State Of Tourism On Samui

[BangrakBob]

I am not sure what that black, round object is on the plate, but I suspect it is some sort of "farang food."

That is a delicacy, consisting of oatmeal and pig blood - known in the UK as Black Pudding, but there are varieties from East to West that are similarly based on the blood of a pig

[samuibeachcomber]

virgin coast banrak bob,thats a new one

[yorkie100]

I am not sure what that black, round object is on the plate, but I suspect it is some sort of "farang food."

That is a delicacy, consisting of oatmeal and pig blood - known in the UK as Black Pudding, but there are varieties from East to West that are similarly based on the blood of a pig

...and delicious fried with bacon and egg.

[BangrakBob]

virgin coast banrak bob,thats a new one

well essentially it's Taling Ngam, but if you notice while down there "Virgin Coast" signs are everywhere. A marketed name for the relatively unspoiled part of the island, no masses of tourists or tourist facilities around. I like the idea of it.

[DrChopper]

i came to Samui for a week recently after 3 nights i left, could not accept the prices and the grumpy some time's agressive service, not to me but to other travellers, one example in burger king a guy wanted a cheese burger, not have, he replied how can you not have cheese burger. Straight away raised voice get out we call police get you. then when he went bragging about how they tell farang go or call the police. soi reggae was 100 baht a beer, breakfast 120 for a small and upward of 200 for decent one. pictures demonstrate why people go else where.beer price is prity much standard and the beach is just ourside pattaya, note no development or chairs on the beach.

The girlie bars have gone off main road through Chaweng but the road in and the road around the lake there are dozens of seedy massage places. the roads were worse than ever. ice bar, sound bar,q bar,boxing etc all had slow pick ups blaring out loud music all night.

i was on a tour of Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. As a tourist i could not wait to get out.

the one way road at the end was worse than i ever saw, and the dredging of the lake was simply stacking the silt around the edge of the lake, so when it rains it will run back into the lake.

High end holiday makers will stay in high end resorts.

the brekkie was 120 baht. beer prices well you can see.

With respect, this post is mostly bo**ocks.

The fact that you were in Burger King at all says something.

Do you really think £2.40 is expensive for a breakfast??

Soi Reggae is an 'entertainment street' - if you wanted cheap beer you could have chosen hundreds of other places to drink.

You're moaning about massage places but you were spending time on Soi Reggae??

You're moaning about massage places but then sing Pattaya's praises??

As someone else has pointed out there is extensive road resurfacing going on around the island, including the lake road.

And are you really trying to tell us that you left, and others stay away, because you are disaffected with the way the lake is being dredged?!!

A holiday with you must be a bonanza of fun from beginning to end.

[Evergreen]

i came to Samui for a week recently after 3 nights i left, could not accept the prices and the grumpy some time's agressive service, not to me but to other travellers, one example in burger king a guy wanted a cheese burger, not have, he replied how can you not have cheese burger. Straight away raised voice get out we call police get you. then when he went bragging about how they tell farang go or call the police. soi reggae was 100 baht a beer, breakfast 120 for a small and upward of 200 for decent one. pictures demonstrate why people go else where.beer price is prity much standard and the beach is just ourside pattaya, note no development or chairs on the beach.

The girlie bars have gone off main road through Chaweng but the road in and the road around the lake there are dozens of seedy massage places. the roads were worse than ever. ice bar, sound bar,q bar,boxing etc all had slow pick ups blaring out loud music all night.

i was on a tour of Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. As a tourist i could not wait to get out.

the one way road at the end was worse than i ever saw, and the dredging of the lake was simply stacking the silt around the edge of the lake, so when it rains it will run back into the lake.

High end holiday makers will stay in high end resorts.

the brekkie was 120 baht. beer prices well you can see.

With respect, this post is mostly bo**ocks.

The fact that you were in Burger King at all says something.

Do you really think £2.40 is expensive for a breakfast??

Soi Reggae is an 'entertainment street' - if you wanted cheap beer you could have chosen hundreds of other places to drink.

You're moaning about massage places but you were spending time on Soi Reggae??

You're moaning about massage places but then sing Pattaya's praises??

As someone else has pointed out there is extensive road resurfacing going on around the island, including the lake road.

And are you really trying to tell us that you left, and others stay away, because you are disaffected with the way the lake is being dredged?!!

A holiday with you must be a bonanza of fun from beginning to end.

Yeah got to agree with you on this.

