robsamui

Good luck - I paid for the VIP service just over a year ago and ended up on a 12 seater mini bus with 15 school children. We left Samui at 10am, ended up at a coffee shop in Surat Thani and then spent about two hours driving around Surat Thani to pick school children up and then dropping them off on the way to Hat Yai...we were all crammed into that thing like chickens and the driver was happily speeding along in the rain. If you can afford to fly or find another way, I really would suggest it.

Hmmm.....sounds to me like a case of not quite knowing what you're doing .....

R

as much as i can remember, the big bus takes you to surat thani and/or nakhon si thammarat. only the mini bus goes straight to haad yai. significant time difference.

in either case, there is a bus stop directly across from the old seatran ferry pier. you will always see the big buses parked out front. name of the place is bamboo house or bamboo hut, sorry no number.

The Phanthip bus goes direct. Herbert at Bamboo House only does the one-day-return run - as far as I know.

The VIP Phanthip bus leaves each morning at 9.30 from right in front of the old ferry pier in Nathon. There is no need to book or buy ticket in advance, simply turn up and pay the 450 baht (might have gone up a bit) to the woman sitting at the desk near to the bus. It's a full size air-con bus and arrives in Had Yai bus station at around 5.30.

BUT if you are thinking of going next month - remember to avoid travelling a few days either side of the 13th - it's Songkran.

Likewise, when coming back, don't buy your ticket to Samui from one of the touts or agents outside the bus station (they add commission) go inside the bus station and buy it direct - (Samui window is in the block to the left as you go in). Bus leaves at either 9.30 or 10:00 am, I forget (check when you arrive). The price in both cases includes the ferry cost.

R

ps - If you feel you need to put your mind at rest, you can book in advance from Phanthip Travel, next to Asia Travel in Nathon. Their number is 077 421 221.

The Lake wasn't a Lake about 6 Years ago, when i first came it sort of like a Swamp kind of thing..

Nope - deffo not a 'swamp' - as Birdman points out there were dead motorbikes under the water around the kink in the middle. I used to take an (old, heavy) 400cc Kwacker back and forth across that relic, in the days when big bikes were few and far between. The badly nailed wooden planking would see-saw up and down as I 'walked' the bike across (usually too pissed to have actually walked across on my own)and there was only just enough room on the kink to shuffle my bike through it.

Thanks for the photos - brings back memories!

R

Two separate issues here - one being the suffering of the animals.

The second is the arrogant, couldn't-care-less offhand blatant admission of fraud and deception as if it is a normal and acceptable way to do business. Which, of course in this country it is. This is happening in a country where everybody has a motorbike a TV and a mobile phone - even many of the children. The Thai people are so so proud to consider themselves 'first world' and civilised and it speaks volumes about then nature of their flimsy social veneer that simply don't know what this means.

In a civilised country the attitude of this dog-food seller simply would not have, just could not ever have emerged. The open and fraudulent cruelty and criminal intent simply would not have been tolerated. But then, in a country which has a legal system straight out of the middle ages and where none of the authorities are the least bit interested, criminal attitudes like this can flourish.

I think what has happened here is almost a definition of the difference between a civilised country and an 'emerging nation'. Although, by the same definition, few Thai people are able to realise that they are a 'third world' country, as they have little or no idea of any other way of life and therefore grow up to believe their country is the tops.

It's a mind-set that's identical to the way that a person who is utterly stupid thinks he's smart - simply because he's too stupid to understand that he's stupid.

There are so many delightful and enjoyable aspects to living in Thailand (and many really lovely people) that one tends to overlook the sharper and less tasteful underbelly - the ignorance, superstition and corruption - and sigh it off as the price you pay for the privilege (!) of being permitted to stay here. It's a 'different way of life', after all.

But when a story like this surfaces you realise that this is a small and arrogant third world country and some of the 'smiles' in the LOS are only on the surface.

