Thorn Tree travel forum

Travel Agent warning-entrance of Coco Palms, Mae Nam

I forgot to post this earlier and after reading a post on the India TT, it reminded me to warn others of this dishonest agency and the mafia controlled transport con at Samui and beyond!

We had a lovely 6 nts at Coco Palms on Mae Nam Beach, Samui and the night before our departure we asked the owner's father of Coco Palms how much we would need to pay for a taxi to Nathon Pier to pick up a ferry for Surat Thani. He advised us to use the travel agent just along on the driveway entrance to Coco Palms. He said the agency would sell us a transfer to Nathon, a ferry ticket and an air cond deluxe non-stop bus to Phuket for 450 baht pp which was good value. Not a bargain, but OK.

We went down to see the agent , a middle aged Thai woman, confirmed VERY clearly what we wanted (a direct deluxe bus service with no stops) and she agreed and confirmed what we had been told by the owner of Coco Palms. We paid our money and waited for our pick up early next morning.

No problems, we were picked up in a mini-van, taken to the Nathon Pier & given tickets for the ferry and bus to Phuket. When we arrived at the DonSak wharf we looked for our deluxe air cond bus. Not to be found. We were loaded onto a cramped old rust bucket with 50 others. Some of us had seats, some did not. When people complained they were told "bad luck".

Anyway after a hour or so we arrived at a crappy little cafe on the outskirts of Surat Thani and we were dumped there and told our deluxe bus would be along later. When we complained, we were abused by the owner of the cafe, then taken by mini-bus to a travel agent in Surat Thani-no name on the building and dumped there. We met a guy who had been ferried back and forward all day, waiting for a bus to take him to Phuket. Eventually a mini-bus with the windows & doors broken & rusted arrived and we were told this was our bus to Phuket. The driver was very tired and it was obvious he had driven from Phuket that morning. When we arrived in Phuket after a dreadful cramped ride, we were taken to a travel agent on the outskirts of Phuket right near to a big Tesco Market and told we had to pay 100 baht each to get to our hotels. We just started walking and caught a taxi at Tesco to Karon for our lovely Inn on the Beach Hotel.

Do not use an agency in Samui. You will get ripped off.

You can just get a taxi or bike to Nathon, buy a ferry ticket then buy a bus ticket at Donsak. There are government buses which will take you non-stop to Phuket. We were wiser on our return journey and just rolled up to Phuket bus terminal and bought a ticket to Krabi town then hired a song thaew to Ao Nang.

If you're not sure, just ask another traveller. Don't trust these scheming rotten scoundrels who prey on even savvy travellers ( like to think I'm one!)
Good luck.

"She had a ruby on her tummy and a diamond big as Texas on her toe, wo. wo."