October 2002 82nd Issue

Dusit Resort Press Release - Withe's White Wedding

It was a great moment for Thailand's national football team's English coach, Peter Withe (standing 2nd right) with the recent marriage of his son, Jason to Miss Sharon McNamee at Dusit Resort and Polo Club, Cha-am/Hua Hin. Following the exchange of vows at the hotel's Ban Benjarong, friends and families congregated to congratulae the couple and celebrate at the reception, beside the beach in the Rim Taley Restaurant.

Over the coming months we will bring you extracts from travellers journals in several parts, starting this month with 'A month in Malaysia'

Leave the southern Thai settlement of Yala abruptly in the morning rain on the train to the border town of Sungai Kolok. Low mists shroud dark green hills as I pass a number of water settlements where people have constructed wooden houses literally over the swamplands. Walk 300 metres from the railway station to the border and after a little time questioning my visa the Thai immigration authorities grant me my exit stamp and I cross the Sungai Kolok River into Malaysia. Change my Baht into Ringgit at Rantau Panjang and get a bus to Kota Bharu. Visually there’s little difference to Thailand yet but the place feels a little more composed. The women are concealed in their Muslim attire, often only a pair of eyes peek out with curiosity. The submissive religion is taken very seriously on the east coast of the Malay peninsular and Kota Bharu is the Islamic stronghold and a centre for Malay culture. Consequently everything is closed for some religious festival or other. Decide to press on and catch a bus to Kuala Besut, the coastal gateway to the Perhentian Islands. The tiny fishing village is totally deserted, barring the odd goat and a few hundred tenacious mosquitoes.
The old fishing boat takes around two hours to make it out to the islands. The weather isn’t as idyllic as it could be and there’s quite a swell. A local in a small motor boat pulls up along side us and loads up, he guns the engine and clears the water as we bounce over the breakers and land on the beach in true James Bond style. The island is virtually deserted all but a couple of locals and a few travellers that have braved the heavy seas to get here. Settle in to my beach hut and hit the ocean to catch a few waves, its a harsh life in paradise. A ten minute walk through the jungle brings me out on the other side of the island where there is another stunning beach, just as deserted. The ocean is sheltered here so its very tranquil.
These islands are a total contrast to those in Thailand, its alcohol free here so the party life of Koh Samui is a long way away. Take a morning swim and go for a freedive over the other side of the island. The marine life is impressive; brightly coloured parrotfish, iridescent fusiliers, and graceful butterflyfish are abundant. The midday heat is punishing so sit it out in the shade of a coconut palm ... on an empty beach.
The weather slowly begins to turn and an unexpectedly high tide has some of the locals concerned. By night fall the wind has picked up and there’s talk of evacuation tomorrow. Its low season so there is only a handful of people on the island. We’re wondering whether a boat will come out in such conditions. Food is free tonight as everyone is packing up to leave in the morning.
Get up this morning to find the place empty, make it across the island in record time to find everyone sitting on the beach waiting for a boat which has failed to show up. The lifelong dream of being stranded on a desert island slowly becomes a reality but not the one I had in mind. Four hours later a familiar chugging sound is heard in the distance and our saviour arrives, the journey back is not as comfortable as the one out but the mainland is a sight for sore eyes.
My bus across the country to Penang does not leave until ten this evening so I have all day to kill in Kota Bharu. The city could almost be in the Middle East with the Muslim dress, Arabic script and Mosques dotted around the place, its totally different to anywhere across the border. Again everything is closed due to some religious affair or other. Night falls and I’m on the move again, the bus journey from hell. Eight sleepless hours of what feels like sub-zero temperatures as the obstinate driver refuses to turn off the air conditioning despite it being requested by the only 6 people on the bus. My introduction to Georgetown is not the one I hoped for. The town is totally dead, even the hotels are closed. This is for the Muslim Ramadan festival but I fail to comprehend why the Chinese are celebrating this, must be a national holiday here. Find myself a comfortable piece of pavement and sleep until movement begins to occur a few hours later. Penang is the oldest British settlement in Malaysia and is one of the countries major tourist resorts.
The big Chinatown in Georgetown is enthralling; loud conversations emanating from every house, food being fried on every corner, people sleeping on any available flat surface, hardly seems like Malaysia at all. Travelling through the narrow streets of Georgetown by trishaw after dark is quite surreal. The town also has an enchanting 'Little India' area where curries are cheap and Hindu artefacts are sold on the street.
Today I purchase my first guitar, with the help of a musician friend I met in Thailand, we scour the shops and finally find a nice ‘axe’ at a quarter of the equivalent price in the UK, all I have to do now is learn how to play it! Both Thais and Malays are very into their music and a guitar is just as common in peoples homes as a TV. There are a few seedy looking places here as well and I’m beginning to accept the fact that there’s no escape from it in Asia. The nightlife mainly consists of a few ex-pat and traveller pubs in the old town.
Head across the island to the beach resort of Batu Ferringhi or 'foreigners rock'. The place is like Eastbourne in the tropics and the beach is nowhere near as attractive as those of the Perhentian and Thai islands, maybe I’m just getting spoilt by paradise! Back in town and I brave the elevators to check out the view from the top of the Komtar Tower.
I can see across the waters to the Penang bridge which is the longest in South East Asia at 8km, old dilapidated houses, colourful market stalls and impressive temples are all visible from up here. Penang is a very colourful and vibrant place, with the mixture of Malays, Chinese and Westerners here there’s always something to see and people to meet.
Up and out of Georgetown painfully early to catch a bus south to the Cameron highlands and a dramatic change of scenery. The relatively short distance takes a long time as the road twists and turns up to an elevation of around 1500 metres. The jungle looks Jurassic, ferns as big as houses, palm trees, huge flowers and all manner of bizarre wildlife. The hills here are dotted with tea plantations, flower nurseries and strawberry farms. A complete contrast to the typical Asian towns and beach life that I have seen already, its also noticeably colder here than down on the coast. The small village of Tanah Rata is very quiet, as is our tiny family run hostel. Most people come here for the tranquillity, wildlife and mountain walks so why not join them. I take on the hardest first, ‘a relentless three hour climb’ as quoted by my guide book. Reach the summit of 1840 metres for an awesome view across the valley. The jungle is teeming with flowers, plants and insects, many of which wouldn’t look out of place in the latest sci-fi movie. The descent isn’t so pleasant, it rains midway and I end up sliding down most of it and am covered in mud and bruises by the time I hit the bottom. Its at times like this when I realise how unfit I am, the pain should only last a couple of days though. Tackle another peak today and the rain holds off, these jungles are home to some of the worlds largest spiders and beetles, hope that I’m not fortunate enough to run into any of them. Relax back in town which could almost be European with its old style houses, post office and flower gardens.

