sergun

You can get in Sweden bar, soi Rasta bar, Chaweng beach road.

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Thank you!

My favorite.

Actually every fifth pizza in Sweden is a kebabpizza.

Now I'm definitely gonna try it then!

You can get kebab pizza with Béarnaise sauce in some Swedish restaurants.

You gotta love those open-minded Swedes! They are clearly on to something here ;-)

Have you tried it?

Im so insulted now! What's next? Saying that all Italians do is eat pizza, and all Russians do is eat borsch and pelmeni? Im going to eat some kebab now to calm myself down...

Is it coincidence that the same thing happened at around the same time - end of high-season - on Samui, Pangan, and Phuket? In Phuket (about 3-4 weeks ago - covered here in Phuket section) both officials and folks seem to all agree that it is sewage.

Me thinks it could be:

1) Septic tanks of hotels were not discharged during the high season so tourists could enjoy clean water. By the end of high season tanks were full and were all discharged at once, making it visible (what usually is invisible due to low volume of sewage discharged).

2) Or algae grew due to higher temperatures and possibly feeding on sewage

3) Or combination of both

Oil discharge by boat is plausible, but sems unlikely since it happened at around the sme time on 3 islands.

Btw, Spidermike, thanks for info!

A video of the likely culprit has appeared on facebook:

The only saving grace is that he was never more than 1km from a hospital:)

Its amusing that people on sidewalks didnt pay attention to him - I guess they already got used to circus on Samui roads!

There are studies released from time to time, and the authorities make every effort to bury them.

Spidermike, could you please share links to those studies?

They are often done by international bodies, as the Thai govt. refuses to be transparent with its citizens. They are often buried immediately. As you know censorship in the media here is rampant, so this kind of press rarely makes it into print. I will look and see if I can find some of these studies I have seen in the past. Probably not hard to find on the internet.

I looked on inernet, but didnt find much - maybe i didnt look hard enough.

I came across PCD (Thai organization) study from 2010, naming the best beaches in Thailand according to lack of their pollution, but it didnt go into much details.

Anyway, if you stumble on a study on water quality at popular thai beaches, please share! Thanks!

Serg

I am sure the authorities appreciate you being such an apologist for them. They need that. They need you to continue boosting their lack of efforts. I spend a lot of time on Samui, and everyone I know that lives there complains about the water quality. it is horrific. Everyone I know is aware of the dumping of human waste into the sea. Why has this info passed you by? There are studies released from time to time, and the authorities make every effort to bury them. The results are always a danger to humans. I know dozens of people who have come down with skin infections after swimming

in these waters. Plain and simple. Please seek out the truth.

Spidermike, could you please share links to those studies?

Tropicalevo, thanks for the links - a good place to start

From what I hear from you and Marstons, more work needs to be done in protecting turtles in the wild than raising them.

I wonder if any of these solutions wud work:

1) Tag some turtles with microchips, so it wud be easier to catch those who catch turtles

2) Make all turtles a Government property, and whoever gets cought with turtles would have to pay lets say 10x market price - thus motivating local police/government to catch perpetrators and raise money for the local Gov or/and some bribes for themselves.

A while ago, I used to work on a fishing boat in the US. Once we cought more fish than our license allowed, and somehow local marine police cought us, my boss got fined so much that it stopped him from ever doing it again. I'm sure this prevention tactic works, the only problem is to make local police to cooperate

Thanks for input Tropicalevo!

Can you (or anyone else familiar with doing things in Samui), tell me if license would be required and its cost - to run a non-profit turtle farm (all turtles would be released in the sea). I have looked on internet, looks like it is not that difficult to operate such farm. The only pain in neck would probably be local bureucrats.

I think I'll give it a try sometime in the future, sounds like a good hobby to me

Wouldn't bringing turtles back solve box-jellyfish problem? Also it would probably be good for tourism, I imagine, making swiming safer and more scenic, so to speak.

Is there organization that can put pressure on local government to stop fishermen from catching turtles? It seems to me that benefits outweigh losses - on one hand fishermen would lose few tens of thousand bahts from turtle trade, on the other hand - local economy will win much more from tourism.

Now, it got me wondering if I could set up a non-profit sea turtle farm. It could become tourist attraction in itself (I've seen smth similar in the Caribbean), at the same time helping box-jellyfish problem and making swimming more aesthetically pleasing.

Any ideas, anyone?

Thank you all for replies! I can't wait to go to Samui...

Wow! Many thanks to all of you for the answers!

Let me ask you few more questions:

From what month low tide starts, and when it ends?

Does it affect West side the same way as East side?

During months of low tide, does water level goes from low in the morning to higher into the evening, or stays low all day?

If I need to walk few hundred feet into the water to be able to swim, does sea floor gets steep at some point, or it keeps declining gradually?

Thanks again, and Merry Christmas to you all!

Hi, I'll be travelling soon to Koh Samui, and I need advice from people who know around here.

I'm trying to figure out what is the best beach for swimming (tranquil, clear waters and no wind).

So far, my 3 top contenders are Maenam, Bang Rak, Lamai. However, I read mixed reviews on internet about them, - some people say Maenam has calm waters, some say its very windy. Same about Lamai. Can Samui travel veterans clear this question for me? Which of these beaches has the calmest waters with the least wind?

I'll be in Samui from April til June.

All answers are greatly appreciated!!!

Sergio