It's strange as he seems to be complaining that the girly bars have all moved away from the main Chaweng Beach Road....but then goes on to complain that the Soi Reggae and surrounding the lake road is full of "seedy" places...hmmmmmm

In my few years in Samui i only ever saw 1 "girly" bar on the main road anyway and that was very small and has just recently changed into just a cafe/guest house/bar style.

Anyway, it's just a shame some people just judge a place entirely on things so trivial as this and as for the Burger King thing...i'll refrain from commenting!

As already stated there are much more places than just central Chaweng to see and at much better prices also but some people just cannot see the wood for the trees and make wild generalizations about places that in reality they know nothing about and have saw just a tiny part of the island.

Coming up to Easter and Songkran should be busy and the couple of places i know say they are also pretty much full in the coming 3 weeks or so...better just tell them not to go to Burger King, do not order a brekkie anywhere as you may get a big black blob served in it or look in the lake or they might just storm off days early in a huff never to return! Priorities eh?

[samuijimmy]

i came to Samui for a week recently after 3 nights i left, could not accept the prices and the grumpy some time's agressive service, not to me but to other travellers, one example in burger king a guy wanted a cheese burger, not have, he replied how can you not have cheese burger. Straight away raised voice get out we call police get you. then when he went bragging about how they tell farang go or call the police. soi reggae was 100 baht a beer, breakfast 120 for a small and upward of 200 for decent one. pictures demonstrate why people go else where.beer price is prity much standard and the beach is just ourside pattaya, note no development or chairs on the beach.

The girlie bars have gone off main road through Chaweng but the road in and the road around the lake there are dozens of seedy massage places. the roads were worse than ever. ice bar, sound bar,q bar,boxing etc all had slow pick ups blaring out loud music all night.

i was on a tour of Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. As a tourist i could not wait to get out.

the one way road at the end was worse than i ever saw, and the dredging of the lake was simply stacking the silt around the edge of the lake, so when it rains it will run back into the lake.

High end holiday makers will stay in high end resorts.

the brekkie was 120 baht. beer prices well you can see.

With respect, this post is mostly bo**ocks.

The fact that you were in Burger King at all says something.

Do you really think £2.40 is expensive for a breakfast??

Soi Reggae is an 'entertainment street' - if you wanted cheap beer you could have chosen hundreds of other places to drink.

You're moaning about massage places but you were spending time on Soi Reggae??

You're moaning about massage places but then sing Pattaya's praises??

As someone else has pointed out there is extensive road resurfacing going on around the island, including the lake road.

And are you really trying to tell us that you left, and others stay away, because you are disaffected with the way the lake is being dredged?!!

A holiday with you must be a bonanza of fun from beginning to end.

Yeah got to agree with you on this.

It's strange as he seems to be complaining that the girly bars have all moved away from the main Chaweng Beach Road....but then goes on to complain that the Soi Reggae and surrounding the lake road is full of "seedy" places...hmmmmmm

In my few years in Samui i only ever saw 1 "girly" bar on the main road anyway and that was very small and has just recently changed into just a cafe/guest house/bar style.

Anyway, it's just a shame some people just judge a place entirely on things so trivial as this and as for the Burger King thing...i'll refrain from commenting!

As already stated there are much more places than just central Chaweng to see and at much better prices also but some people just cannot see the wood for the trees and make wild generalizations about places that in reality they know nothing about and have saw just a tiny part of the island.

Coming up to Easter and Songkran should be busy and the couple of places i know say they are also pretty much full in the coming 3 weeks or so...better just tell them not to go to Burger King, do not order a brekkie anywhere as you may get a big black blob served in it or look in the lake or they might just storm off days early in a huff never to return! Priorities eh?

Well put !!!!...... all boll...ks!

I agree too, and with all others posting the positive views.... all the visitors I had in the last year who went on to Phuket, all said they preferred Samui or KP

There's a Burger King on Samui?..... I should get out more

[maccaroni man]

I like samui, it is a good place to call home.

[exyalie]

Got to chime into this conversation a bit.

So I am an American traveler, NYC-based academic type, and frequent visitor to Thailand both for pleasure/holiday and academic research purposes. I think of myself as good-hearted, generous in spirit, culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and rather less-than-demanding. OK, enough of all that!

I feel very much at home in Bangkok and have little difficulty navigating through the City and living a good life there. I do not like Pattaya, had a very unpleasant stay in Phuket... so I am trying Samui. Once. Never again.

I came to the island desperately wanting to love it, and it can be quite beautiful with wonderful people. But I am SO tired of being ripped off by avaricious taxi drivers that I will never come back here.

