New Gym in Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan is where the healthy people live and Chaloklum is therefore the best place on the island! A great way to get or stay healthy, besides the great food we find here in Thailand, and especially in Chaloklum, is to stay fit and keep your body in shape. And that has never been as easy as now! Since the beginning of December, we now have a brand new gym in Chaloklum!

The Press – Gym & Fitness Club, is the only fitness club and gym on the north coast of Koh Phangan. The Press offers one of the best values on the Koh Phangan.  The new gym is located just 1km from the beach and fishermen village of Chaloklum. The Press is positioned to offer a convenient, fun and powerful workout environment to the diverse mix of scuba divers, travelers, locals and expatriates who frequent the relaxed, picturesque north coast of Koh Phangan. We see many sportive people in Chaloklum running and bicycling, wake boarding and kite surfing. Many people here feel that the newest gym of Koh Phangan is a great addition to Chaloklum’s countless recreation possibilities.

Mission Statement of The Press in Chaloklum:

“Our goal is deliver the best fitness experience we can at the best price possible.”

The Gym

The Press offers all new, high-quality cardio gear, weight machines and ample free-weights to satisfy those looking to either keep trim or get big.  The Press is fully air-conditioned and the scenic. A tropical mountainous view and relaxed environment make for an exceptionally comfortable place.  The view of the western mountains is at its best in the late afternoon as the sun falls, but the atmosphere and convenient location makes The Press a good choice anytime, rain or shine. While you keep your eyes on the view, you are also welcome to use the big-screen television and the house speaker system to enjoy your own music and video.

Have a look at The Press in Chaloklum and get in a workout before you enjoy the rest of your day on Koh Phangan. To be fit and to feel great early in the day can only make your day better! Lockers and a clean shower are available downstairs. Prices at the new gym start at 200 Baht per day and are conveniently styled for everybody. For example a whole month in the Gym is only 1200 Baht.

Directions to the Gym

The newest Gym in Koh Phangan is located 500 meters south of the Chaloklum’s 7-11 in direction to Thong Sala. Look for the sign on the main road and turn left where you see the sign on the street; you will find The Press 200 meters off the main road between Chaloklum and Thongsala. It’s just next door to the famous Crow Bar & Restaurant – a local favorite and great place for a hard earned drink after your workout at the gym.

Visit The Press on Facebook

Zhaba Bar Chaloklum

Already a year has past, since the Zhaba Jazz Bar opened in the center of Chaloklum, adding a valuable part of culture to the town’s community.  With mainly Jazz music in the background, one can sit inside, or out on the terrace near the sea, and enjoy the stylish decoration of many original Jazz Posters inside or the sea view outside.  Try your skills in a game of Carrom, a board game that originated in Sri Lanka, it’s great fun! Sasha and Masha have come to the fisherman village a while back and started to run their business in Chaloklum in 2010.

Zhaba Jazz Bar in Chaloklum is open during the daytime for for meals and snacks on the beach and offers a chilled out and relaxed atmosphere to the visitor. At night time the bar is open for all kinds of drinks. No matter if your taste goes to the famous “Russian Standard” Vodka or you would like to enjoy an ice cold draft beer, a mixer or a glass of red wine, you will get it at Zhaba Bar. Their drinks are rather xxl sized …and don’t forget to taste the cake!

The celebration of the 1st anniversary went on until the early morning hours. A huge buffet with delicious meals was ready for the many guests and cool drinks where served all night long. A live performance from Sacha and Losha and a video show from Evgany completed the evening. More information about the Zhaba Jazz Bar in Chaloklum can be found on this link.

Pictures From The 1st Anniversary of Zhaba Jazz Bar

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Video From The 1st Anniversary of Zhaba Jazz Bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYFjI-LJkVQ

Video by: Evgeny Kovban

Wednsday Night at Omega Bar Chaloklum

Last Wednesday Omega Bar celebrated two anniversaries in one night, both of them involving Jenni and Pit who are running the meanwhile famous Omega Jam Session every Wednesday night. The Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria MOCCA, located right on the beach, in the center of Chaloklum, celebrated it’s 10th anniversary and Jenni & Pit celebrated there 12th marriage anniversary. The both opened the Pizzeria ten years ago and since the the have a great Pizza night every Sunday. all Italian specialties are home made and fresh every day. Jenni, the chef, is doing all the food by himself while Pit is taking care for the guests.

