Welcome to another Island Wrap, your weekly window to coastal Thailand. This stacked edition covers an American expat who was arrested over a negative review on Ko Chang (Trat); an order to protect Thai marine environments; the first tourists to be allowed into Thailand since March — and a whole lot more.
Last week I published a post on Ko Kradat, a small island where dozens of deer are free to roam and munch on coconuts as they please. The Island Wrap will be my only post this week. Yup, still not finished with all of that freelance work.
Over on Couchfish, Stuart stayed on a virtual path through Cambodia with “a love letter to Phnom Penh” and a visit to a notorious prison where thousands died during the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and early ‘80s. He also penned a story on the value of street food tours that includes, among others, a quote by my partner Chin, owner of Chili Paste Tour in Bangkok.
Meet Ko Kudee.
Pick of the week: ISLAND
A lot of travelers don’t realize that Khao Laem Ya - Mu Ko Samet National Park covers several islands that, unlike Ko Samet, are fully protected from private development. One of them is Ko Kudee, a small island with a khaki-sand beach extending like a wing that’s wide enough for a football game. Affording views of Laem Mae Phim on the mainland, the island has park-provided bungalows, a campground, a canteen and a trail leading to the south coast. Check out this Travelfish post that I wrote a few years back for photos of Ko Kudee and nearby islands.
Weather news
Powerful storms continued to whack parts of the Thai Andaman coast this past week, stirring up two-meter waves in many places. In Phang Nga province, the crashing surf and strong wind uprooted around 100 son trees and damaged a beach restaurant on Ko Kho Khao. In nearby Khao Lak, one member of a fishing crew sadly drowned when his boat capsized near the mouth of the Thap Lamu River.
Earlier last week in the Eastern Gulf, a lone fisher swam ashore after his boat sank off Khlong Yai district, east of Ko Kood off Trat province’s panhandle. Locals later salvaged the boat in an effort caught on video.
Three unidentified bodies were recovered from Sattahip Bay in Chonburi province over the past week. Officials think they floated across the Upper Gulf from Pranburi, where several crew members went missing after their fishing boat sank during a storm on September 14th. Not far from Sattahip in Pattaya, a 74-year-old Dutch expat is presumed to have drowned while swimming in relatively calm seas.
Navy divers recovered the body of a fisherman whose boat capsized near Ko Surin during Tropical Storm Nuol 10 days ago. Meanwhile, a pair of lorries that went down with the Raja 4 ferry near Ko Samui on the night of August 1st were finally retrieved from the seabed. The plan is to salvage the ferry this weekend.
In happier news, a dog whose owner runs a coffee shop at a mainland pier in Ban Phe was rescued from the sea last Friday. The lucky dog managed to paw-stroke almost halfway to Ko Samet before national park staff spotted it from their boat. I’m guessing the black labrador mix had a sound sleep that night.
Wildlife and environmental news
The Thai government’s Dept. of Marine and Coastal Resources issued a pair of orders aimed at protecting reefs, seagrass and other marine life in parts of Surat Thani, Pattani, Ranong, Phang Nga and Krabi provinces. While it’s great that these areas have been targeted due to a need for “urgent intervention,” I wonder why the same regulations do not apply to other coastal areas. Only 5.7% of coral in Thailand is in pristine condition, the dept. chief said after announcing the orders.
In an op-ed for Bangkok Post, Adis Israngkura and Kanjana Yasen call for a more sustainable approach to Thailand’s marine resources following years of damage caused by tourism and other industries. Their “blue economy” proposals include “restricting the number of tourists and regulating beachfront activities through strict zoning, be it for accommodation, food selling, or coastal fishing.”
To raise awareness about the sea rubbish problem, Thai actor/singer Tono Pakin Kamwilaisak went on an 82-km swim around the Ang Thong and Ko Samui islands. Thai PBS filmed his journey, which had to be halted due to a shoulder injury at one point, for a Thai-language documentary called One Man And The Sea. Here’s the first installment of the series, which is now airing on Sundays at 9:00 P.M.