My sincerest sympathies to Dog Rescue. It's a hard job and an uphill battle and it's a struggle at the best of times. To have a thing like this happen must be a crushing blow to their morale. I hope they're able to ride it out. Good luck, guys. I'll shortly be making my first donation.

Rob

According to a neighbour, the gas station in Maenam is selling gas from 45 gallon barrels.... at 45 baht per litre.....

When I drove by this morning the new construction seemed to be coming along.,,,,,

It was not obvious they were selling gas though... I sure hope so, as it's a pain driving to either the Esso (49.80 baht per litre) or Chawang to fill up

My Thai neighbour tells me that this is now an EX gas station and is going to be turned into a mini mall ...

R

Well my guess it will have another 7 11 ....(just what we need ) along with the gas, I 'd say the metal posts going up will cover the new pumps....??? We'll see, I guess....

I checked this out a bit closer this morning & the PTT gas is not being sold at the old station......it's some times hard to decipher all of what the Thai's intend to say, ....

What was left out was the fact the gas in drums is being sold just past Soi 2 (7-11 on corner) on right side a few shops down... It is not obvious! .... and not easy for car or truck to get to, especially when headed towards Bophut ... actually I only just caught it out of the corner of my eye on the way home.... not much room to park or pull off the ring road especially if someone on your tail!!!

Perhaps when the new station is open, the prices will come down?

Just about every shop around Maenam selling the 750 ml bottles for 40 baht now...

GAS-BARREL-SPOTTING REPORT:

Add to the location above the big barrels with the hand pump and clear glass containers on top at -

1. heading towards Chaweng past the lights at Bo Phut, pass the big food market and look to the right just a little way after, and

2. turn towards Fisherman's Village - before you get to 7-11 there are a couple on the opposite (RH) side of the road.

R

According to a neighbour, the gas station in Maenam is selling gas from 45 gallon barrels.... at 45 baht per litre.....

When I drove by this morning the new construction seemed to be coming along.,,,,,

It was not obvious they were selling gas though... I sure hope so, as it's a pain driving to either the Esso (49.80 baht per litre) or Chawang to fill up

My Thai neighbour tells me that this is now an EX gas station and is going to be turned into a mini mall ...

R

Good news, which will be quickly dismissed as an aberration, because Thailand's universities are all crap - according to the experts on TV.

"however, the vaccine has so far been proven effective in mice, and has yet to be tested on human" How can an education system so flawed produce a result like this. Wonder who wrote the press release

Simply because an international drug company, as part of its established and ongoing longterm research, has taken its running program with all the goalposts already in place, to a Thai university (amongst two dozen others across the world.) It has provided them with money, materials and equipment and given them instructions on how to proceed. The Thai university has not 'produced' the result - although it may be true to say that the result was 'produced' at the Thai university!

Similar programs are producing successful results at Indian universities but I haven't had yet my attention drawn to headlines that India is somehow now leading the world in the battle against dengue fever!

R

Oh dear... just as the cynics were feeling they might have to start praising something that Thailand was doing exceptionally well, it all starts to come apart at the seams....

I was thinking the same thing and then realized I wasn't seeing too many of the Serial Thai Bashers here. I think the thread heading scared them from even taking a peek into the discussion.

When the day comes that Thailand, using its own brains and resources, achieves something world class, then I will be the first to respectfully applaud with admiration. Until that day, every time proud boasts are made with smoke and mirrors and nothing is achieved apart from a national pat on the back for nothing, I remain realistic, not cynical!

R

Reading between the lines here my interpretation goes something like this.

Big international drug company is working on a vaccine for dengue. As a part of this they are testing and trialling the vaccine in Mexico, Aus, S.America Vietnam and Thailand etc. One of the research workers in a Thailand university is seeing some success in the trials and is happy to announce loudly that the Thai part of the venture is doing good and that Thailand is a country to be taken seriously, by golly! Thai press (already knowing that Thailand is the tops) cheerfully prints story that Thailand is leading the world in dengue research and the whole Thai nations nods and applauds because a) none of them have any idea what's going on outside Thailand and b)they all know Thailand is a Serious Player anyway.

