28 Jun

28 Jun - As it'd be depressing to post a picture of incessant rain I've added an artist's impression of a sunny day on Koh Chang. (Note the ominous cloud.)

Good (?) news for Koh mak & Koh Kood, the Thai government announced that they intend to use the Koh Chang tourism management model to systematically develop other neighbouring islands. Cue the sound of the cheering masses.

This is the same tourism management model that allows developers to do pretty much what they like, oversees the building of public toilets that don't have running water, sees that way too many slummy shop units are erected, provided close on a million US dollars for a waste management plant - that's actually a large hole in the ground, and, after several years of half hearted construction never got round to completing the road around the island.

The brain factory behind the scheme is DASTA (Designated Area of Sustainable Tourism Administration) committee - headed by Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment Plodprasop Suraswadi. The report also mentions that the model will serve as the development master plan for the straw-clutching 'Riviera' project, which aims to promote the eastern seaboard as an international beach paradise. (All that's required are international paradise-like beaches.)

But, who is Plodprasop? A quick glance at his CV shows he's the right man for Koh Chang ;-)

He was Thailand's Forestry Chief and is the guy who in 2000 allowed owners of two illegally built resorts in Tap Lan National Park in Khon Kaen to continue operating despite a court order for them to close. At the time he was quoted as saying "How can we demolish their buildings? They have invested a lot of money." Fair enough and just to show he could stand up to encroachers the Bangkok Post, 2 Dec 2000, reported that he dispatched a battalion of 1,200 armed men to demolish four Karen shacks in Thung Yai forest on grounds of encroachment. "The law must be respected." Plodprasop insisted. Even though the forest dwellers argued that the area had been the home of indigenous Karens for generations.

He also, in July 2002, decided that all you tourists should pay 10 times as much as Thais for entrance to National Parks. (No, the extra money doesn't go direct to the Park as park fees have by law to be returned to the central agency, Royal Forestry Dept, which isn't exactly renowned for its probity in administering funds. High-ranking positions in RFD are known, according the boss of the Center for Conservation Biology, Mahidol University, to be bought and sold for millions of baht.)

However, later in 2002 he took 'early retirement' when the cabinet was reshuffled and he was out of a job. Oh, at the time there was a little matter of him being under investigation by seven different government fact-finding committees following several malfeasance complaints but that's probably only coincidence.

However, you cant keep a good man, or Plodprasop, down for long and he remerged, reputation intact to head DASTA.

He still knows how to wow foreign visitors, as, at the grand opening of Chiang Mai Night Safari in Nov 2005 he announced: “The zoo will be outstanding, with several restaurants offering visitors the chance to experience exotic foods such as imported horse, kangaroo, giraffe, snake, elephant, tiger and lion meat. We will also provide domestic crocodile and dog meat from Sakon Nakhon province."

Running a zoo isn't all about dog burgers and BBQ lion ribs you've got to know your market . . . the animal export market, and no one knows it better than Mr P., as in 2004 an inquiry by the Thai government panel on wildlife and plant protection, concluded Plodprasop broke the law by allowing a private Thai zoo to export 100 tigers to China for "research purposes". (Probably to see what they tasted like stir fried.) Fortunately, the illegal export of endangered animals merited no more than a judicial slap on the wrist, so didn't result in any loss of job this time round.

Plodprasop is also an excellent judge of character, or possibly recognises his own kind. In 2000, at a meeting to map a national tourism strategy, chaired by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he called for a statue of Kanchanaburi Senator Chaowarin Latthasaksiri to be erected on account of his discovery of a huge stash of WWII Japanese gold & billions of dollars in US Treasury bonds hidden in a cave. Time magazine had this to say on the matter: "The lost treasure of Lijia Cave is now notorious as the biggest hoax in Thailand's history, a scam so brazen it came dangerously close to ensnaring the monarchy."

People are entitled to make errors of judgment, but so long as Plodprasop is liked by those on Koh Chang all should be well. Unfortunately, in May 2005, an adviser to Trat Environmental Conservation Group was reported as stating that "The organisation (DASTA) is killing our island" and had "Totally ignored people's participation in formulating the master plan". The report concluded by calling for the ouster of Plodprasop to ease local resistance to the project as the locals had questioned Plodprasop's transparency and his disregard for public opinion.

