Advice On Whether I Might Like Visiting The Islands

[thebestman36]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Edited May 12, 2008 by thebestman36

[mattias33]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

[Jandajoy]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

Right or wrong that's a brilliant reply.

[thebestman36]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

LOL, I kinda understand what you are saying. You are right in assuming that yes my wife prefers some of the comfys of home while away. Shes not into the no aircon, shared bathrooms and backpacking through forest. But with that said, we also love chiang mai which isnt exactly pattaya.

So let me rephrase my question. Are the islands more or less expensive than patong/pattaya? Can I find a nice aircon room walking distance to town/beach for 500-600 baht? Can I find a thai meal, eating on the street for 30 baht? Can I buy a drink in a girlie bar for 50 baht? Can I find a beach chair for 50-80 baht? Forget about all the other comparisons. Right now I'm asking just about prices. This is for a Feb stay.

[Nirvana]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

LOL, I kinda understand what you are saying. You are right in assuming that yes my wife prefers some of the comfys of home while away. Shes not into the no aircon, shared bathrooms and backpacking through forest. But with that said, we also love chiang mai which isnt exactly pattaya.

So let me rephrase my question. Are the islands more or less expensive than patong/pattaya? Can I find a nice aircon room walking distance to town/beach for 500-600 baht? Can I find a thai meal, eating on the street for 30 baht? Can I buy a drink in a girlie bar for 50 baht? Can I find a beach chair for 50-80 baht? Forget about all the other comparisons. Right now I'm asking just about prices. This is for a Feb stay.

Not sure i would post "wife" and Girlie Bar / Drinks in same post. For some of us it could mean certain consequences.

[mattias33]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

LOL, I kinda understand what you are saying. You are right in assuming that yes my wife prefers some of the comfys of home while away. Shes not into the no aircon, shared bathrooms and backpacking through forest. But with that said, we also love chiang mai which isnt exactly pattaya.

So let me rephrase my question. Are the islands more or less expensive than patong/pattaya? Can I find a nice aircon room walking distance to town/beach for 500-600 baht? Can I find a thai meal, eating on the street for 30 baht? Can I buy a drink in a girlie bar for 50 baht? Can I find a beach chair for 50-80 baht? Forget about all the other comparisons. Right now I'm asking just about prices. This is for a Feb stay.

Ok, with that qlearyfied i give it another try.

Let me just start with the fact that in general people that like phuket dont like samui and the other way around. Just want to have it said.

Now on your second post i would reccomend you to try out Ban rak in the north of the island. There are fair selection of restaurants and bars. The prices are ok. Even though the village is blooming up to be a real tourist-village more and more every day there is still a fishmarket and there is still cheap thaifood availible. Accomondation on the beach like "ban rak beach resort" (600 baht low season, 800 baht highseason), or the mermaid with 2 swimmingpools, also on the beach (rates from 600-2500 in highseason,400-2000 in lowseason), both of them with walkingdistance to everything you need. And not to big distance to Chaweng, choeng mon, bophut if you want to check out bigger nightlife and better beaches. Both hotels have their own chairs and you use them for free. That goes all over the island. Never been charged for a beach-chair in samui. A few bars in Ban rak do 50/beer at least to 7 in the evening. After that most of them charge 80 baht.

www.samui-mermaid.info

Happy holiday!

Edited May 14, 2008 by mattias33

[t.s]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

Hi.

For me the tourist that like patong or pattaya dont like thailand at all and want as little thai as possible. I personaly hate it. My oppinion of patong is that its as much sweden anything ever gets without actually sweden itself!! Except for the beach and warm climat in december. Witch is the only thing the patong tourist is looking for. Now if you want to have anything similar (but still not even close) in samui i would reccomend chaweng, but i doubt you will like it. If you like pattaya and patong i suggest you stay there because in my oppinion nothing in Thailand is like that. Its the 2 places that are in Thailand without being in Thailand and if you like it there i suggest you stay there. Good luck.

Right or wrong that's a brilliant reply.

samui runs a pretty close second IMO

[Stevethongsala]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

It's a joke to ask that ! Have you ever heard about this island before?