The first person I met on the island was a driver who wanted more money to take me from the ferry pier to Chaweng Noi than the cost of my entire train trip from Bangkok to the island. Then the drivers closer to my hotel who wanted 600B to take me to a restaurant in Chaweng and back. Then the songthaew driver who decided to change his route mid-trip and summarily evicted luggage bearing travelers and told them to walk back 2km to a road to find another driver.

I have seen this elsewhere in Thailand and I was hoping for better here. Not to be found.

Goodbye, Samui. I am leaving earlier than I had planned, and taking my spending back to my nice neighborhood in Bangkok where it is appreciated.

[Boater]

Got to chime into this conversation a bit.

So I am an American traveler, NYC-based academic type, and frequent visitor to Thailand both for pleasure/holiday and academic research purposes. I think of myself as good-hearted, generous in spirit, culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and rather less-than-demanding. OK, enough of all that!

I feel very much at home in Bangkok and have little difficulty navigating through the City and living a good life there. I do not like Pattaya, had a very unpleasant stay in Phuket... so I am trying Samui. Once. Never again.

I came to the island desperately wanting to love it, and it can be quite beautiful with wonderful people. But I am SO tired of being ripped off by avaricious taxi drivers that I will never come back here.

The first person I met on the island was a driver who wanted more money to take me from the ferry pier to Chaweng Noi than the cost of my entire train trip from Bangkok to the island. Then the drivers closer to my hotel who wanted 600B to take me to a restaurant in Chaweng and back. Then the songthaew driver who decided to change his route mid-trip and summarily evicted luggage bearing travelers and told them to walk back 2km to a road to find another driver.

I have seen this elsewhere in Thailand and I was hoping for better here. Not to be found.

Goodbye, Samui. I am leaving earlier than I had planned, and taking my spending back to my nice neighborhood in Bangkok where it is appreciated.

unfortunately , Taxi's and songthaew are a virus to Samui, and if they were to be fully regulated, charge by the Meter like in Bangkok, then Samui would become a safer and much nicer place overnight

[exyalie]

unfortunately , Taxi's and songthaew are a virus to Samui, and if they were to be fully regulated, charge by the Meter like in Bangkok, then Samui would become a safer and much nicer place overnight

you put it so well, thank you - it mystifies me that I can successfully deal with as difficult and complicated a place as Bangkok (let alone NYC) and then be totally victimized on a small resort island. i am leaving this place with a very very bad feeling and, like Phuket, will not return.

[Boater]

unfortunately , Taxi's and songthaew are a virus to Samui, and if they were to be fully regulated, charge by the Meter like in Bangkok, then Samui would become a safer and much nicer place overnight

you put it so well, thank you - it mystifies me that I can successfully deal with as difficult and complicated a place as Bangkok (let alone NYC) and then be totally victimized on a small resort island. i am leaving this place with a very very bad feeling and, like Phuket, will not return.

its all about greed, plus mafia type connections running it all !, what really gets me is the taxi drivers try to defend this over charging as it costs more to operate a taxi in samui, but they spend god knowes how much all pimping out there taxi's which there isnt really any need to do !, most are just small minded people who dont realise if they used a meter, there business would also increase 10 folds !

[maccaroni man]

now lets be honest bkk is a piece of cake compared to remote areas such as samui, taxi drivers in bkk refuse the fare no big deal thousands more, downtown sky train, or walk; it has side walks. i am not a city boy and know how to drive so i always rent a car and explore when i am not in a city.

[exyalie]

but what i fail to understand is that i know i am not alone in my informal "boycott" of places where i am abused... i have had to inform several business owners of cancellation of plans already made... so the effect on local business is very direct!

why don't the people who are really being harmed -business people who depend on tourist dollars- doing anything to correct this situation? if one taxi driver had turned on the meter, i alone would be spending hundreds more dollars here on the island.

does no one really care?

[Rooo]

does no one really care?

No they don't. In their mind, there is plenty more from where you come from. They live in their own little tiny world.

[Tropicalevo]

if one taxi driver had turned on the meter, i alone would be spending hundreds more dollars here on the island.

does no one really care?

and the driver would be in hospital - unfortunately.

Yes we care, and the government visit regularly and tell them to behave, but like a lot of other places around the world (usually at airports) taxi drivers get away with scamming.

Bangkok used to be as bad when I first lived there. Almost impossile to get a cab from the airport to use the meter (unless you walked to arrivals where they would use the meter, but picking up there is illegal.)

