Koh Samui Thailand A Land of Great Natural Beauty
Koh Samui Thailand A Land of Great Natural Beauty
Discover Thailand with Thailand Discovery
Koh Samui Airport-Island Info Samui-Tours
Koh Samui Thailand
Koh Samui Thailand. Ko Samui (เกาะสมุย), (pronounced gaw (vowel like ou in cough) sà mui) is an island located in the Chumphon Archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand, some 700 km south of Bangkok and about 80 km from the eastern coastline of Southern Thailand.
Information
An island of great natural beauty and variety, Samui is home to about 40,000 full-time inhabitants, 90% of whom are Buddhist. The palm-fringed shoreline and coconut and fruit cultivation of the coastal lowlands rise to a central granite massive, the slopes of which are cloaked in virgin rainforest.
At 247 km² Samui is the second-largest island in Thailand and the largest island in the Chumphon Archipelago of over 80 (mostly uninhabited) islands which form the Ang Thong National Marine Park, a kayaking and snorkelling paradise. At 25 km long and 21 km wide, Samui is big enough for serious exploration by the adventurous and fit, but can be circumnavigated in just a couple of hours by motorbike or car. You can see Beautiful Ko Samui Sightseeing Information.
Koh Samui Thailand . The island was probably first inhabited about 15 centuries ago, settled by fishermen from the Malay Peninsula and southern China. It appears on Chinese maps dating back to 1687, under the name Pulo Cornam. The name Samui is mysterious in itself. Perhaps it is an extension of the name of one of the native trees, mui, or it is a corruption of the Chinese word Saboey, meaning “safe haven”.
Until the late 20th century, Samui was an isolated, self-sufficient community, having little connection with the mainland of Thailand. The island was even without roads until the early 1970s, and the 15 km journey from one side of the island to the other involved a whole-day trek through the mountainous central jungles.
Koh Samui Thailand. In the early 1970s the first backpackers travelling on the back of a coconut boat arrived on Ko Samui. For years after that the island had just a few bungalows and a trickle of tourists. Things started to change in the early 1990s when tourists started arriving on full boats and since then the place has grown substantially. Samui is now the second-most popular place as an island destination in Thailand (the first is Phuket). Ko Samui may not be the country’s most beautiful island, but it is still an oasis of natural beauty with its white sandy beaches, dazzling coral, luscious lagoons, picturesque waterfalls, swaying coconut trees and crystal clear water. The water at Bophut Beach, though, is often murky, especially around December.
Koh Samui Thailand. Unfortunately, development on Koh Samui is starting to take its toll and the beaches of Chaweng and Lamai are overcrowded in the high season.