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Sailing activities
July 2010 SEA Property Multihull Championship.
July 21-25th, 2010 Six Senses Phuket Raceweek.
August 19-23th, 2010 Sail Amsterdam. www.sail2010.nl
February 12th Chinese New Year
February 19th Phuket Old Town Festival
February 25th Gay Festival
April 13-15th Songkran festival
April 9-13th Phuket Bikers week @ Patong Beach
April 13th Turtle Release Fair: Baby turtles are released into the sea at various locations. Strangely enough it is also National Fisherman’s Day.
June 2010 Thailand Surf Series Kalim Beach www.thaisurfseries.com, www.phuketboardriders.com The inaugural Thailand Surf Series (TSS) incorporates the three main surfing contests held in Phuket each monsoon season into a series of connected events in June, August and September. Under the rules of the International Surfing Association, the Thailand Surf Series will become part of the ASC (Asian Surfing Championship) ranking system. The events expect to have participants from 15 countries and will feature four divisions: Short Board, Long Board, Groms (Kids) and Women.
July 2010 Multihull Championship
July 21-25, 2010 Six Senses Phuket Raceweek
August 19-23, 2010 Sail Amsterdam 2010 www.sail2010.nl
August Por Tor Festival @ All Chinese Shrines on the Island. The ‘Hungry Ghosts’ festival is an important merit-making event for the ethnic Chinese. Special food, flowers and candles are offered to ancestors’ altars in order to ‘feed the ghosts’ that are said to have been released from hell for the month. Dates for 2010 Festival will be announced later.
September 2010 Thailand Surf Series Kata Beach www.thaisurfseries.com, www.phuketboardriders.com
October Vegetarian Festival
November 21st, 2010 Loy Kratong. A festival of quiet celebration, the origins of Loy Kratong are unclear, but it is believed that it started in Sukhothai, (north of Bangkok) one of the most powerful cities in Asia, around 800 years ago. On this particular night, on nearly every expanse of water, be it a river, lake or the ocean, you’ll notice thousands of lights drifting across the water like fairy dreams.
December 4 – 11th, 2010 Phuket King’s Cup Regatta www.kingscup.com
World Thai Martial Arts Festival; Wai Khru Muay Thai Ceremony & Nai Khanom Tom Day at Ayutthaya World Heritage Site in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. On 10-17 March 2010. Formally known as Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, the ancient city of Ayutthaya, was founded in 1350 by King U-Thong and remained the capital city of the Kingdom of Siam for 417 years, from 1350-1767. Ayutthaya was one of Asia’s most prosperous cities with a proliferation of magnificent temples and palaces. In this setting the annual Wai Khru Muay Thai Ceremony takes place. Muay Thai boxers from around the world to pay respect to their teachers, and to pay homage to the legendary Muay Thai folk here: Nai Khanom Tom.
Cashew in Thailand
The cashew tree, (Anacardium occidentale), grows up to ten meters in height and has large, striped, oval shaped leaves. Fragrant red, yellow and pink flowers bloom annually around February, before a red, bulbous fruit appears, called a cashew apple. The cashew nut grows on the tip of the fruit.
In the sixteenth century, the cashew fruits and their juice were taken from Brazil by Europeans to treat fever. The cashew tree and its nuts and fruits had been used by the indigenous tribes for centuries. The Tikuna tribe in northwest Amazonia considered the fruit juice to be medicinal against influenza.
The task of processing cashew nuts is no simple affair. Formed inside a kidney shaped casing, the cashew nut is suspended in poisonous oil, which burns the skin. These toxins are initially reduced by boiling the intact shells, but the manual labour of cracking open the shells must be done with care. Workers wrap plastic around their fingertips to prevent the black oil from burning their skin. All poison is expelled during the next stage when the nuts are baked over a low temperature for 12 hours. A speckled skin is then peeled off, before a grading procedure separates the nuts into groups of whole nuts, half nuts and pieces.
The curiously named, Sri Bhurapa Orchid company has over thirty years in the cashew business and their showroom, located on Thanon Kwang just south of Phuket Town, provides insight into the processing of cashew nuts. Khun Supachai Kittithornkul, co-manager of the company, represents the third generation of the family’s success in the cashew industry. Originally an orchid farm, hence the name, Sri Bhurapa Orchid’s founder Khun Kittithornkul Senior, started processing cashew nuts as a small side business. Cashews became increasingly popular and today the company has three factories and employs more than 80 people.
The delectable cashew products made by Sri Bhurapa are sure to tempt. Whole nuts are coated in thick chocolate and half pieces are flavoured with butter, coconut, sesame, honey and many other taste sensations including sweet chili and a hot and spicy version which is very popular with Thai visitors.
The cashew tree is wealthy in resources. Apart from the exotic taste of the prized cashew nut, the cashew apple fruit, the nut casings and the bark are all utilized by industry. The nasty oil is used to produce automotive brake oil and the nut casings may be transformed into a rubbery substance used for repairing household items. The bark of the cashew tree has valuable medicinal properties, as does the fruit. Cashew apple juice may be used to treat gastric complaints, to increase urine excretion and can even increase resistance to venereal disease!
in Phuket: Sri Bhurapa Orchid, Thanon Kwang (near Kinnaree Media)
source: From Benjarong Magazine – September Issue, 2002
Smith, Nigel, Williams, J., Plucknett, Donald and Talbot, Jennifer 1992 Tropical Forest and Their Crops. Comstock Publihsing NY.
Schultes, R., Raffauf, R. 1990 The Healing Forest, Dioscorides Press
Duke, James A., Vasquez, Rodolfo, 1994, Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary. CRC Press.
When you are worried…
When times get rough…
like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine
I am sailing right behind
like a bridge over troubled water
I will ease your mind