If It Walks Like A Duck And ...

[mark lamai]

Was going to tack onto other post, but thought i'd start new.

Please don't bother with love it or leave it.

Those with entrenched business investments here seem to be in denial of the truth.

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.

Value for money: poor.

roads and public transport: very poor.

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.

Entertainment: reasonable.

Shopping: very average and expensive.

===================================================

So what is Samui,

its become what the resort owners want.

Ideal for a couple or family to fly in,

spend 10 days inside their resort, on the beach, wander out for a bit of shopping and eating. perhaps a tour, elephant ride, shoot a gun etc.

For this type of tourist roads don't matter, restaurant prices are of minor interest,

480 baht for a polyester beach towel is not a concern.

I am sure they think they have had a good holiday.

there are two Samui's.

One for resort tourists and resort owners.

One for Thai people I guess and the longer stay/frequent farang visitor.

Personally, I don't give a stuff about resort tourists and resort owners.

For me personally, Samui is the worst place I visit in Thailand.

Why?

Because the worst of Thailand is worse here than anywhere else I have been.

Ripoffs and extortionist prices everywhere.

Unfriendly Thai people.

Shopping is a joke, the shops are stocked with junk from Pratunam market,

400 baht in BKK, 900 baht in Samui.

80 baht for a haircut in a filthy shop by a sour “barber”, 50 baht for aircon and cleanliness in BKK.

70 baht for fried rice!!!

Pattaya is much better value for money.

I think I have said it before,

lack of planning and a vision for the entire island has caused the fragmentation of the island, because of short term instant money thinking.

The developed areas all look ugly, nothing but shophouses.

The lake at Chaweng is a concrete eyesore when it used to be “natural” with the enjoyable wooden bridge.

Nothing has been done to retain the original charm of the island.

There was a time when you could drive along Chaweng beach road and SEE the beach.

Resort owners seem to think that what's outside their resort doesn't matter to them,

this is again very short sighted, when the island has become just too ugly for even resort tourists then they will have to rethink, but will find themselves having to repair 15 years of ugly development and lack of proper development.

Take Santiburi golf course (yes, i am a golfer).

If the owner cared about adding a good asset to Samui as a whole he could make it affordable to most people here, thai and farang.

But he doesn't care, he has a notion that its exclusive and only for wealthy people.

regardless of it being empty most of the time and would make more money if it was priced similar to eqivalent in Pattaya.

4-5000 baht for a game of golf in Thailand is absurd.

I can play on better golf courses in Aus for 1500 baht.

Is there a limit to growth for the island?

Its really not that big with not many natural assets.

Its about attitude.

[Boater]

you will get all the bashers attacking your thread.. but i have to agree.... esp on

1) Santiburi golf course

2) Resort owners seem to think that what's outside their resort doesn't matter to them

3) Shopping is a joke, the shops are stocked with junk from Pratunam market,

4)Ripoffs and extortionist prices everywhere.

5) Unfriendly Thai people. - (only see this in Samui )

and the main one

6) The developed areas all look ugly, nothing but shophouses.

why oh why so many of them !!.... only 10 % are filled... but the worst part is ( this is lamai i am talking about where there are hundreds of them ) is the owners of them WILL NOT accept a decent offer if you even want to rent one !!!!.....

[Ocean11]

Was going to tack onto other post, but thought i'd start new.

Please don't bother with love it or leave it.

Those with entrenched business investments here seem to be in denial of the truth.

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.

Value for money: poor.

roads and public transport: very poor.

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.

Entertainment: reasonable.

Shopping: very average and expensive.

===================================================

So what is Samui,

its become what the resort owners want.

Ideal for a couple or family to fly in,

spend 10 days inside their resort, on the beach, wander out for a bit of shopping and eating. perhaps a tour, elephant ride, shoot a gun etc.

For this type of tourist roads don't matter, restaurant prices are of minor interest,

480 baht for a polyester beach towel is not a concern.

I am sure they think they have had a good holiday.

there are two Samui's.

One for resort tourists and resort owners.

One for Thai people I guess and the longer stay/frequent farang visitor.

Personally, I don't give a stuff about resort tourists and resort owners.

For me personally, Samui is the worst place I visit in Thailand.

Why?

Because the worst of Thailand is worse here than anywhere else I have been.

Ripoffs and extortionist prices everywhere.

Unfriendly Thai people.

