Koh Samui has CHANGED 2023 Thailand Travel Advice
in today's video I'm going to show you what kosumui is like today during covet I did a couple of tours around the island and showed you what it was like when it was dead and I promise that as soon as it got busy I'd do another video well that day has come it is popping off here I haven't seen it this busy in years and we're gonna do a full loop around the Ring Road we're gonna go to all the beach towns and I'll show you what they're like today so if you're planning a trip here anytime soon this is the video for you I'm going to put chapter markers in so if there's a particular area that you're interested in just go back to that chapter now let's hit the road looks like we're heading to cannabis Kingdom to start oh yeah this is Chung Moon Beach and right off the bat let me give you a restaurant recommendation off to the right sides my favorite Italian place it's called pecornere and you gotta check it out but since we're driving why don't you hit it DJ much better but I am going to be giving you tons of restaurant recommendations throughout this video like that one on the right brand new flagship Cafe Amazon [Music] over to the left is the little road that takes you down to the beach and this beach is one of the best on the Samui this place does have some nice eats just across from the funky UFO shaped place on the left is nanuon noodles on the right and this place serves up the best Bond me on the whole island foreign [Music] [Applause] into the mallia [Music] okay so Chong Moon not too shabby not too shabby this place was one of the last places to come back to life it was closed pretty much until literally like two months ago and then just bursts back open it's looking really nice quiet little Beach Town one of my favorites in the island but uh let's head down to the big bad chawang turn right at the bend and you're leaving Chong moon but I'm gonna zip it up a little and get us there quicker [Music] oh wait a minute I gotta tell you about this place it's called the bach and they serve awesome Korean [Music] [Applause] [Music] recognize this place hang a right and you head up to the Ring Road but we're going left straight into chiwang [Applause] [Music] I gotta say I'm pretty surprised by the current state of chiwang this place was a ghost town just a couple months ago so nice to see it roaring back to life in fact that calls for another tune Hit It DJ [Music] motor thanks [Music] man look at all the action really needed this [Music] tasty treats look at all the patios people tourists drinking eaten business is back baby well there is still some places built now but they're building they're open and as opposed to shuttering down and closing if you're coming to chuang beach this year drop a comment and if you haven't been in a while you're going to notice one thing on the right side you see these big electrical boxes well the beauty of those is that they've taken away all the power lines it's much cleaner and oh up there on the right is another restaurant recommendation the Falafel Factory tasty little Lebanese treats I'd recommend getting a shorter man a pita [Music] looking out the rear view mirror you got to pay attention because coming up on the left side is the best local Thai restaurant in all of Samui maybe all of Thailand there it is Hooters [Music] coming up on the right side is Central Festival this is samui's biggest shopping mall and right now it's about 3 P.M so it doesn't look that busy but trust me Samui hasn't looked this good in years I mean check this out this is a clip of when I was driving through this exact stretch of road just two and a half years ago [Music] 2020 the year we all want to forget [Music] oh up here on the right one of my favorite Indian spots on the whole island it's called Nuri check it out awesome samosas you're coming back to life wow I have not seen to Wang that busy since three years ago and it's crazy the businesses are popping open almost as fast as they closed way back when now I didn't go in and check out the nightlife for you but from what I've heard I've spoken to a couple of young people and they say that it's banging check out black Club Green mangoes back on the map I heard they're putting in a new sound system at sound bar so even the Art Bar comment below have you partied at the Art Bar are they open I don't even know but it looks like they were gonna be the last to open but you tell me are they cranking out the big beach parties at the Art Bar anyways chuang surprised nice to see you're coming back to life [Music] foreign back on the Ring Road and this is the perfect time to tell you about samui's Road improvements check that out four lanes of Heaven the drive from chuang to lamai has never been easier [Music] one of my favorite parts of the drive around the island is the big rock here I must have driven past this thing a thousand times in the last 30 years I love it [Music] and on the way to La Mai you might want to check out this place Crystal Bay it's an epic Beach and well worth a half day foreign [Music] cannabis club [Music] time to head to my old stomping grounds Lamay and as you're entering La Mai nothing signified the pandemic more than this place the Outrigger it was like this weird little ghost town but it's even popping back to life after turning left at the McDonald's you're always greeted by the welcome committee hats off to anyone who rocks a baby's stroller through the streets assuming it ain't easy but I'm putting my hat on for all the shirtless tourists that are back [Music] Lamay might be having the slowest comeback but it's definitely