Quiet days on Koh Samui...

[notmyself]

3 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

wonder how the island's infrastructure coped in the past when it was busier? 

 

 

Lol We all do.

 

[notmyself]

5 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

I think the problem for most oversees tourists is the 12ish hour flight to Bangkok, layover until flight to Surat Thani and then another bus/ferry. Many friends looking at this option and then considered the extra "pain" for their short (1-2 week) holiday not being worth it. Most ended up going elsewhere.

 

More so if you have kids.

 

And you have to change airports in Bangkok

Edited December 27, 2018 by notmyself

[notmyself]

27 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

I think the problem for most oversees tourists is the 12ish hour flight to Bangkok, layover until flight to Surat Thani and then another bus/ferry. Many friends looking at this option and then considered the extra "pain" for their short (1-2 week) holiday not being worth it. Most ended up going elsewhere.

 

Long haul flights that include the Samui leg are generally similar regardless of USM or URT 

 

[Tropicalevo]

4 hours ago, huberthammer said:

Quite interesting, I have been away most of the last 2 weeks and not spent much time in restaurants, bars or near resorts. My observation would have been quite the opposite, traffic Maenam to Tesco has been just horrific all week (even without the rain and currently not much construction on the road). Difficult to judge who is in the cars but from seeing all the "green" scooter riders it looked a lot busier to me than the last 2 years. Same with the airport, it has been busy and most flights I was on were completely booked.

 

Obviously people running businesses are in a better position to judge, just thought it was interesting and wonder how the island's infrastructure coped in the past when it was busier? 

 

 

I agree with your thoughts. Traffic is horrific! The people inside the vehicles and on the scooters are staying somewhere.

 

All of the villas that I manage (50) are busy. Larger groups now usually more than 6 per villa. Last night I checked in three villas - 24 adults and 5 kids.

 

The current 'Asian' guests do not go to bars. That is why they are empty. It is not the island that is dead - just bars and some restaurants. (Usually the over-priced ones that I do not recommend to guests.)

 

All flights to the island fully booked more or less. I know someone that needed to come to Samui yesterday - had to fly via Chiang Mai! She tried to book over one week ago. Flights out of Samui OK this week but next week.......?

 

The other big change - Westerners used to come here for 1 to 2 weeks. With the Euro and GBP dead, they are not coming at all. Those that I see are mostly ex-pats living in other countries.(Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai etc.)

 

Asians rarely stay more than 3 to 4 nights! They would stay for less but most owners insist on that as a minimum stay on their AirBnb website.

 

As others have noted - a completely different demographic to that of 3 years ago. Chinese visa on arrival being the biggest changer! And now they are fast-tracked at the airports.

[notmyself]

5 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

Chinese visa on arrival being the biggest changer! And now they are fast-tracked at the airports.

 

I wouldn't use fast tracked myself. More just ushered into a group and given lots help due to not being able to communicate in verbal or written form. I don't see any issue with that.

 

 

The current 'Asian' guests do not go to bars. That is why they are empty. It is not the island that is dead - just bars and some restaurants. (Usually the over-priced ones that I do not recommend to guests.)

 

Or any small businesses really. Nothing to do with nationalism and such but different culture and inability to be able to communicate outside of the culture. You ever been to Cheng du? Centre of city you will get English language to various degrees but not far out of there it drops to nothing really. The people who come to Samui are mostly from the suburbs and are generally polite within the confines of their culture.

[fruitman]

On 12/27/2018 at 9:56 AM, Gulfsailor said:

but all 200+ high-end villas (30,000 - 150,000 thb per night) are full until after Chinese New Year

Are you Thai? Use a Thai calculator? I don't believe any of it, solly......30.000 a night and all full. yes sure mate!

[AtoZ]

15 hours ago, khunPer said:

Or could it be that the expectations – or rather demands – from today's tourists has changed, so a small affordable family-run bungalow resort don't has the same appeal as before..?

