Category — Thailand

As I have been writing about, Bangkok’s domestic and international airports are currently being occupied by ant-government protesters and all flights into and out of the airport have been cancelled and the airport evacuated.

People with flights booked when the airport closed, have been put up in hotels free of charge by the airlines. Visitors who have now overstayed their visa because of the cancellations will not have to pay the usual fine (1000 baht a day).

Even if the protest finishes this weekend it could take some time to get the airport up and running again. If there is damage done to the airport as the police and army attempt to break up the protests, it could even be longer.

For people who cannot wait until the protest finishes, they could take buses overland to Cambodia, Malaysia or Singapore and fly out from there. It seems like some people are already doing this as airlines in neighboring countries are already increasing their airfares with the new demand.

The next deadline for negotiations is 12 p.m. tomorrow, although it seems unlikely right now that leaders are prepared to call off the protest. The problem for the police and army is that there are children and women in the protest, so they can’t just go in with tear gas and weapons.

I remember reading somewhere yesterday after Bangkok’s international airport was forced to close because of Thai anti-government protesters, someone said at least they could use Don Muang airport, which is Bangkok’s old international airport and currently used for domestic travel. Well, the protesters have now taken over that airport as well, making it almost impossible for international travelers to arrive or leave Thailand through Bangkok. Not to mention disruption to mail and air freight.

The island resorts of Phuket and Koh Samui have international airports which is one alternate solution and I have heard that they might use a military airport near Pattaya which could handle emergencies, but the logistics of getting it ready for commercial use, it is not going to be quick or easy.

The PAD have been protesting at government house since August so who knows how long they are planning to block the airport.

One thing for certain is that it is going to cripple business and tourism in Thailand. Neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia might be happy with what is going on, but the situation, could have a negative impact on the whole region. Even the Philippine President said what is happening in Thailand is a lack of “political maturity.”

Of course in the rest of Thailand, life goes on and no-one seems to care too much and after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the focus of the world news has already shifted.

Just as the tourism business gets ready for the high season, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have taken over Bangkok’s international airport – Suvarnabhumi. All flights have been cancelled and tourists are stranded at the airport, not knowing if they should wait or head back into the city. Americans are anxious to get home for thanksgiving.

Scenes of people firing guns into a crowd is not a good image for Thailand and is going to have a massive impact on the economy. The BBC has a good FAQ list on their site as to what the PAD are protesting about. From what I have read, the group doesn’t have widespread support and this latest move is not going to get any sympathy from business people in Thailand.

It hasn’t stopped raining for the last couple of days here in Koh Phangan. Last night the wind was so fierce it blew a piece of roof off of my bungalow. There was also an amazing electrical storm looking across the water to Koh Samui. Fortunately, where I am staying is right on the sand and they don’t have any problems with flooding.

The flooding in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand has now claimed seven lives.

The rain has given me a chance to catch on the latest news from Thailand – 20 foreign tourists were robbed while sleeping on an overnight bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok, in what sounds like a scam organized with a Khao San tour agency. As tourism drops in Thailand and the economy flounders, I think you can expect to see some Thais getting more desperate.

Harry Nicolaides from Australia is currently sitting in a Thai jail awaiting trial for a book he wrote, which has been deemed insulting to the Thai Royal family. The book he wrote was self-published which has only sold about seven copies. Last year I wrote about a Swiss man that was sentenced to 10 years jail for defacing a picture of the King, but later received a royal pardon.

I love reading some of the blogs written by expats in Thailand. Many foreigners (mostly men) seem to lose all common sense when they come to Thailand, in either buying a business/property or getting married to a Thai lady, usually half their age. Frogblog has two such stories, Dave who bought a bar from his girl-friend’s auntie and Alain who married an “exotic dancer” half his age after meeting her on a fortnight’s holiday in Thailand.

Here is Dave’s story:

Dave bought a bar from Nok’s auntie. Nok’s auntie somehow contrived to get him to agree to buy the business without using lawyers. Buddhist temple-sized warning bells should have sounded straight away, but Nok convinced him that this was the way things are done in Thailand. Dave happily signed on the dotted line for a bar – greatly resembling the one in the photo below – for the nice round figure of £10,000. Not so bad, you reckon? Well bear in mind that he was only buying the business, not the land or the property itself, with a four year lease – and there was a sizeable monthly rental to pay.

And poor old Alain:

48 year old recent divorcee Alain had been in Thailand for a fortnight during the summer. By the time he was on his way back to France, exotic dancer Took had sworn her undying loyalty to him, and he to her. Some 600 euros were henceforth transferred monthly to Took, whose buffalo and relatives remained in surprisingly fine health until his return in October. Then just last week Took had reluctantly and tearfully revealed to him that she was actually still married, and that her long-awaited divorce had not yet come through.

Of course misguided love stories aren’t restricted to Thailand, here’s one from Australia:

A woman who tricked a man into thinking she had ovarian cancer to extort around $35,000 for cosmetic surgeries has narrowly avoided jail time.

The court was told the man, a married father-of-one who cannot be named, met Carlin on dating website Adult Match Maker and wanted to start a sexual relationship.

But Carlin spurned his physical advances and instead told him she had cancer and needed $18,000 for life-saving diabetes surgery.

The man began depositing large sums of money into Carlin’s bank account, which she then used for breast implants and liposuction.

