LamaiCat

This is thread # 2,158 Re BKK Air.

Yess, and people still can't admit that they give a good service.

I will not be back on Samui but to use Air asia to Saigon I had to book a night hotel, 650baht, becouse they do not have a lot of flights and even if they had more flights the ticket is fixed.

Every time I came to Samui i just booked a flight, sure that at the check in Bkkair would have put me on the first available one.

But i've to admit my last "rscape" via Singapore to avoid Bangkok problems was really expensive.

The island is expensive too, so who cares...

You will get only rich people, the best kind of tourists

right you are mr gatorade - neither option is particularly attractive:

bkk air = rip off fare.

nok deal = mucho pissing abouto.

solution - flick samui the v's and head somewhere else. that's gonna be my preferred option if the USM flight fare situation remains. It appears to be the option of many others too by the looks of the farang numbers on the island.

Yes, after 4 years on Samui i booked a 1890baht flight to Saigon....

I think i will not miss Samui, but the Vietnamese taxi drivers seems very close friends of Samui ones

I would still recommend Lamai for a cheap holiday on Samui and the beach remains top quality.

Really interested to know OP where are you spending the two weeks you have free?....up north or elsewhere??

Sure? After 3 years of winters in Lamai i decided that the beach is not really so great....

Pack of dogs going around, rubbish everywhere...beachside resort very expensive.....

Next winter i'll try Vietnam but unfortunately i'm finding the same flying problem of Samui.. Flights to Saigon are very limited compared to Bangkok and a connection with AirAsia is cheap but complex (i need to enter Thailand)...

Basically my vacation will depend on Singapore Airlines, no offers from them, problems....

After Changi who wants to stop again in BKK?

unless they have something very intersting to sell.

I agree. I think this would be the only way for it to work, considering it may lack some exposure due to location.

yes people come here to buy cheap stuff. i cann't beleive that in MBK for fakes was nearly as much aas the real thing. party the pound is to blame but still.

With the Euro at 39 baht people will came back only with a 50% discount on everything....

I can import in Samui very good t-shirt made in bangladesh cheaper from Italy.

And all the t-shirt I bought from Tesco are used now to clean my house, very very bad quality...

Good luck with the 5 star people, untile they will realize that maldives are better

If you're German it should be fairly effortless.

I don't know your reasons for avoiding the place, but if it's because of the redshirts, it's nothing to worry about.

Italian and not sure the immigration give a voa with no flight back ticket.

Even the Airasia ticket should technically be an exit...

But visa is free anyway...

Redshirts, yellow shirts, cement everywhere. Prices to the roof, beached dirty (Samui, the best...).

Thailand is not worth my money and the thai do not want me, so i'll try Vietnam :-)

And i'll try to avoid Bangkok airport, same as London heatow, place to avoid :-) if possible.

UAE to avoid, always.....

I've decided to avoid Thailand for my vacation, but the cheap flights are all to BKK...

What will happen if I arrive at Swampy with Air berlin from Berlin and i have to checkin to AirAsia for Saigon?

The baggage is not checked to Saigon.

For what I know to get the baggage i have to pass immigration

Seeing that a dueal entry Visa to Thailand is still free i can get one, just in case i decide to travel around

.

No problem with Air berlin becouse i have a ticket exiting Thailand but the contry is so messy with immigration that everything can happen

the main problem is that there is an over-supply of hotel rooms, as there is of restaurants, real estate agents, etcc..

after the tsunami everybody started building hotels, villas, etc, everybody wanted a piece of the gold rush

today there are simply not that many tourists coming here.. samui is not the only place in the world with a beach,

samui is not so great as it sounds to many: smell of sewage, taxi scams, expensive airfares, this is the reputation of samui today

Yes, after a lot of years next winter no more Samui.

Thailand ia a mess, Samui is overpriced badly and resorts are too busy cutting service and staff.

The beaches are pathetic. On Lamai you can even get the risk of getting attacket by stray dogs.

Goodbye shithole.

Who in their right mind would come now?

I'd have no problem flying to KL, then Langkawi and on to paradise...

What paradise? I have only seen overpriced resort and restaurant, dirty beach and polluted water in Samui.....

