Happier times? Some might remember.

South · February 4, 2015

Came across this this morning. Lamai 1992.

Edited February 4, 2015 by TheScarf

evadgib · February 4, 2015

Blimey, my mrs could still get her arms round me while riding pillion in those days ....and I had hair!

samuibeachcomber · February 4, 2015

looks great...........................always nice to look back!

angryfarang · February 5, 2015

Isn't where the video starts at the Rose Garden?

Virt · February 5, 2015

Isn't where the video starts at the Rose Garden?

The bungalows and entry /white house in the start reminds me of Mira Mare, but could be wrong.

surat04 · February 5, 2015

Those were the days. Once Flamingo shut and the road was concreted it was all downhill.

Birdman · February 6, 2015

actually same could be said about the Lamai's 90s, if you were there 10 years before.

Boo · February 6, 2015

The bungalows are Mire Mare & they still have the same huts

cmsally · February 6, 2015

Shame I didn't take more photos back in the 80's !

Although around that time (early 90's) I spent a few trips with friends who were working in BKK at Laem Set Inn.

A search on the internet showed up that it was closed and even someone seemed to have taken photos recently of the place almost totally overgrown !

Does anyone know what happened.

sergun · February 7, 2015

... found on the same youtube page, Samui 1982:

Patsycat · February 7, 2015

If only i had known about Samui at that time, i was an adult and vaccinated. i would have loved it. I didn't get there until i was 38 years old.

Birdman · February 7, 2015

why did you not know about it? It was no secret at all. Samui was already very well known among people, who were looking for places like Samui then, easy accessible, everywhere cheap bungalows, no hustle to come here at all. I know that, because I was here then and I am still here since then.

And there are still places now, which are even more remote and wonderful then Samui was then, easily accessible now....

Patsycat · February 7, 2015

Of course i knew about it . But it was exotic and dreamy and probably not my style at the time. Sorry, my bad. At that age i would have brought Wham with me which i don't think would have gone down too well.

And also the price of the tickets, nowadays they are a third of the price. I should have gone to Thailand - i had family living there at the time, two uncles.

If i could take myself now back to then i would probably still be there now and be calling myself Roo or Samuipatsy or something.

Don't put me down because i saw and conquered 13 years or so ago, and i loved it then. And the next time i shall love again. That place is in my heart.

I shall be back and you can take me to se Elvis three times in one night....

Edited February 7, 2015 by Patsycat

crusty · February 7, 2015

Shame I didn't take more photos back in the 80's !

Although around that time (early 90's) I spent a few trips with friends who were working in BKK at Laem Set Inn.

A search on the internet showed up that it was closed and even someone seemed to have taken photos recently of the place almost totally overgrown !

Does anyone know what happened.

A guy called Christian first opened Laem Set Inn when one day some locals did the place over and gang raped his Thai wife on the restaurant tables in front of him. After that he sold the place to a Brit pilot we knew as Crazy Dave, who served behind the counter with a loaded shotgun and a guard dog by his side. We had just opened Kati Lodge on Chaweng (now Tradewinds) and used to visit Dave which my Thai wife remarked she would never live there as it was too remote.

grumpyoldman · February 8, 2015

Thats the last time I was there. Used to laugh at some old guys that at morningtime used to gather at the exchange booth with their coffees and trade currencies, claimed they were making money, who knows.....

Would get the Samui "alarm clock" coconut landing on the roof in the morning "wham"!

Watched drunken tourist ride his moto right off the twisted wooden bridge that goes into the Marley bar, into what then and probably still is the scheit lagoon. "Dude, hope you're up on all your vaccinations!"

Got lucky with Euro girl out of the Doors pub, friends looking around, wheres GOM (?), then they heard splashing and laughing as I was getting down to business on a floaty mat out in the water they said my white arse and white water was all they could see and the whole bar was busting up.

Thems were the good ol days !

cmsally · February 8, 2015

Shame I didn't take more photos back in the 80's !

Although around that time (early 90's) I spent a few trips with friends who were working in BKK at Laem Set Inn.