How's that?

R

Spot on! But what about the mice? Where do those fit in?

<deleted> is going on?

Sanofi announce on Feb 19 that it was starting its tetravalent pediatric clinical trials in Thailand and it is being done in conjunction with the MOH and Mahidol.

The company named in the news article is not a developer of vaccines. It is a marketer. It also provides logistics and it can provide local technical support, but it has no proprietary vaccine R&D footprint that I know of. All of the vaccine manufacturers involved in dengue vaccine development in Thailand are either GSK, Sanofi or foreign niche biotechs using actives licensed licensed from the United States NIH

This is a very odd announcement. It is possible someone has taken something out of context.

The two key dengue vaccine hubs in Thailand are AFRIMS Virology Research Unit (KAVRU)@ Kamphaeng Mahidol University @ Ratchburi.

Is it possible someone is mixing up activities and is confused? Why would Mahidol compete against itself after working closely with Sanofi and the U.S. NIH all this time?

You seem to be much more up on this than most of us but I did check the recent news and see:

1- their was a Dengue conference held recently regarding the status of the vaccines

2 - Bill Gates foundation has released millions to help with the vaccines

3- France's vaccine is already being tested on people (including here in Thailand) and the ETA for its release is 2015 --

4 - based on animal trials the Thai vaccine is guessed to be 80% successful in humans while they results they are getting with the France vaccine are 90%

So, I am guessing you are either right that this is being reported incorrectly or that Thailand is trying to get on this bandwagon to merge with another group or somehow get funds into their project.

Reading between the lines here my interpretation goes something like this.

Big international drug company is working on a vaccine for dengue. As a part of this they are testing and trialling the vaccine in Mexico, Aus, S.America Vietnam and Thailand etc. One of the research workers in a Thailand university is seeing some success in the trials and is happy to announce loudly that the Thai part of the venture is doing good and that Thailand is a country to be taken seriously, by golly! Thai press (already knowing that Thailand is the tops) cheerfully prints story that Thailand is leading the world in dengue research and the whole Thai nations nods and applauds because a) none of them have any idea what's going on outside Thailand and b)they all know Thailand is a Serious Player anyway.

How's that?

R

Did ya say no police.Your dead wrong on that one hoss.They are out everywhere on the beach.They will bust ya quick.They just aren't in uniform.

yes that story is proper stupid. that series big trouble in thailand when an english lady got nicked for smoking gear. what did she gras her self up and walk into the police station and put hand cuffs on her self ? find that one hard to beleive. maybe the journo should atch the telly from time to time

Oh you are emerald-studded! - an English lady got nicked for smoking gear because she grassed herself up! WARGH! I love you big dude! Don't ever go away!

:cheesy:

R

Load of <deleted>. <deleted>, sensationalist reporting at it's finest. It wasn't one of Drummond's was it? It's about his level.

I see nothing wrong there at all bar a load of kids having fun and fair play to 'em!!!

yes and they ain't even kids. they are over 18 or they would be able to leave the country on their own.

the news paper makes it look like the party people have been kid napped and forced to enjoy themselves and have accidents.

I know what has happened. some journerlist got a free bie all expensies paid to fly out to samui and do a story. Being working for the posh paper they had to write and artical that would sell to its readers. so he or she makes this story. cashs there check. says than you very much then down the pub for whos round is it.

they probably push their boss to send them to amsterdam for there next job. I wonder why ??????

Come on O large one - Kwoat - " the clumsily-written story has obviously been penned by a school-leaver who has never been north of Cairns". Got the of it or what mostly a bit?

R

This means that Swampy is the 5th best airport in the world that handles over 40 million passnegers, correct? Christ on a bike, those from 6th place and below must be pretty awful. I'm sure the reason it reached over 40 million in 2010 was all the people who wanted to leave once the riots began.

