The 5 best islands to live on

KOH SAMUI
Only an hour from Bangkok, Koh Samui and the surrounding islands are the bit of tropical Thailand that time (and the crowds) seem to have left alone.

Why move here?
Anyone pondering a move to Koh Samui should rent The Beach, the Leo DiCaprio film set on the dreamy Thai island of Phi Phi, which was a stand-in for Koh Samui. Ignore the Hollywood melodrama about sharks and drug runners and concentrate on the backdrop: the golden sand, the softness of the southeast Asian sky and water in shades of teal, tiger-beetle green and peacock blue. That part of the movie is real.

Thai fishermen settled here more than 1,500 years ago and kept their secret well into the 20th century. There wasn’t a road or motor vehicle on Samui, Thailand’s third largest island, until the 1940s, and even today, the mountainous interior remains largely jungle. The coast is strung with fishing villages, Buddhist temples and thousands of coconut palms that provide the island’s primary export. Motorbike and boat are still the main ways to get around.

Discovered by hippies in the ’70s, backpackers in the ’80s and upscale dropouts in the ’90s, this island blends everything Thailand offers in abundance (tom yum gai, Thai massages, beachside bungalows, lively bars) with posh resorts and all the modern conveniences. As is true in other parts of Thailand, a $2 bowl of noodles at a place like Chaweng Center’s night market can be as scrumptious as poo tja (crabmeat and vegetables) at a fine restaurant such as Budsaba, where you ring a bell for service and traditional Thai dancers entertain you.

Meet the neighbors
Samui society is increasingly multicultural. It is easy to mix with the Chao Samui (as the native islanders are called), who have a high literacy rate and often speak English. Join the fun at Songkran, the annual Thai New Year celebration, which is three days of good-natured water fights and feasting. “If you haven’t got a BIG water gun, your street cred goes out the window,” says realtor Wesley Morlham, a local veteran of the water wars.

You know it’s an island when ...
You get tired of phanaeng gai (spicy chicken curry). Thai food is yummy, but a steady diet of chili can wreak havoc with unaccustomed innards.

Escape clause
Direct flights to Bangkok and the island of Phuket are about an hour.

Size: 95 square miles
Population: 40,000
Median Home Price: $100,000

You can still find loads of beautiful homes for less than six figures, but Wesley Morlham of Samui Property Solutions reminds us that foreign nationals cannot own land in Thailand or more than 49 percent of a Thai company that owns freehold land. But, says Morlham, a foreigner is allowed to own a house, “which, coupled with a renewable registered 30-year leasehold, is regarded by many as being as good as owning the land outright.” For listings, see www.samuipropertysolutions.com.

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