168/31-32 Moo2, Koh Samui Surat Thani 84320, Thailand Tel: +66 (0)77 413 014

A German expat was woken up in the middle of the night and shot in the hip on Koh Phangan. Ralf Flederer, 39, told The Nation newspaper that he had to run for his life on Sunday night when two men attacked him while he was in bed. "Two masked men entered my house at around 2am on Sunday night," said Ralf, who runs www.kohphangannews.org under the pseudonym Beckmann. "They woke me up and charged at me. I grabbed a baseball bat to defend myself. Then all of a sudden, one of them pulled out a gun and opened fire." Ralf was hit three times in the hip before being able to escape. He is being treated at Bangkok Hospital in Samui. The expat, who has been living in Koh Phangan for 17 years now, believes he was attacked by local party organisers upset about his complaints over late night parties. Koh Phangan's famous full moon parties have been drawing thousands of young travellers, turning the small, peaceful island into a noisy place. The local residents, led by Raft, kept filing complaints with the local police, who were far too slack in taking action. Then Ralf and other residents filed a complaint with a government anticorruption bureau in Bangkok, which is currently checking to see why local authorities have been allowing this non-stop partying. "Once the Bureau started investigating, I started getting threats," the victim said. "Ten days before I was shot, a stranger showed up at my front yard in the middle of the night and shot at the coconuts." According to Ralf, there are at least 16 parties a month around the tiny island, and many if not all of them start at dusk and carry on until the next afternoon. Also, more often than not, these moon-themed parties are rife with crime and drugs. All this was reported by the Nation daily newspaper. You can also check more on this story on the Koh Samui forum of thaivisa.com

Plans to ban the sale of alcohol during next month's Songkran festival have been scrapped. Authorities fear a ban will harm the already damaged tourism industry. The National Committee for Alcohol Consumption Control this week said there would be no alcohol ban during the traditional New Year from April 13 to 15. Instead it had opted to launch an intensive campaign against drink-driving.

People have been cautioned over possible heatstroke during the coming hot season, especially those in risk conditions, ranging from overweight to heavy drinkers. Other groups likely to be heatstroke risks are elders, pregnant women, young children, people with sleeplessness and those with high blood pressure. Drinking at least two litres of water each day can minimise the risk, a Public Health Ministry spokesman said this week. Heatstroke's symptoms include high body temperature of more than 40 degrees Celsius, unconsciousness, spasms, a great thirst for water, lower blood pressure and high rate heartbeats. First aid methods for victims include lowering body temperature by towelling patients with water, having them lie down with their feet raised, having them drink water before sending them to hospital, all according to the Health Ministry.

Prices of limes in Thailand have now soared to a record high. The major reasons given for the over-the-top prices are the volatility of the weather which has caused reduced yields of the fruit while market demand remains unchanged. Thai cuisine is heavily dependent upon the ample use of lime and lime juice, as well as for a non-alcoholic lime juice beverage.

Thaivisa.com has just launched a jobs-site for Thailand-related jobs;
http://jobs.thaivisa.com You can search, find and apply for work online! According to the site, hundreds of jobs are available and more jobs are added everyday. The service is free of charge. The site stresses that 95% of all listed jobs are not teaching jobs.

As the economic slump hits Thailand, first-class hotels on Koh Samui have reduced room rates as much as 50 per cent, according to the chairman of the Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association. Four- and five-star hotels have cut room rates by half to two-thirds to about Baht 5.000 a day from Baht 10.000-15.000 earlier, said the chairman, Mr. Senee. Two- and three-star hotels have also reduced room rates and are now charging between Baht 2.000 and 3.000 a day. He also said hotel operators have not yet reduced their staff, but have cut unnecessary expenses.

It is again Friday and as usual party time at Penny Lane. Live music by Black Roses at 10pm and free food from 8pm. You are all welcome.

That was all for this week. Cheers from Roy.