One word - restaurants. After you've passed through immigration where are they? I spend half of my life at that place because of work and the immigration cues must be up amongst the top 5 worst in the world. Not to mention the smiley, happy, welcoming faces of the Immigration clerks at the arrivals desks. Behind the USA they have to be the most miserable and least welcoming!

Who votes for these things??

Hahaha - winkin blinkin and nod! Even clouds the colour of tar have a silver lining somewhere! Let's hear it for some bright kid's interpretation of this year's TAT statistics! (It's a far better job than they can manage to do!)

R

Side effects include: Dizziness, headaches, loss of appetite, hair loss, loose stools, excessive urination, enlarged heart, enlarged spleen, night sweats, difficulty concentrating, night blindness, sensitivity to bright light, jaundice, increased risk for colon cancer, and difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection.

Seeing you know all about these things - I've never seen a mouse with an erection - what's it look like? (And they sure have a short attention span anyway!)

R

Driving to Nathon from Maenam, just past De Joyeux pools ( spelling ? ) on your right hand side, all bamboo products. Ladie's name Koi.

Many thanks Rooo, I will go there tomorrow.

Thanks also - most handy to know. (Pop it in the "tradesmen" sticky for reference!)

R

If you PM me I'll pass on the number of Richie Newton who used to be THE Elvis guy here (and all over) and now has his own sound-engineering studio in Lamai.

R

I was curious about the 100 baht for a bucket of vodka and redbull , especially when a bottle of singha is about the same in a restaurant. How big are these buckets and how much redbull do they contain. Somebody must be making a loss on these things at a hundred baht each or is there something i don't understand. I replied to the article on this question but ,of course the Daily Terrible didnot publish my comments. Being Fair and Balanced and all that!!!

The article actually read more like an advertisment for the kids to go out and destroy themselves ,but then i have always questioned the ethics of this particular media barron annd his publications !

As already conjectured, the clumsily-written story has obviously been penned by a school-leaver who has never been north of Cairns. Charter flights, a nightclub-lined beach, 100B for a bucket and killer-size buckets?? The kid needs sacking and wouldn't recognise a BAHT if it blinded him (wouldn't be able to anyway.) If he HAD been there we'd be hearing about orgasms, sex on the beach, hand shandies, a long slow slippery mushroom, falling down blasted and lots of other cocktails, too! He'd be sublimely more positive between the lines whilst still managing to yell SHOCK! HORROR!

R

lady boxing in lamai is one of the best nights out on this small island. every bar owner in the world raises prices during an event but i don't recall ever paying more than 80thb for a chang. free fights and 80baht chang are ok in my book. i did go to the "stadium" in chaweng and won't pay for that ever again. i don't think anyone goes to lady boxing to see the next world champ.

Yes one of the best value nights on the Island with plenty of space, food courts and an open air plaza effect with tables and chairs set out on the extra wide footpaths. Chaweng is a s---hole in comparison and has nothing like it !

Last year my daughter came here to get married and brought a total of 21 people here. I arranged a minibus with driver and trucked them to Lamai one night. After having been here for 3 weeks and done all the usual touristy things, everyone voted the lady boxing in Lamai was the best night out they'd had!

R

Yep - it's Top Cats.

Website:

http://www.fishinginthailand.com/koh-samui.html

Rob

and amazingly all these people keep building hotels knowing the the airport situation: due diligence? The nice figures quoted probably have nothing to do with flight access and more to do with strong baht vs european currencies.

what was the load factor of those 36 flights a day?

I agree and would like to see some low-cost options into Samui but it's a bit rich to say the hotels aren't full because people can reach them.

Well, currently flights are pretty full and during past peakseason it was very difficult to find a seat. But a quick calculation;

36 flights allowed means flight movements, so thats 18 arriving and departing per day.

Let these all be large planes holding around 80 passengers per flight maximum.

Then assuming only toursists are flying, Samui Airport can welcome a maximum of 1440 tourists per day.

