Island Wrap #74: Thailand's seawall woes, The Interceptor comes to Bangkok, expert eating in Phuket, 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 back 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 from Thai Island Quest…

Catch of the month

A spirit house remains even if the house is a goner. On the beachfront of Ko Taen, a sparsely developed island just south of Ko Samui.

Latest posts from Thai Island Quest

Extraordinary spots: A hidden beach on Chumphon’s mainland coast

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

Having completed the Deep Southern Gulf chapter of the Thai Island & Coastal Directory (T.I.C.D.), I’m thrilled to now be moving into the Mid Southern Gulf. In roughly 10 sections, it’s set to cover the island-rich provinces of Chumphon and Surat Thani, as well as Nakhon Si Thammarat. The big-draw destinations of Ko Samui, Ko Phangan and Ko Tao are all included, though I’m most excited to share the nearby isles and shorelines that have lower-key personalities.

In the T.I.C.D. ticker we’re up to 805 islands and 255 notable coastal areas covered so far. When starting this book, I promised 800+ islands. Now that we’ve reached that number, and still with two island-rich chapters yet to be written, I expect the book’s final island count to fall right around 1,000. It will take me some time to get there, but as of today the book is more than 3/4 of the way done.

If you’re a free subscriber interested in what promises to be the most complete guide to Thailand’s islands and coastal areas ever written in English, a subscription goes for $5 USD a month and also bags you dozens of other in-depth paid articles that are not part of the T.I.C.D. You’d also be supporting independent travel media that always pays its own way, and is forever 100% human-made.

Travel

An eater’s guide to Phuket, Thailand’s island hotspot (Eater with loads of tasty depth from this article by an expert food writer; it’s from last October so hopefully this makes up for not spotlighting it back then.)

Salt, sea and spoonbills (Bangkok Post on the migratory birds and sea salt farms of the Samut Sakhon coast, southwest of Bangkok.)

The riverside retreat inside Bangkok’s hidden oasis (Thai PBS on Bang Ko Bua, a part of Bang Kachao that has become “a destination in its own right.”)

Tourism

Overwhelmed by success (Bangkok Post with a solid report on the “overwhelming demand” for real estate of all types in Phuket, where “airports, flights, hotel rooms and road traffic are all congested.”)

Southeast Asia holds its breath for Chinese tourists’ long-awaited return: ‘this year will definitely be stronger’ (SCMP with a paywalled article that echoes what the TAT governor was recently saying.)

Sorry, who are you again? (Couchfish presents the idea of surveying tourists upon arrival to and/or departure from a given country in order to help tourism folks “make well-informed decisions on how best to float their boat.”)

Environment

Changing sand for concrete: Will Thailand’s gamble on coastal erosion pay off? (Hard Stories with an absolutely exceptional long-form report on the largely unregulated seawall construction that, particularly over the last five to ten years, has replaced sand with concrete along so many Thai beaches.)

Solutions sought for Thai oil spills (China Dialogue on the impact of frequent oil spills in the Gulf of Thailand, which one MP warns are “likely to continue.”)

Revoke the licence to kill our oceans (Bangkok Post with an opinion piece providing specifics on numerous potentially destructive outcomes if the government’s plan to deregulate the fisheries industry comes to pass.)

Scaling up decarbonisation (Brot fur die Welt explaining decarbonization efforts going into Thai tourism, including “over 100 climate-neutral tours.”

Bangkok’s trash-choked Chao Phraya river to be cleared of tonnes of plastic waste (SCMP on the long-awaited arrival of the Interceptor 019 from the The Ocean Cleanup’s fleet of state-of-the-art trash-removal boats.)

Park plan prompts petition (Bangkok Post on locals opposing what they say are “vague” rules related to land and sea use at one of Thailand’s newest national parks: Hat Khanom - Mu Koh Thale Thai, which now covers parts of Khanom’s mainland shores and some of the small islands south of Ko Samui.)

Pattaya’s wind turbine project on Koh Larn fizzles out after failing to deliver power (The Pattaya News)

Wildlife

• A sick dugong near Ko Libong in Trang is “cause for deep alarm” with seagrass decline likely playing a role in several recent dugong deaths.

• A leatherback sea turtle laid her eggs on the famous train-spotting stretch of Phuket’s Mai Khao Beach; and 29 hatchlings contributed to another strong leatherback nesting season on Phang Nga’s mainland sands.

• Thailand’s growing number of wild elephants made the domestic news — including a video report from Thai PBS and a Bangkok Post opinion piece — after the DNP stated a controversial aim “to develop ‘training centres’ to tame ‘angry elephants’”.

• Ko Chang’s macaques are keeping DNP officials on their toes, while the warring monkey gangs of Lopburi are bringing out cops armed with slingshots.

• And the fearless serpent wrangler Philip Brook of Samui Snake and Wildlife Rescue is “in the spotlight” with The Green Voyage.

Society

Thailand moves closer to legalising same-sex unions as parliament passes landmark bill (Reuters on legislation that has also now passed in the Senate and looks well on its way to becoming law, likely making Thailand only the second Asian country after Taiwan to legalize same-sex unions.)

‘A perfect mess’: Thailand’s proposed cannabis crackdown steeped in political games and business owner anger (CNA)

First step taken to legalise casinos (Bangkok Post on the Prime Minister’s support for gambling even as he calls to re-criminalize cannabis.)

Thai election body to ask court to disband Move Forward Party (CNA on yet more peril for the opposition party that won the most votes in the 2023 election.)

Thai court acquits protesters involved in 2008 seizure of Don Mueang airport (Thai PBS on some justice-system treatment that looks, erm, a little more favorable to this side of Thailand’s political divide.)

Thailand’s new prime minister is getting down to business. But can he heal his nation? (TIME interviews the man himself.)

In other news

Koh Kood sovereignty ‘not at risk’ (Bangkok Post with reassurances for this magnificent island in the Ko Chang Archipelago, as Thailand and Cambodia prepare to negotiate over a longstanding marine territorial dispute.)

Thailand revokes visa of Swiss man who allegedly assaulted local woman (The BBC on the viral fight over Phuket beach steps that — along with the New Zealanders who allegedly snatched a Phuket traffic cop’s gun and another Swiss man who allegedly beat up a female Thai stranger in a Trang supermarket — has galvanized protests and an official crackdown on foreigners doing anything remotely illegal, especially in Phuket but also on Ko Phangan and elsewhere.)

Laem Nga reclaimed as a public beach (The Phuket News with one of several recent examples of local pushback against landowners blocking beach access in Phuket.)

Chef Pam of “Potong” wins Asia’s best female chef 2024 (Thai PBS on a big accolade for this talented Bangkok chef.)

I leave you with…

An article about a very special pineapple on a very special island that I wrote on the 1st of April 2021. Ahh those pandemic days of boredom. 🌴

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