Renting a bike on Samui - Deadly or Essential?

[yogavnture]

  On 2/19/2018 at 3:47 PM, PoorSucker said:

You must use the road in both examples.

You can walk from Chaweng to Bophut in 45 min.

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its a sad state of affairs if people are bouldering the beaches to avoid unruly drivers. farang must be to blame for this?

[yogavnture]

if samui wants more tourists maybe its time they make it a three lane road. around the island . either that or have a grand prix every year on the road that rings the island.  samui grand prix............do the cops enforce the helmet law thier or better yet have speed traps or red light violation setups?  on ko tao they dont enforce the helmet law at all

[yogavnture]

the samui situation is the cops fault for not doing thier job?

[CG1 Blue]

  On 2/20/2018 at 5:15 AM, yogavnture said:

if samui wants more tourists

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To be honest I don't think it needs any more.

[Sapporillo]

  On 2/19/2018 at 10:17 AM, CG1 Blue said:

Is it possible to walk from Chaweng to Lamai along the beach / shore or are you forced to use roads for parts of the journey?  And if I headed north on foot from Chaweng beach, how far could you reasonably expect to go in a couple of hours - is Bophut etc. out of the question?

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I'm not sure if walking is such a good idea. For instance, on this journey, if you have to use the roads, it's arguably even more dangerous than driving a motorbike. Plus, if it's longer than 10-15 minutes, and unless most of the way is shaded, it's probably more like an exercise in "will you make it there without getting a heatstroke or severely dehydrated" than a nice walk at the beach. 

[CG1 Blue]

  On 2/20/2018 at 11:08 AM, Sapporillo said:

I'm not sure if walking is such a good idea. For instance, on this journey, if you have to use the roads, it's arguably even more dangerous than driving a motorbike. Plus, if it's longer than 10-15 minutes, and unless most of the way is shaded, it's probably more like an exercise in "will you make it there without getting a heatstroke or severely dehydrated" than a nice walk at the beach. 

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You're probably right.  Maybe it's best if I take a cab to some part of the island with a bit of scenery / something to do / eat, then just mooch around before taking a cab back. I just get bored with having only Chaweng beach rd and Central Festival within easy reach during the day. That's when I miss having a bike.

[khunPer]

  On 2/19/2018 at 10:17 AM, CG1 Blue said:

I'll look at Jeeps. I also like the idea of walking and might do a bit more of that.

 

Is it possible to walk from Chaweng to Lamai along the beach / shore or are you forced to use roads for parts of the journey?  And if I headed north on foot from Chaweng beach, how far could you reasonably expect to go in a couple of hours - is Bophut etc. out of the question?

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Back in time when we had such an old-fashioned thing as printed weekly newspapers on the island, Samui Express had columnist, Des Gillette, who was – and probably still is, it's not that long ago I saw something posted about him – a well known walker on the island. He often invited for a group to walk "Around the Island on the Ring Road", or walk from here to there, and back again.

 

I'm not sure if the walker groups are still active, there was an older ThaiVisa Forum post here, and they also have a blog, which unfortunately seem to be outdated.

 

You cannot walk from Chaweng to Lamai on the beach, as part of the distance, if not most, is cliffs; like here at the bottom of the Chaweng Noi viewpoint...

 

Same when heading north on Chaweng Beach, you'll be stopped by some restaurants (if they are still there, not been the a couple of years) build into the water (on cliffs?) right after "Olvia" Italian restaurant, and I think there cliffs at the other side. The northern peninsula's seafront consist of cliffs and small cozy sandy bays, only accessable from land or by boat. You can use Google Earth to investigate the beaches...

[PoorSucker]

  On 2/20/2018 at 5:13 AM, yogavnture said:

its a sad state of affairs if people are bouldering the beaches to avoid unruly drivers. farang must be to blame for this?

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Ehh, not possible because of the cliffs, see KhunPer post. 

[evadgib]

Des is still at it but the OP might need running spikes in order to keep up! ?

[Justfine]

  On 2/20/2018 at 5:15 AM, yogavnture said:

if samui wants more tourists maybe its time they make it a three lane road. around the island . either that or have a grand prix every year on the road that rings the island.  samui grand prix............do the cops enforce the helmet law thier or better yet have speed traps or red light violation setups?  on ko tao they dont enforce the helmet law at all

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The island was overdeveloped 15 years ago. Tourism has ruined it in my opinion.

[Justfine]

  On 2/18/2018 at 5:44 AM, cornishcarlos said:

 

The consensus is wrong. Although the RTP will try to extract money from you anyway.

