Thai Tourism

Well. I wish I had better things to say about Thailand this time around, but it seems that in the 3 years since I was here the first time, tourism has really taken a brutal turn and the environment is suffering for it.

I left Bangkok 3 or 4 days ago and took an overnight bus down to the southern province of Krabi. The bus trip left something to be desired (I was stuck beside an old stinky Italian man who clearly doesn't know what the idea of personal space is) but I got to watch Inception and Salt, and even with Thai subtitles, they are good movies!

I arrived in Krabi town and hopped on a long tail boat taxi to head to a beach called Railay. There are lots of different kinds of beaches in Thailand--party beaches, family beaches, honeymoon beaches--but unfortunately they don't have a "lonesome backpacker beach" so I settled here, haha. Things here turned out to be more expensive than I thought (pretty standard) but I met a really nice British couple, Jenni and Ben, and because they are also cheap, we decided to get a "bungalow" together, and by bungalow I really mean wood shed with cockroaches! Anyway, its been nice hanging out with them the past few days because I was starting to get a wee bit lonely. I suppose when you do a big trip on your own, the happiness factor ebbs and flows. Don't worry, I'm not complaining, I know how lucky a gal I am, I just miss a lot of you people on the other side of the world.

The beaches here are nice, but crowded. The environment surrounding the beaches is beautiful. There are tons of limestone caves and cliffs jutting out of the ocean. The sunsets are pretty nice too.

Unfortunately on some of the beaches I've been to, they are littered with people's garbage which makes me really upset. There are a lot of terrible tourists out there who either don't have a brain or don't care about anything other than their suntan and the number of photos they can capture and it gets really hard for me to watch. I have gotten into a few spats with people the past 2 days--the first for the treatment of a wild monkey (honestly, I can't get into it, it'll make me too upset) and the second was today about throwing sliced green (yes, it was green) bread into the sea. As each day goes by on this trip, I feel better and better about my decision to leave teaching and go into environmental law. I just hope that I can make some sort of a positive difference.

Jenni and Ben just came from 6 weeks in India, so they have been giving me loads of great tips (and Tim if you're reading this, I need you to tell me where to go!) I'm nervous about going though because I know that the attitude towards the environment, animals, and people, is only going to get worse, and it's going to be really tough to see. Also, I still don't have a visa for India (I checked the website today and it just says in process) so who knows if I'm even going to get there!?!

Anyhow, tomorrow I'm heading a little further south to an island called Ko Lanta, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a bit better in terms of the consciousness of people, than it is here. Sorry this post isn't as positive as the others have been, but after a while you really start to think about your effect on the world in terms of tourism, and it's not that pleasant. It is so important to be a responsible traveller and respect the amount of beauty around you. I just wish more people felt that way.