially left yesterday for her three months of maternity leave. However, she was back today to help out for the day. I told her that I would miss her, as indeed I shall. Her smiling face and eager attitude is a real plus for us and it has not diminished in any way, in fact Robin said that she’s been so good that it’s a pity she’s not expecting all the time! Well done, Khun Pim, and good luck! Khun Raine popped in today for her maternity pay and told us that, although she said she would come back a month earlier than she should, she would like to come back next week which is nearly two months earlier. The baby is very, very easy, she said, and is actually very happy when his father holds him so she might as well be at work! Khun Raine is so sweet and we are delighted that she will be joining us again. As lots of staff are on holiday in May, I was wondering whether I should find Robin a blue, silk dress so that he can sit in reception. Worth booking a holiday just to see that, don’t you think? The weather here is glorious, as it is most of the year, (we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t), so start planning that trip. Send us an e-mail and we’ll write straight back. Bye for now. Sue 18.04.'10 That surprised you, so quickly after the last! The reason is that Robin and I have decided to have a few days away ourselves. Where to go when it is so lovely here? We have decided to drive to Hua Hin, where the King goes on holiday, and have five nights there, stopping a night somewhere on the way, and somewhere else on the way back. Don't know where we're staying yet, unless we receive a royal invitation . . . I have absolutely nothing to wear, of course, but have my books, magazines, (kindly brought over from UK by Lynn, Charlie, Sandra & John), paints, a camera and DVDs, so I'm all prepared, but shall enjoy looking around the area, sampling restaurants as we go. We shall be taking the laptop to keep in constant touch with the hotel, just to make sure everything is running smoothly and to answer enquiries and take bookings. Do bear with us, however, if we do not answer as quickly as usual - no, not because we'll be living it up, (well, not all the time anyway), but because we may be in area where we can't get internet or some other problem temporarily. Hopefully, this will not be the case. Robin says thank you very much indeed for all the lovely e-mails he's had since Norwich won the league. He's absolutely chuffed and hopes that they'll be champions too. The walking street happened again on Friday and is going to again every Friday from now on. Although I didn't walk along myself, Robin said that he thought it was the best yet, so I'm very pleased for the village and for you when you come to stay, which will be soon, won't it? Thank you for the marvellous reviews we have been receiving on www.tripadvisor.com. Really, it is so appreciated. Bye for now. Best wishes Sue 15.04.’10 Hi Everyone! There’s always something happening here! On 31 March, Khun Raine left for three months of maternity leave and, on Wednesday, 7 April, she gave birth to a little boy of 2.8 kilos. Very many congratulations to her and her partner, Khun Joe. We shall miss Khun Raine while she is away as she is always smiling and doing her best – a real asset to us. We’ve given her baby your present, thank you very much Ian and Linda, as we shall Khun Pim’s baby when the time comes. Happy Thai New Year! Songkran began on 13 April, which was also Leo’s and my birthday, (Leo is our Yorkshire Terrier, you may remember). As usual on this day, the staff were all in a flighty mood and found it difficult to concentrate on anything much at all. When Robin and I got to work, Cooking immediately presented us with a marvellous basket of red roses, bright and pale pink carnations and pink star lilies, some still in bud, all mixed with deep, shiny green, cheese plant leaves which was from her and ‘Darling’ – her husband whom we ask to taxi for us quite often – and then the kitchen staff put garlands of white dogra, (looks and smells like jasmine), purple orchids and yellow dowrian, (they look like big carnations) around our neck. Then more staff came rushing up with garlands and then, all of a sudden, a procession of staff came to reception singing ‘Happy Birthday’ before presenting me with a bouquet of white roses and chrysanthemums, bright and pale pink carnations and purple freesias all encased in pale pink tissue with a raffia tie. A little bit later, more staff each gave me a red rose, even Khun Lek and Khun Poll who were not due in until the evening. There was a lot of kissing and hugging and many photographs were taken. Then quickly, though as nonchalantly as possible, I disappeared into my office, out of the way of any water that might be thrown in my direction. Water is thrown for good luck at Songkran and it was being thrown, squirted and sprayed from each side of the road on our way in, but we’ve always asked our staff to be caring and considerate to our guests, so only the odd one is a target and then totally on a voluntary basis anyway. Khun Mark can be a little devil on this day. He’ll gradually work his way around all the staff, one by one, cornering them near the swimming pool and then pushing or throwing them in. Although they scream and protest, they love it and all scheme of ways to pay him back. At around 3pm, Khun Mark, sporting a huge orange wig, a red tee shirt and blue, patterned fisherman’s trousers, had completed his task and all the staff had been thrown in, even Boss, and almost everyone and everywhere was soaked. Mark had not escaped either as some of his victims held on to him so tightly that they managed to pull him into the water too. It’s a wonder any work was done at all, in fact we do ask guests to be a little bit lenient with the service on this day. A certain aura of madness purveys the property and then, as the day progresses, the staff gradually disappear until we are lucky to have anyone here at all! Khun Poll and Khun Lek promised to work in the evening and, thankfully, kept to their word although they were rather ‘happy’, shall we say, having been celebrating all day. Actually, rather than see Lek ride her motorbike home, we ended up taking her ourselves, but even this arrangement suddenly changed when we all stopped off at our house to have yet another celebratory Songkran and birthday drink and then decided that Lek might as well stay the night. Nothing ever turns out the way you plan it here, something always happens. There’s never a dull moment, that’s for sure. Our walking street didn’t materialize again the next Friday, or indeed the next. However, we’d heard rumours that it may be coming back at Songkran. The old Fisherman’s Village sign was dismantled and a new one erected with a Bophut Walking Street banner underneath telling all that it would take place at 5pm, 13 April, which is, of course, Songkran, and also little groups of printed, paper fish, in greys and blues, possibly resembling snapper - just like those on the banner - were displayed amongst bamboo sticks at various intervals along the street, probably to signify a fisherman’s catch, I should have thought. We had guests leaving and arriving after 5pm, but weren’t allowed to drive into the street and into our hotel so it was a bit of a chore carrying cases in and out, I can tell you! However, the evening in the village progressed more or less as before, although a little quieter, I thought, but there was a bit of extra excitement in places as some pedestrians were sprayed with water. Robin and I caught a little as we walked to Villa Bianca for my birthday dinner to savour not only the excellent food there, but the wonderful ambience too. Run very well by Malcolm and Guido with Massimo as chef, Khun Pok behind the bar and their other very well trained staff, it lived up to its expectations as we knew it would. I hope you enjoyed Easter. It came and went quite uneventfully here, actually, with guests suddenly remembering which day it was and so then raising a glass. Every day is a holiday here though, isn’t it? All our guests are on holiday and you can’t really call our job a job, can you? It’s like having a big house party every day. It’s fantastic! You may remember that Gary won the go-kart race. Well, the very evening of my last notes, he took the lovely birthday girl Sarah out to dinner at Zazen restaurant and asked her to marry him. She was completely taken aback, but this didn’t stop her answering in the affirmative and so now she is sporting a beautiful diamond solitaire ring. They both looked deliriously happy. Many, many congratulations from all of us here. We wish them a long and happy life together. Three Australian sisters, Marg, Maureen and Jane, stayed with their families in order to attend their niece’s wedding on the island. They looked so alike, but we could just about manage to tell the difference. There are five sisters altogether, apparently, so thank goodness the other two weren’t here as well otherwise we should have been in total confusion. They looked very smart and pretty when they left for the ceremony in their big hats and long, flowing dresses and, as there were lots of very young relations there, the sisters took on their other role as great aunts too. We also had three Canadian ladies here, Heather, Sheila and Marsha, who’ve been best friends for years, each with a daughter in her early twenties and now Susan, Kelly and Anna are best friends themselves. A delightful group, all happily enjoying their holiday together. Six ladies in the Family Suite – that was a first! Robin, Chris, (here on his ninth visit, remember, thinking of coming back for his tenth in September), Michael, (a guest here on his first visit, but first of many, he thinks, and is already thinking of coming back in July), and I were invited to Khun Mark’s birthday party on the evening of 5 April. We duly arrived around 8.30 pm with supplies of beer and wine, greeted by many of our staff including the birthday boy and handed from the barbecue kebabs of succulent chicken, pepper, onion and tomato followed by tasty white snapper bursting out of its foil, all of which we washed down with the aforesaid contributions. You know, it’s lovely to see the camaraderie of the staff, well lots of them are family anyway, but that too is so touching as they really care about each other and made us so very welcome. Lots of them live on the same piece of land in nearby Ban Rak, which we call the Ban Rak Hilton, all in houses they have built themselves, made of wood mainly, with steps up to an outside terrace then more steps down into the living and sleeping areas. There were lights around outside and a long table and chairs in a central area with the barbecue there too and a few excited children and dogs running around, shouting or barking, or rushing up to us to play. Lots of laughter, conversation, (Madame stood up and said a few words about Khun Mark which seemed to go down well), and even dancing by Boss and Madame, (Lady in Red always seems to do the trick), and this resulted in lots of cheers and a marvellous photograph taken by Khun Mark which he promised would be framed for me in a week’s time. It was and I am so pleased with it that I have hung it in reception. A truly wonderful evening was had by all. The staff call us Boss and Madame, by the way, but these are not titles that we asked them to use at all. It’s a mark of respect practised in Thailand and we hope we live up to this honour by looking after them as well as we can. Carol and John have just booked again for their fourth visit, 23 nights next January/February and Steve and Jean have also just booked their third visit of 27 nights this July. Really looking forward to seeing them all again. Will Carol’s and John’s booking entice Peter and Dot back again, I wonder?? I hope so. We should emphasize to our regular February guests, however, that they need to book very soon for next year as we have received lots of bookings already, especially in the last few days. I’d also like to say a hello to Les and Janet, avid readers of our news, who came to visit the hotel and then revisited it for a drink at our bar one evening. It was a pleasure meeting them and we hope to welcome them as guests in the future. Hope they don’t forget to send us an update on their news. And just a mention of the Famous Four, that’s Lynn, Charlie, Sandra, (Lynn’s sister), and John who arrived yesterday. They’d been so looking forward to their stay and sent us e-mails counting down the days. I gave them the cool gin and tonic that I’d promised whilst I introduced the staff, some of whom Sandra recognised from my news. I hope they really enjoy their holiday. It is a pleasure having them here. So when are you coming to see us? When are you going to send us that e-mail? A huge percentage of our guests really love it here and lots come back again and again. Many of them recently have been saying how relaxing it is here, how they arrived so stressed, but how they’re going home so totally calm. Chris said that his holidays are always even better here than he expects them to be and that “one Waterfront per day, for two weeks at least, cures all ills, I reckon.” We have some lovely guests here, you know. Best wishes Sue . 02.04.’10 A big hello to you all. April already. Just can’t believe it! Yet another motorbike accident. Khun Pim. Yes, the one who’s having a baby in May. Thought she had broken her ribs, but she hadn’t, thank goodness. Bruised bottom and bruised pride only, but she and the baby are absolutely fine. Again the staff are very thankful that we make them wear a helmet. Incidentally, Khun Lek is doing well too. Back to work and no bandages now. Khun Poll is much, much better altogether and both he and Lek do a grand job, laughing and joking behind the evening bar. On Friday, 26 March, we had our first walking street from 5pm to 11pm. We thought that there were going to be trial runs like this for a while before any major decision was made about continuing it either on a weekly or full-time basis, but we have just heard a rumour that it may start on a full-time basis directly after Songkran, the Thai New Year, (13 April). Robin and I walked along our street and it was quite delightful, in fact we felt very proud to be part of it all. Many local Thais had turned out with their families, some of whom had stalls set out along the street, selling all sorts of wares including food, drinks, pictures, jewellery and massage oils and how happy and proud they all looked too! There were little coloured lights threaded from one side of the street to the other from The Waterfront at our end of the street to The Anantara at the far end with little signs now and again saying ‘Fisherman’s Village Walking Street’ and little pockets of music, often live, welcoming us on our way. All that plus our usual excellent restaurants, bars and boutiques – how lovely for locals and holidaymakers alike! It didn’t feel touristic at all, however. It had more of a village fete or small carnival sort of feel. Very relaxing, very welcoming, very interesting and entertaining and very good for the village. We always thought Bophut was charming – well it was even more so that evening and looks like being again! Said goodbye to Graham, Sue, Dave & Chrissie who were all here for three weeks. They were always having a joke with the staff which was lovely and they said that they enjoyed their stay very much indeed. They were very kind to us all when they left and we very much appreciate it. Russ and Brigit, also here for three weeks, left before that. Again a big goodbye as they were sorry to go and we, of course, were sorry to see them go too. Coincidentally, as Brigit and Sue had recently had leg operations, they needed the use of a wheelchair and, as they were both here at the same time, we decided to purchase two. I have to say, however, that it was a toss up between Russ and Graham as to whom was better in charge of the two-wheeled vehicles as the guests wended their way along the village to sample the local bars and restaurants in the evenings, especially on the way home when straight lines are always more difficult to negotiate, or when something took Graham’s fancy and he left Sue sitting in the middle of the street, vulnerable to any traffic that might be passing, (I can hear Graham laughing about it now), but luckily the girls survived their ordeal – they may have needed a stiff drink on their return, but that was fine as there were many other guests here, enjoying a nightcap or two, to commiserate with them. When I see the wheelchairs sitting in the store room, I wonder whether Robin and I will be running the hotel from a sitting position in years to come because I can’t see us wanting to leave – ever! Actually, I’m wondering if I’m beginning to lose it now as, a few days ago, I was showing Kurt and Mandy to their room. I was about to explain that I usually take my shoes off when entering a room, but as I was wearing shoes with six buckles, (‘follow me home shoes’, according to Keith, another of our guests), I wouldn’t be doing so, for which I apologised. However, on this occasion, my mind must have gone into automatic mode, or rather semi-automatic mode, as I said, “I usually take my CLOTHES off . . .” Going back to Russ, he went to Top Cats, a fishing venue on the island, and caught a 7 kilo Pacu, a 70 kilo Mekong Cat Fish, a 35 kilo Siamese Carp, two further Carp at 35 kilo each and four Mekong at 40 kilo each, all in two six-hour sessions. Take note – kilos. I’ve seen the photos – it’s absolutely true. Any fishermen thinking of coming to stay might like to go there when they visit and see if they can improve on this excellent catch. I’d better not say too much about him also being a magician, however, otherwise you’ll think that there was foul play with the fishing rod, but he performed some excellent tricks around the bar whilst he was here. Graham went to play golf at the new Samui Golf Club and enjoyed that too, borrowing the golf clubs left here by our recent guest, John, to whom he was extremely grateful. Mandy and Clive left after five weeks, their second visit to our hotel. My goodness, they were sporting very deep suntans when they left! They said that they had been worried that they might get bored staying five weeks in the same place, but then decided that they could do with another three weeks when it was time to go home. They met lots of guests whilst they were here and said they’d be back again. How lovely! Four honeymooning couples, Pete & Erin from New York, Dave & Anna from Tasmania, currently living in Sydney, Kurt & Mandy from Canberra and Peter & Iveta from Austria have been to stay and we wish them much happiness for the future. All super couples. We have been inundated with really interesting, happy, sociable guests for a long time now, (well, six and a half years actually!), all ages too, and it just gets more and more of a pleasure each day. The only problem is that time seems to fly by, both for us and the guests, so think about staying longer, please! I shan’t have to say goodbye quite as often then! Another go-kart event took place on Monday, 29 March. Chris, back here on his ninth visit, challenged Robin to a return match. Mark and Gary also took part, so it was an all British contingent. I decided to watch this time as the news that filtered back from the last occasion was somewhat patchy in parts and I do like my readers to know the truth. So, taking notes at the track, I actually felt like a reporter for The Waterfront Times . . . It was hot. 33 degrees in the shade. The friendly banter had ceased now as all the drivers approached their karts with trepidation. The same anxious atmosphere, experienced by all at the Melbourne Grand Prix, only 24 hours before, soaked into our very skin. No Jenson Buttons or Lewis Hamiltons here, but still the aura of fight to be won. The boys made themselves comfortable and headed for the starting line. When in their positions, their steely eyes fixed on the task ahead, they revved and revved the engines. All of a sudden, the chequered flag was raised, the engines roared and they were off. Well, to be honest, that’s what should have happened, but it all got rather confusing as their original agreement of having a practice lap disintegrated when Chris suddenly put his foot down to get ahead and so the others defiantly put theirs down too. A cloud of testosterone swept around the track, leaving the smell of burning rubber and the sound of screeching brakes in its wake. Each ego battled against the next. The karts darted and dove, each driver showing his prowess, finesse and cunning. Robin began to take the lead, taking huge risks as he went. Then Gary overtook him on the bend, then Chris overtook Robin, then Robin overtook Chris, then Chris overtook Robin, then Robin overtook Chris and blocked him on the last lap to keep his second place. Gary proudly won the day. His girlfriend, the lovely Sarah, whose birthday it is today, also raced, but cleverly kept out of the way of the men who, incidentally, collided more than once and were bruised and battered by the end. Mark tried his best, he said, but felt that his go-kart was sadly lacking. No sympathy forthcoming from his opponents on that score, of course. He can prove his worth next year as he and Jan say that they are certainly coming back again, probably to meet Ian and Linda who were here on their third visit. Khun Lamai also raced, well rather she wafted around the track as though she were enjoying a Sunday, though in this case, Monday afternoon drive in the countryside. Good luck to her – I should have been just the same. The Employee of the Month for March is Khun Lek. She received many compliments about her lovely smiling face, helpful attitude and professionalism. We are so pleased. Actually, we’d love her to work full-time, but she has another job in insurance during the day which she loves and which she is studying for too. She also has a daughter, Tulip, who is fifteen. This amazes everyone as Lek looks only twenty herself. Well done, Lek, on all counts! So, my dears, I could go on and on, I really could. But I must think of your eyesight. Too much reading twice a month may necessitate some new spectacles. But then, that’s OK! You can some to Samui and buy some new ones here – there’s an excellent selection at an excellent price too. And, if you’ve been eating too many sweets at the same time, we have superb dentists on the island who do tooth cleaning/whitening as well. And some guests recently had a medical check-up at one of our five hospitals and were very impressed with the service and the price. You see, we like you all to be fit and healthy! And I can't mention all of our guests in my news, but I should definitely like to say that they've all been fantastic, they've all contributed to the lovely, warm atmosphere of the hotel and that it has been an absolute pleasure meeting and knowing them all. Please come back soon! So, if you’re coming to detox or to retox, there’s something here for everyone. Don’t put it off any longer. Send us an e-mail with your dates and we’ll write straight back letting you know our availability. Why flail around, not knowing where to go? If you like good service, a welcoming atmosphere, good food, breakfast until 11.00am, a superb view, (we’re beside the beach with the outlying islands right in front of us), lovely guests to chat to, lovely staff to look after and chat to you, clean rooms with many facilities you get in a 5-star, (or not!), free internet, free wireless for laptops, a huge library, lots of DVDs, games, newspapers, magazines, lots of comfortable chairs and sunbeds, (no towels at dawn here), a plethora of good restaurants only a saunter away in our charming village of Bophut, peace and more peace here, even though the airport is only 20 minutes away, (and we pick you up too), what are you waiting for? Don’t waste another minute. Book it now. We’d love to see you. Best wishes Sue STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS 16.10.'10 Hi again! Due to one of our very young and beautiful guests having a heart attack two weeks before her wedding day, (get well soon, Sharon, and have a fantastic wedding with Mark!), she is not allowed to travel until May or June. Consequently, the Honeymoon/Superior Room is now available from 31 March until April 17 at 4,150 Baht per night plus 5%. Please send us an e-mail as soon as you can if you are interested. I assure you that you will love the room and the weather should be superb. If nobody takes up the offer, I think Robin and I will stay in it ourselves. So eat your heart out Keith & Anne or Tony & Karen - guests who stayed in this room recently and loved it - why don't you come back again, even though you've only just left?? Best wishes Sue 15.03.'10 Hi My Friends! Thank you for your very kind e-mails telling me how much you enjoyed my story last time. It’s great to hear that there are so many of you reading our news. I had a little shock earlier this month. Well, little is an understatement, actually. Robin went to collect a couple who came from Norwich. Now, I am usually waiting in reception when guests come in, but I just stayed in the office a few seconds longer this time to check on their names before dashing out to say hello. Although the gentleman had already walked through, I managed to greet the lady as she was coming up the steps. She looked a little familiar, but, more than that, she looked as though she might be keeping something from me, but I wasn’t totally sure. I turned to greet the gentleman and POW! I stared in amazement. Two spaniel eyes stared back at me from the sofa. It was Steve, a boyfriend of mine from many years ago. “Oh, my GOD!” I shrieked, trying to catch my breath. I rushed up to him and gave him a big hug. Meanwhile, Robin was telling all the staff who decided that Madame must like men with a moustache, (Robin has one too, you see), and they were all giggling whilst I was trying my best to tell our new guests about the hotel – not easy at all when suffering from acute shock and breathing difficulties. However, I survived the ordeal and am very pleased to say that it was a pleasure seeing him again and getting to know his lovely wife, Val, whom I had met only briefly once before. I do hope we’ll see them here again. We continue having lovely guests. I’m sorry to repeat myself, but there it is. And most of them have been coming back for a drink after dinner too, so the bar has been very busy until quite late. It really warms my heart to think that, with all the bars around, they feel that they wish to come back to ours. As one or two guests have recently said, we don’t charge silly prices here and you get great company! Plus Khun Poll and Khun Lek make a great team behind the bar. Robin and I tend to feel a little fuzzy around the edges the next morning, but who’s complaining? Not us, that’s for sure. One particular session ended at around 2.30am. On the way home, Robin decided to go to a sports bar to watch Arsenal play football. I was just going to bed at around 3.00am when the phone rang. We’ve had lots of English here recently, with a smattering of Dutch and Swedish. All very sociable people. Some guests have been chatting around the pool, in the pool, having lunch together, going out together and swapping e-mail addresses so that they can keep in touch. It all adds to the very warm atmosphere which we love and the guests tell us they love too. But you don’t have to speak to anybody if you don’t wish to although you would be missing out on so much if you didn’t. You can easily find somewhere to sit peacefully here, if you wish, and all our guests love the peace and quiet anyway –it’s just that sometimes they need to chat! How many hotels have you stayed in where you don’t ever speak to anybody else at all? You hope that they don’t speak to you because they could be so boring and you daren’t speak to them in case they think that you’re being intrusive! Well, you’re not an unimportant number here, I assure you. We love you coming to stay and we want you to enjoy it and feel welcome so we introduce guests and it just works wonderfully. We’d introduce our friends to each other, wouldn’t we? And we look on our guests as friends which they certainly are by the time they leave – and I’ve told you how I hate saying goodbye. Quite a lot of guests have really loved it here and are already booking again for next year. We are so, so pleased. If you’ve been before, come and see us again. If you haven’t, come and try our hotel for yourselves. We’ll look after you. Just send us an e-mail with your proposed dates and preferred type of accommodation and we’ll write straight back with our availability. We’ll then need a 20% deposit, (40% over Christmas and the New Year), and ask you to settle the balance on arrival. Prices are the same next year, at least until April. You can book your air tickets online or go to your travel agent who can book them for you. I wish to start a library for small persons staying here and shall be buying some books shortly. However, I would ask that, if you have any old children’s books lying around that you don’t need for your children or grandchildren and feel that there could be a corner in your suitcase for one book or even two, I should very much appreciate it. I know the children most certainly will. We don’t have children here most of the year, but love to welcome them when we do and we always seem to get the best ones. This will be another way to make their holiday more enjoyable. When I think back to all those books I gave away when we left the UK . . . As you know, we pick up free of charge from the airport in Samui. However, we do not collect from ferries as there have been many problems with wrong timings and delays or even the wrong ferry and we are so sorry, but we cannot afford the time to wait around for the next ferry or drive around the island checking which one it actually is. However, your ticket should include the cost of the hotel transfer, so make sure about that when you book your ferry. You know that www.tripadvisor.com has many wonderful reviews on our hotel, but it also has a few bad ones. Of course, we can’t please all of the people all of the time, but our actual bad reviews are not as many as shown. We should like to tell you that, although we far prefer guests to come direct to us, some have come via an agent on the island, www.sawadee.com – this helped us in our early days, but now only accounts for a small percentage of our business - and their site has some very good reviews which are all bone fide because the guests that have booked through them are contacted and asked for a review when they’ve returned home. You may like to look sometime. However, Trip Advisor is an independent review site and not an agent. Consequently, anyone can say whatever they please on that site, whether they have stayed here or not. We know our guests and we know who has stayed here. Some of those unkind reviewers have never stayed here. Isn’t it a sad world when, for their own gain, some individuals try to spoil other people’s happiness, especially when the other people have worked so hard to achieve it? Well, I’ve just had a very tasty cappuccino made by Khun Lamai, (I usually rate Khun Fon as number one in that department, but she has a rival now) - I think ours are better than some well known brands you’ll find all over the world – and I await Robin who is bringing yet more wonderful guests for me to meet. We can’t promise perfection here at The Waterfront, although we try our best, but many guests have recently said that this really is a slice of paradise. How marvellous! When are you coming to see us? Speak to you soon. Best wishes Sue 01.03.’10 Hello everyone! How are you? I can’t believe it’s March. Life is going far too quickly. SLOW DOWN, PLEASE! But how can I complain when I live in such a lovely place? And meet such super people? The weather has been beautiful here, (sorry about that, I’ve heard all about the snow in so many parts of the world which, hopefully, is abating), the sun has been shining, the sky has been that lovely cerulean blue, the view of Koh Phangan , Koh Som and the outlying islands nestling in the aquamarine and sapphire waters of the Gulf of Thailand is like a movie screen attached to our beach which itself looks unreal, as though someone has brought in the sand ready for the movie to begin. In fact, some years ago, a gentleman walked in for a room and asked if we had put the sand there ourselves. It was one of those moments when I was struck speechless. My husband quite enjoyed my silence as he says that it doesn’t happen very often. No, everything here is completely, naturally beautiful. Aren’t we the lucky ones? I was going to write about all our lovely guests again, but I was worried that my blog was becoming a little bit samey. So, with apologies to our guests, some of whom may be more than pleased to remain anonymous, I shall tell you a little story. It is about the first time I saw our hotel.