Shopping is a joke, the shops are stocked with junk from Pratunam market,

400 baht in BKK, 900 baht in Samui.

80 baht for a haircut in a filthy shop by a sour "barber", 50 baht for aircon and cleanliness in BKK.

70 baht for fried rice!!!

Pattaya is much better value for money.

I think I have said it before,

lack of planning and a vision for the entire island has caused the fragmentation of the island, because of short term instant money thinking.

The developed areas all look ugly, nothing but shophouses.

The lake at Chaweng is a concrete eyesore when it used to be "natural" with the enjoyable wooden bridge.

Nothing has been done to retain the original charm of the island.

There was a time when you could drive along Chaweng beach road and SEE the beach.

Resort owners seem to think that what's outside their resort doesn't matter to them,

this is again very short sighted, when the island has become just too ugly for even resort tourists then they will have to rethink, but will find themselves having to repair 15 years of ugly development and lack of proper development.

Take Santiburi golf course (yes, i am a golfer).

If the owner cared about adding a good asset to Samui as a whole he could make it affordable to most people here, thai and farang.

But he doesn't care, he has a notion that its exclusive and only for wealthy people.

regardless of it being empty most of the time and would make more money if it was priced similar to eqivalent in Pattaya.

4-5000 baht for a game of golf in Thailand is absurd.

I can play on better golf courses in Aus for 1500 baht.

Is there a limit to growth for the island?

Its really not that big with not many natural assets.

Its about attitude.

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

[H2oDunc]

You want to talk rip off island try going to Tao. The biggest rip off place in Thailand and Ive been all around LOS. The most unfriendly Thai's Ive ever come across. The only reasonably priced thing on the island is the diving. Thats only that way as most of the dive schools are run by farang. Go to the 7/11 there and a bottle of water that cost 12-13 baht here is 25 baht. a cup noodle here 12 baht there 25 baht. A beer Chang here 25 baht there 45 baht. When you ask why so expensive they say because its an island So is Samui but its cheaper. EVERY petrol station has tried to rip me off, one trying to tell me he had just put 12 1/2 litres into a trials bike wiht a tank that only held 7 litres and it had a couple in before he started. Yes Samui has its faults and it needs some attention like the crazy taxi's and high prices but for out and out rip off Tao takes it big style.

[mark lamai]

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

well i thought i made many points......

but the main one is that lack of planning and sensible thought for the future is destroying the island.

is that simple enough to understand?

it is not just "slashing",

what are your thoughts about the future?

personally, i don't really care,

samui can sink into the sea from the weight of concrete and i won't shed a tear.

i was raising, i thought, a discussion about why is it so, and where might it go.

[lazygourmet]

quote

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

endquote

well i thought i made many points......

but the main one is that lack of planning and sensible thought for the future is destroying the island.

is that simple enough to understand?

it is not just "slashing",

what are your thoughts about the future?

personally, i don't really care,

samui can sink into the sea from the weight of concrete and i won't shed a tear.

i was raising, i thought, a discussion about why is it so, and where might it go.

Too late, unfortunately...

Damage is done.

[PhilHarries]

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

He raised a bunch of very valid criticisms. If you disagree with them say so and why. What was your point and why did you have to quote the entire OP to not make it? If one person criticises something it can be put down to personal taste but if it's ten people there may be a problem. And if it's a hundred? Well, according to you it's all just a bit boring

I haven't been to Samui since the mid nineties and I have to admit, when I was there, to having the burning question in my mind "why did I waste the air fare coming here?" Sure there were/are some nice places but even then some of the points raised in the OP were evident. But it is not just Samui is it? The island is merely a microcosm of what Thailand is becoming in general. But it's not just Thailand either. Most of Asia is plagued by this devil may care attitude to development and tourism. This is exacerbated by lax, or non-existant, town and country planning. There is little or no regulation on business and a lot of the people are endowed with the thinking that no matter what they do the tourists will still keep coming in ever increasing numbers. The goose that lays the golden egg is immortal besides which they don't need the tourists anyway. If all tourism stopped tomorrow the country would just revert to how it was before and the people would just go back to the land and grow rice.

But don't expect too many to agree with you. They'll trot out the old humbugs "why are you here then?", "if you don't like it p1ss orf", "but this is why we all love Thailand so much" and many others. But just let one of them wake up to a bunch of piling rigs next door to their little paradise lost and they'll be bleating their hearts out about greedy developers etc etc.

