limbos

Orgasmic.

I was luck enough to be taken here the other night. And I didn't pay!

Just outside Fishermans, on the left heading towards Bangrak, just before the hill.

The place isn't really visible from the road, and is right on the beach – at the very end of the bay, so no-one wanders by trying to flog you anything. You walk over a little bridge and then enter the open restaurant. (There is a covered area above the kitchens as well, and a small dining sala.) Great lighting, usually a good breeze, lots of trees and the sea of course. And plenty of room; you aren't really aware of other diners. Perfect for that special dinner. Certainly romantic.

It is the kind of place where you are spoken to in excellent english, with kapom instead of khrap. And with cold towels and a small appetiser (free) as you look through the menu. (Take reading glasses, to use with their little torches.)

A great Euro/Thai menu. Duck, steak, fish etc alongside traditional Thai. Fusion is what it is called, I am told.  Mains around the THB 500 mark, so with a glass of wine (house, Shiraz I think, none of this Mont Clair khrap) at THB 180, and a starter/dessert, you are looking at a bill of 1,000 per head easily. (Service charge is extra.) Many of the mains come with extras not advertised; small plates of roasted swede (I think) and a stuffed tomato, for example. The duck I had was very tasty.

On a previous occasion I ate Thai food, which appears pricey, but for example, the shrimp fried rice had the largest and tastiest shrimps I have ever seen on Samui.  All the food is beautifully presented. Excellent service. And the boss and chef pop over to double check – a nice touch


In the high season and with great weather, probably best to make a reservation – especially if you want one of the half dozen seaside tables.

Last week the triathlon. Tomorrow the mountain bike race. This week the bikers.

Not many appear to be here for the property market I guess. Nor are any of them of a particular nationality.

Short term, a good boost to the low season. Great events in my opinion, they add diversity to the calendar.

limbos, on 2012-05-04 18:20:23, said:

No, no, no, no no...... this time it says that the Ministry is actually planning it!

Which half-wits write these articles?

The web site quoted has the grand total of 7 listings for Samui, 4 of which haven't been built yet.

wprime'
I find this all a little far-fetched. Why is this 'billionaire' going to marry such a dark skinned woman? He could get a much more beautiful woman in thailand.
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I myself find dark skinned women very attractive, I find light skinned women very attractive. I find women of any color attractive. A beautiful women is beautiful no matter the color. I'm white from mostly Euro extraction yet my wife has lighter skin than me and she's from Chiang Mai. I don't judge beauty or a person by the color of their skin.
This future mother in law seems to be attractive and intelligent, capable of running multiple businesses. She's probably witty and quick of wits, yet she is found lacking by the color of her skin. I thought we grew past that attitude in the West, I see I am wrong.

limbos, on 2012-04-23 06:50:19, said:

It was a tongue in cheek response to  a couple of other posts.  

This was the second time for me to eat there. The first time didn't have the circus but the food was similarly pedestrian.
There was a farang there, behind the bar, who came out once to "greet" a group of customers and my friend and I, independently, had the word, "slimy" on our minds. Frumby clothes, a sort of ingenuous style....not the dress or demeanor of a person who even remotely looked serious. Mind you, this was not just me; my friend thought the same thing. Whoever the chick is, I thought later, "If you have such a hard time getting good staff, why are you perched behind the bar doing sweet FA? If you really cared, you'd be serving and taking orders instead of just hovering behind the bar. I can remember days past when I was working in a full menu restaurant as the manager when we had staff problem and doing everything myself from washing dishes to taking orders (the waitresses would not let me bus tables, that was "beneath" me they said).
The fact is, and probably the point is, the food was "almost" and yes, we are in Thailand. If the food was kick-butt I'd go back, but it was like someone, Thai?, who was trying to make some alien dishes they couldn't. I wonder very deeply how the "training" was done. Did they have "dry runs"? Have the servers bring out empty dishes and face likely questions, and run the drill three of so times? Or did they just give them a brief? I don't think the real problem was language, it was training, or lack thereof, and the kind of 80 IQ you usually find here. I have a friend who taught a pet water monitor to shit in the bathroom -- it took two years to learn, but it did. Learning to work as a wait -staff ought to take considerably less time, you recon?
And really. Stale chips? Lumpy micro -tiny dips? What's the thinking on that? That's not staff, that's just laziness.
Why would I want to get a discount on a return visit to a place that server bland, unsatisfying meals?
You can print this out too.

What? Your friend is still considering the place after talking to you? I would have thought they would be somewhere a million miles away from here by now.

Queen Elizabeth ...bah....

It has to be  ''residue''  picked up from one of those Nikki Beach parties. From what I have heard most  people attending are ''well oiled'' by the end of the night  

I think Samui will have trouble re-positioning itself.

Do people who pay nearly £200 a night staying in The Library on Chaweng beach want the same things as those staying in P&P or The Ark Bar?

Will Samui offer the level of service and value that these people require?

