Whales near Bangkok, coral on a retired petroleum platform and more
Island Wrap #53: Travel & Environment edition for August 30 to September 12, 2021
Welcome to the Island Wrap, your bi-weekly window into what’s happening in Thailand’s islands, seas and coastal areas. As mentioned in the pandemic edition yesterday, I’m once again dividing coronavirus-related news into separate articles while covering the fun stuff here in the travel and environment edition.
This wrap covers rescues at sea, whales within view of skyscrapers, coral growth on a retired petroleum platform, some of the cutest dugongs you’ve ever seen, an ostrich running amuck, help for some island cats, all of my picks of travel articles and general news stories from the last couple of weeks — and more.
Before getting into all of that, a quick head’s up that starting September 20th, one weekly article will be accessible only to paying subscribers. Later this week I’ll send out more details on what to expect from paid content along with a few good reasons why Thai Island Times is worth supporting. The subscription price will increase slightly after the 20th, so do consider upgrading by then to lock in the full Thai island and coastal coverage for only $5 USD per month, or $50 for 12 months.
If you missed my latest stories, join me on a ride down the spine of Ko Samet before jumping over to the mainland for views of this popular island from Khao Laem Ya, Hat Suan Son and other parts of the Rayong provincial coast.
Over on Couchfish, Stuart took a look back on 121 days in Thailand after reflecting on the Tak Bai massacre of 2004 and spotlighting an old riverside hotel in Narathiwat. He also shared thoughts on the pitfalls of travel advice and language expectations — or a lack of them — while traveling in Southeast Asia. And in case you missed it, the classic Travelfish weekly newsletter is back after a long hiatus.
Pick of the Wrap: WEBSITE
Some 15 years after its launch, Jamie’s Phuket Blog still stands as one of the most informative and entertaining resources dedicated to the island province and surrounding areas. Blogger Jamie Monk managed Sunrise Divers for several years before returning to his native UK with his family before the pandemic. Even if he’s no longer a full-time resident of Phuket, his insights in what he insists “is a BLOG, not a travel guide” are still well worth a look if you want to learn about the area, from festivals to snakes to the nearby islands that dot the Andaman Sea.
Weather and rescues
All of Thailand is now officially in the depths of wet season with near daily rain and rough seas to be expected well into November, or longer if you’re based on southern Gulf islands and beaches like Ko Samui and Khanom. If you’re in the country, I hope you’ve got a sturdy umbrella and a nice pair of galoshes.
On the upper Gulf coast, residents of Pattaya “vented their frustration” after heavy rain and inadequate drainage in concrete urban quarters caused yet another round of flash flooding and beachfront road damage. It wasn’t all bad though, as some Pattaya residents laid out nets to catch the many fish that overflowed out of ponds and were left helplessly flapping on the ground when the water receded.
The folks at ASEAN Now also had a little fun with the flooding:
Further east in the Gulf, more than 200 mm of rain hammered down on Ko Chang over a 24-hour period, including a whopping 163 mm in just 12 hours at Khlong Prao. The storm caused raging rivers and landslides along some roads. Tropical Storm Conson also walloped many of the upcountry provinces in Thailand.
Early this month, a Cambodian fisherman who had fallen overboard survived two days adrift in the Gulf by “by hanging onto debris” before the Royal Thai Navy rescued him near Rayong. Meanwhile in Phuket, an American kayaker was rescued after being unable to paddle back to Yanui Beach from a nearby islet in an incident that mirrored the rescue of two German kayakers off Surin Beach last month.
Wildlife and environment
A survey of the new coral growth at a repurposed petroleum platform near Ko Phangan showed healthy soft coral and many species of fish six months after the massive steel legs were submerged along with coral spores, according to the Dept. of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR). Thailand’s reef-covered platform is less controversial than those which are used for coral growth while also still operating for natural resource extraction, for example in the Gulf of Mexico.
Not too far from the petroleum platform reef, volunteer divers removed a 200-square-meter discarded fishing net that was stifling a reef near Ko Phangan’s Ao Chaloklum late last month. A slightly larger ‘ghost net’ was also untangled from staghorn coral at Ko Kham Yai, one of the small islands near Ko Si Chang southeast of Bangkok. Additional DMCR research found that throughout Thailand, seawater temperatures have become cool enough to keep coral bleaching at bay for the time being.
