Ko Samui

I spent in Ko Samui just a week before move to the main step of my travel in 2001 the goal was Cambodia.
It was a nice relax along the white sand beach in Samui, the nightlife is amazing but the development of the island and the tourism is destroying everything.
It was my first trip with my glorious Canon Eos 300 and I started from there to be into photography more seriously.
Actually you will find just some photos of a night in Samui I spent walking around and drinking some beer listening a local rock band.

Ko Samui is located in the Gulf of Thailand, about 35 km northeast of Surat Thani, the island was even without roads until the early 70s, and the 15km journey from one side of the island to the other involved a whole-day trek through the mountainous central jungles.
The people in Ko Samui made a living, probably for centuries, from fishing and from selling coconuts. The first backpackers arrived in Ko Samui in the 70s thanks to a canoe, there was just nothing.
I can immagine it was quite close to the best tropical paradise that all we have in mind.

Historically the Ko Samui island’s economy has been based around subsistence agriculture and fishing, with coconuts as the main cash crop. From the 1980s onwards, tourism has become an economic factor and is now the dominant industry.
The construction of a high-speed internet connection in recent years has also made Ko Samui a feasible location for IT-based enterprises, which are beginning to provide a certain degree of economic diversity.

In the early 1990s, boats of tourists began to arrive, and since then the island has soared in popularity. Samui is now the second most popular island destination in Thailand, after Phuket.
Ko Samui is an oasis of natural beauty, with its white sandy beaches, dazzling coral, luscious lagoons, picturesque waterfalls, swaying coconut trees and crystal clear water.

Although Ko Samui is in southern Thailand, where Islam has a strong influence, the original inhabitants of the island are predominantly buddhist.
In the past, most of the locals made their living in the coconut farming business. Nowadays most work in jobs related to tourism.

Many locals have become wealthy from selling off land they have owned for decades. As a result of the extensive development of the island, many Thai-Chinese have come to Ko Samui from the capital of Bangkok.
Most of the manual labor needed to keep up with the island’s growth has been provided by people native to the country’s poorer north-eastern region. As a result, there is a wide cross section of economic classes on the island.
Now you will not believe what the island has become and some of the first visitors will cry to see what happened in this corner of Thailand. Confusion, bad smell, traffic, chaos, uncontrolled building, exploiting of all natural resources, beauties and sea environment.

Posted on October 25, 2001

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