Leave Samui N O W

[Samuian]

I have no idea why someone would want to live in an unpersonal place such as this.

To show off they have $$$$$$$$$$!

Not even if I would have won $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ in Las Vegas!

[madjbs]

all joking aside, it boggles my mind that anyone would pay money to live in the mid east. you couldn't pay me enough to live there, even in a Beckham sized villa.

its hotter than hel_l, a barron, treeless deserts, absolutely nothing to do and absolutely no interesting people to socialize with (at least that's my imprrssion, correct me if i'm wrong).

I take it you have never been.

[PhilHarries]

Where did all the Thailand bashers go ?

Do you really expect people on this forum to prefer Dubai over Thailand?

If so are you on drugs?

Thailand for all it's faults is still preferrable to a manmade hel_l in a raghead sh1tehole. Natural beauty is imperfect but, even considering the warts, is a bluddy sight better than man's best efforts. IMHO that is.

[SamuiRes]

I lived in Abu Dhabi for ten years during the late 80's through to the end of the 90's. At that time if you had a decent job it was a spectacular place to live and work. The summers are exceedingly hot but from October to April, the climate is ideal. Non Muslims can drink and buy alcohol with a licence (OK not in Sharjah). Since I left in 1999 things have obviously changed for the worse and reports I get from my friends still there indicate that they will not be there for much longer. The cost of living is soaring, rents increasing exponentialy and no security of tenure. Traffic is horrendous and having an altercation with a UAE National is far worse than tangling with our hosts here in Thailand. Everything is false and is totally money orientated. The hotels are full of Chinese, African and East European hookers and wives of my friends out there no longer are prepared to go to the hotel bars and frequent the private clubs and entertain at home only.

Why do they stay? Well they have been there for years, are well established, many approaching retirement and still earning good money so hanging in there until the terminal bonuses click in which after a number of years there can be quite substantial.

Would I go back? If I were not committed here for the long term, had a very, very good job to go to - yes - but Abu Dhabi not Dubai.

[mahtin]

Pitfalls in paradise: why Palm Jumeirah is struggling to live up to the hype.

Thanks !

Some excerpts from this article:

"Multimillion-pound villas have been squeezed together "like Coronation Street", air-conditioning bills are hitting £800 a month and persistent snags have led some to joke it is more "eighth blunder" than "eighth wonder"."

&

"But for Rachael Wilds, 42, an exhibition organiser from Surrey who moved in with her family to a palatial villa on one of the Palm's "fronds" a year ago, it was not what she expected. She found her £3m property squashed against a neighbour's and set in a barren, almost treeless, landscape. "It was absolutely nothing as it was depicted in the brochure," she says. "There was a massive gap between the villas and it was full of lush tropical gardens. We were totally shocked at the closeness of the villas."

Despite summer temperatures of 48C and high humidity, access to centralised air conditioning was not included in the purchase price of apartments, and residents are rebelling against plans to ask them to pay extra."

Sunday morning during a business talkshow a promotor told the audience that villa's in Palm island 1 went for € 500,000 and are now sold for € 2,5 to 3 Million.

If you hurry you can still buy a villa (under construction) on Palm island 2 for € 800/900.000. Such a villa will be worth 2,500,000 in 3 years...

So what are you guys waiting for ?

LaoPo

Spend 3m quid on mail order? Must be as rich as the Bs - and more millions than their combined intelligence quotient.

After one stopover in Dubai while the new airport was still under construction - but being used - (hours with no drinking water, but floods on the toilet floor) I have always since flown direct.

There are Thai white elephants, what's this, a white camel?

[cobra]

Not one bit of greenery, no palms unless in a lobby, no bird song, ...

This is the sort of development that you'd expect on the moon, barren, sterile, inhospitable, and inordinately expensive.

The quintessential, conspicuous consumption, gated community,

Well if your going to give me a villa, I guess I could stay there once in a while,

[chinkles]

Note: It's possible to meet authentic Thai people; however, most of them work 7 days a week 10-12 hours a day in the service and construction industry.

LaoPo

when I wrote the above I didn't realize it was that bad......

"Thousands of laborers arrive in Dubai every year from South Asia. These poorly paid construction workers enter the construction industry in Dubai, and often step into a nightmare of long hour work days with no day of rest, earning meager wages that may be withheld or unpaid altogether. Standard salary for a full day's of work is in the range of 4 to 6 US dollars."