You can't be all things to all men


RAZZ

Many Thanks to BadBanker for his useful post,  and Maestro (post #50) for clearing the air.  This is a sterling example of exactly the kind of information  I hoped to have access to when I joined Thai Visa.

Well done gentlemen, much appreciated and useful advice. ++++++++++1   !!!!!!!!!!

To folks on TV who have reacted emotionally to news they do not want to hear...May I share a thought?

In light of recent events (Soi 71 bombing for example, negative press about the safety of Thailand...etc...) nothing could be more logical than Thailand exercising their right to exploit existing laws (not new laws people...existing...) to flush out people who they do not want here.

Badbanker alluded to this in a way that was so polite, perhaps it was missed.  Let me be a bit less politically correct. I am American.  In the US it is common to do ethnic and racial profiling by law enforcement agencies.  Spend an afternoon at any international airport, look at a long line of people going through security and bet who will get the full pat down, body scan, luggage searched and "private interview."  If you want to lose all you money, bet on the two 6 foot tall blonde blue eyed executives in the suits with a Rolex's.  If you want to win 95% of the time, bet on the two Middle eastern gentlemen, Sikhs (Americans see the turban and freak out) and Africans (also African Americans.)  

racial profiling is so common in the States, even normal street cops enforce "DWB" random car stops (Driving While Black) but I do not want to drift into that swamp right now.

Now imagine you are a bad person who came here to do harm to the Kingdom.  Wouldn't it be just a bit foolish to do border runs to extend your visa????  Brilliant.  ...an international terrorist saying...please let me be photographed and documented on the Cambodian border before I do my dirty work.  Not!

So, Thailand is reserving the right to ask a person they don't like the look of to show a passport, legal stamp...etc.  And, when that can not be produced, instead of a protracted legal hearing, pack them up and send them home.  Also, for our friends who enjoy causing civil unrest via bar fights, drug use, drunken rants...they too may find they are face to face with authorities asking "for your papers please."

Is that fair to all?  Nope.  But it is very pragmatic, efficient and effective.  

So, as many have pointed out...if you are keeping your paperwork up to date...this should be a non-event.

There is one thing I do and wonder what others think.  I do not e-v-e-r let my passport out of the lock box.  I carry a complete photocopy of it if I am headed out for a late night (A time where I may be "interviewed")  I also keep a movie on my phone that starts with my face, goes to the passport, goes through it page by page (with a close up of my Visa0 and back to my face.  An Iranian friend of mine showed that type of photocopy and movie to a policeman last month at 3 AM ... and he was satisfied that it had value.  (Where i got the idea)

Why was he asked for his papers?  Ummm...did I mention he is Iranian?  (Lives here 7 years on a completely legal retirement Visa...)

Sorry for the long posting...i am just so happy to see badbanker share really important information.  Sir, if you read this, please do not be discouraged by negative posters and doubters.  Most of us wish TV had more of this type of helpful information.  Thank You !

If you overstay your visa even one day, you are in violation of Thai immigration laws - it is that simple. If you've ever overstayed and paid the fine, you also signed a document admitting to such.  It is easy to enter and stay in Thailand.  Compare this to the several professional Thais I've met who were not able to get US visas because US immigration ASSUMED they would not return to Thailand.  Now THAT sucks.

Thailand has the right to change its immigration laws and policies when it sees fit and as often as it sees fit.  But, they don't change daily or weekly.  The only thing that changes weekly about Thai immigration laws and policy are the rumors about Thai immigration law changes.  I've been here 1.5 years and I've found dealing with Thai immigration very straight forward....you just need to follow the rules whether you like them or not.

Don't be negative.

I never understand why people think that "playing the game" in Thailand happens without consequences.  Sure there are a myriad of ways to allow the law to be bent in your favour, but you must ALWAYS expect it to come slamming back down when the law enforcer chooses too.  So you like it when it works for you, but are up in arms when it doesn't.

There is ALWAYS a price to be paid....eventually.  As long as you remember that you will live life here normally, in the same way a Thai person would.  They never take it for granted that they will be "forgiven or forgotten" unless they are seriously rich and we KNOW this isn't our demographic as we are talking about over-stayers here.

Certainly in Maenam, yes that's the north end! right in front of the Cop shop, between Soi 2 and 1... depending which way you are going of course... but then there are some people so confused, they don't know which way they are going.....

But also see around Nathon... spot checks could be found anywhere...!

99.9% of the spot checks I've seen on Samui involve Thai people and motorbike mirrors . . . .

R

( мы идем, ищут лицевое пятно - niet?)

khman, on 2012-02-11 13:35:34, said:

You can only get the traffic third part insurance on a scooter.
In case of accident, you pay in following order.

1. Tourist.
2. Expat without license.
3. Expat with license
4. Thai without license.
5. Thai with license.
6. Someone related to police.

robsamui, on 2012-01-27 23:48:50, said:

is there another 1 of me out there.
i am not deslecsick i just got a dislecksick spell checker