15 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

It was quite nice 20 years ago I lived there at that time and absolutely loved the place. But we left over a decade ago and there were at least 10 very good solid reasons why we left.

In terms of the vampiric management of tourists, one of the reasons I left Samui, was the attitude of alot of the locals. Even back before the Apocalypse many of them were very jaded, and they seemed to be indifferent, and service suffered as a result of that. Less so with the Burmese workers, as they tend to be quite kind and helpful. Also, there is little to no local pride, as most who are from Samui and Phuket left long ago, after selling their land. That hurts. It was hard living in a place where most of the locals just did not seem to care about the island. Sometimes, the place felt like a 2 year old dishrag in a diner kitchen. Most of the people there for the past 20 years are transplants, who do not care about keeping up the island. The ex-pats always seemed more concerned about maintaining the cleanliness, than the locals.

Phuket and Samui are finished for those of us who have seen them back in their glory days.

I moved to Samui over 20 years ago. Back then it was paradise. Over the years it got highly developed, and traffic increased dramatically, and we eventually left. Alot has changed since Covid. Been back recently, and have a few friends still living there. 

I could literally go on for an hour, but I will try to summarize. The overdevelopment was rampant and completely unregulated, the hillside that I lived across from had construction that never stopped, the concrete trucks would tear up the roads and they were not repaired properly, the congestion became unbearable, the prices skyrocketed, people held me hostage constantly because the island was 20 km from the mainland and therefore they deserved a huge premium on their products and services, everything became more expensive, huge numbers of Russians moved in, and I got sick of being trapped on an island where the ferry or Bangkok Air was my only alternative.

During covid 90% of the business on Samui collapsed, and all the mom and pop stores remain out of business to this day, with the exception of just a few. They were replaced mostly by higher end places that are quite pricey. No thanks.

Believe me I could keep going. Leaving Samui was a great decision.

Many of the points you make apply virtually anywhere in Thailand. Locals are everywhere indifferent about local pride, keeping the place clean, managing it properly, not treating the mass of tourists as ATM machines. Same for overdevelopment, that is what ruined CM, it all split into 5-6 areas from 1-2.

In terms of transport options I have to disagree too, you can fly to Singapore, Hong Kong, Krabi, Phuket or Bangkok with all direct transfers to international, as immigration done at Samui already in that case. As well boat options to surat, phangan, tao, chumphon, flying from surat, train from surat and bus from surat. All these things only have drastically improved in the recent years.

It sounds more like you are pretending this is only the case in Samui, left somewhere quiet, and pretend it not happens where you live now as it is quiet, there is nothing going on. If for some reason they injected cash where you live now, the exact same thing repeats there too.

Otherwise anyone that lived here the past decades, myself included, understand the general points you try to make. For Samui itself it really amazes me to the point that covid showed there is nothing but tourism, to then see how they treat tourists today, poor service, roads are madness, high prices.

Then more and more workers that are in construction, electrician and whatever 20-30 other jobs, moved now permanent to the island, which takes even more cheap housing away from hospitality workers, as they often earn less, while none of this 20-30 jobs will stay to be here in the next years, especially not now that they put the last nail in the coffin of tourism as well as in developing properties using nominee companies (good anyway for that one).

Last but not least the local expat beach clean groups are just delusional entirely, the people that run it need it for their own visa and life on the island, while they receive small support from local gov, which makes the local gov evade real responsibility. You really can not stick your head in the mud much more while being a hypocrite in the same time, part of the problem.

I have lived in over 10 places for at least 1 year, while i also visit south, bangkok and chiang mai every 2 months max a few days, so i would say i have a pretty good idea, of the last 20 years. This aside of also visiting regional every 3-4 months for 1-2 weeks. In fact I met maybe 2 people in my life, neither Thai, that know that much of the reality on the ground.

And this is also not better in Bali or now Vietnam, they basically start to do the same crap as well. Hanoi already wants to ban a lot of the street food, original bikes and cars, that forces them to rent places, increases the cost, removes the vibes. If one wants to go back in time, while it still lasts, now is the time to go there.

Edited Sunday at 12:54 AM2 days by sunrisecoconuts

18 hours ago, Screaming said:

As a scuba diver that has dived on many islands around the world including Africa, most of the Caribbean, many islands in South East Asia as well as the Pacific Islands Hawaii, Solomon Island, Truc, Palua, Society Islands and many more, in my humble opinion Bora Bora was my favorite and with the clearest water and beautiful women. But that was over 30 years ago so things may have changed.

I learned how to dive on Dark Tao. Never experienced more than 5-10 meters visibility. Very poor diving in the Gulf. Not worth it. Western Bali, or some of the spots you mentioned are great.

On 7/18/2026 at 4:14 AM, SiSePuede419 said:

The top island* is amazing if you are from a country with absolutely zero nice beaches like the UK and Canada.

Samui is probably the best beach you've ever seen in your entire life if it's your first time to Thailand. ✅

*with brown pebble beaches

No nice beaches in the UK? Have you ever been to Cornwall,Devon or Scotland

No mention of the traffic gridlock or being high on the list of the most dangerous places to ride motorbikes then

Edited Sunday at 10:01 AM1 day by lavender19

On 7/18/2026 at 5:28 AM, KhunLA said:

'no see ums' are a pain, but that's the only negative.

I've been going there for 60 years and rarely encounter them and when I do they are not bad at all and are only out at sunset.

9 minutes ago, Showtime said:

I've been going there for 60 years and rarely encounter them and when I do they are not bad at all and are only out at sunset.

Yes, at sunset, they come in a wave. You really need repellent and or long pants sleeves. Way more annoying than the mozzies here in TH, even though both for a short period.

Maybe it was a bad year, when I was there, but every evening like clockwork, the wave would arrive.

Definitely don't think it was a one off though. As sitting next to a long term gal, and when told my first day there, she handed my her repellent. Trust me, you'll need it, and sure enough, they arrived, right on cue.

And every sunset during the whole time I was there. Damn annoying to the point, after first week, made sure I was indoors, instead of outside enjoying the view at sunset.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by KhunLA