mattias33

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Also not enforced.

Let´s hope she not start enforcing that rule to hard. That would mean 90% of the posters in samui-forum are out, including myself!

I know Samui is far from perfect but I hope it never ends up like Pattaya.

High rise blocks, odd strip of sand that they call a beach, regular deliveries of drunk Navy boys.

Pattaya has had a few decades longer to develop a tourist industry than Samui and personally I don't like what they've done with the place.

Quote from the OP's list

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.got some great beaches but sad lack of up keep

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.From 6star to back packer accom . What more could you want ?

Value for money: poor.Depends on your point of view and the strength of your home currency (even with the double pricing system)

roads and public transport: very poor.Can't argue with that one

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.We got water falls,mountains & beaches coming out of our ears !

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.Land travel tends to be that way

Entertainment: reasonable.clubs ,pubs and girls/boys of negotiable affection we have , not much when you compare to phukets Fantasia,The stunt show,ect ect

totaly agree with you ...

what he op was trying to say is that Samui is a reat for tourists but he cant afford it anymore... loosing the natural rural charm is in other words a wish for us to stay coconut pickers with low end hotels which will serve those "value for money" (cheap) buggers.

development of this island has gone out of control but its still cheaper then any other tourist destination in the west and its nicer then pattaya and bangkok..

tourist from any other country are not intimidated by paying 70 baht for fried rice. or 80 baht for a hair cut... hahahah

I agree with the overdevelopment statement. But i have to ask you hd, why do you always compare prices in the west? People go halfway around the world, and pay expensive tickets, partly because its cheap in Thailand. Comparing prices to the west is irrelevant. If a family of 4 choose chiang mai or chumporn for a holiday destination, instead of Samui, they save a shitload of money. THATS the comparison. The prices in the west has nothing to do with it at all.

Ohh, and yeah. "planespotters" should come to samui. One of the few places you get so close to a starting yet. Watched one take off today aswell. Standing right next to the river and it felt like i could almost tuch the plane! Massive.

totlay agree and it was debated in the previous meeting as well..

was not in the meeting to day.

What was debated it what meeting? .

mattias,

There was a meeting today, no idea if hd was there.

As has been pointed out already, since the 9 years that I've been here, throughout November up till mid/shortly before Xmess in December, Samui is very quiet!

The few times I've been out and about in Chaweng last week, the amount of people on the road, in restaurants and in Soi Green Mango wasn't that bad, considering the time of year.

It looks like the Xmess/NYE period will be packed to the rafters but if those are all people that will/can spend a lot of money is to be seen.

The real test will be after February, a month like April, that usually is very busy on Samui.

Yeah.

But even november looked way more empty on the streets nd beaches than i remember the last 2-3 years. I speak to some hotelmanagers that say its been catastrofal the last part of this year. Worse than before.

You´re right about we have to wait and see. Fact still remains that it is aufully quiet though. But after 8 pages i might just give in to you guys. We all have our own oppinions.

mattias

By no means do I consider myself intellectually superior to you. (well actually following your debate here i do )

Just because I am trying to teach you something that is usually innate and comes easy to those who are clever and intelligent, or at least quick-witted, does not mean that I presume to think myself your superior, and expect that you genuflect before me.

in most of the threads on this forum you have presented no knowledge or experience. yet you seem to be persistent in your flaming posts trying to discredit me.

As other posters have mentioned most of your questions have been answered but you dont seem to get it....

so once again:

a person with your iq should have a low voice too.

.

You didnt go to a meeting with tourist assosiation where they claim that tourists numbers are gonna be high for this season did you?

It´s of interesst that you dont pull lies like this in the future. I think it´s unfair. I been slandering tourism attorisation for doing nothing and thinking everything is good. Because you said so. And in the end the whole "big investor in tourism and meetings with hoteliers and tourism attorities", was just you trying to put yourself higher than the rest of us.

You didnt go to a meeting with them.

Right?

For kidney problems i was told a year ago in samui inter that they need BOTH urin test AND ct-scan to be sure. Actually if the urintest shows blood in the urin they can be sure already, but the ct-scan can show nothing and still there is a problem. I found this out since i as usuall couldnt "piss on order" and it was a must to do urin test since ct-scan showed nothing.

