Tourist highlights across southern Thailand

Koh Samui is undoubtedly the region’s top tourist destination. However, the many magnificent attractions on mainland are unfortunately often overlooked by visitors. The mainland scenery is dominated by vegetated mountains and gorgeous sheltered sandy beach areas, while several historical sights can be found here as well. Most remarkable are ancient Phetchaburi’s crumbling temples.

The stretch of shoreline south of Phetchaburi provides a popular weekend getaway for many Bangkokians and goes all the way to the more famous seaside resort towns of Hua Hin and Cha-am. Especially Cha-Am offers very affordably priced restaurants and accommodation and most of its visitors are Thai people.

One of the country’s best bird-watching environments is located within a short distance from Khao Sam Roy Yot National Park. About 93 miles farther down the shore, Chumphon offers limited tourist facilities but does provide the most ideal departure base, from which where boats non-stop sail to the charming island of Koh Tao (Turtle Island).

 Koh Tao, on the beach

Online guide to Koh Tao

Positioned southeast of Chumphon is Koh Samui, compared with the other isles it boasts the most stunning landscapes featuring long stretches of sandy white beaches lined with waving palm trees. Obviously Samui Island’s exceptional beauty wasn’t ignored by tourist project developers, but this means at least that visitors can buy some extra modern comfort if they can afford it.

During the past two decades Koh Phangan has drawn away an increasing amount of backpackers from neighbouring Koh Samui. Accommodation on Koh Pha Ngan is much more budget-friendly, while especially the famous full-moon parties attract huge crowds of young international travellers. Hat Rin on Koh Phangan is a stunning and tranquil beach.

Southern Thailand’s cultural capital is Nakhon Si Thammarat, tucked away beneath the isles visiting this city might be a rewarding travel experience as it is the location of grand historic temples, unique handicrafts and mouth-watering cuisine.

Rail services leaving from Bangkok link each of mainland localities, while buses following a route along motorways 4 and 41 depart regularly. Two jumping-off points operate daily boat services to the isles. Koh Tao can be reached via non-stop sailings leaving from Chumphon, while 403 miles from Bangkok at Surat Thani, the best selection of boat trips is offered. 

South Thailand tourist guide     
 

Koh Samui, Thailand’s finest holiday destination

If a holiday destination offering something for the entire family is what you are looking for than Samui Island would be the ideal choice for your next vacation. Geographically positioned about 30 miles off Thailand’s eastern coast, Samui is the third biggest island in the kingdom. The island’s comprehensive tourist infrastructure will also satisfy the most discerning visitor.

Samui boasts many superb seaside resorts offering the finest lodging options within short walking distance from the blue sparkling ocean. Koh Samui is undoubtedly one of Thailand’s most complete vacation spots. Koh Samui visitors info

Nature buffs should not miss the opportunity of trekking into the island’s lush tropical jungle and the splendid mountainous areas. Make sure you’ll visit some of the stunning waterfalls, particularly the two Na Muang falls, which truly feature unbeatable natural beauty.

Visitors who love wildlife can visit attractions including: the outstanding aquarium, crocodile farm, butterfly garden and a monkey theatre.

Seen enough wildlife? Enjoy Koh Samui’s booming nightlife with its many discos, bars, pubs and cabaret venues, particularly in Chaweng and Lamai. The Bauhaus and Reggae Pub are the best spots to head to if you want to dance all night long. The Secret Garden and Beach Pub offer music live performances. This section of the beach has transformed into an international meeting point for all kinds of musicians, and every Saturday evening live gigs, drawing many music lovers, take place here.

The crystal clear and blue waters surrounding Koh Samui also contribute to the island’s popularity as a perfect holiday destination. Some of the best diving and snorkelling options available on the globe are offered here with many qualified schools dotted along the shoreline.

Chaweng Beach

If you dig Thai kickboxing, on Koh Samui you can see the Muay Thai fighters in action. Two weekly times there are matches in the Chaweng Stadium giving you the option to learn about what this type of boxing sport is about.