Robin had left his job in December 2002, much to the surprise of his colleagues, and had flown to Thailand in the January to look at all the places we had been thinking of to start our new venture and we had already looked at some whilst on holiday over the previous two or three years. Many of the properties were very seedy or big white elephants just waiting to have a lot of money spent on them and he only found one that was interesting and in the very place that we really wanted to be. Bophut. We had previously seen the hotel on the internet, although it was hard to tell what it was really like, and Robin was very cagey when I asked him questions about it later, telling me that I would see it soon enough. Other than that, he’d found a house in Phuket where we could live with our family whilst looking for a suitable hotel there or elsewhere. Anyway, it was now March, and I had flown out to meet him in Bangkok before flying on to Koh Samui to see for myself. A particularly bad subject, which I shan’t go into here, reared its ugly head. I felt that Robin was being totally unfair about it and he thought that I was being completely unreasonable. There had been a huge argument the first time around and now history was repeating itself, only the remake was far worse than the original. It went on and on and on. Eventually, we got into our kingsize bed at exactly the same moment, he facing the edge of his side and I facing the edge of mine. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Luckily, we didn't have one. The next morning, it continued. We showered, dressed, packed and taxied to the airport in utter silence. We checked in, boarded and sat in our seats. If our elbows touched on the armrest, we immediately drew them away. I looked out of the window. The islands of Koh Phangan, Koh Som and Koh Samui were coming into view. The elegant palms were swaying, the aquamarine sea was trying its best to hide the shadowy reefs beneath whilst it gently lapped the sandy shore. ‘This should be the happiest day of my life,’ I thought. We arrived on Samui, grabbed a car and drove towards the hotel.
So, that was my story, (sorry if it was a bit Mills & Boon). In retrospect, it was just as well that it had happened that way because I wasn’t wearing any rose-coloured spectacles, jumping in like a fool gladly, (sorry for all the clichés too). If there had been something wrong, I certainly would have spotted it in an instant, yet all I could see were positives. Well, my dears, it’s been a pretty long one again for which I apologise and the one trouble with our life is saying goodbye, not only now, but when our guests leave. I hate it, really I do. And I’ve got to say it to you now, so get out your suitcases, dust down your swimwear, check your suntan cream is still new enough to use, and start planning your next holiday – preferably here. We’d love to see you. Oh, and by the way, we have so many guests wanting to come back next February, so book soon if you want to come then. However, why not try a different month? It’s lovely here most of the year. Think about May and June when the weather is usually very nice and our prices are lower. You could even come for longer! We’ve just heard from a lady who tried to book our hotel through a large travel agent on the internet. She was told that we were full which was completely untrue. They would have had no idea as we very rarely use travel agents and they were obviously saying that so she would use another hotel through them. We suggest you always enquire direct with us for the latest and most accurate information. Our Employee of the Month for February is Khun Bla who joined us, you may remember, in September and nearly won the first month. We love her smiling face and wicked sense of humour and are so very pleased she has won. She is a valuable member of our team and we love her dearly. Meanwhile, we wish Lyn and Alan a very happy anniversary, Jan and Yvonne a very happy anniversary, Tony a very happy birthday, Sue a very happy birthday and Graham a very happy birthday – all smashing guests staying here just now. Sawadee cah Bye for now. Sue 14.02.’10 (posted 13.02.'10) Hello again, it’s me. I’ll try not to be as long-winded as last time, but I can’t promise. Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Chinese New Year! It was the year of the Ox in 2009, this year it will be the year of the Tiger and, next year, it will be the year of the Rabbit. Of course, the Thai New Year, Songkran, is on April 13 and it lasts around three days, although the water throwing only lasts the first day. Funnily enough, I always seem to have an enormous amount of work in the office that day and very rarely venture out . . Khun Poll is back at work. I know it is very soon, but he wants to be back and says he feels fine. Depending on how you look at it, and Khun Poll was in hysterics when he told us, (and keeps on telling us), apparently the ambulance driver at the scene of the accident asked if he had to drive Khun Poll to the hospital or to the temple . . . how awful is that? Khun Poll must have looked pretty bad. And, yes, the question does seem funny in retrospect, but it doesn’t bear thinking about either, does it? We’ve said goodbye to Carol and John who say that they are definitely coming back for the fourth time next year, in fact John’s even left his golf clubs here and he gives full permission for any golfers to borrow them whilst they stay. There had been much banter going on between Carol and Peter and now even Peter and Dot have gone too. Steve and Rose, both charismatic lawyers, (and Steve is a part-time judge too), were here meeting their handsome son, James, who is studying Chinese in Nanjing, China, which was quite a coincidence as we had Gary and Hilary here at the time who had been running a school in Nanjing for four years. They arrived looking a bit worried and hassled and left looking as though they had had a facelift, honestly as they were so cool, calm and relaxed and ready for their next adventure. Beautiful Sheila is here with her charming husband, Andre, another delightful couple. Andre is a neurosurgeon and he and Sheila, who runs his office in Vancouver, are going to Cambodia next to help the local people there. We wish them well. Terry and Hilary, Bill and Jean, (Jean had a birthday whilst she was here), and Jim and Marlene are enjoying their stay and have almost decided to come back with Bill’s sister and her husband next year. Bob and Wendy enjoy their sunshine and have been really pleased with the weather during their stay. A tokay, (large gecko), has been chatting to them most mornings. Daniel, a banker from the UK, and his wife, Vespa, an accountant from Croatia, are enjoying themselves as are Seppo, a Finnish rock guitarist, and his wife, Minna, a belly dancer who’ve recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Ulf has gone, but is coming back again – goodness it must be around the tenth time – in October or November. There have been some good nights at the bar and Robin and I have had to tear ourselves away, especially with having to be in at work quite early some mornings – yes, Tony from Hemblington, if you are reading this, we do have early mornings sometimes! As we didn’t have much of a monsoon season, the beach is far bigger than it usually is this time of the year and our guests have been out there on the sunbeds enjoying the sun. We have lots of sunbeds on the beach and chairs with extra comfy cushions and footstools around the pool and garden area and three hammocks under the palm trees so there’s always somewhere to relax, plus you can have a massage or a manicure and pedicure outside under the sala or in your room. Breakfast is from 7.30am to11.00am so you don’t have to rush up in the mornings, we have a Daily Telegraph and a Bangkok Post every morning around 10.00am, we serve food all day until 6.30pm and the bar closes when the last person goes to bed. There are many wonderful restaurants just steps away – Thai, obviously, but also French, Belgian, Australian, Indian, Italian and American and they’re all good. If you fancy a night in and wish for a takeaway from a restaurant, we’ll give you crockery, cutlery, napkins and a table on the decking in candlelight whilst we serve you wine or something similar from the bar and you'll be able to relax and enjoy whilst you listen to the waves, the gentle breeze in the fronds of the palm trees and see the lights of Koh Phangan over the water. Then, if you wish, you can borrow one of our large collection of DVDs or a book or magazine or perhaps play Scrabble or Chess. We have free internet and wireless for laptops too. So, what are you waiting for? Come and chill out at our hotel. We only have eighteen rooms which are all beachfront and we have twenty one staff plus ourselves, so we’ll all look after you as soon as you're picked up from Samui airport. Peter and Merle, now living in Sydney, stayed for a little while and are coming back again next week. I think theirs was one of the longest, if not the longest check-in I have ever done, (not possible, said Michea and Paul who stayed on their way to Koh Phangan, not true, said Paul, Sharon and Chloe). Their life stories were so amazing and I couldn’t stop asking questions, but alas I cannot convey them to you as they were a little too personal for me to write here. Danny, Gitte, Peter and Kira are here with their children, Oscar & Centino who are handsome and playful twin boys of twenty two months and Oliver, also a beautiful boy of 10 months. They are from Denmark so have been chatting to Khun Raine, our Danish expert. Richard, a skin specialist, and Janna are from Hamburg, Germany, and they arrived at the same time as Brian and Sonya from the USA. Then Andrew, a former lawyer, and Jenny, a former cleaning magnate, both now retired to Dorset in the UK, arrived to meet their son, David, who teaches English in Korea, and his lovely Korean wife, Sunny, who is expecting a baby in July. John and Jenna, both pilots, arrived from the USA, with their pretty daughters, Skylar and Talia. Lovely Anne arrived with lovely Keith from UK who say they are definitely coming back next year around the same time. We only had our Honeymoon/Superior Room left when they booked and they are so pleased that we did as they love it. John and Annie met up here as she teaches in China and he works as a writer in the UK – they are also talking about coming back next year. Charles and Rhona are here for the second year running, (I told them today that I thought that they were the best behaved guests we have ever had), and they are chilling out, in fact everyone is finding it very peaceful and relaxing here. Peter and Julia stayed here from Austria, just outside Vienna, he’s a musician and promoter whilst she is in books, and we received a phone call from Koh Phangan, just after they left here, to say that “this hotel is definitely dreadful, can we come back, please?" So they are back here for another few days, just in time for Julia’s 35th birthday, and they look so relieved. We have Andy and Emma here from UK on a belated honeymoon. Kim, in advertising, is here with Brian, an air traffic controller, and they are from Dublin. They don’t really want to go home either, but are going to tell all their friends and send their parents next year. Gill and Tony are here from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, UK. They usually stay at another hotel, but thought they’d try us this time – they certainly like the coffee here, they tell me. They’re looking happy, so let’s hope they enjoy it enough to come back again next time. Tony was a managing director of a large German company supplying high end kitchen equipment and Gill was a school secretary – I bet they loved her. Jane and Keith arrived from Norwich. Now, I knew Jane when I lived in the UK, (well, actually, her brother was my first boyfriend whom I met on my first day of school when I was four years old - the look on my mother's face when we came out of school arm in arm), so I thought I would pick them up myself, but I didn’t know Keith. I arrived at the airport at 08.20am and was still there at 09.40am when the hotel telephoned me to say that they had arrived there. When I returned, Keith and I recognised each other immediately as we had already passed about three times at the airport! I had been waiting to see Jane, you see, but she was sitting with the suitcases actually not very far away and I couldn’t see her and she couldn’t see me. Oh, dear! Well, they’re here now and Keith is such a gem – he sees the funny side of everything, thank goodness! And I’ve just heard that, after a special birthday last year, he became the proud owner of a pair of black, patent dancing shoes and now they dance whenever they can, even in Saigon recently when they saw a dance hall one afternoon and were hauled in to join the others. They love it! Isn’t that great? (Pity Peter and Dot weren’t still here, we could have had a song and dance team . . .). Paul, Sharon and Chloe, (their 13 year old daughter, sorry, nearly 14), still wondering whether to move to Australia to live, have meanwhile come back to Samui for a holiday and, whilst here, will be celebrating his 40th birthday – not with us, sadly, as we have no room at the inn! Chloe went straight on to the internet so she felt at home immediately. Lovely Ben and Lana have arrived from Melbourne who are both barristers. We’ve had a deluge of legal eagles, haven’t we? Consequently, yet another good night at the bar last night with them, Jenny, her son David, Bill, his daughter, Julie and us. Anne and Keith are very fed up that they weren’t able to join us, but shall be there with a vengeance tonight. You see? Call this work? We’re living the life and then I get to live it all again when I write to you! Out of the blue, Khun Sam, one of our room maids left, to be immediately replaced by Khun Busadee, one of our masseuses, (the one who was ‘verry’ complimentary whilst being paid her 5% last time), and so now we have a new masseuse, Khun Pa. Khun Mark’s photo is up in reception as he’s Employee of the Month, as I told you last time, and he looks very mean, moody and magnificent on it. He was very cleverly detaching coconuts this week and lowering them down by rope so as not to harm any guests or mark our newly replaced decking. Then he was saving yet another damsel in distress in her car, as well as all the other thousand and one things he does in the hotel. He should be Employee of the Year really, (we haven’t had one of those though), but it’s only the first time he has won the monthly one which we have found very surprising. We’ve had lots of happy guests here, all being so kind to us with their compliments, and we are so very pleased. Why don’t you come and see for yourself? Either press ‘Enquiries’ on our website or send us an e-mail and we’ll reply without delay. On the other hand, you could read the latest reviews on www.tripadvisor.com and come through to us on there. The sun is shining, (it’s 31 degrees in the shade of our open sala reception today, so it’s going to be more than that outside), there is a gentle breeze to keep you cool, our spectacular view is sitting there like a movie screen . . . what more can I say really? Treat yourself . . . because, as the shampoo advertisement says, ‘you’re worth it’. Bye for now. Sue P.S. Just had a cancellation for a bungalow with a queensize (5’) bed from 18 February for nine nights. It’s 2,900 Baht per night plus 5% service charge. This could just be the excuse you’ve been waiting for . . . 1.02.’10 Hi again everybody! Well, what a month January has been! Four of our staff have been in hospital. Khun Sam, one of our room maids, was rushed in with appendicitis, Khun Op, one of our masseuses, was also rushed in with appendicitis, and Khun Lek had violent stomach pains and was also rushed in, but all are now on the road to recovery. On Friday evening, Khun Poll had been to the boxing stadium with Rod, Jo and Khun Bla when he was involved in a road accident. Apparently, he was driving his motorbike beside a car which, without any warning, turned to the left to park, directly in front of him. He swerved to avoid the car and fell on his head. He fractured his skull, but the next day responded well to all tests and then, surprisingly, was allowed home the next day. Oh dear, it felt like Khun Banjon all over again, but thank goodness the outcome is not like that. After Khun Banjon died, we purchased helmets for all our staff and now fine them 200 Baht if they are seen without them whilst on their motorbikes – it's ok just in the village street, but anywhere else it isn’t. Our staff now want us to put the fine up to 500 Baht! Shall let you know how Khun Poll gets on. The day after I wrote last time, we paid the staff the balance of their 5% service charge. I may have told you that we pay them a fixed amount every month and then the balance in the middle of January – every Baht of the service charge goes to the staff. We had duly paid them all when Robin remarked that he was surprised that Busadee hadn’t come in on her day off when, lo and behold, Fon shouted out that “Busadee has come in to say hello to Boss and Madame,” (the titles they gave us as soon as we started here). Peals of laughter filtered through from the reception to our office. “Boss verrry young and handsome,” Busadee giggled as she came in and put her hands together and bowed, or waied as it is known here. “Madame verrry sexy.” The staff were in high spirits and it was a delight to see. “Yes, thank you, Khun Busadee,” Robin replied, “and we all know why, don’t we?” He duly paid the outstanding amount. A little while later, I went outside to see that Room 1 was all ready for Bill’s arrival when Supee and Busadee, now sitting outside there on the balcony, said, “Madame NOT sexy now,” they laughed in unison, “next MONTH sexy!” Yes, next month’s pay day. You can’t get the staff these days, you know. Actually, we have twenty one staff now. Khun Bier has also joined us to work in the kitchen and she has such a lovely face and a manner to match, so we are very pleased to have her. I am so pleased that the Employee of the Month for January is Khun Mark. He is so talented. He can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, he really can. He can repair anything, make anything, rescue anything and is a really nice guy too - he is just fantastic and we think the world of him. A very worthy winner indeed. The wedding album of Justin and Tarryn was absolutely fantastic! The photographs were of different shapes and sizes and some were in colour, one or two in sepia and some in black and white. And not the usual boring poses either. Really, as Carol said later, some of them could have been Vogue shots! And Justin and Tarryn are both very attractive anyway which made the photos even better. It truly was something marvellous that they will be able to show their children and grandchildren. If you or other members of your family are thinking of a wedding out here, Faraway Weddings have made many, many people happy and we have been delighted to welcome many of those people here on honeymoon. Harold and Rick from Vancouver arrived. Harold is mainly in Chang Mai these days and Rick is an arts archivist and librarian in New York. They are stayed in our Family/Honeymoon apartment. Joel and Elfreda from Toronto returned home wondering how on earth they would find working again after such a break of lazy days staying in our Honeymoon/Superior Room. He is in banking and she in marketing. One evening, Glenn and Diana went to the Star show in Chaweng with Chris and Emma. Various guys from the audience were called on stage and Glenn was too. They were then asked to go backstage. Later on in the show, they all returned, dressed to the nines as ladies, but no sign of Glenn. Diana and the others expected him to return to his seat, thinking that he’d probably lost interest or ‘chickened out.’ However, all of a sudden, there was a drum roll and the curtains behind suddenly open with a flourish to reveal – Glenn, a vision in yellow, pulling up the side of his skirt to reveal his wonderful knees. Diana was beside herself with laughter as were Chris and Emma. Glenn continued to amaze the crowd and, from all accounts, took to his new role like a fish to water. Diana videoed the scene and I had hoped to watch the footage, but missed it unfortunately. Diana was thinking of putting it on U-tube . . . Little Josephine, 5, from just outside Paris returned to the hotel one day in a charming little blue and gold silk outfit, just the same colours as our girls' uniforms, so I stood her behind reception and, as she looked very pleased and proud, I asked Khun Mark to make her a badge. He makes the staff badges out of coconut husks, paints the names on them and then varnishes them – just as he does with our key fobs. She was so pleased when we gave it to her. That night, we heard that there had been a huge catastrophe as she had dropped the badge on the floor in Villa Bianca, but it was found and returned to its pretty little owner. We do love children here and, as I’ve said many times before, we always seem to get the best ones! Lovely Carol and John are back for the third time – I wasn’t here when they came last year so it is so good to see them again. They’re back in their special garden spot, soaking up the sun and, of course, they know other guests here too. John will be playing golf at the Santiburi Golf Club whilst Carol turns a deeper shade of tan, or has a manicure, (she has such wonderful nails), back at the hotel. However, since writing part of this, poor Carol has also been to hospital. Whilst out with John, Peter and Dot, she was looking at the stunning view, when she turned and walked into a concrete post. She now has at least twenty double stitches in her left leg, needs to visit the hospital on a daily basis and, to keep the wound dry whilst showering, she is the proud owner of a pair of white plastic boots which John wore over to reception today - actually they looked rather fetching on his wonderfully tanned legs. They reminded me of some white plastic boots I had when I was 17 – can any of you remember that fashion? They were white and patent around the foot with a tight, stretchy top for pulling up to the knee. Wore them with my pink, woollen mini dress . . . thought I was just the ticket. Where have all those years gone? I was younger than our daughter is now! Help! Cherry and David arrived with Eileen and Terry from Little and Much Hadham in the UK. David is an arable farmer and his wife, Cherry, a former journalist, looks after horses and alpacas on the farm as well as importing and selling Country & Western gear from the USA as there’s a huge interest in it in the UK. Eileen works in the local Post Office two days a week so she knows everything and everyone, (hope you’re completely better now, Eileen), and Terry is enjoying his well earned retirement from a stressful life of sales, (no doubt the company’s profits have decreased since his departure). Said he liked going to Norwich, our old home city, as everyone was so nice there. He can stay here whenever he likes. Silvia and her boyfriend, Lionel, who run an hotel in Genoa, Italy, arrived with her brother, Fabio, who has a restaurant nearby. They were full of fun and, when I took them to their rooms and told them that, although the candle outside is primarily for power cuts, it is very romantic to sit by candlelight at night and I asked Silvia if Lionel was romantic. She said y-yes and, when I asked her if she was sure, he and Fabio suddenly threw their arms around each other and kissed each other on the lips! It was just hilarious. These boys should have joined the others for a go-kart race on Friday, but could not. So, Robin, Rod, Jo, Simon, (whose back for a fortnight’s holiday – you may remember that he helped out last year whilst I was in UK), Peter and Ulf challenged each other. After Rod somersaulted and crashed, (one or two deep cuts, but otherwise OK), Peter stalled a couple of times, (sorry, Peter!), Ulf spun twice, Robin eventually won. A good time was had by all. Carol and Ken, whom I’ve mentioned before, left, sadly, but they’re coming back next year for three weeks. Kate and Paul arrived with Peter and Claire, Kate’s Mum and Dad, and they almost immediately decided to return at the end of next year when Kate has had the baby. They’re going to bring her brother, his wife and children too. Lovely Chris and Emma left saying that they would definitely be back AGAIN! Robyn, a doctor in Melbourne, and Ahn, a radiotherapist, here on their honeymoon, have just left saying that they will definitely be back as did Nir and Dana who were here celebrating their engagement. Andre and Katherine also enjoyed it here and also said they’d be back. It’s lovely having Peter and Dot here. Like us, they’re from Norwich, but we didn’t know them before they first visited us on a recommendation from another visiting Norwich couple, Anthea and Roger. Said they’d have an early dinner one night at ‘the best restaurant in town’ and duly sat down at one of our tables. They were laughing and chatting with each other, the other guests and us when the food arrived and I returned to the office. All of a sudden, it was very quiet, too quiet actually, so I walked over to ask if everything was OK. “Superb,” they said in unison, “absolutely superb.” And they are superb too, they really are. Peter is a bon viveur and raconteur and such a kind and charming person as is Dot who is vivacious and as quick as a wink – very intelligent lady, knows everything about everything, (in the nicest possible way), and has a wicked sense of humour. Love them. Dot took a cookery course with Nicola and then Peter and Andrew went along later to sample their delights. Much fun and enjoyment was had by all and the course comes highly recommended. We wish Nicola a happy retirement with Andrew and hope they both really enjoy their extended trip. Rod and Jo, also a fantastic couple, not only went to boxing with Khun Poll, but also went out for a boat trip with our Khun Bla and came back in a very happy mood