My oppinions about Bkk-hospital i leave out for this time. Lets just say i as usuall dont agree with highdiver and as usuall i think he is speaking with very limited experience. .

so i am to blame because you cant piss..

you have no idea about medicine as well or you know whats going to happen next...

the next stage is your prostate gland test... i will be willing to pay to see this ... you bending over and the doctor probing you up your A...s

please on the contrary to your other posts do share with us this experience...

This was a year ago and i was able to back for the urin test (no kidney stones, just infection in the stomach solved with medication in 3 days.).

Thanks for your concern but my prostate is fine. I done 20 of tose "tumb in the ass"-tests when i took green cards for nuclear. Not very pleasent, but not really much of a deal. Done in 2 minuites.

I´m not a doctor, never claimd so. "no idea of medecine"?? What does that mean? Im just posting what happened to me. Did the doctors lie?

I mst say i never heard of a guy before that is an expert on exactly every subject that comes up. And everybody else dont know what they talk about. You must be quite annoying for people around you. What an attitude you got Hd!

Hmm. Interessting. How is internetconnestions on Tao? Is that one reason why they are not on this forum? Or are they just shy? .

Hey Mattias

As you seem to be the only person remotely interested as to why the Tao tribe cannot be bothered to give away their secrets, why not carry out a research trip

and report back? Who knows what you will unearth!

If i am the only one interessted, what would be the point of reporting back?

Now, i been touristing there. I´m asking about how the expat life is. Thats not something you can get by visiting the place for a few days. I been to Koh pagnan, and didnt particular like it, drove around for a few days and didnt really see something special about the place. I might go back for a 2 day trip sometime but thats it. Not in a while though. Still, the people that live there have different views of the place than you get if you visit it short-term. I was kind of wondering what the general TAO-expat likes about Tao. Comments like "go look yourself" is pretty lame imo.

Hmm. Interessting. How is internetconnestions on Tao? Is that one reason why they are not on this forum? Or are they just shy? .

When the beaches and hotels are empty, aswell as chaweng beachroad and soi reaggae at night, it dosent really matter what kind of googling you guys make. Nor do links or long posts.

We're thrilled to have YOU around to have a look for us; that saves us time and money.

LaoPo

Hey, i didnt mean to step on you here, but as i understand your posts you say yourself that we wont get an answer how tourism is doing now, until febuari on that link. But a walk in chaweng gives somekind of answer already today. Offcourse we all see what we see and hear what we hear. Depending on what people we meet and what their oppinions are. I think its gonna be hard for anyone to prove this season is good. And season meaning the peak/high season that hotels put in their pricelists. The one they are suppose to make money on. Now til march pretty much, give or take some days. Just oppinion, as usual. Not facts.

I miss good old Sloaney. He did all beers 50 baht before 7 in the evening.

Offcourse that concept didnt fully work since he ran out of money and skipped town, but still. .

When the beaches and hotels are empty, aswell as chaweng beachroad and soi reaggae at night, it dosent really matter what kind of googling you guys make. Nor do links or long posts.

never ceases to amaze me how a simple topic question can degenerate into defenses of where one lives,..............a simple answer to the question would be to tell us all what it is like.There, end of story but everyone happy!

Samuibeachcomber you have lost me with this one. Just exactly who is " defending where they live " as NONE of the posters appear to live there ? I spent some time there but think its the biggets rip off island in Thailand so that leaves me out of your generization.

The guy thinks it takes 4 hours to get there from both Samui and Chumphon yet is supposed to stay in Samui ??? Unless you have lived on a small island its hard to describe the small island lifestyle. Most people know each other, especially those that work and live there. Its mainly a diving island so go into any bar and around half the custmers will be diviers of some description. There is a small party scene there and it has your typical beach bar lifestyle you expect here.

I personally dont like the small island lifestyle. I like being able to jump on my bike and ride not be limited by having to take a ferry. Other people love it. I would suggest you go for a few days and see for yourself. Its really the only way.

Just chill a little in your tone please. I done the lomprayha ceveral times. It´s 4 hours from choumporn to samui. If tao is after 2,5 or 3 might not really matter, i dont wear a watch. I´ve spent 2 days on tao touristing and seen the island. Quite nice place. Now, i didnt mean to upset people with this thread. I just simply wanted to know whats nice about being an expat on Tao. Apperently i was way out with that question. All the replies so far is about minuite counting of the ferry systems, while my point ws more that it is for sure a bigger hassle to get to tao than samui, and what makes it worth it. What does tao have that makes the expats rather live there than on samui.