History buffs should not miss a visit to Ban Thale, the location of the island’s oldest house. Without using nails, this more than 100 years old house was constructed entirely out of teakwood featuring fantastic woodcarvings.

One of Thailand’s tourist hot-spots, Koh Samui has plenty on offer. Each type of traveller will definitely find something that suits them! 

Missing British citizen

The Immigration Police have made a public appeal for info on the whereabouts of a British tourist last seen at the Full Moon Party on Koh Pha Ngan on February 24. Volunteers working with the Immigration Police want anyone who has seen Daniel Christian Hall to contact them.

According to a report filed with police, no-one has heard from Hall for nearly two months. The 35-year old has disappeared, leaving most of his belongings except for his passport in a bungalow at Laem Son, Haad Yao, on Koh Pha Ngan. It has also been established that no funds have been withdrawn from his bank account since February. And the last withdrawal wasn’t substantial – “just enough to last a couple of days”, the report said.

 Missing Danny Hall

The British embassy had also learnt that he has not been admitted in any local hospital, the report said. Hall is about 180 centimetres tall and average build. He had a shaved head, and occasionally wears glasses. A vegetarian, he came to Thailand for a holiday for a couple of months, but his family are now concerned about his welfare.

Anyone with info on Hall’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Immigration Tourist Police at: alistair-why@gmail.com

Phuket Gazette

Thailand for outdoor adventurers (part 1)

For a long time now Thailand is one of my most beloved travel destinations. The first time I’ve visited the nation was in 1996. That time I still was a young man eager to explore the different continents and a budget airline ticket to Bangkok in my pocket. It was my plan to stay in the kingdom for just a few days before travelling down to Australia’s outback.

Well, that plan changed drastically as I decided to stay in Thailand much longer and finally left the country after eight wonderful months. I returned back in the Netherlands flat broke but so much more experienced full of exciting travel stories, which my mates had to listen to over and over. 

I went back a couple of times mostly to bustling Bangkok and the majestic Samui Island. I was pleased to be back in the kingdom but also feeling a little gloomy due to the many changes. However, last year in December I still decided to choose Thailand as my outdoor adventures holiday destination. 

Arriving at Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi airport was a different experience. I pre-booked my hotel room via the internet already in September so I’ve avoided dragging my heavy backpack throughout the Thai capital’s suffocating cocktail of unbearable heat, exhaust fumes, while heading for a comfortable bed. I had to meet another group of travellers as well which was also great, alone eating fried rice trying to find a fellow free-spirited globetrotter to strike an interesting conversation with can be extremely difficult.

The group contained 10 enthusiastic persons, a blend of three Aussies, two Canadians, two Europeans, one South African, one American and a New Zealander. We all gathered for lunch and right after having washed away my first Thai Singa beer I was convinced that this was going to be a cool trip.

To me the booming city of Bangkok means excellent shopping and sampling tasty food and the most ideal spot offering both is the huge Chatuchak or JJ weekend market. I arrived at this lively market with my stomach empty and a full wallet but a few hours later it was the other way around! Chatuchak market is enormous, featuring about 35 acres of stalls well-stocked with inexpensive products and selling everything from fake sports designer gear to antiques and furniture. The served street food here is deliciously hot.

JJ market in Bangkok sells a wide range of goods.

Next destination was Chiang Mai in the northern part of Thailand, which we travelled to by taking the overnight train. I really liked this rather long trip by rail, moving while sleeping was simply efficient and the coaches are neat, practical, safe and quite comfy.

Chiang Mai provided the perfect getaway from hectic Bangkok. It’s a laid-back, colourful, friendly and historic city, all of this reflected by the helpful locals. A sightseeing trip took us to the breathtakingly-beautiful Wat Pratat Doi Suthep mountain temple. Next on our travel program was a jungle trek, not that far away from the city. Before setting off, I enjoyed a much appreciated foot massage in one of Chiang Mai’s many massage shops.

Stay tuned for part 2 !

