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  1. #76
    CCBW Stumpy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chico View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    On Koh Samet now. 2.5 days. Got some drone vids and stills today. Rented a scooter with Wife. Been blazing around.

    First impression. Where I am staying is very very nice and a clean private beach. Sitting right now sipping a cocktail relaxing staring at ocean

    I will say the Ferry ride over was about 3 whiteys. 4 or 5 Thais and the rest loud chinese twats. Fortunately they went left to the high tourist places and my wife and I went left to a quiet place with only Thais.

    I will post pics in a few days.
    Ye seems your wife knows all the best beach resorts.
    I really appreciate all the effort and research she does on places. We have traveled all over Thailand and I have never stayed at a dump and dealt with shitty tourists.

    Tonight was outstanding. We had dinner on the beach. Food was quite good. Nobody around and here it is a holiday weekend when places are jammed. My wife chatted it up with a waitress and she said all the loud rude tourists go to the big name places( I will post some pics of where I saw them go).

    You know. I am an "Off the beaten path type.". I prefer low profile places. I dont need big shows and lots of conveniences. Good clean place. Quiet. Relaxing. My wife is same.

  2. #77
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    Just got back from a 10 km scooter ride with wife checking out the place. One thing that was quite clear is you can rent shack dumps for 500 bht a night to as high as 10,000k baht a night at a few quite exclusive places. We rode by all the heavy tourist areas and it was packed with backpacker type westerners and lots of chain smoking Chinese and Japanese tourists with loads of rugrats in tow. I found most beaches to be quite clean except for a few that were jammed. If you stay here its best to pay a bit more to have a resort with a private beach. I will post up some pics of where we are staying. If you land at the main pier it is a cluster fuk of tourists and most go left and those are your high tourist area places. 3 to 5km away from the pier area the places get better. Most Thai folks seem to go right at the pier and the road is short and dead ends. Almost all the resorts that direction have private quiet places to relax like I am right now sipping an iced green tea...drinks will come later..

  3. #78
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    There have been 4 gals staying at the resort I am at in Koh Samet. They have spent hours and hours taking likely thousands or more selfies. Its wild to see people behave like this. I get up to go walk on beach. They are out taking selfies. Go off and do stuff with wife for day and come back and still taking selfies. Last night more selfies. They have some big dollar equipment. Tripods. Remote command. Apps on phone to take pics. They take pics of themselves at every angle possible. I just walked over to chow some bfast and they have a camera set up on the table taking pics of themselves while they eat.

    Man its a crazy world.

  4. #79
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    if u dont have a selfie of where u are/were, you really weren't there 555555

  5. #80
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phuketrichard View Post
    if u dont have a selfie of where u are/were, you really weren't there 555555
    555. I always get a few pics but the obsession here in SEAsia is really over the top.

  6. #81
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    Years ago no one turned right at the pier not least because there was little point with no decent accommodation, it was plagued by mozzies and the beaches/coves were poor compared to those elsewhere - if you did fancy staying there it was because it was dirt cheap. Also, the "road" accessing the rest of the island was but a bumpy, unmade track and unsuitable for any use other than access because there was no other choice. I don't recall then that anyone could hire a scooter.

    The main beach at Had Sai Khao then, outside of holiday periods, in low season and mid week, was lovely most of the time with just enough development to offer choice but without fucking things up. This was before the Chinese infestation and all the bright young Asian things 'discovered' it.

  7. #82
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Hat Sai Gaew was fucked by tattooed Eurotrash well before the Chinese wave, imo.

    We used to stay at Tub Tim, and so we'd walk along it on the way. Then the trashier element crept towards Tub Tim too and we called it a day on Samed.

    I suppose staying on private beaches at primo rates works for some, but we just switched to less spoiled islands.

    Admittedly though, if you work in BKK there's nowhere as convenient as Samed.

  8. #83
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    I thought people went left because thats where the cleanest sea and beaches were, ie away from Rayong

  9. #84
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    Yeah, though there was little or no accommodation there either...probably for that very reason.

    Presumably these private operations now do a big clean up every morning on the garbage that rolls in.

  10. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    Hat Sai Gaew was fucked by tattooed Eurotrash well before the Chinese wave, imo.

    We used to stay at Tub Tim, and so we'd walk along it on the way. Then the trashier element crept towards Tub Tim too and we called it a day on Samed.

    I suppose staying on private beaches at primo rates works for some, but we just switched to less spoiled islands.

    Admittedly though, if you work in BKK there's nowhere as convenient as Samed.
    I don't recognise that as being the experience during low season at all. The mix in demographic was quite eclectic without a preponderance of any particular group other than perhaps the odd Russian tour group visiting for a day's prawnfest and frolic on the beach before returning back to Ban Phe.

