Welcome to the 20th edition of the Island Wrap! This week I cover damage from Tropical Storm Linfa; Thailand’s foreign tourism reboot in disarray; photos of Phuket in the 1980s; and your usual round up of environmental and travel stories from all around coastal Thailand. As always, thank you for reading.
Last week I published a story on Ko Adang, the mountainous and barely developed island that looms beside Ko Lipe in the Lower Thai Andaman. Later this week I’ll introduce Ko Rawi and Ko Hin Ngam as part of the second of four posts that transport you to the marvelous Butang (or Adang) archipelago.
Ko Rawi on the horizon. The post coming later this week is in honor of the recent reopening of Mu Ko Tarutao Marine National Park. If you’re in Thailand, head down there when the rain lets up?
Over on Couchfish, Stuart unfortunately ran into his not-so-friendly “old friend,” dengue fever. I wish him a speedy recovery. And readers in Southeast Asia, if you see a mosquito, do take his advice and “please hit it with a hammer.”
Pick of the week: CHARITY
In Krabi province’s Nua Khlong district, the Wongpanit recycling center exchanges money for plastic, glass, styrofoam, ropes, shoes, nets, metals and many other types of recyclable “waste” that the tides carry ashore. Assisted by Second Life Foundation, which facilitates recycling in other parts of Thailand as well, this setup incentivizes locals in places like Ko Lanta and Ko Klang to clean up the coasts. Here’s a video of an operation that brought in four tons of recyclables from the sea.
Recycling in action near Ko Lanta Noi. (Source: Wongpanit Krabi)
Weather news
Breaks in the rain have been few and far between during one of the wettest weeks in coastal Thailand so far this year. While Tropical Storm Linfa did not hit Thailand as hard as parts of Vietnam and Cambodia, it did strengthen monsoon winds and drop enough rain to cause considerable flooding in many places.
Landslides blocked roads on Phuket and destroyed shops in Wang Prachan, a border district in Satun province. Strong winds felled trees and damaged houses in Phatthalung, while floods hit Takua Pa, Trang and the Urak Lawoi village on Ko Lipe. On the Upper and Eastern Gulf coasts, places like Phetchaburi, Bangkok and Trat also got dumped on for days. The air has been cool as well.
So far, I’ve heard no reports of shipwrecks. Many boats stayed safely moored rather than sailing into waves of up to three meters.
And we may be in for more of the same as another tropical storm, Langka, makes landfall in Vietnam. A third, larger storm is developing further east in the South China Sea as well. For now, keep those hatches battened down.
The storm takes a coffee stand for a ride in Trang on Tuesday. (Source: Thairath)
Wildlife and environmental news
Starting with the good news, Bangkok Post reports that mangrove forests in Thailand have increased in coverage by nearly 80,000 acres since 2014. Construction of bamboo erosion barriers in 2007 is one reason being cited for the success.
Back in Island Wrap #14 I mentioned how seagrass that dugongs and other marine life depend on near Ko Libong has been buried by sediment dredged up from the Trang River. A recent update by Thai PBS World explains how the islanders are blaming the Harbor Dept. for dumping the dredged sediment, which has damaged 395 acres of seagrass, “depriving dugongs of their main food source.”
Speaking of dugongs, one of these endangered “sea cows” sadly washed up dead last Thursday on Ko Phayam, an island in the Upper Thai Andaman where dugongs are not frequently seen. Over on Ko Phangan in the Gulf, national park personnel are treating a wounded pink dolphin that washed ashore on Saturday.
Staff at Than Sadet - Ko Phangan National Park rushed to help a badly wounded dolphin. I’ll post an update in next week’s Island Wrap if I find one. (Source: Dept. of National Parks)
After discovering yet another hawksbill sea turtle trapped in a “ghost net” on Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach, a foreigner called lifeguards to safely cut it loose. Meanwhile, locals spotted “many crocodiles” in an overflowing Phang Nga River.
Following up on a story in last week’s Island Wrap, a team of 50 officials tracked down the wild elephant, nicknamed “Spotted Tusks,” that killed two rubber farmers in rural Rayong province over a four-day period late last month. They tranquilized the jumbo on Friday and transported it to Elephant Nature Park in Sa Kaeo province, informing villagers in Rayong that it’s safe to enter the groves again.