Two years ago, Jenni started the Omega Garden Project and Omega has developed ever since. Meanwhile Omega Bar has become the ‘in place’ for music lovers and people who just want to have a good time. The Party started early this Wednesday and around 6pm people started to gather around a huge buffet with all sorts of Thai food and Salads. About two hours later, when the food and drinks started to settle, the first musicians entered the stage and another long night full of music and dancing had begun. The party went on until thew early morning hours. Here are some pictures and a Video of this Wednesday Night in Koh Phangan. More pictures and videos can be found on the Omega Bar Facebook Page.

Pictures from Omega Bar in Chaloklum

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 Video from Omega Bar in Chaloklum

NB. To tell the world about YOUR business in Chaloklum, simply write a text about what you are doing or what you are offering in Chaloklum, add a few good pictures and send them to George. This is a free service and you will never have to pay for it. The text should be between 400 and 600 words and at least 10 pictures should be attached.

Excursions from Chaloklum

Once you are in Chaloklum and have been relaxing on the beaches for a while, you might want to see a bit of the surroundings of this beautiful fisherman village. A great way to explore the nearby Angthong Marine Park is a two day trip on a sailing boat with Bruno. Bruno is a Frenchman who lives in Chaloklum for many years and he knows the waters around the 42 islands of the national marine park like the back of is hand. His boat is a 18.5 meter wooden sailing boat with a lot of space! Three bunk cabins under deck and two large bunk beds in the salon, plus many cozy places on deck, give you a wide choice on where you would like to sleep.

The trip starts at 08:00 in the morning from Chaloklum. The Angthong Marine Park is about three hours away from Koh Phangan and the journey is filled with new impressions of the Gulf of Thailand and the smell of bacon and eggs, getting readied for a large breakfast. Once everybody has settled in and all the personal belongings have found a storage room, the smell of fresh coffee is signaling that breakfast is ready. After breakfast we are almost at the marine park and we can see the the first islands with their bizarre shapes, carved by water and millions of years. Some funny rock formations in the shape of an elephant head or a sailing boat pass by.

The Boat is gently traveling through quiet waters along some stunning rock formations and literally hundreds of small sandy tropical beaches. We have reached the place where the story of famous book “The Beach” has really taken place! Some fresh, cool beers have made their way out of the cooler boxes and the mood aboard is great. We are ready to start our exploration tours. On colorful kayaks and the little dingy, we leave the boat and start circling one of the islands in the south of the Angthong national marine park. Or goal is to find an entrance into a hidden lagoon, inside the island. As climbing is not an option because of the sharp rocks, we are trying to find another way in. Although this time we are not lucky because of the tide, we will try the next island tomorrow.

The following day, after breakfast, we have a morning swim and we go to explore some beaches first. We also try to find an other ‘secret lagoon’. While this time there is a way into the lagoon over land, it still is a bit of climbing to get there. Unfortunately, the lagoon had only little water left and it was a rather muddy experience. A huge tree on the beach, full with two different colors of flowers, made up for it though.

Back on the boat we are hungry and lunch is getting ready. Soon after lunch we move to another island and to new adventures. The kayaks and the dingy are tied to the rear of the boat so we don’t have to lift them up and down every time we stop. When we arrive at our next destination, we can already see from the outside of the island that we’re going to have more luck here. The small entrance into the lagoon is clearly visible from the boat. And this time we make it all the way in! A beautiful hidden lake inside the bizarre, sharp rock formation, full with tiny fish,opens up in front of us. The entrance is very narrow and full of sharp shells and rocks so that we’re advised to keep our limbs inside the boat and our heads down.

At 3 O’clock in the afternoon it’s time to haul the kayaks in and make way towards Koh Phangan, back to Chaloklum. On the way back the atmosphere on board the Itsaramaï is relaxed, the last beers get shared and everybody has a big smile on the face. We are back in Chaloklum at sunset and leave the boat with a little tear in the eye. I’m sure we’ll all be back one day for another Angthong Marine Park Safari. Have a look and enjoy the photos of our Angthong tour below. For Bookings and reservations call +66 (0)872 680940 and ask for Bruno

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For Angthong Marine Park Live Aboard Safaris on a charter yacht from Koh Tao or from Koh Samui, have a look at Island Cruises yacht charter company in Koh Tao.

For the second time this year we are having a temple festival in Chaloklum. While the festival in March has been drowning in rain, this time the weather looks much friendlier. After the new temple building has been completed in May, the King of Thailand donated a large Buddha Statue for the new temple in Chaloklum. After the statue arrived in Thongsala, Koh Phangan on the 8th of July, it was carried on a colorful decorated car and accompanied by monks and the dancing and celebrating people all the way to Chaloklum. Enjoy the pictures and the video of the new temple in Chaloklum and the festival.

