Koh Samui air quality

[Birdman]

From March to November the sea is normally calm. No currents, no high waves, actually no surf and almost no waves, like a lake. Then middle to South Chaweng is perfect. Middle to South Lamai, Choengmon, Menam also beautiful. Most other beaches with water to shallow around Samui. Koh Phangan similar and even more shallow than Samui 

[Birdman]

8 hours ago, wilcopops said:

The short answer is no.....this is largely because pristine has a precise definition but is incorrectly used to describe beaches that really don't come near the mark.

 

Thailand has done little to anticipate or regulate development and the results can be seen in the problems facing Samui at present.

The "best" beaches on Samui were built up years ago by companies attracted by the quality of the sea, sand and water quality.... what is left may not be crowded but pristine? No, and the quality is lower.

 

Pristine beaches in Thailand? Hundreds. On Samui a few. 

 

And no the beaches are not built up. They belong to the king . And he gave it to all people. All beaches are public. 

[ShortTimed]

Pristine beaches in Thailand? Hundreds. On Samui a few. 

 

And no the beaches are not built up. They belong to the king . And he gave it to all people. All beaches are public. 

 

OK, can you add a Lol or a smiley emoticon when you are being sarcastic? You almost had me there about the beaches not being built up.

 

At HuaHin I could not even walk the length of the beach because the waves were smacking against the residence seawalls and I saw much surf damage on the concrete walls at the south end of Chaweng.

 

And as for hundreds of pristine beaches, any that have lodging? Sure I see plenty of beach from the air but no access and no lodging...well I should have been more specific.

[Birdman]

Look at the long coast between Muang Trat and Cambodia for instance. Over there is one almost empty Chaweng like beach next to the other. There are some lodings. Centara for example. Look at Khanom, look at Chumphon beaches, Koh Maak, Koh Kood, Koh Gradang etc, small islands in the Andaman at Trang, Koh Jum like Samui 40 years ago etc etc

 

And if you can not walk on a beach, because it is flooded by high tides or bad weather, that does not mean it`s like that always. Look there now and next month and the months to come. The GoT rises and sinks every half year. In June all beaches are verys wide. In the lagoons swimming will not be possible. Around December water rises most. Some parts of beaches can be flooded. I live on Samui next to the beach since appr. 30 years. For people like me all that is common and normal           

[beautifulthailand99]

On 1/27/2019 at 2:21 PM, GreasyFingers said:

You picked a good day without the strong onshore wind but there is still weed in the water.

But Crystal Bay is one of the best beaches on the east coast.

weed in the water you say .........rastaman !!

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, Birdman said:

They belong to the king . And he gave it to all people. All beaches are public. 

The beaches of Thailand belongs to the Marine Department, and not all are public.

[khunPer]

1 hour ago, ShortTimed said:

At HuaHin I could not even walk the length of the beach because the waves were smacking against the residence seawalls and I saw much surf damage on the concrete walls at the south end of Chaweng.

When the monsoon storm comes, normally somewhere between mid October and mid January, the sea level is high due to water are pressed into the Gold of Thailand, and the waves are really hard to the beaches and protecting seawalls, to stop the sea water from flooding further inland. I can assure you, very hard, I live beachfront, so walls easily get damaged if not build very strong, even light beachfront building can easily disappear during a monsoon storm.

 

My seawall is 1,80 meter high over the average sand level – and furthermore build one meter under as well, with a huge thick footage foundation – the images at left are from an average monsoon storm (2016), the photo at right is how it appears during normal high tide. Luckily the seawall has survived so far without any damages.

[ShortTimed]

I didn’t know the water level changes during the year. I know a bit about tides and tide cycles but what you describe is something different.

 

Very interesting.

 

But wouldn’t many countries have a High-High Water Mark established by Hydrographic Survey and then make a building code that no seawall could be built within “X” meters above HHW for environmental reasons?

 

But I guess you are saying that this Thai practice is to allow development in what might otherwise be just even wider beach?

The beach at Krabi seems very wide with no development on beach side of road. But maybe their monsoon tide is different.

 

Very interesting indeed. I wondered why my hotel photo showed a wide expansive beach in the brochure. I thought it was photoshop...Lol

 

Thank you for explaining this.

 

 

 

 

[mommysboy]

The article you read is likely a few years old.  In the nearby city of Surat Thani air quality has been quite poor lately- reason unknown.  Indeed the aqi reading is 124,  I live in the city and there have been a few nights where the air smelt very heavily of burning plastic.  I think it is likely much better on the islands, if not perfect.

 

https://aqicn.org/city/thailand/surat-thani/regional-environmental-office-14/

[khunPer]

2 hours ago, mommysboy said:

The article you read is likely a few years old.  In the nearby city of Surat Thani air quality has been quite poor lately- reason unknown.  Indeed the aqi reading is 124,  I live in the city and there have been a few nights where the air smelt very heavily of burning plastic.  I think it is likely much better on the islands, if not perfect.

 

https://aqicn.org/city/thailand/surat-thani/regional-environmental-office-14/

Your can follow the air quality of Samui here.

Screenshot from today (posting time)...

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, ShortTimed said:

But wouldn’t many countries have a High-High Water Mark established by Hydrographic Survey and then make a building code that no seawall could be built within “X” meters above HHW for environmental reasons?

 

But I guess you are saying that this Thai practice is to allow development in what might otherwise be just even wider beach?

