The bars of the block received some attention this week as readers posted their raves and rants on Hua Hin’s nocturnal establishments. The bar scene has mushroomed over the years and what once was a sleepy town with two or three watering holes now has hundreds of them. A common complaint about some bars in the binta-block area is bill padding whereby additional items mysteriously appear when it is time to check bin. This does occur from time to time, occasionally intentional and often accidental; furthermore customers often get confused especially after consuming 12 Changs. The bars in town change hands so frequently that a good bar this year could be a bad one next and due to astronomical rents a lot of bars are now popping up out of town as Hua Hin’s urban sprawl spreads further afield.
A lot of discussion was generated over a British documentary called Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand. The production depicted life in some of Thailand’s livelier tourist spots such as Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Pha-ngan and followed some farang volunteer tourist police on their beat. The usual troubles involving corruption, drugs, alcohol and hookers dominated the documentary but a couple of scams including the jetski damage trick were also uncovered. Thailand has had a lot of bad press in the last couple of years so instead of trying to improve its image and tackle the problems the Thai authorities, according to Phuket based internet sites, tried to stop production and further episodes being broadcast.
A startling report on the state of Thailand’s coral reefs appeared in the mainstream media this week and while there are no reefs around Hua Hin the article did cast a shadow over the future of the marine ecosystems further down the coast south of Prachuab. As usual some of the blame for coral degradation was put on foreigners and the diving industry; they neglected to mention the primary cause of coral damage in Thailand which is destructive fishing practices. The coral reef is an entire ecosystem which relies on the fish to be there and local fishermen generally do not respect the ocean they depend on for their livelihood.
There are a couple of islands off the coast of Chumphon with good coral growth and while it was good that they had designated the area a marine national park, it was deplorable that the authorities were all too keen to deprive the farangs of 200 baht to visit the islands but still allowed locals to anchor on the coral and fish using nets.
Many beaches off the tourist trail are fringed with a tide line that comprises of a trail of plastic, polystyrene, bottles, fishing nets and general trash just carelessly cast overboard by local fishing boats. Only when Thailand stops its money grabbing and starts caring for its environment through education will these reports show something positive, and maybe the reef ecosystem will survive for our grandchildren to enjoy.