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If you are planing to visit Chaloklum, don’t miss to pay the Wat Chaloklum a visit!

Koh Phangan Two Days after the Heavy Rainfalls

Hover your mouse over the image to see the before and after picture of Chaloklum.

As I was starting to write this article, the sun was shining in Chaloklum, now the weather is back to rain again. This new thunderstorm is hopefully just passing the island of Koh Phangan since the people on the island are still busy repairing the damages from the previous flooding. Chaloklum is back to normal live today and the shops, besides 7/11 which is still empty, offer fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, fish and meat again. The colors have come back to the market street in Thongsala too. While Tesco Market is still suffering from the bad roads and the almost complete halt of trains, the rest of the markets are ready for your shopping. Tourist are walking around with much happier faces again and the smiles have come back to their faces.

With only a bit more than a week to go until Songkran, the Thai New Year festival, which is celebrated by throwing and shooting masses of water on each other with the means of huge water guns, buckets, and even water hoses, the newly starting rainfalls are at least guaranteeing that we will have enough water on Koh Phangan. Since we are actually supposed to be in the hottest time of the year on Songkran, this isn’t always the case. This years heavy rainfalls have bruised Chaloklum quite a bit. The shape of the village towards the seaside looks very different to what it looked like before. While the clean-up is still ongoing on many places, Amazing Thailand is back to normal and the land of the smile welcomes new visitors again.

Last but not least; an important announcement for all fans of Omega Garden in Chaloklum: Tomorrow, the 6th of April Omega Garden Jam Session for Everybody! will be open again, so let’s go jammin’!!

The Aftermath of Disastrous Rainfalls

While the rain had stopped during the night and in the early morning hours, the afternoon began with heavy rainfalls again.  In general though, the situation looks much better since the flooded areas are starting to dry off. The first fresh supplies have reached Koh Phangan  yesterday afternoon and this morning. What is coming to the islands is by far not enough to fill up the shelves in the markets but at least something is coming in. Around the island people are cleaning up and repairing damaged roads. Koh Phangan has been hit hard by these unnatural rainfalls but Koh Tao had even had a harder time!

About 1000 people had to be evacuated in dramatical rescue actions involving dive boats from diving schools in Koh Tao, longtail boats, helicopters and the aircraft carrier of the Royal Thai Navy, the HTMS Chakri Naruebet! On the picture here we see the Big Bubble Dive Boat bringing tourists from Koh Tao to the aircraft carrier. Many houses in Koh Tao have been destroyed or badly damaged, the roads which have never been the best anyways, have now been devastated by the heavy rainfalls. Dive resorts along the coast line, especially in Sairee have been hit the hardest in this heavy storm.

Power lines and telephone lines on the island where down for several days  in every sense of the word. People on the island have been without electricity for almost three days. The internet didn’t work and people being stuck on the island had little means to contact their loved ones at home to tell them, their OK. This exceptional weather phenomena that caused the temperatures to drop to 20 degrees Celsius and flooded the the whole south of Thailand during the past two weeks, in the presumably hottest month of the year, has caused billions of Baht on damage in southern Thailand!

Pictures of the Rain Damage in Koh Tao

The pictures in the gallery below have been given to me by Big Bubble in Chalok baan Kao. Thanks very much to Seven!

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As the rainfall continues in the south of Thailand on day 10, and no supply boats are reaching the islands in the Gulf of Thailand, the shops are getting empty and food supply will soon be a problem on Koh Phangan. On the much smaller island Koh Tao, the shelves of supermarkets and 7/11 are empty for days already. Two houses have also been reported to be heavily damaged in a landslide in Koh Tao. Deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said, the government had sent its only aircraft carrier! to rescue around 1,000 people, stuck on the neighbor island Koh Tao. According to the Thai interior ministry, today 1,225 tourists are stranded in Koh Tao and 1,100 in Koh Phangan.

Markets in Chaloklum are empty and as of today, the vegetable and meat market in Thongsala has also almost nothing to sell anymore. Tesco Market and 7/11 shelves in the main town of Koh Phangan are almost empty. Fresh food is hard to get on the island. Incredibly enough; there is still fresh fish on the market, even though there was no fishing boats going out during the past week. Since two days now, the Thai navy has started to evacuate people, most of them tourists, from the islands to the mainland. The last navy boat with one hundred tourists left Thongsala yesterday evening. Although it is still raining, as of this morning, the water has gone back, and the sea side towards Koh Samui is calm, allowing the boats to leave to Samui.

