Samui Coconut

sometimes i wonder if it would be cheaper to weigh ina private doctor on a monthly wage than go into these places.i am sure a doctor would rarther have money in his pocket than money with the compnay business for a bedroom that he gets nothing out of neither does the patient appart from hotel service but that is problamby just to calme one down about the big bill they have had. maybe booking the room is for observation in case one drops down with a hart attack due to extorition prices.

I am hearing good reports re the new clinic opposite Makro

Would you go there with a ruptured appendix?

I was actually responding to Big C's post re a private doctor. However, to answer your (cynical?) question.

No I would not. And I would not go to BHS either. God knows how much cash I would have to front up before they treated me, and the most that I can withdraw in one day is 60,000 baht. Yes - I also have insurance. Having insurance did not help my neighbour. Only cash spoke.

AND I have been told that it will be at least a month before I get my 28,000 baht back. This is in spite of the insurance company having now paid ALL bills more than one week ago.

This thread was not started to comment on treatment - but to rather point out the totally mercenary attitude to patients. Even with insurance - no money - no honey. And a long wait to get your money back.

No cash and a ruptured appendix? Put up with the pain until someone bails you out at BHS. Of the two - I would go with the clinic. At leat I would get a painkiller or two.

Okay, point taken of clinic. (no painkiller works on a ruptured apendix though) Anyway, everyone only talks about money here, if you have the right insurance (i.e. Bupa) then yes you will be treated, yes the inurance company will pay for all what is included in the plan you bought and yes the company pays first (no need for you to pay and then claim back).

If you dont have the money to buy a suitable inurance then dont complain about the hospital, we all hav echoices. Just because I cant afford a Ferrari makes Ferrari a bad car.....

Six months past since this topic started,

four months ago it was said it will be finished in 6 to 8 months,

two monts ago, they went for lunch.

Anyone any news? Have they finished lunch yet?

What do those reliable sources and tarrot cards say?

Will let you know when its finished!

They charge the same way as their airline.

And you know why: Because they can !

sometimes i wonder if it would be cheaper to weigh ina private doctor on a monthly wage than go into these places.i am sure a doctor would rarther have money in his pocket than money with the compnay business for a bedroom that he gets nothing out of neither does the patient appart from hotel service but that is problamby just to calme one down about the big bill they have had. maybe booking the room is for observation in case one drops down with a hart attack due to extorition prices.

I am hearing good reports re the new clinic opposite Makro

Would you go there with a ruptured appendix?

Not Samui related but, I took my son to a private hospital when he was 2 because he was swelling up very bad. I suspected he just needed an anti-histamine, but wanted to be sure because it was bad. The first question the nurse asked was do we want to book a room for the night. No, I want you to tell me what is wrong with my son. The nurse then proceeded to scare monger without doing anything until I screamed at the nurse to do something now!

End result was we booked in for the night and all he needed was an anti-histamine. They gave him an injection ('Sir you must leave while we give the injection.' ' Not happening, just give him the injection') and afterwards the care for him was first class.

I know hospitals are a business, but some of them here are just evil, scare mongering vultures.

Sounds like a perfect description of Bangkok Samui Hosital. Heartless, immoral vultures.

sometimes i wonder if it would be cheaper to weigh ina private doctor on a monthly wage than go into these places.i am sure a doctor would rarther have money in his pocket than money with the compnay business for a bedroom that he gets nothing out of neither does the patient appart from hotel service but that is problamby just to calme one down about the big bill they have had. maybe booking the room is for observation in case one drops down with a hart attack due to extorition prices.

May be I am the only one who never had a bad experience there, neither with myself, my family or my guests. As long as you have insurance I don't see any reason to complain.

Thai Inter would be my next choice and before I go to Samui Inter, Nathon or god forbid Bandon, I rather fly to BKK.

Sure its a business, sure prices are steep but compared to a private hospital in Europe, they charge peanuts here......

It was more than 1 hour sure....but not much/enough to fill the reservoirs.

