Greetings from rainy Thailand, where king cobras are hungry; a “cockle war” is raging; national parks are opening; expats are encountering “no foreigners allowed” signs; and discussions on racial prejudice are stirring. Read on for the low down.
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This week I began splitting the Island Wrap into two separate helpings by launching the Island Breeze, featuring a selected island, beach, business, charity, website, video and photo from coastal Thailand each week. The first issue spotlights Songkhla province’s Ko Yo, a hidden Phuket beach, a great family-run resort in Chumphon, and a video showing what Ko Phi Phi was like in the early 1990s. Check it out.
You are now free to drink a beer at the Jungle Club on Ko Samui (and all restaurants in Thailand).
One correction from last week’s Island Wrap: I wrote that “a family of dugongs is called a dugonidae.” In this sense, however, “‘family’ is a level of taxonomic rank, i.e. ‘dugonidae’ family refers to the classification of the species, and not an actual family of dugongs.” Thanks to the environmental scientist who reached out to clear that up.
Speaking of dugongs, a new story in Asia Sentinel by veteran wildlife conservationist and writer Greg McCann points out where these endangered cousins of the manatee are still hanging on in Southeast Asia, and the threats they face. “Unless governments soon take action to protect the sea cows swimming peacefully along their coasts, they will fade away into the murky waters forever,” warns Greg.
In Travelfish Weekly, Stuart continued to sound the alarm on press freedom after a court in the Philippines unjustly convicted journalists Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr. of “cyberlibel.” Writing for The Atlantic, Sheila Coronel warned that “this is how democracy dies.” On Couchfish, Stuart revealed why you should “never trust a French arms dealer” and detoured to the Eastern Gilis.
Surf is up
On Phuket, the long-awaited end to a beach ban was met with downpours and crashing waves this past week, prompting officials to issue a rough surf warning. The weather did calm down later in the week, giving the islanders a chance to enjoy their beaches for the first time in more than two months.
Rough translation: “Beach volleyball on Nai Harn Beach, Phuket. Looks okay with people spaced apart to observe social distancing. Not too many people because of the monsoon.”
Six fishermen are lucky to be alive after two of their longtail boats sank in rough seas a few km off Ko Maithon, southeast of Phuket, last Friday. Rescuers plucked two of the fishers from the choppy water in the morning, and a helicopter buzzed in to locate the other four by midday. “Luckily, all people survived this incident because they were wearing life jackets,” said Vice Admiral Cherngchai Chomcherngpat.
Flooding was reported last week in Ranong, the wettest province in Thailand with average annual rainfall of 3,770 mm (148.4 inches). Surfers on Ko Phayam are taking advantage of the breaks to train for the island’s first-ever formal surfing competition, planned for October 16th to 18th of this year.
Hungry cobras
I’ve mentioned the rough seas and two weeks ago I discussed dengue fever, both of which are threats related to rainy season. But there’s another aspect of mother nature that gets active when it’s damp outside: the snakes!
A three-meter-long king cobra devoured a 1.5-meter-long mangrove snake in the rural Lam Thap district of Krabi province last week. An even more epic serpentine brawl ended in a draw when a local man stopped a four-meter-long king cobra from making a meal out of an equally lengthy python south of Pattaya. All serpentine survivors were caught and released into the forest without harm.
Other wildlife news
A rare hawksbill turtle got itself tangled in a net and washed ashore on Ko Mak in Trat province yesterday. Staff at Ao Pong Resort freed the youngster, performing an invaluable service for this critically endangered species.
On Ko Samui, green sea turtles again nested at 14 spots on Laem Sor Beach, where no nests had been seen for more than a decade prior to this year. Marine ecologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat praised the locals for carefully protecting the 269 eggs laid by mama turtles. “This discovery will only help to strengthen the bond between the islanders and their environment,” he said.
A whale shark was spotted off Ko Tao, an island whose community is being praised by the UN Environment Program for its commitment to coral reef conservation. The island is home to some of the most skilled divers on earth, including some who took part in the risky rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai in 2018. It’s debatable whether that world-famous rescue or protecting reefs in the busy waters around Ko Tao is the more impressive feet.
Ko Tao based divers doing their thing. (Source: Caroline Leuba / Koh Exist)
In Ao Luek district of Krabi province, mollusk fossils that are thought to be at least 270 million years old were found amid forested hills far from the sea. As with all karst in the region, Krabi’s massifs were once huge coral reefs that thrived when the sea level was many meters higher eons ago. Ao Luek (I just love that name) also hosts many cave paintings created by anonymous souls more than 3,000 years ago.
On Ko Phi Phi Leh, hairy leg mountain crabs have returned to Maya Bay for the first time in decades. And further south in the Thai Andaman, Mu Ko Tarutao Marine Park posted a video of marine life in the vicinity of Ko Yang along with hornbills snacking on Ko Adang and wild boar piglets following their mum around Ko Tarutao.