The taxi drivers are a pain and the scum of the earth here - which is why locals almost never use them. The taxi drivers charge the Thais the same prices too.

Sorry - but you hit the one thing that we all loath. And by the way - many times when I lived in Bangkok a taxi would refuse to take me where I wanted to go - but there was always another one that would.

[samuijimmy]

Well not to defend all the taxi drivers.... but I have a regular one "on call" when I have guests arrive, and he's very reasonable.... even has sat for hours a few times waiting, if ferry is late....(even comes to pick me up too) ....

I realize that does not work for tourists, coming off some of the ferries except Lomprayah has fixed rate if pre-booked. 150 baht. (mini bus actually)

There's a guy down the road from me that had a yellow /reddish colour cab .... I noticed it had not been around for a while and asked him what happen to the taxi... his reply was .... 500 baht a day for use, plus about 500 baht a day on gas or propane (?) running around looking for customers = little or no money to bring home to feed wife and kids.... he's now working in a Durien farm and makes more money... to take home....

Recently in BKK I found trying to find a taxi to take me to some spot for a fair price, was almost impossible..... 6 or 7 cabs before I could get a ride at fixed price, even a Thai friend said they would not use meter to where I wanted to go... Admittedly it was an awkward area to go and not much chance they'd get a pickup back in to the main part of the city...

The other few times I needed a Taxi here or in Surathanii city, if price too high, then I just play the waiting game.... there's always one who will come down in price..... if starting price seems unreasonable....

[exyalie]

Well not to defend all the taxi drivers.... but I have a regular one "on call" when I have guests arrive, and he's very reasonable.... even has sat for hours a few times waiting, if ferry is late....(even comes to pick me up too) ....

I realize that does not work for tourists, coming off some of the ferries except Lomprayah has fixed rate if pre-booked. 150 baht. (mini bus actually)

You point out something useful - a traveler such as I - who is staggering off a boat or bus or train after a long long journey....is a bit dazed and confused.... and very very hot and tired is a person at their most vulnerable. A perfect target for a scheming cheating taxi driver.

Tonight, having been here now for a day, I "voted with my feet" and walked 45 minutes to dinner.... (and 45 minutes back)... Sure I was hot and uncomfortable, but every time an empty songthaew or taxi beeped at me trying to get my business, I let them simply drive on, as empty as they were when they approached me. And I felt at least a little bit better.

(On an unrelated note, I should have foreseen trouble on the boat over from Surat Thani. The crowd resembled nothing more than my undergrads trying to desperately hold on to some sort of spring break fantasy at a cut-rate price. You know them, the ones buying as many bottles of Chang as their arms can hold and then putting their large bodies on small rented motorbikes...)

Give me my beloved Bangkok any day.

[farangme]

Visited Chewang 17 years ago. Idylic tropical beach. Came back about three years ago. Very sad place now. Went from $5/day hut to high end resort. The guests who went in the water all came out with tar on their feet. One night had a storm and next morning beach completely covered in garbage blown in from the sea. Beachside pool full of toddlers in diapers. Parents washing poop off babies in the pool shower. Walked entire length of beach, could have been pattaya. Drove from Santiburi golf course at one end to the big driving range over the hill in the other end. Roads were crap and nothing interesting to see.

Loved Santiburi golf course. Moved to a very expensive boutique resort the last few days and enjoyed staying within the resort, as there was nothing of interest to see/do outside of it. There may be some unspoilt part of Samui, but I'm not gonna go trekking to find it. Too many other options.

Don't care for Phuket anymore, but even Phuket hotels haven't blocked beach access for the most part.

As there is lots of coastline in TL, I won't be returning to Samui. It's a shame what's become of the place.

Of course, this is IMHO. No offense intended to anyone.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[insertmembernamehere]

exyalie bases his whole argument on a few bad taxis (common knowledge) and one bad songtao experience. Uh.....does anyone hear the words, "sample size"?

"Oh, I went to London and they wouldn't let me smoke in a pub, like I can here! And I had an argument with an Algerian shopkeeper! I will never go back to London! Can we form some society to boycott London? There must be lots of people who think like me!"

Yikes!

[Evergreen]

Oh dear, i do sense yet another taxi/songthaew thread coming on... It's been done to death for so long it's like groundhog day....but....here goes.....