having had lots of sun, lots of fun and, I am told, only a small amount of Heineken. They repeated the experience the next week too. Rod is the easiest going person you could ever meet. Nothing seems to worry him at all – no wonder Jo is constantly smiling! Alastair and Margaret from Scotland were here again, using our hotel as their first stop on a three-month tour. Poor Margaret had fallen and broken her arm before she arrived last year, so she enjoyed her stay far more this year – as did Alastair. I hope we have the pleasure of seeing them again. Paul and Jackie are here from Manchester. They were saying that, when the guests sit around the bar in the evening, they are so friendly that it’s like one big family, and it is, especially as there have been so many returning guests this month. Jackie’s sister wasn’t very well at all and we were hoping that she would make a speedy recovery, but it was not to be and we were so very sorry to hear the very sad news that she had died. I know how Jackie must be feeling, don’t you? It does sound as though we have mainly British here. Well, we have had many from the UK this month which is lovely, but generally we have many nationalities so, if you are from elsewhere in the world, please come and see us! Ed and Pam arrived, absolutely shattered. They flew from Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur, to Phuket and then to Samui – all in one go. They are most definitely not doing that again, so take note! Angela and John, a county judge, arrived at the same time as Avril and Lisa, who both work for local government, one in childcare and one in the parks dept, and they have all become great friends. Tim and Helen arrived then too and were a little reticent about working in an unmentionable profession, no not the MI5, but the Inland Revenue! I guessed they worked there actually - I recognised the signs! Great people and someone’s got to do it. They all enjoyed their stay which was full of hot, sunny days. Janice, whose birthday it was whilst she was here, and Pete were out on their first trip to Asia and stayed here on the recommendation of their daughter, Jennie and her boyfriend, Tobias, who came to stay a couple of years ago from Sweden where Jennie is a dress designer. Peter and Janice have practically decided to make this their winter destination. We’ve said goodbye to Lee and Karen, who were here on their tenth visit and they are thinking of coming back in September – always super to see them. They live in Kuala Lumpur, so it’s only a two-hour flight. Thank goodness we took the plunge and started this new life. Angela said, quite rightly, that many people dream, but very few actually dare do anything about it. Well, follow our example – follow your dreams, whatever they are! JUST DO IT! Honestly, it’s such a pleasure running our own hotel and, as I said, meeting all these lovely people from all over the world. Robin even said last night that he’s happier now than he’s ever been in his life and that we should have done this years ago. I know that my stories all sound too good to be true and that there must be a down side to this life. Well, of course, things do go wrong – say a shower or an air-con occasionally packs up, a safe occasionally needs to be opened or replaced, laundry occasionally goes missing – but nothing major really happens, nothing that can’t be handled in a jiffy. We have a very positive attitude here too – if you need anything, just ask and if you have a problem, and we hope you won’t, just tell us so that we can sort it out straightaway. The rest is mostly pure enjoyment. Last night, Simon asked Khun Lek to give him a lift to Maenam to see Malcolm, (from Villa Bianca), at his home. To cut a long story short, the car slipped off the edge of the road and, having tried many times,they couldn’t get it back on again. So, we called Khun Mark back to work to help. He arrived at the hotel to take the Fortuna, but didn't know that we needed it to pick up guests and I just saw the back of the car edging past my office window. We went running and shouting out of the hotel and just stopped him in time, so consequently, he took his truck. I was just thinking what on earth can happen next, when I walked into a wooden bar as the blind was down outside reception, but was fine after a couple of minutes. Khun Mark got to Maenam, drove past the abandoned car as Simon tried to stop him, but alas he was too late and so Khun Mark slipped off the edge of the road too. It then started to rain very heavily and, as they were also on a hill, Khun Mark tied his car to a palm tree to keep it secure. Eventually, after much investigation, he managed to acquire a ten-wheel truck to pull them back on the road. He returned to the hotel, battered and bruised, having saved two cars and two passengers. He deserves Employee of the Month for that alone. Come and see us. We’re full now, but shall have spaces as the year goes on. Just write and let us know when you’re thinking of staying and we’ll write straight back to tell you our availability. We’ve just heard from Sue and Simon that they’re almost definitely coming back for the sixth time at Christmas and the New Year – aren’t they well organised? Oh, and we’ve just heard that their son, Sam, has landed a great job in the city. Three cheers for Sam!! Well, I knew he would. He’s got what it takes, that’s for sure. Looks, charm, charisma . . . why on earth don’t I introduce him to our daughter?? Then I could be inadvertently related to Sue whom I love! Now, there’s an interesting idea . . Do e-mail. We’d love to hear from you. Very best wishes to you all. Sue 15.01.'10 Hi again Just a quickie, although I'm already making notes of the things I want to tell you next time. Most unfortunately, a lovely family Tatjana and Frants and their little daughters, Rosa and Alma, due back again next week and already in Koh Phangan, have had to abort their holiday and go straight home to Denmark again as Frants's mother died early this morning. We send them our condolences and are so sorry about their holiday as they have been planning it and e-mailing us about it for such a long time. If anyone out there is thinking of a holiday here in our lovely Family Bungalow which also has two bedrooms and a sitting room, let us know as soon as possible. It is available for thirteen nights from 19 January at 6,200 Baht per night plus 5% service charge. Very best wishes Sue 14.01.'10 Hello again from Samui! Well, the wedding went ahead on the south of the island and Tarryn and Justin had a perfect day with their parents, Margie and Nigel and Paul and Melodie, also with Helen, Janey, Greg and Gareth. They are all South African, but spread around the world in Johannesburg, Melbourne, Dubai and USA. Such a great family and they all said how they thoroughly enjoyed their stay here and with “we’ll definitely be back” and “I’m telling all my friends” and “I’m sending one of them next month,” we feel very happy indeed. Now that the family have left, Tarryn and Justin are staying a week on their own – such a delightful couple and we wish them a long and happy life together. Bob and Cheryl have returned – Bob’s been hugely involved with the building of the tallest building in the world in Dubai and looks forward to a long and happy retirement with Cheryl as they make their way around Australia starting September. Lovely Peter and Dot from Norwich, UK, (much sought after choristers at home), are back for a month again and were a little delayed by the snow in the UK as proven by the photos they brought with them. Now I know why we moved to Samui! Chris and Emma, avid readers of this blog, (many guests tell us that they enjoy it, I am so pleased), said that they’d been reading about Christmas and the New Year over here and couldn’t wait to come back again. They are also here for their third visit and really enjoy the nightlife. They told us that they wouldn’t be coming back until they’d started a family, but here they are once more! Ken and Carol, here for their first visit, feel that they have found their new winter destination and were talking about coming back before they got into the car at the airport! They’re already arranging what to do on their next visit. It’s Carol’s birthday today. Glenn and Diana also arrived from UK a couple of days ago and they told us how they met – very romantic – and I wish them lots of happiness together. We have Zvi and Deeta here from Israel, a charming couple, who are working their way around all the local Thai restaurants and say that they too will be coming back for a month next time. We said goodbye to little Stuart today and his parents, Angus and Jacqui who used our babysitting service for the last two nights and were over the moon – they’d only had a babysitter once before. Then we said hello to Patrick and Rebecca from Sweden here for the end of their maternal/paternal leave from their work in computers with Isaac, 1 year, and Elin, 3 years. Coincidentally, Jasper and Julie from Denmark arrived at the same time with Alma, 9 months, so we have some lovely little ones here again. I called Khun Raine to speak Danish as she lived in Denmark for seven years and the guests were most amazed. I hope that our babysitting will come in useful for these two families too. Our French guests, Michael and Hortense, have been out too whilst their little ones, Josephine, 5, and Rose, 3, have been well cared for by our girls. If any of you remember Khun Lek, she has returned to work as a receptionist on the evening shift for five evenings per week. It is very good to have her smiling face and professional attitude back at the hotel. Today we see Khun Nong starting as a receptionist. She is a friend of Khun Lamai and we welcome her here too. She has a very gracious manner and will be an asset to us, I am sure. Well, with two receptionists expecting a baby, (Khun Raine and Khun Pim), we need to be sure we have enough staff, although it seems as there are quite a few blue silk uniforms behind the desk today! Oh, I forgot to tell you that Khun Gop, who is a very good cook indeed, joins her aunt, Khun Arom, (‘Cooking’), in the kitchen so that will take the pressure off our lovely Cooking a little bit. Khun Mae, the other kitchen helper, leaves us this week – much to our surprise, we have just learned that she has fallen in love with ‘the ice man’ and so has made other plans! A last minute cancellation sees our Family Suite which comprises two bedrooms, a sitting room and a bathroom, available from 15 January until the end of the month. The price for this is 5,500 Baht per night plus 5% service charge. One bedroom has a kingsize bed and the other can have either twin beds or a kingsize bed. Don’t forget that we don’t push our twin mattresses together so that you have that awfully uncomfortable ridge down the middle. We push the bases together, take off the twin mattresses and replace them with a kingsize mattress. We like our guests to be comfortable. An extra bed or two can be fitted in there too, if required, at 500 Baht each per night, plus service, although these are free for children 3 years and under and cots are free too. All these prices include a good breakfast which is served from 7.30am until 11.00am. We also have a children’s menu and all the food is freshly cooked. So, that's the news for now. Everything is going very well. Bill will be back tomorrow for his 14th visit and lots more returning guests after that. This is a terrible life, you know, I just don't know why Robin and I stay here . . . Come and see us and find out for yourself, although we're getting busy in January, February, March and early April. Get your diaries out and plan ahead! You know, one of our Christmas guests should be booking two rooms soon for Christmas 2111! Now there's an organiser! No wonder he's a high-flyer! Best wishes and Bye for now Sue 02.01.'10 And a very happy New Year to you all too! We had a party here and put quite a few tables out on the beach which was lovely. We served spring rolls and egg nets, (filled with pork, peppers, corn, onion and herbs), followed by a barbecue which started with ribs, then a selection of chicken, pork and beef kebabs with potato salad and tomato salad, followed by white snapper and rice. We then had lanterns at 11pm and fireworks at midnight. There were 40 guests and 20 staff. A great time was had by all. We've just said goodbye to Pauline and her daughter, Bev, who was here with her husband, Mark, and their daughter, Libby, and Pauline's son, Ian, who was here with his wife, Sue, their sons, Alex and Jake and Isaac and their daughter, Jess. Ten in all! And what a fantastic family they were! They say that they had a marvellous time and will be back. We hope so as it was a delight meeting them and having them all to stay. We have just said goodbye to Sue and Simon, here for their fifth stay, and they are already thinking of their sixth. I do hope so - I miss them already! Yesterday, we said goodbye to Paul, Huerne, Jacco and Mirijn, from High Wycombe in the UK and Paul, Nicky and lovely little Lariana from London just left too - Paul and Nicky have already booked again for April. We have two lovely Swedish families here, Ulrika, Bjorn, Alexandra and Karolina, and then Inger with her son, Anders, and her daughter Camilla, here with her husband, Peter, and daughters, Emmy and Elin. We have Vidar, from Norway, here with his wife, Anne-Christine, and their son, Tobias. Mandy and Terry went back to Moscow this morning where it is minus 22 degrees and they say that they are definitely coming back too. We wish them well in their new posting in Istanbul. Sigurd and Camilla, from Oslo, say it is minus 23 degrees there! Oh, dear! I think they should all move to Koh Samui! Tarryn and Justin are here from South Africa and getting married on 10 January, so their family are arriving over the next few days and Margaret and Peter have arrived from the UK to have a well deserved rest from the print management business. Pia and Karma are here from Katmandu and Stephen and Macala are here from Melbourne with their little angels, William and Henry. We've had 16 children here over the festive period, but you'd never know as they've all been so good, they really have. We'll see lots of return guests in the next few weeks: Bill, Renato, Peter & Dot, Carol & John, Margaret & Alastair, Chris & Emma, Bob & Cheryl, Tatiana & Franz and Jack & Myra. We can't wait to see them all. Some of them have met here before and that is always nice too. These returning guests will take over 25% of our rooms for January which is fantastic for a longhaul holiday. Khun Carol, our original receptionist, (we now have eight), has won Employee of the Month again. Many of our guests compliment her and we are so pleased that she continues to keep up standards and set such a good example to the younger girls. Well done, Khun Carol! I can't believe it's 2010. We moved here in August 2003, so we've been here six and a half years and have just had our seventh Christmas here. We love our hotel and are as pleased as punch when we hear our guests say that they love it too. One of our guests said to me yesterday that she loves it here more than anywhere else in the world - how marvellous! So, if you have not been here before, why not come to stay? It seems that you can be any age and any nationality to enjoy it . . . send us an e-mail of your proposed dates and write straight back and let you know our availability, but don't leave it too long as we are already getting busy. My very best wishes for a great 2010! Hope to see you soon. Sue 25.12.'09 And a very merry Christmas to you all! We're meeting at the bar at noon for a Buck's Fizz then going off to Dr Frog's for our lunch. The weather is good and the views from the restaurant should be spectacular. We have some super guests staying here, as usual, and everyone is in the festive mood. Most unfortunately, we have heard this morning that, because of bereavement, one of our guests has had to cancel two rooms from 28 December until 4 January, that's seven nights. So, if you haven't made plans for those dates, do let us know as soon as possible and you can come to stay at The Waterfront! The rooms have adjoining doors if you are a family, so that one room has a kingsize bed and one room can have a kingsize bed or twin beds. Obviously, these rooms can be sold separately. Each room is 3,500 Baht per night and, as you know, this includes a good breakfast, free pick-up from the airport, (we try to take you back if commitments allow), free internet and wireless for laptops. We hope to see you! Meanwhile, enjoy your day. Sue 17.12.'09 Hi Again! One of our guests, already here and enjoying it, has to leave for an urgent business meeting on Christmas Eve. Consequently, we have our Family Bungalow, which comprises two bedrooms and a sitting room, available for three nights from 24 December for three nights, the cost of which is for 6,650 Baht per night, including breakfast. If you are interested in this, please let us know as soon as possible, also letting us know if you would like to join us for the Christmas meal on Friday, 25 December, at Dr Frog's which is 1,200 Baht per person plus 7% VAT, half price for children 12 and under. Best wishes Sue 15.12.'09 Hello from beautiful Samui! I returned on Friday night, having stopped in Abu Dhabi for eight and a half hours between flights, feeling somewhat jaded. However, I walked into our hotel and was overwhelmed by its beauty. I have to say that I am not biased in any way and the lovely guests I have met since my return have all borne out this opinion too. The gardens look lush, the view of the outlying islands is fantastic, guests are swimming in the sea just now and enjoying the good food and relaxed atmosphere. The staff have been so lovely - they really feel like family to us - and the improvements are almost finished. We have Dutch, South American, English, Australian and French here and they are all super people too - three of the couples are on honeymoon. Since my return, Robin and I have had very late nights, or rather early mornings, whilst we have chatted to the guests and caught up on all our news which has been exciting for us - not bad at our age! Charlotte, our daughter, is now in the UK, working in fashion, and no doubt enjoying her leisure even more. Michael, our son, is in Samui and also very pleased to be back. Last night, we had a staff party, a barbecue on the beach and, of course, our guests were invited too. It was very enjoyable. The food was prepared and cooked by all the staff and, as it was so tasty, we have decided to offer the same for a party on New Year's Eve - if the guests wish us to have a party, that is! Of course, we would have fireworks and lanterns too. Next week, we shall be full again and look forward to the festive season. We shall have all nationalities here and Christmas Day should be very enjoyable at Dr Frog's - I am certainly looking forward to it, especially as I shall not be cooking this year! If you are thinking of coming to stay in 2010, please send us an e-mail and we shall tell you our availability. January, February and March are getting pretty full, so don't delay if you wish to come then. April is also looking busy. We are looking forward to seeing lots of return guests during those months too which is like icing on the cake for us. On reading through the above, I know it all sounds a bit cheesy and too good to be true, but I have to tell you that, being in this village, feels as though you are escaping from the world. Time stands still - we often forget what day it is - and everybody says they feel at home in the special atmosphere of The Waterfront. Whatever it is, we hope you will come to see us and enjoy it too. Meanwhile, we wish you a very Happy Christmas a Prosperous New Year during which time we hope you will find time for a trip to see us in Samui. Take care and enjoy. Sue 04.12.'09 Hi to you all! I am so sorry I have been unable to write and this is only a short one until next week when I shall be able to resume my normal service! We have received many enquiries for the Christmas period, but have not been able to help as Christmas and New Year have been full for quite a while. However, we have just received a cancellation from 24 December until 6 January in one of our bungalows which has a queensize bed and a lovely view of the sea and the outlying islands. There would be space for an extra bed if one were needed for a small child. If you are interested in taking this booking, please e-mail Robin as soon as possible. Most of our guests are joining us for the Christmas meal on 25 December at Dr Frog's restaurant which should be very enjoyable indeed, so do let us know if you would like details of that when you write. Meanwhile, I hope you are all keeping well. Khun Poll, our barman and nightguard, is enjoying his new little daughter, born last week, and Cooking, our excellent provider of some of the most fantastic food on the island, is Employee of the Month yet again. Well done her! I leave you now, until the end of next week. Very best wishes and think about coming to join us - the guests who cancelled are very upset that they're not coming back and are trying to organise another trip instead in the New Year . . . Sue 07.11.’09 Hello Everyone! Sorry I’m late with my news, but I have been on the move yet again. I had to dash back to UK as Charlotte, our daughter, decided to return and work in Norwich, so I needed to find and prepare accommodation for her. She loved it in Samui, but all her friends are in other places and there are very few people of her age permanently living on the island, so I’ve lost my little girl again! She wanted to work in fashion and actually had an interview today, so fingers crossed. Khun Raine, our little, expectant receptionist, has won the Employee of the Month for the second time. She received loads of votes this month, more than anyone so far. Good for her. We now hear that Khun Pim, our tallest receptionist, is also expecting a baby, so we shall be having some expanding uniforms in the New Year! Both lovely girls and I wish them every happiness. They both say that they are returning to work after the babies are born, so we are very pleased indeed that we shall still be enjoying their wonderful help and company at the hotel. I can’t believe it’s November. It was only January a little while ago! Robin has been welcoming lots of lovely guests whilst I’ve been away and I am sorry that I have not been able to meet them, but I hear that they have enjoyed their stay and many have vowed to return – always such a lovely thing to hear. All the staff have been helping with the repairs and improvements that we always try to do at this time of the year, over and above all those that we constantly carry out throughout the year, and everything is going well. One or two things that we particularly wanted to be done have now been completed and I look forward to seeing them on my return. Meanwhile, if you are planning your holidays for 2010, think about coming to stay with us. Our youngest guest has been five weeks and our oldest has been eighty nine years, so that’s quite a cross-section of people. Many of these return again and again which is fantastic, so we must be doing something right. Don’t forget that we are only a small hotel with eighteen rooms, not a huge five-star establishment, although we do offer many facilities free of charge which are often quite expensive in larger hotels. We like to give our guests the sort of service we ourselves would like to receive and value for money too in a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere with excellent restaurants just steps away, although our own cook receives lots of compliments too. All our rooms have a beautiful view of the beach, the sea, Koh Phangan and the outlying islands. So, why not go for it? Send us an e-mail and we’ll let you know our availability without delay. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the not too distant future. Very best wishes Sue 01.10.’09 A big October hello from Samui! Everything is still wonderful, including the weather, but I shall never get used to saying goodbye to guests. I know that we are so lucky in welcoming many back, often time and time again, but that just makes it even harder, quite honestly! Bill, who’s still here, (on his twelfth visit, you may remember), tells me that I should be used to it by now, but I’m not! Can’t you all give up your jobs and move in, please, never to return? The trouble with that, of course, is that we only have eighteen rooms. And some of you have to work, I suppose. Oh, well! Last week, Julie – Bill’s daughter - had a little early birthday party for him at Dr Frog’s which is a great restaurant where she works in Chaweng Noi. The view there across the water to Chaweng Beach is magnificent and it reminds me of Monte Carlo. Have just written to our Christmas guests asking them if they would like to join us for Christmas Lunch there this year instead of at the hotel and the response has been very positive indeed! Anyway, we had a very enjoyable evening and Bill went on to Chaweng with Robin, Charlotte, Michael and Bla and returned at 6am the next morning. They were dancing, singing and playing pool and had to haul themselves back in order to be ready for the next day. I don’t know if you saw us mentioned in the Sunday Times Travel Supplement in the UK on 27 September. We were so pleased and thought we compared quite well to the other hotels mentioned, especially pricewise! Gill, having seen it, wrote to us asking for availability so, hopefully, she will come to stay. We also hope others will have seen it too and, even if they’re not thinking of coming to see us now, will think about it for the future. We believe that there has been a TV programme showing adverse publicity on Thailand and the way problems are dealt with by police. We feel very sorry to hear this as it is very easy to show anything in a bad light and viewers are going to get completely the wrong idea about this lovely country. Tourist Police operate in Koh Samui and they always have the tourists’ interests at heart. I have seen them in action and was very impressed. It must be very difficult for Thailand, and any other tourist destination, to deal with the sometimes arrogant and loutish behaviour of drunken and drugged revellers visiting their country and, whether the police reaction at times is not one that we are used to because of this provocation, we know that it is generally one of kindness and support – as it is in most places of the world. Our staff have really been enjoying our guests recently and vice versa. Cooking took Tarmo and Pirjio from Finland all around the island and then dined with them in Nathon. Bla took Glyn and Emi, (who’ve just booked again for next March), out the week before last and then Nancy, Tarmo and Pirjio last week. Also, Len and Diane went to Khun Pim’s for dinner the other evening with Khun Lamai and Khun Fon. It is so nice to see such a happy relationship between staff and guests and I think the guests enjoyed feeling part of the community rather than just visitors. Incidentally, our Finnish friends have been on trips, had haircuts, massages, manicures and pedicures, visited the dentist, purchased new spectacles, celebrated a birthday with ice-cream cake, flowers, fireworks and lanterns and are planning their return. They have been absolutely delightful and we were sorry to see them go – AS WELL as everybody else! September is a lovely month, but this year has been even hotter and sunnier than before. Lots of suntans and happy faces around the place with lots of plans to come back. The last few days have been a little dull though, but sometimes this is a relief! Although we’re always keeping the place in a good state of repair, we’re closely inspecting each room again now and intend to renew our other piece of decking and some roofing too. This work will only be done when it least worries the guests, so don’t let it stop you coming to stay! We like to keep the hotel in a good condition for our guests and many do remark upon the place looking ‘well cared for’. Kop Kun Kah! I don’t know if I told you that Khun Poll, our night barman and security guard looks forward to his first baby in December and, when I broach the subject, he blushes and giggles a little nervously. I think he’s feeling a little apprehensive and whether he’ll be able to sleep during the day! I am sure he will and wish him all the best. Khun Raine, one of our receptionists, is also expecting a baby, although she is so tiny, I don’t know how she’ll manage it! Our Employee of the Month for September is Khun Carol, yet again. She was our first ever receptionist and is hugely liked by our guests. We think a lot of Khun Carol and are very pleased that she continues to do her best for the hotel – a good example indeed. I have to say, at this point, that our new Khun Bla did very well in the voting too and she has shown herself to be a very valuable member of staff already. Cooking and Khun Poll also did very well, as usual. Meanwhile, have you started planning your hols for next year? Lots of people have been here during our six years and lots keep coming back. Why don’t you come here too and see for yourselves? We have some space now and leading up to Christmas and then our popular Honeymoon/Superior Room is now available until 26 December, followed by 26 and 27 in an upstair room, (see these on our website). We have some space left in January, February and March, but hurry as it’s filling up. We’ve already taken bookings for next August, so start thinking about it! We’ll be waiting . . . Best wishes, as always Sue
