Koh Samui. It’s A Dangerous Paradise

You couldn’t pay me to go back to Samui. If it was not for the company of friends I had on the island I would’ve left on the first day. Samui WAS paradise, was in the sense that it’s destroyed now and getting overdeveloped as a result of the demands of Westerners. It’s just another place where Europeans [who fly into to Bangkok transfer on a plane to Samui and then fly back to Europe[ go. These Europeans seem like they just want a beach, a tan, some beer and a cheap shag. It’s almost the European version of a bad spring break vacation with pubs, English breakfasts, Italian cuisines and maybe some bits and pieces of Thailand. Oh, I forgot, yes, there is a little bit of Thailand… how about the sex industry?

I’d like to build up Koh Samui as a great place to visit but I think there are far better islands to see where you can actually relax. Ko Pag Ngan I hear is pretty nice or Ko Tao.

Funny Danger

Samui is very dangerous. The roads are not only a play ground for Westerners to strut their stuff on motorbikes, but a battleground for fatal injuries. No joke. Every moment feels as if you are risking your life and about to have a head on colision. I even had my own Koh Samui scars which are my souvenirs of the place.

In Samui there are people everywhere who have been injured from motorbikes. While in a store I ran into a Euro who had broke his collarbone, destroyed the left part of his face, eyes bloodshot, arm in a cast, and metal plates in his fingers. He was riding down the street, when a dog jumped in front of him and he went flying in the air with his bike. Ironically his son was also hit by an out of control motorcylist on a different occasion during the same week! Imagine that!

All the injuries are certainly the talk of the locals and they actually joke about it. They looked at my cuts and called them “Samui Tattoos”. And, when I was injured nobody was really helpful… the guys as the gas station just sat there like nothing happened, they gave me diapers for the cut when I asked for bandages, maybe as a joke. A little girl walking into the store even laughed at me, it was actually funny.

Price For Paradise

Samui on the other hand is beautiful once you break away from the crowds of Chawang and Lamai. The hard part is breaking away. Outiside the popular resort areas, the beaches are a mess with trash washing ashore and dead little fishies’ at least when I was there and in the location I was staying. There is definitely an environmental impact from the land developments. In fact, there was a flood a few weeks before my arrival. The 7-11 on the northern side had water up to the ceiling. It makes sense why there is such a flood problem; they keep cutting down trees and creating land to sell to Westerners to create an artificial paradise.

I can talk ages about Samui and the glamorous resorts and 5 star ‘this and that’ on the island. Those resorts are nice, but as we travel the world and see places, a resort is a resort no matter where you go. I desire to experience the people and the culture, and I’m sad to say everything in Samui is quite artificial. For example the Big Buddha is fairly new, partially created for tourists to have something to do.

Mafiaoso

The Thais on the island can be very aggressive and honestly rude, but I understand why. The influx of ignorant Europeans who come to Samui just for a beach vacation bring their crazy western ways with them. The Thais, probably as a long-term reaction to these westerners, learn to be aggressive and kinda mean. I was not the only person who also noticed this. This was a first where people in the North of the country were actually nicer than people in the south.

The taxi mafia on the island and just about everything else is expensive, but Westerners still pay for it because they don’t know any better. Most westerners probably can’t compare the prices to other parts of the country because they probably haven’t been. (They are probably the type that are disgusted with a city like Bangkok). But in Samui, you can pay US equivalent prices for dinners, hotels, etc. I find this hard to digest when one of the attractions of Thailand is affordability. The airplane ticket and the departure tax alone will tell you how expensive, in relation the rest of Thailand, Samui can be.

I'm Gonna Say It Too

I should’ve listened to the Thais in Bangkok and the “Ex-Pats” who know how to travel. They told me NOT to go to Samui. From scoping out the place… if you are a backpacker, want culture, or need to experience Thailand’s finest…. I say the same thing that was told to me... Don’t go to Koh Samui!

Trip Wrap-Up

Cost of 7 Days
Air - 5000B ($160)
Food - 3000B ($75)
Bugalow - 350B/day ($8)
Motor Bike - 150B/day ($3.75)
Motorbike Fee - 1300B ($32.5)
Taxis - 1000B ($25)

Recommend Samui?

No

Why...

Dangerous roads
Too many Europeans
Expensive. Expensive.
Not Thailand anymore.
Nothing cultural to do.
It rains in Jan.

Relative Sites
Spa Samui
Samui Hotels
Kamalaya Resort
Central Samui Village
Bangkok Airlines

Pictures of Koh Samui