Mole

In the Thai news report, it said the driver broke his neck when he got thrown out of the car. Not sure which one is correct, but judging from the pics, I'm gonna believe the Thai news.

The accident happened on a flat road. It looks like he lost control of his car, and it crashed into the side of the road making his car turn over.

The hill you see in the pics is just a driveway up to a house, not the main road. I suggest you go and look at the location yourself and you'll know how it looks like.

thailandforumaddict, I beg your pardon???

I am actually a NATIVE THAI!!

And I'm speaking from personal experience. I live in Samui and quite happily so, and I know this island pretty darn well from a native Thai perspective. I've also visited Phuket and eaten and stayed in places where we Thais are and outside of the tourist trails.

Samui is hands down more expensive than Phuket.

OP's has budget constrains, so Samui is not an ideal place to be if money is tight.

The news report said the driver was thrown out of his car and broke his neck. If this was the case, he most likely wasn't wearing his seat belts.

There were 2 Germans and 2 Thais as passengers.

The driver of song thiaw was trying to overtake a car, but there was a truck coming on the opposite direction, so he suddenly had to turn his car to the left to avoid the truck, but lost control of his song thiaw and it crashed into the side of the road.

Phuket is cheaper. Especially if you go outside the tourist areas where Thai people live. In Patong or other tourist trap areas, of course price will be expensive.

Samui is pretty much high price all over the island.

I saw it too, only the driver died.

But judging by the pics, there were lots of people behind and seriously injured.

Samui is definitely more expensive than Phuket. We're not just talking about food, but also accommodation as well as things you need on daily basis will cost more on Samui than most parts of Thailand.

If budget is a concern for you, I don't recommend you to come to Samui, nor Phuket for that matter.

Go to Chiang Mai or any upcountry town. There should still be places for you to study Thai and cost of living is much cheaper.

If you like swimming, you can consider for example Krabi, Cha Am or Songkla. Bang Saen near Pattaya is also an alternative.

I would have stopped digging if that hole wasn't 5 year old....

Give me some current statistics and I'll certainly stop digging. But 5 year old road traffic statistics aren't gonna convince me, especially from what one can clearly see in REAL LIFE how bad the traffic is in cities like Saigon and Hanoi.

I'm fine with those data from 2010. But this is 2015 and car ownership and especially motorbike ownership has gone dramatically up in Vietnam, so there are hell a lot more people on the road today than in 2010. I'm curious how the numbers are now today.

One can for example see clearly that in cities such as Saigon, there's a hell lot motorbikes on the streets than in Bangkok and they're certainly driving crazier than even in Bangkok.

Those murricans would probably have as good vacation here in Thailand as in Vietnam and I'm sure the risks of accident aren't that much different.

I had some friends from the States who contacted me about coming here for their vacation, and they mentioned the Samui jungle treks like this one. I sent them some articles, and told them they were crazy to even think about it. Told them to go online and do some research about safety in Thailand. A month or so later they emailed me and said they had a wonderful time in Vietnam.

Yes, Vietnam roads and traffic is of course a lot safer than Thailand...

murricans....

eric67 is right, your uncle got a tattoo which says "แล้วแต่โชคชะตา".

It doesn't quite mean "Follow your destiny", but more like "up to (your) destiny".

It is grammatically correct and is probably the closest way to translate "Follow your destiny" into Thai.

The meaning is slightly different though, because the English "follow your destiny" may mean as in pursuing a dream, but in Thai "แล้วแต่โชคชะตา" means more like you can only "follow" your destiny and won't be able to determine anything. Like it's already predestined.

Lompraya always use their own vans and buses driving directly to destination.

There's also Krabi-KL.

http://www.lomprayah.com/ww/E/route.htm

According to Lomprayah timetable, you can take the first 07:15 catamaran, then be in Krabi downtown 12:30, plenty of time to get on the late 17:10 AK861 flight.

Also Phuket-KL

With the first 07:15 catamaran, you'll be in Phuket downtown 15:00, plenty of time to catch the 21:40 AK823 flight. If you're lucky and the bus drives fast and you arrive earlier than scheduled, there may even be time to catch the 17:10 AK827 flight.