16.09.’09 Hello Again! I collected a lovely guest, Erica Marie, (and her partner, Michael, also very, very nice), from the airport yesterday and the first thing she said was, “are you the blogger?” They live in California, Los Angeles actually, although they originate from Boston, and again I was lost in the power of the internet. It amazes me every day and has brought us so many interesting people from all over the world. At present, we have Japanese, Tanzanian, Pakistani, (Dolores has sprinted for her country in the 100 and 200 metres), Polish, Finnish, Austrian, Spanish, Welsh, English, Irish, American, Italian, Dutch and Chilean. And still the lawyers keep arriving, although the teachers have more or less stopped now, but the doctors are coming back again and there’s always an IT specialist here! We’ve had more returning guests – Gary and Sara are here just now for their second visit and Neil, Mehroon and Amber, (now very grown up at seven years old), are here for the fifth time with Adolph and Dolores who say that, although they are here for the first time, they intend to be here for a fifth time too! Just took a booking from Tom whose coming back again in a couple of weeks’ time and we very much look forward to seeing Diane and Len again next week. Bill is still here, of course. The weather has been superb and everyone coming in has been saying how beautiful our view is which, of course, it is. Oh, there goes Khun Yen putting the table tennis table away, well it is 5.15pm and guests are thinking of preparing for their evening stroll along the village, perhaps having an aperitif at our bar first and/or having one or two before bed later on. I’m sure I must have told you that the bar closes when the last guest goes to bed which varies, depending on the season – and the guests! We’re already full for Christmas. January, February and March are already looking busy, so do hurry and e-mail us if you’re thinking of coming early next year. If you feel you need a break before that, we still have some space still in October, November and December this year although we’ve already taken bookings for August 2010! We took on a new receptionist a couple of weeks ago and are very pleased to welcome Khun Pla. If you’ve been to Bophut before, you may have seen her working elsewhere, but now we are lucky enough to have her working here. Lovely smiling face, lovely manner and a real asset to us. I should think we’ll see her winning the Employee of the Month in the not too distant future. Today, two separate lots of guests returned. They were both with us last week and had said their goodbyes as they were going off to visit other islands. However, they both changed their minds when they got there and came back to stay with us again! Things like that are so special to us. I see poor old Keith Floyd has died. If you’re from the UK, you will know that he fronted many cookery programmes some years ago and was a real bon vivant. More recently, he has been running a restaurant in Phuket which is advertised on huge hoardings all over the island there and which, so I am told, was very successful. I didn’t go, but now wish that I had. Well, have to go as more guests coming in. What will their story be? Where do they live and what do they do? Where have they been and where are they going? This is just SO interesting! When are YOU coming to see us? We’ll be waiting . . . . Best wishes, as always Sue 02.09.'09 It’s that time again! Hello Everyone! These last two weeks have just flown by. We’ve had more lovely guests here and lovely weather too. Bill, our guest who keeps on returning, still thinks it’s Paradise here and has been meeting up with old friends as well as making new ones and they are all pleased to see him, as are we, of course. We’ve had lots of guests using our hotel as a halfway house rather than travelling from UK to Australia or New Zealand or vice versa. Also we’ve had guests zooming in from Singapore, Dubai, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Delhi and Kuala Lumpur either to meet friends or to chill out by themselves. All such interesting and friendly people – we are so lucky to be able to meet them all. Robin bought champagne last week when England won the Ashes. He was over the moon! Unfortunately, there were not many Australians here just then and so he couldn’t give them too much of a hard time, but one or two, like Bruce A, e-mailed constantly. Well done, England! Today sees our daughter, Charlotte, working in our hotel for the second day of, hopefully, a year - well, that’s the plan anyway! It’s a pleasure having her with us – I especially have missed her so much over the last few years. Last week, we had the Jones family here, Jan, Chris, Alex and Saffy, (who celebrated her 15th birthday while she was here), and Charlotte had lots of fun with them. She has been enjoying the company of our other guests too, (not a difficult thing to do!), and is probably going to put the hotel on Facebook, so watch out for us on there. The completely untrue “Wild Monkeys” review is still on www.tripadvisor.com. If you are a past guest and have a moment, we should very much appreciate it if you would register this review as inappropriate – eventually the powers that be may realise that none of the accusations in it are true and remove it. Also, many guests really enjoy staying at the hotel and tell us that they are coming back. Often, if they kindly remember, they post a lovely review on the Trip Advisor site too. It’s just worth mentioning that, if you are so pleased, a ‘5’ rating will keep us at the top, but even a ‘4’ can change our position - hotels with an average of ‘4’ are approximately 60th on the island! Consequently, when we receive reviews full of complete fallacy accompanied by a low rating, it is very damaging and hurtful to us. We really do try our best here and do not enjoy being the victims of occasional cyber-bullying. There are three English children, Eve, Maya and Oscar playing games at a table in reception at this very moment. They are so well-behaved and so grown up that it is a pleasure seeing and listening to them. Consequently, their parents, Doug and Rachel, are having a very relaxing time around the pool chatting to other guests, like Nick, Anne-Marie and Lucy from Melbourne or Mandy and Alan from the UK. Khun Pim, our fun-loving receptionist, has won Employee of the Month again. She has received high praise from the voting guests and we are so pleased to read their comments. Well done, Khun Pim, and keep up the good work! We constantly receive good feedback about the village. Our guests really enjoy strolling along the street to dine in the different restaurants or drink in the different bars. There are more little stalls and upmarket boutiques now, but it is still a charming little village and it’s right on our doorstep, although far enough away to preserve the peace and quiet that we so enjoy here. If you enjoy diving or wish to learn, there are dive shops locally, but the diving itself has to be done on Koh Tao or Sail Rock. We had a super couple from Holland recently, Sandy and Dirk, who spent a week diving over there, (fantastic underwater photos and videos), and then a week with us. I wish I could dive! We had two guests here yesterday, Grainne and John, who are going to learn. How marvellous! I am so envious! I just don’t have the nerve, however. I am truly a whimp. So, I hope you are enjoying a good September, wherever you are. The sun is shining beautifully here. Actually, September is usually a great month, but then most of them are on this tropical island of ours. Just think, you could be here, chilling out in one of our pool chairs with cushions that softly envelop you as soon as you sit down, or cooling down in the pool whilst you sip a cocktail or a cold beer, or gently swinging in the hammock as you contemplate the world – or not . . . . Start arranging that holiday now. Get the ball rolling. Send us an e-mail with some suggested dates. We’ll write straight back and let you know our availability. ”What was that? A massage? I’ll book you one straightaway!” Best wishes Sue 17.08.09 Hello Everyone! How are you? We're absolutely fantastic here, having just welcomed our 11th returning guest in a three-week period! It is so wonderful to see all their smiling faces again and we welcome them back with thanks. At the moment, we have Bill back again for now, we realise, the twelfth time, (great to see him again), a French family, Bruno and Brigitte, with 18-year old twins, a son, Aurelren, and daughter, Camille, an English family living in Singapore, Elizabeth and David, with two sons, Michael, 17, and Samuel, 12, have today said goodbye to two honeymoon couples, Adam and Lauren from UK, although Lauren originally from South Africa, and lawyers, Adam and Cara from USA, have also said goodbye to Chris and Sarah, who live and teach in Dubai, here with their girls, Lucy, 3, Bethany, 2, and Elledy, 1, then we had Christophe and Claire, French, who also work in Singapore, he as a shipbuilder and she for Chanel, (how wonderful!), here with little Violet, four months old, Helen, here with her daughter, Fiona, from UK, Jarden, a sofa specialist, and Ben who has his own electronics company, from Australia, lovely auburn-haired Sally, a Deputy Head Teacher, and Dan, a busy Production Manager, from UK, Spyros, a lawyer, and Oyrania, an architect, from Greece, Bill and Val back yet again from New Zealand at the end of a three-month tour to celebrate their almost retirement, Jack and Myra yet again from USA, waiting for their house to be finished on the mainland, John, Fran, Julie, Jim and their travelling sons, Dave, James, Michael and Andy from UK who all occupied our first floor, Matt and Louise who extended their stay, originally from Australia, but living and working in Dubai and expecting their first child, Robert and Lindsay from Birmingham, both teachers in the UK, four American ladies - Wendi, a midwife, JC, another graphic designer, Lynette and Katie, both Christian Aid workers in the Middle and Far East, Anne enjoying a well-earned break from her position as Dairy Research Manager in Australia, Emma, a teacher, here with Robin, a furniture maker from UK, Marcus who's training to be a firefighter and Johanna, an architectural designer, here again from Sweden, Emma, a graphic designer, here with Hassim, a Banker, from Dubai, Alex who works in the chemical industry and Vanessa, a designer, from Valencia, Spain, and David, a property broker from Dubai here with Jimmy who now lives and works, obtaining and selling classical cars, in Phuket. And that’s only some of our lovely guests! So, you see that we have all ages, from all walks of life and all nationalities too. The common denominator is that they all enjoy the peace, tranquility, relaxation, surroundings and friendly welcome at our boutique hotel by both ourselves and our staff. You see, we do really care about our guests and enjoy getting to know them too – with eighteen rooms that is possible – you are never just a number here. Our prime concern is that you enjoy your holiday and we shall do our very best to help you achieve it. Guests are always saying how much they enjoy sauntering along our charming village of Bophut and stopping for a cocktail or a meal. We have so many restaurants from which to choose - obviously Thai, at all different prices, plus French, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Japanese and Australian. There are local stalls selling clothes and paraphernalia as well as more upmarket boutiques. All parallel to the sea . . . We have been receiving many enquiries and bookings recently so, if you wish to come, write soon so that we are able to coincide with your dates and plans. Not much left for Christmas and the New Year and January, February and March are all getting booked up, so don’t leave it too long! We still have some space in the coming months too so, if you fancy a break, get out the suitcase, dust down the bikinis and swimming trunks, and send us an e-mail. We’ll pick you up from the airport and bring you here, via the village so you know where you are, give you a beer or a gin and tonic or a glass of wine, for example, get you to sign in and then you can just R – E – L – A – X!! Does any of this whet your appetite? I hope so. We look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes Sue 01.08.’09 Hi Everybody! Yes, I know, the newletters have become monthly instead of two-weekly, but I intend to get them back on track now that things seem to have settled back to normal again. Robin’s mother, Edie, and uncle, Maurice, enjoyed it here very much indeed, Maurice especially enjoying his conversations with all the guests and his daily walk and swim. Nobody could believe that he was 89, in fact his son told us that, having travelled back to the UK – a journey which took 24 hours door to door – Maurice looked as though he had just popped out to lunch! He becomes our oldest guest – 5 weeks still being our youngest one. Another wonderful thing for us is that we have seven returning rooms here at the moment! Three rooms from Dubai, one from Bahrain and three from UK. They all happen to be British. Five of the rooms remember each other from their last visit, two years ago, which is rather coincidental. It is always really lovely to see guests coming back again. Kate said that she had relaxed ten minutes after arriving. Ben said that he did wonder if it had changed at all and was so happy that it had not. Gillian said that she felt we had it right here as it felt like coming to stay with family, people who actually cared and made her feel at home. Well, guests like these can return any time! We also have quite a few youngsters here, at the moment. Joe, who is 8, is back again with his sister Abigail who is 10 – their parents are Kate and Ben. Grace, also 10 and already an artist of merit, is back for the third time with her sister, Connie, who is 14, and parents, Chris and Deb – they’re talking about coming back yet again next year with friends. Antoine, 11, from Paris, is here with his family, Tania, Christian, Egor and Caroline, and we hope that he shall be having a chat with William, from UK, who is also 11 and here with his sister, Katie, who is 16, and their parents, Graham and Victoria. Elliott, 13, (destined to be a great fashion designer), has arrived with his brother, Daniel, 18, and their Dad, Albert, and we shall be sorry to say goodbye today to Nicola, (14), Ellie, (20), and Alex, who celebrated his 19th birthday a few days ago, here with their parents, Gillian and Phil. Last week, we had Jade, 18 months, and her sister, Ella, who is 6, here with their parents Jef and Nathalie. Yesterday we said goodbye to Samuel who is 6 and his sister, Lola, who is 9, here with their parents Edouard and Emanuelle. And, do you know something? You would never know any of the younger ones were here – they don’t seem to make a sound! We are very lucky - the children who come here always seem to be well-behaved and so interesting too – they’re always ready to have a conversation. And Leo, our Yorkshire Terrier, is a hit with them, of course – they love to take him for a walk around the garden. We are lucky to have so many youngsters here as, most of the time, we have very few. Must be the school holidays! We’ve had many teachers, doctors and lawyers here too, also a psychologist, a pilot, many IT specialists, a musician, an intensive care nurse who also knows and grows plants, a premature baby nurse, an interior designer, a publisher, a publican . . . many interesting people from all walks of life and from many different countries, e.g. Japan, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, France, UK, Dubai, Bahrain, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, USA, India, Russia . . . All this excitement all the time makes the days fly by, so much so that next week sees our sixth year anniversary. Six years! Where have they all gone? We left UK on 6 August 2003 and arrived on 7 August when our daughter, Charlotte, was just 11 and our son, Michael, was 18. Charlotte has returned to Samui to work in the hotel for about a year and Michael, with his fluent Thai, driving skills and dry sense of humour, continues to be a big help to us. Yesterday and today, we are conducting our monthly spray of all the rooms and gardens. We are not especially troubled here by mosquitos and have rarely seen a cockroach or a mouse, but we like to make sure that we don’t see them either. We have certainly never seen wild monkeys or wild cats, as suggested by a review on www.tripadvisor.com recently – actually we have never seen any of the things suggested in that review which is why we are amazed that it has not been removed. It has one thing going for it, however. It is amusing, if nothing else. And everyone who has ever stayed here knows that it couldn’t possibly be true as we like to keep our hotel fresh and clean so that our guests can really enjoy their holiday – and we don’t have baths either, so how their plugs could be a problem, we’ll never know! If any former guest has the time and inclination to ‘report inappropriate comment’ after the review entitled, ‘Wild Monkeys Woke Us At 6am’, it would be much appreciated, perhaps choosing that the comments made were ‘not a first hand experience’. Our Honeymoon/Superior Room has been a great hit with everyone. I think I told you that Robin and I stayed in it the first night it was ready and we loved it. If you decide to book it, I hope that you will enjoy it too. We have recently renewed most of our decking – well, the restaurant/café area overlooking the beach, sea and outlying islands. We are waiting to renew the rest until the Low Season. This shouldn’t take long at all and, if you are thinking of coming then, don’t worry, we shall only do it slowly and quietly and, even then, it will only take a very short while, say a week or two. A couple of weeks ago, we had another staff party. We all went out to dinner, Thai- style, followed by tenpin bowling and then dancing. Charlotte won the bowling, but Khun Raine, who looked dazzling in her frilly blouse and skirt, was the best Thai member of staff overall. It was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. Always good for staff morale and for letting them know that we care about them – which, of course, we do! Khun Fon, our youngest receptionist, has won Employee of the Month for July. This is her first time and we are very pleased for her. She does try hard and is a mine of information. Sometimes, she is trying and concentrating so hard that she forgets to smile, but when she relaxes, her face lights up and it is the most wonderful smile imaginable! She really looked after our American group recently, especially at cocktail time, and they were very appreciative of all her efforts – as are we. Well done, Khun Fon! As I look out of the office, I can see Yvonne and Robin chatting to Chris and Deb around the pool, Kate applying her suntan lotion between chapters beside Ben who’s listening to his i-pod, Connie stepping into the pool, Abigail, Grace and Joe playing Monopoly in Reception, Mark reading the newspaper on his balcony beside Joanne who’s looking at the wonderful view, (probably deciding whether to return to her sunbed on the beach), Elliott sizing up the designs in the latest Vogue, Daniel on the internet and, through the foliage, I can just see Katie applying lotion to Graham’s back whilst on their sunbeds on the beach. It’s a hard life here, I can tell you! The sun is shining, the sky is blue and, although it is hot, there is a gentle breeze to keep us all a little cooler. I have just enjoyed an early lunch and am just finishing my news to you before paying the salaries. Pay Day seems to come around quickly, but a guest once said that it probably comes around very slowly for the staff. How right he probably was. So, have you had your holiday yet? Or are you planning next year’s maybe? Think about coming to The Waterfront – we’d love to see you. Best wishes Sue 01.07.’09 Hello Again Well, another month has flown by and my usual fortnightly reports have been delayed again. I am so sorry to keep you waiting! It has been really hot and sunny here since I wrote last. We have had a little bit of rain, say three times, but only for a short time around early evening and who minds about that? All helps with keeping our island green and our flowers bursting with colour! This week, we have had some delightful guests: a beautiful Korean girl, training as a lawyer in London, but working in Bangkok for a few months, brought her mother and father, who is also coincidentally in Bangkok working in tourism; a Danish couple who aspire to be great divers one day and who have their own yachting business; a Swedish family with a lovely 14-year old daughter and her friend – the mother and father are both bankers; a Swedish couple both working in construction, (they have been keeping a watchful eye on our staff rebuilding the decking!); an American couple who are into coins and who have been coming to Thailand for many years; four Honeymoon couples, two American and two English; an English couple from Suffolk, the gentleman is in chemical sales and the lady is a saxophonist, (if only she had brought her instrument with her!); two young English lady teachers currently working in Dubai; a Turkish couple who were always on a tour or a trip somewhere or the other and always laughing too; a French lady who is working for a charity; an English gentleman, who wrote to me today thanking us all for making his visit ‘so memorable’, is returning next month and an Australian couple who live in Wineglass Valley and are connected with tourism themselves. The list could go on, but I think I have given you a feeling of the sort of guests who come to stay. I thought I’d go to the bank yesterday as I needed some cash for the salaries which are paid on the first of every month. Thank goodness I did! The banks are closing for the day today. I should have been lynched! We’ve had lots of enquiries and lots of bookings recently so we’re very pleased indeed. Obviously, we can’t offer perfection and we cannot please everyone, but we do the best we can and the vast majority of guests who visit us are very happy indeed. It will be good to have Robin back the day after tomorrow though, (with his mother, uncle and our daughter, Charlotte), as it’s nice to share the running of the hotel and it gives us both more time to chat to guests – the best part of the job as far as I am concerned! Our Employee of the Month, yet again, is Khun Arom or “Cooking”, as she is known. The