Samui-one year on

[nelsonone]

OK... so I am guessing most of you may have read at least some of my thread on PI named "Samui-An Island Life".... too bad that looks like it has gone piff and is lost to the cyberworld atm....maybe forever...however due to a few requests, emails and PMs I thought I owed it to this joint to put down a venue for those who wish to come here or simply want to get a feel for what it is like to live on this island...here goes

Pic 1...my favourite drink....manaow paan at Bhoput

Pic 2...morning pic of Lamai Beach from south end

Pic 3...me and Sef our host on here...a few years back now at Gecko

[kaptainrob]

Beaut photos. I think I'm missing the sea ....

How about a few local girlie pics .... paleese?

[nelsonone]

a few facts.....

Samui is Thailand's third largest island...after Phuket and then Koh Chang....its 228 square Kilometres and is approximately 15 kms across east to west and about 30 north to south

KS is a part of the Surat Thani Province and takes about 1hr 20 mins to cross by ferry from Don Sak pier on the mainland and is under an hours flight from HKT or BKK...these routes are serviced by BKK and Thai airways however Silk do a service from Singapore and Firefly from KL

here's a couple of shots of the airport...yes...that's an aquarium in the loos

[nelsonone]

Beaut photos. I think I'm missing the sea ....

How about a few local girlie pics .... paleese?

we'll get there Rob....and then I am sure they will be the mainstay of this joint 555

[geir]

I might pop over when Joy is back from Issan........I'll get in touch when I know the dates..

[PadMC]

Good call Nels... Looking forward to getting back in the next few months.

[nelsonone]

OK...back from that brief (site crash) interlude...lost a long post there so bear with me

here's a run down of the main tourist towns around the island.....

at 12 o'clock North.....Mae Nam...where the road across the mountain comes out...lots of resorts and a nice alternate place to swim when the weather is rough on the east coast

at 1 o'clock Bophut...including the quaint Fisherman's village...very eurocentric and one of the most popular places on the island after Chaweng....airport and ferry terminal to KPG/Tao here also a nice thriving market and the Big Buddah

at 2 o'clock Cheong Mon...home of Wat Plai Lam...and lost of nice bays/beaches...usually owned by international resorts

at 3 o'clock...Chaweng...pretty much the Patong of Samui for me....unfortunately it has become one very long Indian/Nepalese strip mall ruining the character it had many years back....still it is the most popular place on the island, particularly with the young crowd as it has lots of clubs and seaside venues

at 4 o'clock lamai...my home....much more laid back than Chaweng and more suited to an older crow...the best large beach on the island with a good choice of restaurants and bars

at 5 o'clock Baan hua Thanon...getting down to the south of the island here...a nice market village with lots of old teak shophouses

at 6 o'clock bang kao....where it starts to thin out a bit....a lovely rugged coastline down here which is hugged by a reef..its a part of the south coast scooter run and Toons Coconut bar is a place here where quite a few BMs may have been with me on a run

at 7 o'clock Thong krut...sparse with loads of coconut palms and some nice wats....you get areal feel of old samui here

at 8 o'clock Thaling Ngam....starting back on the west coast now with some of the hideaway resorts like the Four Season and Sunrise...some great sunsets and views back across to the mainland

at 9 o'clock Lipa Noi...one of my favourite areas....Nikki Beach is out here as is the Raja Ferry terminal...some nice beaches and resorts here as well

at 10 o'clock Naithon....kinda the proxy Thai capital/service town..immigration, hospital, police HQ and the larger ferry company Seatrans are based here

at 11 o'clock Baan bang Por...a favourite of mine...lots of small Thai style eateries and get away from others beaches along this stretch

[marc26]

you staying put or you plan on moving back to Lala?

[nelsonone]

dining/eating out....

all of the above places have great restaurants and food carts ranging from the 30 baht soups, rice and noodle dishes through to upmarket Thai and farang joints...i won't go through them one by one but they will come up in conversation during the thread

as thos of you who have visited me will know Bikini Bar on lamai Beach (directly behind Maccas) is my "canteen"...I can be found here most days (but not earlier today unfortunately Mr + Mrs Snowy) and some nights...its the best allround value on the island IMO and serves a great mix of BBQ, farang and Thai dishes at reasonable prices...Steve the owner is a bit of a character..gets moreso of one as the night goes on 555 and the staff here are pretty good with english and service...its a no fuss kind a joint

at night there is a food cart are with about 30 odd carts right by the boxing bars...I often meet up with those in town for some sustenance there before hitting the bars...pic 1 is a group of PI BMs having dinner before a big night out here.....the rest of the shots are from Bikini bar

[nelsonone]

you staying put or you plan on moving back to Lala?

