robsamui

Just had this mail from Peter, the German man who seems to be running the operation in Thailand:

"Hallo Rob,

i'm Peter (Schlegel) from UK-TV / Global TV. Thank you very much for recommand us! Interested Members should send us a short eMail to [email protected] , then they will get Free Access until Dec. 1th. We will launch a new Website in the next days, where people can register and also get the Free Trial. We are working hard to get moore channels. We also have to install aditional Servers for keep the good Performance.

Greetings Peter Mobile 0806 433 640"

Rob

(avoid Raja Ferry - takes 30 mins longer and goes to Lipa Noi)

Sorry to upset all you anti Raja people but out of the two I always use them. The last few times it has taken around 10 minutes less time than the Seatran so I don't know where you get the extra 30 minutes from ? I can also book a return ticket with Raja unlike the Seatran so again far better for me as I just rock up and drive on. Also the difference in arriving at Lippa Noi and Nathon by car is in minutes and if going to Lamai / Chawang you are nearer with the Raja.

Also getting a taxi from the Raja terminal for foot passengers is also a lot cheaper than getting into Nathon.

Last week, unknown to either of us, both my friend and I went on a border bounce independently: objective . . . get from Samui to Had Yai.

I left by bus at 8:00 am via Seatran from Nathon to Donsak. Arrived in Had Yai at 3.30 pm = 7.5 hours.

He left via bus from Nathon to the Raja ferry. Left at 5.30 pm and arrived in Had Yai at 2.30 am = 9 hours.

I realise there are other factors involved, but our respective journeys from setting off from Samui to getting to the mainland was the major one: he took 45 minutes from leaving Nathon to the Raja ferry actually leaving from Lipa Noi and then spent 30 minutes longer on the water than I did.

If you are not travelling with a car this is an important factor. Raja seems to take longer.

R

[Hi there, good dialogue.

Am responding to the questions on our Samui Hotel Market Update Mid-Year Edition 2011 –

The report says that domestic travelers accounted for 18% of total island arrivals in 2010. This was an increase from 2009 by 10%.

As the report is Mid Year there is no increased annual figure for 2011 yet versus 2010. There was no mention of an increase in domestic traffic by 18%.

On the drop of domestic arrivals by 2%, this was noted as first half 2011 (January through June) versus the same period in 2010. So yes domestic arrival did drop.

For the classification of domestic and international passengers, these figures are compiled by the Department of Civil Aviation and are similar to airport statistics throughout Thailand by airports operated by the AoT (Airports of Thailand). Passengers arriving from airports within Thailand to Samui –ie Suvanabhumi, Phuket, U-Tapao and Trat. International passengers are those arriving from airports outside Thailand. In the case of transit passengers these are classified as domestic passengers.

I do appreciate the apparent disconnect between the tracking of airport arrival and the nationality of hotel guests. It's important to understand these two data sources are independent of each other. We can say in our experience the figures provided by both are well presented and the methodology is consistent. In our report we endeavor to provide hotel management, owners and tourism organizations with as much clear data as possible, but fully agree is need to be interpreted.

The check on this data is to next look at hotel guest stays and nationalities. Each guest in a hotel in Thailand is required to submit a passport or id card and these are recorded. The data is provided to the government and compiled by the Department of Tourism. A breakdown of nationalities staying in hotels is a matter of public record and is provided in detail by the agency.

In the case of an increase in domestic guests in hotels versus airport arrivals the leading indicator of this is that more are coming via ferry transport. A new high speed catamaran service was added to Samui and this has increased those driving or coming by bus. From our fieldwork interviewing hoteliers there is a marked rise in domestic business travelers which is demonstrated in the growth of retail, fiancé and consumer service on the island.

Lastly on the Ozo Samui, at the time we wrote the report the hotel pipeline was verified with the developers. We noted the same issue on the Ozo last time we were in Samui, as we visit each site on a periodic basis. Speaking to the operator Onyx Hospitality (formerly Amari Hotels & Resorts) they have encountered a delay and are planning on starting construction by the end of 2011. An opening is set for Q2 2013. As Onyx is part of Ital-Thai who have build a large number of international hotels in Thailand and are one of the leading construction companies here, we find their response credible. The updated figure will be in our next report.

In terms of the total picture of Samui, the best reference we have is a growing imbalance between Hotel Supply and Demand and the disconnect between private development which has been uncontrolled and a lack of government sponsored infrastructure.