It's been very open as to the way the taxis operate for god knows how long now yet still we have the same old bleating. It's on almost every single forum or advice place i ever see yet still people are surprised, it's one of THE main complaints, we know this, the taxi drivers know this and don't care but just nothing gets done and i do not envisage anything really being done unfortunately!

Yes, i agree, it's wrong, they should use their meters, of course they should but recently i came back to Bkk from Khon Buri, the "taxi meter" OFFICIAL rank at the bus station refused to put his meter on and tried to charge stupid money to get into the city until i then said i would get out and he suddenly put the meter on...which ended up WAY less that the extortionate price he tried on me...he just tried to joke about it when i got to my destination! But of course this NEVER happens anywhere apart from Samui.......

My point is, that all the Samui bashers should realise it happens all over the place, it's just noticed a hellof a lot more on a tiny little Island than in a city full of millions of people. I actually AGREE it's wrong but nothing seems to be able to change it!!

As, for the babies poo in the poolside shower?

I do assume you went and complained? as if that happened where i was staying i would not put up with that...or did you just decide to rant on a keyboard about it whilst going "tut tut" and shaking your head and put the whole island into the same boat as if it could not possibly happen anywhere else in the entire world?? to put this entirely down to a Samui problem is absolutely absurd!!!

Samui the "hub" of babies poo in showers! Do you not maybe even for a single minute that maybe, just maybe it's the PARENTS fault for doing that with their kids??...oh no no no...blame it on Samui of course, Samui made them do it!! ha ha.

As for litter on beach also....it only happens on Samui..the whole world is perfect apart from Samui of course. Dear oh dear, i've been on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and...shhhhh..i saw some litter also being swept in by the sea. I think some people should go and live on the moon but hey...they probably still find something to spend all their waking hours moaning and whinging about.... no atmosphere!! Bad bad moon!!

I had a couple in Samui/KP/Koh Tao recently on honeymoon, they had been in Bangok and Phuket and Phi Phi beforehand..their opinion??...they LOVED Samui/KP/Koh Tao...said it was WAY better than the others...but hey ho, such is life, some things annoy people more than others and that's what makes the world...and THAI VISA an interesting place to visit!!.......sometimes...just don't get a <deleted> taxi ok .....

[bradleythebuyer]

I spent about 3 months on Lamai and loved it. Some of the old-timers were telling me how the airport and commercialization killed the paradise island they loved; how everyone was prancing around topless and getting high, and now everything is expensive and touristy. I don't know how it was back then, but I think its still pretty great right now. I really enjoyed how laid back and slow Lamai was. Really nice locals and expats, not too much arrogant exploitative people, good balance of western amenities and remoteness.

The cab situation does suck, but that is the price you have to pay for not renting a motorbike. All things considered, it isn't that bad if you plan your stay wisely.

Edited April 4, 2012 by bradleythebuyer

[smokie36]

Blah blah blah.....come..go...do what ya want.

Just leave the massage places for those that enjoy 'em!

[bradleythebuyer]

Got to chime into this conversation a bit.

So I am an American traveler, NYC-based academic type, and frequent visitor to Thailand both for pleasure/holiday and academic research purposes. I think of myself as good-hearted, generous in spirit, culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and rather less-than-demanding. OK, enough of all that!

I feel very much at home in Bangkok and have little difficulty navigating through the City and living a good life there. I do not like Pattaya, had a very unpleasant stay in Phuket... so I am trying Samui. Once. Never again.

I came to the island desperately wanting to love it, and it can be quite beautiful with wonderful people. But I am SO tired of being ripped off by avaricious taxi drivers that I will never come back here.

The first person I met on the island was a driver who wanted more money to take me from the ferry pier to Chaweng Noi than the cost of my entire train trip from Bangkok to the island. Then the drivers closer to my hotel who wanted 600B to take me to a restaurant in Chaweng and back. Then the songthaew driver who decided to change his route mid-trip and summarily evicted luggage bearing travelers and told them to walk back 2km to a road to find another driver.

I have seen this elsewhere in Thailand and I was hoping for better here. Not to be found.

Goodbye, Samui. I am leaving earlier than I had planned, and taking my spending back to my nice neighborhood in Bangkok where it is appreciated.

You sound like a teaching assistant for a bullshit liberal arts course like Crossroads of South Asian Social Norms at a place like Pace University. You paint yourself as some kind of dignitary who decided to grace these savages with your presence. Yes, cabbies everywhere are avaricious (NYC not excluded); do you expect them to be altruistic?

