Greetings from coastal Thailand, where a four-day weekend that made up for the canceled Songkran holidays just gave several destinations a boost. That story and the low-down on Thailand’s first known domestic case of Covid-19 in more than 100 days is coming your way in this edition of the Island Wrap.
Last week I dug into coastal Thai geographical terms in a post from the Island Nerd category. If you don’t already have a handle on the Thai language, do give it a read to prevent yourself from butchering words like เกาะ (“island”). And even if you already know the terms, I guarantee that at least one of the six trivia questions will stump even the nerdiest of Thai geography nerds.
Ko Phayam is coming.
On the way later this week I have a story about riding out a storm on mellow Ko Phayam in Ranong, the rainiest province in Thailand.
In Travelfish Weekly, Stuart published some timely thoughts on “a fear of travel” as the pandemic grinds on. And on Couchfish, he recounted a “weird hotel” on Ko Samui before heading to Don Dhet, “the laziest of Laos’ 4,000 Islands.”
Pick of the week: WEBSITE
The images shot by Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai go far beyond the usual island scenery to tell consequential environmental stories, such as “the fragile future” of the Thai Andaman Sea; the “perilous” situation for sharks in Thailand; and the “last hope” represented by Thai marine protected areas. Shin has uses his photographic talent and background in marine science to cover coastal issues in other countries, contributing to National Geographic for one. Do give his website and Instagram page a look.
Covid-19 update
Thailand received praise for going 100 days without a single known case of local transmission of Covid-19. Then, promptly on day 101, a Bangkok-based DJ tested positive for the virus after being arrested on a drug charge.
Inmates who shared space with the DJ, and his co-workers from two nightclubs in metro Bangkok and a Khao San Road cafe where he worked, have all tested negative. No other infections have been found among the nearly 1,000 people who have been traced and tested. The DJ himself has only minor symptoms.
But Thailand’s Covid-19 task force remains “stumped” on how he became infected, leaving many people on edge. The governor of Phang Nga reportedly reinstated a 14-day quarantine rule for travelers entering the province “from areas considered Covid-19 outbreak zones,” though details have been scarce. I see his comments as an overreaction that will hurt tourism in Phuket as well as Phang Nga.
The establishments where the DJ worked reportedly failed to maintain basic measures to prevent viral spread. In response, police have popped into nightclubs around the country to ensure that virus containment rules are being followed.
Authorities have also bolstered border patrols to try and prevent immigrants from sneaking into Thailand. They’re especially focused on the long and mostly jungle-cloaked border with Myanmar, which has been reporting 50 or more daily cases of Covid-19 recently. If you go to border areas in provinces like Ranong and Prachuap Khiri Khan, expect to see more police and military personnel than usual.
Villagers gather to look at the dugong that washed up dead on Ko Mook this past week. (Source: Dept. of National Parks)
Wildlife and environmental news
Citing how “the coronavirus pandemic has allowed the natural habitat to recover from the hordes of tourist crowds,” Thailand’s Environment Minister reiterated a proposal to close all national parks for two to four months each year.
Some argue that this move, and the closure of Maya Bay, Ko Tachai and a few other islands, have distracted from environmental destruction happening elsewhere in the country. An important op-ed by former Bangkok Post editor Sanitsuda Ekachai runs down a long list of damaging projects, explaining how the military-led government has tried to ram some of them through while suppressing local opposition.
One proposed project is a shipping canal that the government wants dug across the Kra Isthmus to connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea. “While it remains in question who would benefit from the mega canal, the digging will certainly create massive environmental destruction on both coasts,” Sanitsuda warns.
In a related story from National Geographic Thai, veteran conservationist Petch Manopawit recalled working frantically to prevent wildlife from drowning when a reservoir was formed by dam construction in Khao Sok National Park in 1986. His team managed to rescue 1,364 wild animals, including king cobras, but they couldn’t stop what he describes as “a complete collapse of the ecosystem.”
Moving on to marine life news, the first known adult dugong death of 2020 in Thailand was recorded after the sea carried the body of a 2.6-meter dugong to Ko Mook. Its body showed no signs of injury and an autopsy revealed no plastic or other waste in its stomach. After finding a tumor, scientists think she died of natural causes.
In Khuraburi, locals braved a storm to rescue an exhausted striped dolphin that washed ashore after losing its pod. The two-year-old dolphin was moved to a national park facility where marine scientists are assisting in its recovery.
Freeing another tangled-up sea turtle on Ko Phi Phi Don. (Source: มาหยานิวส์ สื่อออนไลน์)
Footage from Ko Phi Phi Don (above) shows staff from U Rip Resort freeing yet another hawksbill sea turtle from a discarded fishing net. Black-tip reef sharks can be seen swimming up to nearby Ko Maiphai in another video, while footage from Ko Phayam shows sea otters playing on an empty beach.
Speaking of discarded “ghost nets,” a video from Krabi-based Poseidon Dive Center displays just how tedious it is to untangle nets from coral around Ko Phi Phi. Meanwhile, the Dept. of National Parks posted a video showing divers removing 120 kg of debris around the islands of Mu Ko Chumphon Marine Park.
