[Deserted beaches, empty bars: Covid-19 devastates Thailand's tourist islands]

18 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Yep, I agree.

Looked on Booking com thinking cheap beach holiday ......... lowest price 1,000bht.

End of cheap holiday thoughts, at that price I'll wait until I can fly to Da Nang again.

Flight CNX to DaNang, 1,200bht, bus to beach 20bht, hotel room near beach 500bht, beer 30bht.

Treehouse, an awesome bungalow resort/restaurant is now 350 bath per night for beachfront and 250 per night for non-beachfront (according to the board at their entrance). Not sure if fan or AC, probably fan at that price though. But it is indeed located at one of the best stretches of one of the best beaches, is extremely kid-friendly, free sunscreen, beachmats and hammocks and such, and does some extremely delicious cooking too. The only place I know on Samui to make khao soi. ???? 

 

Can't promise a 30bht beer though. 

[Deserted beaches, empty bars: Covid-19 devastates Thailand's tourist islands]

35 minutes ago, steven100 said:

Koh Samui is dead .... no tourists are coming and all the bars and shops are closed. So no tourists means no money for the business then no job. It's the same in most places around Thailand and probably won't change much even in the months ahead.

Another topic about Samui being dead and you again huh :-) 

 

No, not all the bars and shops are closed. The majority have reopened. 90% of the restaurants ive eaten at didn't even close, just switched to takeaway for a short period. Sure, there's much less activity along the beach roads, but if you look beyond the completely dead Chaweng, life goes on. 

 

I feel like ive said this a hundred times already. Samui is NOT just Chaweng, far from it. In fact, thank god that hellhole is dead now. 

 

At the Thai food restaurant where i order my takeaway food, there's rarely less than 5 tables occupied. 

 

I keep seeing this French guy called Thomas renting his jetski daily on different beaches. 2, 3, 4 jetskis for several hour trips and he doesn't seem to lack demand. 

 

Makro in the evenings is quite packed. Yesterday i was hard pressed to find a parking spot at HomePro. 

 

Life goes on, and yeah, empty beaches are so nice. 

[Koh Samui: For sale and gathering dust - island that catered to foreigners is completely deserted]

40 minutes ago, Grge Soul said:

What did the Vietnamese do?

I can't find direct links to what I've read, it was on social media but fairly compelling and didn't look fake. Basically about multiple cases of highly xenophobic attitude towards all foreigners, blaming them for coronavirus, refusing any kind of services and alienating in general. If I'm not wrong, there was one case described of threatening with physical force. In a bit lighter fashion something like that is described here: https://vietcetera.com/en/opinion-racism-xenophobia-during-covid-19-in-my-shoes

[Koh Samui: For sale and gathering dust - island that catered to foreigners is completely deserted]

@steven100

Do you think that if you repeat something many times, that automatically makes it true? You've posted 'RIP KS' three times in this thread already. Don't like what the island is - don't come, it's simple as that. 

 

All these people who came here for a week or 2 in 90s, 80s or in 18th century and who have a very strict image in their mind about what Koh Samui should be. Look around you, look at your native town, look at any town anywhere in the world and tell me it's the same in 2020 as it was in 1980. 

I'm sorry Koh Samui isn't what YOU think is 'paradise' with $1 per night bungalows with no AC or even toilet, no choice of meals, dirt roads drowning in mud, electricity on schedule and having to go to Nathon for a newspaper. There are plenty of people who live here for years or even decades (unlike your 2-week wet dreams from 40 years ago) and consider it to be THEIR paradise. 

 

On a side note, some references in this thread are simply laughable. 10,000 baht per night? Welcome to Treehouse, beachfront fully furnished AC bungalows on one of the finest stretches of any beach on the island, for 350 baht per night. Getting charged 600 baht for a taxi and hate the taxi mafia? Anyone who has the slightest clue about Koh Samui knows that you get a taxi once (if ever), to get to your house for the 1st time; after that you rent/buy bike/car. Caribbean islands being compared to Samui? Enter Barbados, which is roughly 4x more expensive on average. Phu Quoc? Drowning in garbage. Phuket, Penang? No thanks, don't want skyscrapers and packet tour crowds around. 

One place I've been to that can actually compete with Samui would be Langkawi, if you stay away from Kuah, it does feel _largely_ the same with some bits a bit better, but it's a bit more expensive overall too. I'd say price/quality ratio are about the same, long term wise. 

 

The beauty of modern Koh Samui is that it has something for everyone (pre-Covid obviously). Want never stopping nightlife and crowds? Chaweng. Less nightlife, less crowds but still partying? Lamai. Wanna stroll through a European-like promenade eating lobsters? Bophut. Calm kids friendly shallow beach with less people? Ban Tai, Bang Po. Even less people and further away from crowds but still not in the wild? Lipa Noi. Super white fine sand? Crystal Bay. Snorkeling on the reefs? Coral Cove. Wild and no crowds at all? Taling Ngam, Thong Krut, Laem Sor. And then Maenam, Nathon, Laem Set, Bangrak, Choengmon, all of them very different, catering to different people and different needs. All of this within a 30 minute drive from anywhere. Plus endless waterfalls, viewpoints, temples, and so on. 

But no, you people came 40 years ago to Chaweng, found it completely unbuilt and then coming back in 25 years were completely shattered at it being developed, and gave a solemn vow not to ever come back. Jeez. Too bad for you. 

[Koh Samui: For sale and gathering dust - island that catered to foreigners is completely deserted]

Jeez can we get even more of you grandpas remembering how you went here 500 years ago when the sun was brighter and the grass was greener? 

 

I for one am happy that I can live in a stone house with double AC and water heating, shop in modern stores and drive on decent roads. If I want wilder nature and less people, I go to Taling Ngam, it's still fairly unbuilt, and I never liked Chaweng anyway (even though I didn't see it centuries ago). If I want it even wilder, I take a trip to Koh Tan and Koh Madsum.

Vietnam by the way can go screw themselves after their attitude to farangs showed in full during Covid.

 

[Koh Samui: For sale and gathering dust - island that catered to foreigners is completely deserted]

It's not AS bad as this shows - not everywhere anyway. Chaweng is deserted yeah; Maenam on the other hand not nearly as much, although there's still a metric crapton of property staying empty. Some hotspots at Maenam are fully booked (Treehouse for example). Actually saw a pretty expensive beachfront villa occupied today to my surprise. Bophut, Lipa Noi are somewhere in between - not a full ghost town like Chaweng, but still even less activity than Maenam. Ban Tai has *some* people at times (non-Thai that is, Thais are often there). Crystal Bay has people at all times, however few they might be compared to normal. 

 

The empty beaches are sure nice though if you don't yearn for the crowded hellhole that's been Chaweng for the past 5+ years. I sure don't.

 

To get a measure of non-Thai activity, just come to Makro Chaweng some time in the evening; it's not crowded but there's quite a bit of farangs. Overall probably in the ballpark of 1/5th of low season numbers.