National park officials at Ko Phangan, the Ang Thong Islands and several other areas have been checking the stability of offshore nets tied to buoys for safe swimming and adding supplies of vinegar to beach stations after a nine-year-old Israeli boy tragically died from a box jellyfish sting at Hat Rin late last month. Vinegar doused over a sting is the best known way to stop lethal jellyfish venom from spreading.
Parents who posted photos online of their children posing with dozens of spiky red starfish at Ao Thung near Noppharat Thara Beach in Krabi were criticized for mistreating the animals late last month. Also known as Hat Yao, this quiet national park protected beach is a starfish habitat and while it’s fine to wade out to view the sea creatures at low tide, piling them together for a photo is not okay.
August 30th was International Whale Shark Day. While I didn’t hear of any sightings on that day, many people shared past encounters with the largest and one of the gentlest species of shark on earth. Adang Sea Divers posted footage of meeting a sizable whale shark at Eight Mile Rock, a dive site south of Ko Lipe. Though it’s not specific to Thailand, a Scuba Diving article by Dr. David Schiffman shares fascinating attributes of whale shark eyes that were only discovered last year.
Diving enthusiast Pook also shared one of her encounters:
Moving on to actual whales, photographer and conservationist Jirayu Ekkul has been sharing his absolutely majestic photos of Bryde’s whales feeding in the upper Gulf with Bangkok’s skyline visible on the horizon. In a two part interview with The Nation, Mr. Jirayu discusses his experiences of tracking whales in the upper Gulf and teaching others about them through his work with Wild Encounter Thailand.
A lone dugong was spotted near Ko Nok at the mouth of the Krabi River on August 29th in yet another instance of these endangered ‘sea cows’ taking advantage of minimal boat traffic to venture to unexpected places. The fisherman, 60-year-old Mr. Somboon Mankha, told 77Kaoded that this was the first time in all his years of boating the area that he came across a dugong so close to Krabi town. It most likely strayed from the Ko Si Boya area, where a herd of some 15 dugongs live.
Want to see some heartwarming stuff? Check out these drawings by grade 1-6 students from Trang who submitted their depictions of dugongs and other marine life as part of an art competition held by a local marine conservation foundation.
Ko Thalu in Prachuap Khiri Khan province was the site of another 164 hawksbill sea turtle hatchings on August 31st, followed by an additional 237 more a week later. They added to the more than 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings that have emerged on this small island in Ao Siam National Park this year. Meanwhile, a 100-cm-long hawksbill found ailing on September 5th at Monkey Beach on Ko Phi Phi Leh was transferred to a marine care facility for treatment. Hopefully it won’t have to suffer like Tuk, the nickname given to a young green sea turtle that secreted more than 300 pieces of plastic waste after beaching on Phuket’s Hat Kata last month.
In serpentine news, The Nation published a warning — accompanied by a nightmare-inducing photo — to watch out for cobras in the toilet when it rains. When confronted by such a fearful predicament, you might want to have the Phang Nga granny who “has been hunting pythons since childhood” around to help. If you’re in Phuket, also keep an eye out for the crocodile seen swimming near Layan Beach.
Up in Si Racha, a macaque is receiving medical care after being shocked by electrical wiring and falling from high up in a tree. The incident comes after another macaque, nicknamed Daisy, lost both feet and one hand to electrocution on Ko Chang (Trat) last month. For something happier, check out this video of monkeys joyfully diving into the Son River from tree branches near Khao Sok National Park.
An ostrich was on the loose for two hours in Chonburi after escaping from a farm on September 1st. Apparently it wanted to go the mall.
International Coastal Clean Up Day is coming up on September 18th. Two community clean-up days are planned as part of Phuket Green Day on September 14th and 15th; don’t hesitate to join that and/or the many other beach cleaning days organized by Trash Hero and other charity groups all around coastal Thailand. You also may be interested in how Buddhist monks are recycling plastic bottles to produce low-cost protective medical gear in Samut Prakan near Bangkok.