So much could be done to improve things in Thailand without costing much money and without altering the essential Thai character of the place. So little will be done in the future as in the past until one day someone's child will ask "Mum, where do coconuts come from?"

[samuibeachcomber]

marklamai,i do agree with what you say and i dont see it as samui bashing.what can be done,i dont know.have only been here 2 years so i dont have the history to know what it may have been like say 10-15 years ago.but i do know that the building is relentless and not very good,that the beaches are only average.i come from australia where the beaches there leave thailand for dead.the unending piles of rubbish everywhere thats sore to the eye.the terrible state of the roads.i dont see samui as necessarily expensive,food and drink etc. although compared to pattaya it certainly is.land and hence price of property is certainly over valued and not value for money.

the only thing that could make the people that run samui change are the big owners of tourist developments like hyatt,conrad hilton etc who poor money into samui and will expect the returns.how they get those returns in the current climate is anyone's guess.has to be a new airport and direct charter flights for them to recoup there investments.so money has to be spent on infrastructure like rubbish collection and disposal,water,drainage,roads etc.

when i travelled to phuket and krabi i noticed a huge difference in all the above mentioned infrastucture and it was a pleasure to be in both places.they were clean.

i stay here on samui cos inspite of all that we have said about the place i enjoy living here..........i enjoy the island lifestyle.

[Pilchard]

I know Samui is far from perfect but I hope it never ends up like Pattaya.

High rise blocks, odd strip of sand that they call a beach, regular deliveries of drunk Navy boys.

Pattaya has had a few decades longer to develop a tourist industry than Samui and personally I don't like what they've done with the place.

Quote from the OP's list

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.got some great beaches but sad lack of up keep

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.From 6star to back packer accom . What more could you want ?

Value for money: poor.Depends on your point of view and the strength of your home currency (even with the double pricing system)

roads and public transport: very poor.Can't argue with that one

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.We got water falls,mountains & beaches coming out of our ears !

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.Land travel tends to be that way

Entertainment: reasonable.clubs ,pubs and girls/boys of negotiable affection we have , not much when you compare to phukets Fantasia,The stunt show,ect ect

[highdiver]

I know Samui is far from perfect but I hope it never ends up like Pattaya.

High rise blocks, odd strip of sand that they call a beach, regular deliveries of drunk Navy boys.

Pattaya has had a few decades longer to develop a tourist industry than Samui and personally I don't like what they've done with the place.

Quote from the OP's list

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.got some great beaches but sad lack of up keep

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.From 6star to back packer accom . What more could you want ?

Value for money: poor.Depends on your point of view and the strength of your home currency (even with the double pricing system)

roads and public transport: very poor.Can't argue with that one

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.We got water falls,mountains & beaches coming out of our ears !

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.Land travel tends to be that way

Entertainment: reasonable.clubs ,pubs and girls/boys of negotiable affection we have , not much when you compare to phukets Fantasia,The stunt show,ect ect

totaly agree with you ...

what he op was trying to say is that Samui is a reat for tourists but he cant afford it anymore... loosing the natural rural charm is in other words a wish for us to stay coconut pickers with low end hotels which will serve those "value for money" (cheap) buggers.

development of this island has gone out of control but its still cheaper then any other tourist destination in the west and its nicer then pattaya and bangkok..

tourist from any other country are not intimidated by paying 70 baht for fried rice. or 80 baht for a hair cut... hahahah

Edited December 15, 2008 by highdiver

[samuibeachcomber]

pattaya,pilchard ,is a one off and long may it remain so,i like the place but would n't wish it on samui..............IMO samui just needs to be cleaned up.people always have this image when coming to an island as being idyllic,and are often disappointed................thailand is perceived to be a cheap destination and often is the case that it is not.

[mattias33]

I know Samui is far from perfect but I hope it never ends up like Pattaya.

High rise blocks, odd strip of sand that they call a beach, regular deliveries of drunk Navy boys.

Pattaya has had a few decades longer to develop a tourist industry than Samui and personally I don't like what they've done with the place.

Quote from the OP's list

let's look at Samui's attributes.

Beaches: Some really good, some really awful.got some great beaches but sad lack of up keep

Resorts: Very good to acceptable.From 6star to back packer accom . What more could you want ?

