What do you make of this

[robsamui]

Oh dear. Looks like I've got it wrong . . . apologies to those Thai people who seem quite evidently concerned.

I'm just going on my personal experience of have been here quite a while. Everywhere around me have always been people who simply sling their rubbish around - including where I'm right now, again. And the comments about the schoolkids and their parents came directly from a speech made from a top person at the THA - that's not my personal observation as I have no experience of this. For years I was in the habit of handing back the litter that people just dropped in the street where they were standing, saying "sorry but you dropped this . . ." but I've just given up now.

I'd dearly like to meet Thai people living around me who were concerned about their environment. I have met one notable and significant Thai family here who were most concerned. But every beach clean-up I've been on or have heard about has been organised by 'outsiders'; that I find significant.

And no, no connection at all with Conrad, other that a sense of relief that the management were concerned that the original horror become greened over as fast as possible, and that it's starting to happen now.

Nor an "attack". But I've only ever lived among ordinary working Thai people who rent their houses. In my present little soi there are 7 houses, 2 of them with Thai people in them, and once in a while one of us foreigners can't stand it anymore and bag up their garbage and take it to the bins on the main road. And it's been similar everywhere I've been in Thailand, not just Samui. I've come to accept it. I'm a bit taken aback that others here think I'm being hostile - it wasn't written in a spirit of anger at all, it's just the way things are here, and I'm sure I'm not alone in my experiences.

R

as a ps to this - this is the view from back balcony of the last-but-one place where I lived.

No, not Burmese workers, just ordinary local families.

The smoke is coming from two huge heaps of household garbage.

They kept a pig to try to reduce it as bit, but when it got too much they poured petrol on it and torched the lot, rubber, plastic, metal, glass, whatever.

R

[BigC]

From one of he samui locals site

Locals are not happy as they don't know whey they buildings was not stopped?

No one really knew what was going on with this building but no one seemed to do anything about it and it carried on being built

The local people want to know how long until all the natural beauty from the island has been sold off

In other words they are not happy

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Why doesn't this ring true . . .??

I read this a couple of days ago and it's been niggling at me so I've come back to it.

Are you talking about the local Thai people? Or a couple of the white people you know around there?

The "natural beauty"?

When has a Thai person ever, ever been concerned about, or even aware of, any kind of environmental aesthetics? (With apologies and respect to the odd .0001% whom I have met and who went to school in BKK and then university in America)

These are people who instinctively drop litter and garbage on the spot. The same ones who sling all their household junk and rubbish over the fence or out of the front door.- and don't even notice it messing up the front of their house. The ones whose idea of 'gardening' is to level every tree, bush and vine to the ground, and who use weedkiller instead of a mower.

Is there even a Thai word or expression for "natural beauty" or was that something you sort of picked out of the air?

Why do I have the feeling that you are some kind of a personal roll here, Big C? It's true what you say, . But don't try and give it weight by saying that all the Thai people agree with you and are worried about spoiling the beauty of Samui. Ask yourself who spends time and money trying to make development blend into the landscape? Thai people? To my knowledge there's only one example of this here and that's at Tongsai Bay and created by a Thai millionaire for his family after he had traveled the world. Your average local family doesn't even notice they are blotting the landscape, I'm sorry to say.

Happily, environmental awareness and conservation is now being taught in all 43 of the Samui government schools, courtesy of the (farang-based) Samui branch of the Thai Hotels Association who have the Mayor's support to sponsor and put money into his schools here - and hopefully the new generation will be more aware. But as things stand now, the parents of these kids can't understand what the all the fuss is about!

R

got it from a local samui young mans face book. it had to be translated to me thats the reason why i picked up on it because. you have like you said. local people such as expats with thai families then you have local people that are born in samui from a long generation of big families.

yes they like money and they are all different. like in a normal world they dont always agree with each other.

have posted the Thai version you can tranlated your self and argue amoungt each other.

though the reason why it caught my attension is because it was a samui young man that posted it. Not some random forang

[BigC]

Oh dear. Looks like I've got it wrong . . . apologies to those Thai people who seem quite evidently concerned.

I'm just going on my personal experience of have been here quite a while. Everywhere around me have always been people who simply sling their rubbish around - including where I'm right now, again. And the comments about the schoolkids and their parents came directly from a speech made from a top person at the THA - that's not my personal observation as I have no experience of this. For years I was in the habit of handing back the litter that people just dropped in the street where they were standing, saying "sorry but you dropped this . . ." but I've just given up now.

I'd dearly like to meet Thai people living around me who were concerned about their environment. I have met one notable and significant Thai family here who were most concerned. But every beach clean-up I've been on or have heard about has been organised by 'outsiders'; that I find significant.