Thailand signed up to the 1949 Geneva convention on driver licensing, can't remember the proper name for it. But if your licence is in English, it is valid to use without an IDP.

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IDP is for insurance. 300,000 baht medical bill v paying 100 baht to a cop.

 

Worry about the important stuff.

[cornishcarlos]

  On 3/2/2018 at 11:23 PM, Justfine said:

IDP is for insurance. 300,000 baht medical bill v paying 100 baht to a cop.

 

Worry about the important stuff.

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What do you mean IDP is for insurance !! If you have insurance that covers you to ride a bike and your licence is in English, your insurance will cover you. Unless you are here for more than 90 days, in which case you would need a Thai licence anyway.

[Justfine]

  On 3/3/2018 at 3:03 AM, cornishcarlos said:

 

What do you mean IDP is for insurance !! If you have insurance that covers you to ride a bike and your licence is in English, your insurance will cover you. Unless you are here for more than 90 days, in which case you would need a Thai licence anyway.

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Check the fine print. Not always. That's why IDP exist.

[Justfine]

World Nomads tells people to get an IDP on their website.

[USslugga]

Never been to Koh Samui before.  Can someone clue me in?  Why are Koh Samui roads more dangerous than any other Thai road?

[evadgib]

  On 3/5/2018 at 1:44 AM, USslugga said:

Never been to Koh Samui before.  Can someone clue me in?  Why are Koh Samui roads more dangerous than any other Thai road?

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Cos there isn't a bridge ?

[khunPer]

  On 3/5/2018 at 1:44 AM, USslugga said:

Never been to Koh Samui before.  Can someone clue me in?  Why are Koh Samui roads more dangerous than any other Thai road?

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The island has one 2-lane main road only, the so-called "Ring Road", where the accident in the Opening Post happened, and most of the traffic uses the Ring Road, which is ca. 53 km long and runs around the island. The traffic is heavy, and often with daily traffic-jams due to later years increasing traffic. Improved tarmac paving on top of the uneven cement road has increased speed, especially by motorbikes taking over at both sides of cars, shifting from in to out. Furthermore the Thai-way-of-traffic-rules apply extremely well at Samui, together with foreign visitors duing things in traffic, they would never dream about doing at home.

 

Statistics are unreliable, as only traffic victims declared dead at the spot, count as fatal traffic accidents. Some years back the statistics changed, and suddenly it was 3-4 death a month, instead of around 30; some people with knowledge even claimed it was up to 70 death a month (I have no clue if that it's true, sound very drastic, source is Roads of Koh Samui).

 

Traffic statistics are based on death per year per 100.000 population. Samui has a registered population of ca. 50,000; recently around 60,000, but not that many years ago under 50,000 people; a magical number often talked about in relation to status as city and increased financial tax support.

 

Thailand has officially in the level of 34-36 annual traffic-death per 100,000 population; bringing the country up as number 2 and 3 in the WHO statistics for many years; recently being placed as number one. Just 3 traffic-death a month is 36 a year, but with only about 50,000 registered people, it's higher than Thailand in general.

 

This is an official 2017 statistic for Thailand, I presume I can share, as it originates from The Nation and was showed in this forum's news-section...

 

The below graph was posted by some local experts a few years ago (2016), showing both Thailand and Samui, when counted after EEC standards...

[thaibeachlovers]

  On 2/20/2018 at 5:13 AM, yogavnture said:

its a sad state of affairs if people are bouldering the beaches to avoid unruly drivers. farang must be to blame for this?

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I guess you were never there to say that, but it's nothing to do with anything people did.

[thaibeachlovers]

  On 3/2/2018 at 11:18 PM, Justfine said:

The island was overdeveloped 15 years ago. Tourism has ruined it in my opinion.

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When I regularly visited, the resorts on Chaweng were no higher than the tree line and most were hidden in the trees, yet it was already ruined by the flight path over the beach. The Ark bar was just a big hut north of where it moved to years later. Those were the days, indeed. Probably the best beach anywhere.

 

I don't remember the year, but the day I was on the car ferry and saw a semi trailer loaded with steel rebar I knew the paradise days of Samui were over, as they were.

 

I guess Samui is as good an example as any of how to kill the golden goose.

 

Does anyone else remember the huge restaurant made from massive tree trunks with a thatch roof next to the OP bungalow? I think it was called JJ something.

It was burnt down some years ago.

I stayed there but I can't remember the name. Appreciate it if someone can remind me, thanks.