 

I noticed that my own friends value a perfect holiday higher than price; i.e. they don't mind the price as much as the quality of the accommodation, which is both room standard and service level; they rather pay double or triple to be sure. Even my old backpacker friends – who are the real reason I ended up at Samui – that used to stay in 300-350 baht a night fan-only huts with cold water – and dine freight rice chicken for 30 baht including free drinking water, so they had more money for Mekong-Coke in a bar at night – now they want both aircon and a decent standard bungalow, including a hot shower, and they don't mind paying for it; however for years still doing a train-ride down, at least for the good-old-days experience, whilst Bangkok Air back for comfort, but now also gladly book return tickets by air.

Over the past 5 years I stayed in probably over 300 places. All from super expensive 5* resorts to guest houses or family run boutique hotels.

 

From my experience the large 3* - 4* hotels with average ranking of 7 on Booking/Agoda are almost always better than the small/family run hotels with ranking 9+

 

The price difference is often not too much, but I don't want to feel awkward like in someone home. I want to feel I'm in hotel with real service. The family/small/guesthouse types of places have high review because the customers there tend to be the first time travelers (wow, such a lovely egg for breakfast) or backpackers who want to sleep for once instead of sharing room with 15 other people.

 

Some of the owners tend to be bit over the board annoying... Probably a different feeling f you are an American first time in Asia and have the chance to speak with a real local about life. Or you been x times here already and are sick of the forced conversations with the same questions.

Edited December 28, 2018 by AtoZ

[Gulfsailor]

2 hours ago, fruitman said:

Are you Thai? Use a Thai calculator? I don't believe any of it, solly......30.000 a night and all full. yes sure mate!

Company I deal with only markets properties that charge 20,000 a night minimum in low season. During peak times that minimum easily doubles or trebles. Their portfolio is over 150 villas on Samui. And yes, they're all full, save some single nights in between bookings. Just this week I welcomed 3 separate groups who arrived by private planes. 

Like I said, the demographics are changing!

[BigT73]

On 12/26/2018 at 5:18 PM, silver sea said:

I went to Macro Christmas Eve...about 10 shoppers in the entire place...can it be the high prices they are charging... or this new government hiking all the taxes onto the stratosphere...? Cigarettes have gone from 23 Baht a pack to 99 Baht...beer, 89 Baht a bottle from 27 a few years back...do people feel like they are being f***ed, and have ventured over to Vietnam by any chance...?”

Not sure where your mate got his prices from,  8yrs ago cigs were 67bht and have gone up to about 99 bht, beer chang was 43 now about 67bht.  Was your mate coming over in the vietnam era of late 60's?

[fruitman]

19 minutes ago, Gulfsailor said:

Company I deal with only markets properties that charge 20,000 a night minimum in low season. During peak times that minimum easily doubles or trebles. Their portfolio is over 150 villas on Samui. And yes, they're all full, save some single nights in between bookings. Just this week I welcomed 3 separate groups who arrived by private planes. 

Like I said, the demographics are changing!

I see, well in that case they better stay in their bungalow/resort because the rest of samui is far below that standard. Even Chaweng with all it's stench from the drains and crappy sidewalks will disappoint those people.

[Gulfsailor]

1 minute ago, BigT73 said:

Not sure where your mate got his prices from,  8yrs ago cigs were 67bht and have gone up to about 99 bht, beer chang was 43 now about 67bht.  Was your mate coming over in the vietnam era of late 60's?

Time flies when one is having fun ????

[Vacuum]

On 12/26/2018 at 2:42 PM, fruitman said:

Many falangn have business in thailand....

Yes they have, but they shouldn't have invested more than they could afford to lose.

[PoorSucker]

9 hours ago, notmyself said:

 

More so if you have kids.

 

And you have to change airports in Bangkok

No you don't, Thai smile flies from swampy to Surat.

[notmyself]

6 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

No you don't, Thai smile flies from swampy to Surat.