So walking with the girlfriend and punching people random on his way home????

Please...

Well, the news in Italy are totally different from the thai ones....

Also the time, 5.30am seems strange for a person that work.

But i can assure you that italian newspaper are totally unreliable on news in Italy, outside Italy probably they just translate the first info they find on the net....

Don't get fooled by many positive reviews on the various sites about many hotels here on Samui. Many of them are self-fabricated.

Best is to get in touch with the people who wrote not so good reports directly.

I never stayed at Pandora Resort and thus cannot judge it, but the owner is a French guy. Try to book over sawadee or latestays.

Site like Sawadee let you review the place only if you payed and stayed there.......

The other yes, it's like Wikitravel, with list of 20.000b a day resort, who needs them on a popular site....

you can

*book a seat for a joint bus to the airport at a travel agency or at the hotel reception

*take a songtheow from Lamai via Chaweng to Bangrak (60/40 during day time) and from there a motorcycle taxi to the airport

*take a songtheow from Lamai via Chaweng to the crossroad on the way to Choeng Mon and walk from there 1,85 km to the airport

sounds like good advice - I wasn't aware that a joint bus could be booked TO the airport.

may be worth checking out faranguy.

2 years ago there was a web site for pickup, it was the same minibus used by hotel, so 500b from hotel, 300b directly..

they stopped next year....agency and hotel need 150-200b commission, so i doubt you can get something cheaper...

A foreigner cannot own the land but can own a house that is built on the land.

There are various ways that a foreigner can legally own property, a condo like development for example as long as 51% of the development is sold to Thais. The land can also be leased to a foreigner.

Only a brainless foreigner will buy at this condition....

better off to get a taxi for 400 THB, less hassle... but you wont find any cheap way, unless you like to hitch hike

Well, last time i needed to change a ticket at the airport office a songtae agree on 200b....

but when i'll be leaving soon with baggage a taxi will be better, usually they go down to 300b....

i really had enough of this overpriced island with such beautifull place like the grandfather rock and a couple of falls. next winter Vietnam.... with 1E taxi for 30 minutes....

Whilst Laos is safe for a visa run I would suggest that the locals are quite nasty under the surface, the cops can be very corrupt and any country that passes laws that allow them to arrest foreigners if they have sex with the local women when not married needs to be avoided.

Is it the same in Vietnam and Cuba?

Question: after 2 weeks in Saigon to look around, where can i go with a beach?

Nha Trang or quiet Mui Ne beach close to Phan Thiet ?

I'm reading Wikitravel....

Mui Ne is not too far, but it seems just a small beach city resort.

Nha Trang very far, different climate, december probably cool....

Vung Tau very close. Price double on weekend, is it really too crowded with locals?

Forget my last post.........way too difficult.

Maybe we can simply discuss these countries as viable alternatives........would be nice to hear first hand experiences:

Argentina

Nicaragua

Ecuador

Mexico

Malaysia

Philippines

Costa Rica

Cambodia

Philippines

Vietnam

Indonesia

South and Central america has some problems with safety....no comparison between the south of Thailand or Mindanao island...I have only been to Dominican republic and I was informed to not exit the resort after 9pm alone, and the guard has changed the daily Beretta with a automatic rifle.

Colombia and Brazil are cheap, that is with 10$ you can have anybody killed.

Ecuador a close friend confirmed to me that they still never dress nice taking bus, they gor robbed ever week and since nobody has money they take shoes, dress, etc and sometimes shoot the driver.

Still anybody wants to go in south america?

I know, it's apity, the language is so easy....

maybe if USA open air traffic tu Cuba that will be anice place...

For now Vietnam is the first on my list for 2011. Question: after 2 weeks in Saigon to look around, where can i go with a beach?

With 1k/2k USD budget i will restart the thread with the best avail choise, Vietnam. Muslim countries are too different to be safe, Philippine is not safe and with too many hurricanes....

ECUADOR

Quito

Esmeraldas

Manta

Nice place, are they still robbing every bus every day?

Unfortunately South and Central america plus carabbean are not safe places...

Very unfortunate, the language is everywhere the same and very easy for me.....

