Thailand's Best Kept Secret

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You have heard of Koh Samui…welcome to Koh Suomi…or Racha Yai Island as it’s commonly known…

Only I call it Koh Suomi as it is overun by the friendliest of Finns (Suomi is Finnish for Finland… :sunglasses: )…this place is a true paradise…still psuedo primitive as compared to your other Gilliganesque destinations such as Samui, Phuket, etc…no one selling anything at anytime to you on the powdery white beaches…no internet, no electricity during the day, no currency exchanges (hard lesson learned here), and, much to my surprise, no drugs (which I honestly didn’t miss at all, and anyone that knows me personally is shaking their collective buzzed heads in disbelief as they read this :smiling_imp: )…only scuba, snorkel, and sexy Finns and Thais…great food of course…and the sunsets from Bungalow Bay Beach are…well…how can one describe the perfect sunset with mere words…even Shakespeare would be keyboard-tied…

So…fly to Phuket, and transfer to Chalong Bay where you can get a speed boat (800 Baht return) in the morning over to Racha Yai…make sure to cash your travellers cheques b4 you head over. I highly recommend staying at the Raya Father resort…Chana, the owner is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet…and the food is fantastic…

Bear in mind that this island is a little pricey…you can probably talk Chana down to 500/600 Baht a night for the bungalows…they are quite close to the Water Buffies, so you will have to be creative with the smell…but from Raya Father you can access all the beaches on the island…

Ban Raya is the expensive resort…here’s where you can get air-con rooms and it is quite picturesque…expect to pay between 1200 and 2300 Baht/night…great food…try the Musmen Curry…

Then there is the Raya Divers Scuba School…great folks…good beachfront location to hang out at…
If you get there early enough in the morning…try the roti…mmmm mmmmmmm

Thre are plans to put a real hotel on the island, but probably 2 years away from opening…this will have a big impact…so try and get there soon…

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Yes, yes, tell me more. What part of Thailand is this wonderfull place?

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:blush:

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re: location, check this out:
thailand.com/travel/beach/be … chayai.htm

Click on the map button on the bottom right hand side of the screen.

Thanks for the tip. I need more travel tips like this here! I went to Koh Samui last year and it was fantastic. Thank goodness my Thai was good enough to get around without overpaying on stuff (I lived there for five years for high school). But as you said, the down side of Koh Samui is that is’ still too crowded (though not as touristy per se) and you see currency exchange and internet cafes in every other corner on some parts of the island.

scchu

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If you’ve been to Ko Samui you might like to try Ko Pha Ngan which is about 40 mins by ferry away from Samui. It’s cheaper and less touristy, and may be similar to Racha Yai (which I hope to visit one day).

Pictures at community.webshots.com/user/shimmertje in the Ko Samui album. We visited for Chinese New Year 2002. Those from the 6th pic onwards are actually of Pha Ngan.

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Thanks, shimmers… Nice pictures! How I wish I was back in Taiwan and Thailand! :x

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In case any of y’all are thinking of heading to the Andaman side of things this CNY, I thought I’d bring this thread back up top and give you a lovely pic of Racha Yai’s sunset.

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