The ferry. No one knows anything about the departure times or whether we can book tickets or not. The people who definitely don't know are the people who work in the ferry offices and especially not the five people who stand behind the counter at Nathon Pier.
Lamai Beach. A lovely sloping beach with a small shelf in the sea that allows adults to stand up fully immersed while children play and splash to their hearts' content.
Coffee. While having to wait overnight for a ferry from Donsak to Ko Samui the security guard who offered to loan me his moped so that I could and buy some coffee. The iced coffees sold at far too high a cost and made from Nescafé. The amazing 30 baht iced coffees sold by a mother and daughter team next to Tesco's in Lamai.
Tesco's. There are loads of Tesco's on Ko Samui but they provide plenty of fresh bread, milk, eggs and juices for Lawrence breakfasts instead of having to pay up to 750 baht for a family breakfast in a restaurant. However what small businesses have the aggressive supermarket chain knocked out? But then also a shoe shop inside Lamai Tesco did have exactly the right pair of football boots and school trainers for Trixie and I did manage to buy a souvenir 5kg bag of sticky rice.
Food. The really good seafood curries, green curries and ubiquitous burgers and pizzas. The massive range in prices from place to place. Similarly cocktails. Happy hour (4pm to 8pm) in most places but the prices range from 60 baht from road side stalls to 180 baht on the beach.
Children. Generally ok as a concept and I don't plan to send my three back but children's prices. Tourist places seem to want to charge adult prices for the over tens. We argued with the counter staff at Paradise Farm Park, quite a nice place way up in the jungle hills. She refused to budge saying that everything she did was filmed on CCTV. We asked to speak to her boss. Her boss was in Cambodia. On our insistence we spoke to him. He agreed that our request was reasonable and we paid child prices for Ned. And the same thing happened at the Ko Samui Football Crazy Golf. Although it was agreed that we could pay children prices for Ned once we worked out how much the price was in £ / RM we regained our senses and drive off.
Prices. (See cocktails earlier) Haggling can be fun but wearing. The market stalls that seemed to be doing the best business were at Bophut / Fisherman's Village on Friday evening and they were the ones that had fixed prices. The stalls with no prices had fewer customers. Also the street food was great there too.
Tailors. Along with bars, tattoo parlours, tat stalls and restaurants there are loads of tailors' shops. But when in tailors' shops prices and haggling are required. In one shop one tailor took me outside to discuss the price as he said he was just fitting a Russian customer for a 7000 baht suit, but would sell the same thing to me for 4000. In another the tailor would not move from a ridiculous price for one shirt. In a third a poster declared '1 suit, 1 vest (waistcoat), 1 shirt = 45 Euros.' I enquired and was told that was an all inclusive price except for the material. Not a good look, methinks.
Signs. Every business has a sign pointing to it and outside it. There are a lot of businesses. Signs to useful places, such as The Beach, are few and far between. The most confusing signs that were around were in the port area on Ko Samui directing drivers to go the wrong way to buy tickets.
Beach traders. Everyone needs to make a living and to help everyone there are beach traders a plenty on Lanai Beach. All the official sellers wore green tabards. The best traders clearly was the barbecued sweetcorn, pineapple and mango man who sold what his style suggested at 50 baht per portion.
Space. All the final sea frontiers have been built on, in the case of Chaweng Beach it is impossible to see the sea unless you are right next to it. Where the development has been thought through then sitting on the beach, under coconut palms was very pleasant. Where Bob Marley battles with house music and people selling massages the beach and it's development were not places for those hard at play or for seekers of relaxation.
Island Books. Great secondhand bookshop. No downsides. It inspired me to track down any secondhand book shops in KL.
So overall I reckon the answer is yes to a visit.