Tropicalevo

No - it was not the PEA. We asked for more information etc. The developer called the PEA. (I could not as I do not have an account with them.) It seems to have been from a scam centre in Burma, hence the music. But is was a native Thai speaker. The phone number does not exist any more.

Had an interesting one the other day. Phone call from the PEA saying that they would be coming to change my electricity meter tomorrow at 11:00. A bit of telephone 'ping pong' trying to get more details. Asked the guy for his name and his manager's name and why change the meter? (I have solar panels and turn the meter back during daylight.) Guy said that he did not know why, but they would be changing 15 meters at the complex. (That is about the number of houses that also have solar panels turning back the meters.) Then the killer question. "But why is the PEA doing this. We do not get our electricity from the PEA and they are not PEA meters?" Our electricity is provided by the property developer - who also did not know what was going on. We checked. Did not hear back from the 'PEA'. No one changed the electricity meter. At one point, we were put on hold. My business partner said that the music was a Burmese song. My concern is - where did they get the private phone number and the house owner's name from. No idea where the scam would have happened because we stopped it at the beginning, but I am sure that we would have been asked to download a 'PEA' link at some point.

I have come across many snakes here on the island, but the one time that I saw a big king cobra frightened the bejeezers out of me. I made no attempt too remove that one.

Well done to the two meter readers.

Amazing that there are still such low-life's around to treat people like this. Disgusting.

Don't they look a lovely couple.

Lots of legitimate companies use Fakebook as their website. (But I do not send them money.)

Many officials run, or are involved in, business ventures on the side. I was a tad amused a while back when the army were asking for a bigger budget and the response from the Finance Ministry was 'concentrate on your golf courses etc and make the money there'.

Well done khun Phasuk and the college.

Hmm the BOT announce a drop in interest and the next day the government announce another multi billion baht give away. Coincidence?

Sorry, but you seem to have no idea how the poor here in Thailand live and survive. Call a hospital - why? She would need money. Hospitals here are like vultures when it comes to dealing with foreigners. Does she even have a phone? Thailand is not the perfect world that you suggest that it should be.

Not really.

1 I live on Koh Samui. I am not going there first. 2 Having lived on Samui for 24 years, I know that Bangkok Airways is not "always 'almost sold out' no matter the season." I do multiple trips every year with Bangkok Airways and this is the first time I have had problems. 3 Car to Phuket is a minimum of 6 hours. On every website that I looked at, none showed an airline flying direct from Phuket to Langkawi. Please enlighten me if you found one - on the 03/11. Even Flightradar24 does not show a direct flight. Last but not least, this thread is on the Samui forum. I am discussing Samui, not Nakhon Sri Nowhere. Apart from all of that, thank you for your almost informative post.

Loans are not much help if your business is struggling. It needs reduced costs. Loans assume that things will get better and you can pay them back eventually, plus the interest. I do not see things getting better in Thailand any time soon.The government is thrashing around like a dying shark. Just like the previous one that got Thailand into this mess.

But hey - just keep on upping the minimum wage and there will be many more. This government, and a few before it, does not care about small to medium size businesses nor its people. Back handers and bribes also take away the much needed cash.

Do folk not think of sending their location from their phones? Apart from a few people like me, most have lots of apps that use GPS locations.

A quick update on Samui's busy season. Just tried to book a trip to see friends who are in Langkawi for a couple of months. Langkawi is a bitch of a place to get to from Samui. Mostly three flights, or two with overnight stops. As it will be two or three airlines, I tried a consolidator as suggested above. Forget it. Total waste of time. Spent ages sorting out the best trip and then negotiating the clunky web site, only to be told 'sorry, we could not book those flights'. Change dates - same message. Change dates again, same message. Gave up and did it myself. Yet again, Bangkok Airways is not available on the final leg Phuket to Samui so another overnight stop. Had to book with Batik Air Malaysia. Are they any good? Anyone out there flown with them?

Those two poor girls. Loosing both parents in the accident. I hope that they both recover from their injuries and the trauma.

You are right. What really happened was that the couple found the wallet and it was empty. So, wanting to make someone's day (and a bit of karma) they put 40,000 baht in the wallet for the poor person.

Beautiful animals. I would love to get one but I am no longer fit enough to walk the beast. They would certainly soon sort out the local soi dogs.

Sorry Gottfrid but you are mistaken. There definitely are beaches here on Samui with any facilities of any kind. Toilets, bars or accommodation. One of them is about 500 metres from my place. (All beaches in Thailand are public.)

That photo alone is enough for me to decide not to visit.

Sorry, but that was always to be expected in Thailand. A zillion copies of every document under the sun which no one ever looks at.

The dinosaurs and their 'nominees' are getting desperate now. What next - start a petition because she had her hair cut on a Wednesday?

Well done to the rescuers.