Australian tourists help collect rubbish on Koh Samui (video)

[webfact]

video screenshot

A group of Australian tourists on Koh Samui became an unexpected viral sensation by helping local municipal workers collect rubbish in the early morning hours. Their enthusiastic efforts, captured on video, brought smiles and laughter to viewers, especially Thais.

 

The incident took place yesterday at around 4am, today, August 22, when the tourists, hanging off the back of a garbage truck, eagerly assisted in lifting and emptying bins. Their spirited participation left a lasting impression on anyone who passed by, with some even shouting praises.

The video that captured this endearing moment was shared on TikTok by a user who mentioned being so charmed by the scene that they had to turn their car around to record it.

 

“Aussie guys, it was around 4am, and we drove past them. We had to turn back to capture their cuteness. Sorry for the laughter in the background, we were drunk, and they were just too adorable.”

The clip quickly gained traction online, with viewers expressing their admiration for the tourists’ unexpected act of kindness. The tourists’ actions were not only endearing but also demonstrated a sense of community and willingness to help, even while on holiday, reported KhaoSod.

 

@sgjm.msw22 ตอบกลับ @พูดไปเรื่อย จัดให้ค่ะ 😂 🇦🇺🇹🇭 หนุ่มออสซี่ 💕💕 ตอนนั้นถ่ายประมาณ ตี4 ขับรถผ่านไปแล้ว ต้องวนกลับมาถ่ายความน่ารักเลยค่ะ 🤣🤣😅 ** ขออภัยในเสียงขำนะคะ ตอนนั้นเมา และ พวกเขาน่ารักมาก ** #คนไทยรู้ทัน #เกาะสมุย #samui #suratthai #ตลก #australia #thailand ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ - หนีงานไปเที่ยวกันเถอะ 🫶🏻

The video shows the group of tourists energetically lifting bins and dumping the rubbish into the truck, all while maintaining high spirits. Their cheerful attitude and willingness to get their hands dirty were met with applause and cheers from onlookers, said another unnamed resident.

 

“It’s not often you see tourists going out of their way to help with such a thankless task. These guys are amazing!

 

“It’s so heartwarming to see people from different parts of the world coming together and helping out, even in small ways like this. It restores your faith in humanity.”

 

Locals who witnessed the scene expressed their gratitude and amazement at the tourists’ actions.

 

“Seeing them help out like this so early in the morning was truly inspiring. It shows that kindness knows no boundaries.”

 

by Puntid Tantivangphaisal

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-08-22

 

 

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[JoePai]

Drunk Aussies on their way back to hotel  

[Tropicalevo]

Not sure if the Thai garbos would have appreciated that - no going through the rubbish for the recycling.

Good on the lads though.

[cnx101]

Black listed tomorrow for stealing Thai jobs

[spidermike007]

I lived on Samui for 9 years a long time ago, I was always astonished at how dirty some of the beaches were. Only the ones with the nice hotels who had their own staff go out and clean the beaches we're in really good shape.

 

I calculated once that the island could hire a three-man crew working 5 days a week for about 60,000 baht a month, to clean four or five beaches a day and just circle around the island. This amount is literally nothing for an island like Samui, that generates billions, yet the leaders and the mayor are so greedy that they wouldn't even consider such a plan.

 

On another occasion I was told by a friend who's best friend worked for the Danish Embassy, that the Danes had submitted a plan to create a free electric monorail around the entire Ring Road. 54 km. at no charge to the island, no charge to the government. It was to be a pilot program, and it was turned down because the local officials can't collect bribes on a free system. What can one say? 

 

If you get away from the Ring Road and up into the mountains, Samui is stunning, and some of the beaches are very nice, but the island has always been run with the absolute minimum amount of maintenance, and sometimes it felt like a 6-year-old dish rag in the kitchen of a very busy diner. 

I had some very good years there back in the day, but the island changed a lot, and I don't miss it for a minute. 

[ronster]

And the driver of the truck is going to get fired for them standing on the truck and all standing beside it when it is compacting . Nevermind the amount of bikes and cars that have crashed into the back of these things on samui even with the flashing lights on etc.

Accident waiting to happen !

 

[Purdey]

Good on them!

[hotchilli]

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

On another occasion I was told by a friend who's best friend worked for the Danish Embassy, that the Danes had submitted a plan to create a free electric monorail around the entire Ring Road. 54 km. at no charge to the island, no charge to the government. It was to be a pilot program, and it was turned down because the local officials can't collect bribes on a free system. What can one say? 