Cockle wars in Surat Thani
The story of fishers fighting shellfish farmers over the right to harvest cockles (hoi kraeng) first crawled out of its shell (forgive me) a few weeks ago when villagers surrounded police officers who had attempted to extort a trader for allegedly buying a load of these lucrative “blood clams” illegally. Not only were the officers in the wrong, but they were most likely doing the bidding of someone more powerful.
In recent years, hundreds of cockle farmers have built stilted shacks and barricades around parts of the ocean off the coast of Surat Thani province. Local fishers argue that the farms are illegally encroaching on public waters that they had been fishing long before the farms arrived. The farmers counter that they’ve invested millions of baht into setups that were sanctioned by local officials.
“Influential figures are also reportedly involved in the illegal farming, occupying the sea and leasing the areas out to blood clam investors,” reported Supapong Chaolan for Bangkok Post. Laying claim to any section of the sea is against Thai law.
The conflict escalated a couple of weeks ago when fishers torched some of the stilted huts that had been set up as watchtowers for farmers to stand guard against fishers who they view as thieves. Last week, a farmer fired a handgun into the air — while riding a jet ski — to warn some 300 fishers to back off.
Criminal charges were brought against the gun-toting cockle farmer, and officials announced a temporary ban on fishing in the disputed waters. A 30-boat blockade was set up to enforce it, and police and Navy personnel arrived last Friday. As it stands, Surat Thani’s governor appears to have sided with the fishers.
In other seafood-related news, the UN Environment Program published an assessment of fisheries in the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea, warning that “these ecosystems are under intense pressure.” There is good news, though, including a successful initiative to preserve blue swimmer crab resources with help from the crews of 45 fishing trawlers in Surat Thani province alone.
On the retail end, a judge sentenced two owners of a buffet in Bangkok to 1,446 years in prison for scamming some 20,000 customers out of 50 million baht ($1.2 million USD) worth of vouchers for cheap seafood. The harsh sentences were largely symbolic, however, as Thai law caps jail time for public fraud at 20 years.
Covid-19 update
Thailand has now gone more than three straight weeks without reporting a single locally transmitted case of Covid-19. If the country makes it one more week without a local infection, the Center for Disease Control will place all 77 provinces in the yellow “safe” category.
Before you applaud the Thai government, however, read this exceptional NPR piece by Aurora Almendral about the worsening economic and mental-health crises that are now enveloping millions of vulnerable people in Thailand.
Of course, many other countries continue to struggle with the virus and 24 repatriated Thais tested positive in state quarantine after their returns from overseas this past week. Including infected returnees, Thailand’s total Covid-19 numbers now stand at 3,135 infections and 58 deaths, with 81 patients in hospital.
Thailand ranked second out of 184 countries, behind only Australia, in a Covid-19 index released last week. However, the country’s success in managing the outbreak — not to mention Vietnam’s success — was apparently not enough to merit inclusion in a Time article on “the best global responses to Covid-19.”
While Thailand has not tested for the virus as much as some countries, it has engaged more than a million public health volunteers to aggressively screen and contact trace for Covid-19 as part of a nationwide program launched back in January. One of these volunteers is 77-year-old Surin Makradee, dubbed a “hero grandma” in a touching video report by South China Morning Post.
Thai scientists continue to test their recently developed vaccines on monkeys, with initial results showing promise. The next step will be to test them on 10,000 human volunteers. Researchers have also collected 300 horseshoe bats from caves in Chanthaburi province to test them for the coronavirus, citing reports from China that Covid-19 may have emerged from this species of bat.
Curfew lifted
A 72-day stretch of nighttime curfew ended nationwide at midnight on Monday as part of the “fourth phase” of easing Covid-19 suppression measures. Also allowed to reopen were international schools, daycare centers, playgrounds, theaters, amusement parks, some massage shops and sports stadiums without spectators. While alcohol can now be served in restaurants, the bars and nightclubs will have to wait.
Police kept right on enforcing the curfew and a ban on public gatherings last week, nabbing five monks among a group of 21 people caught having “a luxury beach house party” in Sattahip, reported Pattaya News. On Phuket, police graciously refrained from enforcing the final hour of curfew. Since the curfew was enacted on April 3rd, more than 35,000 violators have been arrested nationwide.
Despite the lifting of the curfew, a state of emergency remains in place.
Someone should tell the macaques of Khao Sam Roi Yot to get reading for human crossings to resume.
Some national parks to reopen
The Environment Ministry announced late last week that 64 of Thailand’s national parks will fully reopen on July 1st. An additional 63 parks will partially reopen and 28 will remain closed, which is normal procedure for parks like Mu Ko Similan, Mu Ko Surin and Mu Ko Tarutao during the rainy season.
