Over the next weeks, I will be providing some of New Mandala’s trade-mark commentary, anecdote and analysis from the sauna that is southern Thailand.
Back in the land of coconut plantations, tourist vistas and bustling maritime commerce – it is good to be home.
Everything is busier, faster and louder down here. With the rubber price consistently over 70 baht a litre (compared to the 10s and 20s that plantations could hope to get a few years back) the rubber producing provinces are, as people say, “gamlang boom yuu” (booming). The tourists are also here in droves!
Shiny new pick-up trucks and handsome sedans fill the streets. New constructions – hotels, shopping plazas, roads and residentials areas - are everywhere. True to form, pictures and commentary will be inbound soon.
1 response so far ↓
1 New Mandala » Beautiful one day… // Oct 23, 2006 at 12:09 am
[...] I have never been to Vang Vieng but, to my mind, this is an important type of article. It should clarify that the tourist scene almost inevitably lurks in the background of almost all academic research projects now claiming to provide understanding of mainland Southeast Asia. In my view, the tourist industry can’t be avoided or ignored. The force of this activity should ensure that the pristine and untrammelled Southeast Asia of some imaginations can be vanquished once and for all. [...]
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