itishothere

All this recycling BS in the U.K.. Seperate bins for this n that ( paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, garden refuse, household refuse all in seperate bins). A tiny amount of Pizza on a pizza box and you can get fined. Wash all bottles / jars out and take the labels off. 1 week for this rubbish, 1 week for that rubbish.
Dare to put your refuse bin out a day early? Another fine.

Here I put any bottles / jars / plastic into a carrier bag, hang it on the gate and someone happily takes it away to make some cash.

itishothere, on 2012-05-16 08:56:46, said:

There are a couple on bo phut beach, but not as many as chaweng. They tend to hang out around the middle of the beach area, close to Hansar and the other big hotels. And yes definately use the search function to see experiences of a few others that thought it might be fun!

ydraw, on 2012-05-08 20:25:29, said:

Wow, so it's delusional western hippies that want to eat healthier that are causing the many third world famines?

And here I was thinking the personal choice to ingest far more food than a human needs resulted in the world having less food, and as a result causing people to go hungrier than they need to be. In addition to morbid obesity putting one at greater risk of illness (including diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gallstones, osteoarthritis, heart disease, and cancer) than eating regular amounts of food, it's just a waste of resources to satisfy the ignoble savage gluttony of wealthy western fatties.

That is one way to look at it 'insert'. Another way is to  ........

.......drop out of the rat race. Find a quiet location with some of the best views in the world. Enjoy hot to warm weather for 350 days of the year (the other 15 are cool days). Enjoy sunshine and calm seas for 10 months of the year.

Fabulous beaches, warm sea, great food (compared to most places in the UK) cold beer and lovely people that smile at you when you say hello.

A shxtty day here is still far better than an average day in lots of other places. It depends on your outlook to life. Positive outlook, positive life. I earn a fraction of the money that I did in the real world, but Disneyland still looks good when it looks like tropical beaches, warm weather and fabulous views.

I worked for 34 years, eventually enjoying top hotels, flying to different places every week, living in a new country every two/three years, and having a great time eating, drinking and travelling. I met some great people and really enjoyed my job.

I do not miss one single aspect of it now that I have stopped on Samui. (Except maybe a bit more money? )

Every morning I wake up and look at a great view and know that today I will meet and talk to some really nice folks. I will have a great meal and a couple of beers. Perfect. I have been on 'holiday' on samui for 12 years now. It's still PDG.

                                                                                                Closed

itishothere, on 2012-05-02 09:19:33, said:

I "liked" your post to gratify you

Fascinating.

Not only thinking behind the OP's initial inquiry, but the smattering of fragments that have been thrown back. Mostly (IMHO) they are fair enough but the responses also seem to have been side-tracked by newspaper headlines, which I feel is unfortunate and a bit like giving someone your latest medical reports when they ask - hiya-you OK?

Seems like you're used to Pattaya.

Once you get away from the fact it's the biggest brothel in the known universe, that there is always a series of twofers on a happy hour from 4:00 pm to midnight  somewhere if you plan your schedule, that you can work your way from Soi 7 to BoyzTown on free BBQs and parties, (schedule again), that there are chip shops doing rare grub for 120 baht a plate (if you can stomach the endless re-runs of Fools and Horses), that there are street markets where you can get almost everything for no money, where there are baht buses that go all over for only 10 baht, the fact that it's a proper city with intersections and traffic lights and hi-rise buildings . . . then there's the other things.

As in, Pattaya is a lot more than just the Marine Disco to Soi 8. There's Jontiem and Naklua, too - and all the bits between, right up to Sukhumvit. There is actually a huge area and maybe 70% of it is cheap - housing/rents/food/pub grub/alcohol/girlies/ plus there's 3G for your phone/tablet/ etc. It's a proper city.

To compare a proper city to Samui is a bit like thinking that the clockwork swimming toys that your kid has in the bath are almost like real, somehow. Or that the first Apollo shot actually got to the moon.

Samui is a coconut island that only 2 generations ago didn't have a complete ring-road, a regular ferry service or an airport. Everything here has been patched together and cobbled up bit by bit, mostly over the last decade. Most of the things here don't work so good. Transport (there is no public transport - even the 'baht buses' are comparatively expensive) is hit and miss - and the "meter taxis" here are a national embarrassment.

When it rains the lights go out and your broadband connections cuts. Sometimes (often, actually,) this happens for no reason. (Now and then the only way I know it's raining is when the power goes off.)

The main Chaweng Beach Road has huge 3-metre drainage pipes under it that don't go anywhere as none of the resorts between the road and the sea wanted to be dug up to provide an outlet. (But they do act as a kind of resevoir when it rains.) The rest of the island seems to channel its sewerage into the nearest downhill channel, which mostly seems to surface next to every 7-11 on the ring-road.

Food is comparatively expensive. You won't find a noodle soup for less than 35 baht - but, then, we're talking pennies. Decent and authentic English grub is hard to find for less than around 300 baht a plate.

There are no megastores that have hundreds of clued-in nongs to change your phone settings or print you a copy of your SIM card contacts.

But we do have Tesco, Makro, Boots, McWhatsists and so on . . .

Housing is actually quite cheap now - if you shop around. Samui has been constructing accommodation at the rate of 24% a year (TAT stats for 2008) whereas the arrivals have been increasing at the rate of between 8% and 10% a year (TAT). There is still a lot of the Thai thinking that goes "oh this house has been empty for a year now so I'd better ask more money to reduce my losses". But if you look around you'll still find a nice 2-bedroomed house (unfurnished) for as little as 6,000B - more usually 9-10 K a month.