Weddings on exotic Koh Samui

Ideally located in the core of South East Asia, providing a natural gateway to Burma, Indochina and the southern part of China, geographically Thailand contains four main natural territories. These include: the Central Plains with its vast rice fields, the North boasting forests and mountainous lands, the rural Isarn Region (Northeast plateau) and the islands of peninsula south.

The Kingdom of Thailand constantly is enjoying travel-related awards for featuring one of the best tourism infrastructures in Asia. This year the well-established Swedish magazine “Travel News” awarded Thailand again with the Grand Travel Award. For 15 consecutive years Thailand has won this Swedish tourism and travel industry “Oscar”!
 
Thailand’s popularity as a wedding location is significantly increasing. Today, couples appreciate more exotic destinations for experiencing one of the happiest days in their lives. Enchanting Thai places such as Koh Samui and Phuket also offer first-class accommodation and much more luxurious receptions. In addition, Phuket and Koh Samui boast gorgeous villas offering the finest lodging options to such groups.

You too could have an unforgettable wedding in Thailand! 

A large number of these bungalows and villas are specially build offering the most wonderful secluded and romantic natural environment, surrounded by the sparkling waters of the deep blue sea, and line after line waving coconut palms.

Agencies organising weddings offer non-secular, Christian, or Buddhist weddings, and each celebration can be entirely customised ensuring a memorable wedding. All your special needs for that perfect wedding will be arranged at much lower costs that you would have to pay to the organisers back home. Nothing can ever be as romantic saying” “Yes I do” while finding yourself on one of Koh Samui’s or Phuket’s majestic tropical beaches. Guide to beaches on Koh Samui 

Villas facilitated with a full set of modern guest comforts on Phuket as well as on Samui Island are designed to accommodate up to 85 wedding guests and if celebrating outside they even have room for groups up to 150 persons if staying outside. Another benefit of wedding on both of the islands is that the honeymoon and wedding are included in one single package.
 

Dancing in troubled moonlight

Full moon is experienced in a very different way by the visiting backpackers and the locals on Koh Pha Ngan. The backpackers usually see it as an once-in-a-lifetime option joining a wild and unique beach party. The locals mainly experience the event as another sleepless night.

Once one of the Gulf’s peaceful small fishermen’s isles, Koh Pha Ngan has famous all over the globe mainly because of the extremely popular full-moon techno parties attracting thousands of young visitors along with loads of cash.

All over the island travellers will notice the numerous psychedelic posters and flyers, announcing another full moon rave party. The main ingredients for the popular party include: a variety of alcoholic beverages, around-the-clock techno music and both legal and illegal substances.

The problem, obviously, is that all night dancing and sleeping on the beach the entire next day isn’t appreciated by everyone. The majority of the island’s population is involved in daily commerce and agriculture and they would like to hit the sack early.

Once the full moon parties were hardly ‘bothered’ by the law and enormous signs advertising atmosphere-enhancing products such as “amphetamine tea” and “special mushroom omelettes” were common. However, the scene changed during the mid-90s when local policemen started cracking down on illegal substances and other craziness.

Last November Surat Thani’s governor received a letter full of complaints, which was written by Ban Tai village residents. One of the letter’s complaints was that the all-night dance music disturbed the sleep of over 100 households but even worse was the drug dealer’s activities, hanging around guesthouses trying to sell cannabis to tourists. According their letter reports of theft increased and more serious travellers were shunning Pha Ngan.

Recently the cops paid a visit to the Half Moon Party in Ban Tai and the organisers received orders to close it down because it was “very late already”. The Ban Sabai Day party next day received a police visit as well and similar orders were given to the organisation.

It wasn’t instantly clear what caused this change of policy. However, the islanders are sceptical as there’s a huge load of money involved, making it difficult for the mandate to hold but it also gave them hope that finally some officials might take their complaints seriously.

The monotonous techno beats booming out of enormous and powerful speakers often make the earth shake for more than halve a mile in each direction. It seems that for a long time the sound had deafened all the authorities whom never took the time to seriously have a look at the complaints.              