Weather radars says rain within an hour, looks like it will last a bit longer than yesterday

Well, Chaweng has a nice downpour as we 'speak'......

We did not even get the downpour up here on the NE. Just loads of wind.

From memory - we have only had about an hour's rain in the last six months.

It was more than 1 hour sure....but not much/enough to fill the reservoirs.

A perfectly sensible decision made by a business. I see nothing wrong or sinister with their choice. Not every venue need be 'kid friendly'.

Totally agree, nothing wrong, if you see how some kids behave (usually the parents fault) and staff if unable to intervene, why not ban the little rascals all together.

Oh come on, is this a joke or what? 5% discount on Thai's over 60 or disabled ? So the Baht 8,000 flight costs only 7,600 ?

Why not give at least 10% for all 80 year olds and above (Thai and farrang) which are accompanied by their parents..........

Have you tried water divining to see if you have water on your property? (Seriously - it works.)

lol

Don't laugh, I've had 2 wells dug & this is how they did it.

It does work indeed and I did not really believe it until I tried it out myself.

Can anyone recommend a good laundry service to clean bed sheets and towels and iron them every 3 days?in chaweng area.thanks in advance.

Best of starting your own laudeu business for yourself

There is someone that I know used to do for hotels only and deliver and drop I shall check for you

Try Linen Care, many hotels use also.

Whatever it's going to be I really hope that it's not 37 Rai of shophouses which will stand empty.

Slightly off post but I am totally bewildered as to why developers keep building more and more shophouses which are then unoccupied.

Is there some sort of a tax break if you are a Thai owner? It doesn't seem to make any sense to continue building more when

50% (a guess) are gathering dust.

My Thai friend rents a shophouse which is adjoined by a row of empty ones. The landlord has just put up the rentalprice

because she is not making enough money. So my friend is moving on which now leaves the whole block empty.

Where is the logic??

I guess banks give easily money to people with land as credentials....so people build something in the hope to cover loans and interest with the rental money.....

It looks likeagrave yard of conreteposts i hope it does n ot get abondond thisquick

It looks disgusting indeed, hope they fence it off soon....reminds me of Berlin 1945....

I also can confirm that the land was leased out from central, from what I know its a 30 year lease, construction to possibly start early next year and finish in 1 - 2 years, from what I understand a small mall 2 - 3 stories high would be built, in terms of the the amount of land leased size is 20 - 30 rai of land. just incase for those of you who don't know the land leased in chaweng is the land that is on the right hand side of the road opposite entrance to tops and stretches to in front of chaweng buri entrance.

Are you sure' 20-30 Rai ' .. that is a big plot !

Yeap correct, total land area by present owner is 37 rai.

Tourism arrivals in Samui were down 20% last year, which was down 20% from the year before. At the same time, Phuket's tourism numbers have been growing by a similar number each year. So yes, tourism does suffer here.

Can you back these figures up ?

'the vultures that keep on opening businesses here knowing full well the limitations , then crying bloody murder.'

Who are the vultures ? .. seems a bit harsh ..everyone wants to make a living .. It is up to the locals how Samui develops and I would think they would welcome more jobs and money coming into the economy ....I think they are making efforts to guide the Island in the right direction .. but local politics , management is not easy ....mistakes will be made but there seem to be some positive signs .

What other tourist Islands in the world compare with Samui ? and how have they developed .. and solved problems

Not harsh at all. Not targeting locals either, but we are all human beings & some of the locals are to blame as much as all the new businesses trying to get a slice.

You can also cast you mind back, I can't recall exact date, but BKK air were putting up their fares from memory by 200 odd Baht, They had a demonstration & they were going to blockade the airport.

BKK air backed down , but they made it very clear that they will put up the price 7 months later, November 2005 or 2006 which they did & many times after with no objection from the local businesses..

Again no one is answering the question. Why open a new business, say a large hotel knowing very well , the cost of flights ( that could be irrelevant if packaged ). Also the number of flights & passenger capacity.

Wouldn't you first start complaining to the local planning authorities? Infrastructure can't cope, hardly any adequate power supply, the list goes on & the problem compounds.

