The photograph is not as clear as I had hoped, but the signs over the stall are saying:

"Fresh Coconut Water £4".

£4 is about 204 THB.

Tesco Lotus in Lamai is selling similar coconuts for 24THB.

By coincidence, on my flight from Heathrow last Tuesday, I was siting next to a young Thai woman. She had just spent the last 12 months working her socks off doing her Masters Degree at Imperial College, London. On one of her rare days out, she had been walking down Oxford Street with her Thai friends and they had spotted the same stall. One of her friends claimed that the coconuts were from her family farm back in Thailand.

Nothing unusual about that really.

We always have to pay stupid prices in the West for things that are usually cheap in LOS.

It often works in reverse with high pricing for common western products in LOS that are cheap in western supermarkets.

Some years ago i found rambutans @ 50p each in UK!

Nothing unusual about that really.

We always have to pay stupid prices in the West for things that are usually cheap in LOS.

It often works in reverse with high pricing for common western products in LOS that are cheap in western supermarkets.

Yes, of course, you are Absolut right: nothing unusual really. So why did I post it then? Well I guess it's because Samui is also known as Coconut Island. The trees are all around us. We take the coconuts for granted because they are so cheap and plentiful. This is why I posted it on the Samui sub forum rather than on the more popular General Forum.

It was not intended as a "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" type post. I thought perhaps it might be of interest to other local residents and tourists; a brief respite from the recent spate of sad and shocking stories about our islands; perhaps making us a touch more appreciative of what we have here. Sadly, having been away for two months, I seem to have lost touch with the rhythm and mood of the Forum. But that's ok; mai pen rai. ?

To answer the question, which would follow, if one posts "no, not interesting": If one does not read something not interesting, one can't say "no, not interesting".

Compare the price of lemons here.

Some years ago i found rambutans @ 50p each in UK!

There are still 50p each as you get 4 for £1.99 in Asda in the summer

Nothing unusual about that really.

We always have to pay stupid prices in the West for things that are usually cheap in LOS.

It often works in reverse with high pricing for common western products in LOS that are cheap in western supermarkets.

Yep! you have summed it up from both angles,nothing much else to say really,except my Thai wife doesn't know when to say: "keep it! it's much too dear" a good example,in England...... she pays £5 (260 baht) for a miserable small Papaya!

Strangely considering the weight,a Coconut in UK Supermarkets are often no more than (£1)

In London in 1968 Christmas we wanted a pineapple for the feast table they were a pound each in the green grocers, my wage was around 25 pounds a week for 52 hours work,we never got the pineapple

In 1968 you could buy a house for £2500, season tickets to Man U for £8.50, and an egg for thruppence.

Same in Holland,

Eating out in a Thai restaurant isn't cheap at all.