No lets assume that the average tourist stays 5 days, then you can fill 7200 beds per day

Assuming 70% of tourists come as couple and 30% is sinlge, then you can fill 4680 rooms.

So the other 10.000 rooms will have to be filled with people not coming in via Samui Airport, and then I don't even consider all private houses and villas that are rented out, nor the fact that Koh Phangan also gets a large portion of its tourists coming in via Samui Airport.

So yes, there definately is a shortage of flights. The fact that planes are not always full as it is now, is just beacuse they are sooo expensive. But from a PG standpoint, I can understand that it is better to fill planes 80% and charging 5000 Baht per ticket, than having them full all the time if charging 2000 Baht. Only when more flight movements are allowed to arrive, will it make sense to lower prices, as you can just fill more planes and still make a profit. It's a matter of supply and demand and funny enough PG is not the one responsible for capping the supply, they just very conveniently use it.

So a second airport makes no sense as the environmental rules wouldn't change. Unless they raise the number of flights allowed, but then we wouldn't need a 2nd airport...

OOPS - misread and mis-quoted - please remove my reply.

R

toursime is fine.

i came here 9 years ago in feb and i could count how many motor bike went past me on my hand sitting on the beach road in chaeweng. it was 3 in 1 hour.

now i cannot move with the amount of traffic.

i don't care what people say toursime is going up and up. i think they might have to limit to amount of residents on the island soon and make it a tax haven like Gernsey. So buy up quick !

If people think that samui is quite then they are blind or there business is out of date and there is some other git doing a bettter business thann u round the corner. if this is the case u should take the owner to the octogon to settle business disputes

LETS GET IT ONNnnnnn!!!!!

I stopped going to Samui 6 years ago after regular visits since 1989. Tourism may well increase there, but is it going to be sustainable,environmentally friendly, and a quality experience? I doubt it if what has been seen in recent years. Samui is on a Pattaya-like slide towards being a downtrodden, filthy, overbearingly noisy island resort.

There is little or no comparison to Pattaya.

samui is however being held back by Bangkok Airways and the existance of illegal scumbag taxi drivers, both of which give us persistent negative comments and leave a bad impression with many tourists that feel fleeced by their overcharging. Through their greed and selfishness they cause everyone else here loss of business in a round about way but this won't change so best to learn to live with it.

Yes, those taxi drivers!!! What is to stop the local gov from introducing a cheap bus service.....or are there really too many 'dark forces' for that? I imagine a pleasant experience can still be had at the likes of mae nam, but such a shameshame to see chaweng and lamai fall into such a state.

There is a cheap local bus service already! Haven't you noticed the one small bus that runs round in a circle all day, with the driver also being paid to stop all the time for meals and breaks?

Seriously, though, I can't see it ever happening. Not now the bandits are already in place and a precedent has been established. Can you really envisage all those song thiew drivers saying - "yeah OK fellas - we'll give up our 200 baht-a-head night fares and everyone can ride for a philanthropic 30 baht each"????

It would take nothing for the tesseban to offer a contract out to run 8 mini buses (or similar - mini coaches?). Two running in tandem between Nathon and Mae Nam, two between Mae Nam and Chaweng, two between Chaweng and Lamai and 2 between Lamai and Nathon. (Or whatever ...) Fixed bus stops outside shady cafes. A bus every 30-40 minutes or so. Fixed flat-rate fares of 50 baht (??). No haggles, no hassles. But I suspect that somebody in-house is already getting a substantial kick-back from the underground taxi Mafia - it's worth more to someone in local government to keep things like they are!

R

My own personal demands are a)music - it has to play the sort of music I like and if the Issan staff suddenly start playing pong lang, hooting and doing that thing with their fingers like they're combing a goat then I drink up and move on. If I want that I'll go to Udon. (Although I have to say that visitors who have never seen this before find it ethnic and interesting and like to see it.)