This sums it up nicely... 

[Aussie999]

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

Drunk Aussies on their way back to hotel  

Even drunk they are better than you.

[johng]

36 minutes ago, cnx101 said:

Black listed tomorrow for stealing Thai jobs

 

Yeah working without a work permit  !!!   even voluntary work with no pay needs a work permit.

[ryandb]

30 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I lived on Samui for 9 years a long time ago, I was always astonished at how dirty some of the beaches were. Only the ones with the nice hotels who had their own staff go out and clean the beaches we're in really good shape.

 

I calculated once that the island could hire a three-man crew working 5 days a week for about 60,000 baht a month, to clean four or five beaches a day and just circle around the island. This amount is literally nothing for an island like Samui, that generates billions, yet the leaders and the mayor are so greedy that they wouldn't even consider such a plan.

 

On another occasion I was told by a friend who's best friend worked for the Danish Embassy, that the Danes had submitted a plan to create a free electric monorail around the entire Ring Road. 54 km. at no charge to the island, no charge to the government. It was to be a pilot program, and it was turned down because the local officials can't collect bribes on a free system. What can one say? 

 

If you get away from the Ring Road and up into the mountains, Samui is stunning, and some of the beaches are very nice, but the island has always been run with the absolute minimum amount of maintenance, and sometimes it felt like a 6-year-old dish rag in the kitchen of a very busy diner. 

I had some very good years there back in the day, but the island changed a lot, and I don't miss it for a minute. 

 

I still live here and enjoy it (you go to the beaches where you know it's kept clean), but you are exactly right.

 

My family is coming over for the first time next year, and I told them we are going somewhere other than Samui. It's not the tropical paradise you think it is. 

 

Anyways good on these lads, some young lads having a bit of fun and doing a little good in the process.

[Sinsot]

26 minutes ago, Aussie999 said:

Even drunk they are better than you.

Triggered!!!

[klauskunkel]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

TikTok user who mentioned they had to turn their car around to record it.

“Aussie guys, it was around 4am, and we drove past them. We had to turn back to capture their cuteness. Sorry for the laughter in the background, we were drunk, and they were just too adorable.”

Tik Tok user admits to driving drunk...

[bob smith]

I hope they have their work permits ready for inspection!!

 

bob.

[TheFishman1]

Yeah, I guess you have that foreigners pick up the trash left by the Thai people. I’m surprised they’re not immigration there to arrest them for doing a job. That’s reserved for Thai only TIT.

[shackleton]

Well what can one say good for them getting in the spirit of the game so to speak

We need more Tourists doing this if I remember there used to be people out in the mornings from their hotels cleaning the beaches ⛱ 😀 

[JoePai]

1 hour ago, Aussie999 said:

Even drunk they are better than you.

Heck what a sad little individual you are 

[RethairedJarhead]

Not many positive articles lately… This one’s good though👏 

[Chris BKK]

Onya

[Owiee]

I lived there in the early 80s was amazing back then

[Bundooman]

Koh Samui officials should hang their heads in the shame at this foreigner-inspired clean-up.

I used to go to Samui every year back in the early '90s when it was a stunningly beautiful, tropical and almost empty paradise.

I recall the first evening that my then English wife and I spent at Chaweng beach. we could look left for about 1Km and then right down that curved 2Km stretch . It was nearly empty, clean, enchantingly beautiful and it remained like that for the next 2-3 years. 

We then started to noticed the garbage drifting across the sea from Koh Koh Phangan, syringes, plastic and other flotsam/jetsam that washed up daily.

Two years later, Samui was a construction site of concrete, low quality tourists, garbage-strewn beaches, all supported by a vast variety of blaring music, outrageous pricing scams and the increasing number of Mafia organisations from various countries taking over and we decided there and then that we would never go back and we never did.

I still live in Thailand and have done so for 20 years. The problems listed above have not been resolved.

They have just become worse and the garbage is top of the list.

I will never return to Samui. The fantastic times we had there are just fading memories - just like many other such places.

