Samui Is A Dump!

[suegha]

I can never understand these posts about Samui.

I visited last Christmas and really liked the place.

The roads were no better or worse than in the rest of Thailand (on average). A bit narrow, but it is an island....

I noticed some building work, but wouldn't have said it was everywhere. Construction is a necessity.

Yes, the roads were busy, but again.. it is an island... do you want four lane highways ?

Finally, I can't say I found it a dirty place, maybe I am making comparisons just to the other parts of Thailand I have seen and as with the roads I can say it is no different from elsewhere in Thailand

All in all, I really liked Samui and will return again, and certainly have no complaints.. maybe I'm easily pleased....

Totster

I must be easily pleased as well Tots!

one can only be sad the OP for the conclusions on his visit.

Ir is disapointing to hear someone referring to your home as a dump...however that is hes experience.

hopefully by next time he arrives we will have great roads and great service and all the municipal work will be in order. and we will be all clean and tidy just like top world destinations....

ohh yess and the prices for staying will be higher maybe even extremely higher...

because when you come to a tourist destination that is well maintained and looked after and all clean with good service and facilities someone has to pay for it and its the tourist.

I am sure the OP will love to come back and payEuropean prices for his holiday.

Samui may not be Xanadu but its still rocks as one of the best places for a holiday, it is not perfect but then again you don't pay so much.

Good post there highdiver!

[Lite Beer]

Hey Totster where else in Thailand have you been?

Happylarry

Actually Totster also lives in Isaan and I also do not understand his comments about the roads.

The roads up here in Real Thailand are of much better quality than Samui.

I also found the people on Samui to be a greedy selfish lot. (Thai and Farangs) With some exceptions of course.

THANK YOU Lite Beer!!!! Took the words right out of my mouth!...I agree that roads and infrastructure, etc really need some work, but by far the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais).

thank you

on behalf of the people of Samui we love you too and we wish you a great ride on the way back to your lovely home.

Mr Spock

We did say that there were some exceptions to the greedy Samui generalization . You being one of course.

Just look at the BBC Squatter problems.

[LaoPo]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Hi Tatler !

I see you're (posting) from: Iraq

Are there any nice tourist places you could recommend on the southern shores of Iraq ?

Tell us all about the roads, building, traffic, dirtyness, beaches, food, nice bars, shooting, bombing and killings please.

LaoPo

[Lite Beer]

Tell us all about the roads, building, traffic, dirtyness, beaches, food, nice bars, shooting, bombing and killings please.

LaoPo

Yeah sounds like Samui

[ham]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Hi Tatler !

I see you're (posting) from: Iraq

Are there any nice tourist places you could recommend on the southern shores of Iraq ?

Hi LaoPo

there are (or at least have been) nice places down in the south near Basrah. There are Arabs living in the Marshes, kind of swamp and lakes, very flat. The people there making nice houses with the dried-out plants of the marshes, swimming just like in the Titicaca lake. Beautiful constructions and architecture. A lot of birds, pelikans etc. Basrah was a nice city under palms (oil palms).

At the meeting point of Euphrat and Tigris, there is a small village, Al Qurna and there was a small tourist place with a small building and a big tree. It was a place where Abraham was praying, they said and believed. In a kind of sarkophag was a strunk of a tree, called the adams tree.

ham

p.s. It was there during the Iran war, when I was working in the south (Al Qurna). ABB had a big site and project there. So it may look completly different these day's, just like Samui does today ;-), Tattler may know the area? And maybe I can find some old pictures, not sure!

[highdiver]

Hey Totster where else in Thailand have you been?

Happylarry

Actually Totster also lives in Isaan and I also do not understand his comments about the roads.

The roads up here in Real Thailand are of much better quality than Samui.

I also found the people on Samui to be a greedy selfish lot. (Thai and Farangs) With some exceptions of course.

THANK YOU Lite Beer!!!! Took the words right out of my mouth!...I agree that roads and infrastructure, etc really need some work, but by far the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais).

thank you

on behalf of the people of Samui we love you too and we wish you a great ride on the way back to your lovely home.