Social media corner
My friend Greg of The Bangkok Podcast recently finished tweeting a host of old vintage photos shown alongside modern Google Street View images, creating glimpses of the exact same spots as seen today and as they looked many moons ago. Most of the featured sites are roads and neighborhoods in Bangkok, but this one shows how drastically Pattaya has changed over the last seven decades:
To see a whole bunch more of these compelling contrasts, take a scroll through Greg’s Twitter page or this post at his blog, Greg to Differ.
Food and travel
Encounters: The Urak Lawoi sea gypsies of Ko Lipe — Tim Russell Photography:
In this visual essay, Tim shares his photos from the Urak Lawoi (literally: ‘Sea People’) community in the Adang archipelago, including two remote villages on Ko Adang that today stand as the last of the many encampments that dotted the islands before the government forced most natives to settle on Ko Lipe in the 1980s.
A time for lilies and lotuses — Karnjana Karnjanatawe for Bangkok Post:
Full of fish and fowl, the wetlands found west of Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park’s vertical limestone mountains are worth visiting at any time, but especially when the pink lotuses and purple water lilies are in bloom at this time of year.
Phuket town and sights 2021: a vibrant feast for all the senses — Mark Burton for Thai Spicy:
I was left hungry after following Mark’s hunt for roti and curry in Phuket, where he recently returned to Thailand through the Sandbox program.
Paradise regained: Phuket is open to tourists, and now is the time to visit — Augusta Somvichian-Clausen for Inside Hook:
One travel writer’s impressions on Phuket after Thailand’s largest and most popular island went a year and a half with almost no foreign tourists.
World’s best awards 2021: Top 25 islands in the world — Travel + Leisure:
These types of lists always seem arbitrarily selected to me, but Ko Samui is included so I feel duty-bound to share it.
The future of train travel in Asia with James Clark — Talk Travel Asia (podcast):
James of Nomadic Notes and Future Southeast Asia dips into his extensive knowledge on the many rail projects currently in the works, including the speedy lines that are expected to branch from the soon-to-open Bang Sue Central Station in Bangkok, which is set to replace the historic Hua Lamphong Station.
Video corner
See what it was like to ride a songthaew down a dirt road to the ‘Big Buddha’ on Ko Samui back in 1984, via the Samuians page on Facebook.
In other news
Thailand pushes dream of ‘land bridge’ to boost economy — Yohei Muramatsu for Nikkei Asia:
This is the latest look at a controversial proposal to build a major road and railway that would both transport cargo across the Kra Isthmus, ostensibly to provide a shipping alternative to the Straits of Malacca around Singapore. Critics say the project would badly damage marine environments, especially where deep-sea ports would need to be built in Ranong on the Andaman coast and Chumphon along the Gulf. Both of these provinces are rich with islands and marine life.
Ring road work of 15.5 km between Hua Thanon - Chaweng now 70% finished — Ko Samui Life:
With an expected completion date in March 2022, Ko Samui’s widened road project comes with a budget of more than 700 million baht.
Russians wanted for 50 million baht Pattaya art theft arrested in Phuket — The Phuket News:
Another perspective on this painting heist, which connected two of Thailand’s biggest coastal tourism destinations, can be found at The Pattaya News.
Ko Phi Phi cats “getting all the help they need” after plight goes viral — Pear Maneechote for Thai Enquirer:
“Just this week Thai social and news media blew up after news broke that thousands upon thousands of domestic cats had been abandoned on Ko Phi Phi, leaving many citizens wondering about their safety and well-being.”
Warm welcome in Phuket as Thai paralympics contingent returns home — The Nation:
Thai paralympians won 18 medals, including five golds, at the Tokyo games before returning home through the Phuket Sandbox. Well done. 🌴
Thanks for reading Thai Island Times, an independent, reader-supported newsletter sharing the beauty, challenges and distinctive identities of Thai islands and coastal areas. Starting September 20th, one of two weekly articles will be accessible only to paying subscribers. The subscription price will increase slightly then, so do upgrade soon if you want to lock in a year of paid coverage for only $5 USD per month or $50 for 12 months.