Thanks for the opportunity to hopefully provide some numbers to the issue and it's indeed a good talking point on whether Samui should stay small or get bigger.

Bill Barnett

Managing Director

C9 Hotelworks

Likewise, thanks a lot for your objective and detailed approach. Much appreciated and food for thought.

R

In terms of the total picture of Samui, the best reference we have is a growing imbalance between Hotel Supply and Demand and the disconnect between private development which has been uncontrolled and a lack of government sponsored infrastructure.

Thanks for giving us more insight into your research. I have highlighted the concluding paragraph above as, for me, it really does summarise the situation here as I see it.

Yes - that's where my finger is pointing, too.

R

Yep - what's been said has just about summed it all up.

Pre-Tsunami Samui was gradually growing but already changing from the backpackers towards the family package holidays.

The after the tsunami Samui went crazy, max occupancies and all holidays switched from Phuket to Samui - thousands of workers came to Samui - and construction really exploded.

TAT stats for Samui tourism from 2006-7 = 9% more tourists every year (with a big blip post-tsunami). Govt stats for same period = 24% more residential construction. Work it out for yourself.

Many more tourists from Asia to be seen now - Korea, Japan, HK, plus Singapore and even India. All the hotels I deal with tell me they are targeting the Asian market.

At the turn of the millennium there were few families with children here and Chaweng and Lamai were full of single guys. Now it's reversed. Prices up across the board, infrastructure only superficially improved (as in when it rains the 20-inch high water now goes away after 5 or 6 hours instead of 5 or 6 days) etc etc etc.

BUT - Samui is probably the prettiest place other than maybe some off-the-map parts of the Krabi and PiPi areas. Get out of Chaweng and it's still lovely, ins spite of all the moaning and grumbling. I love it!

(Today, anyway.)

R

UK TV....better invest in a pack of cards or backgammon set imo.

Couldn't agree more - 95% is dross. But you pay monthly - can leave it for 3 months and come back again - and ITV has the Rugby World Cup contract and shows UK club rugby and the Six Nations in February plus there's the weekly Premier League roundup and highlights. And there are several odd things like Billy Connelly Route 66, Top Gear, Panorama, Hard Talk, but sure all you can pick up of the tor*ent sites. But no hardware or installation costs and until Dec 1st it's free. Suits me all ways!

Take it if you need it and don't if you don't.

R

Yes it is.

R

Blimy!

Only has download for Windoze and not Mac....

So are these current programs? or is like ITV Grenada on Astro, that's playing Coronation Street from 5 years ago

erm what is Mak?

Programs are current - see screenshot showing programs at 13.55 pm UK taken at 19.55 pm here, from my monitor screen.

Rob

downloaded it but there is some sort of message in german at the top and cant get it to work!

Download the set-up program for the player, run it and let Windows update the codecs if it needs to.

A shortcut for the icon (UKTV) appears on your desktop.

Double-click on it

When the notice in German appears, simply close it!!!

Ensure that the 'options' menu is set on English for the language.

The website says that there is a "5 minute test mode" for the player. (Personally I didn't use this as I contacted the site direct on the www.uk-tv.asia website (SUPPORT/help on the RH menu) before I installed the player. I was immediately sent a user name and password, which I used. BUT, just to check, I tried this again from scratch on my laptop and there seems to not be a 5-minute test mode . . .)

So request a trial by contacting support.

Enter your username/password and it seems that because there are currently only 8 UK channels there is no charge until 1st December, when they will up this to 19 or 20 channels. The charge is to be yet to be announced but it is monthly and likely to be about 1,000b (if the same pricing as they have for the German version is applied.)

ALTERNATIVELY - contact the Samui rep by phone, explain the situation and ask for a user name and password. His name is Gunter - 085 572 7658.

Tell him you are a friend of Rob and you want to try it all out. He speaks good English.

There you go!

Hope this helps,

Rob

Hi all.

Boss Roo reckons it's Ok to lay it all out - so here's the low down.

I’ve got no commercial involvement here - I just came across this and think it’s cheaper and better than UBC and a thousand times better than crappy Thai cable!

Take a look at uk-tv.asia - there is a free channel demo, I think.

At the moment this is all free as it’s new and there's only 8 channels. But in December they’re going to add another 10 channels and there’ll be a monthly charge. You can pay per month, cancel it at any time and start to pay again when you need to. ITV have got the contract for the rugby world cup, for example, so I got into all this just for the rugby. But I’ll probably cancel again until February, when the 6 nations rugby is on for 5 or 6 weeks.