Social media corner
Want to see what Phuket looked like before mass tourism radically changed its appearance? If so, check out Lars Bindholt’s slideshow of photos taken from 1985 to ‘93. (Note: Some of the best photos are towards the end.) Also pop over to Lars’ Youtube channel for more seaborne videos, including diving with reef sharks around Ko Phi Phi and kayaking the Mergui archipelago in Myanmar.
How I wish I had a time machine.
Tourism industry news
Thailand’s “special tourist visa” (STV) plan is in shambles as high-ranking officials contradict each other while keeping local leaders in Phuket and other destinations in the dark about when foreign tourists might finally arrive.
Some onlookers are speculating that the plan was nothing but lip service after it came to light that not one person in Guangzhou, the Chinese city where the first STV holders were supposedly originating from, had applied for the STV at all. Even so, Thailand’s tourism minister insists that tourists will arrive from China on the 26th, followed by a group from Scandinavia on November 1st. We’ll see.
The minister added that the STV system will probably be scrapped if even one tourist tests positive for the coronavirus upon entry to Thailand. This comes after a reputable pollster found that 57% of respondents “disagree with reopening the country to foreign tourists for fear of a second wave of Covid-19.” Even with mandatory two-week quarantine and multiple tests, many Thais want to keep tourists out.
Seeking to allay those fears, the director-general of Thailand’s Dept. of Health Service Support suggests forcing foreign tourists to wear tracking devices while staying on pre-approved travel routes and reporting to officials daily.
Meanwhile, foreign residents of Thailand holding retirement visas are still not able to return from abroad. And an AFP report that calls Phuket a “ghost island” explains how “the (economic) situation is much worse than after the tsunami in 2004.” As Thailand’s usual high season approaches, things are looking dire.
In other news
While I write this Wrap, tensions are running high in Bangkok as yellow-shirted supporters of the monarchy clash with anti-government protesters near Democracy Monument. Smaller protests have continued in other provinces, including a gathering of pro-democracy activists at Pattaya Beach on Saturday.
The government is dumping 10 million baht into a feasibility study on a long-proposed “Thai Canal” project that would, hypothetically, link the Andaman and Gulf coasts in Southern Thailand. “In the past several years, the Thai Canal Association -- consisting of retired generals, politicians and prominent executives with Chinese ties -- pushed for the canal project’s revival,” reports Chatrudee Theparat for Bangkok Post.
An American expat who spent two nights in jail after a resort on Ko Chang filed defamation charges against him over his negative reviews has profusely apologized to avoid prosecution. “He’s very, very sorry. But … the hotel may end up with bigger regrets,” writes Richard C. Paddock for The New York Times.
AFP has the most in-depth article yet on the archaeologists who are painstakingly searching for cave paintings and other 2,000- to 3,000-year-old artifacts amid the limestone massifs of Khao Sam Roi Yot. Archaeologist “Kanniga Premjai’s mission is to search every cave and cliff in the park.”
Two people associated with Phuket received major awards this past week. The Queen of England granted John Dalley the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his work with Soi Dog Foundation, an animal welfare charity that I featured in a previous Island Wrap. And a Thai-Canadian model who hails from the island, Chalisa Amanda Obdam, was crowned Miss Universe Thailand 2020.
Want to buy a Thai island? If so, Ko Kradat — the quirky home of freely roaming deer that I wrote about a few weeks ago — is for sale.
On to the travel realm, Thai tourists are visiting Khao Lak to see a black-sand beach formed by tin ore carried ashore by recent storms.
Duncan Forgan shares his luxury travel experience on pandemic-era Ko Samui for CNA Luxury; and Shayan of Dose of Life has a photo-stacked post covering some of the gorgeous beaches and viewpoints in Chumphon province.
Speaking of terrific photos, new articles in National Geographic Thai spotlight Songkhla Lake and the coastal area from Khao Lak to Takua Pa.
Finally, the BBC’s Jonathan Head asks if the pandemic marks “the death of the full moon party” on Ko Phangan. While that sounds premature to me, the article is loaded with local opinions on what this hippie-oriented island should be in the future. 🌴