 

Cool

[jason404]

Been coming to Samui 2/3 times a year since 2014,and it seems quieter than it's ever been. Lamai wasn't that bad bit still was quiet from what I remember from the past. But chaweng has been very quiet.

 

Never seen it so bad,bars and restaurants empty/half full,even Henry Africa's was empty the other night just before xmas. Even Xmas day wasn't so busy in chaweng like before. Everyone I've spoke to saying how quiet it's been,and the amount of shops shut down and available for rent.

 

the pound being so bad vs the baht has made many British looking elsewhere but seems many westerners have stayed away.

 

Gone are the days where you went to green mango and when that shut,you'd go to sound club and drink to 5-6 am.

 

Will see how it is in the new year,and if it stays as quiet as it is I probably won't come back.

[CG1 Blue]

1 hour ago, jason404 said:

Gone are the days where you went to green mango and when that shut,you'd go to sound club and drink to 5-6 am.

Just fyi, after Green Mango you can go to Hendricks or Stadium Bar (Soi Solo) and drink till 5-6am

[Tropicalevo]

This might come as a surprise to some people, but Chaweng is not Samui. Chaweng is just one tatty, dirty village on this island. There are other, much nicer places. Here is a clue - Ritz Carlton, The W, Tongsai Bay, Six Senses, Hilton, Four Seasons etc - none are in Chaweng.

 

Not everyone comes to Samui to party in Chaweng. Lots of my guests never go there.

 

The only time that I see numbers of guests heading for Chaweng/Ark Bar is when there is a flurry of bookings around the FMP dates.  Even these guests tend to stay in the Bangrak, Plai Laem area. It is cheaper to rent a 4 room villa on Samui than to pay KPN prices, but on the whole people come to Samui for the quiet, tropical beaches, good quality, reasonably priced local food and to enjoy the environment.

 

Chaweng rents are high and so prices are also high. Not many reasonably priced restaurants serving good food. Traffic and parking is a pain. Even the hospitals are expensive!

 

Chaweng might be dead but Samui certainly isn't.

[notmyself]

2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Chaweng might be dead but Samui certainly isn't.

 

Yep. It's just changing/ evolving from one demographic to another at an ever increasing rate. One day it will flip like the Earth's magnetic poles but on a much shorter timescale.

 

A geomagnetic reversal is a change in a planet's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south are interchanged (not to be confused with geographic north and geographic south). The Earth's field has alternated between periods of normal polarity, in which the predominant direction of the field was the same as the present direction, and reverse polarity, in which it was the opposite. These periods are called chrons.

 

There have been 183 reversals over the last 83 million years. The latest, the Brunhes–Matuyama reversal, occurred 780,000 years ago, and may have happened very quickly, within a human lifetime.[1] In August 2018, researchers reported a reversal lasting only 200 years.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal

 

Flights in are well booked and lots of people are taking advantage of using the Surat route. Who is coming and what do they want defines the market errrr just that really. Samui has always been more expensive than many other places so that aspect of cost is of limited value and speaking of value.... In the example you mentioned, Chaweng. Does it represent good value for money for a single adult or young couple? I would say not. You've already told it how it is so as an addition I'll mention housing. Lot of good quality 1 bedroom bungalows inland going for cheap as chips. Huge glut. Maybe non villa would be more accurate.

[moreem]

12 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

This might come as a surprise to some people, but Chaweng is not Samui. Chaweng is just one tatty, dirty village on this island. There are other, much nicer places. Here is a clue - Ritz Carlton, The W, Tongsai Bay, Six Senses, Hilton, Four Seasons etc - none are in Chaweng.

 

Not everyone comes to Samui to party in Chaweng. Lots of my guests never go there.

 

The only time that I see numbers of guests heading for Chaweng/Ark Bar is when there is a flurry of bookings around the FMP dates.  Even these guests tend to stay in the Bangrak, Plai Laem area. It is cheaper to rent a 4 room villa on Samui than to pay KPN prices, but on the whole people come to Samui for the quiet, tropical beaches, good quality, reasonably priced local food and to enjoy the environment.