[johng]

56 minutes ago, shackleton said:

We need more Tourists doing this

Why the heck should a tourist  be cleaning up rubbish on their holiday that's just daft  and also technically illegal  as I pointed out before, any work ( not in/on your own property)  in Thailand requires a work permit.. so yes the locals all had a good laugh at the

"silly drunken foreigners"  helping to throw rubbish in the truck  but it is the Thais themself who should be doing this they pay for the local authority to provide this service  and they should also clear up after themself.

 

 

[Gottfrid]

2 hours ago, johng said:

 

Yeah working without a work permit  !!!   even voluntary work with no pay needs a work permit.

Yeah, but it´s different. This is a 5H1t job that nobody wants, then we can smile at the foreigner doing it for free.

[johng]

Just now, Gottfrid said:

but it´s different.

"Same same but different"  😋

[maesariang]

1 hour ago, JoePai said:

Heck what a sad little individual you are 

Says the guy abusing people doing good things.

[maesariang]

13 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Yeah, but it´s different. This is a 5H1t job that nobody wants, then we can smile at the foreigner doing it for free.

Be the change you want in the world.

[off road pat]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I lived on Samui for 9 years a long time ago, I was always astonished at how dirty some of the beaches were. Only the ones with the nice hotels who had their own staff go out and clean the beaches we're in really good shape.

 

I calculated once that the island could hire a three-man crew working 5 days a week for about 60,000 baht a month, to clean four or five beaches a day and just circle around the island. This amount is literally nothing for an island like Samui, that generates billions, yet the leaders and the mayor are so greedy that they wouldn't even consider such a plan.

 

On another occasion I was told by a friend who's best friend worked for the Danish Embassy, that the Danes had submitted a plan to create a free electric monorail around the entire Ring Road. 54 km. at no charge to the island, no charge to the government. It was to be a pilot program, and it was turned down because the local officials can't collect bribes on a free system. What can one say? 

 

If you get away from the Ring Road and up into the mountains, Samui is stunning, and some of the beaches are very nice, but the island has always been run with the absolute minimum amount of maintenance, and sometimes it felt like a 6-year-old dish rag in the kitchen of a very busy diner. 

I had some very good years there back in the day, but the island changed a lot, and I don't miss it for a minute. 

I stayed at Lamai (just outside the town) for over 20 years, a couple of months a year. In a bungalow close to the beach. One day I heard some noise at the main road. I went to see, and there were a dozen guys all with the same T-shirts collecting the garbage and cleaning the side of the road. A politician was leading them. Pretty soon a minibus arrived with a camera crew. They started to film and interview the politician. After they finished filming the guys collecting the garbage, the camera crew left, .... Right after that, the politician called every body and they got into a minivan and left as well. It was all just for the cameras, ... nothing ever get done there.

[Tropicalevo]

19 minutes ago, johng said:

Thais themself who should be doing this they pay for the local authority to provide this service  and they should also clear up after themself.

From what I have seen/heard, very few owners pay the garbage tax here on Samui.

'Old school' Thais burn their garbage.

Lots of new villas are now owned by foreigners, the majority of them not paying the garbage tax.

That is why the local Tessabaan removed all of the public garbage bins from the streets. No one was paying the tax.

[off road pat]

33 minutes ago, Bundooman said:

Koh Samui officials should hang their heads in the shame at this foreigner-inspired clean-up.

I used to go to Samui every year back in the early '90s when it was a stunningly beautiful, tropical and almost empty paradise.

I recall the first evening that my then English wife and I spent at Chaweng beach. we could look left for about 1Km and then right down that curved 2Km stretch . It was nearly empty, clean, enchantingly beautiful and it remained like that for the next 2-3 years. 

We then started to noticed the garbage drifting across the sea from Koh Koh Phangan, syringes, plastic and other flotsam/jetsam that washed up daily.

Two years later, Samui was a construction site of concrete, low quality tourists, garbage-strewn beaches, all supported by a vast variety of blaring music, outrageous pricing scams and the increasing number of Mafia organisations from various countries taking over and we decided there and then that we would never go back and we never did.

I still live in Thailand and have done so for 20 years. The problems listed above have not been resolved.

They have just become worse and the garbage is top of the list.

I will never return to Samui. The fantastic times we had there are just fading memories - just like many other such places.

It all got down after they build the airport. People could just fly in easy. Before you had to take a long Bus or train ride to Surathani. Then a taxi ride to the pier. And then an overcrowded speedboat to Nathon at Samui. It was for the adventurous people.

[Kinok Farang]

Job for life if they ever come to Pattaya.