womble

where is the bar?

Well that's it, the jobs in the bag now, with such prestigious nations giving backing, it's a sure win.

Samui is a shitehole full of farang scum.

I stayed in Chaweng once, only to find some Aussie Yob - probably hepped up on goofballs, fornicating some skanky Thai ho on my balcony. He refused to leave - until the resort alsatian chased him off.

I'd drop napalm on the entire place. Its a cess pit.

Makes me laugh when certain nitwits talk about Samui being a putative 'millionaires playground' for expensive villas.

ps Also bored with members here who feign knowledge of the assassination business. So many do this......'well I have a dodgy Thai friend who knows someone' schtick. You'd run a mile if a poodle widdled on your doormat and barked at you.

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Wanna buy a villa on Samui?

anyone go last night?

What did u think?

My fav Indian is in the Rembrant Hotel. Mmmmmmmm

must have been the worst advertised gig ever, i keep my ear to the ground musically, and never knew about this. I doubt he was cheap eigher.

Old news, but it's still facinating reading. Thanks for the post.

They did have one last year, but on a much smaller scale.

This year the main stage is by the lake where they have the lake side parties.

They are also doing stuff in the Coco Blues bar

Mint bar is also doing events with live soul/jazz the week after the main event, they have swedish band Melo, and a few others.

Thai ticket master is doing the ticketing for coco blues festival.

http://www.kohsamuimusicfestival.com/ticketing.htm

Don't worry about crowds, it's gonna be very well organised, with tables at front for those that want to pay more, and standing for those that wanna save $. It's a very big space, so don't worry about overcrowding.

The last weekend will be the best, UB40, Jools Holland, The wailers etc

This is a rare incident, and some people are blowing this out of proportion. Katoeys are a problem in many tourist areas, patong, pattaya, sukhumvit etc etc. I have been approached before sometimes quite aggreesivly and I find the best tactic is to tatally ignore them, say nothing, make no eye contact and walk on, same treatment as i give to tailors and other such touts.

It's a bit dramatic to cancel your holiday over this.

Having said that samui, pattaya, phuket and areas and Bangkok have problems with katoeys, as they do with taxi mafia and annoying tailors. The local police should start to take notice of tourists complaints and clear the streets of this rubbish or risk loosing more tourists.

1st they blamed it on SARS, then Bird flu, now Tsunami, what'll be the next excuse???? Southern violence I suppose.

I really hope some people high up who can pull strings read boards such as this, because if some of these issues are not sorted out, tourism in Thailand will be but a shade of what it has been.

I'm adding closing times of bars, clubs, and daytime drinking to this list, along with piss tests.

Tourists want to feel safe, protected and enjoy themselves.

Otherwise they'll be off to singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam etc etc.

Might I add, thats fantastic detective work sriracha john, maybe you can find out who the murderer was

Disclaimer:

Again my sincere apologies if I am wrong and the story is true

looks like someone has a grudge, what a truly horrible way of gowing about trying to ruin someones business and image.

Whoever wrote this is certainly guilty of Defamation should the story be untrue, which is almost certainly looks to be.

My sincere appologies if I am wrong, although i see this as being highly unlikely.

I hate thai criminal defamation law, but wrongly accusing someone of murder, and messing with peoples emotions over very serious matters should be punished heavily.

who knows what the guy or his resort did to warrant this, but whatever it is, the poster/posters is bang out of order.

Only buy nor sor sam kor, or Chanote title land, simple as that. Anyone who bought up huge tracts of farm land hoping for them to be changed we be gutted.

I know people who have bought 50+ rai plots on the hill behind chaweng hoping they would be upgraded.

This is a great decision as it protects lots of samui's forests and hill sides, and also keeps those who bought legitamte land with a good investment, a new large supply of building land would drop the value of existing plots.

Bad luck!!!

anyone got any updates on the second airport?

