Island Wrap #65, recapping June 2023 in coastal Thailand
A month's worth of curated media from Thai islands and coastal areas.
Welcome to the Island Wrap, a free monthly round-up of Thai island and coastal news. If you haven’t yet, feel free to subscribe to Thai Island Quest for free, or upgrade to gain access to the entire Thai Island & Coastal Directory as it’s published, and many other island-rich articles, for $5 USD per month.
This Wrap marks the end of World Ocean Month with several sea-related stories, including a terrific one about a coastal Thai school that has only four students left after many families fled the coastal erosion that is gradually erasing their village. You’ll also find the riveting account of a refugee who broke out of a Thai detention center to seek asylum elsewhere, as well as stories on marine life rescues, the death of a key figure in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, and much more.
Thailand’s political future should come into clearer focus this month, with Parliament set to vote on a new House Speaker on July 4th, followed by a planned July 13th vote for Prime Minister. The leader of the election-winning Move Forward Party, Pita Limjaroenrat, recently said he has enough support from the unelected Senate to make him the new PM. But only two days later, one of those very Senators said that Pita “will likely receive fewer than five votes from the Senate,” as reported by Bangkok Post. Thailand will brace for protests if the military-aligned Senate or judiciary blocks Pita from leading the incoming government.
Here at TIQ we reached the halfway point (more or less) of the Thai Island and Coastal Directory last month, with three sections on Prachuap Khiri Khan’s coasts and islands. First it was Hua Hin to Kuiburi, followed by Mueang Prachuap and Thap Sakae, and finishing this lengthy province was Bang Saphan and Ko Thalu. Next up will be the Intro to the island-rich Central Andaman, and I’ll try to get five T.I.C.D. sections out in July since I only managed three in June.
Cool site or page
When wondering what is happening around coastal Thailand from an environmental viewpoint, one of the first places I look is the Monsoon Garbage page on Facebook. Also running the same-named organization that arranges frequent beach clean-ups in Phuket and surrounds, the Thai people behind this highly active page are usually among the fastest to share first-hand footage of sea turtle rescues, dugong fatalities, coral bleaching and similar incidents in coastal Thailand.
News wire picks
Escaping China with a spoon and a rusty nail (.Coda)
This gripping first-hand account comes from a Uyghur refugee who escaped after three years of controversial detainment in Southern Thailand and crossed into Malaysia, from where he secured asylum in Turkey. In related news, Malaysia is charging four Thai nationals for criminal involvement in the mass graves of Rohingya refugees that were discovered along the border in 2015.
Just four pupils left: how the sea rose up on a Thai village (The Guardian)
Residents discuss living in a coastal village near Bangkok that has lost an estimated two km of land to erosion over the last six decades. With rising seas exacerbating the problems that first led to the erosion, such as mangrove deforestation and groundwater mismanagement, the local school stands on concrete stilts and has already been twice relocated further inland.
Climate change may have stimulated plankton bloom behind Thai mass fish die-off: expert (Reuters)
Well-known marine scientist Thon Thamrongnawasawat explains the die-off that left several km of Chumphon’s beaches covered in dead fish.
Phuket: The epicentre of tourism politics in Thailand (Asia Media Centre)
”Phuket is at the forefront. It welcomed more than six million visitors from January-May this year, reaching half of its full-year forecast. Russia, China and India are the top three visitor markets so far in 2023, and travellers from those countries pack the cafes and duty free stores.”
Koh Samui reinvented: one of Thailand’s best holiday islands evolves to cater for Gen Z and digital nomads — here’s what is new (SCMP)
”Michelin inspectors are reviewing the island’s top restaurants for inclusion in its annual guide to Thailand in 2024, while Samui is a likely location for the next series of White Lotus, HBO’s much watched black-comedy drama that follows the lives of guests and employees of a fictional resort chain.”
To understand the culture of Phuket, slurp a bowl of mee hokkien (Sawasdee)
”Stir-fried with seafood, greens and a black pepper gravy, the beloved dish – called mee Sapam at this restaurant – embodies Phuket’s diverse heritage and exciting food scene.”
An introduction to the poetry of Sunthorn Phu (Thai Enquirer)
An intriguing dive into the works of this domestically famous Rayong native, dubbed the “William Shakespeare of Thailand,” whose romantic 19th-century poems and stories are often set to a backdrop of the sea and islands. Separately, Thai Enquirer has another nifty article on “the journey of chilies to Thailand.”
Thailand train blogger Richard Barrow on his long and exciting journey: ‘It has just exploded’ (SCMP)
The social media star (and our friend) discusses his first trip from the UK to Thailand, via China and several other countries, and how he went from teaching English to blogging and, most recently, writing a guide to Thai rail travel.