a lot busier than it was a couple of years ago people enjoying patios people enjoying this gorgeous beach now Mr DJ I got a special request put something on that just feels like lamai if you ever been again [Music] so the final verdict on Lamay is that it feels like lamai is gonna be the last place to come fully back to life it still feels the most affected but it's starting to come on strong so all it needs is a few more Eula my lovers to get down there now let's zip across outer Lamay and head down the southern portion of the island back out to the Ring Road where you turn right to head back to lamai Temple but we're doing a whole lap of the island we're going left foreign it's a really local town the highest concentration of Muslim residents on Samui they've got some nice restaurants here in a really good Fresh Market but we're gonna head around the bend and this is where the traffic opens up and you can really zip through the south of Samui [Music] well wait a minute what stoplight in Samui oh time to enjoy a little of the local life all right the sole stop light is turned green and this is where you turn left to head to Tong crew and the Very southern tip of Samui but we're gonna go straight and zip all the way to Natan when you get about halfway you're gonna find this local market and if you get sick of all the tourists in chiwang and lamai and you got a motorbike or car for a day I'd highly recommend pulling over getting out and walking around here and experiencing the life of the local Samoans and this is the one part of the Ring Road where you can really fly so let's get straight to Natan [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I've got time to take a look at PT [Music] just before you get into Natan on the left there's another row of Market stalls and again a nice place to stop and sample some of the local food [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] you can't go straight anymore because that's the main road coming back one way the other way so we hang and left and we head right down to the beach and this is a restaurant that's been closed until a couple of months ago it's called Sunset and it's an amazing place to eat dinner and watch a sunset foreign and on the right side there's a few good restaurants you got crew a Savoy here you also have the here coffee bar and I like to eat right at that little place it's called The Lucky restaurant [Music] sonatan Natan has always really just been natanic it's always been a mix of tourists and locals it's the ferry port so it's just fairies coming and going local fish markets local markets but a lot of tourists and a lot of those nice restaurants but but he need my advice come down for a Sunset and pray that you're there at low tide and walk all the way out on those Flats it's an experience that's worth doing we're just gonna pull out in a ton next stop let's see what may nam's like [Applause] [Music] [Applause] one of my favorite Parts on the entire drive around the island is right here leaving the naton Beach Road the trees get smaller and it almost looks like the roads just floating on top of the sea [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] off our Loop the next stop for us is going to be mainam but along the way this is another amazing example of the road work that's been done in Samui since you might have last been there about 10 minutes up the road and you enter mainam and the first thing you see on the right side is the main am market and this is one of the bigger Longer established local markets on Samui well worth a stop we're now in the heart of mainam up ahead on the left you see this place with the green curtain almost that just means that it's closed in the day but at night it's one of samui's best mugata places that's like at the Korean barbecue of Thai food right beside that is the Austrian Corner good Austrian food and that leads right to Maine I'm walking Street okay so here's the thing about maina yeah it's nice it's quiet it's sleepy great place to live but if you want to go from mainam to Fisherman's Village or vice versa that dreaded stretch of the Ring Road is back in full effect I'm bumper to bumper traffic here it's probably gonna take me about 20 minutes just to get from mainam to Fisherman's Village which can't be more than five kilometers and I gotta say during covet I when there was no cars on the road man was it ever easy to get down this stretch of road I guess that's one of the things about the island popping back to life that that isn't quite as nice for us locals is the uh the traffic okay so it's 20 minutes later and I I know I'm on a tropical island and I'm not supposed to get stressed but I've gone about two kilometers since I last saw you and all I gotta say is this is nuts Samui could you please do something about this my recommendation is during rush hour at least don't let cars park you built the road you widen the roads there's four lanes let four lanes of traffic use this stretch Road no parked cars during rush hour oh thank God there's the PTT that means the end of Fisherman's Village is that way and that means that we're now finally ha out of the traffic jam off to the next stop [Music] oh we've actually found the second stoplight on the island of Koh Samui and it's just a little temporary Jam this is a weird little roundabout made out of plastic if you go straight you're back into chuang but we're turning left and going into Fisherman's Village let's zip ahead here because one of the exciting new changes is that they've made the main Fisherman's Village kind of row of restaurants and boutique shops they've made