 

Chaweng rents are high and so prices are also high. Not many reasonably priced restaurants serving good food. Traffic and parking is a pain. Even the hospitals are expensive!

 

Chaweng might be dead but Samui certainly isn't.

 

I have been living and working on Samui but I perfectly disagree with your opinion which is so wrong to me. It seems that you know only one side of your truth.

 

 

 

 

 

[RickG16]

12 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

This might come as a surprise to some people, but Chaweng is not Samui. Chaweng is just one tatty, dirty village on this island. There are other, much nicer places. Here is a clue - Ritz Carlton, The W, Tongsai Bay, Six Senses, Hilton, Four Seasons etc - none are in Chaweng.

 

Not everyone comes to Samui to party in Chaweng. Lots of my guests never go there.

 

The only time that I see numbers of guests heading for Chaweng/Ark Bar is when there is a flurry of bookings around the FMP dates.  Even these guests tend to stay in the Bangrak, Plai Laem area. It is cheaper to rent a 4 room villa on Samui than to pay KPN prices, but on the whole people come to Samui for the quiet, tropical beaches, good quality, reasonably priced local food and to enjoy the environment.

 

Chaweng rents are high and so prices are also high. Not many reasonably priced restaurants serving good food. Traffic and parking is a pain. Even the hospitals are expensive!

 

Chaweng might be dead but Samui certainly isn't.

Agree with all that... but if the best restaurants can't be found in Chaweng, where are they?

 

Suggestions please ???? 

[khunPer]

39 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

Agree with all that... but if the best restaurants can't be found in Chaweng, where are they?

 

Suggestions please ???? 

Zazen, W, The Farmer, Santibury, The Cliff, Dr. Frogs to name a few I instantly recall, plus a number in Fisherman Village; but there are lots more, including some in Lamai. Unfortunately both my girlfriend, and myself, cook too well to head out that often.

 

Some of the few restaurants in Chaweng we used to visit has either gone down in quality and experience – in our view – or closed, like my preferred Brazilian buffet. We tried a few new ones, that were little disappointing – or our expectations too high – but of course haven't tried all, so there might still be many good restaurants in Chaweng.

[RickG16]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

Zazen, W, The Farmer, Santibury, The Cliff, Dr. Frogs to name a few I instantly recall, plus a number in Fisherman Village; but there are lots more, including some in Lamai. Unfortunately both my girlfriend, and myself, cook too well to head out that often.

 

Some of the few restaurants in Chaweng we used to visit has either gone down in quality and experience – in our view – or closed, like my preferred Brazilian buffet. We tried a few new ones, that were little disappointing – or our expectations too high – but of course haven't tried all, so there might still be many good restaurants in Chaweng.

Thanks... It's a good point..  I completely forgot about Fisherman's. Plenty around there 

[notmyself]

9 hours ago, khunPer said:

Zazen, W, The Farmer, Santibury, The Cliff, Dr. Frogs to name a few I instantly recall, plus a number in Fisherman Village; but there are lots more, including some in Lamai. Unfortunately both my girlfriend, and myself, cook too well to head out that often.

 

We tried a few new ones, that were little disappointing – or our expectations too high – but of course haven't tried all, so there might still be many good restaurants in Chaweng.

 

That may have been true in the past but not now as quality produce is easily available.

 

Samui has never been known for its gastronomy and I would venture to say that its standing is negative rather than neutral. You mention The Cliff Friends often invite me there but I refuse on the grounds that it is expensive rubbish. Don't care if it's free. It's a shame really because everything such as location, produce availability and a wonderful kitchen is right at your finger tips. Reminds me of Rarotonga actually.

 

Rarotonga is the most populous island of the Cook Islands, with a population of 10,572 (census 2011),[1] out of the country's total resident population of 14,974. Captain John Dibbs, master of the colonial brig Endeavour, is credited as the European discoverer on 25 July 1823, while transporting the missionary Rev. John Williams.