comments all related to her happy, smiling face and her excellent food. We are very proud of “Cooking” and very pleased that she has made it again. Why do I suddenly remember her plunging into the swimming pool a few years ago at Songkran, the Thai New Year and water festival? A sight to behold, I can tell you! I had an enquiry today from a couple who were wondering if Samui would suit them as one of them was quite active and the other quite lazy. It did make me laugh and I told them that there are snorkelling trips, diving trips, boat trips to the islands which can include swimming, snorkelling and kayaking, tours around the island by coach or boat, canopy rides, (through the tops of trees), quadbiking, gokarting, fishing, paragliding, bungey jumping, elephant trekking, etc, etc. OR YOU CAN JUST DECIDE WHETHER TO SIT ONE SIDE OF THE HOTEL OR THE OTHER, lazing in the shade or the sunshine with either the newspaper or a book and a cocktail . . . with perhaps the odd massage or manicure and pedicure. Is this what you’re looking for too? If it is, send us an e-mail and we’ll write straight back with our availability. You can be active, or just plain lazy, it’s up to you. Meanwhile, I am just taking in this glorious view of Koh Phangan and the outlying islands. It is exquisite. Best wishes Sue 11.06.’09 Hello Everyone! I am so sorry that I have taken so long to write, but there were even more problems to attend to in the UK and so I had to fly back yet again. I shan’t go into detail, but all is OK now. Consequently, I am back in our lovely hotel, but without Robin as he is, at this very minute, flying to the UK himself, not to sort out problems, but to make his annual visit to the family. This year, however, he will be returning with his mother, (86), and his uncle, (88), so we are very much looking forward to welcoming them to our new home. Well, not so new now, of course, it’ll be six years in August since we moved here! And how that time has flown! Keep this in mind when you book your holiday too. Time seems to go so quickly here that it’s worth coming for an extra week or so if you can. After all, you have laid out a large amount on the flight and it isn’t expensive to stay here, so why not stay longer? Many guests often say that they wish they were staying longer and definitely will next time. And they do! Whilst I was away, Mike and Ruth were here for their second visit, but this time on their honeymoon and Doug and Pauline, both retired teachers, were here for a good month. Jack and Myra were here again and will be returning yet again in August, (I have yet to meet them and look forward to that), and they’ll be here at the same time as Bill who’ll be on his thirteenth visit! At the moment, we have Gail and Tom from Dallas, a very nice couple here with their 14-year old daughter, Kait, and her friend, Beth, (two maths and science experts!),and they flew here via Vancouver and Tokyo, but will be returning via Hong Kong and Los Angeles. We have just said goodbye to Charmaine, a chiropractor, and Dan, a lawyer, from San Francisco, who were also on their honeymoon. We have Robert and Vicky here who met whilst travelling around the world before they married five years ago and who have been living in the UK for a little while, but are taking a few weeks to add to their travel experience whilst making their way back to Canberra. And that’s only a few of our guests. You know, we meet such interesting people, I don’t know how we have time to work! But work our staff has. Our rooms have been painted and varnished, our decking is being replaced, tiles have been re-grouted, furniture repaired, repainted or replaced – our reception roof will be re-thatched, oh, the list is endless. And our room maids, masseuses and reception have all been helping, especially Khun Serm and Khun Busadee. And all with a smile too. They’re fantastic and we’re very proud of them. This maintenance is constant and has to be. We want our hotel to be fresh and clean so that our guests will enjoy their stay with us. We’re up to No 2 again on Trip Advisor, (www.tripadvisor.com), so we’re very pleased about that. Last week, however, we had one or two very bad reviews and they were removed because they were completely untrue. We were accused of having wild monkeys, wild cats, cockroaches and even worse and Robin replied to one which is still on the site and which may yet still be removed. It is such a shame that this should happen when we have worked so hard to make our hotel a comfortable and enjoyable experience for our guests – the maintenance I just wrote about above underlines that. Our staff will tell you that, when there is a very rare occurrence of cicadas, (cicadae?), chirping in the trees, (it’s the males who make the noise, apparently!), I even ask Khun Yen to shake the trees so that the offenders will fly away and leave us in peace! And we don’t have music here, even at the bar, as we and our guests like to hear the gentle breeze in the palm trees, the lapping of the waves and the birds going about their daily business. So, anything even slightly noisy or dirty is not welcome at The Waterfront! Khun Mark, one of our treasured maintenance men, is our Employee of the Month for May. Khun Mark is one of those talented people who can make a silk purse out of a cow’s ear. He is invaluable to us and we are so happy to have him as a member of our staff. He is also a very nice person with a wicked sense of humour and make sure you don’t go near him at Songkran otherwise you’ll be in the pool! Thankfully, he wasn’t here for it this year as it was his day off so we could all relax a little bit. Well done, Khun Mark! We have been asked about booking through agents again and have also been approached by many agents too. Apart from one agent on the island whom we have used since our early days, we prefer our guests to book direct as, in the past, agents have given guests incorrect information due to the fact that, quite frankly, they do not have the inside knowledge. Because we started The Waterfront and know everything about it, we are able to tell our guests upfront as much as we can and we are more able to help them with their personal requirements. This guarantees a happier stay which is what we aim for every time, if at all possible! Well, my enquiries are all up-to-date, the guests have been welcomed in, (well, until the ones arriving tonight at 10pm), and I am just about to have Cooking’s mixed vegetables in oyster sauce before I do some accounts. But, hey, what a place to do them! Looking out of reception to the sand and sea, with Koh Phangan and the outlying islands in the near distance, the palm trees swaying in the breeze, the guests relaxing with a book or a cocktail – not bad working conditions, are they? And the weather is fantastic . . You could be here too. Why not think about it – soon? Best wishes Sue 01.05.’09 Hello Everyone! First of all, Khun Raine is our Employee of the Month for April. She excelled herself during the month, not only by speaking Danish to our Danish guest, Susanne, here for the fourth time with Nick, her partner, but by being chatty and smiley, helpful and hardworking to all our guests and we are very proud of her. She is the newest member of our team, having been here now for fourteen months, and we hope she will stay for a long time to come. Well done, Khun Raine! We’ve been doing lots of painting and varnishing and, today, Khun Mark made a double shelf to accommodate our Trip Advisor awards, one from last year and one from this year, even though we actually won three awards this year, (see Awards on website). We have Chris here again, on his eighth visit this time, a pillar of society as all his friends in London will know and it’s such a shame that we were unable to meet Emma this time. His, and now our very good friend, Simon, has also been here, (well done on your new job, Simon), and we expect him to be coming back again shortly. At this point, may I send my very best wishes and love to Pete who, like his namesake Fonda, is riding his motorbike into the sunset this holiday. And the very same to Luke whom we hope to see again, with his lovely new wife, in the not too distant future. I hope you are all enjoying life and planning your holidays. If you are, give some serious thought to coming to Koh Samui and staying at The Waterfront. It is so calm, relaxing and warm here, with often a very gentle breeze, that your cares and worries will just drift away, especially if you have one of our excellent massages or manicures and pedicures provided by Khun Busadee or Khun Op. If you tell us your arrival time and flight number when you book, we’ll meet you at the airport in an air-conditioned 4 x 4, so that you don’t have to worry about finding or paying for expensive transport, (ours is free), and we’ll even take you on a small tour of Bophut so that you can find your bearings. Your driver will often be our son, Michael, (who speaks fluent Thai, by the way), but could be Robin, my co-owner/director/husband and super-knowledge man on anything to do with football or cricket, or Khun Pim, or Khun Mark with one of the other girls, say Khun Lamai or Khun Tukta. Then we’ll bring you to the hotel and give you a beer, a glass of wine or a gin and tonic, etc, and tell you everything you need to know whilst we check you in and show you to your room where there is air-conditioning and a fan, comfortable beds, dressing gowns, tea and coffee making facilities, a hairdryer, a laundry service, a TV and a DVD, as well as other things too. All our rooms have a view and are constantly cleaned by Khun Serm, Khun Supee, Khun Noi, Khun Sam, Khun Busadee and Khun Op and maintained by Khun Mark, Khun Sak and Khun Yen who are always busy painting, varnishing, replacing and gardening. You don’t have to get up early as our breakfasts are served between 7.30am and 11.00am, but we can serve earlier, if you prefer. This is prepared by Khun Arum, or “Cooking” as she is known. Fresh fruit, juice, cereal, fresh coffee or a choice of tea and then a long list from which you may choose something freshly cooked await you each morning. All this is included in the room rate. Our receptionists, Khun Carol, Khun Fon, Khun Raine, Khun Pim and Khun Tukta, take it in turns to serve you. You can sit and read the daily newspapers or chat to other guests on our sofa and chairs in reception, in our very comfortable chairs and footstools around the pool and in our garden area, in our sun beds down on the beach, in one of our three chill out hammocks, on the decking overlooking the outlying islands, (well you are able to see our beautiful view from every part of the hotel), or on the balcony outside your room. You will never have to worry about finding somewhere to sit. No towels on chairs at dawn here. If you really can’t be bothered to move, we serve a large selection of freshly cooked food all day until 6.30pm and our bar closes only when the last guest has gone to bed. It then re-opens bright and early the next day, ready to cater for your needs. If you must work, (although we really don’t recommend it), or just want to keep in touch with your friends and family, we have free internet in our reception and free wireless for laptops all over the hotel. Our swimming pool is not the largest by any means. However, it is quite adequate for our hotel, (we only have eighteen rooms), and rarely gets full. In fact, most days, our guests haul themselves out of their chairs and slip into the water just to cool off, perhaps extending an arm here or a leg there, but certainly nothing too demanding, although there is plenty of room for a quite a few strokes along or across the pool. Also, one gets to chat to others when it is this size. Of course, you don’t have to speak to anyone if you don’t wish to, but most people who come here enjoy a chat sometimes. How often have you stayed in a large hotel with a large pool – do you actually ever speak to anybody, except perhaps the waiter? We know our guests and like to introduce them to each other, wherever they happen to be, which people seem to like as they feel welcome and indeed they are. The sea outside our hotel is not good for swimming, most of the year. We are in a reef here, but it is finishes a few metres along the beach where the sea becomes deeper the further you walk, so swimming in the sea isn’t far away at all. This does have its compensations, however. Our beach is so quiet that it feels like a private beach, which we sweep two to three times a week to keep it fresh and clean for our guests, and there are no hawkers and very few passers by. Our view is like a movie screen with the beach, the sea and the outlying islands and we never tire of it. Our guests seem to love it too. Although it is peaceful here, we are only a short saunter from many different kinds of restaurants in our charming village of Bophut which is mainly parallel to the sea. They are all of a very good standard and, even if you didn’t leave the village, (and there are lots of restaurants on the island should you wish to try other venues), you should never tire of the selection on offer. And, if you did accidentally partake of one or two little drinks whilst dining, we are only a short walk home. Also our own bar will still be open and our barman/security guard, Khun Poll, will be waiting to serve you or our son, Michael, who takes over on his day off. In fact, many of our guests have an aperitif here before dining in the village and one or three when they return and our bar, quite often, is a very friendly and social place to be. Did I forget to say that it’s always warm enough to sit outside at our bar, (which is, incidentally, beside the beach), even in the evenings, with the lights of Koh Phangan twinkling in the distance? Should you wish to go on any trips or tours, or hire any bikes or cars, our staff will be pleased to help – there are lots of brochures on our reception desk. So, although you may wish to spend quite a bit of time at the hotel, we hope you’ll go out and enjoy yourselves too because we want you to have a memorable holiday and, you never know, you may feel like coming back to see us again. I haven’t told you everything, I am sure, but you need to stay, either alone or with a partner, family or friends, to see for yourself. Robin and I continue to enjoy welcoming our guests, many of whom are returning to see us again and again, and it is a pleasure to see them and to meet and hear the stories of new guests too. I think I have said this before, but we try to give our guests the sort of service that we ourselves would like as guests and this seems to have worked well. We also have eighteen lovely Thai staff for our eighteen rooms so, if there’s anything you need, you only have to ask. By the same token, should you have a problem, we’d like you to tell us straightaway so that we may solve it without delay. We want you to enjoy your stay. I am sorry if this is a little longer than usual, but I thought I would give you a little taste of a day in the life of The Waterfront. If you like the sound of it, why not send us an e-mail or fill in the enquiry form on this website and we’ll write straight back with our availability. You could be zooming out to Koh Samui in a matter of months, or weeks or even days . . . My very best wishes Sue 16.04.'09 Hello to you all from a very hot and sunny Samui! Yes, the weather is fantastic and all our guests are very happy indeed. It's now 2.40pm and 32 degrees in the shade, so I have no idea what it is outside in the sunshine! Hot, that's for sure! However, we do have a nice, gentle breeze so it's still comfortable for those sitting in our comfortable chairs and footstools around the pool, or the sunbeds down on the beach or our three wonderful hammocks in between. Thankfully, the trouble in Bangkok has stopped so there is no need to worry whatsoever about coming out to see us. In any case, it doesn't affect us here on Samui any more than any of you, we just know what we read in the local and national newspapers or watch on TV. The pace of life here, especially in and around Bophut, is slow and relaxing, like a little haven really. Just what you need for a holiday. We've just said goodbye to Jo and Tim, (English), for the third time and they are definitely coming back, we've said goodbye to Susanne and Nick, (Danish), for the fourth time and they are definitely coming back, we've just said goodbye to Hannah and Will, (English), for the third time and Sharon and Mark are still here on their second visit and coming back for their honeymoon next year. We have two delightful honeymoon couples here, Duncan and Lisa, and Natasha and Darran, and in the past couple of days, we have had a 61st birthday, Keith, (here with Soo), and a 13th birthday, Beth, (here with Nev, Sarah and Nathan). I had a birthday, (not telling!), and Leo, our gorgeous Yorkshire Terrier, was 4, both of us enjoying them on Songkran, 13 April. Talking of Songkran, it was a beautifully sunny day. One of our guests, Nick, (mentioned above), surprised three of our staff at different times of the day, Khun Supee, then Khun Carol and then Khun Pim, picked them up and jumped into the pool with them. Robin was pushed into the pool by Khun Lamai, but managed to grab her as he fell and took her in with him. Quite a lot of water was thrown and one or two water guns were in use too. Luckily, I couldn't possibly get my garlands of flowers wet, (the reception and kitchen staff had put them around my neck for my birthday and the room maids, massage and maintenance staff had presented me with a bouquet - incidentally, Sharon and Mark gave me a beautiful bouquet and Susanne and Nick gave me a lovely silk scarf, wasn't I the lucky one?), so was able to hide in the office, although Khun Serm, (whose photo is displayed in reception, if you remember, as she was our Employee of the Month for March), did pour some very cold water down the back of my neck - for luck, of course, she said! Then, to finish the day, Norwich won 2-0 against Watford, so Robin was a very happy man indeed. At Songkran, we give all our staff a little bonus and each April, they are paid a whole month's extra salary anyway, so they all went home feeling on top of the world too. We have some super people here at the moment. Well, you know we always do. Alan, Christine, George, Jean, Will and Jan are here altogether and have become very friendly with Keith and Soo, Sharon and Mark, Tony and Carol and Guy and Helen. Consequently, the bar has been quite busy early evening and then again after dinner too. Lots of laughter all round. Last night we lit a couple of paper lanterns which drifted up, high into the sky - as usual, a very beautiful sight. Steve, (who works for the same bank as Rebecca - Tony and Hilary, if you're reading this!), and Kate came in last night from Hong Kong with their super little baby, Miles, and their mother, Christine joins them today. Then Margaret and Alistair, from Aberdeen, Scotland, came to round off their three month trip around Asia. Plus we have Michelle and Andrew here from Minnesota, USA, and have just said goodbye to Wendy and Sebastian from Norway. Don't you wish you could be here too? When the sun is shining as it is again today, how it does most of the year, you couldn't wish for more. The view is fantastic. The beach is here, the palm trees are here, the sea is here, the outlying islands are there, there are lots of comfortable seats, as I said before, either around the pool, in the garden area or down on the beach, staff to freshly cook and serve your food and drinks or to give you a massage or manicure and pedicure, or to keep your room nice and clean or to organise a trip or tour for you - or just to chat, or not! And Robin and I are here every day to welcome you, make sure you are OK and to keep things running smoothly. Check us out on www.tripadvisor.com - we were No 3 again on Samui, but are back to 4 now. But we have the most reviews, the most awards and, obviously, the nicest guests! And just see our prices compared to all the others around us up there at the top. Best value, it says, and we like to think so. Whatever you're doing, you need a holiday. Think about spending your next one with us. We'd love to see you. My very best wishes, as always Sue 01.04.’09 Hello Everyone! These weeks seem to fly by, especially when we’re having such fun. I am sorry to repeat myself, but our guests are such super people that it’s an absolute pleasure to meet and chat to them all. Better still, they chat to each other and they tell us, time and time again, that this is such a rarity in hotels and they find it very enjoyable. Well, that’s what we think too and we love it. We’ve had English, Australian, German, Danish, Dutch and Swiss here this week. One Danish lady, Suzanne, is here for the fourth time and will have a birthday here. Sharon and Mark, a lovely English couple who became engaged here last year, arrive tomorrow for their second visit and Sharon will have a birthday while she is here too. Although we have had the odd heavy shower since I last wrote, and quite a heavy storm last night, mainly the weather has been fantastic. Hot, hot days and the view to the outlying islands has been to die for. Although not as loud as it has been in the past, there has been an evening fair with live music in the temple gardens for over a week, but this has now stopped and we have returned to our usual peace and quiet. Such bliss! It is always warm enough to sit outside in the evenings and what with the sparkling lights in the distance from Koh Phangan and Koh Som, the gently lapping waves and the softly lit sand just metres away from the bar, added to good company and a welcome glass, the ingredients are all there for a perfect evening. In fact, I think I'll order a chilled white wine. It is 8pm after all! Our Employee of the Month is Khun Serm again. She is one of our room maids, here since we started, and she’s always calm and smiling and very helpful indeed. She is excellent with children too and always top of the list when it comes to babysitting duties. Incidentally, she and her husband, Khun Yen, will be going back to their hometown of Nong Kai, on the Laos border, for their holiday in May and Robin and I are thinking of having a few days there ourselves so that we can meet her and her parents and see where they live. We may even be able to have a couple of days in Hua Hin too. Very soon it will be Songkran, the beginning of the Thai New Year. Our staff becomes very excited on this day and their work finishes and the kitchen closes around 2.30pm so that most of them can enjoy themselves – a skeleton staff is here, of course. Driving along the roads is quite precarious all day as lots of water is thrown, so one mustn’t forget to close the windows! We continue to paint and varnish, repair and replace, all to keep up our standards and make your visit an enjoyable one. Whilst we’re on the subject, have you thought about when you’re coming to see us? Send us an e-mail and we’ll send one straight back letting you know our availability. After all, life isn’t about work all the time, is it? We look forward to hearing from you. Suksaan Wan Songkran! Happy New Year! Sue 15.03.’09 Hello from Samui! I’ve been back a week now and I have to say it’s great to be here. I walked into the hotel and everywhere looked fantastic. The gardens were lush, Koh Phangan was glistening in the distance, the sea was back to being sapphire and aquamarine and all the guests were sporting a great suntan. Guests, old and new, all told me how they were having a great time and the staff all rushed up to give me a big hug. I looked around and drank in the atmosphere. I could really understand why we chose this place six years ago and am so pleased we took the plunge and started our new life. Khun Busadee, one of our lovely massage girls, won our Employee of the Month for February, so her photo is in reception. She is always smiling and her massages are superb. Well done, Busadee! I should like to say a big hello to George. George is English and has visited us twice with his family. He, his mum and dad, brother and two sisters live in France now and keep in touch on a regular basis. They, like many of our guests, have become good friends, but I particularly want to say hello to George because he is one in a million. He is handsome, clever, speaks perfect French now and I can’t wait to see him and his family again – hopefully soon. One of the pleasures of doing this sort of work, (well, it isn’t work, it’s fun), is that we get to meet some super people from all over the world, lots of different nationalities who either still live in their native country or who are now living elsewhere. It is so interesting to hear their stories and it is also so good to see them chat to other guests who themselves have interesting stories to tell. With our youngest guest having been five weeks and our oldest eighty five years, there are lots of years and experiences to hear about. It’s been really hot which has been a huge change from the UK. Today, however, we have had a storm and lots of rain. The island needed it and the air has cleared. Hopefully, tomorrow will be sunny again and our guests will be able to top up their tan. We’ve had a couple of unkind reviews on Trip Advisor, (www.tripadvisor.com), which has put us down to No 5 in Samui. We can’t place these people though which is rather suspicious. We know we do our best, however, and this has done us well in the past and will do again in the future. Winning three awards on that site proves it too. And for those few guests who felt that our orange juice could be improved at breakfast, we're changing it tomorrow. Bill left a few days ago. It was his thirteenth visit of seven or eight weeks and he will be coming again in August and again next January. He is remarkable. He seems to look better and better each visit. He probably won’t want me to mention his age, but he certainly looks twenty years younger. It was so good to catch Ian and Linda, here for their second year, on the day of my return and then Bob and Jan came in yesterday for the third year too and it is so good to see them