They’ve had a German TV equivalent for a while now with 3 different packages - the basic one with 20 channels is 1,000B a month so I expect to pay about the same when all the UK channels are up.

No buffering (well sometimes but not if you pause it for 5 minutes and nothing like the free TV), up to 5 days back-programs, watch yesterday’s broadcasts today (so you don’t have to sit around at 3.am to watch programs live), proper TV quality resolution and screen size, you can even record broadcasts and save them. And it is live TV with all the channels and programs plus the ability to timeshift and watch what you want at a convenient time for you. Plus you can watch it on your computer or cable it to a proper 42” TV!

No contest with the jerky, blocky, tiny images on the free streaming stations. No irritating ads to wait for before you can watch - and no finding that the channel you want is somehow unavailable. There’s no hardware to buy, no installation fees and you don’t have to pay for a year in advance, only a month.

There is no comparison - but then, you get what you pay for I guess!

Rob

Is it legal? Does it use a VPN ?

Following today's ruling regarding Sky TV's football coverage and the use of foreign sites to watch football games in public places for free in the UK I can't imagine the EU regulations banning it.

Edit: Oh the irony...here

Doesn't apply! We're not in the EEC here. And anyway Sky Sports isn't included, only the 'terrestrial' TV stations.

R

Is it legal? Does it use a VPN ?

Hi Roo,

yes, it's legal and no, no VPN involved.

I haven't gone into details as I have a feeling that it might be seen as some kind of advertising on my part, but I will do so if you say it's OK. I've no commercial involvement here at all - I just came across this, the UK channels are a new addition, and it's a subscription service but with no hardware to buy or installation fees and you only pay a month at a time.

There's been this service (as an alternative to Cable TV or UBC) for all the German TV channels for a long time now and they've just introduced all the UK channels also.

Let me know if I can post more details - I'll PM you with all the info if you want and let you decide.

Cheers

Rob

myiplayer dot com has all of them plus the sky channels, also filmon has a lot of channels, and is good quilty, but you have to pay for filmon

It's precisely after having to put up with free "streaming" Tv like myiplayer that I'm so chuffed with this Global-TV thing.

This is full-definition (not HD!), full screen, no buffering or breaks, recordable, and access to 5 days of past broadcasts on all channels. Plus you can skip backwards and forwards 1 minute or 5 minutes to cut out the adverts.

No contest!

R

Not that I'm interested so much as most UK TV is cringy - except TOTP and Jonathan Ross, maybe - but ...

If anyone is interested in having BBC1 BBC2 C4 CE4 Five and ITV 123, PM me. I just done it and its neat.

R

Hmm . . .

Corry?

Emerdale?

Eastenders?

Curious to know UR answer . . .

R

I think you are talking about coming by car?

AFAIK this is possible only by going in person to the seatran kiosk.

Why Seatran in particular?

If you want to come to Samui (without a vehicle) then

(avoid Raja Ferry - takes 30 mins longer and goes to Lipa Noi)

a get to Donsak - Songserm ferry

b buy ticket.

c get on songthiew at Nathon.

(Interesting to note that you cannot book a Songserm ferry for a vehicle in the high-peak periods (Xmas - NY - Songkran) The thinking behind it is a) that if it were possible for everybody to book in advance for Christmas, then all the tickets would be sold weeks in advance and therefore thousands of other people wouldn’t be able to travel. (Erm ... hang on a minute ...) But, the more dominant logic goes like this, and perhaps it sounds familiar – “We don’t know how many cars are going to be on our ferry today. Oh my Buddha – maybe we won’t get anybody! We better let people make bookings, so at least we get some business. Ah! But we know there will be lots and lots over Christmas – yippee! – so we don’t need to bother.”

(What was your question again?)

R

I'm still trying to understand what the first sentence of the OP means.

Why don’t Thais just give up on English language, all the above has some value in one way or another and has been going on now for the past fifty years I have been associated with Thailand.

First of all Thais in one leading function or another aren’t interested to hear/apply what people who have spend their time researching learning of languages.

In my working life in Asia, Asia Minor and the Middle East for one reason or another always got me involved in training I found the Thais to be on English comprehension lowest level.