just got back to samui about 2 weeks back after a month in lala....I am not a big fan of the wet season over there which goes from any time now through until Oct/Nov....the beaches become unswimmable and the wet drags on for quite a long time...we don't usually get much rain here at all during those months....Nov-Jan is the official wet here

for the first time I am admitting with this thread that Samui is my home now....for the first year I was alwsy going back to HKT and or moving about SEA...but now i feel pretty well ensconced and happy here...it suits my lifestyle best...although I do miss my mates over on HKT...don't miss patong though...it gets worse every year and lala is like one big construction site/planned construction site atm...there are signs up eveywhere about what will be built on this site..probably more than 1000 hotel rooms/condos/houses coming on there over the next few years

[marc26]

just got back to samui about 2 weeks back after a month in lala....I am not a big fan of the wet season over there which goes from any time now through until Oct/Nov....the beaches become unswimmable and the wet drags on for quite a long time...we don't usually get much rain here at all during those months....Nov-Jan is the official wet here

for the first time I am admitting with this thread that Samui is my home now....for the first year I was alwsy going back to HKT and or moving about SEA...but now i feel pretty well ensconced and happy here...it suits my lifestyle best...although I do miss my mates over on HKT...don't miss patong though...it gets worse every year and lala is like one big construction site/planned construction site atm...there are signs up eveywhere about what will be built on this site..probably more than 1000 hotel rooms/condos/houses coming on there over the next few years

funny, one of the richer guys in work( actually a great, fun guy) just went to Samui last week with all a group of richies from Vancouver...........they actually had their own resort
needless to say, his reviews were not the same as ours are!! 555

didn't seem to impressed

[nelsonone]

i guess that would largely depend on which resort....

[marc26]

i guess that would largely depend on which resort....

Samui Villas | Koh Samui Luxury Rental Villas for Wedding, Honeymoon, Vacations by Upni Duniya in Koh Samui

they won it in a charotu auction
had the whole resort


but i wouldn't have a clue where it is

[jackal]

Cheers nelsonone for this thread, i enjoyed PI version - This island life, will be following this one , love the place, cant wait for october, keep the pics coming thoroughly enjoy them, cheers.

[nelsonone]

Samui Villas | Koh Samui Luxury Rental Villas for Wedding, Honeymoon, Vacations by Upni Duniya in Koh Samui

they won it in a charotu auction
had the whole resort


but i wouldn't have a clue where it is

I have been past it a few times...its up in Bhoput on the north of the island...not one of my favourite areas..overrated and overpriced....and too much development for an ordinary beach area IMO (compared to the south of the island which is still quite natural)

I wonder how often they left the joint 555

[Dupree]

I have been past it a few times...its up in Bhoput on the north of the island...not one of my favourite areas..overrated and overpriced....and too much development for an ordinary beach area IMO (compared to the south of the island which is still quite natural)

I wonder how often they left the joint 555

And if they brought their fat wives 555

[ken2013]

great to see this thread nelsonone.
ill be heading samui in october with wife and 11 month old so unlucky for me no P4P this time. its been 7 years since i've been in samui. thinking of staying in chewang as i think i remember the water is calmer and would be able to dip the little ones feet in it,lamai has more waves i think? plus more to do in chewang.also is it worth renting a car for the day and is there reputable rental companies with full insurance. one more question,how is the weather in oct.only been from jan - april

[Greatdane]

Yes, the water is calmer in Chaweng as a coral reef is breaking the waves.

[snowy]

Bikini Bar on lamai Beach (directly behind Maccas) is my "canteen"...I can be found here most days (but not earlier today unfortunately Mr + Mrs Snowy) and some nights...

55, got a msg, been in bikini bar for 4 hours, no sign of nelson yet, oh well, mai bpen rai, might have a few more and see what happens.
mr snowy is pretty casual bout things like that. 55

[nelsonone]

great to see this thread nelsonone.
ill be heading samui in october with wife and 11 month old so unlucky for me no P4P this time. its been 7 years since i've been in samui. thinking of staying in chewang as i think i remember the water is calmer and would be able to dip the little ones feet in it,lamai has more waves i think? plus more to do in chewang.also is it worth renting a car for the day and is there reputable rental companies with full insurance. one more question,how is the weather in oct.only been from jan - april

yep...as GD says Chaweng is protected by a reef so gets less wave action than Lamai in general...but it depends on the prevailing conditions...yesterday lamai was like a millpond and the water quality was superb...possibly the best and clearest since I have lived here...it was as good as the Andaman sea at its best ...and that is really saying something

One thing I don't like about Chaweng but which should suit you for kids is that is very shallow...and you can walk out a hundred metres or so and still only be up to your knees

October is the start of wet season here...or should I say it can be as last October was beautiful with hardly any rain...with the rain comes the high seas so you can be lucky or not...bear in mind its a tropical island so its subject to showers al year round....but its been quite hot and we have had very little rain of late...the good thing about Samui being an island though is that there is always shelter from wave action...the east coast (Chaweng/Lamai) gets most of it whilst the west coast is protected from it by the mainland...a quick trip over to Mae nam or Baan Bamg Por will pretty much always see calmer waters

Plenty of reputable car companies here...budget on about 1k a day for nice new smallish car (Vios etc)