As one might have noticed, the airport is presently being extended (the crashed plane is now parked at the Chaweng end of the runway on the new "(plane) parking lot"), may be the extension takes place to allow other airlines to use the airport, otherwise what would be the reason to extend, as present facilities are sufficient in serving whatever comes in?

Tried Avis already....have at Surat Airport, about 24,000 incl. insurance...

Just had a parcel delivered from the U S A, had to go to Nathon Customs office to collect it.

this is a brief description of our conversation.

C "you have to pay 3.500 baht"

"WHY"

C "customs tax"

"BUT WHY"

C "you import"

"NO I DID'NT"

C "YES"

"NO THE NOTE ON THE BOX SAYS RETURNED AND REPAIRED ITEN, NO CHARGE"

C "what in box"

"SECOND HAND ELECTRICAL COMPONENT, I SEND FOR REPAIR AND NOW COME BACK"

at this point I opened the box to show that the item was second hand, and produced the note saying it was a returned repair.

they all glared at each other and simultaneously went aWWWW.

C "ok mister you only pay nit noi tax"

"HOW MUCH ?"

"C 708 baht"

" BUT AGAIN WHY I HAVE TO PAY"

"because BKK issue invoice, I can only make your pay smaller"

"HERE IS 708 baht HAVE A NICE DAY"

I guess they all said: "AWWWWWW" as they had already calculated what the would have done with the 2,800 Baht under the table tea money.......

The rubbish bin scenario is a difficult one. There are enough bins to cover the people that actually pay for garbage collection. Unfortunately - a heck of a lot of people do not pay.

If more people paid - there would be more bins.

Or people could do what I did. I dispose of a lot of garbage, so I bought extra bins.

- rant over.

I agree 100% about the sewage though

Its a depressing thought. Just how populated must this island get before something is done. And at the end of the day Samui must bring in fortunes in revenue whilst gradually allowing the islans and surrounding waters to be ruined.

I just feel that bike riding on Samui seems to have become the locals favourite pastime, which is great, but they can do this anytime without causing disruption to the already busy roads. the focus should be kept on more pressing issues

Totally agree, there so many other issues which need urgent attention. It is virtually impossible to have a car free WEEK......start with a Sunday and see what effect this might have. Can't see myself riding from Choeng Mon to Tesco on a bike to go shopping.....

Santiburi is excellent, it may be a bit more than 200USD, however, this resort has really changed from the usual 5 star clientele to families. They have a kids club, activieties, even a real zoo, beach and pool games, all complimentary. MAy be check it out before hand and ask for a nice rate, October is low season and you can bargain.

There is dengue everywhere in Thailand.

and the highest risk comes from areas near stagnant water of any kind..puddles, uncovered water jars etc

it is spread by a daytime mosquito so prevention depends on avoiding bites during the day.

Correct, thats why I said avoid the jungle as tourists visit the jungle during day time (not at night I would guess)

Surely there is, there was a similar thread a few weeks ago.......waterfalls and jungle trips are better to be avoided.....

Not avoided necessarily. People should be told to use mosquito repellent. No different to lying on the beach...wear suncream

Repellent protects only to certain extend, jungles are more dangerous when it comes to dengue, Phangan produces a nice number of dengue patients, just ask the clinic of Bangkok Hospital on Phangan....its a weekly occurence there.....

I am aware you asked on Samui, if you have the chance in BKK there is a Chinese Hospital (funny name, cant remember) which is excellent, cost about 400-500 Baht for 20 needles (takes 30 minutes)

Surely there is, there was a similar thread a few weeks ago.......waterfalls and jungle trips are better to be avoided.....

I still say Samui or go to Surit thani.

Samui nicer than Surat Thani .... if memory serves there is a shop at the Big C centre... cannot think of one at Tesco locations... (Chawang / Lamai)

For sport shoes try the shops at Iyara Resort, beginning of Chaweng. Genuine stuff from Nike, Adidas etc.....excellent quality but therefore not cheap.