From: Petition online dot com:

http://new.petitiononline.com/dxblabor/petition.html

But, the show must go on:

Maybe a nice condo in the World's tallest skyscraper...800 meters: finished in December 2008

If you don't like direct access to the beach there are plenty of other options

...and keep an eye on your boat from your balcony

I repeat:

HURRY - HURRY - HURRY or you will miss a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity !

LaoPo

sorry j prefer the view of chaweng lake ,bloody lovely view that

[mahtin]

sorry j prefer the view of chaweng lake ,bloody lovely view that

... miss the rattling slats of the wooden bridge to the Reggae Pub

[LaoPo]

sorry j prefer the view of chaweng lake ,bloody lovely view that

Oh come one...give it a try:

Dubai has a beautiful lake as well and much bigger also: I agree, there are a few skyscrapers, inlcuding a 800 meters high one, but who cares about a few skyscrapers ?

This is Dubai Palm Island as it was promoted: look at the lush green planted gardens around the villas on the palm 'leafs'....

...and reality:

LaoPo

[SamuiJens]

sorry j prefer the view of chaweng lake ,bloody lovely view that

Oh come one...give it a try:

Dubai has a beautiful lake as well and much bigger also: I agree, there are a few skyscrapers, inlcuding a 800 meters high one, but who cares about a few skyscrapers ?

This is Dubai Palm Island as it was promoted: look at the lush green planted gardens around the villas on the palm 'leafs'....

...and reality:

LaoPo

So when you leaving, LaoPo????

[LaoPo]

...not me SamuiJens...not me.....

I wouldn't want to go there even in the case someone would like to give me a villa for free; in that odd case I'll sell it right away before the whole concept blows into pieces and that's just a question of time....

LaoPo

[SamuiJens]

...not me SamuiJens...not me.....

I wouldn't want to go there even in the case someone would like to give me a villa for free; in that odd case I'll sell it right away before the whole concept blows into pieces and that's just a question of time....

LaoPo

Glad to here that LaoPo Sumui has it's problems, BUT not that bad to go live in a man made hel_l!

Edited May 23, 2008 by SamuiJens

[Rooo]

Nature will reclaim it lol,they are going to change the name to LE SANDS.

[chinkles]

i'll save my visit to hel_l until after i'm dead thanks

same ,same my friend who would want to live there not me

[LaoPo]

i'll save my visit to hel_l until after i'm dead thanks

same ,same my friend who would want to live there not me

I agree.....apart from that...you would be arrested straight away by the Arab police, with a moving 'bottom' avatar like you have

LaoPo

[bergen]

No alcohol, girls.... why should I leave my beloved Koh Phangan!?

Correct me if i am wrong guys but i believe that there is only one dry state and that is Sharjar. Its ok to drink alcohol in Dubai and Ajarman. By the way there are girls all over the place, but they tend to prefer the Arabs due to financial reasons. Still with this in mind i also decline the offer Laopo.

Cheers, Rick.

I don't prefer Arabs........................and it's got nothing to do with money

Edited May 26, 2008 by bergen

[LaoPo]

...and the BUBBLE IN DUBAI starts to explode:

Dubai Property Agents Fear Crash As Home Sales Slump

Sunday, Oct 26, 2008 - By Stefania Bianchi and Mirna Sleiman - Of ZAWYA DOW JONES

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--A six-year real estate boom in Dubai that spurred a $475 billion building frenzy has ended, according to agents who say sales are collapsing amid fears that the global economic downturn will hit the sheikdom.

"Last month was a real disaster and worse is coming I guess," Mehdi Zoghbi, an agent at Middle East Real Estate Consultants, told Zawya Dow Jones Sunday.

Zoghbi says that desperate sellers are now offering off-plan properties on the secondary market for a zero premium, effectively accepting a loss on their investment in order to offload quickly.

Dubai, the first Gulf sheikdom to allow foreigners rights to buy homes, may also be the first to see a crash in property prices as uncertainty over the region's prospects and the global credit crunch have undermined investors' confidence.

"Our commissions have fallen by up to 70% recently," said Khaled Daji, an agent at Al Jabal Real Estate. "The most hit are the projects under development and those luxurious high end. We plan to survive for another six months to see how this crisis unfolds."

Daji says that Dubai's real estate watchdog needs to do more to stop the practice of "flipping" property and the payment of "key money" to reserve real estate.