Will Plodprasop listen to the locals? Doubtful as this is what he had to say following criticism last year by Surapon Duangkhae, Secretary General of Wildlife Fund Thailand, over the transfer of wild animals from Kenya to Chiang Mai. Plodprasop was quoted in the Bangkok Post (9 Nov. 2005) as saying, "Mr Surapon is nobody. . . I'd like to warn him to stop making comments on the issue."

Methinks someone needs a spin doctor.

15 Jun

15 Jun - Wonder how many of the people watching HM the King's 60th anniversary dinner TV special last night - shown exclusively live on every Thai channel - could name more than three of the assembled royals from 26 countries. (I got Prince Andrew, the Swedish King & Queen and Prince Albert of Monaco. Not a clue on the others.) But the King of Tongo appeared to be having the most fun on his river boat ride up the Chao Praya whilst the Japanese emperor visited what appeared to be a museum to dead fighting cocks - skeletons, stuffed birds and all. (If I was a Japanese tax payer I'd be wanting to know if this was really necessary.) The Danes sensibly visited a shoe factory which made sensible Danish shoes and quite a few minor monarchs went shopping at the Jim Thompson house of silk.

No more updates for a couple of weeks as I'm out of the country and will have better things to do with my time.

You'd be amazed by the number of people emailing and finding it surprising that there might be rain in August, apparently many travel agencies fail to mention that pretty much all of SE Asia is rather damp between June-September. Clue: this time of year is known as the rainy season or, in more tourist friendly terms, as the green season i.e. the season when green stuff grows a lot.

Before I left KC I went to see a couple of plots of land that are now up for sale. On the east coast you can get several 2 rai plots by the beach for 6 million baht each - with Chanote land title. And . . . at the southern end of Whitesands, on the west coast you can get a 1 Rai plot with uninterrupted sunset sea view. The photo opposite was taken on the land, more info here. (Not sure of the price yet though.)

8 Jun

8 Jun - As Koh Chang is officially hibernating at the moment. We've decided to have June as a holiday month which means spending a bit of time on KC, a bit in Bangkok, a bit in nearby parts of Thailand and a bit out of the country.

The photo on the right is a vision of Koh Chang in the future, a beach populated almost entirely by hoards of Chinese day trippers. Behold the beauty of Koh Larn, a 20 baht, 1 hour boat ride away from beautiful downtown Pattaya if you do it yourself, or a few hundred baht by a far faster speedboat.

Highly recommended if you love travelling as part of a shepherded tour group, swimming in petrol fumes, paying over the odds for everything. (The exception being the guy selling 'Nam Kheng Sai' - shaved ice dessert - for 10 baht.)

This was only my 3rd or 4th visit to Pattaya in 9 years, and we only went because I can get a free hotel room there easily. On the plus side - Gullivers at the northern end of Beach Road does very good Thai and western food & cheap cocktails, we had delicious Vietnamese food at Vientiane Restaurant on Walking Street and Angelwitch, just off Walking Street is the place to go to see naked girls cavorting in foam, if such a thing takes your fancy.

Want to do something to help the local community on KC? Travel to Teach run volunteer programs throughout Thailand. I had an email from a recent volunteer couple relaying their experiences:

"The reality is that this program was started more as a place for volunteers from other part of Thailand to come for a free vacation. The program coordinator was leaving Thailand for England in 2 weeks and was more concerned with how to get a free bucket at the Sabay Bar than running a worthwhile program. When I asked her about the purpose of the program and why we weren't doing any environmental work which is what we had been originally promised her response (as a Thai person) was that Thai people don't want westerners help. True or not it makes me wonder what the point of the program was in the first place."

The couple were also supposed to be doing some English teaching for local kids, something worthwhile. In reality they taught two classes at 4 star hotels on Klong Prao beach for hotel GMs who are too miserly to pay for proper training for their staff.

However, the head of T-to-T, after hearing of their time on KC, agreed to refund most of the fees paid to the couple and reports on various discussion boards seems to indicate that the organisation does a lot of good work in the North of Thailand.