Best and luxurious Beach Hotel on Koh Samui ? Price doesnt matter...chinese gf ftw
10 days or so...

thanks

also I want to go to China with gf after that for a time....can I get chinese Visa in 1 day at chinese embassy in bangkok ?

thanks again

I am getting a package sent out to me in Thailand from home (u.k) will it be ok/safe to receive some vitamins and cod liver oil capsules in this package?

Chinese Visa takes 2-3 working days, or at least did last time I got one from Hong Kong.

yeah, might have to pay 30% for customs + 80 baht/day +/some other random fees

CDMA is probably just 3-4k now. But I'm getting a lot of small disconnections(1-2 seconds) with it when I use it in Phuket.

Btw, I get full signal on it from Ko Lanta Yai(Krabi) now

What's the easiest way to get one? Can you just go into any local shop and buy one or is it more complicated?

Hi!
Recently bought tickets to Bangkok for me and my long term girlfriend. I am very excited and have been reading this thread and everything else I can find about Thailand for the last several days.

We are arriving at Thailand in middle of June and staying there for 50 days.
Our main target is beaches, sun and ocean and feeding some monkeys and meeting some people. Besides all that I always hope to improve my physical condition, drop some killos and number of cigarettes smoked per day - so one of those muay thai camps seems like a "must try" for me.

So far we have figured out that we could spend - 2 nights in Bangkok, aprox 2 weeks of relaxing, eating and drinking and traveling through several islands and/or beaches and then spend 1 month in a nice place we hopefully find during our 2 week travel period and go to training camp

So far I am investigating 2 possible routes and this is where I hope that you could give me some advice or random suggestions

1st alternative) BKK (airplane) Surat thani - Koh Samui - Krabi - Phuket

2nd alternative) BKK (airplane) Phuket - Krabi - Koh Samui

From what I have read I still can not decide which place we could love the most and find our dream accommodation in. Depending on which island we put our hopes on we could adapt our travel route and make this our final destination thus avoiding traveling with bus too much.


About us
Budget about 5-6k usd
Age: both 27
country: Latvia
Desires for location: close to the beach or in the nice garden with sunbeds and pool with a beach in reachable distance. Near to some muay thai camp.
Desires for accommodation: Air con, Internet, western toilet, no holes for snakes in the walls, comfy bed and some table and chair could be nice.
Interests in Thailand: Beach, meeting people, nature, boat trips, snorkeling, etc.
We are not much of a party people, so clubs and discos is not so important for us. Some late working pubs our bar could be good though.
So If you manage to read all this and thought: „hey I know the place these 2 would just love.” please share it with me.
As well, if you are renting a room in your house our your apartment-mate is going back to homeland in end of June/July, please let me know and I could apply for a rental.

Sorry for tldr

cliff-notes

-Going with girlfriend to Thailand in mid June for 50 days
-We want to relax in beaches, travel a little and go to muay thai camp during that time
-Trying to decide Between Phuket and Koh Samui where to rent some living space for 1 month
-Hope to receive some random advices
-Hope that somebody will suggest us cool bungalow or room our lease a room for us in poker house.

Most say Krabi has the best beaches. You kind of have to find a tour programme with all vehicle transfers/boat transfers/hotel all inclusive, trying to do it when you get there usually ends up even more expensive, and there are no cheap metered taxis. This is a good 1 night trip http://www.mayabaycamping.com/, good for meeting people.

Lopburi is 'monkey city', hundreds of wild monkeys roaming around a quiet temple town, just an hour from BKK in a cheap van. Kanchanaburi also has a national park with a climbable mountain with 7 flights of waterfalls to hike up and swim in (great for weight loss)/ historical sights & museums/ a monkey rehabilitation centre where rescued monkeys are trained, do shows, and can be fed, 2hrs from BKK. Those 2 places give nice relaxing experiences without being full of tourists and touts like the beach areas can be, and without having to travel too far up North from BKK.

From Saphan Taksin BTS station in BKK follow the signs to the river, a 150 baht boat from there takes you all the way up the river, with lots of stops for all the temples (3 or 4 of the biggest ones), Chinatown, Khao San road, etc., can start early and go up and down with unlimited stops until late in the evening, well worth doing.

when you say "meet people" do you mean 2+2'ers or just random people? if 2+2'ers, the only real choices are bkk, chiang mai, phuket, and to a lesser extent samui.

+1 for going to kanchanaburi for a few days, btw. i loved that place. erawan falls is awesome.

I've received vitamin/supplement packages a few times. It's no problem, just make sure the people sending them declare the package value at $10 or something, because you'll pay 30% import tax on the declared price.

Depends if you want to be central to the nightlife or not - Poppies would probably be my first pick but it's a long way to the nightlife areas.

Muang Samui is nice and expensive, I've stayed in their penthouses before and they were awesome, it's also centrally located and only a short walk to centre of town.

Buri Rasa looked good but haven't stayed there.

Realise that generally hotels are cheaper as you get closer to the nightlife spots because they are catering for the early twenties backpacker crowd. The nicer resorts are usually well away from the town centre, with the ultimate baller spots like Four Seasons and Tongsai Bay across the other side of the island on huge tracts of land.

Ive had 2kg boxes sent to me from finland several times. 2 times I had to pay 7 baht that the post guy asked (no idea for what). other times they came without any extra charge.

and yea declare the value very low obviously

ya tiger temple was pretty cool as well

For anyone wondering, i extended 7 days without any hassle.

good to hear. ill update the FAQ for visa stuff in my head

bump

cat telecom office. buy one and make a contract there. youll need an address where they deliver the bills

on my way to koh chang. is there a coffee shop or good Internet cafe somewhere on the island where i'll be able to charge my laptop and access the Internet on a regular basis? i'll be mad at myself if i don't get some work done while i'm there. staying @ a "maldives style" bungalow called Ko Chang Sea Hut.

cool pics but im not sure the mustache was a good idea

Standard uniform in the 60's mate

The internet is actually surprisingly,quite good on koh chang.

There are a few internet shops around,and most hotels offer some sort of service 2.

There's a good internet cafe down by the pier(not the pier where you get off the ferry,the pier where you go on boat trips,the other side of the island.)

Take a drive around the island,its beautiful imho.

matches those cowboy boots perfectly

Any updates on BB broadband versus True. I'm getting in a new phone line in a new place so I can take either. This is in Lad Prao in BKK. Any ways to find out how good the competition is. I have True where I am now and it will disconnect maybe twice a month.

(Also ALL morals are relative)

I'm sure its been discussed a hundred times already but don't fancy trawling through this entire thread to find them. Can someone give me some web addresses / links of sites specialising in rental accomodation in Thailand (for foreigners, if it makes a difference). I've tried googling it but a lot of what comes up are places intended for short-term holiday stays rather than longer term rental agreements. Thanks.