Article and photography by Martin Young, continued next month.

Dan Stewart 1932 - 2002

Passed away in Hua Hin after a long illness. Sadly missed by his wife Khun Katai, his son Chuck in Bangkok, and by all his many friends in Hua Hin

Wildlife Update

Wildlife Friends Help Another Sanctuary. This month, once again, WFT has gone to the aid of another wildlife sanctuary where many (over 250!!) animals are in desperate need of help. Eight years ago in Ban Ratchakrut, Ranong province, a small wildlife sanctuary was set up by a teacher next to a school. Over the years, many unwanted and injured wild animals of many different species, including gibbons, leopard cats, civets, otters, deer and many birds have been left in the center’s care. However, the center has very limited funds and staff and now has far too many animals to cope with. About two and a half years ago the sanctuary was promised substantial financial and practical help from a well known ‘animal rescue’ organization in Thailand and their alleged ‘help’ is described in great detail on their website. On a recent visit to Ranong, however, we visited the sanctuary and were appalled by what we saw. All of the animals were living in terrible conditions, all in dirty cages with little or no shelter from the elements. Many cages were overcrowded, different species were housed together and animals were knee-deep in mud. We were shocked to hear that the organization that has publicized its’ involvement in helping the sanctuary so much has not been in contact for over two years, especially as considerable funds have been raised on behalf of the project. We are not prepared to abandon the sanctuary as this other organization has done so we have pledged our help and support. After talking to the caretaker and owner it was agreed that it was in the best interests of the animals if many are handed over to other centers and the Ratchakrut sanctuary can focus on providing better care to fewer animals. We are now working in cooperation with various authorities that have agreed to take in many of the birds and deer whilst we are making preparations to take in many of the mammals ourselves. Funds are limited and for those people to would like to help out we kindly ask you to consider “adopting” one of the unfortunate animals there…
Second Big Island. Exciting news this month is the generous sponsorship of a second ‘big island’ by Dutch company Vergouwen-Overduin. Mr. Overduin recently visited our rescue center and after seeing the gibbons living on islands have provided a generous donation so that in the near future more gibbons can be living ‘semi-wild’ in an island environment. This donation has enabled us to purchase an existing “peninsula” in the lake that will be transformed into a brand new island, which provides an ideal habitat for gibbons as it already has lots of well-established vegetation and many large trees. We hope to relocate six gibbons onto the island in the very near future, once we have planted more trees, worked on some enrichments and modifications to the island.
Bangkok Visit. We recently visited Bangkok to investigate the illegal wildlife trade that is still operating at the Chatuchak weekend market. Amongst the many domestic animals that were for sale we also saw many squirrels, reptiles and wild birds, all kept in appalling, overcrowded conditions. We also saw two pygmy lorises for sale, a protected species that trade in which is totally illegal. We were also interested to see if we could find any evidence of wild animal parts and products such as tiger bone being illegally traded and we did come across a stall selling animal skins and ivory. The relevant authorities have been made aware of our findings. We were also concerned to see the extent of the city elephant problem. We saw many elephants roaming the streets at night being used as begging tools to make money for their owners. All of them appeared highly stressed and in poor physical condition. We have started a campaign to raise awareness, especially among tourists, about the plight of these elephants and to discourage people from being tempted to give the owners money in an effort to end this exploitation.
New Arrivals. Three young gibbons have recently taken up residence at the center after being given up by their owner who was keeping them in a small cage in a garden in the nearby town of Hua Hin. All gibbons were found healthy and were moved a few days after arrival to one of the juvenile islands. They were soon joined by PepsiMax, another young gibbon who was also recently brought to us by his owners. Once the new big island is ready they will all move there where they will be able to live in a completely natural environment and swing in the tall trees for the first time in their lives. We feel that it is very encouraging that people are now willingly giving up animals to us before it’s too late for them to be rehabilitated in some way, and that more and more people are realizing that wild animals do not make suitable pets.
Educational Program. Volunteers and staff recently assisted in teaching children as part of an English program organized by the local school authority. We were able to teach 1400 children from all the schools in the district about the wildlife of Thailand and deliver an important message about the need for conservation, as well as assisting with teaching English. We hope to carry out many more school visits in the future as part of our educational program.
Volunteer Thanks. We wish to thank all of the volunteers who have helped at the center over the past couple of months Tessa Wiggans, Tom Sample, Meghan Kokal, Mark Bishay, Suzanne, Catherine Johnson, and Ellen Slot.

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