The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and international airport are on Rarotonga. Because it is the most populous island, Cook Islanders may often be referred to as Rarotongan, but they may come from one of the other 14 islands in the group, such as Aitutaki or Mangaia. Rarotonga is a very popular tourist destination with many resorts, hotels and motels. The chief town, Avarua, on the north coast, is the capital of the Cook Islands

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rarotonga

 

 

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

10 hours ago, RickG16 said:

Agree with all that... but if the best restaurants can't be found in Chaweng, where are they?

 

Suggestions please ???? 

Quality Thai food in Choengmon - Krua Choengmon and Pui Relax - both very reasonable prices, both also do good quality farang food. Orchid has a good rep with tourists but I find it a bit crowded and noisy. Akbar if you fancy Indian for a change.

 

Bangrak - Antica Locanda, Oliver's Steakhouse, Le Cote de Boef. Not sure if Ocean's 11 is still there. I have not been since wifey died. Good cheap food at Casa Luna. A few places do a good full English The Doghouse, Bangrak Cafe, The Coffee Bean (or Cup???) The Social is getting a good rep as well.

 

These are not 'up market' restaurants. They just sell honest good food at reasonable prices

 

PS do not go to Krua Choengmon on a Sunday or Monday night. It is packed with Korean honeymoon couples. They pre-book their food so walk-ins have a long wait!

Edited December 30, 2018 by Tropicalevo
Add the PS

[RickG16]

2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Bangrak Cafe

They do an absolutely outstanding full English. As close to a greasey spoon back home as I've seen.

[Tropicalevo]

18 hours ago, khunPer said:

Some of the few restaurants in Chaweng we used to visit has either gone down in quality and experience – in our view – or closed, like my preferred Brazilian buffet.

Yes - the Brazilian buffet was always a decent place. Shortly after they opened they tried a "all you can drink Singha beer" promotion. 100 baht each person for three hours of drinking!

 

A few friends and I went and had a GREAT time. Never saw that promotion again.

 

Probably the best meals that I have had on Samui are found in Chez Francois in Bophut. Very, very good food. Again, have not been for a few years.

Edited December 30, 2018 by Tropicalevo

[evadgib]

The Green Cafe in Lamai is worth adding to this list & the road less travelled in Naton is on my 'to do' list as everyone speaks highly that has been there.

[jason404]

On 12/29/2018 at 12:26 AM, CG1 Blue said:

Just fyi, after Green Mango you can go to Hendricks or Stadium Bar (Soi Solo) and drink till 5-6am

Yeah I have been to Hendrix bar a few times last couple of years, but it gets cramped as it's very small and not of the scale or atmosphere as sound was. But doubt there would be much atmosphere if it was open now due to lack of people.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, jason404 said:

Yeah I have been to Hendrix bar a few times last couple of years, but it gets cramped as it's very small and not of the scale or atmosphere as sound was. But doubt there would be much atmosphere if it was open now due to lack of people.

Lot of the guests in Sound Club were Thais, and they'll be back, if it reopened. The Thais heads for "The Beach Bar" instead in Chaweng Noi – the Black Moon Party has also moved to there – same DJ's as Sound Club plus named guest DJs; and I believe same general management also, I have always heard the the night-life venues in Chaweng are controlled by a few families...????

[CG1 Blue]

4 hours ago, jason404 said:

Yeah I have been to Hendrix bar a few times last couple of years, but it gets cramped as it's very small and not of the scale or atmosphere as sound was. But doubt there would be much atmosphere if it was open now due to lack of people.

Yes, Hendricks is small.  Stadium bar (at the end of Soi Solo) is larger and more open, but doesn't compare to Sound. We used to have the choice of Solo club and Sound a few years ago. Both very spacious and open till the small hours. I wonder if the lack of decent late night options has contributed to the fall in tourist numbers in Chaweng.