Also anyone know how the current airport extension will effect the amount of flights, destinations? Is it possible to extend the runway further to get bigger planes in from Japan, china etc?

No one injured as Phuket Airways plane skids off runway in Mae Sot

TAK, Sept 11 (TNA) - An aircraft from Phuket Air skidded off a runway at Mae Sot airport in this northern province Sunday morning but no one was hurt, according to airport officials.

The accident occurred at 9 a.m. after the plane, Phuket Air flight SR 36, which departed Bangkok earlier in the morning , was landing in Mae Sot.

All 40 passengers and air crew were reported safe.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, officials said, adding that damages to the aircraft will also be assessed.

Phuket Air or Phuket Airlines is a low-cost airline which has been operational since 2001.

It expanded rapidly domestically and regionally during its first two years, then last year became the first Thai private carrier to London and Amsterdam.

Phuket Airways is owned by Senator Vikrom Aisiri. The airline currently operates three domestic routes -- between Bangkok and Buri Ram, Mae Sot and Ranong -- and one regional route between Bangkok and Rangoon. (TNA)-

No Deaths, thank god, this has been an accident waiting to happen, this airline should be banned from the skys!

Just heard it on Thai TV, reports sketchy at moment, anyone else heard anything???

Might I also add that a huge problem in Phuket and Samui is the rip off Taxi's and their bad attitudes. Chaweng and Patong could clear their traffic problems overnight if the taxi's were banned from continually driving up and down looking for customers. Most of these taxi's and songtaews are epmty, they are wasting so much fuel.

They should restrict the numbers, and make them use meters, I know many tourists who bitterly complain about the way they are treated by the taxi drivers. These are the first and last people you meet in the country, it really is important these issues are sorted, tourists are already voting with their feet.

Yes they can only use the Tsunami as an excuse for so long, I wonder how long it will be until they open their eyes and see the real reason why people arn't returning is because they are fed up with being treated like kids, and being ripped off, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam only stand to gain from the current government policies.

What a shame!

Casino's are a great way to bring in Tourists, they should ahve them in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Hua Hin etc. But I can't see them being very successful if they have to close at 1am, and can't serve alcohol at certain times.

If they want to get tourists back quickly, the first thing they should do is zone tourist areas, let them stay open till 4am, even 6am, look at singapore and Malaysia, they are going forwards, Thailand will loose many tourists in the next few years if they don't zone the tourist areas.

And testing in clubs frequented by tourists is ludicrous, this news is all around the world now, and putting off many respectable prople who would never dream of indulging in drugs.

It's not much fun if you can't have a bottle of wine with your lunchtime meal, then when you go out at night you have to pee into a bottle before being sent to bed at 1am.

The crazy thing is we all know places that stay open all night, but these are for locals mainly, not tourists.

Thailand's current account deficit may worsen this year if tourists don't return to the country's resorts in the peak season beginning in October, the Asian Development Bank said.

“Tourism is important for Thailand to reduce its current account deficit,'' Jean-Pierre Verbiest, Thailand country director for the Asian Development Bank, pictured, said in an interview in Bangkok today. “The current account will come under pressure if the tourists don't come back to Thailand as fast as expected.''

Thailand's economic growth rate slowed in the first half of this year to 3.9 percent from a year earlier after expanding 6.1 percent in 2004 as overseas visitors stayed away following last December's tsunami. Hotel and airline bookings for the country's biggest beach resort, Phuket, were down 70 percent in the year through to June.

The December 26 tsunami killed about 5,400 along the country's southwest coast, half of them foreign visitors. The losses to Thailand's tourism industry from the natural disaster may be as much as 50 billion baht ($1.2 billion), 52 percent higher than the government had expected, Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said in July.

The October to December period is Thailand's peak tourism season as European tourists seek warmer climate from their winter.

Visitor spending on the island of Phuket fell 30 percent in the seven months following the tsunami, according to a study by Visa International Asia and Pacific Asia Travel Association released in July.