Value for money: poor.Depends on your point of view and the strength of your home currency (even with the double pricing system)

roads and public transport: very poor.Can't argue with that one

Places of interest: beaches, mountains, waterfalls. Limited.We got water falls,mountains & beaches coming out of our ears !

Access to island: Air is ok but expensive. land is slow and tedious.Land travel tends to be that way

Entertainment: reasonable.clubs ,pubs and girls/boys of negotiable affection we have , not much when you compare to phukets Fantasia,The stunt show,ect ect

totaly agree with you ...

what he op was trying to say is that Samui is a reat for tourists but he cant afford it anymore... loosing the natural rural charm is in other words a wish for us to stay coconut pickers with low end hotels which will serve those "value for money" (cheap) buggers.

development of this island has gone out of control but its still cheaper then any other tourist destination in the west and its nicer then pattaya and bangkok..

tourist from any other country are not intimidated by paying 70 baht for fried rice. or 80 baht for a hair cut... hahahah

I agree with the overdevelopment statement. But i have to ask you hd, why do you always compare prices in the west? People go halfway around the world, and pay expensive tickets, partly because its cheap in Thailand. Comparing prices to the west is irrelevant. If a family of 4 choose chiang mai or chumporn for a holiday destination, instead of Samui, they save a shitload of money. THATS the comparison. The prices in the west has nothing to do with it at all.

Ohh, and yeah. "planespotters" should come to samui. One of the few places you get so close to a starting yet. Watched one take off today aswell. Standing right next to the river and it felt like i could almost tuch the plane! Massive.

[jasreeve17]

I'd agree with much of what PhilHarris and the OP stated.

Samui was my first steps in Thailand (other than one day in Bkk) when I spent three months there (a few weeks in KPN too) about nineteen years ago. Went back three years ago and cut my holiday short. The 3 islands on that side always had a lot of mafia and problems. Personally, I've always found the long term foreigners there dillusional and weird.

Last time I went, I cut my holiday short and trudged back to Bkk, says it all really...

p.s. Chawaeng was a shocker. A very beautiful place years ago, I was shocked when the taxi drove through it on my way from the airport, and I said 'drive on to Lamai, don't stop' - tears were not far from my eyes, and I'm not an emotional sort. Pure rape.

Edited December 15, 2008 by jasreeve17

[samui04]

80 baht for a haircut in a filthy shop by a sour "barber", 50 baht for aircon and cleanliness in BKK.

I've always paid around 120-150 baht, locals pay less, but the "barber" was very very nice ....

[UmpaLumpa]

most of the bad things you mention, as a resident, i can live with it.

the worst thing about samui is its high concentration of S-holes, be they farang or thai.

most of the farang people you find here are full of themselves. maybe because they spent too much time in girlie bars, it makes them really believe they are handsome-man and can do everything they can because they have money. the lifestyle of samui got to their head.

what makes a place nice is its people, farang and their ego have ruined the place.

maybe locals have stopped being nice because they've had it!

[Lilyjade]

I agree with some of the op's points.

Sometimes I am thinking about leaving Samui

and live somewhere else in Thailand.

Can you recommend any place with a more friendly

atmosphere and good beaches?

[taxexile]

Can you recommend any place with a more friendly

atmosphere and good beaches?

blackpool

[Ocean11]

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

well i thought i made many points......

but the main one is that lack of planning and sensible thought for the future is destroying the island.

is that simple enough to understand?

it is not just "slashing",

what are your thoughts about the future?

personally, i don't really care,

samui can sink into the sea from the weight of concrete and i won't shed a tear.

i was raising, i thought, a discussion about why is it so, and where might it go.

You have copied many points from previous posts to just start a new one ? You put problems on the table but don't offer any solution. If you really don't care why start a post. Just make sure you get your sorry ... off the island before it sinks.....

[Ocean11]

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

He raised a bunch of very valid criticisms. If you disagree with them say so and why. What was your point and why did you have to quote the entire OP to not make it? If one person criticises something it can be put down to personal taste but if it's ten people there may be a problem. And if it's a hundred? Well, according to you it's all just a bit boring

I haven't been to Samui since the mid nineties and I have to admit, when I was there, to having the burning question in my mind "why did I waste the air fare coming here?" Sure there were/are some nice places but even then some of the points raised in the OP were evident. But it is not just Samui is it? The island is merely a microcosm of what Thailand is becoming in general. But it's not just Thailand either. Most of Asia is plagued by this devil may care attitude to development and tourism. This is exacerbated by lax, or non-existant, town and country planning. There is little or no regulation on business and a lot of the people are endowed with the thinking that no matter what they do the tourists will still keep coming in ever increasing numbers. The goose that lays the golden egg is immortal besides which they don't need the tourists anyway. If all tourism stopped tomorrow the country would just revert to how it was before and the people would just go back to the land and grow rice.