The main problem with Thais is, they think in Thai translate it in English in their head and then speak. This will not work. YOU MUST THINK IN THE LANGUAGE YOU ARE CONVERSING IN. How well I know my mother tongue is Dutch, English is my second language at a mother tongue proficiency. The majority of Thais steadfastly refuse to do it this way because to Thais there is only one way, and that is their way. Come hell or high water. I deal now for the past 16-year with the secretary on a daily basis and her English is still piss poor, she admits she thinks in Thai, translate, then speak, and in reverse she hears in English, translate in Thai. You should see the balls-up she creates when corresponding with foreign customers. The only good part, she knows she’s made a balls-up and get a hold of me to correct it for her. After all these years I’m getting pretty tired of it especially when I discovered she was using me, which turned out English language assignments of her teenage daughters which amounted to laziness because her kids have a full size PC with all programs still on it I used when I had that machine. Encarta, Encyclopedia Britannica, Office, Windows XP professional, just to name the main programs and then in a round about way she conned me into doing research for her daughter, which her daughter was too lazy to do on the computer at her home. I have put an abrupt halt to being used. Of course now they are perturbed with me.

Perturbed?

That sounds like the beginnings of some kind of significant awareness to me . . . got there in the end.

R

I think we all (who have been here more then 2 days) know the problem of speaking English/American/Australian in Thailand.

What I think would help is to make it fashionable to speak English (or any variety of it).

Notice how in KL (Malaysia) all "upper class" Malay's speak English in bars, terraces, over the phone and such, it has become natural to them.

Another thing that might help is Thai sports reporters actually starting to pronounce at least the names of the sports people correctly in stead of for example "Alonsoooooooo" if referring to the F1 driver.

This is a funny one I would like to share:

As a shop manager for a scuba diving company I hired a new shop staff member as we run out on "English" speaking staff.

She was (and most likely still is) a Uni graduated (Thai) English teacher.

To train them a bit (in manners accustomed to foreigners) I started of with "when a potential diver walks through our shop door you will address them with {good morning/afternoon would you like to dive today?}

Not long after I had to cancel this sentence after hearing my Thai staff say "good m/a would you like to die today"

Sounds like she's university Head of English department to me. Lucky you to get such a good one at the first go.

R

"< We learn from writing so we have to translate it when we use the language. That's the reason why most of Thais are not successful in English, including me although we have to study it for about ten years at school," said Thavorn Chalassathien, deputy secretary general of the Federation of Thai Industries.>"

Yesterday, I was introduced to 2 university English teachers both of which were Thai. We had a short conversation because I could not understand what they were saying. They could not put a simple sentence together to answer a general question or make an intelligent understandable comment. Makes one wonder, if the professors cannot speak english then why would we expect the students to speak english? :jap:

"both of which" should be "both of whom" (please).

(I almost said that myself but didn't want to appear like a nit-picking and supercilious git.)

R

QUOTE"

My Thai son (speaks perfect Thai and perfect English) had to attend the compulsory English classes at his Thai uni.

The teacher was a 19 yr old Thai girl who has no qualifications, and no training in teaching English and she cannot speak English. Son says the young lady was not pleasant and spoke to the students very severely.

The teacher turned up very late for every class (supposed to be 2 hrs X 2 times per week), with about 5 or 6 sentences, all hand written all in block letters with no pronunciation marks, on a page ripped out of a note book. One of the students was then sent to another building to buy a photocopy for each student.

A typical example: 'YESTERDAY I WAS WENT GO TO THE SHOPPING'

The teacher gave no explanation of vocabulary, or contruction or anything.

The students had to, as a whole group, recite each sentence 5 or 6 times. End of lesson.

The other students all know my son speaks advanced English and they told the teacher so. Result, the teacher criticized my son's western surname (western surnames are ugly, etc.)

A few years back I was in regular correspondence with the Head of English - not just a professor - at a big BKK uni. Her English was really poor! And it turned out that she had never lived or studied outside Thailand. But a one-eyed teacher in the land of the blind . . .

R

"< We learn from writing so we have to translate it when we use the language. That's the reason why most of Thais are not successful in English, including me although we have to study it for about ten years at school," said Thavorn Chalassathien, deputy secretary general of the Federation of Thai Industries.>"

Yesterday, I was introduced to 2 university English teachers both of which were Thai. We had a short conversation because I could not understand what they were saying. They could not put a simple sentence together to answer a general question or make an intelligent understandable comment. Makes one wonder, if the professors cannot speak english then why would we expect the students to speak english? :jap:

Does anyone expect the students to speak English? I teach English majors and most of them speak reasonably well but some cannot put a simple sentence together. Here is an example of a conversation I had with a fourth year English major student who will graduate next semester. She missed a small test because she overslept.

