Big Waves And High Tides

[snoophound]

Well Mr T and his mates have big investments there now.

So things may improve.

He is building on a high headland though

Tax,thank you. I have agreed with you before on a lot of issues regarding the island.The most frustrating thing is there is no quick fix to what has been done.

Samui community NEWSPAPER not the magazine, have interviewd a lot of local officials & I think some of issues are starting to sink in ,there was even a directive from Bangkok re land re zoning ,with a freeze on title changes of some plots until end of december.I think & I hope that they are starting to pay attention to the problem facing the island.

Building codes are ( or so the say ) more strictly enforced.

So I think the more people that write to the paper with issues the more concerns will be listened too , as it is bilingual.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[limbos]

Allright than,

here some visual aids so the damage can be comprehended a bit. Roo, you're spot on regarding Think too mutt, that 's not the right way to react and wipe a place off the map. Maybe we're better off not having folks like him coming to Samui anymore

In Lamai apparently 2 people got washed away in a wooden village on the ring road and 7 are unaccounted for. Word has it a child is missing or died.

Damage to the bridge in Lamai, the damage is more extensive than this picture shows.

7-11 in Choengmon or whatever is left of it.

Bophud in front of Bandara resort.

Everything's brown.

Near Silver Sand.

Edited November 28, 2005 by limbos

[LaoPo]

sunlaree

I think things will be back to normal by Christmas.  Don't worry the sun is shining today.  Samui is still perfect for a Christmas gettaway!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I used to think there were 5 places in Thailand that can offer a robust tourism services.

Now, it's only 4. Samui is off the list.

No natural disaster, just a strong rain and the Mickey Mouse, so called "tourist spot" has caved in.

El-chippo built bungalows, no city planning, just Thai rubbish, an exhibition within a refugee camp.

What if I were there with my family? If the baby needed something? The services have never been good anyway, but I can't believe a rain would make the place unlivable.

Just cancelling a visit of my American friends, it was for the end of March 2006. Can't explain to them that a rain (not a declared disaster as Katrina) could make them stranded, flooded and deprived.

Good bye Samui.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think your comment is very shortsighted because of different reasons.

1. You call it just a 'strong rain' but it was much more devastating than that; I would think that NO tourist- or other area (in Thailand) could have coped with such a disastrous weathersituation.

I can remember similar unbelievable and terrible situations -due to unexpected wheatherchanges- in 'rich' countries like Spain and even last week in The Netherlands/Belgium/UK/Germany where thousands of cars were stranded in unexpected heavy snowfall. Police/Fire-department and rescue teams couldn't even reach them....in the night!

2. Samui is an upcoming tourist destination with all its difficulties; its airport is there for a mere 18 years or so and grew from just 2 or 3 flights/day to some 20/day. Samui is also dependent for its building- and infrastructure-plans (and MONEY!) on the decisions by the Authorities on the mainland - Province Surat Thani.

3. To compare Samui with the USA (declared disaster-Katrina) is absolute nonsens, or are you going to tell us here that the Nr. 1-Power in the world (USA) did enough in the past decades to avoid such horrible consequenses as what happened to the people in New Orleans and other places?

There was a documentary on TV the other day about the findings of foreign experts about 'your' USA...the findings were devastating. The US infrastructure in many states, what sewage/roads/bridges/dykes/railroads is concerned, is 'antique' and way out of 'State-of-the-Art'.

No, the US prefer to spend their billions on other more important matters, like wars...

I wonder what your comments on Japan would be if you experience a terrible Earthquake or Tsunami in Tokyo (that's where you are, right?).

Good luck to you than!

By the way: did you know that there is a terrible Tsunami to be expected on the Eastcoast of the USA in the future....?

A major part of 1 of The Canary islands (west of North Africa) WILL drop into the ocean, due to a vulcano-eruption, causing the most horrible and devastating Tsunami -ever- in the world!

Millions of people will die, in a matter of hours....

http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&q=tsunam...le+zoeken&meta=

Don't (ever) send your friends to a holiday on Long Island, Florida or The Caribbean...

Samui would be safer....

LaoPo

Edited November 28, 2005 by LaoPo

[sbk]

Thinktoomut, what a foolish knee jerk reaction on your part. This wasn't any "strong rain" as obviously you weren't here to experience it you cannot possibly comprehend how much rain fell in such a short time.

And snoophound, just for your information, land prices were not "giveaway" 5 years ago on Koh Phangan--anything that cheap would have been illegal anyway. Beachfront Chanote title land has not been "giveaway" since my father-in-law bought the piece we live on 30 years ago for 60,000 baht.

Great photos limbos--I just experienced the nightmare trip from Big Buddha Pier to Nathon this afternoon--no regular songthaews were running --they told me to walk to the road to get a taxi and when I asked about the songthaew got a "mai mee" and I had to hire a taxi meter to take me --very nice too, the others wanted 500 baht --he took me for 300 but after the state of the roads I ended up giving him a tip anyway--didn't think his poor car was going to make it through! Anyway, he was a native Samuier and we had a lovely long chat in southern Thai (took over 45 minutes to get to Nathon). He heard 5 people died, mostly poor workers living in shacks that got swept away.

[Rooo]

Limbos,you never cease to amaze me with your pics. Seen it all ,but every picture tells a story.

Limbos , Laopao & Sbk you are spot on. By the way Sbk, it was not Snoophound , but Tax debated hard & it takes people like you that have been here a long time (oops) to point us the right way.

No more biting on my behalf lol.

[limbos]

Roo and SBK, thanks for your nice comments, it's appreciated.

LaoPo, Roo and SBK, right on! Think too mut is not from this earth. In Japan everything must be honky dory. Except for the quakes but that's not Japans fault!

[stevehaigh]

By the way: did you know that there is a terrible Tsunami to be expected on the Eastcoast of the USA in the future....?

A major part of 1 of The Canary islands (west of North Africa) WILL drop into the ocean, due to a vulcano-eruption, causing the most horrible and devastating Tsunami -ever- in the world!

Millions of people will die, in a matter of hours....[/color]

http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&q=tsunam...le+zoeken&meta=

Don't (ever) send your friends to a holiday on Long Island, Florida or The Caribbean...

Samui would be safer....

LaoPo

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

wow, i never heard about this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami.shtml

glad i don't live in the US east coast (for many reasons)

[dwiener]

Thanks for your positive comments guys - the weather is changing the world over - these kind of weather events are becoming increasingly common the world over. Sure there has been some haphazard development on Samui, but even here in NZ we have the same problem as the rest of the world with property developers just going for the fast buck. Its the way of the world, sadly.

I loved Samui and am considering a return to the UK for a while to help pay for an early retirement somewhere like Thailand. So it'll get nailed by a flood or cyclone every now and then - this stuff happens if you want to live somewhere tropical and sunny. Be prepared - beats the boring wage-slave existence of Western life any time!

BTW, if you guys are in Reggae Street pop into Dream Bar (just by the intersection of Reggae St and the Lake Road) and say Hi to my friend Kung. She works behind the bar. Tell her Dave said to say 'Hi'

Cheers...