Ya? (not sure who gave you the right to speak for "the people of Samui"...would love to know who that is exactly ) thanks Mr Spock Unfortunately, you will have to put with me for awhile...lived here three years already and no plans to leave anytime soon (i.e. this IS home)

then you are probably aware that I speak on behalf of the people of Samui from the same Authority that enables you to state"the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais)"

So once again on behalf of the people on Samui.... non-Thais AND Thais... we are very sorry that you find us as the Single worst thing...

we are somewhat surprised why you decided to live here if the you dislike the population so much.. but then again it says more about you then us

we hope you will feel much better when you go back to your own country.

[PaulAllen]

The fact that you say the Samui traffic is worse than Bangkok's immediately makes me think your other opinions are completely worthless.

Bangkok is infamous for having the worst traffic in the world.

[joeyb]

Hey Totster where else in Thailand have you been?

Happylarry

Actually Totster also lives in Isaan and I also do not understand his comments about the roads.

The roads up here in Real Thailand are of much better quality than Samui.

I also found the people on Samui to be a greedy selfish lot. (Thai and Farangs) With some exceptions of course.

THANK YOU Lite Beer!!!! Took the words right out of my mouth!...I agree that roads and infrastructure, etc really need some work, but by far the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais).

thank you

on behalf of the people of Samui we love you too and we wish you a great ride on the way back to your lovely home.

Ya? (not sure who gave you the right to speak for "the people of Samui"...would love to know who that is exactly ) thanks Mr Spock Unfortunately, you will have to put with me for awhile...lived here three years already and no plans to leave anytime soon (i.e. this IS home)

then you are probably aware that I speak on behalf of the people of Samui from the same Authority that enables you to state"the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais)"

So once again on behalf of the people on Samui.... non-Thais AND Thais... we are very sorry that you find us as the Single worst thing...

we are somewhat surprised why you decided to live here if the you dislike the population so much.. but then again it says more about you then us

we hope you will feel much better when you go back to your own country.

Let me just say that, also as an American, I find him to be a hypocrite...but who knows, maybe his many years as the Chancellor [of Jackass U] will enable him to walk his talk, we'll see. My bet is he won't.

[Totster]

Hey Totster where else in Thailand have you been?

Happylarry

Actually Totster also lives in Isaan and I also do not understand his comments about the roads.

The roads up here in Real Thailand are of much better quality than Samui.

I also found the people on Samui to be a greedy selfish lot. (Thai and Farangs) With some exceptions of course.

Let me explain my comments about the roads..

While I agree that the quality of the major raods in Isaan and elsewhere tend to be very good, when you get off these roads the quality deteriorates. For instance, near where I live they spent just over a year "improving" a section of the road leading into town. About 2-3 months after they finished the potholes started to appear.

Now I can say that the roads in Isaan are probably the best I have seen anywhere in the world, in fact from Dansac all the way up here was a pleasure to drive apart from the odd maintenance roadworks.

I can only think that while you were on holiday you were travelling around in a vip minibus looking around at the sites and not steering around the potholes.

Actually I drove down from Kalasin, and I agree the roads are very good. However, they are not without their problems. Anyone driving down Highway 4 can't fail to notice the truck wheel grooves and countless repairs in the nearside lane, and along large parts of the highway from bangkok heading south one has to drive in the outside lane to stop from being shaken apart.

When driving around Samui I didn't notice the roads were SO bad that I felt the need to complain.

My point is that roads on Samui are not that different from the minor roads elsewhere, the roads on Samui are not major highways.

My guess is the same people that complain about the road quality on Samui would be the same people complaining bitterly when they close one side of the road holding up traffic whilst making improvements.

Totster

[koheesti]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Hi Tatler !

I see you're (posting) from: Iraq

Are there any nice tourist places you could recommend on the southern shores of Iraq ?

Tell us all about the roads, building, traffic, dirtyness, beaches, food, nice bars, shooting, bombing and killings please.

LaoPo

Like Samui is a war zone.

[BusyBee123]

I'm going back next week can't wait. Can't believe traffic is an issue, what's the rush? blimey try india for a few years and the rest of the world is heaven trafficwise.

[suegha]

I'm going back next week can't wait. Can't believe traffic is an issue, what's the rush? blimey try india for a few years and the rest of the world is heaven trafficwise.

Have a great time BusyBee!