Your first two gripes are that their price quotes to you were excessively high. OK.... get a motorbike, or try to haggle with them . Yeah "evicting" passangers mid route is dissapointing, and i haven't encountered anything like that in my three months on Samui, but MTA busses do that too, without reimbursing your fare. If your scholarly travels take you to surrounding countries like Lao, Vietman or China, don't expect anything different. I guess the reason your posts irritates me is that you imply that you are wordly, adventurous and interested in other cultures but you want them to play by your huffington post rules. BKK or NYC doesn't require the aformentioned skills and aren't "challenging" in that respect. It is fine if you want an upscale Tora Bora vacation and are willing to pay for it, but it seems you want an upscale vacation at Thai prices with NYC service without tipping and with the indigineous experience thrown in without any of the associated hassles.

[itishothere]

It's been very open as to the way the taxis operate for god knows how long now yet still we have the same old bleating. It's on almost every single forum or advice place i ever see yet still people are surprised, it's one of THE main complaints, we know this, the taxi drivers know this and don't care but just nothing gets done and i do not envisage anything really being done unfortunately!

I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, but am not too sure about this bit.

Sadly, it would seem that people DON'T know before they arrive about the taxi situation. Not everyone relies on blogs, forum etc. They see a brochure or website that says ...."just a short taxi ride away" or similar, and make the assumption that the price is going to be comparable to the rest of their expenses whilst on holiday. They do not see ... "just a short taxi ride away that will cost you probably the same price as your evening meal, or about 2 rounds of drinks with your friends", or "that will cost you at least 3 times what you will pay in Bangkok and they do not use their meter".

It is these people I feel sorry for. They have booked through an agent or brochure or on-line and have been misled. As to how this information is more widely distributed, I don't know. And like you say, diddly squat is going to change in the near term.

[Birdman]

.....So I am an American traveler, NYC-based academic type, and frequent visitor to Thailand both for pleasure/holiday and academic research purposes. I think of myself as good-hearted, generous in spirit, culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and rather less-than-demanding........... But I am SO tired of being ripped off by avaricious taxi drivers that I will never come back here..................... I am leaving earlier than I had planned, and taking my spending back to my nice neighborhood in Bangkok where it is appreciated.

I would say, if one calls himself exyalie, American traveler, NYC-based academic type.....and can't handle a very simple, minor matter, which almost every average package tourist can and decides that he hates the whole place because of that, he gives not only all his references a bad name, but declares himself as incompetent.

[DrChopper]

I agree that the taxi situation here isn't ideal, and can be a pain in the ****, but I can honestly say I would never leave somewhere, never to return, on the basis that taxis are relatively expensive. I can't think of a more small minded reason.

If I was determined to not use taxis and my hotel was 45 minutes walk from places I would have moved hotel rather than gone home. Maybe that's just me though.

[wasas]

I agree that the taxi situation here isn't ideal, and can be a pain in the ****, but I can honestly say I would never leave somewhere, never to return, on the basis that taxis are relatively expensive. I can't think of a more small minded reason.

If I was determined to not use taxis and my hotel was 45 minutes walk from places I would have moved hotel rather than gone home. Maybe that's just me though.

With living in samui, when you go to bkk you think the taxis are so cheap, i use them all the time and tip genourously

[Birdman]

Are there actually people living constantly on Samui without own transportation? That must be an absolute minority.

How much is a taxi in BKK from Sai Tai Mai to Rangsit?

[exyalie]

.....So I am an American traveler, NYC-based academic type, and frequent visitor to Thailand both for pleasure/holiday and academic research purposes. I think of myself as good-hearted, generous in spirit, culturally sensitive, inquisitive, and rather less-than-demanding........... But I am SO tired of being ripped off by avaricious taxi drivers that I will never come back here..................... I am leaving earlier than I had planned, and taking my spending back to my nice neighborhood in Bangkok where it is appreciated.

I would say, if one calls himself exyalie, American traveler, NYC-based academic type.....and can't handle a very simple, minor matter, which almost every average package tourist can and decides that he hates the whole place because of that, he gives not only all his references a bad name, but declares himself as incompetent.

Yes, i agree with this post-er 100%... I am totally incompetent and a failure in all things that I set out to accomplish, and all things that I am associated with are brought into total and utter disgrace.

Many thanks for replying to the substance of my issue instead of engaging in pointless personal attacks. I always enjoy this forum because people can be relied upon to passionately debate issues put forward instead of engaging in the vituperative attacks that seem to plague many internet forums. Thank you for keeping the discourse here truly elevated and civil.