Wildlife sightings
A bottlenose dolphin received medical treatment after it was found struggling with exhaustion in the Khlong Jeen waterway on Phuket; and, sadly, the body of a rare spotted dolphin washed up on Ko Lanta.
Marine investigators are seeking causes of death for two dugongs found within days of one another in Krabi province — first on Ko Klang north of Ko Lanta and later on Hat Tub Kaek north of Ao Nang. They were the fifth and sixth endangered dugongs found dead in Krabi this year.
Photos of a six-meter-long whale shark emerged from near Ko Bida, twin islands at the southern end of the Ko Phi Phi chain.
Dangerous bluebottle physalia, or Portuguese man-o-war, were discovered at some of Phuket’s most popular beaches; and researchers found potentially lethal box jellyfish near Ao Nammao Pier in Krabi. (Keeping a spray bottle of vinegar handy to treat any stings is a good idea this time of year.)
Two sea turtles were rescued after washing up tangled in fishing debris on Phuket — first on Hat Mai Khao and later at Patong. Two more sea turtles were rescued off beaches in Phang Nga, including one that might get a new lease on life after being found with a front flipper missing.
Not from Thailand but still worth mentioning — the first-ever known footage of critically endangered Burmese peacock turtles hatching from a nest surfaced from Myanmar’s Indawgyi Lake. Back in Thailand, more common but similarly cute green sea turtles hatched on Ko Tachai and Ko Surin.
In other news
Woman’s leg amputated at Bangkok airport after getting stuck in moving walkway (The Guardian on a freak accident that, according to subsequent reporting, may have resulted from a small section of the travelator giving out.)
A ‘once-in-200 years’ heat wave caught Southeast Asia off guard. Climate change will make them more common (CNN on conditions this past April and May in which Thailand hit 46 degrees C, or 115 F, on 30 separate days.)
Alarm bells ring in overloaded Thai public health system as exhausted doctors quit in droves (Thai PBS)
Drones fly medicine 12km to island hospital (Bangkok Post on the trial flights to a remote part of Satun province.)
Protesting fishermen close Pak Bara waterway in Satun to pressure officials (Thai PBS on yet another protest against fishing limitations that resulted in a temporary blockade of ferries heading to Ko Lipe.)
They spoke up for free speech. Now they are being sued for defamation. (The New York Times on how powerful Thais are use the law to silence critics.)
Illegal beach villa to be demolished (Bangkok Post on a coastal stone structure that almost went unnoticed on the quiet side of Ko Tao.)
NACC brass call in on delayed visitor centre (Bangkok Post on a public tourism project in Satun that sits derelict despite a completion deadline of 2017.)
Chinese tourists charged for handling starfish, climbing on corals (The Phuket News on misbehavior that the suspects posted online after a Ko Racha dive.)
Plan to build 7.4-billion-baht high-class cruise ship port in Pattaya to be proposed to Thai cabinet (The Pattaya News on the latest new cruise ship port proposals, with others having been pitched for Ko Samui and Krabi.)
Pattaya to construct 4 monorail lines (Bangkok Post)
Wat Arun is structurally safe, despite slight tilting of mondop (Thai PBS on what preservationists hope will not become the leaning tower of Bangkok.)
Phuket’s Soi Romanee has been named one of the world’s most beautiful streets (Lifestyle Asia)
Six-year-old Chonburi boy suffering from late-stage cancer has wish granted of seeing a beach for the first time (The Pattaya News)
I leave you on…
A saddened note after the recent death of Narongsak Osatanakorn, the former Chiang Rai governor whose job of administering this typically sleepy province became an intense and highly publicized role supervising the efforts to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from the flooded Tham Luang Cave in 2018 — an ordeal that captivated the world’s attention for three suspenseful weeks. Narongsak was praised for his composed handling of an effort involving thousands of volunteers. “I hope this experience inspires people to start living for others,” he later said, as recounted in a tribute from Thai PBS. He died at the age of 58 — six days after attending his daughter’s wedding — following a battle with cancer.
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during my 8 1/2 yrs on Lanta, we had several sea turtles come upon our beaches, in several instances Thais would stand guard while the huge reptile laid its eggs and 'nursed' them; sadly, the last one i saw, in 2016, was deceased, at the south end of our neighborhood's beach, Hat Klong Khong...
speaking of beaches, even though on the 'quiet' side of Koh Tao, the beach villa did NOT get built unawares, surely the local mafia head & corrupt village headman (one and the same) and police and other officials were involved, either as owners or extorting money from whomever constructed it!
horrible about the walkway in Don Muang and the woman losing a limb, i shuddered when i recalled how many of those i've traversed in Thailand, esp at Swampy...