Police on Ko Phangan apprehended two foreign divers who posted a video of themselves prodding and handling marine life last week. The pair drew the ire of some powerful folks — authorities are hitting them with 100,000 baht fines, loss of dive instructor license and, according to the latest report, deportation. That might seem overly harsh for expats with families and businesses in Thailand, but mistreating marine life has become an increasingly serious crime in recent years. Be warned.
Social media corner
How about some aerial photos of beautiful Ko Phi Phi Leh, Ko Yung, Ko Maiphai and the Ko Bida twins? Prempree Spp, who does marine research in the area, shared them via the excellent Koh Lanta Coral Reefs page.
Pop over to the Facebook page to see the rest of Prempree’s photos.
Tourism industry news
Many travelers took advantage of a four-day weekend that made up for the Songkran (Thai New Year) holidays after they were canceled back in April due to the lockdown. The holidays injected much-needed cash into many destinations, even if there was no water-splashing mayhem and other typical Songkran fun.
Some 23,000 travelers braved long car ferry queues to visit Ko Chang (Trat) on Friday and Saturday, and thousands also hit Ko Larn, Ko Si Chang, Bang Saen, Hua Hin and other beach spots near Bangkok. Some further-flung islands got their share of visitors as well. One of them was Ko Mook, where the Emerald Cave drew a crowd after the chief of Hat Chao Mai National Park opted to keep it open all year. In the past, this marvelous attraction was closed from June to October.
The “Phuket model” plan to allow a handful of foreign tourists into Thailand has — surprise surprise — been delayed. Tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn admitted that he “miscommunicated” the proposal, stirring up panic among Phuket residents who fear a reintroduction of the coronavirus. As reported by The Nation, the governor of Phuket proposed a new “four phase” reopening plan that offers the slightest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel:
“The last phase will be considered once a vaccine has been found and the pandemic is contained. Under this, arrivals will be tested at the airport, and if they are found to be free of the virus, they will be allowed to travel freely under the ‘new normal’ … We are confident that we will have a vaccine by next year, and Covid-19 will disappear in early 2022.”
On the economic front, a Pattaya Mail story claims that “two out of every three businesses shuttered in some parts of the city.” And a C9 Hotelworks report warns of “50,000 job losses in the (Phuket) hotel sector this year if there’s no support forth coming or international visitors are not allowed in.” Grim stuff.
Tourists arrive at Ko Phi Phi this past holiday weekend. (Source: Phi Phi Tourism Business Association)
In other news
Three tragic stories emerged from coastal Thailand this past week. In Ranong, an Uzbek man who ignored warning signs died after a fall at the steep Ngao Waterfall. A Thai man drowned off Jomtien Beach in Chonburi while free diving for shellfish. And in Satun, a 40-year-old fisherman drowned after his boat was rammed by a Malaysian patrol boat, whose skipper claimed the Thai fishers were in Malaysian waters. Locals mourning the fisherman called the attack an “overreaction.”
Thailand’s rubber industry got some long-awaited good news as the “rubber price soars,” reports Panithan Onthaworn in Thai Enquirer. In recent years I’ve spoken to several coastal Thai rubber farmers who were struggling long before the pandemic began due to sinking demand for rubber. In related news, Nakhon Si Thammarat might become a “rubber valley” for innovative rubber products.
Surat Thani’s controversial cockle farmers have started to remove the stilted platforms that were built to watch over their illegal farms, though some of them still say they “will not give up without fight.” (Refer to Island Wrap #7 for background on the tense “cockle war” in Bandon Bay.)
Some 200 fishers gathered to protest a new shipyard project in Phuket’s Ko Siray area. “The 200-strong group of protesters held banners denouncing the project, accusing it of being conducted only for personal gain and claiming that Phuket’s fishing fleet did not need another shipyard,” writes Eakkapop Thongtub for The Phuket News.
IamKohChang pointed out plans to reopen Trat Airport on October 2nd. Serviced exclusively by Bangkok Airways, it’s one of the last remaining Thai airports that have yet to reopen after closing down in April. In other transport news, James Clark considers whether a proposed light-rail system is the right fit for Phuket in his excellent Living in Asia newsletter.
Always busy digging around in Krabi’s countless caves, archaeologists unearthed 4,000-year-old axe heads in Plai Phraya district.
In a rather graphic Thairath story, a farmer in Chachoengsao displayed how he earns a solid income from farming field rats for the grill. If that doesn’t make you hungry, watching Mark Wiens eating divine curries in Hat Yai surely will.
Police on Ko Phangan found and uprooted 40 cannabis plants in a forest. (Cannabis on Ko Phangan? Shock horror!) Meanwhile, Thai parliament is reviewing a bill that would allow more entities to grow cannabis for medical use. And in a story for Bangkok Post, Apinya Wipatayotin revealed that “initial studies find patients, including those with cancer, have benefited from cannabis extract treatment.”
The mayor of Rawai district on Phuket plans to dish out 2,000-baht fines to anyone who brings a dog on Nai Harn Beach. Strays will still be allowed, apparently. I’ve also heard that several national parks are not allowing dogs since reopening in June. One of them is Mu Ko Samet, which contains dozens of privately owned lodgings that always used to welcome dogs within the park’s nominal borders.
Finally, when the humans are away, the monkeys will destroy. That’s what one homeowner in Songkhla found out when he returned after the long weekend to find macaques from nearby Khao Tangkuan “climbing all over the balconies, the car parked in front, and digging through the trash can.” 🌴