A heavy tropical storm ‘Noul’ has hit southern Vietnam causing widespread flooding.

The Meteorological Department’s statement about 6 am Monday said tropical storm Noul in the mid-South China Sea was centered about 550 km east of Ho Chi Minh City with sustained winds of 65 km/hr, and that it was moving westward at a speed of 18 km/hr.

The storm is expected to strike the Southeast Asia land mass in southern Vietnam during Monday and Tuesday (November 17-18) and begin moving inland.

Thailand’s Eastern and eastern Northeastern provinces will experience more rainfall, and the already prevailing northeast monsoon over the Gulf of Thailand will strengthen with waves above two metres from Tuesday through the rest of the week.

All ships should proceed with caution during this period, the Meterological Department announcement said. Source

I caught a boat this morning from Koh Tao to Koh Phangan and fortunately the sea was as flat as a tack. I found a great, quiet place right on the beach with free wifi. Hopefully if we do get rain, it doesn’t stop the signal.

“Tourist arrivals plummet in Thailand amid credit crunch”, reads the headline on AP news.

Thailand is now starting to head into its “high” tourist season which goes approximately from December to late March. It is the first time for me to be in Thailand during the high season. I feel a little sorry for tourist operators, who seem to have to rely on a fairly short period for most of their business for the year.

Some businesses even close up for the low season, which coincides with the rainy season. Many hotels and tourist operators use the low season to renovate and spruce up their businesses in anticipation for the high season.

Actually being in Thailand right now, it seems pretty busy to me. However AP reports that arrivals for September are down 21 percent.

“We will probably have a very bad high season,” said Oliver Martin of industry body the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

“You’re going to have it across the board. It’s going to be everyone — from the luxury resort right down to a small tour operator, a mom-and-pop shop or a restaurant,” he added.

The article also points to the fact that the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) focuses most of marketing efforts on trying to lure wealthy and package tourists to Thailand. I haven’t seen any numbers for Thailand, but I have seen numbers for backpackers in Australia and they can pump just as much money into the economy as package tourists, as they tend to stay for longer periods and stay at hotels run by locals, rather than multi-national hotel chains.

Thailand is also used as a base for Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, so I am sure numbers are well down in those countries too. Fortunately for the people who are still planning to travel, you should be able to get some nice discounts on your accommodation.

I calculated that it has been 14 years since the last time I visited Koh Tao. That was my first trip to Thailand when visited many of the southern islands.

Not surprisingly, the place has changed a lot and not for the better. I caught a catamaran from Chumpon. Last time I think I got a speed boat. For the size of the craft, I was surprised how sick in the stomach I felt and it didn’t even think it was choppy.

I am staying on Sairee beach, which is where I also stayed last time. I don’t know if it is just that it is high tide, but the sandy area of the beach was only about a meter deep and I don’t think you could have walked along very far before hitting a building, rocks or pillars of concrete.

Obviously things can never stay the same forever, but it seems like development has gone completely out of control, with little respect for the natural environment. Koh Tao is small and there are just a few main beaches where people stay, but everyone seems to ride around on motorbikes and those 4-wheeled ATVs.

My best memory I had all those years ago, was walking along dirt paths and coming across a beach where I was the only one snorkelling. I remember feeling like Robinson Crusoe at the time.

I enjoy reading the local expat newspapers and magazines to the places I visit. You get a good feel for what is happening in the expat community of a particular place. I am always on the look out for a place I would like to spend an extended amount of time and one thing that makes a city or town attractive to me is a friendly expat community.

I am in Hua Hin now which is about 300km south of Bangkok. It is a quiet beach town which seems to be very popular with older Europeans. Every second shop in the town seems to be selling somewhat expensive, upmarket condos and villas, aimed at western retirees.

A story grabbed my attention tonight in one of the local expat magazines I was reading – an American man was shot out the front of his home in Hua Hin by a Thai man. Apparently the American were involved in some kind of property dispute with a developer, which was apparently set to go before the courts.

You can read details of the story on a Hua Hin expat forum. Thailand is probably safer for westerners than when they are in their own country. The only times people seem to get into trouble is when they have had too much to drink or get involved in disputes with locals.

The American who was shot had previously had his car fire bombed. I can understand the couple wanting to try and resolve their property dispute, but when it starts to put your family’s safety in danger, sometimes it is better to walk away.

On my last night in Bangkok I went to the Loy Krathong festival. I was staying near the backpacker ghetto of Khao San Road which is close to the Chao Phraya, one of the places where people launched their flower and leaf boats from.

People make boats out of banana leaves and decorate them with flowers and finally light a candle on them before releasing them in a river. The idea is that people release their troubles.

It was pretty crazy with the traffic, food stalls and people trying to get to the river. The festival is bigger in Chiang Mai and it even made it to BBC news.

It is an interesting time to be in Thailand right now. Today is the festival of Loy Krathong. People float leaf and flower boats with lit candles and incense down rivers and canals.

According to wikipedia, “the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one’s grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. People will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to the raft as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself.”

Thailand is also preparing for the cremation of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. The cremation will be held on the large space of land near the Golden Temple called Sanam Luang from November 14th to the 19th.

I went to Sanam Luang yesterday where the royal crematorium has now been set up. Lots of people were there already wearing black to pay their respects and taking pictures of the golden crematorium. Most bars and entertainment venues will be closed across Thailand during this time.