Welcome to Thailand, where heavy rain is still wreaking havoc and potential island “travel bubbles” are making headlines again. Those and many other stories are coming your way in this week’s edition of the Island Wrap.
After thinking of heading South for weeks but not setting any plans in stone, we made a last-minute decision to drive up to Northeast Thailand instead. I’m writing this at the M Grand, a hotel near the Mekong River in far-flung Bueng Kan province. Here we’ve done some upcountry “whale watching” and stepped gingerly alongside a cliff at Wat Phu Tok. I highly recommend Bueng Kan for adventure travel.
People rightfully think of me as an “island guy,” but the truth is that I love all five of Thailand’s primary regions. Almost every trip I’ve taken over the last two years has been to the islands and coastal areas, and I was longing to see those green rice paddies that extend as far as the eye can see in the Northeast, also known as Isaan.
I also suppose that, deep down, I was longing to visit places that feel normal. We’ve found that in Isaan, which draws few foreign tourists and was not hit hard by Covid-19. In the towns and villages, it’s as if the pandemic never happened. Compare that to economically devastated islands and beach towns, and perhaps you can understand why we steered upcountry. I’ll hit the islands again soon enough.
A lumpy Ko Kradan on the horizon. Come back on Friday to hear more about it.
This past week I published a photo-stacked post on Ko Mook, where my whole Thai island journey began nearly a decade ago. Later this week I’ll share an updated post about Ko Kradan that I first wrote during that same 2011 trip.
Over on Couchfish, Cindy Fan ventured into the third largest cave on earth before cutting over to Vietnam’s remote western frontier in search of a little-known museum dedicated to the “Hamburger Hill” battle of the American War. After retaking the reigns, Stuart wrote about a pair of low-key spots along the Mekong River in Laos: Savannakhet and Don Khon. The latter is one of the 4,000 Islands.
Pick of the week: ISLAND
This week’s Wrap already has an upcountry theme so let’s pop up to metro Bangkok’s very own island: Ko Kret. Set within the Chao Phraya River thanks to a canal that was dug five centuries ago, this small island features a terrific weekend market along with several historic temples peppering a pastoral landscape. It’s also known for for skilled ceramics craftspeople and, more recently, a damn good craft beer joint. A day trip from Bangkok is as easy as catching a riverboat or bus up to Pak Kret followed by a two-baht ferry across the river. Eric Lim wrote a good post on the island’s history and culture for his informative site, Tour Bangkok Legacies.
Catching the ferry to Ko Kret.
Weather news
Early last week, a longtail boat carrying seven tourists on a pink dolphin spotting trip capsized during a storm off Thong Nian Bay in Khanom, not far from Ko Samui. A 54-year-old tourist drowned, and the body of the 63-year-old boat driver was found floating 11 km away the next day. The rest of the party escaped with minimal injuries.
This came on the heels of the Raja 4 shipwreck off Ko Samui earlier in the month. Divers halted their recovery missions into the sunken truck ferry, and two passengers are still missing. Plans are forming to salvage the Raja 4 later this month.
Heavy rain drilled much of Thailand over the past week, even if the sea finally calmed down around Ko Samui and other islands. Near the Eastern Gulf in Trat province, overflowing rivers flooded seven villages in Khao Saming district.
On the erosion front, officials in Bangkok want to barge in dredged-up soil and place it along the Upper Gulf coast in Ban Khun Thian. Mangrove trees would then be planted in the repurposed soil to combat erosion. This seems like a fine idea for Bangkok’s sliver of coastline, but it would be good to see similar measures taken in erosion-hit Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon provinces as well.
Wildlife and environmental news
Today marks one year since the death of Mariam, a beloved dugong calf from Krabi that was unable to recover from all of the plastic in her system. In a Facebook post, marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat recollected her life before listing several measures that are now being taken to prevent the deaths of dugongs and other marine life throughout coastal Thailand. Progress is being made.
In other sea mammal news, marine biologists are nursing a young bottlenose dolphin that lost its pod and bashed into rocks before washing up in Ban Nam Khem, a village in Phang Nga that also hosts a 2004 Asian Tsunami Memorial.
Further down the Andaman coast in Trang province, fishers didn’t hesitate to release most of their catch while laboring to free a whale shark from their fishing net (see video below). Not too far away in the Adang archipelago near Ko Lipe, videographer Nu Parnupong captured stunning underwater footage of four whale sharks swimming gently amid the blue as rain pounded the surface up above.
Fishermen free a huge whale shark off Trang around midnight last Thursday. (Source: Thairath)
Meanwhile, the Dept. of National Parks posted another video of black-tip reef sharks swimming up close to Ko Hong in Phang Nga Bay.
For the third week in a row, locals in Krabi province freed a hawksbill sea turtle from washed up fishing debris — this time on Ko Klang. Off nearby Ko Bida, rangers from Hat Noppharat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi Marine Park drew attention to the ongoing struggle between those trying to catch fish and those trying to save marine life when they removed a large illegal fishing trap from the seabed.
Up in Pattaya, the body of a green sea turtle weighing 50 kilos washed ashore on Jomtien Beach. It’s thought to have perished from a head wound.