And no, no connection at all with Conrad, other that a sense of relief that the management were concerned that the original horror become greened over as fast as possible, and that it's starting to happen now.

Nor an "attack". But I've only ever lived among ordinary working Thai people who rent their houses. In my present little soi there are 7 houses, 2 of them with Thai people in them, and once in a while one of us foreigners can't stand it anymore and bag up their garbage and take it to the bins on the main road. And it's been similar everywhere I've been in Thailand, not just Samui. I've come to accept it. I'm a bit taken aback that others here think I'm being hostile - it wasn't written in a spirit of anger at all, it's just the way things are here, and I'm sure I'm not alone in my experiences.

R

as a ps to this - this is the view from back balcony of the last-but-one place where I lived.

No, not Burmese workers, just ordinary local families.

The smoke is coming from two huge heaps of household garbage.

They kept a pig to try to reduce it as bit, but when it got too much they poured petrol on it and torched the lot, rubber, plastic, metal, glass, whatever.

R

wow it looks like a thai labor camp. Sure these are not builders here just to work then go away

[BigC]

Oh dear. Looks like I've got it wrong . . . apologies to those Thai people who seem quite evidently concerned.

I'm just going on my personal experience of have been here quite a while. Everywhere around me have always been people who simply sling their rubbish around - including where I'm right now, again. And the comments about the schoolkids and their parents came directly from a speech made from a top person at the THA - that's not my personal observation as I have no experience of this. For years I was in the habit of handing back the litter that people just dropped in the street where they were standing, saying "sorry but you dropped this . . ." but I've just given up now.

I'd dearly like to meet Thai people living around me who were concerned about their environment. I have met one notable and significant Thai family here who were most concerned. But every beach clean-up I've been on or have heard about has been organised by 'outsiders'; that I find significant.

And no, no connection at all with Conrad, other that a sense of relief that the management were concerned that the original horror become greened over as fast as possible, and that it's starting to happen now.

Nor an "attack". But I've only ever lived among ordinary working Thai people who rent their houses. In my present little soi there are 7 houses, 2 of them with Thai people in them, and once in a while one of us foreigners can't stand it anymore and bag up their garbage and take it to the bins on the main road. And it's been similar everywhere I've been in Thailand, not just Samui. I've come to accept it. I'm a bit taken aback that others here think I'm being hostile - it wasn't written in a spirit of anger at all, it's just the way things are here, and I'm sure I'm not alone in my experiences.

R

Samui has allot of people that don't care about their place of living. All the way from Isaan to local Samui people but inside these people are people that do have a problem with their own people behaving like this.

For example in the area you maybe from. I bet you hate some of your neihours in your own country from your old school.

I know allot of local people who do show concern about their area. Plus i have seen local familes at war with other families.

The thing about Thais is that i find them to not like confrontations and if they do then they go right over the top. So it is eaither the No problem attitude. even though they do have a problem but they do not want to make a problem. or a bish bash bosh and a pop goes the weasle.

[saweden]

This very same post on Facebook caught my eye too but it was quite some time ago, perhaps a year or more. I also remember several of my Samui based friends commenting on it quite outraged! I remember thinking "no way, this is just some scare post, this isn't really happening on Samui" because the image looked so bizarre.

From one of he samui locals site

Locals are not happy as they don't know whey they buildings was not stopped?

No one really knew what was going on with this building but no one seemed to do anything about it and it carried on being built

The local people want to know how long until all the natural beauty from the island has been sold off
In other words they are not happy



Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Why doesn't this ring true . . .??

I read this a couple of days ago and it's been niggling at me so I've come back to it.

Are you talking about the local Thai people? Or a couple of the white people you know around there?

The "natural beauty"?

When has a Thai person ever, ever been concerned about, or even aware of, any kind of environmental aesthetics? (With apologies and respect to the odd .0001% whom I have met and who went to school in BKK and then university in America)

These are people who instinctively drop litter and garbage on the spot. The same ones who sling all their household junk and rubbish over the fence or out of the front door.- and don't even notice it messing up the front of their house. The ones whose idea of 'gardening' is to level every tree, bush and vine to the ground, and who use weedkiller instead of a mower.

Is there even a Thai word or expression for "natural beauty" or was that something you sort of picked out of the air?

Why do I have the feeling that you are some kind of a personal roll here, Big C? It's true what you say, . But don't try and give it weight by saying that all the Thai people agree with you and are worried about spoiling the beauty of Samui. Ask yourself who spends time and money trying to make development blend into the landscape? Thai people? To my knowledge there's only one example of this here and that's at Tongsai Bay and created by a Thai millionaire for his family after he had traveled the world. Your average local family doesn't even notice they are blotting the landscape, I'm sorry to say.