Coastal and marine parks that will fully reopen include Mu Ko Chang; Khao Laem Ya - Mu Ko Samet; Khao Sam Roi Yot; Kui Buri; Mu Ko Chumphon; Than Sadet - Ko Phangan; Mu Ko Ang Thong; Ao Phang Nga; and Khao Sok.
Divers in the Thai Andaman might be disappointed that most of the islands overseen by Mu Ko Lanta and Hat Nopparat Thara - Mu Ko Phi Phi national parks will remain closed until further notice. The same goes for the Ko Hong group of islands in Krabi’s Than Bok Khorani National Park, as well as the Emerald Cave and other sites in the Ko Mook island group that are overseen by Hat Chao Mai National Park in Trang province. Normally these attractions do stay open year round.
Snorkelers will soon be allowed back to Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park, but only in limited numbers.
A daily quota on visitor numbers will be enacted for reopened parks. For example, visitors at Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine Park will be capped at 400 per day, while Kui Buri National Park will allow only 200 per day. Authorities are currently working out an online reservation system to control visitor numbers. Travelers will not be allowed to simply show up and enter a park the way they could in the past.
Conservationists have been talking about limiting visitor numbers at certain Thai national parks for years. It will be interesting to see if any of these regulations stick if the pandemic is brought under control worldwide in the future.
Coastal Thailand travel update
Most of what I included in last week’s domestic travel update still stands, with a few minor exceptions. Public buses are ramping up capacity throughout the country, and long-distance trains are now running all the way to Sungai Kolok on the Southern Thai border with Malaysia. The airports in Phuket and Ranong have both resumed daily flights to and from Bangkok as well.
Contradicting earlier reports, the head of the Phuket Provincial Health Office said that 14-day quarantine is not required for arriving travelers who don’t have Covid-19 symptoms. Officials in Ranong and Trang announced that tourists are now welcome to their provinces, and Krabi province is now allowing travelers to enter with only a health screening.
However, travelers coming from provinces with local transmission of Covid-19 in the past 28 days — including Bangkok, Phuket and Chonburi — would be smart to obtain a “fit to travel” certificate from a doctor before going anywhere. Foreigners heading to Phuket should also submit this registration form. No matter where you go, don’t be surprised if you’re asked to download an app upon arrival.
Though most islands are now open, Ko Samet and Ko Lipe remain closed to non-residents due to their classification as part of national parks. The long-range ferry linking Pattaya and Hua Hin also remains out of service.
Destinations like Ko Chang (Trat), Ko Samui, Bang Saen, Pattaya and Hua Hin continue to attract sizable crowds of tourists, thanks in part to the hotel deals on offer. The mayor of San Suek district is attempting to make Bang Saen a trash-free beach while outlawing unsolicited sales by vendors who typically wander the sand.
Martin finally ventured off Ko Yao Noi — check out his thread to see how a trip to Phuket went.
Also in Chonburi province, Khao Khiao Open Zoo joined Songkhla Zoo and four others that reopened in Thailand. Many hotels and tourists attractions remain closed, however, as the country implements “new normal” safety measures.
While the government approved three measures to stimulate domestic tourism, the industry continues to suffer badly as rice lines persist and calls to reopen international tourism grow louder. The government is taking steps to allow foreigners who are married to Thai citizens to return soon, but a survey showed that 75% of Thais want to keep foreign tourists out of the country for the foreseeable future.
There has been a lot of chatter on opening up “travel bubbles” between Thailand and other countries that have successfully handled the pandemic. It’s a lot to unwrap and details on how it could take shape are emerging daily, so I’ll wait until next week to dig into this issue. For now, though, don’t get your hopes up.
“Not open for foreigners”
Revelations that some attractions are only open to Thais caused an uproar this past week, especially after Richard Barrow posted that he was not allowed to enter Wat Pho simply because he’s a foreigner. At one of Thailand’s most famous and highly revered Royal temples, he was met was a sign that read, “ONLY THAI PEOPLE. NOW NOT OPEN FOR FOREIGNERS.”
Other attractions barring foreigners include the Emerald Pool in Krabi province and Khuean Srinagarindra National Park, home to the magnificent Huai Mae Khamin Waterfall in Kanchanaburi province.
The beautiful Khuean Srinagarindra National Park is opening July 1st, but strangely not for foreigners.
This baseless discrimination comes after Thailand’s state-run bus company told me last week that foreigners could not ride on their buses. The company changed course this week, announcing that foreigners were allowed to take their buses starting June 15th. The move was not enough to stem a tide of discontent that prompted Bangkok Post to publish an op-ed calling out such policies as “racism.” Khaosod English asked if Wat Pho was using Covid-19 as “an excuse for racism?”
These articles added to a lively discussion among Thailand-based netizens about issues of race and prejudice in the country, prompted in part by the Black Lives Matter protests taking place in the United States and elsewhere.
