Pick A Place (phuket, Samui, Different Country)?

[escapist]

Note: Sorry if you have seen this over on the phuket info site. I am crossposting to get as many opinions and info as I can. Thanks.

I am interested seeing what some opinions here are as I get ready to make some decisions. Let me layout a bit of general background to help everyone understand where I am comming from;

- Me and my girlfriend who will be travelling and living together are 30yrs old and from the states.

- I like to go diving and she likes snorkeling and of course beaches, etc. But neither of us is a huge fan of oppressive humidity.

- We also both like to go out for food, drinks, etc and comming from Chicago are pretty used to a fairly urban environment with a lot of options.

- I have been to Thailand, and Phuket in particular for a couple weeks back in 04.

I have been working and living in India for a bit most recently and am planning to get out for at least a couple months (maybe more) somewhere. Phuket is high on the list because it seems to be easy to get places for different lengths of time, appears to have relatively good infrastructure, has water/beaches/diving/etc nearby. But recently I am waivering a bit because I am wondering if it is really the right place.

- Reading a lot of stuff it sounds like internet connectivity generally is terrible and I really wanted to be able to do a lot online including VOIP.

- I read a lot of complaints about being treated real bad, taken advantage of, cheated, etc because of being farang. I had a great time when I was there and felt everyone was nice, but I was just there for pure vacation of 2 weeks.

- I wonder about having issues if me and my girlfriend want to go out, but scene is always total crazy vacation, guys & TG, etc.

- The weather. I can't really figure out if going in this offseason mainly is bad for short time cause if you have 10d they might be mostly unusable. Or am I going to have the same problem even with a couple months time? Basically are we going to spend 2 months and find you can hardly go to the beach, hardly ever go out on the water/diving/etc because of water conditions.

- Diving isn't all cheap I know that. But I was hoping if I was there 2mo or more (and there is actually diving going on this part of the year) that I could work deals or just meet local divers with cheaper options than the standard. Anyone thing it is realistic that I will just run into and meet up with other divers over time and find good options to dive a lot without dropping thousands of USD?

- I was thinking maybe Phuket Town or Chalong to start. The nice thing being if I don't get a car or bike Phuket Town seems to have everything you need for living pretty accessible. That way I would only have to deal with getting tuk tuks and taxis on the occasion we want to go out or whatever. Not sure if that is realistic or I really need to think about getting my own transport with all the risks that brings.

I hadn't been thinking Samui originally cause I figured it has less infrastructure (internet, houses/apartments, etc) and not as good access to diving/watersports.

But should I reconsider. Is Samui actually a better place for what we want? Is Thailand in general a bad idea cause of the season and I should just look at some other countries which are cost effective, have diving, and are easy to rent housing in, etc?

I appreciate whatever opinions or advice you may have.

[khall64au]

Yeah... I recommend you head to Costa Nowhere!!!!! Phuket is not for you man...........

[seonai]

[escapist]

Yeah... I recommend you head to Costa Nowhere!!!!! Phuket is not for you man...........

Aww, but do they have such friendly and helpful expats there? Looking forward to buying you a beer when I get in .

[Goldenbead]

Or maybe you could just take a chance and see........

I don't think that any one place will offer everything you desire.

Whatever.....

[PeaceBlondie]

Moved to Thailand travel forum.

Good luck.