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Ecotourism: Green or Opaque?
It’s Thursday, and the color of the day is green, so I thought I would write a bit more on ecotourism — my focus for the summer. Yingluck Shinawatra, the Prime Minister of Thailand, is proposing to...
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Teenaged Thai Casanovas
“Arjaan suai,” were the first words out of my student’s mouth. After nearly two weeks behind a desk, I jumped at the opportunity to teach some informal English lessons at a local temple. One other...
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My Mind is in the Gutter
I never thought I would spend so much of grad school obsessing over toilets. They’re far from romantic, with nowhere near the appeal of saving cute baby elephants or turtles. Toilets, though, can have...
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What do you miss from home?
When living in the developing world people always ask about the things I miss from home. However, that list is surprisingly short. I have the occasional bagel or salsa craving, but hot showers, TV, and...
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Torture on Thailand’s High Seas
I was going to write about my recent village interview trip today. Remote villages without internet — or even electricity in many cases — prevented any new entries. However, I’ll postpone that until...
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Villages Interview Trip
Durian is the King of Thai fruit. It is also banned in most Asian hotels and airports. Durian’s aroma is sometimes likened to cat vomit, or that dead animal that’s been hidden somewhere in your house...
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Community Meeting
Saturday Ban Talae Nok, one of the local villages, had a community tourism group meeting. After working individually with many of the local tourism stakeholders, I joined the meeting to observe the...
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No, they’re definitely laughing at you.
Remember how when you were a kid your parents always said, “they’re not laughing at you, they’re laughing with you.” As a farang in Thailand I have never found that to be true. The locals are...
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How much can you get on your truck?
Overloading trucks and motorbikes is common in Thailand. Two parents, three kids, and the family dog sharing the motorbike are a common sight, especially at school dropoffs. This truck is so absurdly...
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Volunteer Competition
The Tourism Authority of Thailand is sponsoring a volunteer tourist, or ‘voluntourist’, competition to raise awareness of socially responsible travel. The Little Big Project selected 10 finalists to...
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For survey geeks.
The Community Based Tourism Institute of Thailand has asked several people at Andaman Discoveries to fill out a survey on … something. 12 pages later and I’m still not sure what any question actually...
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Videogames and Aladdin
If, based on the title, you think this post is going to be animated and entertaining turn back now: I’m talking about transcription. Since returning from the villages I’ve been typing observation notes...
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Conservation or photo op?
Earlier this month Thailand named two new Ramsar sites. One of these sites — the Koh Phra Thong and Koh Ra Archipelago — is just a few miles from the Andaman Discoveries office. AD conducts tours and...
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I don’t think there are snakes here, but…
A few weeks ago some Andaman Discoveries staff went on a mission to Oliver’s durian farm. Oliver’s been living around Kuraburi for 14 years, and remains defiantly English with a handful of Thailand...
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Local views on tourism and conservation.
On top of the weekday work to get my initial recommendations ready for my last day at Andaman Discoveries, my last two weekends were consumed with “research”. One weekend on Koh Ra at the Koh Ra...
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