I would restrict the search to Vietnam and cambodia. Next year i'll try Vietnam.

Probably you should start a new tread more focused, so Naan will not come out with Figastretta....a place not existing anymore in italy...

Back on topic, if when you arrive at Samui airport you walk from arrivals to departures (its about 250m, some people thinks its a 1km - lol) you can pick up a taxi cheap, as they are dropping off and cant hang about long, you should be able to save a third or more, offer them and if the refuse wait 2 mins for the next.

I used the trick in Bkk, but never thought it on Samui. Probably becouse there was always a minivan to lamai for 150b...Anyway i'm not planning to come back to see the real last coconut replace by a for rent shop. But it was a nice island.....

You're right. It was a stupid decision to withdraw the buggy shuttle. They are trying to herd the punters through the honey pot shops on their way to the departure gates, the same as the large International Airports. But these airport shops are under cover and have A/C.

When the check in is tight, the 25 minute buggy departures are not good enough. If enough people complain it might help to get the

buggy service re-instated.

The old airport was very nice. When i first went to checkin and after they told me to exit at first i thought they were crazy. After i walked under then sun looking at the empty shops i was sure Bankok Air management was replaced with patient from a mental hospital.

At the end of the "shopping" street another security check.

A classic how to destroy one of the best looking tourist airport in the world.

On arrival is worse, the minivan are far away in the parking, so you have to put the baggage on electric van that will go for 250meter...take them back and look for the right minivan.

I don't accept that the pricing structure is causing an unfavourable situation for Samui there is a choice if you don't like it. In fact, the opposite. (Did you ever see the hordes of the great unwashed arriving on Phuket Airways from London to Phuket??..a nightmare and of course a different argument). All the latest promotion for Samui is that of exclusivity. This will not be achieved from 10 Baht packers. If BKK Air have got it wrong then the prices will come down, but I doubt it!

Bkk airways is helping Samui, they keep a lot of flights even when not peak season.

What is really hurting Samui is the lack of international non-stop flight.

I can get a plane in all country in Europe and land in Pucket, for Samui it will means at minimum 4 hours more after a 11 hours flight. The direct connection value for me is more than a free flight with wifi and snacks, so until we will have A380 landing on the island 1000 or 2000 baht more or less is irrilevant.

Just bought a Samui-Singapore for 6075b one way, so it's not very expensive as i though when exchanging the total in Euro.....

But if flights are full why lower price?

High prices will assure only high end tourist will visit the island....

And anything is Samui is overpriced.

totally disagree this this happens everywhere, in Uk the majot chains have the policy of refusing to allow more than the the specified amount of items in the basket lanes & most there have the policy of opening a new check out when lines reach over a certain number of people waiting & if the price is missing will find a staff member to go get it. I have never once in any of the countries I have visited found the same kind of consistent lack of interest in customer care as I have across the country in the 3 major supermarkets here.

well, apart UK in US and Italy it happens frequently, not with 50 items but if you have 10 of same items count 1 or 10?

what really annoys me of Tesco is the bad quality of clothes and sandals sold. Already trown 2 sandals away, and the tshirt plus jeans are not labeled and not real cotton. They sell trash very cheap, basically.....

Maybe you have too much time on your hands and just need to do something. Do you have any hobbies?

That is the problem, after some months i'm bored to death doing nothing (when the sun it's out it's impossible to stay outside anyway, i never recolled a winter so hot in Samui...) and finding a GF not working on a bar seems very difficult on this island.

1 year for everybody? no paper required?

interesting.

but gong to the deep south the minibus more than a tv needs bullet proof windows.....

Here's a list of the required paperwork.

MFA non-B visa

It's a visa for working. What is the problem to have it with all the right paperwork? Any consulate must give it.

Well, i'm only a tourist, so a trip to hat yai (450b), hotel (300-700b), minibus to border (50+50b) and bus back (450b) is enough for any 1/2/3 entry visa given free anywhere in europe.

Lamaicat, if its so easy, why dont you also open a "Visa Run Company"???

No need, follow the indication to Hat Yai, you can cross the border and be back in 10 minutes.

Visa should be done in Europe, easy and free, tourist only of course.