A bit late with this one but just incase anyone is on holiday in Thailand and in the Bangkok area. The TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) and the Federation of National Film Associations have co-organize the World Comedy Film Festival for the first time in Thailand and Asia. The event was taking place from 10-16 June, 2009, at Siam Paragon Cineplex and the SF World Cinema at Central World, so as I said sorry this ones a bit late.

The mascot of the festival is the Nang Talung shadow puppet named “Teng”, which has been part an ancient form of Thai entertainment and part of Thai tradition and history of storytelling and movie making.  The puppets are usually made of cowhide and rattan. The shadow puppet show will feature all sorts of characters, but almost all shows will feature a clown (Teng), an old man and a dim-witted old woman who are all great favourites with the fun – loving audiences. Humour is always a part of the stories.

My Flights to Thailand will never be the same again! One of the last places you could be free from the mobile phone, on a flight, is no longer. An Emirate flight between Dubai and Casablanca seen the first mobile call made after Emirates airline became the first commercial airline to allow passengers to make mobile phone calls during flights.

The aircraft, an Airbus A340, is fitted with a system which stops mobiles from interfering with a plane’s electronics. Now I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think these aircraft are used to fly to Thailand from any destination yet, so for the time being your flight to Thailand will still be Mobile phone free, but for how long?

The full news report can be found at BBC website.

Am I alone in wishing this step was never taken? Do you need to contact people that often that even on a simple flight to your holiday destination you need your mobile phone on? Even if it’s a business flight would you not like to have the opportunity to turn the phone off and have a break from the office? On a long haul flight to Thailand would you use your mobile phone? Who would you call and what would be so important it could not wait till you got there?

It all seems to be happening in Phuket this summer. It’s not long since I was talking about the scuba party in Patong and now for water lovers, all be it surface water lovers, there’s a surfing competition being held in Kalim bay on the island of Phuket.

the Monsoon Riders event at Kalim Beach is the first of the three international surfing competitions that will be held this year in the Phuket area of Thailand. The second event, named The King of the Jungle will be held at Kamala Beach from 14-16 August, and the third and final event will be the Island Crown at Kata Beach from 4-6 September. (src)

Kalim Beach is situated just north of Patong Beach, and although a beautiful long strip of white sand. it isn’t the best beach in Phuket for children. Exposed to the western winds this beach does get strong currents often but if you find it on a good day it is a wonderful place to spend some time. It has some wonderful coral heads just off the shore so on the good days you could spend it snorkeling from the beach.

From June to September large storms in the Indian Ocean can generate enough swell to create surfable waves up to 6 feet in height. According to Phuket Boardriders President Chanin “Joob” Aiyarak, “Already this early in the season we’ve had some very good days of surf, and so we are very confident that over this three day period we’ll have waves that will give the competitors in all divisions great conditions in which to compete.”(src)

This is yet another reason to visit Thailand and Phuket especially during the “Green Season”, with bargains to be had from Phuket hotels, biker festivals, blues festivals, scuba parties and surfing competition it would seem now that the summer is the best time to visit Phuket.