[Eric1949]

Roads. Yes Samui has terrible roads. Maybe the local government dosn't want to spend too much money on them at the moment, due to the intensive construction works going on.

Rubbish. Yes, unfortunatly, fly tipping seems to be the Thai way, as well as the UK.

The filthy black slicks on the roads especially where there are rubbish bins leaking their contents. Have you ever been up the road to the incinerator, near Hua Thanon?

Most of the traffic problems are caused by the touting taxis, speaker trucks, motorcycle combis and songkews(sorry,forgot the spelling)

[Tatler]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Hi Tatler !

I see you're (posting) from: Iraq

Are there any nice tourist places you could recommend on the southern shores of Iraq ?

Tell us all about the roads, building, traffic, dirtyness, beaches, food, nice bars, shooting, bombing and killings please.

LaoPo

LaoPo,

1) I think you will find most of major roads in Baghdad to be in a much better state have Samui roads.

2) Building (what would you expect) very high standard of quality buildings.

3) Traffic, there is a little bit of traffic but nothing too bad.

4) Great beaches down towards Fallujah and Ramadi, the place is called Habaniya Tourist Village, great place will private villas, swimming pools, tennis courts and the rest..

5) Dirtyness- well it is a dirty place.

6) Food is great, a good mixture of Iraqi and European.

7) nice bars- only at you hotel will you find a nice bar at expensive prices.

8) Shootings- mostly at the Americans and other forces

9) Bombings- Only in centre Baghdad or around the green zone. Once you leave the city there isn't any problems with bombings.

10) Killings- yes, there are killings BUT aren't there any killings in Samui??

LaoPo, you can't seriously compare Iraq with Samui!! Samui is more of a dump than Iraq

[stevehaigh]

I am expressing my opinon about Samui, whether you agree or not thats your choice!! I won't be going back to Samui again and will find a better choice in the future.

phangan!

not much traffic, fairly clean, roads are good enough for an island of this size, ferries do suck however.

[Tatler]

I am expressing my opinon about Samui, whether you agree or not thats your choice!! I won't be going back to Samui again and will find a better choice in the future.

phangan!

not much traffic, fairly clean, roads are good enough for an island of this size, ferries do suck however.

I agree, will be off to Phangan next time...

[Rooo]

I am expressing my opinon about Samui, whether you agree or not thats your choice!! I won't be going back to Samui again and will find a better choice in the future.

phangan!

not much traffic, fairly clean, roads are good enough for an island of this size, ferries do suck however.

I agree, will be off to Phangan next time...

I'm getting the helipad ready.The monorail should be ready in another 2 years.The bridge linking Samui to Dongsak another 3 years,then they will be able to cart in all the equipment needed for black top,billiard smooth it will be ,I'm told.

With the new bridge, all the rubbish will be taken to the mainland.

Only native Samuians will be allowed on the island,they will live in special recreation of old villages for the entretainment of foreign visitors.

All reference to anything Thai, will be removed & re located to the said villages,this will give tourists the feel good effect ,that they could be anywhere in the world.

Glad you didn't visit 6 or 7 years ago, when the main road was narrower,Chaweng & Lamai dirt roads.

Riviera sounds good this time of year

[mikethevigoman]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Sounds like Pattaya!

[mikethevigoman]

Samui is not a dump. It is the best place I have ever lived. Still some things are very very strange for a western like me but: Who gives a sh*t?

This dosent say much for your previous places of residence ! Edited April 16, 2008 by mikethevigoman

[Tatler]

Hey Totster where else in Thailand have you been?

Happylarry

Actually Totster also lives in Isaan and I also do not understand his comments about the roads.

The roads up here in Real Thailand are of much better quality than Samui.

I also found the people on Samui to be a greedy selfish lot. (Thai and Farangs) With some exceptions of course.

THANK YOU Lite Beer!!!! Took the words right out of my mouth!...I agree that roads and infrastructure, etc really need some work, but by far the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais).

thank you

on behalf of the people of Samui we love you too and we wish you a great ride on the way back to your lovely home.

