Welcome back to the Island Wrap, your weekly window to Thai islands and coastal areas. This packed edition covers six different dolphin sightings along with hermit crabs in need of homes, a mysterious case of Covid-19 in Krabi, high-level visits to Thailand’s largest two islands and a whole lot more.
I’m now getting back to the regularly scheduled program after taking time off to endure the US election. For later this week I have the final post in a series covering the Butang (Adang) archipelago. If you missed the others, check out Ko Adang and Ko Rawi, learn about the Urak Lawoi natives, and take a walk around Ko Lipe.
Over on Couchfish, Stuart has an honest account of what the public transport is like between Camdodia’s Sihanoukville and the Vietnam border. It sounds like “Pirate Island” and a tattoo in Rạch Giá made the trip worth the hassle. He also reflects on where things look to be heading after 150 days of Couchfish, both in terms of his virtual travels and the actual travel situation in Southeast Asia.
Pick of the week: ISLAND
The pastoral and under-appreciated island of Ko Klang lies directly across the river from Krabi town and can be reached by a quick 10-baht ferry ride. For a bit more cash, a private longtail boat will cruise you through a mangrove forest before depositing you at one of the fish farms that double as seafood restaurants in the village. Try the local seaweed salad and then hop in a sidecar motorbike taxi to visit batik and coconut-wood workshops. Most visitors hit Ko Klang on day trips, but staying overnight at a homestay or the lone resort will give you enough time to take a methodical stroll on one of the island’s empty windswept beaches.
Wildlife and environmental news
Ko Rok has a lot of hermit crabs. So many, in fact, that Mu Ko Lanta Marine Park can’t find enough shells for all of them to live in, forcing unlucky crabs to take shelter in broken bottles and other tidal debris. That’s why the park has put out a call for people all across Thailand and beyond to mail usable shells to:
Mu Ko Lanta Marine National Park
59 Moo 5, Ko Lanta Yai, Ko Lanta,
Krabi, Thailand 81150
Phone: 075 656 576
Speaking of crabs, if you’ve never seen a soft-shelled one shed its skin, check out this video from iamKohChang.
South of Ko Rok near another gorgeous set of twin islands, Ko Lao Liang, fishers sadly found a dead dugong afloat on November 6th. An autopsy did not determine an exact cause of death, though organ failure hints at natural causes. It’s unknown whether the dugong died close to nearby Ko Libong or strayed from its herd first.
Also in the Andaman Sea, boaters spotted 15 false killers whales near the recently reopened Similan Islands for the first time in a decade. In the Upper Gulf near Phetchaburi, whale watchers on a Wild Encounters Thailand expedition were among the first people to lay eyes on a newborn Bryde’s whale calf. Nicknamed “Colorful,” it was only the second newborn wan bruda found in Thailand this year.
Now on to a bunch of dolphin sightings, starting with a video showing 50 bottlenose dolphins leaping above the surface near Ko Haa. Further north near Phuket, a pod thrilled a catamaran full of tourists, one of whom captured footage of the dolphins. Boaters also filmed nine pink Irrawaddy dolphins swimming near Ko Chang in the Eastern Gulf; and another video shows a tourist from Songkhla helping a bottlenose dolphin back into deep water after it nearly beached on Ko Sukorn.
Across the Kra Isthmus in Sichon on the Mid-Southern Gulf coast, an Irrawaddy dolphin sadly washed up dead with wounds that appear to have been inflicted by a boat. Further north in Pranburi, resort staff near Khao Khalok made the gruesome discovery of an Irrawaddy dolphin that appeared to have been beaten to death and cut up for meat before the killers tossed its remains back into the sea.
Nesting season has returned in Thai Mueang, where the same leatherback sea turtle laid three different nests over the course of three weeks on Bang Kwan Beach. (She was also captured in a video.) Marine biologist Thon Thamrongnawasawat explains how these turtles venture 6,000 km away from where they hatch and later return to the same area to lay their eggs. No one knows quite how they do it.