Happily, environmental awareness and conservation is now being taught in all 43 of the Samui government schools, courtesy of the (farang-based) Samui branch of the Thai Hotels Association who have the Mayor's support to sponsor and put money into his schools here - and hopefully the new generation will be more aware. But as things stand now, the parents of these kids can't understand what the all the fuss is about!

R

got it from a local samui young mans face book. it had to be translated to me thats the reason why i picked up on it because. you have like you said. local people such as expats with thai families then you have local people that are born in samui from a long generation of big families.

yes they like money and they are all different. like in a normal world they dont always agree with each other.

have posted the Thai version you can tranlated your self and argue amoungt each other.

though the reason why it caught my attension is because it was a samui young man that posted it. Not some random forang

[Rooo]

Deleted a post based on presumption & containing dialog against forum rules .

[Mole]

Recent pics from Conrad.

Again, the security guard kept an eye on me and followed me like a shadow. He didn't speak to me though.

The tides are nearly at its lowest for this year. It's obviously much lower than when I was there last year.

Those stilt bungalows makes me think of the Martian machines in H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds.

Edited June 28, 2014 by Mole

[gusG]

I'm sure if future guests saw your photos, that they would go elsewhere.

[Rooo]

Ugliest poopoo fight I've ever seen.

[islandguy]

Recent pics from Conrad.

Again, the security guard kept an eye on me and followed me like a shadow. He didn't speak to me though.

The tides are nearly at its lowest for this year. It's obviously much lower than when I was there last year.

Those stilt bungalows makes me think of the Martian machines in H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds.

1403915004934.jpg 1403915166577.jpg 1403915265874.jpg 1403915319333.jpg 1403915375987.jpg 1403915403629.jpg 1403915425735.jpg 1403915479161.jpg 1403915567641.jpg 1403915615912.jpg 1403915638981.jpg 1403915884278.jpg

I kayak by the Conrad occasionally. While they were building it there was no sand at all in front of the hotel. I was surprised when they finished it to see the small beach. One time I asked one of the staff as I paddled by a few feet from the shore, and he said yes, they had brought in all that sand and placed it there. Was very surprised when he replied to my question to say that they had not had to completely replace it after their first rainy season open. And yes, the war machines in H.G. Wells 'War of the Worlds' is exactly the image that always comes to my mind when I see this place. One thing no one on this thread has mentioned about the Conrad that was discussed in a previous thread a few years ago was how really terrible this looks as you approach Samui on the ferry. You can see it from quite a long distance away, and it disfigures what is otherwise a very pretty view approaching the island from the mainland. As far as the durability of the construction, they supposedly had the best engineering subcontractors on the job, but watching it go up there were rust stains and sloppy pours that the engineers were probably not too thrilled with.

[watcharacters]

In July 2013 I was walking on the beach during extreme low tide. Once I got in the area of Conrad, a security guard immediately asked me my intentions. I told I was just walking on the beach and he followed me like a shadow till I was outside their area.

Well good for him. What's wrong with that?

It's out in the middle of nowhere, unlike Chaweng Beach. And all there is, is Conrad. So passers-by can't be that common.

Unless he was rude or aggressive I think that's fine.

Yes, I realise it's not Conrad's private beach. And I think if you had stopped to swim or sunbathe he wouldn't have tried to interfere or move you on. But nearly all resorts on Samui have had problems with security, especially folks wandering in off the beach. So the guy was only doing what he is paid to do, politely and efficiently.

R

He didn't actually come down to the beach area, but stayed at the top of the concrete area within their premises.

He was polite and we actually had a rather nice chat about things. I asked him a few questions etc.

He told people aren't allowed to walk from the beach up into their area at all, and I wasn't planning to either.

I was once there 2 years back when they were still constructing and there were certain parts of the beach which were quicksand (there were pebbles on top, but quicksand underneath) and I immediately sank and tore my sandals.

I was amazed by the transformation and the landscaping of the beach area that they've done. They've even sculpted a small sandy beach there. As far as I remembered, there were no sandy areas around there at all.

I remember back then thinking that the only drawback with this location is that there's no sandy beach, then when I came back this time, there it is, a beach!

Unless it's extreme low tides, it's really not possible to walk to their area since the level of water would go about right up to that concrete beach wall.

.

"

"(there were pebbles on top, but quicksand underneath) and I immediately sank and tore my sandals."

Nothing like a few pebbles to save the day...

[PoorSucker]

Joseph Conrad and H.G Wells was "very close" friends.

[Virt]

Recent pics from Conrad.

Ouch.

Even the rocky shores of Koh Matlang looks better than what Conrad has to offer..