Efforts to develop artificial reefs that were initiated in 2002 by turtle-loving Queen Mother Sirikit, who just celebrated her 88th birthday, are being credited with reviving fishing livelihoods in Ban Thon, Narathiwat province. In nearby Songkhla, scientists are teaming up with fishers to repopulate the sea with horse crabs, which have been drastically overfished in recent years.
August 12th was World Elephant Day, but all I have is the sad story of a captive bull elephant that was in musth when it stomped a man to death as he picked vegetables by a canal in Nakhon Si Thammarat. For something happier, check out Richard Barrow’s posts from his recent visit to the Elephant Nature Park in Kanchanaburi, one of a handful of humane and responsible elephant sanctuaries in Thailand.
This week in “paving paradise,” owners of Bundhaya Resort on Ko Lipe are facing criticism for erecting an unsightly stone-and-concrete wall over the fine white sand. Residents of Phuket are fed up about burning garbage, while those in Hua Hin issued “urgent complaints” about a neglected mountain of trash.
One way to fight problems like these is by purchasing single-use plates made from palm leaves — like those produced by a farm in Trang — rather than plastic varieties. After using them often while traveling, I’ve found the hardened leaf plates much stronger than paper plates — and far better for the environment.
Social media corner
Many of the posts from Ajarn Phil’s recent trip to Ko Samui delivered the humor that’s typical of his account, but I’m spotlighting a tweet of his that pointed out how a steady increase in prices is now coming back to haunt some of the tourism-related businesses on Thailand’s two largest islands. (This was also the subject of a recent story in The Phuket News, even if the wording isn’t quite as blunt.)
Phil also runs Ajarn.com, a site dedicated to English teaching in Thailand that doubles as a trove of insights and humor on expat life. I’ve been a fan of the site since the mid 2000s and I still check in often to read the “great escapes” and blog posts by Phil and others. A recent post by Jesse Sessoms discusses changes on Ko Tao before taking a philosophical look at how tech is changing us. Check it out.
Tourism industry news
A German study placed Thailand on top of a list of countries that are deemed safe to visit during the Covid-19 era. Don’t get your hopes up, though, because all foreign tourists are still banned from entering the country.
Officials on Phuket and Ko Samui have been hashing out ideas for “travel bubble” arrangements that could allow a small number of foreign tourists into Thailand later this year. The president of the Tourism Association of Ko Samui, Worasit Phong-amphan, recently hinted at rules that foreign tourists might face when visiting the island, as paraphrased by Wassayos Ngamkham in Bangkok Post:
“Eligible foreign tourists must travel to Thailand with Thai Airways and undergo swab testing once they arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport. They can then take a flight to Ko Samui without going through an immigration process. After arrival, the tourists will have to undertake swab testing again before entering a quarantine facility. If the tourists test negative for seven days, they can leave their room but not the hotel. After 14 days, they will be allowed to travel outside with a special wrist band.”
Yikes.
The ideas coming out of Phuket have not been as detailed and, at this point, I don’t suggest taking any of these proposals too seriously. However, many locals attending a “travel bubble” forum on Ko Samui did voice their strong desire to build a 17-km bridge linking the island to Khanom district on the mainland.
Meanwhile, the Thai economy continues to descend into a deep recession, as Peter Janssen laid out in cold, stark numbers for Asia Times. The Pattaya Mail spotlighted how children and seniors are being evicted from their homes; The Phuket News reported on a campaign to ease the debt burdens of business owners; and 77Kaoded listened to a group of business owners in Ao Nang who are publicly pleading for help. In an op-ed for Bangkok Post, Anne Somanas called for “less fear”:
“We can't let Thailand's tourism industry turn into an afterthought … We must change our mentality to more pragmatism and less paranoia. That’s the only way we can sustainably restart our economy.”
This was the welcoming committee for domestic travelers on Ko Phi Phi in June. Imagine what it will be like for travelers jetting in from abroad while the pandemic is still raging. (Source: Phi Phi Tourism Business Association)
In other news
At least 10,000 people gathered at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Sunday to protest the Prayut Chan-ocha regime following the recent arrests of protest leaders. Smaller demonstrations have been held regularly in Bangkok and other provinces, including one led by a few brave students down in Phatthalung.
A group of 1,000 students and teachers spoke up to oppose a controversial industrial estate planned for the coast of Songkhla province. Nearby, residents of Ranot district observed the Loy Pae ceremony to “float away” the bad luck.
The death sentences that a Thai court handed down to Myanmar nationals Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun for the murders of two young British travelers on Ko Tao in 2015 have been commuted to life in prison. Citing the guilty verdict despite dubious police work and faulty DNA evidence, many migrant rights activists and other observers think the pair were scapegoated and deserve full pardons.
A Royal Thai Navy pilot pulled off a dangerous landing in Narathiwat after his front landing gear failed to deploy. A video captured his skills under pressure.
A Thisrupt report by Teirra Kamolvattanavith shed light on the 68,000 stray puppies born into Thailand each year. Dog rescue centers are found all across coastal Thailand — don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re looking for places to lend a hand.
Some energy is being grilled, fried and steamed back into Phuket via a “seafood gastronomy” festival taking place in Chalong over the next six weekends. In related news, Thailand’s Ministry of Culture is forwarding a proposal to UNESCO for that sublime hot and spicy Thai soup, tom yum kung, to receive intangible world heritage status later this year. In fact, I’m about to devour some right now. 🌴