"Teacher I....I .... I....... Teacher I want test. I......."

"Ok see me at half past two"

"ok teacher thank you"

At 8.30 she calls me on the phone

"teacher where?"

"I am in a meeting"

"Teacher I office you. You meet me two thirty."

"Yes but it's now 8.30" (I suddenly realise she's translating the Thai "song mong khreung".) So I replied in Thai "Bai song mong khreung"

"oh teacher cannot. Have class"

"Ok. What time do you finish"

" Four ... four.... er four and a half."

I'm not allowed to fail them. She'll go out with a degree in a few months stating that she can speak English.

My Thai son (speaks perfect Thai and perfect English) had to attend the compulsory English classes at his Thai uni.

The teacher was a 19 yr old Thai girl who has no qualifications, and no training in teaching English and she cannot speak English. Son says the young lady was not pleasant and spoke to the students very severely.

The teacher turned up very late for every class (supposed to be 2 hrs X 2 times per week), with about 5 or 6 sentences, all hand written all in block letters with no pronunciation marks, on a page ripped out of a note book. One of the students was then sent to another building to buy a photocopy for each student.

A typical example: 'YESTERDAY I WAS WENT GO TO THE SHOPPING'

The teacher gave no explanation of vocabulary, or contruction or anything.

The students had to, as a whole group, recite each sentence 5 or 6 times. End of lesson.

The other students all know my son speaks advanced English and they told the teacher so. Result, the teacher criticized my son's western surname (western surnames are ugly, etc.)

SOLUTION TO THAILAND IN GENERAL:

Cryogenically freeze the entire nation for 20 years and seal it with shrink-film . . . with the exception of 10,000 small babies who are removed to England (to learn proper English) to grow up on special farms away from big cities. When they are all 20 years old, re-open Thailand again, remove the hugely-useless teachers and replace them with these 10,000 new teachers who can not only speak perfect English but are additionally aware of world history and events and the (minuscule) role that Thailand plays in them.

Oh - that won't work - the new teachers won't be able to speak Thai. Bugg*r. Back to the drawing board.

R

The government is not interested in educating their people.

The children have no motivation because they cannot "fail".

Thai people would rather have their skin removed by sandpaper than lose face.

Telling blatant lies is preferable to losing face with the truth.

Education in not compulsory at all: in that the law is not enforced and many parents aren't bothered.

The quality of English, even of university heads of English department is dreadful - I've known two (HODs).

Thais in general are inherently suspicious of anything foreign (including foreigners) and would much rather pretend they're s first-class nation surrounded by ignorant neighbours than acknowledge they are incompatible and now unable to compete in any any with Western nation.

Thus they can see little purpose in learning English.

But on the other hand their economy is not about to collapse in ruins.....

Thank God they don't know about any of this!!!!!!!!! The'd become insufferable!

R

robsamui : Good to know. So if I buy a motorcycle from someone, me and him go there and job will be done more easely?

Dan Autos is recognizable on the road? Left side when coming from Chaweng?

Thanks

Yes - that's right - all done for you!

Coming into to Mae Nam from Chaweng, it's right on the main road, just before all the bars on the right and Soi 1 where the police station is.

(I've just sent you a PM, by the way . . .)

R

Ok, thanks, it was adblock's fault, you're right

I will contact him as he dosen't say how many km.

Do you know how complicated for administrative things (put it at my name, ..)?

Thanks

Get the transfer papers from the motor office in Lipa Noi.

Get the owner to sign the transfer papers and green book.

Fill in your part (papers are in Thai only)

Get bike to a bike shop to make copies of frame and engine numbers.

Get a residence certificate from Immigrations in Nathon.

Bring all papers filled in to motor office in Lipa Noi.

Dan Autos in Mae Nam will now do it all for you for a very small fee (can't recall - not more than 200B, I think). There is a full-time girl sitting at a desk whose job is only to handle vehicle transfers. She speaks English, shows you how to fill in all the Thai documents and sorts out tax and insurance at the same time. Job done!

R

If you have no luck with this post - they sell almost new bikes on the ground floor at BigC. (Opposite the exit escalator down.)

From memory, a bit more than 20k - but in very good nick.

Don't bother - tried there. All used and smartened up, almost the same price as new (35,000-ish) and months before you can get your hands on the green book.

R