Could never see such agression coming in this thread. .

Whats even worse is that nobody from Tao really participated so far.

i am sure that this year will finish with higher tourist arrivals then 2007. year on year. and i am quite sure that the economic turmoil around the world will be felt in 2009. i am also sure that those involved in this sector ... (on the contrary to those who have nothing to do with it.).. will try and do anything they can to promote samui because they are invested in it and would not like to loose.

The bold part is my whole point. Thats what i would expect, but still i see nothing being done to bring tourists here. The taxi situation nobody care to solve, hotel pricing, airfares. Infact YOU claim you are deeply involved in this buisness and when i read your posts you seem quite happy with everything as it is. "tourist numbers are going up". Thats what scares me. If everybody in this buisness lokk at samui tourism with as rose coulored glasses as you do, no wonder hotels are closing and staff being fired everyday around here now.

Wake up and smell the reality.

the last 9 years have allways been quiet at the beginning of December.

while some hotels still right this as high season most of them will give agentsa low season fair for up to December 20th.

while some of our newer members seem to think this is a new phenomena it is not. it has been going on for years.

i am sure that this year will finish with higher tourist arrivals then 2007. year on year. and i am quite sure that the economic turmoil around the world will be felt in 2009. i am also sure that those involved in this sector ... (on the contrary to those who have nothing to do with it.).. will try and do anything they can to promote samui because they are invested in it and would not like to loose.

the lower fuel cost now will reduce airfares and at the end of the day a holiday in Thailand at large and samui in particular is still a fraction of any other European destination.

its is a regular thing that this debate about Samui status has taken place every low season..mid November to mid December and in the month of mid may till July.. off course every time there are those that see dooms day and there are those who know that there is a cycle here that repeat itself.

an over supply of hotels and rooms is going to make each hotel have less occupancy and this was debated as well. last year and this year again.

last year we had the same debate and the year before that as well. with the eception of a certain Scandinavian dooms day visitor who has no idea or knowledge about anything including and not limited to tourists, electric lights consumption, engineering, airline pricing etc..intact apart from ignorant inflammatory remarks his contribution to this discussion as well as other debates is limited to flaming.

if you dont like Samui and everything here is bad rotten and foul then please do something to make it better.. instead of wining all day..

for some o f us this place is home. with all its problems and fauts its still home if you dont like it go back to where you came from and please don't come back..

Your habbit of making long posts and avoiding answers dont stop. Did you or did you not go to a meeting with hoteliers and samui tourism assosiation where they claimed tourist numbers for this year is up compared to last year?

Btw, you are the one that constanty need to put flaming in your posts. I am way beyond that behavior. I am an adult and enjoy discussions. No need to be so agressive. Just answer the simple question.

You lied your heart out didnt you? You infact show very limited knowledge as usual. Samui is empty. From tourists. And i love it. This is my home aswell and i´m not dumb enough to be depending in any tourist related buisness. The ones who are is easily spotted in this thread.

Hd:

.

as always the season of November till before Christmas is low and has been for the past 9 years.

Could you, while you´re at it, please provide a link to any resort/hotel on koh samui that has december listed as "low season".

You are just posting bogus and im on to you.

REgarding BKK Airways cost i don't think getting free ticket to Samui from BKK will make any difference after having payed the ticket from europe (some airlines still charge 300E only for fuel surcharge...)

Last June I flew r/t Samui-BKK-Helsinki. Samui-BKK cost about one third of BKK-Helsinki. Make of that what you will.

First word that pops up in my head is "robbery".

Couldnt have said it better myself thaireless. This is really how simple it is. Chaweng is dead as a ghost town at night and the beach is almost empty. Have a chat with the ice-cream man and ask him how buisness is. Everything else is just bs. Still, my remark is mostly that hd claims the tourist assosiation say tourist numbers are up. If that infact is true it is a shame. But then again, we are all familiar with his "fact"-presentation so it might not be true. Tell us hd, did you pull a with lie this time or is it the truth that you did go to a meeting with hoteliers and tourism assosiation, were they al claimed tourist numbers are up this year compare to same time last year? Honestly now. Please. It´s a fair question.

