Baronbonk.com: Koh Samui and Chaweng Beach go boom boom

Boom Boom in the Tropics
I have just returned from boom island. A few months ago I was bemoaning the massive development of one small tropical island. But now I find myself in a tenuous position because whilst all that development looked horribly overdone it now almost looks like “not enough.” It is a very long time since I have been anywhere and only met businessmen who are happy with their lot. Koh Samui is thriving with bar, hotel and restaurant owners barely believing their luck. After so many years of no real high season, Samui’s peak season is only now just beginning to turn into a high season. Of course most will point to the tsunami sending people from Phuket. Needless to say that has been a contributing factor, but I am told things were pretty good in the run up to Christmas and it was not just the events of December 26th that created the boom.
The real point about Chaweng in particular and Samui in general is that there are some genuinely good developments and ideas propagated. I just hope that the powers that be in Phuket, as they bemoan their luck, take a look at Samui and learn some lessons. Chaweng high street is a traffic disaster but it does contain several genuinely good restaurants and several bars areas, as well as a vast array of shops from well known brands to local markets. It is a vibrant street. The differences to Bangla Road, or Beach road in Patong are obvious. There is real quality in this street: it looks like a place to go shopping, not a place to fight off the spivs. Even the songtaws which ply their trade as shared taxi’s are easier to use, and whilst not cheap you can at least get from one end to the other of Chaweng main street by simply hailing and stepping aboard. They are not quite as easy as Pattaya’s Baht buses, but they are 300% better than Patong’s evil tuk tuk drivers.
I stayed at the Ark Resort near the central Soi Green Mango. For a so-called better room I paid 2,000 Baht, and I was not impressed. To me it was a 1,000 Baht room at best and I was even less impressed when I was told that to pay by credit card would cost an extra 5%. Then to add insult to injury they charged me 30 Baht for water when I ordered a late night whisky: but that charge was removed after I squawked at a suitable volume. However in their defence the place was full. Everybody else seemed happy, it is right on the beach, the breakfast was included and was good and it does have one of the liveliest beach bars which stays open when many others have gone to bed.
Apart from my room the other source of annoyance was techno music. Everywhere I went I was assaulted by techno. The worst was the idiot who drove his car promoting his in-car stereo service up and down the main street with the volume almost at pain level broadcasting to people he passed on the street. I can only conclude that he is stone deaf: and there should be no surprise at that. I was sitting in a glass-fronted store and all conversation ended when he was within twenty yards of the store. But elsewhere techno was the rage. It was on the beach by day and dominated virtually every stereo in every bar. Even the excellent gogos of Dream Girl and GB Lounge have been taken over my techno because, I was assured, that is what the punters want. “It brings in couples to listen to the music:” I was told. In Soi Green Mango you did not have to go into a bar to listen to techno: stand in almost any point in that soi and the adjoining Soi Black Jack and you can listen to loud techno. In fact up by Green Mango disco there are four virtual dance clubs all spilling onto the street. The Sweet Soul Bar seems to be the most popular with it’s clientele literally dancing in the street to sounds that defiantly ain’t soul. Opposite is the Mint that hosts major DJs who entertain with house, garage, hip hop etc (techno to thee lad!). And there is also the Pigbar just there, complete with a parental warning, bashing out more techno. The only saving grace is that the music all sounds the same so the systems do not clash as much with each other as they would if they were playing something old fashioned like pop!
For those of a more tender disposition, there are a few refuges from the techno. Coco Blues has been enlarged since my last visit and was still full. Allan, one of the boss’s of Coco, accused me of costing him a fortune as my comments about the loos being ‘in the gods’ had forced him to put in suitable facilities on the ground floor. But I am sure he knows you need to have the second-hand beer department close to where you are selling the stuff! Allan was justifiably proud of his latest band: the Jackie Payne and Steve Edmonson Band. This is a quality US blues band with every member a seasoned soul/blues musician of the highest quality. Every month such quality bands are planned.
Coco are hosting a major blues festival in late September with two top headline acts targeted on the level of BB King and Clapton. They are also planning to build a 2,000 seat stadium to host monthly top music and other acts. Clearly Coco as a major property developer realise that it is in their interest to make Samui more than just another tropical island.
Also on the music vein Tropical Murphy’s, the highly successful Irish pub in the main drag is about to have the Roaring Bhoys (formerly called the Red Hot Potatoes), a first rate band from Ireland, as their resident band over for the summer months. Boss Paul insisted I tried his various new beers including an in-house micro brew and Franziskaner Weis beer from Germany. They were fine but I think it was the several pints of Strongbow cider that did the damage!

Behind Tropical Murphy’s there is the Vinotheck. Yet another sign of the way this place is going. I popped in one afternoon and sampled a couple of glasses of excellent German Riesling, as recommended by owner Herbert. There is a good cross section of wines from around the world including wine from Chateau de Loei in Thailand: their Chenin Blanc is very drinkable. A spot to do a little wine tasting as opposed to wine guzzling!
I dined at the excellent new Sibelius restaurant which has replaced the Irish embassy, and at long time Samui favourite - the Red Snapper. (click on name to get review)
There were plenty of lonely ladies in the adjoining sois of Black Jack and Green Mango, as well as Soi Reggae pub. Some body suggested to me that Soi Green Mango is being taken over by English bars, and it certainly looks that way, though they may be English pubs in name, but real English pubs do not permit their service staff to be sold by the night! Well certainly not for the last 150 years or so! Erratically Snatch was defiantly out of favour: well the new bar of that name was! Conversely the strangely named Henry Africa’s has replaced the garage posing as a bar opposite Pretty Lady and proves that decoration helps business!
The one thing that totally confused me was the closing time. Having got used to the 1 am of Bangkok my body clock, which had miraculously survived all that cider and other brain-destroying fluids, kept trying to send me to bed when the bars were still open to 2 am. Stupid brain!
It was hot hot in Samui but apart from a tooth playing up, it was fun to be back on the beach for a few days! Even if I did seem to be “papa” too far to many of the people I met, as well as the other punters!