But the city's biggest developers like Emaar Properties PJSC (EMAAR.AI) and Nakheel are adamant that sales remain robust. Mohammed Alabbar, Emaar's chairman and one of the architects of Dubai's real estate boom, said in the company's third-quarter statement that "we are very confident of our company's fundamentals and future growth."

That hasn't stopped investors dropping the company's shares. Emaar's stock has fallen 62% since the beginning of the year, that's more than the 48% fall in the Dubai Financial Market's main index over the same period, according to Zawya.com data.

Earlier this month, Colliers International said the growth of property prices in Dubai slowed to 16% in the second quarter of 2008 from 42% in the first quarter. Morgan Stanley warned in August that property hotspot Dubai could see a 10% fall in prices by 2010.

A collapse in real estate prices will add to pressure on Dubai's economy, which doesn't benefit from the vast oil income enjoyed by neighboring Abu Dhabi. Property and construction are estimated to account for about 30% of the emirate's economy.

And the buoyant economic conditions across the region that have underpinned Dubai's real estate boom, which according to Middle East Economic Digest will consume $475 billion in capital spending, are now under assault.

Oil, which underpins the region's economy, looks likely to fall further as demand across the globe weakens. Crude traded in New York closed down at $64.15 a barrel Friday.

Not Panicking

Tighter lending is also making life hard for many real estate agents, with buyers unable to secure loans for property without larger deposits.

HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC), the largest international bank offering home loans for Dubai property, tightened its requirements last month asking borrowers to front up to 50% of the purchasing price for some homes.

The bank will now only lend up to 70% of the total value of the property in the best cases, down from 85% last month.

The tougher terms are "to ensure that customers receive loans that they can afford to repay at a time of considerable uncertainty around the world," the bank said in a statement to Zawya Dow Jones.

"The financial crisis is putting people off buying," said Lisa Penderis Dubai-based real-estate agent. "End users are particularly impacted because banks are only lending up to 75% so people need to find a lot of cash for a deposit."

Tony Stafford, a British commercial manager working in Dubai has like many of the 100,000 U.K. nationals living in the United Arab Emirates bought property in the sheikdom as an investment. He owns two apartments worth about 3 million U.A.E. dirhams ($817,000).

"It's not a great time to be selling as banks aren't lending," Stafford told Zawya Dow Jones in a phone interview. "But I'm not going to reduce the price of the apartments because I'm confident things will pick up again before Christmas. I'm not panicking. I'm just waiting for the right buyer."

Stafford, who remains bullish, says he will buy another property in Dubai and is now in a stronger position to negotiate on the price. His optimism is shared by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who announced earlier this month plans for the AED350 billion redevelopment of the city's Satwa district.

But whether buyers still exist in the current depressed economic mood is no longer guaranteed.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZW200810...20Slump%20Fears

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

UAE property prices set to fall

Monday, Oct 27, 2008

Property prices could fall in the United Arab Emirates but local banks would be able to handle the long-expected downturn, the country's central bank governor said at a conference on Monday.

"A real estate correction could happen, but UAE banks are cushioned... the banks are safe," Sultan Nasser al Suweidi, the central bank governor, said at a conference held by the Arab Monetary Fund in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

The governor stressed that the domestic liquidity situation was improving and that the central bank stood ready to pump in even more capital into the banking system, but it is the first time a high-ranking government official has admitted that local real estate prices could fall.

Despite many warnings of corrections in recent years, property prices have continued to soar in the UAE, driven by booming economic growth, negative real interest rates, and a vast influx of expatriates.

Mr Suweidi also added credence to rumours of consolidation in the country's banking sector, which is crowded by more than 50 domestic and international commercial houses, many of them government-controlled.

"At this stage I'd say mergers are a very good choice for banks," Mr Suweidi told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. "[This is] not necessarily for weak banks but also for strong banks because mergers among strong banks will cut expenses and other administrative costs."

Several Gulf governments, including the UAE, have deposited billions of dollars in local banks and issued blanket deposit guarantees to ease a liquidity crunch and prop up economic growth.

The UAE, one of the hardest hit countries in the Gulf region due to the relatively openness of its economy, has made up to Dh120bn available to local banks, some as direct deposits and some as a credit facility at the central bank.

Of the Dh50bn available from the central bank, about 15 per cent, or Dh7.5bn ($2bn) had been tapped so far, Mr Suweidi said on Monday.

