Welcome to another edition of the Island Wrap, your weekly window to coastal Thailand. Tidal garbage, coconut-picking monkeys and a rousing return of domestic tourism all made the Wrap this week.
Last week I published a guide to Thailand’s recently reopened national parks, including details on which are open, which are closed, and what can be visited at the marine and coastal parks that are only partly open. I’ve since updated it to include every national park in Thailand.
Over on Couchfish and now tearing through Vietnam, Stuart took a long and muddy ride to Mai Chau after checking in on Uncle Ho in Hanoi.
Hat Wai Shak with the weather turned on.
Beach of the week
The soft khaki sand of Hat Wai Shak (or Chaek) rims the remote south coast of Ko Chang (Trat) near a rugged dead-end road. Though small and sometimes covered in tidal garbage, the beach is a pretty one with some decent snorkeling offshore and a view to Ko Wai and Ko Khlum. There is nothing here except a derelict bungalow joint collecting dust on the western headland. The billiards table was still there, falling apart but still usable, last time I visited in March 2019. For more details, check out my Travelfish write up on this area, as well as Ian’s info-rich take.
Website of the week
Check out this free PDF guide covering nearly all of Thailand’s 150+ national parks. Maps, photos and info on key attractions make it helpful, even if the 2015 publication date means that a few of the newest parks are not included and some phone numbers don’t work. I’ve often derided the Dept. of National Park’s website, but I do have to credit the agency for producing this all-in-one guide to the parks.
Remembering the Phoenix and the cave
This week marks two years since two of the most publicized events to take place in Thailand in recent memory. One of them was terribly tragic, the other so uplifting that it brought the world together.
On July 5th, 2018, the pleasure boat Phoenix sank in rough seas on its way back to Phuket after a day tour to Ko Raya. On board were 101 people, including 89 tourists. All but two of them were Chinese, 47 of whom lost their lives in the tragedy. A Thai diver also died after resurfacing from a recovery mission into the 46-meter-deep wreck. In the aftermath, Chinese tourists canceled their trips to Phuket en masse.
Remembering those lost in the Phoenix tragedy. (Source: South China Morning Post)
This past week, The Phuket News reported that the recovered wreck of the Phoenix is still sitting, dirty and forgotten, at Rattanachai Shipyard in Phuket town. The owner, who purchased the wreck last year at an auction, originally had plans to return it to the sea as an underwater memorial, though this idea has gone nowhere so far. As with last year, no service was held in remembrance of the dead on Phuket.
The Phoenix tragedy was overshadowed by another story that unraveled over the same week: the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai. Along with the British cave divers who led the team, several technical divers who work in Thailand’s dive industry played crucial roles in the final push of the rescue mission, which was launched two years ago today.
For the second year in a row, a memorial was held at the cave to honor Lt-Cmdr. Samarn Kuna, a Thai Navy Seal diver who gave his life to the rescue effort.
An interview with Ko Tao-based Danish diver, Ivan Karadzic, who was a key part of the team. (Source: DW News)
Wildlife news
Another whale shark was caught in a fishing net near Ko Rok, far off the coast of Krabi province in the Thai Andaman. The fishers were able to free the huge shark in an incident that mirrored another inadvertent capture of whale sharks in the same area more than a month ago. Here’s a video of the ordeal.
More sea turtles nested on Ko Samui and at Bang Saphan Beach on the mainland. Over on the Andaman coast, officials believe that the same leatherback sea turtle that was spotted two weeks ago on Phuket’s Mai Khao Beach ended up swimming north to Thai Mueang Beach to lay her eggs. All three nests contributed to Thailand’s best year for sea turtle nesting in recent memory.
A group of fishermen narrowly escaped a painful outcome or worse when they swam to the closest island, Ko Lo Hang, as their sinking boat took on water filled with jellyfish in Phang Nga Bay. Over on the Gulf coast, a blue bottle jellyfish stung young swimmers off Samila Beach in Songkhla town.
Meanwhile on land, a report by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claimed that pig-tailed macaques “were abused and exploited” as “coconut picking machines” at farms in coastal Thailand. The report prompted several large grocery store chains in the UK to ban sales of Thai coconut milk after an appeal by Carrie Symonds, the fiancee of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Many people in Thailand questioned a ban that could see Thai coconut milk removed from the shelves of 15,000 stores or more. Of the dozens of Thai coconut farms that I’ve visited, only one used monkey labor and I saw no signs of abuse. Many farms that do not use monkey labor sell their coconuts to the large coconut milk producers, and critics of the ban argue that these farms are being unfairly penalized.
Phacha Phanomvan, a Thai scholar, pointed out that “monkeys have been domesticated for fruit gatherings in Southeast Asia for the last 1,000 years.”
Founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand, Edwin Wiek, added that PETA should help to “come up with a solution.” As it stands, the Thai coconut milk ban continues to spread in the West as Thai authorities dispute the veracity of the allegations.
Beach garbage woes
Coastal Thailand got another load of bad news when popular blogger Richard Barrow posted images of large amounts of garbage washing up on Bang Saen Beach at high tide. The images hit the web just as thousands of Bangkokians were heading to Bang Saen for the holiday weekend.
Mayor Narongchai Khunpluem responded by acknowledging that the images were genuine and that district workers clean the beach for several hours daily, an effort documented by Barrow that afternoon. Later posts by Barrow showed Bang Saen, as well as nearby Pattaya and Jomtien beaches, looking much cleaner.
The mayor added that it’s difficult to keep up with removing the loads of tidal rubbish, a statement that echoes the accounts of many small resort owners who I’ve talked to over the years. He also expressed sadness over an endangered hawksbill sea turtle whose lifeless body washed up with the trash. The turtle was carrying 200 eggs when it died from swallowing plastic waste and a fishing hook.