Greenpeace Thailand is sorting tidal rubbish in Chonburi province with an aim to put pressure on large companies whose discarded packaging commonly washes ashore. If you want to see what it can be like cleaning Thai coasts, check out this video of Trash Hero volunteers removing 1,675 kg of garbage from Ko Phi Phi last week:
This kind of clean-up session takes place at dozens of Thai islands and coastal areas on a weekly basis. (Source: Phi Phi Island Diary)
Speaking of Ko Phi Phi, photos shared by marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat verify that black-tip reef sharks are breeding near Maya Bay for the first time since long before it was closed to tourists in mid 2018.
A group from Adang Sea Divers rescued a hawksbill sea turtle found stuck in a floating tangle of nets near Ko Lipe. And on Ko Samui, official representatives from 30 countries released 10 million crab larvae into the sea as part of the grand opening of a marine conservation center. The event was part of a pandemic-era campaign to rebrand this heavily developed island as a conservation hub.
Officials are still searching for a crocodile on the loose in eastern Phuket, while a two-meter croc was captured and killed in Nakhon Pathom province. Also from the reptile realm comes this thrilling video of rescuers snagging an aggressive four-meter king cobra in a Chanthaburi orchard. A python of the same length was to blame for devouring a goose in a Betong prison, and its capture was filmed as well.
Veterinarians are treating a hornbill that was found hobbling and unable to fly due to a broken leg on Ko Chang (Trat) last Wednesday. And on Phuket, the second year of a campaign to sterilize hundreds of wild macaques is underway. As seen in the tweet below, none other than Phuket’s governor did the honors of releasing the monkeys for the first time after they were clipped.
Social media corner
This past weekend, the bonkers story of the arrest of an American expat teacher over bad reviews that he wrote about a resort on Ko Chang (Trat) in June showed how social media can turn a single post into an enormous outcry in a flash.
The story came to light last Friday in a thread by Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a Thailand-focused author and journalist with more than 200,000 followers on Twitter. Richard Barrow shared the story with his own 167,000 followers on Saturday, and articles from AFP and Bangkok Post soon followed. From there it went viral, appearing in The New York Times and many other international outlets so far this week. Ian of iamKohChang pointed out that it was the BBC’s most-read story yesterday.
The expat in question had a verbal altercation with a resort manager over a corkage fee for a bottle of gin bought elsewhere. After staying at the resort for one night, the expat invoked “slavery” and “coronavirus” to describe the resort in a TripAdvisor review that was removed by the site a week later. Using a different name, he later added less hyperbolic but still negative reviews on TripAdvisor and Google. Resort management replied to the second TripAdvisor review. They could have left it at that.
Instead, the resort filed criminal defamation charges that resulted in the arrest of the expat in Bangkok. Police transported him all the way back to Ko Chang, where he spent a weekend in district jail before coming up with 100,000 baht ($3,160 USD) in bail. If found guilty, he could face up to two years in prison.
The case is shining a spotlight on several intertwined issues, including Thailand’s unacceptably harsh and ambiguous defamation laws; the liability avoidance of review sites like TripAdvisor; and just how far is okay for business owners to go when refuting inflammatory reviews from patrons.
Now facing a torrent of bad publicity, the resort should immediately withdraw the charges in my opinion. But I also think that review sites should be held more accountable for failing to remove inappropriate content quickly. One week is too long to wait, and it’s no secret that TripAdvisor has often failed to be responsive to business owners with more valid grievances related to reviews.
Stuart’s commentary in the latest Travelfish Weekly covers everything else that I’d say about it and more. Stay tuned to see how the story develops. And if you’re one of the keyboard warriors erroneously sending hate messages to a resort on Ko Mak with the same name as the one in question on Ko Chang, please stop.
Tourism industry news
Thai Immigration police spent the last couple of weeks warning foreigners about a September 26th end to a visa amnesty that has been in effect since April. Then the cabinet suddenly changed course yesterday and extended it through October. Pressure from the Thai Chamber of Commerce, among other groups, may have played a role in the cabinet’s U-turn in the eleventh hour.