The first in a two-part series of reports by Thai PBS explains how the coral and other marine life have been thriving in the Ko Lipe area over the past seven months. The second part spotlights how the lack of tourists is hurting the local economy, concluding that a balance might be struck after the pandemic.
Local Diving Krabi shared a video of its divers freeing 30 puffer fish, box fish and file fish from an illegal cage trap on the seafloor near Ko Phi Phi. Meanwhile, coastal trash collecting efforts took place above and below the water around Phuket, Ko Phayam, Mu Ko Tarutao Marine Park and Mu Ko Similan Marine Park.
Ko Tao is also set for a good cleaning after the United Nations Development Program announced that it will hire out-of-work boat drivers to remove rubbish and debris in the area. Off the coast of neighboring Ko Phangan, Marine Dept. officials are looking to repurpose the steel legs from an out-of-use petroleum platform as part of a coral rehabilitation effort. It would also become a new dive site.
Fishers are “terrified” to go in the water after multiple crocodile sightings in the Phang Nga River over the last couple of months. If you go kayaking in nearby Phang Nga Bay and something grabs your paddle, you might want to let go.
Officials in Satun have constructed a huge caged “monkey playground” in Khao Toh Phaya Wang Park to contain the 100 macaques that have been biting kids and raiding houses in town. And down in Yan Ta Khao district in Trang, a heroic Rottweiler barked to alert its owner about the 1.2-meter cobra in the garage.
Wrapping up this week’s wildlife news, a man was arrested for “catching monitor lizards and going on motorbike rides with them tied to the passenger seat” in Prachuap Khiri Khan. Wildlife protection officials raided his house after seeing photos of the bizarre joy rides that he had posted on Facebook.
Covid-19 update
Krabi got a fright when an asymptomatic 37-year-old Indian expat who runs a restaurant on Ko Phi Phi Don tested positive for Covid-19 twice during routine blood testing for a work permit application on November 4th. His last trip abroad was to Singapore in February, and officials don’t know how the transmission occurred. The infection was found while he was staying in Krabi town.
A third test on November 6th came back negative and, according to Bangkok Post, “that could be related to the fact that the positive test he’d given just two days earlier showed only small amount of the virus and because he had contracted the disease a long time previously.” The speculation is that Covid-19 antibodies are showing up in test results even though he caught the virus several months ago.
So far, only negative results have come back from the nearly 100 people known to have come into close contact with the expat over the past two weeks, although his wife’s test results have yet to be released. People are also relieved in Phuket, Sukhothai and Chiang Mai after dozens of tests determined that the man did not spread the virus when visiting those provinces on a short trip earlier this month.
Thailand recorded its 60th Covid-19 death — the first in 49 days — when a 66-year-old Thai man who had recently returned from the UK sadly passed away on November 5th. He first tested positive in a Chonburi quarantine hotel on October 22nd.
A French woman who tested positive for the virus on Ko Samui late last month after being released from quarantine in Bangkok has fully recovered. Thai authorities made a spectacle out of her release, inviting the media to photograph her leaving the Ko Samui Hospital. Thai PBS reported that she is being monitored and kept in isolation at home for another 30 days before she’ll be allowed to travel freely.
Tourism industry leaders on Ko Samui said that half of all bookings on the island were canceled after it came to light that the French woman had spent a brief period of time outside of quarantine before her Covid-19 infection was discovered. The cancelations prompted their request that the government drop plans to reduce quarantine periods from 14 to 10 days for some travelers from abroad.
They may have had an impact. After being approved by the Ministry of Health and supported by other officials, the Cabinet today shelved plans to reduce quarantine to 10 days for travelers from low-risk countries like Taiwan and New Zealand. This decision comes after the Thai Travel Agents Association loudly called for quarantine to be dropped altogether for tourists from low-risk countries.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society unveiled wrist bands that track the health and location of tourists and send an alert to officials if a tourist’s temperature goes above 37.5 C. “It is unclear how long one would need to wear the smart band while a tourist,” reports The Pattaya News.