A search on the internet showed up that it was closed and even someone seemed to have taken photos recently of the place almost totally overgrown !

Does anyone know what happened.

A guy called Christian first opened Laem Set Inn when one day some locals did the place over and gang raped his Thai wife on the restaurant tables in front of him. After that he sold the place to a Brit pilot we knew as Crazy Dave, who served behind the counter with a loaded shotgun and a guard dog by his side. We had just opened Kati Lodge on Chaweng (now Tradewinds) and used to visit Dave which my Thai wife remarked she would never live there as it was too remote.

Holy c... didn't know that ! Was it "crazy Dave" there in '92-'93 ?

Had some really good weekends there with friends. Can't believe its more than 20years ago.

Although I remember other parts of Lamai from around mid 80's

crusty · February 8, 2015

Shame I didn't take more photos back in the 80's !

Although around that time (early 90's) I spent a few trips with friends who were working in BKK at Laem Set Inn.

A search on the internet showed up that it was closed and even someone seemed to have taken photos recently of the place almost totally overgrown !

Does anyone know what happened.

A guy called Christian first opened Laem Set Inn when one day some locals did the place over and gang raped his Thai wife on the restaurant tables in front of him. After that he sold the place to a Brit pilot we knew as Crazy Dave, who served behind the counter with a loaded shotgun and a guard dog by his side. We had just opened Kati Lodge on Chaweng (now Tradewinds) and used to visit Dave which my Thai wife remarked she would never live there as it was too remote.

Holy c... didn't know that ! Was it "crazy Dave" there in '92-'93 ?

Had some really good weekends there with friends. Can't believe its more than 20years ago.

Yes Dave and his wife Toi ran a great show and the food was good too. As I recall. during the '90's access was becoming more and more difficult with landowners putting up fences and blocking the old trails and once Centara built their holiday villas next door, there was no way in so we stopped going.

jetassistedostrich · February 1, 2016

Shame I didn't take more photos back in the 80's !

Although around that time (early 90's) I spent a few trips with friends who were working in BKK at Laem Set Inn.

A search on the internet showed up that it was closed and even someone seemed to have taken photos recently of the place almost totally overgrown !

Does anyone know what happened.

A guy called Christian first opened Laem Set Inn when one day some locals did the place over and gang raped his Thai wife on the restaurant tables in front of him. After that he sold the place to a Brit pilot we knew as Crazy Dave, who served behind the counter with a loaded shotgun and a guard dog by his side. We had just opened Kati Lodge on Chaweng (now Tradewinds) and used to visit Dave which my Thai wife remarked she would never live there as it was too remote.

Holy c... didn't know that ! Was it "crazy Dave" there in '92-'93 ?

Had some really good weekends there with friends. Can't believe its more than 20years ago.

Yes Dave and his wife Toi ran a great show and the food was good too. As I recall. during the '90's access was becoming more and more difficult with landowners putting up fences and blocking the old trails and once Centara built their holiday villas next door, there was no way in so we stopped going.

Here's what actually happened, from the horse's mouth so to speak: Toi and I were neither bullied, (well, not more than we could easily handle anyway), nor forced out. We sold and retired and have, for several years, been living on our barge-yacht in France, cruising the European waterways. We worked hard for 20+ years and moved on. Laem Set Inn was so far out of the mainstream tourist format that subsequent owners found it impossible to run. The whole shimmering illusion was held up by our focus, and when we removed that, it all collapsed. I am sometimes asked if I am sad to see pictures of it in its state today, and the answer is: "no, Angkor Wat is in ruins; civilizations themselves rise and fall, I have just had an accelerated lesson in the temporal nature of all things. I am happier to see the skeleton of a dream than to watch a Frankenstein-like resurrection on its bones." Old guests can contact us via the website: www.laemsetinn.com . We know that we changed many lives through our work: people met there, came back to get married, and then visited with their children, and many others carry the memory of a dream with them even today. That was our oeuvre; we made many people happy and that's where the legacy lies, not in the crumbling physical structure.

Edited February 2, 2016 by seedy
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