    I used to go regularly in those days, 12 - 15 years ago, and never had a bad time as a result of foreign cvunts although one year we had an issue with a nearby bar playing its music loud at 0100hrs but when several of us informed the owner of our resort that we were quitting his place and curtailing our trip as a consequence he spoke to the bar owner and the music ceased the following night at a reasonable time.

    The tattooed oik from Britain or Australia was never a patron of any note - occasionally the odd monger or two from Pattaya would fancy a bit of desert island fantasy with his whoopsie but who on earth would care about that. Most folk were couples, families, girlie backpackers, independent Asian tourists and Thai groups.

  11. #86
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    Another point of view

    So just got back and got the pics sorted out.

    I have to say I had a very nice time. The place we stayed ( Baan Ploy Sea resort) was within walking distance of the pier so it was quick and easy. We did not have to load our stuff into a truck and be taken to some far away part. Again this resort is to the right as you walk off the pier. The resort has 16 rooms all with a beach view. Our room cost was 2350 bht a night and was clean. It was peaceful and quiet all the time and I got to fly my drone without any whinging old foreigner saying I am invading their privacy. The beach was dead empty and very very clean. I did not see any westerners at the place, was all Thai people.

    Few pics of the start of trip



    This is the lobby at the "Samed" resorts on the mainland. you catch the Ferry here.





    We walked over to have lunch at this place. Excellent noodle with seafood



    Ferry had about 75 people on it. I was the only westerner. I will say to this day I have not figured out why Chinese people need to yell to talk. I think they are all tone deaf or something.





    Room as arrived. Has TV, full fridge. I liked the rustic wood look.



    First thing on order was a dirty Mart. Being they used Absolut I was not going to sink it straight, needed something to take the bite out of it.



    View was nice as sunset.





    Walking to go get some grub.



    Morning I got up and rented a bad moto scooter to tour the island with wife..



    We rode about 1.5 KM left from the pier we docked at to this check point where you have to pay to get in. As I shut off my scooter to walk up, I heard that westerner gal going off on the guy about having to pay 150 bht. The Military guy came up to help. The check point is a cluster fuk of tourists and trucks.





    Some beach pics along the route.

    In the end you make any trip what it is. As I drove along on the scooter and we stopped at a few places to get an idea of what they were like they were jammed packed with people and kids. Some resorts were way out there but yet the cost went up and the beach is a beach. One place we stopped at was 10,000 to 20,000 baht a night based on how many rooms and beach view. Silly being you don't stay in your room.

    I personally much prefer being off the beaten path and going to see that stuff versus being there at a congested resort and having to leave where I am staying to get away from it.

  12. #87
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    Hat Sai Gaew was fucked by tattooed Eurotrash well before the Chinese wave, imo.

    We used to stay at Tub Tim, and so we'd walk along it on the way. Then the trashier element crept towards Tub Tim too and we called it a day on Samed.

    I suppose staying on private beaches at primo rates works for some, but we just switched to less spoiled islands.

    Admittedly though, if you work in BKK there's nowhere as convenient as Samed.
    I don't recognise that as being the experience during low season at all. The mix in demographic was quite eclectic without a preponderance of any particular group other than perhaps the odd Russian tour group visiting for a day's prawnfest and frolic on the beach before returning back to Ban Phe.

    I used to go regularly in those days, 12 - 15 years ago.
    I'm not talking about 12-15 years ago. Samed's demise really set in about 8 years ago imo.

    We were also there 12-15 years ago and packed beaches, fire juggling with a lot of late night drinking and more than anything utterly shite music until 3am in discos were yet to really spoil the experience.

    It seems posing wankers roaring around the place on motorbikes chasing their long lost youth would also now be a factor.

  13. #88
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    Nice pics JP. Good to see you enjoyed the place unlike some of the miserable bastards on here

  14. #89
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    went in 1994, it does not look like the same place at all. So not one of these 'sustainable' tourist destinations, just another lets concrete the bugger over and make a killing places now by the look of it, won't be going back. How long before the neon signs and bars appear?

  15. #90
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dillinger
    Nice pics JP. Good to see you enjoyed the place unlike some of the miserable bastards on here
    Thanks Dill. I want to be clear that the Island is nothing spectacular. Just a place to go hang on a beach, enjoy some drinks and relax but clearly wasn't the shithole everyone has gone on about. But again I think its where you go. I bet it has changed a lot from the guys that visited it 10, 15, 20 years ago but everything has changed everywhere. Still plenty to enjoy.

  16. #91
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    I understood from reports last year that the Junta had ordered the local owners to make sure that music was no longer played after midnight. Since this would stymie the caucus that wanted to turn Samed into a KPG clone and thereby make big money, there was a lot of moaning but the local Mafia who run the island seemed to have accepted that given it was a demand from soldiers they would have no alternative but to comply.