They could have prevented a whole lot of stress on tourists and strain on Immigration officers by not waiting until the last minute to announce the decision.
Many tourists departed Thailand last week despite wanting to stay, ending precious income streams to the hotels and restaurants that they frequented. Others arranged expensive long-term visas in categories like education and volunteering. Many more struggled to obtain letters from embassies or doctors that, until yesterday, were required for visa extensions. Crowds of tourists overwhelmed Immigration offices in places like Phuket and Chonburi as the deadline approached.
Authorities clarified that any foreigner who had already paid the 1,900 baht for a 30-day extension will now be allowed to stay through the end of November, but they need to return to an Immigration office to get the stamp updated.
The cabinet also gave Thailand’s new single entry tourist visa (STV) program a green light, and the first 120 tourists to have been granted entry to the country since March are expected to arrive in Phuket from Guangdong province in China on October 8th. (See last week’s Island Wrap for details on the STV and all of the expensive hoops that you’d have to jump through to acquire the visa.)
A second plane full of tourists is expected, again from Guangdong, on October 25th, followed by a flight carrying tourists from Scandinavia and Europe on November 1st. “Regarding quarantine facilities to accommodate these tourists, the Tourism Minister said that three hotels in Phuket, and one each in Chonburi and the northeastern province of Buriram, have been chosen,” reports Thai PBS World.
Nine hotels have been approved as alternate local state quarantine (ALSQ) facilities on Phuket, and another eight on Ko Samui recently passed inspections for ALSQ certification. These join more than 20 state-approved quarantine hotels in Bangkok that have been accepting expat returnees for months. It’s not yet clear if tourists entering on the STV will be able to quarantine in the Thai capital.
Writing for TTR Weekly, Don Ross calculates the total cost of the STV, quarantine, insurance and flights for one 65-year-old tourist to “be roughly 193,000 baht” ($6,100 USD). That figure is only possible if staying at one of the more affordable ASQ hotels, which have been fully booked at times. It also does not include lodgings or any other expenses incurred after the two weeks spent in quarantine.
Some Thai officials have been thinking out loud about shortening quarantine time to seven or 10 days. Don’t expect that to happen any time soon.
The cabinet also cleared a few other specific groups of foreigners to enter Thailand if they quarantine, including businesspeople from certain Asian countries who have at least 500,000 baht in the bank. Foreigners with retirement visas have shockingly not been allowed to return yet, though an announcement from the Thai embassy in Switzerland hints that they might be cleared to come back soon.
Meanwhile, the governor of Phuket said that “40,000 workers had lost their jobs and even those still in work had lost 20-90% of their income, while only 30% of all hotels were still open,” reports Achadthaya Chuenniran for Bangkok Post.
Resistance against a planned industrial estate in Chana is heating up after authorities approved several sub-districts for major construction. (Source: @Bench_BenchaMFP)
In other news
Following up on the proposed industrial projects in Chana that I touched on last week, a group of locals who oppose it forced their way into a meeting at the Songkhla provincial hall to submit a letter of objection on Monday. However, their efforts did not stop officials from changing the zoning status of several sub-districts from “green” to “purple,” paving the way for the environmentally damaging projects to advance. Billionaire and Progressive Movement leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, showed his support for the resistance in Chana last week.
Over on the Andaman coast, fishers in Satun province are asking Thai and Malaysian authorities to clearly mark where one country’s fishing waters end and the other’s begin. The push for clarity comes after a Malaysian patrol boat rammed a Thai boat last month, causing the death of a Thai fisherman. In this region, the southwestern-most limb of Thailand lies due east of Malaysia’s Langkawi Island.
Residents of remote Bueng Nakhon sub-district in northern Prachuap Khiri Khan province would like some electricity, other than from generators and solar panels, after going three decades without it. An Army camp cuts their villages off from the power grid despite bustling Hua Hin being only 40 km away.