again. We do have lots of return guests, but lots of new ones too and every one is important to us and very welcome. Robin and Michael were ecstatic last night. Norwich won at football again which makes it three out of four times, and they could avoid relegation. Lots of guests are rude about Norwich, but Robin says don't forget we beat Bayern Munich in 1992, before money became such an important part of the game! Two of our recent guests, Jamie and Kate, came from Norwich. We hadn’t met them before. A delightful couple on their honeymoon and they loved it here. They will be on a TV programme soon about Four Brides and A Wedding, so watch out for them. I heard all about their wedding. It sounded fantastic. Well, have you planned your holiday yet? Send us an e-mail and we’ll write straight back. We’d all love to see you. My very best wishes, as always. Sue 01.03.'09 Hi Everyone! I’m so excited because I shall be back at the hotel in a week’s time. I can’t wait. The weather has been magnificent in Samui with only one or two days’ rain since the beginning of February. It is now around 30 degrees most days and everyone is very happy, in fact there have been some very friendly bars during the evening which guests find enjoyable and so do we! It is so interesting and I’m looking forward to being back in the fold. We have just had the pleasure of welcoming the sister of the British Ambassador to Thailand for a few days. She was there with her husband and they enjoyed themselves very much. We are so pleased that they decided to stay at The Waterfront. Also, there were six returning rooms last week which is always a joy as we are so very pleased that guests enjoyed themselves enough the first time to repeat the experience. Don’t forget that we’re not a five-star hotel, that there are not red carpets awaiting your arrival or marble spas and haute cuisine, but of course we don’t charge five-star prices either. We do collect you from the airport in a very comfortable car, take you on a little tour of the village to familiarize you with the area and offer you a nice drink on arrival, (not just a fruit punch either, but a gin and tonic, say, or a beer or a glass of very nice wine), and get to know you so that you don’t feel like a number, but a guest with a name whom we are very pleased to welcome. We also have an extensive menu and we have received many compliments for our food which we serve all day until 6.30pm, (there are many different restaurants only steps away in our charming village of Bophut. If you have children, they can eat early evening, if you wish, and you can leave them with our first-class babysitters while you saunter out and enjoy some quality time together). We try to give you our best, personal service and don’t hide any expensive extras although you will often find things that you had not expected which are free of charge. We also have two masseuses who are very good and they also do wonderful manicures and pedicures. These are only a few of the facilities we have on offer. We genuinely enjoy running our hotel and meeting all the wonderful guests who come to stay. In August 2008, although we still received many enquiries and bookings, the actual hits to our website were 20% down. You may be interested to hear, in the current financial climate, that the hits to our website during February increased dramatically, making it the third highest month ever. Of course, you could say that people are just dreaming of holidays, but many of these enquiries actually materialize. May this continue! I told you last time that we were lucky enough to win three awards on www.tripadvisor.com for 2009 and I shall be sorting out the artwork when I return so that they will show on this website. It is encouraging for us that, again during this financial climate, we are shown with a Best Value icon as we won a Best Bargain, Asia and Best Bargain, The World. Also, we are a Best Hidden Gem which, hopefully, encourages you to think that we do have something worthwhile here at The Waterfront! Khun Bahn, one of our receptionists, leaves us this month. It is so unusual to tell you that two members of staff have left in such a short time, but she has to go to Trang to live to look after her son. We have enjoyed her assistance and company over the last year and shall miss her lovely, smiling face. We wish her well. A last bit of news before I finish today is that our daughter, Charlotte, passed her driving test on Friday, 27 February. We are very proud of her, especially as she was only seventeen on 25 January. Today, she leaves my mother’s home and moves into a flat the owner of which is Simon who was just in Samui helping us out in my absence. Simon will keep an eye on her and I look forward to hearing her news – well, the news I’m aloud to hear, no doubt! It’s March already. Have you planned your hols for this year? Come and see us. Honestly, it’s just great. Send us an e-mail - we’ll reply straightaway. My very best wishes to you. Sue 04.02.'09 Hello from the UK! Yes, I'm still here and shall be for a little while longer. I am driving my mother to see the doctor for more treatment today and, later, shall be in the passenger seat whilst Charlotte practises her driving ready for her test later this month. Oh, the joys of being 17! But, I have to admit that I miss Koh Samui! I miss the beautiful weather, which they are having in droves apparently, I miss our hotel, I miss our staff, I miss our guests, and, of course, I miss Robin and our son, Michael. And when I look at the e-mails and see that it is nearly time for more returning guests to appear and I shall not be there to see them, I do feel quite sad! Alan is returning again for, I don't know, must be around the 13th time since we began and, last time, he brought his lovely son who was a genius on the guitar. This time, he is bringing his sister and her husband who is, by all accounts, a very good go-kart driver so I should think that Robin will be arranging a contest. Hello Alan!!!!!!! I forgot to tell you who won the Employee of the Month for December which is very remiss of me. It was Khun Tukta, one of our receptionists, and she has won it for the second time. We were very pleased as it is important that our receptionists are as helpful as possible and she had been extremely so in quite a few situations. We have just counted the votes for January and Khun Serm, one of our room maids, has also won it for the second time, and so we are again very pleased as Khun Serm is always happy and helpful and a real asset to our team. A big thank you to those guests who took the time and trouble to vote. Last evening, Khun Serm had a little party at her home, primarily for her grandson, and Robin and Bill were there - I know you will have heard of Bill, one of our returning guests who comes back for quite a few weeks twice a year and whose suitcase we keep at our home to save him packing each time! It is so lovely to go to a party at the girls' homes because one sees how important the family is to the Thais and how they and their close friends, (mostly our staff at Khun Serm's), all help to cook and serve lots of wonderfully tasty dishes. The welcome is fantastic. If you have looked on www.tripadvisor.com recently, you will see that we have been lucky enough to win three awards in 2009. We have again won A Best Hidden Gem, Asia, and we are really chuffed about that. Also, we have one A Best Bargain, Asia, as well as A Best Bargain, The World. These are also very gratefully accepted as, in these hard times, guests will want to know that they are receiving value for money which we have always tried to give and these awards underline this for us too. Again, thank you very much indeed to those guests who have gone out of their way to post reviews and vote for us. It really is appreciated. I am sure I have forgotten something, so shall probably come back to add something more shortly. Meanwhile, this is really the time of the year when you need to be thinking about that holiday. Why not come to see us? My very best wishes Sue 20.01.'09 Hi Everyone from a very cooooooooold UK! This is the second time I have written these notes because I pressed "Edit" and the whole thing escaped, probably to a warmer clime! Isn't it SO annoying when something like that happens? Anyway, it is cold here, cold in other parts of Europe and other parts of the world, BUT NOT IN KOH SAMUI!! No, having had mediocre weather since the rain on Christmas Day, it has recovered and we hope that the good weather is there to stay. So, if you are in dire need of a holiday, either now or in the future, send Robin an e-mail without delay. We should love to see you there, in fact I am looking forward to seeing myself there in the not too distant future! Our beach is looking good, apparently. Robin and the staff have repaired any changes made by the monsoon season and it has now been cleaned and swept so it is back to its former pristine condition. Our beach does not have the whitest, nor the finest sand in the world and the sea is not the easiest to swim in for part of the year as we are in a reef, but we are right beside the beach, the view is to die for, (most of the year!), the sea changes the look of the beach almost on a daily basis so there is always something interesting to see and you can enjoy lovely, leisurely walks along the seafront in either direction from our hotel. You can always swim just a little further along the beach anyway. It really is wonderful. Of course, some people will always look for perfection in everything and that is extremely difficult to find, but we are placed so well there that, together with our charming village of Bophut, it is verging on perfection, I can tell you. You will think I am biased, but look at it this way. Do you really think that Robin and I would have started a new life, with a new business in a new country, working every day, if we didn't believe in it 100%? Come and see us and tell us what you think. Our staff were very happy this week. They received the balance of their 5% service charge which actually rendered one or two of them speechless for a change! They always receive a certain amount with their monthly salary, but the balance is always paid in January. A big thank you to all our guests for making a difference to their life - this payout is huge for them, it really is. They work very hard and intend to work even harder in the coming year. We are very lucky to have our staff - we think the world of them and hope they will stay for us for a long time. Bill's back again. So are Carol and John, Chuck and Anna and Mike and Lyn. These three couples met here last year and have returned for a holiday together. Bill was there last year too, so a fine time is being had by all. I wish I were there to see them. Also, Brenda and Leslie as well as Lee and Karen have just left - they were more returning guests and I believe they were discussing a return date too, September was it?? I am so worried that I shall lose this again that I am leaving you now. So, think about coming to see us very soon. My very best wishes to you on this important day when Obama becomes the 44th President of the Unites States of America. History is being made. We wish him well. Sue 03.01.'09 Happy New Year To You All!! I can't BELIEVE it's 2009 - I've hardly begun 2008! Please could this year slow down a little and not bring any bad news either? My mother arrived, (with Charlotte, our daughter), on 11 December. I don't think she was very well when she left England, but she was absolutely worn out when she arrived and took to her bed for five days. She then went into hospital for three, back home to bed for four and then in hospital again for six. Then still pretty rough at home for two days, when she started to improve a little. Just enough to see the hotel for the first time on 31 December. She is spending the day here, at the hotel, for the fourth time and is going back to England on Tuesday! Such a shame! I feel so sorry for her. She has asked me to accompany her and Charlotte back and so I feel I should go. I wasn't expecting to be going away again so soon, but I suppose that's the price I have to pay for living in paradise. Well, we were enjoying lovely weather and pleased that the guests coming in for Christmas were able to sunbathe. Everything was going well and the last guest had just sat down with a plate full of Christmas Lunch when . . . it started to rain. You can imagine how I felt . . . ANYWAY, everybody was so nice, (you would expect nothing less from Waterfront guests, honestly), and they all said that the day was lovely. Phew! Just to get your sympathy, I have to admit, but I plated up two Christmas Lunches and took them, together with two bottles of beer, to Mum's hospital room and the two of us ate there. Do I hear violins? Three interesting things about the hotel: 1. Robin went out to buy some muesli the day before yesterday and came back with 14 flatscreen TVs, so most of our rooms have them now. (Telling one of our guests that story today, he said that Robin must be a 'serial' spender! Shall have to think about having HIM back!) 2. Two guests checked in and Robin was asking them where they came from. Cambridgeshire, was the answer. Oh, Robin said, my uncle lives just outside Cambridge, in fact he fought in Burma in the war and is coming out here in July with my mother, I think I may take him over to Burma again, if he's interested. He used to work for Lloyds Bank before he retired. The gentleman, (his name is Jules and he is just wonderful, here with his lovely lady, Suzie), feeling a bit wierd and looking Robin straight in the eye, asked him if his name could possibly be Maurice Ramsay. Robin felt the hairs standing up all over his body. Yes, he whispered. Oh, my God! exclaimed Jules, he's my father's best friend! I think Robin was lost for words, which doesn't happen very often! So now they're like a long lost family, it's so amazing. 3. We have an unusual mix of guests here, at the moment. Must tell you. Room 1 are English, living in South Africa as are their friends in Room 4 and, incidentally, the English couple in Room 5 also live in South Africa. Room 3 are the most delightful gentleman you could possibly meet and they live in Denmark - they are Danish, but I had to mention them anyway. Room 7 are Irish living in Jersey. Room 9 are French living in Malaysia. Room 10, and incidentally Room 12 too, are English living in China. Room 15 is an American living in Japan, Room 16 is from Pakistan living in the USA, Room 18 are Nepalese living in the USA and Room 19 are English living in Spain. What do you think about that?? The weather still isn't too good, I'm afraid, but it could change at any moment and, when that Samui sunshine comes back, everyone will be happy. Enjoying the cold weather in your country? Why not plan your holiday NOW? We'd love to see you. Send us an e-mail and we'll write straight back. My very best wishes Sue 18.12.'08 Hello Everybody! Can't believe it's two weeks since the last time! Well, the new Prime Minister has been appointed and we hope that things will be OK now. Everyone, especially those in the hotel trade, are pleased that the demonstrations are over and that flights are back to normal. We are just putting the finishing touches to our new Honeymoon/Superior Room which will be on our website shortly and our first guests stay there the day after tomorrow. Robin and I are probably going to stay in there ourselves tonight to make sure everything is up to scratch! Having had rain for about two weeks in late November/early December, we have been having lovely, sunny weather and we have that smashing Samui feeling once again. Don't you wish you were here?? We hope you are all looking forward to the festivities and wish all our guests, whether they have been before, are here now, are soon to be here or are thinking of booking, a very, very happy Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Enjoy yourselves! Best wishes Sue 03.12.'08 Hi Everyone! Yes, we're still here and everything is going to be fine. The Prime Minister had to step down and is not allowed to be involved in politics for the next five years, the protestors have left the airports, there has been a return flight Bangkok/Samui today and it is hoped that the normal timetable should be resumed tomorrow. We have suffered cancellations like everybody else, although most of them wish to come at a later date, if possible. Generally, however, our guests are a hardy lot and most have been arriving and leaving by bus, train, boat and plane to and from various destinations. We also have many enquiries for the months to come. Should you wish to make last minute plans for the Christmas/New Year period, we have the following: a Beachfront Room from Dec 15- 28
Please check prices on website. Note that these dates include both High and Peak seasons. We are also having Christmas Lunch again this year and, if you are interested, perhaps you would tell us when you book so that we may send you details. We look forward to hearing from those guests who left on unusual journeys recently, for example, Patricia and Murray and Carol and Rick - and Somarth and Suragita too. Do let us know! Our Employee of the Month is Carol, one of our receptionists. She has won it for the second time and we are very proud of her. She was exceptionally helpful in arranging travel details for the first two couples mentioned above. We do have a soft spot for Carol as she was one of our original four staff. Well done, Carol! Her photo will be displayed in reception from tomorrow. We must emphasize that, even with the unrest in Bangkok, life in Samui has continued to be both leisurely and care-free. Super guests have been arriving with stories about their trip, (especially over the last week or so!), their holiday, life in their own country and their plans for the future. All fascinating stuff! I've told you before, we love this job. Well, it's not a job at all really, it's our life - sorry about that, but someone has to do it! We very much look forward to welcoming Carol and John, Chuck and Anna and Mike and Lyn who will be arriving in the not too distant future - guests who met here last year and decided to arrange another holiday together. Lovely people who enjoy life. What more could we want? Come and see us soon. We'd love to meet you too, or welcome you back. Very best wishes Sue 26.11'08 Hello Everybody No doubt you will have seen that, because of unrest in Bangkok last night, Bangkok airport is closed today. However, flights to Samui are still continuing from Phuket, Pattaya, Penang, Chang Mai, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong so, if you wish to continue your journey via one of these airports, there will be no problem, although we are told that the Bangkok situation should be resolved in a day or two. Will keep you updated. For now, my very best wishes. Sue 21.11.'08 Hello Again! I can't believe I haven't written for 16 days. Time goes so quickly when you're having fun! We've had more lovely guests from USA, Holland, Australia, Ireland, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore and UK. Coincidentally, we've had six airline pilots to stay, (two B.A., three Virgin and one Lufthansa). Our Honeymoon/Superior Room is almost finished and, if the amount of honeymooners we see every year is anything to go by, it should be fairly well occupied. Of course, you don't have to be on your honeymoon to occupy it! It is larger than our other double rooms and has two showers, two washbasins, a kingsize bed and a lovely picture window overlooking the outlying islands. We shall be putting it on our website shortly. Christmas is approaching and I have written to all our guests, asking them if they would like Christmas lunch at the hotel. Most have replied that they would, so we look forward to enjoying that day and, of course, New Year the week after that when we have fireworks, lanterns and a buffet, probably hot and cold. We were enjoying really good weather, as you know, then we had six or seven rainy and overcast days, then seven days of unbroken sunshine and we have just had three more rainy days. Also, people are always asking us about the weather at this time of the year and, obviously, we don't really know as, in the past, we have enjoyed a November without a drop of rain! During the past week, one of our guests took his girlfriend over to Koh Som by speedboat, found a deserted beach with a big, beautiful sala overlooking a magnificent view and asked her to marry him. I am delighted to tell you that she said yes. They were so happy when they returned! And still are, of course. It is things like these that make this job so fantastic. We've had two 30th birthdays, one 60th birthday, a 70th birthday and a tenth wedding anniversary and lots of honeymooners. Happy, smiling faces. What more could we want? Start thinking about your next holiday. Send us an e-mail. We'd love to see you . . . Best wishes Sue 05.11.'08 Hello Everybody! On this historic day, when Obama becomes President of the United States, we congratulate him and wish him wisdom and safety. Let us hope that he will be able to make a real difference to the world. The weather has been glorious here. The gardens are looking lush and and the colours everywhere were so vibrant today that it really did feel like paradise. Khun Supee, our lovely, smiley room maid, has become our Employee of the Month and we are very pleased for her as she always works hard and always loves to laugh - two excellent virtues for an employee! However, she feels like one of the family - she has been with us for five years - and we are very proud of her and think the world of her. We thoroughly enjoyed the Teppanyaki at Tramps Nightclub. Excellent show by the chefs and excellent food. We then danced a while before calling it a night. The night before last, we sampled The Mexican, a new restaurant just opened by Jimmy and Johnny of the old Seaweed Restaurant fame and the beautiful, Brazilian Jo is their manager. We wish them well. Last night, we went to The Shack and enjoyed, yet again, a superb meal. American Larry, the owner, was on great form, as usual, and no doubt he will be interested in today's news from his home country. There is another new restaurant in the street called L'Equitorial, run by Belgian Pascale, and yet another French one on the corner of the junction, but I haven't even learned the name of that one yet! So, one thing's for sure, you will never go hungry in Bophut! Birthdays are being celebrated here, anniversaries and a honeymoon. But you don't have to be celebrating anything at all to enjoy it, just come anyway. Look after yourselves. Best wishes Sue 31.10.'08 Hi From Samui! Yes, I'm back in our lovely hotel again. So good to see the guests enjoying themselves. There are Finnish, Dutch, American, English, Canadian, Chinese and Swiss. Quite a mixture! That's one of the pleasures of doing this job. It was really good to see the staff again and to give them all a big hug. Khun Ban's photo is being proudly displayed in reception as she's Employee of the Month. The plants have really grown and the bougainvillea that I bought earlier in the year is blooming beautifully. Although there has been a little rain, the sun is shining again today and the view is to die for. The new Superior/Honeymoon Room is coming along well and will be finished soon. The view from this room is superb. I want to live there myself! There are one or two new restaurants and a few new shops in the village. All is looking good. I enjoyed a superb meal in Villa Bianca my first evening back and have enjoyed some fantastic vegetables in oyster sauce, on a daily basis, here. Once I really like something, I often have to eat it day after day until I can eat it no more. When that happens, if it ever happens, our Khun Arum, or Cooking as she is known, will easily find another dish for me to love. Her food is excellent. I am very pleased to say that the hotel has been very busy and we have been receiving lots of bookings. It is also so good to see familiar names when opening e-mails and then to see their faces coming around the corner again. John and Sila, who live in Saudi Arabia, are enjoying their stay. They are on their honeymoon and John is celebrating his 50th birthday today. A super couple and we wish them well. It's Halloween and two of our guests, Mike and Angela, together with Robin and I are going to a Japanese meal with dinner and dancing, (live music), at the new Tramps Nightclub tonight. I look forward to that. I hope you are not having snow where you live. I see there is snow, hail and flooding in the UK. Oh, dear! I also hope that everyone will be safe. That sort of weather makes you think about holidays. Well, think about coming to see us. We'll look after you. Very best wishes Sue 8.10.'08 Hello Everyone! Still in UK with about two weeks to go. Charlotte, our daughter, is settling in well with her course and making new friends. Shall miss her when I return, but she will be going to Samui at the beginning of December for the Christmas and New Year period, so that's not long to wait. Well, Khun Ban, one of our receptionists, is our new Employee of the Month. She has been with us for about a year now and is probably the smallest member of staff, but she has a huge personality. She loves to laugh and works very hard indeed. She is especially good at cocktails and has had a lot of practice recently! We are very pleased that she has won and thank all the guests who voted for her. She is on holiday now for two weeks - well deserved, Khun Ban! Robin is working hard. The hotel is almost at full capacity which is very good for this time of the year. Lots of returning guests, which is always a great thing for us, and new ones who say that they are coming back too. Honestly, it's been such a pleasure running this hotel. The weather is super on Samui apparently and I'm looking forward to seeing the sunshine - and our beautiful view at The Waterfront. More that that, however, I'm very much looking forward to meeting the guests. Are you thinking of coming out to see us? Give it some thought. We'd love to see you. Just