Earlier today I received an email from Pete, a colleague who will be spending the holidays in Thailand. Currently, he's hanging around Koh Samui. I doubt that Christmas is widely celebrated on the country's second largest island but, after spending some time on Wikipedia, I know plenty of other factoids about it. Including:

Reflecting Samui's growth as a tourist destination, the Cunard ship MS Queen Victoria (a 2000-plus passenger ship) will dock at Samui during its 2008 world cruise.

Muay Thai boxing takes place regularly at the island's stadium in Chaweng.

Numerous animal attractions are dotted around the island, including a crocodile farm, monkey theater, elephant trekking, a snake farm, an aquarium and a butterfly garden.

Big Buddha is a twelve-meter high statue of the Buddha, which lies at the top of ceremonial dragon-steps at the Wat Phra Yai. Samui also has a number of other impressive temples, including Wat Khunaram, where the mummified body of Loung Pordaeng, a monk who died in a meditating position, is on display.

The Grandmother and Grandfather rocks close to Lamai beach are an occasional source of amusement for tourists, due to their striking similarity to a penis and vagina, male and female respectively.

Monkey theaters, elephant rides, kickboxing and geological formations that resemble "naughty parts"? A "Christmas in the Northwest" has nothing up on a Christmas spent in Southeast Asia.