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Koh Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand about 35 kilometers from the mainland. It is the third largest island in Thailand after Koh Phuket and Koh Chang. It is part of the Samui Archipelago to which about 60 other islands belong, including Koh Pha-ngan, Koh Tao and the around 40 islands of the Ang Thong National Park.
The interior of the country is a mountain landscape that is largely covered by secondary forest. With the exception of a few remains, the original jungle was cut down a long time ago to make room for plantations. The highest mountain is the 635 m high Khao Thai Kwai in the southwest of the island. A 51-kilometer ring road runs around the island, mostly along the coast. Ferries connect the capital Ban Na Thon with the provincial capital Surat Thani on the mainland and with the neighboring islands of Pha-ngan and Tao.
Samui has been settled at least temporarily for 1500 to 2000 years. At that time, Chinese seafarers are said to have landed on the island to take in fresh drinking water and repair their ships. Samui was also known to fishermen from Malaysia in the south for a long time. In the 18th century, settlers from the Chinese island of Hainan settled permanently, and Thais from the mainland soon joined them. It got mixed up with the locals very quickly. At the beginning of the 20th century, Muslim fishermen came from the southern provinces of Thailand.
There are a number of Buddhist temples (Wat) on Samui. See also the video "Temple tour in Koh Samui impressions"
Traditionally, fishing and the management of palm plantations were the most important branches of the economy. Even today, the products of the plantations are the largest source of income after tourism. In addition to more than two million coconuts per month, it is mainly the copra obtained from coconuts that is exported. And the fibers of the nuts are used to make mats, the wood is used as a building material and everyday objects, and the leaves are still sometimes used to cover houses.
In the 1970s, Ko Samui was discovered by dropouts who had previously become unwilling pioneers of mass tourism in Ibiza, Goa and Bali. However, it was not until the late 1980s that Samui became a destination for “normal” long-distance travelers. Until then, the journey, a night train ride from Bangkok to Phunphin, the main station of Surat Thani, followed by at least a three-hour boat trip to the island's capital Ban Na Thon, had been complicated and very strenuous. Then the journey was increasingly improved, first with air-conditioned buses and own ferries, and finally in 1989 package tourism was made possible with the opening of Ko Samui Airport in the northeast of the island. Today around 1.2 million tourists from all over the world visit the island every year.
The coastal sections most popular with tourists because of the wide beaches and fine sand are the beaches of Chaweng, the tourist center of Samui, and Lamai in the east and the slightly less developed bays of Mae Nam and Bo Phut in the north.
On Samui, buildings may only be built as high as a palm tree, i.e. usually two-storey, so that large hotel buildings should be avoided and the original flair should be preserved.
In the vicinity of Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, Ko Tao and the islands of the Ang Thong National Park are destinations for day trips. The coconut palm groves that once lined the numerous beaches along the entire coast have now disappeared in many places.
Located in the middle of the tropics, the island's climate is humid and changeable. Temperatures of over 30 ° C are measured all year round, and the water rarely gets colder than 28 ° C.
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