Writing for Thisrupt, 16-year-old Akkarasorn Opilan called out her fellow Thai international school students for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement because it was “in fashion,” while ignoring the recent forced disappearance of Thai human rights activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit in Cambodia.
Malian-Thai influencer Natthawadee “Suzie” Waikalo told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand that, based on her experience, “Thai society still treats black skin as something unacceptable.” And Prachatai quoted an activist who wrote, “anyone who truly believes in Black Lives Matter will not ignore” the state-sanctioned violence against political dissidents in recent Thai history.
This is about to get a little heavy. Let’s pause to get the feet wet on Ko Kradan.
Discrimination in coastal Thailand
What does all of this have to do with the islands? As it turns out, an observant eye will find numerous examples of discrimination in coastal Thailand.
To start, tribal island-dwelling groups have been marginalized and often left stateless with few rights. Thai authorities on Phuket and Ko Lipe, among other islands, have long tried to deny the Urak Lawoi and Moken people native land rights while encouraging their cultural assimilation via a nationalist educational system. As a result, their native languages and customs are under threat. “All of the youngsters speak only Thai now,” an Urak Lawoi friend on Ko Lipe told me.
In the border district of Tak Bai in 2004, Thai soldiers shot into a crowd of Malay-Thai protesters, killing eight, and then piled the men into unventilated truck carriages, causing 78 of them to suffocate to death. This massacre led to the resurgence of a bloody conflict that has resulted in more than 7,000 deaths on both sides. Thai authorities could likely end the violence by granting the three southernmost provinces a measure of autonomy, including the right for kids to be schooled in their own language. Instead, the armed conflict smolders on.
Atrocities against migrants from Myanmar have been well documented in the Thai fishing industry, and it’s widely believed that Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were scapegoated and violently forced to confess to murdering two British travelers on Ko Tao in 2014. A Thai court sentenced them to die despite an Australian forensic expert’s testimony that crucial DNA evidence was unreliable. Independent DNA tests were never carried out, and today the pair of migrants remain on death row.
Just last week, Human Rights Watch called on Thai authorities to rescue and grant asylum to some 300 Rohingya refugees stranded at Ko Adang. In the past, Thai police and military officials have been convicted of trafficking vulnerable Rohingya refugees who have little choice but to try and reach Malaysia or face intense persecution in their native Western Myanmar. In 2015, the bodies of 30 refugees were discovered in mass graves at illegal prison camps on Southern Thai soil.
Beyond these extreme examples of discrimination, the nightlife and sex industries found in places like Pattaya and Patong stand as some of the only options for low-income Thais who strive to rise out of poverty. With systemic prejudice and nepotism entrenched in Thai education, government and big business, the tourism industry is seen as a rare ray of hope for many dark-skinned and disadvantaged Thais.
The Adang archipelago is marvelous for tourists. For Rohingya refugees on rickety boats, it can be one of many stops on a nightmarish and often unsuccessful journey from Myanmar or Bangladesh to Malaysia.
In other news
Thailand’s draconian alcohol laws made headlines again last week when a craft beer connoisseur was fined 50,000 baht ($1,605 USD) for sharing a beer review online, as reported by Khaosod English. Writing for Los Angeles Times, Shashank Bengali told the story of a “renegade soldier” who is standing up to Thailand’s beer duolopy via his delicious microbrews served at Chit Beer on Ko Kret.
Thai-language outlet 77kaoded reported that rabid dogs were on the loose at Nakhon Si Thammarat’s revered Wat Phra Mahathat. A Polish tourist was found unharmed after losing her way in the wilderness on Ko Phangan, reported Samui Times. And Pattaya’s beloved “dancing grandma” is alive and well, according to The Thaiger.
Pattaya’s city council revealed plans to redevelop the Bali Hai Pier area, and ThaiVisa noted that “artist impressions show wide open boulevards with Ferraris and well dressed people walking without a care in the world.”
Meanwhile, the Transport Dept. vowed to appropriate the last of the land needed to build a high-speed railway between Bangkok’s airports and U-Tapao Airport near Pattaya and Rayong, reported The Nation. It’s one of two high-speed rail lines currently in the works in Thailand, which I wrote about for CNN last year.
Bangkok recently unveiled a “sky bridge garden” after decking out an abandoned rail bridge with greenery and footpaths, reported Bangkok Post. It now beckons beside the historic Saphan Phut (Memorial Bridge) in the old quarter.
Moving beyond Thailand but sticking close to the sea, Vietnam Coracle published a visual journey down some of the finest beaches in Central Vietnam.
Finally, when Westerners think of Somalia, they probably imagine pirates, terrorists and “black hawk down.” For a different perspective, check out these 32 photos of brilliant Somalian beaches — and the people who enjoy them.🌴