For People With Rose Tinted Glasses

[Khun Jean]

All the fuss that some members make about my opinion about Samui is over reacted.

I am just a normal guy, with a family.

I keep my eyes open for things that are happening around me.

I mind my own business and keep a low profile. All i need is a surrounding that is comfortable to live and raise two small children. I went to Samui as it looked like it combines many great things.

It is an island, has many beaches, some western facilities, etc...

A great place when you consider those.

Where it went from great to not great are many things that will get to you after a while.

I don't consider opinions from people with bars and other businesses valid as they are only interested to attract as many customers as possible. Which in itself is understandable.

If i talk about bad roads and taxi services i get remarks that i see everything in a bad light. Fact is that the roads are bad, consider the many casualties, and the taxi service is bad. Even the mayor is outrageous. Why should i not tell this so people are prepared instead of taken advantage of!

If you have an accident and the police come to help you, you are not thinking 'why are they taking me to this particuar hospital'. You have no time for that. You are vunerable. At that moment you are taken advantage of. Why, because they get money from the hospital to bring in a western client. Insurances pay everything. A good money earner.

Nice to know this fact when you need help.

When you are unfortunate and have an accident you at least -if you still can - tell them to bring you to a good hospital. Yes i know the person who had this unfortunate accident.

Why is it that people holidaying on Chaweng still don't know anything about ripp currents. Many casulaties there every year. People are used to their western societies where everything is taken care for them. If it is dangerous to swim in every western country it is forbidden to swim and you are warned. Here it is just your amount of good luck that can save you.

I know a relative of someone who drowned there. And if you hear how everything is handled. Amazing Thailand.

When i say something about the building that is going on and that it is devestating to the surroundings, i get attacked by people who probably want to make a fortune on naive people.

Houses that are over 10 million baht that can be bought with sketchy legal constructions, again if it is not true proof me otherwise! Next time when someone has a itchy back, think about where you swam before. It might give you a hint.

I know quite a few people in Samui. I hear the same stories again and again. Are all of these people wrong? I had a little internet shop and often customers asked advice how to handle situations they got in. Nobody offered them any help whatsoever. I am always helping other people especially when they request it.

If they get into a accident with a motorcycle and the rental shop asks 10.000 baht while the damages are 1000 baht at most. Women travelling alone or with 2 getting the shock of their live when they got to Lamai, and desperately looking for other accomodation. I helped many people with their problems, so i might be more confronted with the not so great things on this island.

My wife gets constant proposals to go with someone to their hotel. She dresses normal, nothing provoking. It gets to her nerves, i get angry but not show it. A 'subtle' remark often works. My wife is now there to close down our shop. In the three weeks she has been there her reactions changed from, "nice to be back", "why so many stupid people" to "i am happy i go to bangkok". Granted the shop is in Lamai, which has more of the ''strange" people walking around compared to other parts of the island.

Tourist centres are 'party' centres. It is all about drinking, dancing, horizontal olympics.

Nothing wrong with it if that is your thing. The problem i have with it is that because it is an island you WILL be confronted with it where ever you are (OK not in the jungle part of the island).

I am not a visitor of bars. I don't drink alcohol. Maybe the reason i don't fit in wiht the crowds.

For children growing up it is not a good example to be in an area where bargirls and barman are highly visible. It is anything but normal. I lived a litle north of Hua Thanon. I had a great house right at the beach, with a garden. Live was good!

When high season start, people are starting to drive their motorcycles through your garden to get a look at the beach. Driving through the grass and sometimes right through a flowerbed is just insane!

Ok when it happens only once you can say it is an idiot who did it.

When it happens several times in a month you start to get thinking that normal people are a minority.

Having nice neigbours is crucial. I have seen too many loud mouthed constantly drunken man riding their big motorcycles having loud sex with many different girls. I dare to say they are the majority!

I have been to Maenam, Bhoput, Lipa Noi and many other places on Samui. It is better there. You will filter out most of these loud mouths when you rent a more expensive house. I only can not imagine you will stay there all the time. In my opinion you will get fed up with the tourists. The advice i give to people is to rent first. At least 6 months preferably more. Then educate yourself about the place. And if you know everything then make the decision to buy something.