Liike-minded chaps? I dunno, as I don't know what your mind is like. There's a ton of English, Germans and Aussies ('n Russkies, too - an ever increasing amount) (in that order?) living here, but very few under the age of 40 or so. It's not a kid's island, despite what you might read.

At one time I used to keep an apartment in Pattaya and a house on Samui. It worked out at the same cost to go to Pattaya for a week every month as it did to stay here full time. But after several years I gave it up.

I liked the slow and stupid life here. I liked being able to see the big blue wet thing all around for most of the time. I liked the fact that, in only ten minutes, I could go from bars and bistros and restaurants right up into the mountains. Or find a beach where there was only me (plus suitable female company - clothes not compulsory and nobody to see or know.)

I liked this rustic, annoying, coconut island.

Try to imagine a great big mansion somewhere made out of bits of tin can and scrap wood, held together with duct tape and superglue, plus the odd nail or two, but connected with wire and string to mains electric, and with a water pipe coming in that's connected to Nam Papa up the mountain somewhere. There are holes in all the windows but it's warm so who cares.

Compare that to a Travel Lodge or the plastic-yet-secure comfort of a motel somewhere.

That's the difference between Samui and Pattaya, as I see it.

Phew.

Finished now.

Rob

Well you've lived in Pattaya for 10 years, it's not like you are making a leap of faith by moving to Samui. Give it a go, it's a great place to live.

Great news - after extensive searching Judy has been found down a 6m well/hole - alive with no broken bones

insertmembernamehere, on 2012-04-09 19:49:22, said:

Is a photo of one good enough?

I have PM'd my number.

Happy to volunteer some assistance

Hi Benbg -

Unfortunately, not many people write in and say

"I had a great day today in Paradise. I made some money and also had some fun doing it!"

(However, most days here are like that for me. )

Come  on down and enjoy.

I came to Thailand 12 years ago, at 26 years old and full of dreams of paradise, women and easy living. (not in that order!)

I had about 3000 pounds. I blew that in about 3 months on the good life and then woke up.

For the next couple of years I was lucky enough to swing some contract work off shore (cruise ships) and then invested in a bar. That was the glory era in southern Phuket, where rules were lax, competition was naive and Thais welcomed you as a novelty plaything.

The next 4 years were awesome, customers a plenty, rules still lax and my experience in F+B and pub management came to the fore. Before I knew it I had a guest house, 4 bars and a small after hours night spot.

Then it happened

Bird flu, Bali bomb, Sars, Tsunami, Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, Airport siege, Coup, and other things-
all in the space of 3 years.

From flying I went to subsistence in quick time. Competition from amateur bar owner dreamers, wannabee Thai inn keeps and increasing pressure from the police, music mafia, pool table mafia and any other mafia all wanting a piece of a decreasing pie. Fortune smiled and a amateur dreamer relieved me of my last bar and got me enough to breathe for a short time.

A chance meeting got me into the hotel sector in Samui, where I am now back in the good times, but employed and slave to the corporate buck. (slave is a bit strong, but you get the idea)

The morale of my experience is really that you have to keep diversifying and using connections and luck to ride the wave. This place is a cruel and unforgiving wench, and just as you believe that you have tamed her, she comes flying back with an unforeseen spanner in the works.

The flip side is that it beats the idea of an M25 commute or a 12 hour shift in a factory, and what does't break you sure makes you appreciate the beaches, the sunset and the glorious freedom that we all have. Just make sure that you have something that will keep food on the table and electric flowing in the house, a bar honestly now, is a long past opportunity, try something new or secure or subsistence is the very best you can hope for.

exyalie, on 2012-04-04 17:51:12, said:

You sound like a teaching assistant for a bullshit liberal arts course like Crossroads of South Asian Social Norms at a place like Pace University. You paint yourself as some kind of dignitary who decided to grace these savages with your presence. Yes, cabbies everywhere are avaricious (NYC not excluded); do you expect them to be altruistic?

Your first two gripes are that their price quotes to you were excessively high. OK.... get a motorbike, or try to haggle with them . Yeah "evicting" passangers mid route is dissapointing, and i haven't encountered anything like that in my three months on Samui, but MTA busses do that too, without reimbursing your fare. If your scholarly travels take you to surrounding countries like Lao, Vietman or China, don't expect anything different.  I guess the reason your posts irritates me is that you imply that you are wordly, adventurous and interested in other cultures but you want them to play by your huffington post rules. BKK or NYC doesn't require the aformentioned skills and aren't "challenging" in that respect. It is fine if you want an upscale Tora Bora vacation and are willing to pay for it, but it seems you want an upscale vacation at Thai prices with NYC service without tipping and with the indigineous experience thrown in without any of the associated hassles.

There are definitely a couple of bars for sale in Bangrak right now.

Also noticed a 2 or 3 being completely demolished.

There are only 2 or 3 bars/pubs that ever seem to be busy in Bangrak, they are good little bars and well supported by local expats, that is what keeps them going. The rest always seem to be empty or being propped up by a couple of loyal mates.

I think Bangrak is going to get some sort of facelift, revamp, it's a good spot, but the best bar to buy right now in Bangrak is a Snickers....and maybe chew on it for year and see