it a walking Street every day which is just a welcome change as far as I'm concerned let's go down and check it out foreign [Music] [Applause] looks like they've made Fisherman's Village walking Street every single day so get that starts in about five minutes so all I'll do is I'll show you down here because this is definitely come back to life since I was here last it uh was completely closed down but this was one of the first places to come back to life Fisherman's Village it was uh modestly busy with the Bangkok local Thai customers kind of throughout covet and as you can see now it's fully back it's in the swing of things and I'm so glad that they made it a walking Street every night because uh cars driving through there was weird and speaking of weird I gotta get this car out of here all right so we got one last stop to make let me tell you why this one's gonna be special okay so we're making that nice little drive from Fisherman's Village into what I'm going to call my home Village of bangrack and bang rack was interesting because it actually actually got busier during coping really came into its own during covet more places opened than closed it's where all the locals went it was always a local type of Village here that didn't used to have many tourists but because of Covenant because it was the only place that really stayed alive the whole time it's now right on the map of Samui and it's got a ton of great restaurants ton of cool places to stay and things to do and as I drive through here I'm gonna point out I don't know how many but maybe five or ten places that you actually have to hit and then I'll tell you how you can find them exactly with a map and turn by turn directions ready here we go let's count them out how many places can I recommend to you as we drive through bang rack bang rack baby this is my hometown and I got a lot of recommendations for you starting right away on the right side here we're looking at Omar it's a good place to get wine and international liquor options right on the corner what the locals call the ghost Road that's the shortcut out to the airport across the street from there it's a brand new Tembo Beach Club it ain't the cheapest place but it's super cool oh there's some decent Italian for you Antica locanda [Music] zoom in and there's The Secret Garden shout out to you Johan nice little beach restaurant [Music] this is the PT hostel this is one of the highest rated cheap places to stay on the whole damn Island now we're coming into the heart of bang rack and if you get dinged up in a motorbike accident just look to your left save yourself some money and hit the Samui home Clinic awesome people in there and great prices and up on the right an institution I come to this place almost daily bangrack Mini Mart good food good coffee good bread oh looks like an urgent delivery coming in [Music] more weed The Coffee Cup nice reasonably priced breakfasts and a little more of a local Vibe than across the street where you're going to find the brand new KOB by the Sea amazing brunch spot then you got the water speaking crushing shout out Eve shout out couldn't oh shouldn't forget about Nong Sabai just up to the left that's like KOB but a little cheaper equally delicious though and then coming up here on the right hand side is the most delicious Korean sandwiches you'll ever sink your teeth into shout out Volker and yunsu you better check out moakley bites oh they use Samui across the street a nice medium range four-star hotel that's a good local spot and speaking of local spots this place been here for 20 years this is called nude soup and when they're open you gotta check it out 60 Baht Thai lunches now oh she can't forget about all of her Steakhouse it's getting too crazy here in my hometown now we're coming into the Dead part you might think there's nothing here but you'd be mistaken just look to your right and you'll find cow horn this is where the ties go to eat when they come to Samui super local okay now break time wait a minute she's got the best mangoes and this guy has got the best strawberries [Music] the local Kebab shop is changed owners so I can't vouch just yet I gotta try it first we got the boat bar shout out to you Foster and on the right side more Korean treats the shall we meet pocha now we're coming up to the main intersection you turn right and that'll take you right to the airport and on the left side is the bang rack Fresh Market definitely worth looking around and if you're lucky across the street they'll be setting up for the bang rack Night Market [Music] all right so I'm out of breath man like that was a lot of bang rack recommendations but hey that's my home neighborhood here on Samui and I gotta say this drive was awesome so nice to see Samui springing back to life so nice to see it full of people having fun so nice to see businesses popping back open left right and center and I promised you I'd tell you how to find all those places well all you got to do is download my app Tini it's got hundreds of my favorite spots all over Thailand and here in Samui every single place I mentioned in bangrack in teeny you just click it it's got a video tour of each Place turn-by-turn directions and trust me the people that have been using it have been writing in and saying that their trip to Thailand is so awesome because they're finding all these little local secrets so check it out teeny Apple or Android store two bucks a month 10 bucks a year uh it takes it to your Thailand experience to a whole new level level so enjoy it and I'll see you on the next video hopefully see you in the Samui
2023-01-05 17:50