After complaints received from the school in Ban Tai, the Black Moon Party was relocated into the lush Ban Khai jungle. However, the event’s amount of visitors significantly decreased and promptly the party was being held again at its original spot.
One of Khao Tam temple’s annoyed nuns received plenty of publicity when she achieved having the Shiva Moon party to close down. Later the nun suddenly withdrew the objections and the dance beats resumed as usual.

The party organisers receive 300 baht per ticket, and a cut of 100 baht is given to corrupt officials to ignore the complaints. There are just a few residents of Koh Phangan who earn decent money from the “techno-tourism” scene while the majority only suffer sleepless nights without any favour in return. Somehow it isn’t even possible to let the organisers pay tax and the civic administration in Ban Tai has to cover the expenses for the afterwards beach clean-up.

Now there are plans for introducing a “party zone” to avoid staging the parties within a short distance from the central communities of Ban Nuea, Ban Nok and Ban Tai. Organisers could unite pointing out a special zone in the jungle’s dense woods. An ideal choice would be a location behind natural hillside as it would reduce the music’s volume. 

Complete Koh Phangan travel resource  

Fares for Koh Samui ferries soon to rise

On Friday the 14th of March a government committee approved the request of ferry operators between the mainland and Samui Island to increase fares. Adult fares will rise from Bt110 per trip to Bt130, an increase of 18 percent. Kids and students will have to pay a new fare of Bt60 compared to the current fare of Bt55, an increase of nine percent.

A four-wheel vehicle will be charged Bt360 per trip, rising from Bt325, an increase of 10.7 percent.

Surat Thani deputy governor Damri Boonjing said the committee in charge of considering the fares of Koh Samui ferry vessels had approved the request due to the operators’ increased costs because of rising oil prices.

The new fares, which are expected to take affect on the first of April, have yet to be endorsed the governor, and the ferry operators must inform their passengers 15 days in advance.

Samui and Koh Phan Ngan ferry timetable

Two decades of development on Koh Samui

A little longer than two decades ago, Samui Island was a sleepy and tranquil backwater. That time Samui featured crystal clear and calm blue waters. The fine white sandy beach areas were only populated by fishermen and a small crowd of pot-smoking free-spirited backpackers. The scene was similar to what Alex Garland perhaps was thinking when he wrote his novel “The Beach”, which later the Hollywood feature, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, was based on.

The reason for the stunning tropical island’s allure was pretty obvious. Positioned in the Gulf of Thailand’s core, Samui is blessed with 365 days per year sunshine and fabulous dream beaches. Like it usually happens with all perfect secrets, the news travelled fast of this ‘gem in the Andaman’ and the result was that Koh Samui has become one of our planet’s most popular tropical travel destinations offering tourists their endless demands for experiencing stays on a mythical island paradise.

Chaweng on Koh Samui’s eastern shore is undoubtedly the island’s tourist hot-spot. Chaweng represents first-class accommodation establishments, a wide range of Thai and international restaurants, vibrant nightlife scene along with a spacious white-sand beach area.

Today, there’s a shortage of available land around Chaweng. Due to this other environments on the island such as Bang Por, Lamai, Ngam and Ban Taling Ngam are experiencing significant tourist infrastructure development and are expected to become thriving holiday destinations in the near future. The northern and southwestern parts of the island are likely to be transformed into major holidaymakers’ areas. These areas provide several of the island’s largest plots of available land and some of the biggest private accommodations are being constructed.

Today, the situation and reputation of the real estate market on Koh Samui is rather negative due to several illegal construction project scandals and a period of political instability. Perhaps the recent elections and the presence of reliable real estate businesses such as Exotiq and Savills, the situation might only get better.

 Luxurious property on Samui

Today Koh Samui still belongs to Suratthani province. However, in the near future Samui might achieve a provincial status itself. Should the island become a province than it would benefit from a, provided by the national government, significantly decreased amount of money. More money would be invested in more development of the tourist infrastructure, making the island an even more perfect option for international investors.

