The Attraction of Baan Tai

The first time I stayed at Baan Tai I couldn’t quite understand the attraction of the place. Why would Princess Eugenie choose to stay at Baan Tai rather than at one of the luxury hotels at Thong Nai Pan Noi? If she wanted to party why didn’t she stay at Haad Rin or the nearby Leela Beach?

Baan Tai is a pleasant stretch of white sand. The 7-11 on the corner with the Thong Nai Pan Road is a great shop with lots of cheap eats and drinks. The red light zone at night has its obvious appeal for men. Resorts like Milky Bay and Lime n Soda are good mid-range options. There are plenty of bars and small restaurants to check out.

But the choice of places to eat and drink is not as enticing as in Haad Rin. The bigger problem is the beach. Half the year (during low tidal months from May to October) the sea remains shallow for 200 meters until you get to the coral reefs. While those who like to snorkel might appreciate the chance to see marine life, most of us just want a sea that is warm, that has sand under foot and that gets deep at a reasonable distance from the beach.

In terms of beach quality Baan Tai is not as good as east coast beaches such as Haad Thian and Than Sadet or north coast beaches such as Bottle Beach. If you choose a beach holiday than surely the quality of the beach is the primary consideration? Perhaps not. Baan Tai has other advantages that seem to weigh more heavily for tourists. The most important advantage of Baan Tai is that it is well connected to the best facilities and amenities on the island.

Baan Tai is located on a good road that links the main town of Thongsala and the main tourist centre of Haad Rin. You can get to either place easily by rented motorbike or by one of the frequent pick up taxis plying the main road. In Baan Tai and Thongsala you find the best shops on the island. There are plenty of shops for clothes and souvenirs. There is a fishing shop. There is Baan Computer and of course there are the big supermarkets such as Tesco Lotus, C Market, Big A and Makro.

Those who like eating out there is Fisherman’s Restaurant, Food Factory, Café Amazon, Fresh Sushi, Outlaws Salon, Hell’s Kitchen, The Lounge, The Pier Restaurant and Ando Loco. You can get everything from fresh fish to great fast food; from cheap Thai curry to pizza.

The same goes for nightlife. There are bars and clubs such as Loi Lay Floating Bar, Amnesia and Ku Club that have DJ music as well as White Rabbit and Outlaws Salon that have bands. There are several hostels that get busy around Full Moon and who throw pre-party events. And then there are big outdoor raves such as the Half Moon Party, Jungle Experience and the Black Moon Party. For the young who come to Koh Phangan to drink and socialise Baan Tai is an excellent holiday destination.

While the minimum stay requirement for the Full Moon Party also applies to Baan Tai accommodation the area has plenty of cheap places to stay such as Hacienda Backpackers, Palida Resort, O Sole Mio and My Palace. There are plenty of dorm beds. Many of the resorts have swimming pools and are next to the beach. There is little beachfront accommodation in Haad Rin; the place gets very noisy during the run-up to the party, and few places have swimming pools at Haad Rin. You get more for your money by staying at Baan Tai even if your main holiday goal is to do the FMP.

And of course if you want to risk your health there are a dozen bars with girls for rent.

When you put all of this together it becomes less of a mystery as to why people (including British royalty) choose Baan Tai rather than a more picturesque beach with better swimming.

Parties Stopped in Koh Phangan

For years local residents in Baan Tai have been asking the police to do something about the noise being generated by the all-night parties in the area. Their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Ever since the early 2000s when the Full Moon Party became a world-famous event, numerous other monthly parties have sprung up both small and fairly large. Most of these have been in Baan Tai. The combination of a military junta crackdown on illegal activities as well as the adverse publicity generated by the murder of two young Brits, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the neighbouring island of Koh Tao in September, 2014 has forced the police on Koh Phangan to shut down all the parties except for the Full Moon Party.

Until this point it seemed that every year a new regular party was added to the list. The Half Moon Party, Jungle Experience and Shiva Moon Party have been joined by Rhythm and Sands, Loy Lai Floating Bar, Ku Klub and Sramanora Waterfall Blue and Green Party. All in the Baan Tai / Baan Kai area and all going on all night. While the noise is not great for those trying to sleep, the legal issue is the selling of alcohol after the curfew of 1am.

Thailand is the land of the free and anyone who has stayed in the country for any length of time will notice that the alcohol curfew is only selectively enforced. This is true both in tourist hotspots and in less visited areas of Thailand. However, it is a law that gives the police the legal authority to shut down bars, nightclubs, street vendors and all night raves.

Pressure, no doubt, has been asserted from the top to do something about the parties. The interim government led by General Prayuth has been keen to enforce laws and curb the increase in corruption. They have been tackling all kinds of abuse such as Jet Ski scammers, illegal permits for sun loungers in Phuket and foreigners using tourist visas to work in Thailand. Those people who thought that the cash generated by the Full Moon Party made Koh Phangan immune to the clean-up campaigns appear to be wrong for the moment. Both Jungle Experience and the Half Moon Party were stopped by the police.

Their reasons were that the alcohol laws were being broken and that they didn’t have the man power to police the events. It cannot be ignored that these actions happened shortly after the double murder in Koh Tao. It has caught many by surprise that the tragic attack of two young Brits has attracted so much international press coverage. Thailand’s image has been dented by not only the awful crime but also the ensuing police investigation which been marred by allegations of framing two Burmese workers and ‘fixing’ the evidence. The British police observers in the area have not made any comments about the regime’s insistence that the case is closed to everyone’s satisfaction. However, a report from the British police into the affair due when they return might further embarrass officials in Thailand.