I cannot say about Thai practice, but about Samui only.

 

The Samui building regulativs are divided into zones, where some zones by the beaches are so-called "city zone", for example 200 meter from either side of "Maenam Pier"; however the pier has long gone after damage by several monsoons, the pier road is today's Soi 4, Maenam China Town Walking Street.

 

Normally by the beach fronts you can build (quoted from memory) 10 meters inside marked land, only one level (ground floor), maximum 60-70 square meters, and there must be 10 meter separation between the buildings; the rules are newer, so many older bungalow resorts by the beaches were made before, and therefore not in accordance with the new rules. However within a city zone you can build two meter inside your own land, and three meter from water line, and up to 12 meter high (in old time, not higher than the coconut palms).

 

Some of the seawalls are quite old, and "mark" the water line. If you move your seawall back, you'll expose your neighbors land to destruction from the monsoon, so seawalls should be kept in line. My seawall were originally constructed with cement rings – actually a very strong construction – and had lasted for some 25-years, when I took over. After that seawall were constructed, the landborder line were changed, so actually everybody has little less land on the seaside today – about two-three meters – when the title deeds were upgraded; however by permission from the Marine Department we could dispose of that land, but not build new houses on it, if we keep the seawall protection in good condition. That include architect drawings and strength calculations, which need to be approved by the Marine Department for both old and new constructions. I kept the old cement rings, for extra strength, behind and under my new steel reinforced construction, that is also higher than the old.

 

At left, as the original old cement-ring seawall was in 2004; at right with the higher and steel reinforced new concrete seawall in front at 2010; the palms in front are the old-time landmarkers, from when larger land plots were sub-divided between family children.

 

The construction of the reinforced seawall; sand is moved by hand in small buckets, and its the women's job to dig the sand about one meter below the old rings; at right cement curing in molds. Cement need to cure undisturbed for a while to be strong (preferably 28 days, but a week in molds can give it 100% strength after a month. Four 20x40 beams goes from the seawall to the new house that works as kind of backstop for the wall. Everything was approved by the Marine Department before construction.

 

The rules with Marine Department's approval of seawalls began in 2006-2007, and was probably caused by the tsunami catastrophe on the Phuket-side in 2004. 

 

Walking the beach, it's obvious that cement rings lasts, while plain sea walls often get damaged, if not proper constructed. The old land border lines originates from the time when the island was a fisherman and coconut farmer community, and the land markers were coconut palms planted after consent of the families. They can also be seen in straight rows as border lines, but often in corners. My land is marked by a coconut palm in each beachfront corner. Later "Nor Sor 3" title deed markers are slightly different, however fairly in line with the palms, whilst the newer "Chanute" title deed markers are moved some meters behind, when Marine Department got part of the beachfront, which probably had something to do with HHW protection.

????

[wilcopops]

10 hours ago, Birdman said:

Pristine beaches in Thailand? Hundreds. On Samui a few. 

 

And no the beaches are not built up. They belong to the king . And he gave it to all people. All beaches are public. 

This comment is both incorrect and obtuse.

There are virtually no genuinely pristine beaches on Samui according to definition.

Secondly to suggest that the "buildup" on the beach itself is just risible.

 

Building on land behind beaches is a major problem in places like Chaweng and Lamai.

Hotels an resorts have a huge social and environmental impact on the beaches themselves.

The first is restriction on access. But possibly moe damaging in the long run is the environmental damage. Out flow from hotels is very badly managed on Samui with various forms of effluent going directly or indirectly into the sea.

Another problem is that any building close to a beach impacts on the natural formation of the beach....sand is a constantly moving feature and the buildings themselves actually form a barrier between land and sea and interfer with the natural forces that created the beach in the first place.

Increasingly hotels with beach fronts will have to manage their sand to counteract erosion and pollution.

 

 

[ShortTimed]

@KhunPer,

Thank you for that very thorough and detailed response.

Man you really covered that topic thoroughly.


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[Birdman]

5 hours ago, wilcopops said:

This comment is both incorrect and obtuse.

There are virtually no genuinely pristine beaches on Samui according to definition.

Secondly to suggest that the "buildup" on the beach itself is just risible.

 

.....

 

This statement implies, that you have inspected all beaches on Samui.  That means you have walked and climbed all over the coats line or/and made exact videos by drone of the entire coast line or took a boat for that. I doubt that. But I did that partly over many years, because I like to exercise in beautiful nature. Here is one:

[Tropicalevo]

6 hours ago, wilcopops said:

This comment is both incorrect and obtuse.

There are virtually no genuinely pristine beaches on Samui according to definition.

Secondly to suggest that the "buildup" on the beach itself is just risible.

 

 

So you admit that there are some pristine beaches then?

 

adverb: virtually

1. 1.

   nearly; almost.

[wilcopops]

46 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

So you admit that there are some pristine beaches then?

 

adverb: virtually

1. 1.

   nearly; almost.

Sorry but you argue like a schoolboy.

I think the point of my argument is quite clear and nitpicking, hair-splitting and pettifogging do not really a counter argument make.

[ShortTimed]

Come on guys. I started this whole thing and I ask now to follow just one basic rule:

 

No pettifogging.

 

I don’t know what that is but it doesn’t sound very manly.

 

Seriously though, all of these responses have been great. So far I have only seen beaches that are over-developed, polluted with plastic and devoid of any fish.

 

Its good to know that good ones are out there.

 

 

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