Qoute by highdiver in the thread "have you had it with bkk air?" 2008-11-28:

Once again i beg to differ. i am very involved in Samui tourist association as well as being invested in tourist related business.. it is a fact that there are more tourist this year then last year. if you care to dispute this please do provide facts.. not hear say from bar owners..

in the meeting held 2 months ago which was attended by most hoteliers on the island BKA marketing manager has presented the facts (you know numbers) and the facts are that BKA is bringing in more tourist then last year. As for speculations... i am sure there are some of the other members who regard my posts with a bit more credibility then yours.

Qoute by me today:

For samuis future it would be good if somebody like you worked in the tourism assosiation, or went to their meetings and spoke up. According to a poster named Highdiver they are patting each others backs saying they are doing very good at this point. Unbeleivable. (ok, highdiver is known to bring bogus as "facts", but still).

And highdiver answer also today:

1. i have never said that. i did however report that the tourist numbers this year are higher then last year. and i have proven you wrong twice on this debate only..

Where did you prove me wrong? That samui has more tourists than before? How did

you ever do that? And secondly, i have no idea about the airindustrie? I´m a

licenced pilot first of all since 1999 so i do have some clue. Secondly i

brought in facts to these two threads that bkk air themselves claim they are

flying here with halfempty planes. You are the only one i hear claiming that tourists numbers are up, and you keep thinking you proved it somehowe. How you ever proved this is beyond me?

And, you might aswell stop the flaming. They delete it anyway and all it does is

proving you are loweducated. Keep the discussion on a adult level or quit posting.

Seems like computers, or at least Thaivisa forum is not a part of the "Tao lifestyle", then?

Dont be scared, i´m serious about this thread. Some info about Tao. How´s life over there? C´mon!

hi all

Its improved alot during the last time i was there (Nov 2006). My room this time had an electronic safe, good AC, hot water and no mosquitos and they offered to spray the room if i found any.

Glad to hear it has improved. But if youever have a mosquito problem, just go to 7-11 and buy that stuff that plugs in the wall and you'll have no more mozzies. I've even taken one with me when I've gone way off the beaten track where I knew there would be a lot of them and never had any problem.

I used that thing for some years. Works fine. I have to wonder whats in it since it say on the pack that it´s not suitable to use it in a room with pregnant lady/babies. .

Nowadays we just spray the bedroom a couple of hours before we go to sleep, and keep the door closed. Works fine. No mozz. We usually dont have mosquitos where i live, but if one of those suckers found the way into the bedroom, i will wake up completely eaten out. The Thai mosquitos just love me. Maybe the alcohol-level in my blood? .

If you are arriving by plane you might not be allowed on the flight without a Visa.

If you are arriving by land you should be ok. The entry stamp at land borders is now 15 days, but as a Russian you should still get 30 days under an existing bilateral agreement.

Plenty of companies do Visa Runs from Samui to Malaysia or Burma. Or you can do it yourself by bus or fly to Penang by Firefly.

There is no need to take your son on a border run as there is no overstay fine for kids. So you can leave him with someone on Samui if you wanted to.

Would it not be a lot easier to get a Visa before you come?

Thai Embassy in Moscow.

http://en.thaiembassymoscow.com/info/?sect...d6&artid=53

I agree. If going with the organized visa-stressers, there is definately NO reason to take the 1,5 year child on it. That would be a terrible experience the boy dont need so early in life. However, if you do it by firefly to K.L as a 5 day holiday, it will be fun for the whole family. Much better option. Or rent a car and do a family roatrip. Many stops on the way and a few hotelnights.

I also agree with lite beer that the easiest way nowadays is to fix the visa while in your homecountry. Around here the embassies and consulates are tigtening up the rules.

Although a few weeks ago now, I noticed Samui was very quiet, a drive down Chaweng beach the only people were the time share guys.....Hua Hin and Cha am are absolutly booming now....I think logisticaly Samui is badly placed, too far from BKK and only one very expensive airline. A return ticket for someone from the UK would now be almost 200 pounds, so a family of four.....do the maths, it just isnt worth the money any more...Samui needs cheaper air tickets and some real positive marketing, maybe then the tourists will return

Spot on. Could be written by me. (I mean that as a complimant, beleive it or not ).

