from Dublin to........Mirissa, Sri Lanka: A dying destination.......Koh Phangan, Thailand

What I am about to write will no doubt upset some people....definitely locals and possibly frequent travelers to Thailand who love the place. I didn't explore Thailand's south in its entirety for numerous reasons. What I did see however I didn't really like. I had been warned about this but I chose to have a look for myself.

Firstly, very few people recommend Phuket, generally because it epitomises everything that people dislike about the south of Thailand. As the first major island destination in Thailand all those years ago, it has undergone what appears to be the greatest transformation from quiet, idealic island to mass over-developed tourism machine where money-in-the-pocket-now overrides everything. It's an all too common tale and the usual suspects seem to be a distinct lack of government control/foresight and corruption at various levels. This is by no means a ground-breaking observation as it is constantly in your face, from the ridiculously priced taxis which are run by the equivalent of the Thai mafia, to the plethora of ATMs that are owned by the police officers of the locales that all charge an insane USD5.00 per transaction (free in Malaysia), the tourism agencies, development approvals....it goes on and on. Gouging of the tourist is expected to an extent but in many instances it is beyond belief especially where a tightly controlled monopolistic service is provided.

This all aside, what really irritates me and perhaps more than anything, disappoints me, is that all of this comes at the cost of the very reason why people have been travelling to Thailand for the last 30 years....the stunning scenery (above and below water) and the friendly people of course. I fear that the scenery part has been largely destroyed by a lack of government control and planning and incompetence in the management of marine environments. I was constantly astounded with the latter. Such obvious (and cheap) measures could have been taken to avoid the complete destruction of many coral reefs that it is as if no management even exists.

Word of mouth is already having its effect. Divers discourage visiting Thailand now as it isn't what it used to be. The beaches can still be fantastic however many are blighted by the mass of hotels, bars and restaurants that line it from end to end. Sure, some people like this. I don't. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that many travelers whom once would have opted to visit southern Thailand are now choosing alternate destinations....Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc. One unfortunate thing that all these destinations have in common is their proximity to the South China Sea....a disgusting cesspool of rubbish swirling around and washing up on beaches and coastline all over SE Asia.... every day. How our oceans cope with this abuse I don't know.

On the flip side, development has resulted in some modern Western comforts to make your stay more.....Western:

Golden Rock (Ao Niad) – A small beach side bar that serves some food and has extremely basic and cheap accommodation (THB150/n). The attraction of this place, aside from Mama, the friendly and pudgy owner that literally rolls around on her elevated wooden platform barking orders to the kitchen and collecting payments, is the very relaxed atmosphere here, almost so relaxed it doesn’t really have an atmosphere. Just about everyone there is stoned, getting stoned or asleep. You can even buy mushroom shakes there. There is a very small yellow sign off the main road leading down a short dirt track towards the beach. The prominent clients seemed to be young Germans and Dutch…..asleep. Not good for business if you ask me.

Secret Beach (Haad Son Resort) - A little gem of a place to escape to….unless the crazy Russians have beaten you there (that excludes the lovely Russian women). Not more than five minutes ride north of where I was staying at Sri Thanu. A similarly small sign that can easily be missed, else park in the Resort and walk to the impressively constructed bar, decking and sun-baking area built on top of the rocky outcrop at the northern end of the small beach. Very clever use of space. The beach itself normally only has a handful of people on it. Most prefer the comfort of the concreted lounge area where you can swim and snorkel and jump from. Be forewarned, the water isn’t that deep. Make sure the tide is up else you could hit the bottom. Some spots you definitely can’t jump into as you will break many, many bones. The bar and restaurant are predictably pricey but their espresso was the best I had on the island.

Koh Ma – A small island in the north west corner that is joined to Phangan by a short stretch of sand. Touted as one of the better places to snorkel. Perhaps this is the case if you go all the way around it but from what I saw just off the beach, it was a frigging disaster zone. Broken piece of coral everywhere and very little coral life off the beach.

Three Monkeys Bar – One of the tiniest bars I’ve been to. Set on a narrow strip of sand on the southern end of Sri Thanu beach it has a very relaxed feel about it, some good music playing and very friendly owners. Kai will probably do a little fire dancing at some stage during the night.

Amsterdam Bar – A bar set on the side of a hill perfect for watching the sunset over the water. Has a huge open balcony with lots of cushions and low set tables. Get there at least an hour before sunset to secure a spot on the rail, grab yourself a beer, lie down and wait. The path up is very steep. Five minutes north of Thongsala.

Rasta Home Bar – A very rasta place….pictures of Bob Marley everywhere, green, yellow and red. The night I went was the Friday jam session. Bring your own instrument and jump in and play. Youni with his African drums was very impressive. Worth checking out on one of the jam nights. Good crowd too. Another place to try out is The Jam.

Mama Pooh’s Kitchen (Sri Thanu) – Certainly not a fine dining setting by any means. A few creepy crawlies wandering around and some mozzies at dusk but worth persevering. Mama probably served the best food I ate on the island. Write down the number of your order and indicate how spicy you would like it with “*”s. Good value for the serving sizes. Lived off their chicken massaman curry. Winner.

Sri Thanu Kitchen (Sri Thanu) – Mama prepares everything to order here right in front of you. It's reasonably good here, certainly better than Good Time.

Night Market (Thongsala) – Great if you want something different from the typical restaurant menus. Typical street food, not as cheap as you may expect but very affordable. A great place here that sells fruit shakes for THB20 (about 100 different variations). Also visit the French guy who serves up fish and chips - bit pricey but his fish is of excellent quality.

Fellinis Italian – A fancier Italian place (a few of them around) that makes a reasonable pizza and mozzarella bruscheta. Prefer Pizza Chiara for super thin crust pizza.

Pizza Chiara (next to the night market) – A good pizza that is super thin. Almost so thin that it doesn't fill you up so quite enough. Listen to the Italian owner talk in the background and watch one of the eight TV screens streaming live sports from all over the world.

Good Time – I don’t think so. Reasonably popular restaurant in Sri Thanu for reasons I cannot work out. I ate there twice I recall, giving them a second chance after an ordinary first experience. Failed. Worst massamam curry I had in Thailand. Skip it.

7 Eleven – Does this place ever close??? There are probably 70 million of them in Thailand alone. A godsend at times. Use them to change large bills or get cold beer.

Pirate's Bar - The next bar up from Golden Rock. Puts on a good dance party once a week with much better music than most places. Quite cool house music when I was there. Dance on the beach or in the water and lounge on the decking. Not the young immature crowd that you get in the south east.

Full Moon Beach (Haad Rin Nok) - Hmmm. Quite a nice beach actually. One of the best I visited. However, lined with trashy bars and 19 year olds getting slaughtered. Felt very old there.