Ko Samui

Samui sucks and is to be avoided by nomads. It's not a nomad hotspot, at all. And probably won't ever become one.

Pros:
- Has an airport, so you can fly in straight from Bangkok and it only takes an hour
- Has nice villas you can rent with beautiful view over the ocean and Ko Phangan in the distance
- Grab and FoodPanda delivery food works okay here, although options are quite limited compared to Bangkok
- WiFi is good and fast around the island, no problems at all
- Driving a bike/scooter here is quite do-able as traffic is not that insane as in Bali or the rest of Thailand
- Nice place to go diving but honestly you're closer to the diving spots from Ko Phangan.
- Big C and Makro supermarkets have all the international food you can wish for like steak, baguettes and camembert, although the raw meat can be dodgy
- You can ship good frozen organic meat in here from Paleo Robbie from Bangkok (just Google this)

Cons:
- There is SO much food poisoning. Me and my 8 friends would get diarrhea every few weeks. It's not about local bacteria that you have to get immunity to, that's bs. You can't get immunity to local bacteria. It's just the food is prepared with bad hygiene, the meat isn't refrigerated and transported properly (see power cuts).
- There was only a few places that we confirmed as clean and we ordered there a lot with high quality food: especially Basilicom and Falafel Factory.
- The scene in Samui is mostly weekend tourists from Bangkok, low class expats who gave up on life with zero ambition and low class neon tanktop tourists in Chaweng who will blast their shitty music on Bluetooth speakers. My friends started calling Samui the "land of losers" cause that's what it feels like. This is not a foreigner opinion either: the Thai we spoke even from Samui would agree.
- Very few hipster cafes. I can count them on one hand. Most other cafes are Thai chains like Amazon and coffee is not good. Even fewer cafes where you can work in A/C
- The young/hipster/nomad scene on the Thai islands still isn't in Ko Samui, instead they're in Ko Pha Ngang (next door) and Ko Lanta (on the other/left coast of Thailand) and Phuket.
- Restaurants are really average but really expensive (see food poisoning above too), and very touristy but more like the touristy you know from your parents going to Thailand riding elephants and buying sarongs in the tourist shop inside the restaurant
- Regular power cuts, which usually also means the water stops running, so no shower, toilet, tap water etc. Unless your house/hotel/villa has a power generator (most don't), you're stuck without. Also AC won't work so it'll quickly become boiling hot inside your place
- In many ways Ko Samui is more expensive than Bangkok, because it's a tourist island and quite small
- Samui lacks a specific identity, it's unclear for who it is, I'd describe it as "Ko Meh"

Summary:
- Samui is nice if you come with a group, book a luxury villa and cook your own food. But then it gets boring after a few weeks.

Where to go instead?
- If you want an island place with nomad scene and hipster cafes, of course Canggu in Bali. Otherwise Ko Phangan, or Ko Lanta might be better. If you want a vibrant social scene go to the south of Phuket or Chiang Mai.

I spent 21 days here. Granted it was in Feb 2021 so there were not many tourists here, that made for a very enjoyable time experiencing the beautiful beaches and viewpoints without the swarm of wailing selfie sticks. Some very nice beach bars and cafes to work from with amazing views. A little more expensive than other areas of Thailand. If you go, a day visit to Ang Thong is a must. That place is just mesmerising.

I stuck here due COVID 19 quarantine. And it's best place to be right now. There are no big diifference compare to normal life. Locals are still friendly. Goverment doesn't pushes too much if you follow 2 simple rules: no partys due carantin and wear mask. Beaches are one of the best i've ever been and now they empty and even more clean. Food delivery works fine, Internet is good if you use your own line, and it's cheap to do. Great place to be here!

Samui is Thailand's second most popular island for tourists, after Phuket. The main areas are Chaweng and Lamai. Chaweng used to be more backpacker and trashy (like Bali's Kuta) but is now rapidly developing into a real clean town. Since 2014, it now has a giant air-conditioned Central World mall, an increasing number of coffee places, good restaurants and more upscale hotels and resorts.

Lamai Beach used to be the more clean and laidback area but is now deteriorating. The beaches are still okay but the streets are now filled with sex bars and bad restaurants. Worse, prices in Lamai are often higher than in Chaweng due to less competition.

The preferrable spot to stay in Ko Samui now is the more mellow South Chaweng.