You are off course 100 % right in every word you say. For samuis future it would be good if somebody like you worked in the tourism assosiation, or went to their meetings and spoke up. According to a poster named Highdiver they are patting each others backs saying they are doing very good at this point. Unbeleivable. (ok, highdiver is known to bring bogus as "facts", but still).

I met some guys in Bkk saying they dont go to samui anymore becuse there´s no real option to travel there. The travel time is just to long. I asked them about flying there, and they said "yeah, right, for twice the price as phuket, like that´s gonna happen". I beleive every word in your post.

Well, there's always a first time that mattias and I agree on something

As for the hippie subforum, do hippies have computers?

Is The Grateful Dead dead?

well, according to human kinds secret history, the majority of the Woodstock audience hitch hiked immediately after the festival to KPN. But, you know - hippies take it easy. So on the way over some stopped at Isle of Wright, Kreta and India and some even went to Bali accidental, but the ones who came, are still here.

Those hippies are amazing. Hitch hiking from New york to Kpg. Trought Kreta. They dicerve to be left in peace after that performance.

at that time, mattias33, even shipowner and captains were asked for lifts...

...the first tourists (=tramper) to Samui came by fisher boats

So true birdman. Still you have to be impressed that even though it was for free, it´s one hel_l of a trip. I mean, here i am, crying about the 11 hour flight from Copenhagen to Bkk. If i´m sometimes forced (due to cheaper fares) to do a stop on the way it´s about all i can take. Imagine what the hippies went trought on their way here. We should leave those guys alone. Let them have their free spirit kpg life in peace, after all, they dont disturb me at all. I dont plann to go to kpg anywere in the near future... . Or infact maybe ever!

What was this thread about again?

Ohh, kpg subforum. Sorry op.

I can tell you: being on the road is freedom people never did it will never understand.

I agree. I done my fair share of roadtrips. All in good fun. Allthough i pictured the hippies "hitch hiking by boats". As in being trown in the storage compartment downstairs in a big bumpy ship for 60 days. If your suggesting they hitch hiked by road from New york (woodstock is outside New york, right?) to Kpg, over Canada, boat over bering sund and the whole continent down to asia, i still say they are heroes.

I ought to go to kpg and look up one of these hippies. It´s actually bookmaterial!

Are you making this up? .

4 hours? From Samui to Koh Tao just an hour and a half.

True. Sorry for that typo. 4 hours from chumporn though.

No about the same from Samui. It is 4 hours, or there abouts, from Samui to Chumphon or vise versa. Obviously never been or done it and as said just using broad generalisations for all 3 islands.

You have a lot of dive shop owners, dive instructors, dive masters and people training to do both of the above. You also have bar owners and other people who have income from abroad and just love the Tao lifestyle. Oh and a few beach bum hippy types as well.

Ohh, thanks for the great answer. "just love the tao lifestyle".

So, let me formulate the question differently, i didnt realize it was so difficult to understand.

-What is the tao lifestyle?

Ohh, and yes, ive done the lomprayha ceveral times and not later than 5 days ago actually. My point was more that samui has less hassled connections in case of needing to go to mainland quick. Not that particular connection because it´s an hour shorter from tao to choumporn than from samui. Clear enough?

And no, i´m not using broad generalisations for all 3 islands. Infact i tried to ask what koh tao is all about. Allthough if you are an expat there i already got a little closer to the answer. Now, c´mon tao people. Surerly there is something special to tell us about? How about some pictures and stories.

According to the Phangan Info mini magazine:

Crowd sizes vary from around 8,000 in low season getting up to 30,000 in the high season...

100*8,000 = 800,000 baht (US$23,500)

100*30,000 = 3 million baht (US$88,450)

So in high season you could organize 100 folks to "clean" the beach and pick up trash or whatnot and pay then 30,000 baht each for the effort...

Instead of speculating, can someone who lives there go to the government office and official tourist office and find out what they say about this?

By the way, this Oct. 14th, the next party, why doesn't everyone demand a ticket/receipt?

Mark, why dont you take a trip to big buddha pier and have a look at the crowd heading for fmp the next time. .

I dont mean to be rude, but a fair assumption is 95 % of these youngsters dont even know what a receipt is. Secondly, they are so intoxicated, that asking for anything but a vodca/redbull-bucket or weed goes way over their capability.

"everyone, demand receipt!". Hahahaha. Good one mark!