Concerns over the liquidity squeeze and a possible downturn in real estate markets across the region - particularly in ritzy Dubai - have exacerbated the slump of local equity markets. The MSCI Gulf index has lost nearly half its market capitalisation this year.

The two UAE bourses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai both fell on Monday, declining 5.80 per cent and 2.01 per cent respectively. Saudi Arabia, the region's biggest and most diverse stock market, slumped 5.0 per cent.

Oman's exchange was the region's worst performer, dropping 7.45 per cent, while Qatar fell 1.46 per cent and Bahrain declined 2.90 per cent.

Kuwait's stock market fell 2.22 per cent, as the central bank was forced to issue a blanket guarantee of all deposits, after Gulf Bank, the country's second-largest commercial bank, said it had lost money on a client currency derivatives trade.

The country "has recently faced mounting new challenges led by the current global turmoil and freezing international money markets," Brahim Razgallah, an economist at JPMorgan, wrote in a research note.

"Kuwait has a long history of bank deposits guarantee that well served the country to maintain confidence in the banking system after the financial crisis of the 1980s and the first Gulf War," he wrote in the note sent Monday.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sid20081027...Set%20To%20Fall

LaoPo

[tommyj4]

Its pants there

[samuibeachcomber]

Nature will reclaim it lol,they are going to change the name to LE SANDS.

you can sheikh 'em here you can sheikh 'em there but eventually the sands of time will take over

[Pakeha]

For the ones who find Samui a trash can I have an -almost unknown and secret- opportunity....and everybody knows that opportunities are very rare...so hurry:

David Beckham is there too...

The Golden Mile, for people who love tranquility and beautiful sea views...

live safe in a beautiful secluded villa right on the beach...

cosy small streets with enough parking space, next to the harbour; similar to Bophut village.

State of the art infra structure and 4+ lanes highways right on your doorstep; don't worry, palm trees will be planted soon !

HURRY - HURRY - HURRY

Almost sold out, despite the lack of British-, Ozzie- and Yankee bars, Girls, Go-Go bars and alcohol !!!

HURRY - HURRY - HURRY

Note: It's possible to meet authentic Thai people; however, most of them work 7 days a week 10-12 hours a day in the service and construction industry.

LaoPo

Might not be likely from the tune of this forum but we're currently looking for senior property, engineering and construction professionals (professional meaning qualified and experienced!) to build and manage the big sandcastles in the (apparently sinking) sand. As an incentive we just made a $400k tax free offer to a senior property professional... Can you make that on the Mui? If so sign me up! If not, and you have the desired experience PM me.

[Jose]

"All over Dubai, crazy projects that were Under Construction are now Under Collapse.

They were building an air-conditioned beach here, with cooling pipes running below the sand, so the super-rich didn't singe their toes on their way from towel to sea."

The dark side of Dubai

[PhilHarries]

Where did all the Thailand bashers go ?

Oh so just because someone posted pics of Dubai all of Thailand's problems and little faults have magically gone away?

Get real and join the REAL world. Or are we all supposed to pick the world's shitholes as baseline cases against which to compare Thailand? People like you think we should all love Thailand up in heaps because it is much better than, say, Somalia. Oh but then you don't like people trying to improve Thailand do you? No, you'd prefer to keep Thailand and the Thais firmly rooted where they are developmentally, so it remains your cheap little hidey hole.

btw all the attached pics I only see as .jpg references. No matter I know what it looks like and, like others, I cannot see why anyone in their right mind would pay that kind of money to live squashed up in any part of the sandpit. We go there to work, earn big money (relatively - and not so good these days) and then get out. The desert sands are for the xxxxx and their camels and if it wasn't for the oil that is all that would be there. No matter how you dress it up it is still the middle east but the funny thing is these people who have bought places there and now complain it's not like the brochures. Jeez are we saying there are people who would spend millions on a property and not actually go look the place over first? It is very true, there is one born every minute.

No, I'll still take Thailand warts and all and will point out the warts when I feel fit.

[PatinBKk]

One of the warts being paying millions for something that you would never own....

[ParadiseLost]

One of the warts being paying millions for something that you would never own....

Both fools land up at the same place!

Owning a bit of desert sand is better than not owning a property in LOS?

At the end of the day neither has anything...

Edited April 8, 2009 by ParadiseLost

[parallaxtech]

i'll take samui with all her problems thankyou

Agree with you completely. I lived in Abu Dhabi and you couldn't give me a $1M to go back even with a free condo! Ok for a short holiday but only a muslim would be able to live there.