August is high season month, so bikes are in high demand, so prices tends to go up.

These are the standard prices on most parts of the island. Chaweng may be cheapest due to the huge competition, while remote parts of the island tends to be more expensive.

I recommend you take a trip to Chaweng and look around for a good bargain.

Small automatic bike such as Click new bikes.

low season/high season

Daily: 150/200

Weekly: 900/1200

Monthly: 2500/3000

For older Click or Yamaha low CC, monthly price can be as low as 2000-2500.

But some shops will try to get away with as much as they can.

PCX:

Daily: 250/300

Weekly: 1500/1800

Monthly: 4500/5000

I only know shops in Lamai which won't take the passport, but deposit are fine and copy of passport. Not so familiar with Bang Rak scene.

No, what he means is หมอเส้น [moo sen].

It's short form of หมอจับเส้น

It's a type of Thai traditional massage where one will massage certain nerve points and blood veins. This word just means that the masseuse is proficient in this type of massage.

Personally I would also stay away from masseuses without formal training from for example reputable institutions such as Wat Pho.

Some of them can be quite a quack and can potentially in the long run ruin things up on your body.

My bad, 31 July.

If you're gonna ask your gf, then it would actually be more appropriate to use แต่งงาน than the more formal สมรส.

แต่งงานกับผมไหมครับ would be the best thing to use.

My drinking buddy

He probably meant the ferry pier at Donsak and not the Suratthani pier. In any case, there are no car rentals in neither.

The kayak link he posted later obviously shows Donsak.

Think OP's main concern of renting in Donsak is to save money on ferry cost as well as not needing to rent a car a day in advanced to catch the first ferry in the early morning.

Of course, he didn't realize there are no car rental around Donsak area at all.

Only private car rental won't allow their car to be taken off the island. That's why I told in my previous post to rent from Herz, Budget, etc, which will allow you to drive their car anywhere in Thailand.

In order to save the hassle of extra paperwork, one should just park the car near the border check point and get over the border without the car.

You're not gonna be able to live on for 4 persons for only 2000. Unless you cook yourself, if you eat out, you'll spend at least 500 per day only on food. And this is eating cheaply at roadside shacks.

Your daughters aren't really that "young" anymore and most hotels will charge adult prices for them. You're really not going to find a 2 bedroom place for less than 2000 per day, especially now in August high season month. Only if you rent for 1 month or more, you may be able to get price to be lower than 2000 per day.

Samui, Phangan and Tao are probably one of the most expensive islands in Thailand. Prices for food and accommodation will increase substantially in that order. So by hopping around the islands, you'll only increase your budget. Because if you for example stay only on Samui, you may be able to get special weekly price on accommodation. But most properties aren't gonna really give you that much discount because of high season, and many places already has high occupancy rates and they must try to get as much as they can in the rent in order to cover for the low season months.

If you're on a budget, I recommend you go to Phuket or Krabi instead.

It appears that the candle festival at Bo Phut temple will feature the usual trinkets for sale, street food and live performance. Although not as grand as the annual temple fair, it should still be worth visiting for those who are into these kind of thing.

I think it starts now and last day is 31 August.

You wanted to buy a used iPhone, so I suggested you ask around on any of the phone shops selling used phones, which there are several all over the island.

So, exactly what kind of answer did you really want????????????

Even in such scenario, one wouldn't have just said "เครื่องมา" but "เครื่องมาแล้ว".

Did you try asking around on any of the phone shops all over the island?

First ferry is at 5 in the morning.

http://www.seatranferry.com/en/services/timetable.php

You can rent a car from for example Budget, Herz or Sixt and drive onto the ferry and drive to the border.

I have never seen any car rental near the pier in Donsak.

I am baffled that you haven't bothered to gather any information about these things well in advanced. Even a simple google for ferry time table, you haven't been able to perform yourself.

Once you are at the border in Padang Bersar, just park the car somewhere near the border checkpoint, then get across the border to get your stamp, and maybe have a meal or something on Malaysian side, then just come back. It's about 1 km walk from the Thai side of checkpoint to the Malaysian side, but there are motorbike taxis which can take you across, and back again for a 100 or so bath.