The government is continuing to require foreign travelers to undergo alternate state quarantine (ASQ) in Bangkok and Chonburi, delaying plans to open ASQ resorts on Phuket and Ko Samui. This move comes as authorities tighten restrictions on how the ASQ facilities operate following questions about how the French woman could have been released from quarantine despite being Covid-19 positive last month.
For a detailed report on what it’s currently like to enter Thailand and go through the ASQ process, check out Phuket resident Ian Lancaster’s story.
Social media corner
One of my favorite threads of the year comes from Chris Taylor, who displayed how easy it is to spontaneously travel from Bangkok to Ko Phayam.
Click on the tweet above to view the whole levity-providing gift of a thread.
Tourism industry news
More than 100 foreigners accused a Thai language school on Ko Phangan of promising to replace non-immigrant visas with education visas for 20,000 to 40,000 baht per person, and then failing to deliver or provide refunds. Eight other foreigners say that a businesswoman on Ko Samui did not obtain promised visa extensions and has disappeared with their deposits of 10,000 to 100,000 baht.
These are not the first scams to unfold as the end of Thailand’s pandemic-related visa amnesty approached last month. While immigration officials have eased requirements for extending tourist visas, the same courtesy has not been offered to non-immigrant visa holders who in many cases are long-term Thailand residents facing an impossible task of meeting minimum income requirements during the pandemic.
The Thai government has shown no sign of budging on restrictions for incoming tourists, even from countries that have contained Covid-19.
Only a handful of tourists from China have obtained the new “special tourist visa” (STV) so far. Regular 60-day tourist visas are reportedly now available at Thai embassies in London and Berlin (among others), but when applying, potential tourists must show proof of having 500,000 baht ($16,500 USD) in a bank for the past six months. That’s on top of the pricey 14-day quarantine and insurance.
In a grim assessment of the economic situation on Phuket with insights that apply to many other destinations, C9 Hotelworks had this to say:
“What is apparent is it’s virtually impossible to save the high season and hotel owners in 2021 will be forced to contend with historically the lowest trading months of the year by May. Given these grim prospects, C9 is predicting large-scale job losses and business closures given there is no light at the end of the pandemic-induced tunnel.”
Some business owners and workers on Phuket and Ko Samui are angry that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha offered no solutions or even acknowledged the economic situation during his recent official visits. According to The Phuket News:
“The Cabinet meeting in Phuket today (November 3rd) concluded with the Prime Minister and the entire entourage of Cabinet ministers failing to even speak about the critical issue of restoring Phuket’s ailing tourism industry … Not a single member of the Cabinet bothered to venture out to areas suffering heavily amid the economic crisis.”
Instead, the Prime Minister walked around Phuket old town and did some cooking. He did receive a 13-point proposal highlighting ways to ease the island province’s economic distress, but made no mention of its contents. While on Ko Samui, he visited a command center to learn about how newly installed CCTV cameras can track the coming and going of tourists in real time.
A little less than a week after these high-level visits, the government “pledged to accelerate its efforts to rehabilitate Phuket’s tourism industry,” but offered few details other than possibly continuing domestic tourism stimulus measures that leave businesses which mainly rely on foreign tourism behind. Meanwhile, charities like Help Phuket Today and Sisters on Samui continue to nourish the needy.
In other news
Some of the Thai Andaman’s Chao Lay or “Sea People” got some good news on land rights late last week. The Urak Lawoi natives of Phuket received rights to live on 1.5 acres near Phuket town, while Ko Lanta Yai’s Urak Lawoi community received 2.75 acres on the island’s east coast. Moken people received 1.5 acres on Ko Lao, a small island near the mouth of the Ngao River in Ranong province.
The reality is that the allocation of 7.75 acres that Chao Lay had been living on for generations is a wee olive branch being touted as a “historic deal.” Much of the land consists of mangroves and various land-use restrictions were baked into the terms. It’s ironic that some Thai officials stress how the natives must conserve the land when much larger tracts of previously forested land have been developed for tourism and other commercial purposes on Phuket, Ko Lanta Yai and other islands.