send us an e-mail with the dates you are thinking of and we'll write straight back with our availability. We look forward to hearing from you. Very best wishes Sue 29.09.'08 Hello from a shivering Sue! Yes, I'm still in the UK and, although it is a lovely, sunny day, it is cold. I'm dreaming of the Samui sunshine and look forward to being back at the hotel. A big thank you to all those kind people who sent their condolences and words of encouragement since my last news. There are some very nice people in this world! I am very late in telling you that Khun Serm, the room maid who was with us from the very beginning, won the Employee of the Month for August. Khun Serm is a super lady who always does her best, is very loyal and is always smiling. She is the one we would go to first when babysitting is needed and the children - and their parents - love her. We are very proud and fond of Khun Serm. Her husband, Khun Yen, (who won the award in July), her brother, Khun Mark, and her sister, Khun Noi work for us too. Her dog, Judy, guards the rooms while she cleans and hops up on to the back seat of her motorbike on the way to and from work, a sight worth seeing, by the way. For your information, clients mainly book our hotel directly with us. We are able to answer any questions more easily that way and prefer to offer a personal service. Some people have been trying to book with agents in their own country, but this is not possible as we do not use them. We are only a small hotel and like to keep our own finger on the pulse, if at all possible. We do sometimes use an agent in Thailand, but it is very simple just to send us an e-mail direct or to complete our enquiry form. We shall then reply without delay, answering any questions you may have, although it is worth remembering that we have Frequently Asked Questions on this website. If there should be any delay in our answering, this could be because it is the middle of the night and we are sleeping, we have a computer problem or we are unable to get through to your e-mail address and this is why we ask for an alternative address on our enquiry form. Due to a family problem, one of our guests has just had to cancel his Christmas booking. We wish him well and look forward to seeing him and his family in the future. Because of this, we now have two connecting rooms available over the Christmas and New Year period. If you are thinking of coming during that time, send us an e-mail as soon as possible. The weather is very good in Samui and the guests are all enjoying themselves. I hope that you will be able to join us soon and I look forward to meeting you. Meanwhile, I send you my very best wishes. Sue 16.09.'08 Hello Everyone! Did you think I had deserted you? No chance of that happening, I can assure you. I am writing this in the UK as Charlotte has decided to attend college here for two years and I am making sure that all is OK for her. She will be staying with my mum. We've also been waiting for BT to arrange wireless for us and, thankfully, we have it today. Two days after we returned, we lost another member of our family. Actually, I'll tell you now. We lost Robin's dad in May and my dad just over two weeks ago. Two lovely men and we miss them hugely. If any of you have lost people close to you, then you know how we are feeling. It's also a bit grey weatherwise in the UK! It's been superb in Samui, although not quite as good as usual over the past week, apparently, but Robin says that it's better again today. The guests, including returnees like Peter and Simon, have been enjoying themselves, as usual, and Chris will be back soon too. Bill is still there and having a great time, by all accounts. Now a word about the recent troubles you will have read about or seen on TV. There have been no repercussions whatsoever in Samui and many of our guests who have stayed in Bangkok have not seen or heard anything at all. So don't worry, life is the same as normal in Bophut. Robin tells me that there are two more boutiques and another smart bar/restaurant in the village, so that sounds good. Our village is charming and has many lovely things to offer only a saunter away. We have some space at the end of this month, still a little in October and also in November, so why not have a break? I am looking forward to my return, I can tell you! It's odd wearing a scarf and gloves . . Don't forget that the fares are not that bad from the UK, (they more expensive for us travelling from Thailand), and my mum is coming out for her first visit in December on China Airlines and has been given a fantastic price in Business Class - very little more than the economy price. When you get here, it's really not expensive at all, so try to stay as long as you can. Now that the second funeral is behind me, and we have wireless, I shall be able to write again soon. A word in your ear: Give those people you love a great big hug - and why not take them on holiday too! We'll look after you! Warmest regards Sue 19.08.'08 Hello Again! I just had to let you know that we're back to No 1 on Trip Advisor today! Thank you to all those lovely guests who recently stayed and sent in such kind reviews. Best wishes Sue 15.08.'08 Hello Everyone, only a couple of days after the last time! Had to comment on the fact that we've just gone down to No 2 on Trip Advisor out of the 204 hotels in Koh Samui and we had been No 1 for so long! Well, we received three rather mediocre reviews recently which put us out of the Asia ratings altogether and has now made us No 6 in Thailand too - if you remember, we were No 2 in Asia and No 2 in Thailand earlier this year. We can't afford many bad reviews if we want to keep our ranking. Having said that, however, we've also received some fantastic reviews, so hopefully they'll keep coming and we can proudly claim back our No 1 position very soon. Still, No 2's not bad either! I was about to comment on the three reviews, but I'm still taking Bart's advice, (a recent Dutch guest from Siem Reap), who says that we have no need to defend ourselves and that we should just be proud of what we have here. Thank you Bart! The second piece of news is that Bill is returning today for the tenth time! He will be staying until October. Welcome back, Bill! It really is like welcoming back part of the family especially when we had to remember to bring his suitcase from our house this morning! Charlotte, our daughter, has left her school in Phuket and is definitely going to study in the UK so I shall be accompanying her back shortly for a few weeks to sort out arrangements, etc. Robin will be holding the fort yet again and doing his best, as always, to make sure everyone enjoys their stay at our hotel. No doubt those weeks will fly by in a flash and I shall be back in no time to put the final touches to our Honeymoon Room, help organise any repairs and decoration to the rooms before the next high and peak seasons, and start thinking about Christmas and New Year! I shall write again before I leave and shall keep in touch whilst in the UK. Are you planning your next holiday yet? You'd love it here now. The weather is superb. Why not take a last minute break? We've got some space over the next few weeks . . . Best wishes Sue 13.08.'08 Hi Again! We are having some glorious weather at the moment. I don't think it can get much better than this. There's hardly a cloud in the sky, the view of Koh Phangan and the outlying islands looks too good to be true, the gentle breeze just cools you ever so slightly from the hot sunshine and there are cocktails and tasty Thai dishes, comfortable chairs and hammocks, a pool for a leisurely swim and a massage sala ready to make you even more relaxed. Plus, and this is a big plus, lovely, lovely guests who, like you, will enjoy a chat at times, but who will also enjoy just being left alone to read a book or to snooze. It's just fantastic! Such a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. We love it! Yesterday, another of our returning families left: Chris, Debs, Connie and Grace. Robin saw them off, but I was delayed in Nathon. I know they read our news, so I just want to say a big goodbye and that it was so lovely to see you all again. I know you are thinking of coming back yet again next year. We very much hope you do. And Grace, the artist? I shall be looking on your website. And Connie? You are in a league of your own, my dear. Enjoy it! More honeymoon couples, more birthdays, more returning guests. There's something to celebrate here every day. Nothing to celebrate? Just come anyway and enjoy! Best wishes Sue 03.08.'08 Back so soon as I wished to tell you that Khun Yen, our gardener, has won our Employee of the Month for July. We are very pleased and proud of him and thank all the guests who voted for him. His photograph should be going up in reception today or tomorrow. Khun Yen has been with us since the beginning which, incidentally, is five years on 7 August. How that time has flown! When I look around the hotel and the gardens, (thank you, Khun Yen!), and see our guests enjoying themselves, I think back to 2003. When we came to live here, we had four staff, nine rooms and no guests, well very few indeed. We set about building new rooms, practically demolishing other rooms to extend and upgrade them, building decking, having lots of furniture made, working on a website, new menu, new uniforms, brochures, etc, and opening as The Waterfront just in time for the high season before Christmas. We were busy quite quickly and our new life had begun with a vengeance. Then, the next low season, we built more rooms, the next low season enlarged the bar and built more decking, the next one enlarged the reception area and built a new storeroom and, all the time, painting and varnishing and repairing to keep the place looking fresh and well cared for, plus we're always improving the kitchen one way or another. Last year, we acquired some land opposite which is now our car park, but a few months ago, built a large storeroom over there too. Now, we are building a Honeymoon Room where the old storeroom was, with a large picture window overlooking the outlying islands. Should be good. Hope it won't be too long in finishing as we already have bookings for it! So, now we work on a high occupancy rate with twenty staff and seventeen, nearly eighteen rooms. When we moved here, my brother said that we had grabbed life by the scruff of the neck and given it a good shake. We had indeed and it has been a fantastically enjoyable enterprise. This week has seen one returning room on 1 August and four returning rooms on 2 August and it is so heartwarming for us to see the happy, smiling faces of friends glad to be back and staying even longer than before. Also, we have had lots of honeymooners recently which I always find exciting as Robin and I had our own honeymoon in Thailand 30 years ago this September. You know, once you visit this country, you're smitten. If you're thinking of coming to see us, stop thinking and just come. Live for the moment! So, new news and old news today. Thank you for your time. I hope you are well and happy and I look forward to meeting you or seeing you again soon. Best wishes Sue
26.07.'08 Another two weeks has passed in a flash. We have just had a group of friends here for seven nights, (eight rooms), who have know eachother for many years and who were meeting up again for a holiday to celebrate one member's 50th birthday which they spent here. It was a delightful evening with birthday cake and lanterns. They enjoyed the lanterns so much that they had to have more last night! We were very sorry to say goodbye to them all today. Each and every one of them was such a delight, always laughing and enjoying. Also, they made good friends with a lovely family, (the gentleman German, the lady French and their daughter), and they intend to keep in touch, probably coming back here next year too. We have some super couples here at the moment as well, from UK and USA, from Germany and Norway and families from Germany, Holland, Switzerland and UK. A full and very happy house. If you have read this within the last couple of days, you will have seen that I was commenting on a couple of reviews that we had received. Having spoken to some guests last night, I have deleted my comments as these kind people assured me, yet again, that you can't please all of the people all of the time. We know that we do our best and that is appreciated by most of our guests! Robin has been in the UK for three weeks now and is back on Tuesday. The latest is that Charlotte, our daughter, doesn't wish to go back to school in Phuket, she wants to study in the UK! Well, it's been a busy day with lots of rooms leaving and lots of rooms coming in. I just really don't know where all these super people are coming from! Well, I do know that, of course, but we are so lucky having had the opportunity of meeting so many really nice people from all over the world. Come and see us too, really soon. I think you might like it here! Best wishes Sue 14.07.'08 Hello Everybody! Is it really two weeks since the last time? Time seems to go so quickly when you're having fun! In the last few days, we have had the pleasure of welcoming guests from Holland, Denmark, Sweden, USA, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We've had glorious weather, apart from the occasional short-lived downpour, and everyone is looking suntanned and healthy. Leo, our Yorkshire Terrier, has been keeping a daily eye on the hotel too. The annual party went well, with 26 of us in the restaurant and then it was on to the karaoke. We actually finished at 1.00am which was quite early for us! One of our guests was 15 this week, another has a birthday today and we welcomed yet another honeymoon couple in today too. There always seems to be something to celebrate, as I've said before. Another one of our younger guests has been to a fruit carving course today and has brought her excellent work back for us to see and it will be displayed with pride on the breakfast table tomorrow morning. We've just said goodbye to a guest who was on his 10th visit and he has already booked his 11th. Another guest is coming for his 11th visit in August and has already booked his 12th and, at the moment, we have a lovely English couple who are here for their 4th visit and are already talking about coming back next year for their 5th. Must be doing something right, though quite what it is . . . So, when are you coming to see us? You know what they say, 'Do it now'! Best wishes, as always Sue 01.07.'08 Hi to you all on this beautiful July morning! First of all, Khun Pim, one of our lovely receptionists, has just won our fourth Employee of the Month award, and well deserved too - she has been in the running every month so far. She is a very happy and helpful girl and we are proud to have her on our staff. Her photograph is already in display in reception. Tomorrow, we are taking all the staff out on our annual staff party. We are going to a Thai restaurant - one of the staff's choice - followed by karaoke, which they love. We have been known to go to a third destination in the past and, as tomorrow is Black Moon, it has been suggested that we go on to a party in Chaweng. We shall see! We have another security guard taking over from Khun Pol for the night and the bar itself will be closed from 7pm - the first time the bar has closed in five years! We are all very much looking forward to our evening together. Have to go just now. The guests are calling! Best wishes Sue 13.06.'08 Hello, at last, from Samui! Extended my stay yet again, (more things to deal with!), but am now back in the fold. The hotel is looking good, the staff are looking great and, as usual, I am bowled over by the guests who are from England, Australia, Dubai, USA and Italy, to name but a few. Really warm and friendly people who tell me that Robin and the staff have been doing a fantastic job and that they're really enjoying their stay. Carol, our longest serving receptionist, won our second Employee of the Month for April and Khun Pol, our very good replacement for poor Khun Banjon, won it for May. We thank our guests for taking the time to consider and vote and also our staff for continuing to do their best, even when we welcome as many guests in the low season as we do in the high, so the pressure is never off! We obtained a piece of land across the road a while ago and this is now our carpark. At the back of this, however, we have built a large storeroom and the old storeroom, which we built about a couple of years ago near the beach, is now being changed, (intermittently - in fact, as slowly and as noiselessly as possible so as not to annoy the guests), into a new room. We think this will be a Honeymoon Suite with a large window overlooking the sea and we are very excited about it. We have also just re-roofed our bar. The roof is much bigger than before and looks very good indeed - it really tempts you to sit under it and enjoy a cocktail - or two! I have spoken to many people, both here and around the world, who look on this website for our news. I welcome you all in spirit and hope to welcome you all in person very soon. 'Bye for now, shall be back for a chat very soon. Sue
14.05.'08 Hello from sunny England. My stay has been extended here as we have had a sad loss in the family. However, I hope to be back by the end of the month and shall bring you news of our haven in Samui when I return. Robin says that things are going very well there with happy guests enjoying their stay and lots of new and return bookings, so that's great news. We hope to see you soon and send you all our very best wishes. Sue 21.04.'08 Wish I didn't have to tell you this, but our lovely Honey died early this morning. We can't believe it. Apparently, he ate something poisonous during the night. This is what happened to our lovely dog, Scuby, who died about two years ago. Two fantastic dogs and we loved them both greatly. Not only are we very sad about this, but I know that some of our guests will be very sad too. Honey was such a friendly and loving dog and, at only just over a year old, we thought we would have him with us for many years to come. Even paradise has its drawbacks now and again. I shall miss everyone here over the next three weeks and wish all our guests a very happy holiday. Best wishes Sue 20.04.'08 Well, Songkran arrived, as usual on 13 April. Songkran is a Thai word which means "move" or "change place" as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac and thus is the start of the New Year here. It is also known as the "Water Festival" when people throw lots of water over each other as they believe that water will wash away bad luck. Our staff were very excited on the day, as were many guests, and much fun was had by all. We have recently enjoyed the lovely guitar playing and sweet singing of two of our guests, Graeme and Jane - oh, I wish Robin and I could do that! And lots of other great people have been coming and going too. Our daughter has also been back from school for a couple of weeks, but I just saw her off at the airport . . . all the Mums out there know how I am feeling, I am sure! However, I shall be seeing my own Mum and Dad, and Robin's Mum and Dad, in a couple of days' time as I am flying to UK tomorrow with our son and staying for around three weeks. Consequently, Robin will be keeping the place ship-shape and, as usual, doing his best for our guests. Receiving lots of enquiries so, if you are thinking of coming to see us, send us an e-mail as soon as you have decided on your dates and we shall be able to do our best for you. I hope the weather isn't too cold in the UK . . . If you're coming here whilst I'm away, ENJOY!!! Best wishes Sue 07.04.'08 Hello Everybody! Phew, it's hot and sunny here - a bit different to snow in other parts of the world, I hear! Have just looked on the thermometer in the shaded reception area and, at 15.45 hours, it's 35 degrees celsius. I believe the internet is saying that it's stormy and rainy which just goes to show that we mustn't worry about those weather reports because they're never right, honestly! Thought I'd just mention the last two reviews on Trip Advisor. The one before last said that they were disappointed as the beach and sea are stony, that the pool is so small it is crowded with two people inside and that they were glad to be home. Other guests have since said that these particular guests should have done more research as our site has always said that we do not have soft, white sand, that the sea is not the best for swimming and that our pool is not large, (although not that small, I have to say!). I am so sorry that they felt that they were glad to be home - the majority of our guests have always been glad to be here! I also believe that another guest is intending to write a review saying that they were here at the same time and that the pool was empty for most of it! The next reviewer, I feel, told it how it is and we thank him for his kind and honest remarks. We are not the best 5-star on Samui, we are not even a 5-star and have never professed to be, but they very much enjoyed their stay, stated their reasons why and intend to come back. We are a family-run boutique hotel with 17 rooms which has been completely refurbished and revamped from a small hotel with 9 small rooms, very few guests and 4 staff to the size it is now with many guests, (although it never seems crowded - mainly because we have a wide beachfront for the amount of rooms and the guests are never all here at the same time), and 20 staff. We try to give our guests the sort of service that we would like ourselves as guests and it is appreciated by people of all nationalities. Our pool is very rarely crowded as most guests just use it to dip into and to cool off as the weather does not lend itself to lengths! We have thought of extending it, but have only had a small percentage of criticism compared to the many people who like it just the way it is! The sea directly outside is a bit stony and has coral, but is swimmable some months of the year. If not, we advise guests to swim just a little further along or 50-100 metres along where the swimming is very good. We do not charge 5-star prices either, but feel that we give just as good a service as 5-star hotels, with little extras free of charge, like pick-up from the airport and internet usage, (we also have free wireless for laptops all over the hotel). You will not feel like a number, (we hope you will feel like a friend!), and will not, hopefully, have to wait for a request to be fulfilled or a problem to be solved. Good food, lots of comfortable chairs, a nice bar area, a view to die for and, last but not least, lovely, happy staff. Oh, and the rooms are clean and comfortable too, also with that view from every balcony. We know we're not perfect, although we do try hard to make sure our guests have a trouble-free and enjoyable holiday. We love our hotel and hope that you will love it too. When are you coming to see us? Low Season prices in May, June and half of July and the weather should be great then too . . . Best wishes, as always Sue 03.04.'08 I can't believe it's 3 April! It seems only yesterday that we were eating turkey! Speaking of which, if you are thinking of coming over this year for Christmas and New Year, try to organise your trip soon as we have already received many bookings. We are receiving many for January and February 2009, so think about those plans again too. We still have space most months this year, at the moment, so why wait until next year? We have been having more celebrations here this week, with birthdays, engagements and honeymoons. All nationalities, all ages, all fantastic people. I really don't know where they all keep coming from! We're very lucky. You may pleased to hear that Khun Arum, generally known as 'Cooking', won our first Employee of the Month award. She has had her photo taken this afternoon which will be framed and hung in reception for the month. She is so pleased. We are very proud of Cooking who continually produces fantastic food and, even though she works quite long hours, she is nearly always smiling. If you voted for her, your vote could have made the difference! Lots of our guests didn't like to vote as they felt that all our staff deserved to win. We thank them for their kindness. Did I tell you that we had to transplant a palm tree a couple of weeks ago? That was something to be seen, I can tell you, especially when the old, diseased tree had to be taken away! And a few days before that, we renewed our sala where the massages and manicures/pedicures take place - that kept the guests interested too. Oh, and we had to build another bookcase yesterday as the others are already bulging. It's so nice to discover a book on holiday, don't you think? We have quite a few now as lots of guests leave theirs when they've read them. Many people ask us how long we've been here. It's 5 years in August. Just cannot believe it! I hope the next 5 years do NOT go as quickly! It has been a very interesting project, however, and we have enjoyed it tremendously. We've made friends from all over the world too. Not a bad job, eh? If you're reading this as a guest who has been here before, we hope to see you again soon and, if you are coming to see us in the future, we very much look forward to meeting you. Best wishes Sue 31.03.08 Just a little message for Lindsay Gallagher: we have replied to your four e-mails, but they don't seem to be getting through although none of them have bounced! Please e-mail again with a telephone number. Thank you very much. Best wishes Sue
29.03.'08 Hello Again! Just wished to inform you that our hosting website has recently made one or two changes in our configuration which were unbeknown to us. Consequently, if you have had a problem getting through to us on rworden@thewaterfrontbophut.com, or have this address on your files, please do not use it as our addresses are, in fact, sue@thewaterfrontbophut.com, robin@thewaterfrontbophut.com or info@thewaterfrontbophut.com If you have experienced problems, we apologise profusely. We are in the process of changing our Form Submission which has been showing this incorrect address. Apart from that, another lovely day here in paradise . . . Best wishes Sue
