Island Wrap #73: Samui in the spotlight, a valiant river rescue, life in the Deep South, and more

A spin through the most intriguing and consequential news and other media from the last month in Thailand's islands and coastal areas.

Greetings island lovers and welcome to your free monthly news review from Thailand’s islands and coastal areas — and sometimes beyond.

To also access the Thai Island & Coastal Directory and many other in-depth articles while supporting independent travel media…

Catch of the month

Playing with angles in Pakmeng, with Ko Mook in view, down in Trang province.

Latest posts from Thai Island Quest

T.I.C.D.: Pattani coast & islands

*Apologies for the too few postings recently. It does mean you can look forward to make-up March with a bushel of new articles on the way.

Weather & shipwrecks

• A longtail boat driver tragically died, though 31 tourists were safe, after two longtail boats “crashed” near Ko Poda in Krabi.

• Eight people wearing life vests survived when their small speedboat capsized during unseasonably rough seas in Krabi.

• Harpoon anti-ship missiles were salvaged from the wreck of the HTMS Sukhothai, which sunk in the Gulf off Prachuap in 2022. The bodies of the five sailors who remain missing have not yet been recovered.

Travel

Why you should visit Koh Samui now — before The White Lotus crowds descend (The Independent on how “Thailand’s second-largest island is rapidly becoming known as the most upmarket island in the country.”)

Expat Tales: Kiwi couple living the island life in Thailand (Stuff with a first-hand account of what expat life can be like on Ko Samui.)

Travel back in time in Thailand’s Sichon - with no tourists in sight (Explore on this scenic coastal area just south of Ko Samui on the mainland.)

Maya Bay voted world’s third best beach by Lonely Planet (Thai PBS on the popular Ko Phi Phi beach that may have its conservation-minded changes to thank for being ranked behind only two other beaches worldwide.)

Notes on Koh Lipe: The beachiest holiday island in Thailand (Nomadic Notes)

In search of Thailand’s tasty hideouts that the locals would rather keep secret (Conde Nast Traveller with slick photos of local food from Amphawa.)

30 years in Bangkok: How the city has changed (Koktail with insightful thoughts on the megacity from the author of Very Thai.)

Unveiling Baan Krua’s rich heritage through its signature dish (Thai PBS on a form of gaeng som hidden near Jim Thompson’s House in Bangkok.)

Tourism

The ultimate product placement: Thailand on ‘The White Lotus’ (The New York Times on a legit soft-power win for the Kingdom.)

Will visa waivers help Thailand’s tourism regain pre-pandemic levels? (Thai PBS)

Thailand allocates 50 million Baht in medical aid to assist foreign tourists in case of accidents (TAT News — government site)

On the Thai island of Phuket, sun, sea and Russians making waves (CNA on the demand driving a real-estate price surge in the island province.)

Transport

The Koh Chang Bridge (I Am Koh Chang with an update added to this collection of key developments on the potential bridge project in Trat.)

Thailand aims to more than double capacity at main airport (Nikkei Asia on plans to lift Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi out of its “Swampy” reputation.)

Cell phone power bank fire on Thai Air Asia flight extinguished quickly (Thai PBS on a scare that occurred on a flight to Nakhon Si Thammarat.)

Jams on Rama II Road blamed for Hua Hin’s decline (Bangkok Post on what I’ve long called the ‘hell road’ between Bangkok and Phetchaburi.)

Tha Tien Pier to reopen this month (Bangkok Post on how the river pier nearest Bangkok’s biggest historical attractions is back after a long closure.)

Environment

Disappearing seagrass in sea off Trang threatens dugong population (Thai PBS on how dredging of the Trang River is “a cause of the steady dying off of the seagrass” that nourishes Thailand’s largest remaining dugong herd.)

Government’s IUU reversal is shortsighted and misguided (Thai Inquirer with an opinion piece on “the government’s proposition to amend regulations that are pivotal in the fight against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated [IUU] fishing.”

Tide turns and lives washed away for Thai villagers on Mekong (Mekong Eye with an in-depth and photo-rich article that comes, according to a separate report, as “one-fifth of fish species in Mekong River face extinction.”)

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe (The Guardian on an island of 8,000 residents in the Andaman Sea, not too far from Thailand’s southwest coast, that might become the “Hong Kong of India.”)

Wildlife

• A DNA-based study found several sharks threatened with extinction being sold in the Thai seafood market, reports Monga Bay.

• The extremely rare albino Omura whale that appeared last month near Phuket turned up again, this time near the Richilieu Rock dive site in Phang Nga.

• A Phuket-based diver lauded the diverse and rare marine life at reefs in Kata Bay, including a notably rare longtail butterfly ray.

• And February was a busy month for sea turtles, with more than 100 leatherback hatchlings emerging from three nests in Thai Mueang, which were joined by two new leatherback nests discovered in nearby Phuket.

Society

Thailand, Malay-Muslim insurgents aim for March-April ceasefire amid cautious hope for permanent peace (SCMP with a hopeful outlook for the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.)

Rally on Phuket to reclaim public beaches from developers (Thai PBS on the huge controversy involving a Swiss expat who “was accused of attacking a female Thai doctor for alleged trespass”, prompting calls to reclaim the beach.)

Beach beds and umbrellas seen back on Freedom Beach in Phuket causes controversy (The Phuket Express on how a spot that World Beach Guide recently ranked 18th best beach in the world is going through an uneasy shift.)

Air Force agrees to hand over golf course (Bangkok Post on how balls might soon stop flying at that bizarre golf course set between runways at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok.)

In other news

Pattaya ponders new water supplier on Koh Lan (Bangkok Post on a persisting water shortage hampering one of the Gulf’s most popular isles.)

Thai government could face ‘thousands’ of lawsuits as it seeks to ban recreational cannabis use (SCMP)

Thai golf prodigy Patty Tavatanakit brings pride to her home country (Thai PBS on how Patty’s first major victory since 2021 came in her home province of Chonburi at the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament.)

Man makes cross country journey for local schools (Bangkok Post on a British man who jogged 2,100 km, from Chiang Rai to Betong, to raise over 200,000 THB for Thai schools and orphanages.

Thai elderly searches for foreign couple who saved her from drowning (KhaoSod English on the young travelers who took action when they saw a Thai grandmother faint and fall into the Chao Phraya River in Ayutthaya.)

I leave you with…

Captivating photos that Richard Barrow shared from his recent train journey into the Deep South. In this part of Thailand where worries over a low-level insurgency keep most travelers away, he found smiling faces, tasty local food and monks on a train — not to mention one of the rougher-looking hotel rooms I’ve seen in years. Most of the images are from districts like Thepha and Khok Pho, both of which are also covered in my recent T.I.C.D. sections on Songkhla and Pattani.

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