A lot has changed since the tsunami. Many tourist go to Samui instead of Phuket or other andaman coast places. With this increase in tourists the problems are also increasing. Nothing is done to accomodate them. Nothing is regulated. Nothing is enforced.

Whereever there is a lot of tourism it will attract people with bad intentions. If you are here on a holiday for a few days or even two weeks, the chance something bad happening is very small. The same for driving on a motorcycle, if you drive it for a few days the chance of an accident is small. If you live on Samui, you will get an accident, and you will get bad experiences. Experiences that will make you see this island is just a place like everywhere else. You can close your eyes for the darker side or even evade it by sitting in a bar all day, but it is still there.

Many farang i met have that 'ignorance is bliss' atitude. I admire it, life is much more simpler. Such a pity their 'ignorance is bliss' attitude is mixed with alcoholism.

It is typical for people who suffer alcoholism to deny this and often they counter attack very quick. Some poster right on this forum who has a bar knows who i mean.

I am unable to have this 'ignorance is bliss' atitude. I can sustain it only for a few weeks when on holiday. My guess is more people especially with a western upbringing will be unable to have such an attitude. For posters who are ignoring everything around them, and probably don't have kids and/or a good relationship the world is so much simpler. My world is different. I carry responsability for my loved ones and have compasion for other people. And no i am not religious.

If you look at the bars and restaurants, you see many very small businesses earning just enough to stay open. If i make a wild guess 80% of them are started by a farang. Most of them are not the 'real owners' of course. The saying 'the man at the end of the bar' is so true! Almost all are somewhat illegal. That means the foreigner is not allowed to work. Getting a workpermit for a small establishment is not easy and even if you have one you can only be the 'manager'. If the law will be enforced all of these foreigners risk to be deported!

The recent early closing is now being enforced, but not always and not for everyone. Great example is Buddy Bar. If all the bars have to close, many tourists just change to a disco that can stay open until 6am (i wonder why?) or Buddy bar that is open until at least 4am. Every 'manager' of a bar knows that the most money is earned when people are already a little drunk and having a good time, they miss out on a big chuck of money.

BTW Buddy bar is owned by the local Thai Police headman. Sounds fair doesn't it?

I leave it to you to guess who owns the local disco? Probably most don't know as they never study or question their surrounding.

An elderly couple who has started a small restaurant. They are from the UK. They absolutely 'adore' Samui. So much so that they do 'anything' to be able to stay.

They established a company to allow for 2 workpermits. They want to be 100% legal. What the laywer forget to tell them is they can be managers not the cook and the waiter. Another disaster waiting to happen. Would these people be warned and educated about the Thai law, they would never start down this road and just rented a nice place to stay. They already are stung by the local supermarket. Asking for higher prices or else....

I spoke with them many times, because they are very nice and welcoming people. Now they are forcing to sell their restaurant and loose a lot of money. Lessons learned. Very unfortunate it happens to people with a golden heart. Their trust in people heavily damaged.

It would have been so simple. They could have asked for a retirement visa but they thought only a business visa was an option. They got their advice from a well known laywer on Samui.

All the problems on Samui are found elsewhere in Thailand. Laws for land ownership and rediculous prices for land and houses is not something local. But to close your eyes and think that it is not more concentrated and higher on Samui is just ignoring things. As someone who want to stay you are a target. If you not realise this and are still in your holiday mood, you will get stung.

My wish for Samui is that they clean up their act. Get rid of the nuisances and change it into a sustainable tourist attraction before it goes down in a pile of rubble. Unfortunately all the money eraned in Samui goes to Surat. And Surat is not really interested in maintaining and upgrading Samui.

My feeling of Samui. Great place to spend a holiday. Not a great place to live if you have a family.

If you have read this all, you will notice i not mention the Thai people. They are the reason i stayed in the first place. The tourists are the reason i left.

[Boo]

ok. KJ has had his say against the other closed posts against him

so this one gets closed too & no need for ANYONE to create another topic against another memebr or to defend themselves.