SCREENCAPTURES: Kritsada Mueanawong

The vessel, that is at the centre of Thailand’s dramatic drop in Chinese tourists, will arrive back at a boatyard in Rassada today.

Back on July 5 it headed out for a day of diving near Koh Hei, south west of Phuket. The day was mostly fine although there had been warnings from early in the morning about potentially bad weather developing later. Smaller boats had been warned to stay ashore.

The boat never made it back to Phuket, and out of the nearly 100 passengers, 47, including many children, never made it back either.

The impact of the tragedy was partly softened by the international fascination in the Mu Pa football team who were being rescued from the Chiang Rai cave at the same time. The interest in that story surely softened the potential full media impact of the story. News editors around the world would have thought ‘one story from Thailand is enough’ for the nightly news.

But the story still played out, badly, especially in Chinese social media. In the hours after the full extent of the tragedy emerged, and as the search was still continuing for survivors, the Thai PM Prawit Wongsuwan said the event was ‘Chinese killing Chinese’, (referring to the revelation that the owner of the boat was a Thai nominee company acting on behalf of a real Chinese ‘owner’).

The first attempts at salvage were a sham. Photos send from participating divers showed water tanks and cables in a make-shift effort to refloat the sunken vessel. The attempt was doomed before it even started; the true tragedy being the loss of one diver’s life during the operation which was never going to work.

But after a week of preparations from a Singapore firm, the Phoenix, four and a half months later, returned to the surface with signs that the seabed was already reclaiming the wreckage. It emerged in a well-orchestrated media show, on cue, around 3.30pm yesterday.

When it finally reaches the Rassada boatyard there are some key elements police want to check that will finalise their report and become part of the prosecution evidence in the court cases.

Who was responsible for the boat’s sinking? Could it have been avoided? Who set up the company with the local nominee? Was the Captain or crew liable in their duty of care for the passengers on the day? Was the original design of Phoenix ‘fit for purpose’? Who were the officials that signed off on the design and building specifications for Phoenix? Indeed, was the naval architect of the vessel qualified to design such a boat? What was the limit of passengers for the boat? Should Phoenix been out in the open seas that day? Did the company know of the day’s weather forecast? (Even The Thaiger posted a screen-saver of the approaching storm during the afternoon). Was Phoenix carrying the required safety gear and was the safety gear ‘fit for purpose’?

The answers to these and many other question will now be meticulously sought by experts, lawyers and officials. No dates have been set for the court cases at this stage. But it has already been reported that the Captain of Phoenix, the Thai owner of the nominee company, the Phuket Marine Chief and several companies have already had charges brought against them.

At the time it was thought that the Chinese response to the Phoenix boat disaster would be quite swift but things would probably return to normal by the end of the year. In fact the immediate response was not a sudden drop in tourists. The Chinese who had already booked and paid for their holidays at the time, mostly came. But it was the ones who would have been considering a holiday to Phuket in the months after who have had the most effect. And the effect of their decisions to travel elsewhere is what’s being felt now.

The TAT, forever talking up the numbers of Thai tourism, say they expect the Chinese travellers to return ‘by the end of the year’. We will see.

Marine officials and tourist police have established a number of important new measures to improve marine safety around Phuket, including checks of all 24 ports on a daily basis, spot safety inspections, rigorous weather reporting and minimum specifications for all safety gear carried on tour boats.

Supervising the successful salvage, Maj Gen Surachete Hakparn made it clear that the “government is determined to get to the root cause of the incident so that it can remedy and show sincerity to them,” referring to the families of the Chinese victims.

He predicted that once the court cases have been run, convictions made and people have gone to jail, only then will any semblance of confidence might be restored with the Chinese tourists.

In the months since the sinking Chinese travel companies have been sending their customers elsewhere for their holidays. Whether Phuket’s heyday as a Chinese tourism favourite is over is yet to be seen.

By Mark Louie Maycong

Phuket is one of the Thailand’s most popular tourist destinations and continuously booming. There are so many attractions and activities that you can enjoy. One of them is visiting the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.

Visiting this place is heaven on earth specially for animal lovers. You get to know the elephants and their back stories and learn the different ways to help them, individually and as a species.

December last year (2017) was indeed a memorable experience for me. I visited the camp for half a day and it was not enough. Knowing the elephants’ experiences, being educated on how they survive, preparing their food, feeding, bathing and cleaning them was a once in a lifetime experience that I thought will never happen again.

This time I was lucky to be invited to visit all the sanctuaries! Monday morning I visited the same camp as last year – Camp 1 at Tambon Sa Khu; in the afternoon I went to Camp 2 at Phang Muang Sai Kor. I had barely recovered from the amazing whole day experiences at Camps 1 and 2. But right away, the next day,t exactly 6:45am Tuesday morning, I was picked up by the camp driver to visit the newest Camp 3 in Tambon Kathu near the Kathu Waterwalls. Indeed the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is getting bigger. It means they are saving more and more elephants from working as loggers, performers and riders.