[thebestman36]

Mattias, thanks for the replies. I think we will give the islands a try. I really want to hop over to Tao and Phangan to try the snorkeling, so we may stop at all 3.

Yes I mentioned wife and girlie bars in the same sentence. I'm lucky enough to have a wife that is kewl with going to the bars and just having a drink or 2 and watching the scene.

I do have another question while I'm here. We are also considering going to Koh Chang since we will be passing by while going from pattaya to cambodia. Anyone who has been there and care to make any comparisons of koh chang to Koh Samui? We probably will visit all the islands but it would help to have an idea as to which we might prefer so that we can better schedule our trip.

[mattias33]

Have not been in koh chang since 2005, but at that point i would say it had a small island feeling more than even koh pagnan, even though koh chang actually is Thailands 2:nd biggest island after phuket. The road did´nt go all around the island but still it was a nice few days holiday destination, a bit primitive but for a few days in a nice hotel you survive. I stayed in a village called kai bae in a real high class hotell (at that time 3200/night) called chang hotell. Bar in the swimmingpool right on the beach. Close to next villages, with nightlife (limited) and some nice restaurants. At that time totaly worth a few days, dont know about now. When you come around here (samui) i would not waste any time on koh pagnan, if i read about how you describe yourself it is nothing for you, nightlife (except for discusting had rin) is limited and the foodalternative for a holidayman with some class is equal to zero if you dont cook yourself, beaches and accomondation is not really worth a mention either. If you do go there for a day or two, the only good hotel i spotted there is had salad resort. But no good beach and nightlife. Also foodwise i think a westerner on holiday just waste the time. Stay on samui. Or possible, do daytrips to pagnan and tao, for the snorkeling or whatever, but keep the base in the civilized world of samui!

[koheesti]

... the civilized world of samui!

that's a little over-the-top wouldn't you say?

[Prasert]

... the civilized world of samui!

that's a little over-the-top wouldn't you say?

I think it's brilliant!

Civilized Samui

Sounds nice. I'll try to remember that when the next taxi-driver tries to rip me off.

[mattias33]

Sorry guys. When i said civilized world of samui i was more talking about western quality food, hot water in the hotel-room and so on. Not for the life of me would i speak good about the corrupt police or the rip off taximeters. If i gave that oppinion to anybody i have to blame my poor Englich (my third language).

Still in comparision to smaller islands off course samui is the "civalized world", not in anyway compare to the western world off course.

[thetravellingcat]

....Still in comparision to smaller islands off course samui is the "civalized world", not in anyway compare to the western world off course.

My experiance of Koh Samui was nice enough. Weather fantasic, good connections to other islands (recommend catching the people ferry by LongStern(?) all 3 islands for a fixed price)

*HOWEVER*

I found the locals very tourist worn and food prices inflated over central Bangkok prices. One local said this was because everything has got to be shipped in, which kinda made sense. How then can 7-Eleven can still charge the same prices as in Bangkok? Watch out for the small convienience shops with no stickered prices, sure pay a little more than 7-Eleven but don't get ripped off. Avoid taxis who generally want 300B just to drive for 2 meters. The Song-teau drivers really don't care if you get off in the middle of nowhere, far from where you had hotel reservations - again very tourist worn.

My advice? Sure give it a go, you might even like it. Febuary is a good month to visit. Get a good map and familiarise yourself with the island first.

[BigC]

Ok, we have been to patong and pattaya for extended stays and really love them both. We are looking for lively nightlife with plenty of variety, nice beaches, and reasonable prices. I know how many say that Phuket is so expensive, but we still found it not that hard to find good deals. Nice hotel for 500 baht, Thai meals for 30-60 baht, happy hour drinks for 40-50 baht. Pattaya we found to be even cheaper, thai meals at 20-40 baht, girlie bar drinks 50 baht, similar hotel pricing.

So can we find similar pricing on the islands on these things? We would love to see new places, but if the pricing is going to be way higher, we will just stay in pattaya/patong.

samui is different from phuket it has an island feel that cannot be beaten by phuket. if u go u will know what i mean. they do good tortilla wraps there also at the toga bar in lamui ring road.

[frankman]

lol, Pattaya is Thailand? I didn't know. Just kidding