Speaking of which, a Channel 7 investigation quotes a lieutenant colonel who claims that as much as 90% of the luxury villas built on Ko Samui’s mountain slopes since 2005 may be illegally encroaching on public forest land. The report also states that many of these properties, including some owned by foreigners, now sit derelict due to the economic downturn and pandemic-related travel restrictions.
Moving on, four tourists from Bangkok were rescued after their kayaks overturned in marginally rough seas as they attempted to paddle from Si Racha to Ko Si Chang. Two were assisted by locals close to shore, while the other two used a mobile phone to call for help after they were already adrift further out at sea.
Two fishermen from Krabi spent two days without food near Ko Haa, far away from the mainland, after their boat ran out of gasoline. Another fishing boat finally came along and gave the embarrassed pair enough gas to make it home.
An engine on a speedboat operated by Khao Lak-based Love Sea Tour caught fire as it was being prepared for a tour to the Similan Islands at Thap Lamu Pier. No tourists were on board at the time, but three crew members suffered serious injuries and the interior of the boat was destroyed, as you can see in the photo below.
Transport authorities are preparing to test run a new car ferry service linking Sattahip (near Pattaya) to Prachuap Khiri Khan and on down to Songkhla. Connecting both sides of the Upper Gulf to the Deep Southern Gulf, the full 611-km route will take 20 hours to complete. Anyone up for a Thai-style cruise?
In other marine transport news, Phuket has introduced electric ferries to provide environmentally friendly access to nearby islands like Ko Phi Phi. Meanwhile, Pattaya expects to get started on a 140-million-baht revamp of Ko Larn’s main pier; and 75 million baht is going towards improvements at Nathon Pier on Ko Samui.
The government is breathing new life into its long-held desires to build a road along much of the Gulf coast in the image of Chanthaburi’s scenic coastal road. Now dubbed the “Thailand Riviera” project, the completed road would take motorists all the way from greater Bangkok down to Narathiwat on the Malaysia border.
Having found many of Thailand’s existing coastal roads to be both scenic and of a good quality, I question whether such a large project is worth a sizable windfall of tax money. In related news, residents of Chumphon are complaining that rain runoff from a newly built road is causing frequent flooding in their homes.
In aviation news, Emirates and Qatar Airways are operating “semi-commercial” flights between Phuket and their hubs in the Middle East for the first time since March. Who is taking these flights is an open question.
In archaeological news, 30 more cave paintings that are 3,500 to 5,000 years old were discovered on a bunch of small islands in Phang Nga Bay. Up in Samut Sakhon, archaeologists are unearthing a roughly 5,000-year-old whale skeleton discovered 15 km from the coast in an area that was part of the Gulf several millennia ago.
During the Loi Krathong holiday on October 31st, a young firefighter dove two meters below the surface of the Krabi River to recover a smartphone that a woman dropped while photographing offerings to the water goddess. He was praised as a hero for selflessly locating the waterproof phone without diving gear.
Dept. of National Parks officials are thinking about reopening Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh to limited numbers of tourists “within six months.” (The famous bay has been closed to tourists since June 2018.)
Not too far from Ko Phi Phi Leh in the marine portion of Than Bok Khorani National Park, a new 109-meter-high viewing platform is now open on Ko Hong. Reaching it requires climbing 419 steps, the reward being a vista of the Ko Hong group.
Bangkok Post’s Pongpet Mekloy braved Thailand’s rainiest province to deliver an info-packed story on Ko Phayam and many other spots in Ranong.
Phanganist reveals the bright side of having very few tourists on Ko Phangan, which placed third on Conde Nast Traveler’s recent survey of the best islands in Asia. Phuket scored eighth place and Ko Samui took the 10th spot, although I don’t suggest reading too much into these types of crowd-sourced listacles.
Finally, it should come as no surprise that Ko Phangan found its way into a New York Times story about how American digital nomads “did not prepare” when they set out to work while traveling during the pandemic. Whatever sympathy I had for these folks had completely evaporated by the fifth paragraph. 🌴