Meanwhile the plan is to limit the damage caused by the incident. All-night parties in Koh Tao and Koh Phangan are off until further notice. It is only the Full Moon Party that has been allowed to continue since it already has a large police presence. Some bars are still running DJ events but these are small gatherings.

Despite these measures tourist numbers are seriously down on last year’s figures on the islands. Tonight is Loy Kratong full moon party. Authorities expect 20,000 revellers. That remains to be seen; and anyway, these TAT numbers are generally pulled out of nowhere.

The question that remains is if the party curfew in Baan Tai and in Koh Tao will continue for very long. Those involved in the parties will no doubt be keen to get the parties back on. They make profits for numerous people and keep many ex-pats on the islands. The key moment will be when the current junta is replaced by an elected government. If the parties aren’t back with a change of government they are gone for good.

This will have a discernible effect on the demographics for Koh Phangan visitors as well as the number of ex-pats living semi-permanently on the island. The mood of Koh Phangan will noticeably change if party-goers come in fewer numbers. The Full Moon Party might continue to attract thousands but many just come for the party and many only stay a couple of nights. The other parties in Baan Tai kept a steady trickle of young people booking hostels and spending thousands of Baht on alcohol and banned substances. Time will tell if Koh Phangan has undergone a sea-change.

Thailand Tourism under the Junta

Even those people with a short memory will recall the military takeover in 2006 in Thailand. It followed a similar pattern to the present coup (2008). In that instance the establishment agitated for several months to oust the popular Thaksin government before the military finally stepped in to prevent the country falling into supposed ‘anarchy’.

It is a fair guess that the latest coup will continue to mirror the last one: namely, that the military will hold power for about a year before installing a royalist and democrat government. This government will fall at the first election (despite a raft of electoral reforms) and some form of Shinawatra government will seize power much to the chagrin of the Bangkok elite.

No doubt the present junta are aware of history, and are more determined than ever to stop history repeating itself. The electoral commission is looking to change voting boundaries to weaken the northern stronghold of Pheu Thai. At the same time they are conducting a vigorous enquiry into the rice pledging scheme to discredit key members of the last government.

The military government are also addressing the huge gap that exists between the written law and the way the law is applied. It is this grey area that has been a breeding ground for corruption and scams. This grey area exists in virtually every developing country; but Thailand now has a robust and growing economy. The country has aspirations to make it into the league of countries such as Singapore and Mexico that in many ways are the equal of their ‘developed’ counterparts.

MPs are being asked to declare their assets. Road rules are being enforced. Buildings that have been erected without planning permission are being torn down. The alcohol curfew is being enforced in pleasure centres such as Pattaya. The rule about foreign ownership of land is being scrutinised. Foreign nationals doing repeated visa runs to neighbouring countries to work illegally are being denied entry. Taxi drivers in Koh Samui are being forced to use meters. Those renting jet skis are under pressure to stop fleecing tourists. The list goes on. The message is that Thailand is cleaning up its act, and undesirables beware – they will be found and dealt with.

You don’t need to believe in conspiracy theories to see how many of these measures will ruin the income streams of important people in the country who benefit from bribes, drugs, illegal employment, human trafficking and cheating tourists. The military will do well to manage itself when surely several of its own ranks are involved in the corruption. Meanwhile the Shinawatras remain in the wings promising a return to a government that turns a blind eye to a wide range of rackets.

Thailand Authority of Tourism (TAT) has been busy in its own inept way to put a positive spin on events happening in Thailand. They have consistently downplayed the drop in tourist numbers and have never mentioned that those who did visa runs would also be part of previous dubious statistics. Their latest drive is ‘Thainess Year’. They are also hoping to lure the Chinese and Europeans back with 60 day visas. The incompetence of TAT has always made those who know more than a little about Thailand laugh. They seem the apotheosis of ‘Thainess’ as perceived by many non-Thais.

Many ‘respectable’ tourists and ex-pats applaud the junta’s efforts to curb the prostitution areas in Bangkok, Koh Samui, Phuket and Pattaya; to regulate the bars; and to deport foreign criminals. The high spending and short stay tourists that the authorities want to encourage are not as numerous as TAT imagined. They are the first to cancel holidays where there is political disturbance. This minority of visitors to Thailand have always borne the brunt of the unfair dual pricing system. Thailand is looking more expensive, less safe and less inviting than other countries in the region with beaches, luxury hotels, temples and shopping malls.

Such are market forces that the reduced tourist numbers mean that bargains are to be found in Thailand – rooms in 3 and 4 star hotels can be had for a big discount. Villas can be rented cheaply, and for those with a penchant for risk, villas can be bought for big reductions.

Backpackers over the last 10 years have consistently got a worse deal. For the same money a few years ago they would have got a room in a guest house or a bungalow, now they can only afford a dorm bed. Weed is still 500 Thai Baht but the bags are getting smaller – it is nearly cheaper to ‘smoke’ in Europe than in Thailand for those not buying large amounts. With the border visa being reduced to 15 days the average backpacker is discouraged from staying long in the Kingdom. They do Bangkok and the Full Moon Party and then are off.

Thailand is often called ‘The Land of the Free’. It is hoped that the worst examples of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and vote rigging are addressed; at the same time the profits to be had from tourism are wrested from the hands of the few and a better balance of high-end and backpacker tourism is established. If tourists were ripped off less, fined less, and small local businesses were allowed to compete with big tourist companies on a more level playing field there is a good chance that TAT could go back to the irrelevance it has always been. It is also necessary for voters in Thailand to cast their ballot responsibly and bring in politicians not bent on making a personal fortune and destroying the opposition.