But don't expect too many to agree with you. They'll trot out the old humbugs "why are you here then?", "if you don't like it p1ss orf", "but this is why we all love Thailand so much" and many others. But just let one of them wake up to a bunch of piling rigs next door to their little paradise lost and they'll be bleating their hearts out about greedy developers etc etc.

So much could be done to improve things in Thailand without costing much money and without altering the essential Thai character of the place. So little will be done in the future as in the past until one day someone's child will ask "Mum, where do coconuts come from?"

Sorry did not know I am not allowed to quote the whole post, luckily we have the post police here !

Yes, some valid points, but no solutions offered......its all too easy. And if OP doesn't care anyway, its only about slashing.....

If 1 person does not like sushi, its personal taste, if 10 people don't like sushi the there may be a problem. if 100 people don't like sushi - the sushi is not good ???? Come on guys........

[sbk]

Quoting a very long post with a single response is considered poor forum netiquette. As is posting in all caps, bold or altering someone's quoted reply.

[twschw]

From the Forum rules:

"Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is not feasible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we can not actively monitor the contents of, and are not responsible for, any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of thaivisa.com or any entity associated with thaivisa.com. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by e-mail. We do have the ability to remove objectionable messages and will make every effort to do so if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process so please realize we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. Misspellings and grammar errors are considered bad netiquette, please proof read your post by clicking on preview before posting. When a message is placed in any forum on thaivisa, you are granting a soft license to Thaivisa.com to use it."

Also not enforced.

[mattias33]

From the Forum rules:

"Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is not feasible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we can not actively monitor the contents of, and are not responsible for, any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of thaivisa.com or any entity associated with thaivisa.com. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by e-mail. We do have the ability to remove objectionable messages and will make every effort to do so if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process so please realize we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. Misspellings and grammar errors are considered bad netiquette, please proof read your post by clicking on preview before posting. When a message is placed in any forum on thaivisa, you are granting a soft license to Thaivisa.com to use it."

Also not enforced.

Let´s hope she not start enforcing that rule to hard. That would mean 90% of the posters in samui-forum are out, including myself!

Edited December 16, 2008 by mattias33

[highdiver]

mattias posted.

I agree with the overdevelopment statement. But i have to ask you hd, why do you always compare prices in the west? People go halfway around the world, and pay expensive tickets, partly because its cheap in Thailand. Comparing prices to the west is irrelevant. If a family of 4 choose chiang mai or chumporn for a holiday destination, instead of Samui, they save a shitload of money. THATS the comparison. The prices in the west has nothing to do with it at all.

Ohh, and yeah. "planespotters" should come to samui. One of the few places you get so close to a starting yet. Watched one take off today aswell. Standing right next to the river and it felt like i could almost tuch the plane! Massive.

================================================================================

===============

from a tourist point of view samui is a great destination.

since most of the tourist arrive from other countries mainly west and specially western Europe.

When you need to relate or market samui to to tourists you need to examine.....how they see the holiday in Samui.

a tourist coming here has a choice of taking his vacation in Europe or in any other holiday destination. samui is cheaper even with flight costs and the "extras" cost even if you are "riped off" by local standards, a tourist who lives in western currency terms still finds Samui a bargain and they do make the calculations.

the tourists don't use the local infrastructure as the locals so they don't see may of the problems that posters who ,live here see. and if they see them. i think, they don't really care because they are on vacation and they want to enjoy not complain.

Edited December 16, 2008 by highdiver

[Nirvana]

from a tourist point of view samui is a great destination.

since most of the tourist arrive from other countries mainly west and specially western Europe.

When you need to relate or market samui to to tourists you need to examine.....how they see the holiday in Samui.

a tourist coming here has a choice of taking his vacation in Europe or in any other holiday destination. samui is cheaper even with flight costs and the "extras" cost even if you are "riped off" by local standards, a tourist who lives in western currency terms still finds Samui a bargain and they do make the calculations.

the tourists don't use the local infrastructure as the locals so they don't see may of the problems that posters who ,live here see. and if they see them. i think, they don't really care because they are on vacation and they want to enjoy not complain.