    Are you in a position to confirm that the bars etc had turned their sound systems off by 2300-2400hrs?

    Personally I don't mind who goes where during the day, there is always an alternative, but my biggest complaint is idiots pounding out music on a fucking desert isle at 0100hrs simply because a bunch of godawful, young tattooed queer and merely stupid people confuse decibels with fun.

  17. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPPR2 View Post
    As I shut off my scooter to walk up, I heard that westerner gal going off on the guy about having to pay 150 bht.
    Visited for the first time in 1996, I'd guess. Been back many times but prolly not since 2010 or so...(?)

    Anyways, I may return just to sit by the Natl. park entrance and video all the arguments/complaints regarding the fee. A little compilation, if you will.

  18. #93
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    ^^The other happy coincidence, for bungalow owners at least, was that the godawful din forced people to stay in newly built, hermetically sealed, (partially) soundproofed and air conditioned rooms...at three times the price.

  19. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum
    Are you in a position to confirm that the bars etc had turned their sound systems off by 2300-2400hrs?
    I was out and about until with wife until 11 or so on 2 nights in proximity to where we were staying. No loud music at all. We moved some chairs onto the beach and looked across the bay. I cannot speak of the area entering the "National Park" area and beyond.

    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum
    bunch of godawful, young tattooed queer
    I did see quite a few Tattooed odd looking westerners walking around. Can't say if they were queer or not. Some of the western women were over tanned and skin looked elephant wrinkled. Some how they feel that is sexy.

    Quote Originally Posted by hick
    I may return just to sit by the Natl. park entrance and video all the arguments/complaints regarding the fee. A little compilation, if you will
    I'd pull up a chair with ya for that event. I guarantee you it happens a lot. Thais were free for Mothers day weekend I was told, All foreigners probably had to pay more. I always laugh at foreigners that whinge about $2 or $3 dollars.

    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille
    The other happy coincidence, for bungalow owners at least, was that the godawful din forced people to stay in newly built, hermetically sealed, (partially) soundproofed and air conditioned rooms...at three times the price.
    After I entered the National park entrance and rode on scooter there are tore up worn out bungalows all along the road side with cute boutique names and a host of bad restaurants. No idea of cost per night but anything over 1k baht would be waaaay too much. It looked like the Bahamas.

    Bottom line chose your places wisely and you can have a relaxing time. Go with the masses or try and be a cheap charley on accommodations and you will likely get what you pay for.

  20. #95
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    Excellent trip report Chitty.. 0 Pictures

    Are you sure you even left Glossop?

  21. #96
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    JPPR...agree with your last line.

    It inevitably prompts nostalgia for when that wasn't so though. For when 300 baht bought you a slice of what at times really did feel like paradise.

    Sorry but your pics aren't even close.

    I understand your outlook though...glad you had a good time.

  22. #97
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    You can bike round the island? I don't recall there being anything in the way of an extensive road system about 10 yrs ago or so. I vaguely recall a rickety track from the port to a few of the hotels, but that was it.

    I never really took to the place. Far too busy at the weekends and absolutely murderous mosquitoes whatever the time of year.

  23. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seekingasylum View Post
    I understood from reports last year that the Junta had ordered the local owners to make sure that music was no longer played after midnight. Since this would stymie the caucus that wanted to turn Samed into a KPG clone and thereby make big money, there was a lot of moaning but the local Mafia who run the island seemed to have accepted that given it was a demand from soldiers they would have no alternative but to comply.

    Are you in a position to confirm that the bars etc had turned their sound systems off by 2300-2400hrs?

    Personally I don't mind who goes where during the day, there is always an alternative, but my biggest complaint is idiots pounding out music on a fucking desert isle at 0100hrs simply because a bunch of godawful, young tattooed queer and merely stupid people confuse decibels with fun.
    Koh Samet is quite before midnight I can concur, my pics and report coming when I get a chance.
    Cheers JPPR.

  24. #99
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    No fun then.

    But shrooms & herb easily available by the sounds of it.
    What about yabba & smack, prices?

  25. #100
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    JPPR...agree with your last line.

    It inevitably prompts nostalgia for when that wasn't so though. For when 300 baht bought you a slice of what at times really did feel like paradise.

    Sorry but your pics aren't even close.

    I understand your outlook though...glad you had a good time.
    I understand the nostalgia aspect. For me I have no reference, it was just another island that I visited from all over the world. I can imagine that 300 baht on basically a deserted Island would have been nice albeit nowadays I prefer my creature comforts battling the elements.

    I guess its like anything you look back on. To me some changes are good and some are bad. Depends on what it is. I look at the world now that it is and will forever keep changing and looking back to reference is fine, to look back and complain is moot.

    Cheers

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