“Nine years after the epic flood of 2011, the upper-eastern part of Bangkok — the low-lying and flood-prone area — is still as vulnerable as ever to inundation,” reports Supoj Wancharoen for Bangkok Post. A related CNA video report by Jack Board shows how Bangkok’s canal-side communities may be “living on borrowed time.”
Staying with Bangkok (well, Samut Prakan to be precise), the second passenger terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport is nearing completion. Meanwhile, nearly 100 mostly low-income families are facing eviction as plans move forward to construct a high-speed rail line linking Suvarnabhumi to Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport and the recently expanded U-Tapao Airport near Pattaya. The latter will be the hub for a new budget carrier, Thai Summer Airways.
An excellent Al Jazeera video report (below) by Pailin Wedel digs into the current medical cannabis situation in Thailand. She visits health clinics and grow operations while interviewing the Public Health Minister, a cancer patient, legal cannabis farmers in Isaan and a black-market grower on Ko Tao. She also attempts to score a legal cannabis oil prescription for nothing more than “not sleeping well.”
Look no further if you want to see how medical cannabis is shaking out in Thailand. (Source: Al Jazeera English)
Down in Krabi province, a fishing boat near Ko Haa caught two tons of tuna, one of the largest tuna catches over the last decade in Thailand.
Archaeologists again discovered 2,000- to 3,000-year-old stone tools and paintings in a limestone cave amid the massifs of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park.
From the travel realm I’ve selected photos from a train ride to Hua Hin to go with drone footage of Phang Nga Bay at sunset, Maya Bay from behind, and Ko Lanta Yai’s lighthouse-topped Laem Tanote.
For a story in The Telegraph, Chris Schalkx spoke witth Argentinian traveler Martin Aristia — you might recall him from the social media corner in a previous Island Wrap — about what it was like spending the last seven months on Ko Yao Noi and other parts of Thailand. Martin is one of the many tourists who might have stayed in the country if he’d known the visa amnesty would be extended.
A couple of popular festivals are going ahead soon, albeit with physical distancing rules for revelers. Chonburi’s 149th buffalo races are scheduled for tomorrow. And at Phuket’s annual Vegetarian Festival planned for October 17th to 25th, “‘Mah Song’ spirit mediums are to travel in vehicles” as opposed to walking in a parade, reports The Phuket News. If you’ve never seen photos of what goes on at the Vegetarian Festival, well, it’s a lot more interesting than eating some tofu.
Finally, a 28-year-old Rayong man who believes his wife became possessed by a chado fish that he had cut up in his fridge has vowed to never eat a large fish again. Just before midnight, the woman became unresponsive while sticking out her tongue and acting like she was swimming like a fish on the floor. Thankfully, the affliction did not persist after the couple freed some live fish the next morning. 🌴
Opinion: I do not agree with your positive remarks concerning the American, Mr. Wesley Barnes. Constructive criticism is what should be given, not a vindictive vendetta. There's no need to repeat what can be found on the extensive coverage that's been given, but filing multiple reports on different review sites under different names demonstrates that this was indeed malicious and defamatory. Everyone pays for corkage. Normally the restaurant provides services such as glasses, ice, ice bucket and of course, a waiter has to provide all of this. Those are all costs to the proprietor. Enough, it's a warning, and a good one. If the hotel lets him off he's lucky. I wouldn't!
Keep up the good work. I still remain incarcerated in Bangkok. Release day Tuesday morning. Your latest and greatest along with the links to the different videos have kept me occupied and amused for several hours. A bit different from the videos that my mates keep sending me for amusement though! :).
Cost per your aforementioned price of quarantine at an ASQ is considerably less at the Pullman Bangkok, which is splendid. In total flights, tests, accommodation circa 120,000 baht. They must have been staying at the Anantara or somewhere really splendid. I believe that the Trisara is upwards of 250,000 baht. Horses for courses, as the saying goes. I look forward to your next edition.