Ya? (not sure who gave you the right to speak for "the people of Samui"...would love to know who that is exactly ) thanks Mr Spock Unfortunately, you will have to put with me for awhile...lived here three years already and no plans to leave anytime soon (i.e. this IS home)

then you are probably aware that I speak on behalf of the people of Samui from the same Authority that enables you to state"the single worst thing about Samui is the people (and again agree, non-Thais AND Thais)"

So once again on behalf of the people on Samui.... non-Thais AND Thais... we are very sorry that you find us as the Single worst thing...

we are somewhat surprised why you decided to live here if the you dislike the population so much.. but then again it says more about you then us

we hope you will feel much better when you go back to your own country.

Highdiver, i didn't Samui was a country!! when did that happen?? maybe you should have said ' go back to your own city or province

[suegha]

And then people get nit-picky and that really helps...

[emmezeta]

How about a new thread.

The east side of Samui is a dump.

I quite liked the west side.

I agree but the beaches are on the east :-(

This is Lamai 4 star beach zone.....

[BlackWolf]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

Here comes 1 more:

Lack of roads-light

Last night I had to go to Nathon to pick up my wife from the ferry. But I soon discovered that 1/2 of the road was in total darkness. Are the goverment on Samui so poor that they put peoples life in danger just to save some money. If thats so, it tells me that the goverment, the business people, TOT, etc. are only interested in our money, not in our lifes. In other words, farang and Thai lifes are worth absolutly NOTHING.

There must be a possibillity to have all ligths bright and shine from dusk until midnight, and then save some money (and lifes) after the trafic hav passed out.

I among many many other residents on Samui had hoped for the islands city-status, but unfortunaly this was blocked by Surrathani greed for the money created on Samui.

[longtom]

On the other hand in the last weeks I saw many street lights turned on during daytime (e.g. Bang Po). So I would say they are generally willing but still fine-tuning the exact on/off hours.

[stevehaigh]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

you forgot the flooding in the rainy season and the taxi mafia; meter? we don't need no stinking meter!

[thaihedgehog]

Having visited Samui last week and found the place a complete mess !!

1) roads are a nightmare

2) building work everywhere

3) traffic worse than Bangkok

4) general dirtyness of the place

any more idea's...........

you forgot the flooding in the rainy season and the taxi mafia; meter? we don't need no stinking meter!

Flooding !! yes, people might want to start looking for a second hand canoe or a small rowing boat soon.........

[SamuiBond]

If Samui have had the City status for longer, things would be different. Money that Samui has generated had been poured building all those vacant highways on the Surathani on the mainland. Now that we've got the city status things has just recently started to change and obviously it will take a while to update all lackluster years of road and drainage misery.

"Being patient" is what you need to put in to your "system" in order to enjoy life around this paradise. It will get there (where?) but as every community in the world - we're evolving. Also as someone said, don't come back if you're one of those whineys. Go and see the world. When you find better place (combing safety, disasters, prices, nightlife, food, views, gals, cowbow lifestyle...) please do post here again and let me know since I've been out there and I didn't find anything better...

[mustafa]

Yes agree with SamuiBond there. The only other place I can think of is Rio in Brazil which comes a very close second in terms of the excellent food at the churrascarias and other activities comparable with the thai experience (hanggliding off one of the mountains overlooking the big Jesus is pretty amazing too), but then you have the danger of going out at night, which every guidebook says is so daunting that we were terrified of going anywhere where there weren't crowds. Admittedly if you had to work here and earn thai wages it might not be a paradise, but if you're comfortable it doesn't get better

[pliny]

The fact that you say the Samui traffic is worse than Bangkok's immediately makes me think your other opinions are completely worthless.

Bangkok is infamous for having the worst traffic in the world.

Nonsense. That honour belongs to Cairo where there is only 1 rule: the guy in front has right of way and how you get there is irrelevant. The next worst would probably be Mumbai because the Indians do not drive with wing mirrors since they take up too much space when jostling for position.

I might concede that Bangkok comes a distant third but that's only because traffic flow is dictated by lights rather than roundabouts which of course could not possibly work in Thailand.

Equating Samui to Bangkok is simply hyperbole allowing the OP to make his point.

[ClaudeFeller]

Traffic in BKK is very human and "civilized" like overall in Thailand. My worst experinece was Karachi, unbelievable noisy, reckless and dangerous.