I have to say that listening to local music in Thailand doesn't offend me, I even listen morlam and lukthung at home and I like it.

Are we in Thailand or in some western club playing this terrible techno music ? Do the girls (most of them from Isaan) enjoy the music and therefore have more fun with the customers ?

<deleted>, you're in Thailand

No - that's fine and fair enough. I stated it was a personal point of view and each to their own. I too enjoy listening to several sorts of Thai music, but I also like to choose when I do so. And when I go into a bar because it's playing my kinda tunes and because I'm in the mood to hear more, then that's when I get niggled by a switch to Thai music. I wouldn't even dream of complaining - what right have I got to do that! . But I've also got the right to take my custom elsewhere and thats the point when I do just that!

So that exquisite techno is "terrible" is it? Or is that just one of your personal dislikes?

R

I think what we, as people who live here, look for in a bar is quite different to what attracts visitors. This hit me last year when my daughter came here to get married and brought 19 other people with her. Witness 1 resident and 21 tourists in the Soi Green Mango .....

All of them were universally drawn to bars that looked lively, friendly and fun in the first instance. Bars that were quiet and almost empty weren't even considered. The second factor was somewhere where they could hear each other speak. (There is a Thai line of thought that goes: the LOUDER your bar is the more it attracts custom - for some curious reason. Even if it's screeching with distortion ... which the Thais are totally oblivious to.) It's noisy enough in the street without having your ear drums bashed where you actually sit down, too. Thus, after a wander about for a while the group consensus was that (am I allowed to use names here? Better play safe) was that the African-style bar was the best. It was wide, allowing a good street view throughout, it was full of interesting people to peer at inside, the girls were attractive and bouncy and it also had tables outside - not too noisy and easy to watch the fun on the street.

(It's also worth mentioning that visiting females like to see bargirls strutting around and showing off. They can tut-tut to each other about how terrible Thailand is whilst comparing themselves/looks/make-up/dress-sense to the girls on the quiet, and then moralise about their shameless behaviour while still being fascinated by it all.)

After several visits over 3 weeks by several combinations of the group - a couple of pairs of older people, 8 or 9 in their 20s - there were just 2 bars that got used. The one already mentioned and the another one more "soulful" near the Green Mango (simply cos it was quieter earlier on and looked hip). The over 40s hated the whole street and found one of the nearby sports bars/pubs on the main road much more to their liking. Nowhere, at any time at all, did the subject of prices crop up, other than to mention how cheap everything was. They couldn't have cared less whether rum and coke was 80 baht a glass or 200 baht - it was still pennies to them.

But people who live here have a totally different measuring stick. My own personal demands are a)music - it has to play the sort of music I like and if the Issan staff suddenly start playing pong lang, hooting and doing that thing with their fingers like they're combing a goat then I drink up and move on. If I want that I'll go to Udon. (Although I have to say that visitors who have never seen this before find it ethnic and interesting and like to see it.) b)An open and genuinely friendly owner (any nationality)and not one who is just being a 'host'. (Along with that, other regulars who are also the same and I can look forward to seeing again.) c) Low prices. I don't care about 10B or so over the odds but there's no way I'd regularly hang out where the beers are 100 baht a bottle etc.

I might also add that there have been several out-of-town bars in Bang Rak and Mae Nam that I've been attracted to the look of, but found that when I've sat down there were little cliques of obvious regulars in groups who totally ignored me with not even a nod. The rest was fine, but that kind of welcome for someone on their own (ie not in company or a group) I find verging on hostile.

R

If you are able to try to see the name of what company or resort is printed on the minibus and phone to complain

wasnt there a name and shame thread a while back?

They arn't really interested. The courtesy fortunas that are used by some of the 5* hotels i've seen being driven disgracefully. The drivers clearly don't care the hotel name is printed on the side.

You missed the point a bit here - that five-star resort and its General Manager care a great deal.

(You weren't contemplating complaining to the van driver, were you? )

R