The south of Koh Samui has been hit hard. Shops and homes were flooded and great damage has been caused to many properties. Lamai has been without electricity and water for the past two days, forcing people to move out of their homes and stay either at friends places or move to a hotel until things get back to normal. 13.000 tourists have been stranded in Ko Samui alone partially because a power blackout at Samui airport had grounded more than 50 flights on Monday and Tuesday! More than 1.000.000 people are stranded in the south of Thailand, many of them without dry clothes or a safe place to sleep. Fresh water and food becoming increasingly a major problem to these regions.

The overall death toll of this disastrous weather in southern Thailand has climbed to 15 after a mudslide hit a village in Krabi’s Khao Phanom district and left four people dead and more than 100 still missing. The disaster prevention and mitigation department of Thailand has declared all eighty districts of the eight southern provinces to be disaster areas! March is supposed to be the hottest month in Thailand and as long as I have been here, this was always a fact. This year though, it started to rain with the beginning of the temple festival in Chaloklum, on the 14th of March. Since the 21st of March, it hasn’t really stopped to rain for longer than 5 minutes. The light outside remains the same dim from ‘sunrise’ to ‘sunset’ and the temperature is at 21 degrees Celsius. According to CNN, the southern province of Suratthani had 855 mm of rainfall since March 26th; as of normally, the province receives about 50 mm over the entire month of March!

The NASA satellite picture shows almost 1200 mm of rainfall in southern Thailand on it’s weather map from March 23rd to March 30th 2011.

Since a week it has been raining and the forecast doesn’t look much better. The streets of Koh Phangan are flooded. Houses are flooded, toilets don’t work anymore and boats are sinking. The storm that is blowing over the island doesn’t seem to need a rest even for one minute. I was trying to get to the village this morning but on the main street, that reminds more on o riverbed than on a street, my journey was over. My motorbike just doesn’t work underwater! Outside my house where usually a beautiful tropical garden should be, is a huge lake where you could better travel on a kayak than on a bike. Many motorbikes get stuck in the street. Chaloklum is hard to pass today. All the coconut fields are underwater.

Electricity and internet connection are working at least partially, but that’s already more than one can hope for under these circumstances. According to the weather frogs on Windfinder, we will have a lot more heavy rain tomorrow. As for today the forecast has up to 26mm rain per three hours, tomorrow will be up to 59mm! in three hours. I have no idea where this water all wants to go! According to some people who really made it from Chaloklum to Thongsala today, the water in the street is at some places more than one meter deep! The rain is supposed to slow down and eventually stop on Wednesday.

And on the eighth day, god made even more water! Yesterday the bridge by the river collapsed because of the water masses coming down from the hills, which means Haad Khom is cut off for cars. While the bridge can still be passed on foot and by motorbike, on everybody’s own risk, for cars it is far to risky to pass the bridge! In the night the storm had destroyed most of the bars and restaurants along the beach front of Chaloklum! Besides these heavy damages, many roofs in the village need to be repaired and people are trying to keep the water out of there houses. It’s getting hard to find anything dry around the house after so many days of rain. The latest prediction of rainfall in Koh Phangan from Windfinder was 93mm in three hours!

More Pictures and images can be found on Brad’s http://www.prodata-software.com/chaloklumphangan/?p=1 Continue reading →]]>

Chaloklum is situated in the north of the island Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. Koh Phangan is worldwide known for it’s monthly Full Moon Party where more than 30’000 people are having a good time. The Full Moon Party of Koh Phangan happens in the south of the island, that’s the other end, in Haad Rin. If you are not looking for the full moon party and parties are not your thing, there is no reason not to come to Koh Phangan, as it offers many family friendly beaches and resorts in areas such as Chaloklum, in the north of Phangan.

The north-western part of Koh Phangan is rather quiet and very laid back. Nevertheless, the tropical beauty and the many places to visit, the many white, sandy beaches to swim or to snorkel or even wake board and the many restaurants to try excellent Thai and Western food are worth a visit. Careful though; many people who meant to pay Chaloklum a short visit are still here… even though the came here many years ago. The peaceful atmosphere of Chaloklum is highly addictive and once here and settled in, you’ll probably never want to leave again.

Chaloklum offers the visitor everything for their holidays from relaxed and chilled out beaches to fabulous fish restaurants, Italian pizzeria, shopping possibilities, diving schools, live music events, site seeing, fishing tours, scuba diving and diving courses, snorkeling and swimming or even elephant trekking, you name it.  The prices for accommodation on Koh Phangan, especially in Chaloklum, are cheaper than on the two neighbor islands Koh Samui and Koh Tao and the friendliness of the Thai population is unbeaten. Have a look at the pictures and see for yourself.