Here is what to expect in Half Day and Full Day Trip at the Sanctuary.

Camp Ride Service

The sanctuary will pick you up and take you back to your accommodation. This is included in your fee for both half and full day visitors. This awesome Sanctuary have the best staff that will help, guide and educate you about the amazing elephants.

Briefing

Once you arrived at the camp, you will be informed about the things that you are going to do and what not to do whilst with the elephants. At the same time you will learn about the Elephants’ lives and experiences, particularly the individuals living in the camp.

Food Preparation

The fun begins! You will be given a quick lesson on what food you will arrange. Most of the time the elephants at the camp eat bananas, watermelons, corn and sugar cane. After preparing the food you will then carry the baskets to the feeding area.

Feeding Time

The goosebumps moment! Once all the food is well arranged at the feeding area, the elephants then arrive. If it is your first time, don’t panic! I know what you feel, emotions that can’t be explained in a single adjective – happiness, amusement, nervousness, excitement – all in one! This will be the time you will see some elephants excited for their food and people’s affection. Everyone is encouraged to give lots of love to all of the herd, specially to adult giants who suffered a lot most of their lives living as an exploited animal outside the camp.

Lunch

Like the ride service, food is included in your fee. The camp prepares food for everyone whether you are a meat eater or a vegetarian like me!

Mud Bath

Play Time! This is one of the most exciting moments that I regret that I did not try last time. And I did it now, finally. I bet ‘mud bath’ is the best time for the giants since this is their ultimate play ground.

Note: Remember to always stay in front or by their side and never behind them, especially when they are lying down.

Swimming Time

My favourite! Swimming time is where you will scrape all the remaining mud off their bodies and because they are well taken care of most probably there will be a little feeding time again.

Souvenir

These are ‘poncho’ souvenirs for everyone! You can buy extra for 400 baht as a donation for the new building project – Elephant Clinic. They also sell Black Shirts with the logo of the Sanctuary as a design.

What is special if you are a Full Day Visitor?

All of these activities are part of the half and whole day visits. Here are the additional activities for the whole day visitor…

Mother and Daughter bonding

Walking Time

Heart to heart moment. Not everyone gets to experience quality moments with the elephants. I am so happy to be given an opportunity to have bonding time with Natalie and her son, Choke.

Beach Time

Since the elephants have a ‘siesta’, it’s also break time for the staff. The whole day visitors will be sent to the beach for an hour of sun bathing and swimming. Did you see that? You get lots of amazing fun activities in one your. After beach time you will be taken to Camp 2 to join the afternoon session.

What to expect at Camp 3?

Since I was given a chance to visit the newest camp at Tambon Kathu, this is the best platform to share with all of you what to expect in the newest sanctuary. All pictures that are posted here were taken at Camp 3 (except for Natalie and Choke’s picture at Camp 1)

This sanctuary is my sentimental favourite. It’s super huge and it does look like a resort for the elephants. All camps have mud pools, swimming pool, a dining area, briefing area and shower rooms but camp 3 is pure beauty!

with Ebony and Erica (USA) and Ale (Spain)

Seize every moment!

The most important thing to do at the camp is to have fun, be safe and make friends! Please enjoy my short video here and I hope you take the opportunity to visit the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary when you’re next in lovely Phuket.

Let’s keep on supporting this amazing mission to save the elephants forever! Remember “Only humans can ensure the elephant’s future.”

You can follow Mark’s yoga blog HERE.

PHOTO: Nara 9 – www.nara9.net

Property consultants, Edmund Tie & Company – South East Asia – report that the new condo supply for 2019 is ‘unlikely to increase’ and that sales rates are disappointing in Q3.

Their report says that the take-up rate of newly launched condominium projects in Q3 in Bangkok’s CBD dropped from last year’s 58% to only 31%, year on year. This is even lower than the performance in Q2 which was 46%.

Developers are acknowledging that there is a weaker demand for residential units and a significant drop in overall supply.

The three highest performing condo sale segments were the ‘luxury segment’, followed by the ‘super luxury’ and ‘Grade A’ segments.

The average price for condos has remained flat for Q3, compared to Q2 – around 330,000 baht per square metre – but this is still a 32% increase when compared to the same quarter in 2017, according to the report.

But Edmund Tie report that the figures are just a minor ‘blip’ following big rises in demand and sales over the past three years. They report that the new condominium supply in the CBD during Q3 was 1,636 units, rising from 852 in Q2, 2018 – a 92% increase in new units hitting the market.

For the office sector, their report says that rents will continue to increase gradually in the final quarter of this year and into 2019, driven by limited supply.

“There will be an increased demand for office condos in Bangkok.”

They say office developers remain focused on providing open-plan office space close to public transport nodes.