I think you may find that not so many of them (tourists) and the ones that are in samui , do not find it so cheap anymore considering multiple factors, ex rates etc

Also to be considered is that if they are sitting in Europe for example they can also compare Samui to going to Phuket or other Thai destinations or Malaysia etc and again i fear that Samui does not win hands down on that cost effective front either any longer.

I may be wrong of course but IMHO time will tell clearly. I can see some adjustments coming.

[pokerface1001]

So what is your point ? We had this Samui slashing too many times now.....it gets a bit boring........

Sorry. It is not Samui bashing. It I clear for all to see that there are wide and varied problems facing the island. Discussion is the only way to highlight these issues. Denial is not an option.

[Pilchard]

I may be wrong of course but IMHO time will tell clearly. I can see some adjustments coming.

I think you're right .Already we see one kind of adjustment as family style beach resorts get sold to the builders of 5 star hotels.We have more and more shop houses now being turned into budget guest houses.Similar to what has happened on the second road of Patong.

You can get a room with Air con ,Cable Tv and a fridge for 600 Baht in chaweng. Pretty good value IMO

[mattias33]

mattias posted.

I agree with the overdevelopment statement. But i have to ask you hd, why do you always compare prices in the west? People go halfway around the world, and pay expensive tickets, partly because its cheap in Thailand. Comparing prices to the west is irrelevant. If a family of 4 choose chiang mai or chumporn for a holiday destination, instead of Samui, they save a shitload of money. THATS the comparison. The prices in the west has nothing to do with it at all.

Ohh, and yeah. "planespotters" should come to samui. One of the few places you get so close to a starting yet. Watched one take off today aswell. Standing right next to the river and it felt like i could almost tuch the plane! Massive.

================================================================================

===============

from a tourist point of view samui is a great destination.

since most of the tourist arrive from other countries mainly west and specially western Europe.

When you need to relate or market samui to to tourists you need to examine.....how they see the holiday in Samui.

a tourist coming here has a choice of taking his vacation in Europe or in any other holiday destination. samui is cheaper even with flight costs and the "extras" cost even if you are "riped off" by local standards, a tourist who lives in western currency terms still finds Samui a bargain and they do make the calculations.

the tourists don't use the local infrastructure as the locals so they don't see may of the problems that posters who ,live here see. and if they see them. i think, they don't really care because they are on vacation and they want to enjoy not complain.

Highdiver, you try to think like a tourist, but i think it was a long time since you were one yourself. With all your respect. I really dont think any, even European tourist nowadays think of Samui as a cheap destination. Hence, groceries in tops or tesco in samui is twice the price from Bkk, and same price as my exp. country in Europe. A beer chang on the beach is 80 baht witch is a Swedich price. I hear what you say, dont get me wrong. But i just think they took it too far when it comes to pricing. Thinking like you do. "Its still cheap". Samui is not cheap anymore.

[churchill]

It is very easy to critisize - but what can be done to improve Samui , without knocking it all down and starting again ! - Certainly the roads , landscaping , town planning etc etc

Would it be a good idea to have a thread dedicated to this for constructive comment , not critisism

Everyone knows the problems with taxis , pick ups from airport , bangkok airways , lack of infrastructure , flooding in wet season etc . So any good ideas to sort out the problems and also ideas to improve Samui for the future .

[Ocean11]

In my opinion it IS a bashing since the OP brings up problems, (which we all can see and probably agree on) but does not offer any solutions but furthermore, judging by another of his posts, doesn't care anyway.......so what's his point ?

I don't think anyone is in denial, but we should rather ask what can WE do to turn things for the better.....or, if that is not possible, what can we do to improve things as they are now, avoid more grave mistakes and/or learn to live with whatever we have left......

[Ocean11]

Highdiver, you try to think like a tourist, but i think it was a long time since you were one yourself. With all your respect. I really dont think any, even European tourist nowadays think of Samui as a cheap destination. Hence, groceries in tops or tesco in samui is twice the price from Bkk, and same price as my exp. country in Europe. A beer chang on the beach is 80 baht witch is a Swedich price. I hear what you say, dont get me wrong. But i just think they took it too far when it comes to pricing. Thinking like you do. "Its still cheap". Samui is not cheap anymore.

Example please !