The unique airport is set for drastic refurbishments, providing more convenient access to locations across South-East Asia and attracting higher tourist numbers. The internationally acclaimed Hyatt is constructing a new hotel establishment while Club Med and Big C are also planning to realise new resort accommodations on Samui.

When combining these prestigious plans with the fact that celebrities such as the Beckhams, Kristen Justin-Henin and Dustin Hoffman have purchased land on this tropical paradise; it will only lend loads of confidence to the entire property market on Koh Samui. With these cultural as well as real estate developments, Samui’s good reputation being one of the globe’s top island tourist destinations will definitely grow.

Comprehensive information on the island is available on this up-to-date and reliable online resource to living on Koh Samui, including real estate, health care, visas and living costs. 

Thai Airways International opened domestic flight service to Samui

Since February the 15th THAI operates 28 weekly flight services between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport and the popular holiday island destination, Koh Samui. A second airline, Thai Air Asia, is negotiating to operate this service as well.

Thai Airways operates two daily services from the Thai capital at 07:45 and 16:00, with return flights from Samui Island at 09:40 and 17:50. Originally these services were planned to commence in April. The carrier is offering a promotional fare 3,600 baht per business class and 2,450 baht per economy class ticket (excluding airport tax) Passengers may benefit from these promotional rates until March 31.

 Bangkok Airways owns Koh Samui Airport and until last month maintained a monopoly on this line. However, Bangkok Airways recently came under pressure by other carriers and official authorities to allow its airport to be used to other airlines.

The Thai Transport Ministry had plans to construct a second air hub on Samui to open the popular line to competition. Inhabitants of Koh Samui for years pleaded Bangkok Airways to offer its passengers lower priced flight tickets.

Recently Thai Air Asia officials went to Bangkok to discuss the option of the subsidiary carrier also operating a route to Samui. The budget airlines One-Two-Go and Thai Air Asia now fly to Surath Tani, which is the nearest stop to Samui. From here travellers must make use of ferry services in order to reach Koh Samui.

Koh Samui travel & tourist guide

Benefits of renting a villa on Koh Samui

When you are holidaying on Samui, you for sure will be impressed by the gorgeous beaches, the soothing waterfalls and the vibrant nightlife. The villas on Koh Samui offer holidaymakers most likely the finest lodging options. Spending your vacation in a villa on the third biggest island in Thailand will offer yoy benefits such as a more private surrounding environment and affordable hire rates. Unlike the bigger resorts, spending your vacation in a villa gives you the option to really experience life on a tropical island

At the time you are arranging your preferred holiday accommodation, you may automatically skip the villa options as being to costly. However, depending on your specific situation, they truly might turn out to be the greatest choice for you! For example, if you wish to stay on Samui longer than 14 days, the villa’s daily rental rates suddenly decrease significantly! Long stays in villas are even less expensive than staying at one of the many, often crowded resorts.

The Banloma Beach Villa on Koh Samui’s north coast

Additionally, a villa offers more comfortable lodging as well. During a long period of staying in a hotel establishment you may, at a certain time, start to feel uncomfortable while in a villa you have your own kitchen. Some holidaymakers might get bored of eating out every day and will definitely appreciate a private kitchen to once in a while prepare their own meals.

The splendid feeling of privacy is a guarantee that only a villa can give you. A large number of the available villas offer tranquil ocean views. There is really zero between the beach and you, creating a highly enjoyable and revitalising ambience of tropical island serenity. A short drive will give you access to the nightlife and once you return to your villa you won’t be disturbed by noisy nightlife scenes outside your hotel room window!

An efficient maid service can be arranged at a small additional fee as well. Each time you return from a trip you’ll enter your private neat villa. Samui vacation villas can be found throughout practically each part of the island. There are villas facilitated with Jacuzzi and private swimming pool but also more modest options that stimulate to just settle down and relax without the crowding.

If you are planning to hire a villa on Koh Samui for your next holiday than it’s extremely important to make sure the property of your choice enjoys a central position. You can experience an unforgettable holiday on the island using your villa as the central operation point, so start browsing the net for that desired Samui villa today! Pre-book Samui villas online.