Koh Samui or Koh Chang in July

Spirow

I decided to give up work and go travelling this year and I have been given a great deal of help and advice through boards.ie already. Thanks everyone!
Can I ask for another peice of advice?

I am going to be arriving in Thailand in July and I want to spend a month on an island before traveling east around Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos (then North Thailand before heading to Singapore).

I am meeting a friend who wont be travelling around Cam/Viet/Laos. My question is this:

• Is it better to go to Koh Samui (option of changing island) and then backtrack to Cam/Viet/Laos or;
• Is Koh Chang entertaining enough for a month? I can then carry on clockwise and still get to see Koh Samui etc (albeit alone) later on during travels

I am willing to backtrack for my friend if there is a big difference in the experiance on the islands (looking for some party, some sun, some watersports, great people).
If it is all pretty much the same and my friend will go back from Koh Chang saying "Wow - Thailand was the best holiday ever": should I head there instead?

I am worried about this; It is OK for me as I have loads of time and no set agenda. My friend, on the other hand, is paying out a lot of money for a holiday that I would hate to go wrong - her ticket is not that far off my RTW one.

As always, any help is appriciated and greatfully received!

OriginalSinner

Hi

I think if your friend is going over on a holiday your best bet would be Koh Samui. It's very commercial and holiday friendly and you'll always have the option of going to Koh Tao (enjoyed it more than Koh Samui) and Koh Pha-Ngan (didn't spend much time here but would have loved to go back.) It doesn't take long to get between the 3 islands and boats are frequent. I was backpacking and some of my friends were over for a holiday and we spent their holiday in Koh Samui and Koh Tao and they had a great time. Koh Tao is good for diving so it would be something for you and your friend to do if you were interested in it.

Koh Chang is really nice, we spent some time there before Christmas and went back to spend Christmas there. But I'm not sure it would be entertaining enough for your friend's month long holiday.
Also if you go to Cambodia from Koh Chang you will have to go through a place called Koh Kong and will have to spend a night there (it might depend on where you're going to in Cambodia) We done this to get to Sihanoukville in Cambodia and it's expensive and there's nothing in Koh Kong at all. It's just over the Cambodian border from Thailand.

If you go to Koh Samui and the islands around there with your friend then you could make your way back to Bangkok and getting to Siem Reap from Bangkok should be easy enough.

You might want to check the rainy season though, I think it might be rainy season on the east islands in Thailand during July.

Have a great time, I was there last year and loved Thailand! When you go to Northern Thailand go to a place called Pai. It's about 4 hours north of Chiang Mai - really really nice place!

OriginalSinner

Something else you should take into account - When you fly into Thailand you will get a 30 day visa exemption stamp but the land borders have changed, you will only be issued with 15 days. They changed this in December last year to try to cut out the border runs that people do, big pain! Try to make sure you don't have to do a border run during your friend's holiday!

Spirow

Thanks OriginalSinner; Koh Samui it is.
It is rainy season but I am hoping that there will still be good weather. According to other posts it can still be quite sunny and warm but just wet too.

stereo_steve

Everyone is going to have their different opinions about places but ...

Last year myself and my girlfriend traveled around Thailand. Bangkok, Chang Mai, Koh Tao, Koh Panaghan, Koh Samui.

We *hated Koh Samui* . It was really that bad. The places aren't half as nice. The locals seemed much more tired of tourists, it wasn't much fun. Everyone is just trying to sell you stuff on the streets etc I would avoid it to be honest.

Sorry to be so negative but when I saw your post I had to come on here and tell you so that you could pick somewhere better.

Saying all that though perhaps I'm the only one that thought this?

Spirow

Thanks stereo_steve

I have seen that feedback elsewhere. I guess the balance is this
I am backpacking and want to avoid tourist traps as much as possible (for money and for my sanity)
My friend, however, is on holiday and wants to have some creature comfort and not be in the wilderness for days.

the more I try and plan, the more I get confused. I think I will get to BK and make it up as I go along.

dazf

Hey
as stereo_steve said people will have different opions on this.Myself and my girlfriend hit samui about 3 weeks after arriving in thailand we headed up north first then onto laos...to be honest it coild be because we spent the past week and a half in jungle but we loved samui you can get a really nice place by the beach for quite cheap and we found the locals rather friendly...keep an eye out for the dogs over there they travel in packs...your probably right and just go with the flow:D

S.M.B.

I don't think I could stay on any of the islands for a month. Why not visit both? There's not that big a distance between both islands.

I'd recommend doing a bit of island hopping down on the south east coast (samui, phangnan, tao) then you could slowly make your way to the the eastern coast (hua hin, samet, chang).

But then again that's just from a point of view that 4/5 days on any island is enough for me.