See more images of trash-strewn Bang Saen at Richard’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
My take is that Richard (who is a friend) was right to publicize the rubbish, even if some Thais complained that his photos hurt the image of Bang Saen. Yet the sad fact is that the garbage seen on that day, on a single beach in the Thai Gulf, was only a minuscule amount of the tens of thousands of tons that wash ashore each year all around coastal Thailand and beyond.
I’ve seen countless trash-strewn beaches in Thailand over the years, from Ko Wai in the Eastern Gulf to Ko Adang in the Lower Andaman. Contrary to what many foreign tourists believe, litter from local sources represents only a small fraction of the problem when compared to the garbage that derives from anonymous sources in Thailand and other countries in the region. Much of it floats hundreds of kms or more before washing up on a random beach.
In 2017, more than half of the world’s sea trash came from China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a report by Ocean Conservancy. Thailand banned single-use plastic bags from many stores earlier this year, but much more needs to be done if the country is going to stop killing marine life and repelling tourists due to the garbage that floats in its rivers and seas.
A day’s worth of rubbish removed from a single bay on Ko Tao. (Source: Koh Tao Clean Up 2020)
The good news is that locals are fighting back. Whether organized by Trash Hero or spontaneously launched among groups of friends, huge beach clean-up efforts were under way in dozens of coastal Thai destinations this past week alone. Even on a small island like Ko Lipe or Ko Khai Nai (Phang Nga), the amount of tidal garbage collected on a single day during rainy season is staggering.
This is a global problem and, to solve it, governments in Asia and beyond will need to get serious about stopping the waste before it enters the oceans. Education, modern waste management tools and limits on plastic packaging, especially those used by large corporate entities, are all good places to start.
A quick travel update
After months of lockdowns and travel restrictions, Thailand finally had a regular old domestic travel rush over a four-day holiday weekend that marked the Buddhist holidays of Asalha Puja and Khao Phansa. The line of vehicles waiting for car ferries from Laem Ngop to Ko Chang (Trat) stretched for several kms, while travelers also flocked to Cha-am, Hua Hin and Pattaya, among others.
Rules such as no swimming in pools and keeping hotels half empty did not stop Ko Samet from drawing thousands after it reopened July 1st. Other coastal destinations like Chumphon’s Thung Wua Laen Beach, Trang’s Chao Mai Beach and parts of Phang Nga Bay also drew a handful of visitors.
Phuket’s Bangla Road nightlife strip saw a fair amount of revelers out and about after some of its bars and clubs reopened on the 1st. On the other side of the island in Phuket town, the Lard Yai street market reopened as well. A daily speedboat linking Phuket to Ko Phi Phi resumed service, and a few more tour and dive outfits based on Ko Phi Phi, Ko Lanta, Ko Samui and Ko Phangan got back in the water.
Even with the four-day weekend, however, many destinations remained quiet and a majority of hotel owners have chosen to stay closed through rainy season in most island and coastal Thai destinations. No matter how many domestic travelers venture out, they can’t make up for the loss of international tourism.
Social media corner
To see why Khao Sok National Park’s Chiew Lan Lake ranks among the most stunning bodies of freshwater in Southeast Asia, check out these absolutely breathtaking aerial photos posted on Facebook by photographer Antonio Levchenko. He also has some impressive drone videos over on his Youtube page.
Video of the week
Phuket-based musician Gary Crause organized a studio recording of the Bill Withers song, Lean On Me, last month. Local musicians who contributed their talents include AndreaH, George Cordeiro, Dasha D’Aria, Jimmy Fame, Alex Gregg, Colin Hill, Blaze KC, Rockin’ Pat and students and teachers from the Phuket Academy of Performing Arts and UWC Thailand, according to The Phuket News.
The recording was done to raise money for food donation campaigns on the island. (Source: PAPA TV)
In other news
With no domestic cases of Covid-19 reported for more than 40 days, Thailand appears to be moving closer to allowing limited international tourism via “travel corridor” arrangements. Nothing is set in stone yet, but Bangkok Post reported that tourists from China, Taiwan and Japan may soon be able to visit Chiang Mai, Krabi, Pattaya, Phuket and Surat Thani provinces after testing negative for the virus before and after their flights. A testing lab is being set up at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and 1,700 medical tourists from overseas have already been cleared to visit next month.
In some head-scratching news, Thailand was left off England’s list of countries now deemed safe, while Vietnam was included. Meanwhile, Thailand was included on the European Union’s list of countries now deemed safe, while Vietnam was not. Both Thailand and Vietnam have suppressed the virus far more successfully than either the United Kingdom or the European Union.
Asia Sentenel has a good article on how Phuket stopped Covid-19 when an outbreak kept the island shut down for April and May.
Air Asia is adding a route linking Chiang Mai direct to Hua Hin, where the tiny airport has sat largely out of service for years.
A dive boat caught fire off Ko Lan when the skipper took a snooze, forgetting that he had a pot of curry on the stove.
In a victory for environmentalists, the Administrative Court in Songkhla province has ordered work on a 2.7-km sea wall to be halted.
A community-based project in Rayong province is paying fishers for discarded nets that are being recycled into face shields, disinfectant bottles and other goods.
Bangkok’s historic Scala Theater showed what will probably be its last-ever film, the 1988 Italian drama Cinema Paradiso, this past Sunday. No one is sure what will happen to the famous 1969-built building, but heritage conservationists worry that it will soon be demolished and replaced by yet another shopping mall.
I’ll end with a story published earlier this year on Phanganist about a visionary monk whose forest preservation efforts led to the creation of Than Sadet - Ko Phangan National Park. It’s one of more than 100 Thai national parks now open for visitors.🌴