28.03.'08 Hi Everyone! Well, it's been really hot here and all our guests are very happy, as are we because we feel so sad for them if the weather isn't perfect, but luckily that doesn't happen very often. At the moment, we have South Africans from Johannesburg, Americans living in Silicone Valley, Americans living in Shanghai, Swedish, English, (one couple on their way back to live in England, having been in New Zealand for two years and another English guest working in Singapore), Irish, German, Swiss and Australian. Two couples are honeymooners, one couple has just become engaged and another guest is celebrating a birthday. There's always something to celebrate here at The Waterfront and, if not, we'll soon find something! This Tuesday, 25 March, found us conquering another step on the website, www.tripadvisor.com. We're still No 1 in Koh Samui, but now we're No 1 in Thailand too and No 2 in Asia. Help! We're sure that it cannot last very long, but are really pleased, if not a little embarassed. We must emphasize that we do our best for our guests and feel that we give value for money as well as being situated in a charming village. However, as you must appreciate, it is obvious from our prices that our hotel cannot be as palatial as others charging far more, but then our happy guests prefer the more personal touches and the friendly atmosphere. We only have 17 rooms here so, if you have not contacted us early enough, we could be full for your dates. If this occurs, we may be able to accommodate you if you are prepared to move rooms but, of course, we will always tell you before you decide - we wouldn't dream of telling you on arrival! Our staff would move your things too - you could just relax in the sunshine. We've seen more returning guests this week, which we love, and I received in the post three pieces of excellent artwork from the children of a family who recently returned to see us. These precious treasures are now proudly displayed on my office wall and I can't wait to see this lovely family again - apparently one of them is trying to make his parents decide on a date for the next visit which, I believe, will be February 2009. Had to say goodbye to a super little Australian girl today and a great little English boy too, but they've both promised to send me an e-mail. Children seem to like it here, probably because we like them too and they don't find the place huge or overpowering. Also, for some reason, very rarely do they seem to be difficult or unruly. They love to have a chat and we seem to get all the clever and interesting ones! If, on the very odd occasion, they have been a little excited on arrival, I have kept an eye on the situation. If the decibels do not decrease fairly quickly, I tell them that I am really pleased that they are enjoying themselves, but could they please try to not scream or shout as all our other lovely guests are on holiday too. This usually does the trick. Weeks and weeks go by when we do not see one little person, so it is always a pleasure to see them when they do come. Again, as well as all nationalities, we have all ages here at the moment. So, get out those suitcases, dust down those swimsuits and book yourselves a holiday. We'd love to see you . . . Best wishes Sue
18.03.'08 The catastrophe was soon solved and we were back to normal quite quickly, thank goodness. Having had a little unsettled weather last week and a bit before that, we are now experiencing glorious sunshine again and Koh Phangan, which has been hiding itself for a while, is nearly in full view. The sea and outlying islands are such a spectacular sight. At the moment, we have Canadians, New Zealanders, Norwegians, Danish, English, Irish and Swiss. The Danish family have been nicknamed the Von Trapp family, (The Sound of Music), as there are seven of them, (three sons and two daughters from 2 to 18) and one of them had a 16th birthday last week. Our Swiss family has a daughter who is 3 next week and their baby of 4 months is such a delight, constantly laughing! Two of our Irish guests are on honeymoon, but have brought four of their friends with them. Two English guests have just been camping for a month in Australia and two other English guests have been living in New Zealand for two years and are on the way back home. We hear some really interesting stories! Last week, we had four returning rooms too - always a delight. Why don't you come and see us too? If you're thinking of coming next year, we have already received many bookings for Christmas, January and February, so don't take too long in deciding. Of course, we have space for you this year, but not until the middle of April. Low season starts at the end of April, so the prices will be cheaper then too . . . Bye for now. Best wishes Sue 11.03.'08 We've had a little catastrophe in that some of our e-mails from yesterday and today have been deleted. We are trying to retrieve them, but would ask you to send again if you could have been a prospective guest enquiring during this time. We have three returning rooms here at the moment and we are so pleased to see them again. We also have guests from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, England, Australia, America and South Africa - all very nice people indeed. The youngest here at the moment is 3 months and the oldest is 73. If you're thinking of coming to see us, try to give us as much notice as possible so that we are able to help you. Best wishes Sue 07.03.'08 First of all, a lady with an e-mail address of emmava@d-m etc has written and we have replied, twice. However, it has bounced both times so, if this lady is reading our news, perhaps she would be kind enough to contact us again. Yes, we do have her dates available. Today sees nine rooms out and nine rooms in. Very sad to say goodbye to guests, but exciting to meet new ones. We were up at 5am this morning and shall be here until midnight, so quite a busy day. It's a hard life, here in the sunshine, but someone's got to do it - I am sure you understand! We have received a booking today for three weeks in February 2009 and already have bookings for that month and even for April and June 2009. It's very heartwarming to think that someone, somewhere is looking so far forward to a holiday with us, here at The Waterfront. Khun Tukta, one of our receptionists, has had a baby girl. No names have been chosen yet, but we send her our congratulations. Khun Fon is back at work already with a bandaged chin. I did ask if she'd like to go home early yesterday, but she wouldn't. Our staff do seem happy here - thank goodness! The Employee of the Month forms are coming in, but guests are rather concerned about their choice. They think that our staff are so helpful, happy and friendly that they do not want to disappoint any of them. We'll have to see how the exercise goes. The forms are handed to Robin and me, (we have a little look and then put them into a sealed box),and there is aleady a cross-section of choices. Guests have also been concerned that those more in the background will be forgotten. On the contrary, they are doing very well indeed! Bill, who has just been here on his ninth visit, went home yesterday, but will be back in August until October and has already booked for next January until March. He comes here so often that he leaves his suitcase with us! Well, I'm just going to have a chat with the guests. Come and be one soon . . . Best wishes Sue 02.03.'08 Happy Mother's Day to every mum in England! Three things have happened today. First of all, we have decided to ask our guests staying here to vote for the Employee of the Month, (Thai). This has now officially started and the winner will be announced on pay day which is April 1. We shall also announce it here, on our website, so that our guests may see if their vote makes the crucial difference. Our staff are very excited about this light-hearted competition and it can only have a positive effect on them and, of course, our guests. The second thing is that Khun Fon, our lovely young receptionist, was in a motorbike accident this afternoon and the doctor telephoned to say that it was very serious. We were so worried that it would be Khun Banjon all over again, but we are very pleased to tell you that she is not seriously hurt although had to have 14 stitches in her chin. She is staying overnight in hospital and we all wish her a speedy recovery. The third thing is that Radio Norfolk, (Robin and I come from Norfolk in England), telephoned me and asked if they could discuss a news item in which I was involved some years ago and that our conversation would be broadcast live. This did occur and they also asked me about The Waterfront. So, if you are one of those listeners who heard this today, we hope that you decide to come out to see us and, if you need any information, just send us an e-mail or complete the form on our Enquiries page. It was quite nerve-wracking actually and, unfortunately, the line went dead in the middle, but it was great while it lasted! More great people here - you'll have to come to see us! Best wishes Sue 27.02.'08 There's been lots of laughter here recently and it has been an absolute delight. Everyone here at the moment enjoys having a chat and it's so nice to see our guests, of all ages, making new friends. Last night two young couples went out together for dinner and a show in Chaweng and another couple joined three other couples, already friends, for a meal here in the village. We have three honeymoon couples here just now and they're enjoying their stay too. Many of these guests have said that that they are coming to see us again and we look forward to welcoming them back. We look forward to welcoming you too. Best wishes Sue 18.02.'08 Yesterday was a busy day again with some guests saying goodbye, but they were immediately replaced with new guests saying hello - I have to admit that I hate the goodbye bit though, I just want everyone to stay! It always amazes me how nice the guests are and it doesn't matter what nationality they are either. At the moment, we have Swedish, Swiss, American, French, English, Irish and Canadian. We have some single guests, some couples and some families. The youngest is five - and she is so good, on her second visit with her family - and the oldest is 78, going on 58 - yes, he's still here! We also had bookings, of course, lots of new guests coming, but quite a few guests booked again. One family of five from Australia, here for Christmas and the New Year, has booked again for next January, (two rooms, but this may be increased to four); an English couple, living in Kuala Lumpur, booked two rooms in September as they were leaving yesterday, (it was their ninth visit), and another guest, who is still here, (on his ninth visit also), booked again for next January, but had already booked for August and September too! A lovely Japanese couple is returning for their fifth visit soon as well. It really is a hard life here, you know. Sunshine, a fantastic view, tasty food, comfortable chairs and hammocks, great staff and, well, I shan't say anything else about the guests otherwise you'll think that I'm not telling the truth. Once you are here, the only decision you really have to make is whether to sit in the chair over here, or the sunbed over there, or maybe the hammock . . . Looking forward to hearing from you and, hopefully, meeting you one day. Best wishes Sue 12.02.'08 I hate to bore you with Trip Advisor news, (www.tripadvisor.com), but we are so happy to see that, from today, we have reached the No.2 spot in Thailand and the No.3 spot in Asia, still retaining our No.1 spot on Koh Samui. We heartily thank our guests for their support. We constantly aim to maintain our standards - really, all we are trying to do is to make sure our guests enjoy their holiday so, rest assured, if you have not been before and are thinking of visiting us in the future, we shall do our best to give you the sort of service that we would like to receive ourselves. Also, if you do decide to come, please try to give us as much notice as possible as we are receiving many enquiries and bookings. There are only three reasons why you may not receive a quick reply to your enquiry: 1. The server is down - this happened for over 2 days recently 2. Our reply has bounced back - we do resend and resend, but still we may not be able to get through 3. An incorrect or incomplete e-mail address making it impossible for us to reply. So, if you haven't heard from us, please e-mail again. Best wishes Sue 08.02.'08 As you see, from today, we are showing our 2008 Trip Advisor award on each page of our website. As I said before, it was for A Best Hidden Gem, Asia, so we are very happy and thank everyone very much indeed for their support. One of our receptionists has left to have her baby, but has promised '101%' that she'll be back in three months' time and we've also taken on another receptionist, our 19th member of staff, who will be starting on 1 March. Our staff are like one big family, (many of them are related!), and we are so lucky to have them all. Another lovely day here today . . . Best wishes Sue 07.02.'08 Here we are in the middle of Chinese New Year, enjoying perfect weather and perfect guests. I really don't know where they all keep coming from - everyone's so fantastic! Lots of friendships being made, lovely evenings in the bar or meeting others for dinner along the village, but remember, when you come here, you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. The thing is though that it is very difficult not to talk to anyone here because they are all so nice! Sorry to repeat myself! Today, we have received our glass award from Trip Advisor though we haven't decided where to stand it yet, but we have also been able to download publicity material so we'll be adding that to our website at some stage. If you wish to research us on their site, go to www.tripadvisor.com and read some of the recent reviews we received. Ryan and Liz, (American), were here on honeymoon from Manhattan, Connie and Roland, (German), were here for a romantic break from San Francisco, Esme and Graham, (UK), were also here on their honeymoon and the Powers, (Australian), were here taking a family holiday. But this week, our youngest is 10 months and our oldest is 78, so there is no specific age group here, just be young at heart! Have to go, time for a walk around and a chat with the guests. Bye for now. Have you sorted out your holiday dates yet?? Best wishes Sue 29.01.'08 Little left in February and March is getting busy too so, if you are thinking of coming then, e-mail us as soon as you can. The weather here today is fantastic. Some guests are sunbathing around the pool, others in the shade under the palm trees and others are even having their first cocktail of the day and are sitting at our beach bar admiring the splendid view of the sea and outlying islands. Get that case packed and come and join us! Best wishes Sue 24.01.'08 Have been very busy over the past month. On New Year's Eve, having had a very enjoyable evening of food, laughter, fireworks and lanterns, as well as one or two very small glasses of alcohol, we actually got to bed at 6am on New Year's Day! Also, we have just learned that we have won a 2008 award on www.tripadvisor.com for being a 'Hidden Gem, Asia', so we are very pleased indeed and thank all those very kind people who voted for us and for the continued support we receive from guests on that website, allowing us to keep our No 1 spot on Koh Samui, No 3 in Thailand and No 4 in Asia. As we have been receiving many bookings from old and new guests, we would strongly urge you to book early to save disappointment. Shall write again soon. Have a very Happy New Year and start arranging that holiday! Best wishes Sue 26.12.'07 We hope you all are enjoying your Christmas and wish you all a very happy New Year. We enjoyed our day yesterday with 64 for lunch out on the decking overlooking the outlying islands of Koh Phangan, Koh Som and Koh Tao. It was a beautifully sunny and hot day and everyone was very happy. This was followed by a very enjoyable evening too. It was a pleasure for us to welcome returning and new guests. Best wishes Sue 30.10.'07 It is with very deep regret that we have to inform our previous guests that, having been in a very bad motorbike/car accident on Friday evening, our dear friend, excellent security guard and barman, Khun Banjon, died about 7.00am on Saturday, 27 October. Robin and I had been with him in hospital until about 5.00am, but he never regained consciousness. Obviously, we are all very sad indeed and he will be greatly missed. We, and five of our staff, are going over to his home on the mainland tomorrow to attend his funeral. Michael, our son, is already there and staying for nearly a week. Khun Banjon leaves two daughters, June who is 12 years old and Ja who is only 2 years old. He always wanted the best education he could obtain for his daughters and we should like to honour his wishes and help pay for their education. Since informing some of his very close friends/guests about this tragic accident, some have very kindly offered to contribute on a monthly basis. We are overwhelmed by their kindness.
If anyone feels that they should also like to help, please e-mail us here on sue@thewaterfrontbophut.com. We shall not be paying out large amounts at one time, but smaller, regular donations to make sure that the children themselves constantly benefit.
25.10.'07
Hi Everyone!
Just a little update to let you know that we are still in one piece! 'One' is the appropriate word too because as, from Tuesday, 16 October, we resumed our No 1 position in Koh Samui on www.tripadvisor.com. We are so pleased and should like to thank our guests for taking the time and trouble to post a review and for the very kind words expressed therein.
A couple of weeks ago saw us welcoming six lots of guests who had stayed before: two rooms were here, separately, on their eighth visit, two rooms, separately again, on their sixth visit, one on the fourth visit and one on the third visit. It really is like welcoming family back, especially if they know each other too! And lots of new guests say they are returning and some have even booked already. We often have newsy e-mails from past guests too, which we love, and mentions of possible future guests to whom we have been recommended.
The monsoon season is already upon us which hopefully means that Christmas should be dry and sunny. Consequently, our Christmas luncheon should be 'all systems go' outside on the decking and, if it is as enjoyable as last year, should be really good fun. Nothing at Christmas and New Year is compulsory, but every guest joined us for the meal at Christmas last year and every guest was here at New Year too.
If you haven't already read the comments below, we were No 1 on tripadvisor.com for many weeks earlier in the year, but received some adverse comments from unknown sources which rather spoilt our ranking. However, all is OK again now and we shall do our best, as always, to make sure you, your family and your friends have a really enjoyable holiday.
Best wishes Sue and Robin
01.08.'07
Dear Guests, 'Old', Present and New: We've been having a super year with lots of wonderful guests and it's all been very enjoyable indeed. This week there have been birthdays, anniversaries and honeymoons and everyone has enjoyed themselves tremendously. It's always hard for us to say goodbye and it never seems to get any easier!
If you wish to read any comments from past guests, you will find some on www.Sawadee.com and also on www.tripadvisor.com although, over the past month, we have been seeing some very upsetting reviews on Trip Advisor which we mention below.
We felt that we had to write a little something on our website with regard to these adverse comments, making us lose our Trip Advisor No 1 slot in Koh Samui from today. Until very recently, we were also No 2 in Thailand and No 3 in Asia. One guest posting a review did not stay here although was allowed to mark us as ‘1’ for cleanliness as well as slating us very strongly for an unhappy occurrence when trying to book. Another guest’s report we were able to have removed as he certainly did not stay here. Another one is on now of which we have no record whatsoever so we are trying to have that removed too. Another reviewer said he stayed one night and check out without a refund – this never happened! And ‘Shabby’? The Waterfront is certainly not shabby as many of our guests testify on a daily basis. The other one with photos is mentioned below. When we came to Samui, four years ago next week, our dream was to make our hotel the sort of place people like ourselves would like to stay. We would want to feel welcome, feel that any help would be given in a kind and friendly manner, have clean, comfortable rooms, good food, smiling staff and know that any problem would be dealt with positively, as well as other little touches to make a memorable holiday. We feel that we have accomplished this, and more. We collect our guests from the airport, free of charge, give them a tour of the village, a good, (free), welcome drink, i.e. beer, wine, gin and tonic, etc, tell them about our hotel and genuinely make them feel welcome. We also introduce them to other guests which all adds to the friendly atmosphere and the elimination of that feeling you may have experienced before - that feeling of just being a number. We have free internet, free wireless for laptops, a free book library, a free DVD library, a very good breakfast is included in our room rate, we offer massage and manicure/pedicure at very cheap rates, our food has received many compliments and is extremely reasonable, our furniture is very comfortable and the view, well, the view is spectacular. We are also only steps away from excellent restaurants, bars and boutiques in our charming village of Bophut. We now have eighteen staff, many of whom have been here a long time. They are like one big, happy family and they welcome our returning guests like an extended family, as we do. We are so lucky as we now have lots of friends from all over the world – many guests have returned many times and have recommended us to others who have also returned themselves. Then some guests started to write to Trip Advisor. How lovely! Gradually, we watched our ranking rise, eventually to No 1! We enjoyed this for many, many weeks. But we were a little worried. Whereas guests before had ‘discovered’ us, now perhaps some would come with expectations and we even employed a few more staff. “Don’t worry,” said the guests, “it won’t be like that.” Recently, one guest said that this was ‘a pearl’ and he has stayed in excellent hotels all over the world. Another said that ‘this is one of the places God likes to go on holiday.” Well, perhaps not, but what a kind thing to say! Still the good reviews were posted and still everyone was so kind and complimentary. Then we received a spate of bad ones. Why? Does this mean all our other guests were posting untruths? We don’t think so. OK, so you cannot swim in the sea directly in front of our hotel for eight months of the year, but you only have to walk a few metres along, or even a couple of hundred metres along where you can also jet ski or even enjoy a banana boat. This means, however, that our beach is almost private. When we talk to many of our guests about this, time and time again we are told that we have so many other good things here that a few steps along the beach to swim in the sea is not a hardship, in fact they prefer to sit around and enjoy our pool! Yesterday, we received an enquiry from a guest who has already booked now wanting to know what ‘the deal’ is with the swimming. They only have to go onto our FAQ’s and all will be revealed. We have absolutely nothing to hide. OK, so the pool is not large, approximately 10 x 5 metres. We again have asked many guests about enlarging it, but they say that the intimate feel of the place could be lost and, anyway, who is here to ‘do lengths’ in this heat? Children love the pool, by the way, and they love the hotel and the staff too. OK, so a guest took a photo of a loo. This was not in ‘an old bathroom’ because all our bathrooms were new three and a half years ago when we opened as The Waterfront. The repair was not the most beautiful, I admit, but it was done as well as our staff could do at the time and it has been improved now. We must not forget that this is a tropical island and the locals do not have our history of building, etc. If only we could tell you half of the sort of problems we experienced when building and improving most of this hotel, you wouldn’t believe that we carried on! We thought the bathroom was 100% dry, so why could this guest not tell us of their unhappiness at the time instead of broadcasting it worldwide on the internet?? We even received a request yesterday for a room ‘with a renovated bathroom’! We have worked very hard and have built up a reputation of caring for our guests. As we say to all our guests, ‘if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask and, if there is a problem, do tell us straightaway so that we can sort it out immediately.’ We have always had this attitude and it doesn’t matter if a million internet travelling sites come along, we will always be the same. We are a little worried, however, as these reports seem to be very unkind and mostly untrue from anonymous people who have never stayed here, (name and details of booking are not requested by the site). Why? Who are they?
No 1? Yes, very nice thank you, but not if it brings unkindness and vindictiveness. And read all the good reviews, not only the many on Trip Advisor, but also those on Sawadee.com who write to their clients asking for comments after their stay. But the most important thing to us is that our guests are No 1. If you know us, you know that to be true. Thank you for your time. Sue and Robin Home | Our Location | Koh Samui | Gallery | Enquiries | Ratecard & Room Details | News |