Direct foreign air arrivals plunged 67 percent in the first half of 2005, and total air arrivals in Phuket were down 42 percent, according to the study by Visa International Asia and the Pacific Asia Travel Association, or PATA, a group representing state tourism boards and travel companies including airlines.

Thailand will probably have a current account surplus in the second half, from a deficit in the first, on rising exports, Atchana Waiquamdee, the central bank's assistant governor, said yesterday.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy reported a $6.4 billion current account deficit in the first seven months of this year, compared with a surplus of $3.4 billion a year earlier.

Bloomberg

anyone notice how they are trying to blame foriegners for selling passports. This is in fact a very small part of the fake passport business, tiny infact.

Yes it's almost exclusivly foriegners who buy the passports, but the fakes are made here by Thai's and sold to foriegn criminal gangs.

Dave your right, I just found out from a reliable source that there isn't any real serious sponsorship involved. That means CoCo Blues are putting up all the dosh. That's a lot of $$$, I guess they assumed sponsors would jump on board once it's all booked up, guess they thought wrong.

Anyway regardless of that, this will be amazing, and if they prove themselves this year, i'm sure sponsors will be all over them next year.

It's nice to see someone take a gamble, this could be huge for the future of Samui, so fair play to them.

I agree with using local bands, but a think a mixture of local and international talent is much better, which is what they have done, they have some fine Thai acts booked, i'm particulary looking forward to T Bone.

You do need the international names to bring people in from abroad, it doesn't matter how good someone is, it's more difficult to pull a crowd if they are unheard of.

And unfortunatley most foriegners who know nothing about the Thai music scene will trun their nose up at it, this will be a great event to showcase the best of the Thai talent, and open peoples eyes.

Thailand has never seen a popular uprising - it was always the elite who took to the streets. Who's going to demonstrate now? Students? Middle class wives from Lad Prao? If the country goes to dogs it's the elite's duty to establish order, unfortunately the power slipping out of hands people like Dr. Sumeth and Thai Rak Thai won't go down without a fight - they have general masses on their side.

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I disagree, it doesn't have to be the elite, if they loose the support of the grass roots people, they will quickly tumble, they can only take so many false promises. There's so many promises that arn't being kept, the cows became semen, the saplings were seeds, and the 30 baht health care, well............

They can keep coming up with populist ideas and policys, but if they don't fulfil the promises, people will start to see the truth. The only way they can keep up with these policys in this economic climate is with spending huge amounts of money which they don't have, basically bankrupting Thailand.

Seems like Samui is becoming the 'Hub' of all things musical in Thailand. 

I very much doubt it There are'nt any really hot acts there.

BKK is still the place (although theres 2 hot bands in pattaya apparently)

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No hot acts???

UB40, Ike Turner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jools Holland, The Wailers, any of those ring a bell?

This event is bigger than any musical event ever staged in Thailand. Much bigger in terms of the Artists when you compare it to any Pattaya or Bangkok music Festival. And when compared to Hua Hin, well................................

I commend them for their efforts,but they say the expect 100,000 people over that period.How are they going to manage the traffic in Chaweng of all places?

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I would hardly say 10's of thousands attended last years event, maybe a few thousand, 100,000 is a very high target, 20-30 thousand would still be a massive achievement.

It's great for Samui, and we should congratulate all those involved in promoting Samui as an Island for music lovers. Mint Bar in Chaweng is also doing a fine job bringing in international talent, although quite different musically, they do have some fine acts for those into more dance orientated styles of music. Seems like Samui is becoming the 'Hub' of all things musical in Thailand.

I notice that TAT is heavily involved in this, I wonder why they can't put their hands in their pockets and sort out something similar for Phuket. Samui is booming, maybe Phuket should get similar support?

One venue is definatley COCO Blues in Chaweng, the larger venue i'm pretty sure is by the lake, although i'm not exactly sure where abouts. It's definatley outside though.