I found the story Top Ten Attractions on Samui by Derek Kirk amusing and annoying at the same time.
What was this? – an advertisement for Ko Samui snuck in as a submission? Really stupid if you ask me.
Derrick left his email address as Tourist Guide to Samui. That’s it? That’s an email address.
My big complaints about Samui are the aggressive young punks who chase the western girls down the street like dogs and the thieving no-good, extortionate taxi drivers, and to recommend the full moon parties is reckless, stupid and almost criminal.
Speaking of criminals, every now and then there is a crackdown and the Thai police come and arrest almost every one. If your idea of fun is being mixed in with a thousand loud, drunk, drugged and ill-behaved louts then this is for you. Do they mention
how many people drown from boats being overloaded by greedy Thai operators? How many kids overdose, stumble and hit their heads or break their legs, get stupefying drunk or drugged and get themselves hurt?
Activities such as: jet skis, waterfalls, diving, snake shows, parasailing and elephants are found all over Thailand where ever you go, so you do not have to visit Samui for this reason.
The water in Chaweng Beach was filthy both times that I was there. The main street is so narrow that if a car is parked, you just can’t get by.
If it rains the streets just flood up to your knees.
Nightlife? Ha! They have one pole swinger bar in Chaweng and that’s it. As for the outdoor beer bars that line Chaweng and the streets of Lamai, there are lots of bars and very few girls and the ones I saw looked like mostly like rejects from Pattaya.
But, hey, I’m willing to admit that I could have had a bad week.
Does anyone here remember a link about a year or so ago in Stickman linked to an English paper where they interviewed a leader of one of the five families that control the island. And his words were something like "Yes we're a family and we
watch out for each other. What’s wrong with that?"
Sounds good until you realize that these guys own bars and operate under their own rules with no interference from the police.
Remember the girl that was captured on video being led out of a popular bar and then raped about a year or so ago?
I wonder what ever happened to that case. No, I don’t mean the one where the poor girl was raped and killed on the beach last year by some fishermen either.
And the taxi cabs with meters? A double joke. Did you see in the papers last month where a cab driver stabbed a tourist because he refused to pay an exorbitant price as they never put on the meter and it was only a short distance. Yes, there is a crackdown
on the taxis now, but next month it will be business as usual. We stayed in Samui last year and whenever we went out for dinner the cab fee was 400 baht each way. I said to my girlfriend, "We are spending 800 baht just to travel to a restaurant.
I can’t wait to get back to Patong where they only charge a hundred baht to go a block or two." (I was joking but this is true.)
We were walking on the beach one day and a young blonde western girl ran up to us and desperately said, "Please help me."
A young Thai beach boy was right behind her. "She come with me", he said as she grabbed my arm tighter.
"No, she stays here", I said.
"Where you from?"
"New York City and there we treat women with respect, not like you."
"Oh, you want a problem with me?" He smiled at me.
He knew he had me, if not now then later for sure when he came back with four guys to try to kick me senseless.
He was no bigger than I was, in fact he was a bit smaller. So I knew that nothing was going to happen right now.
I could afford to be brave but you know that sinking feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you are sure you are in a world of trouble? I could feel it.
What happened? I asked the girl after he left.
Oh, after the bars closed last night we went for a walk on the beach and he got mad when I didn’t want to do anything.
What time was this?
About four or five in the morning.
Boy, are you stupid! What did you think was going to happen?
I was so angry at myself for getting drawn into a dangerous situation for a really stupid reason. I was so mad at myself that
I could hardly speak because now you are on an island with only a few public points to get off the island and if someone wants you they will get you.
You were so brave, my girlfriend says to me.
Yeah, right. You know what we are going to do now? Get off this crappy island and go home to Phuket and then we took the usual 600 baht taxi about two kilometers to the airport and got a flight out.
What do they say? Discretion is the better part of valour?
Restless in Rawai
Stickman's thoughts:
Good to see I am not the only one who thinks that Samui is horribly hyped, as well as awfully dangerous to those who "step out of line".