Farang Invasion

Being back in Thailand it occured to me that tourism there seems bigger than ever. Maybe it's just my perception, but it seems like every time i come there are more farang in every part of bangkok and the islands. Khaosan road, the clusterfuck backpacker ghetto in bunglampoo BKK seems to be spreading outward exponentially like a fungus. It's not just thailand, Phnom Phen cambodia, where we are now also has it's backpacker zone with all the amenities and comforts of home. Yes, this specialization is convenient, but somehow detracts from teh thrill of being in a foreign land. Aside from this personal middling annoyance there is a darker side to the rise of the tourist industry in SE Asia.
As we saw traveling across Koh Chang and the chain of small islands that dangle off it like water droplets, tourism reeks absolute havoc on a small island's infrastructure, both ecologically and socially. Koh Chang, once a whispered-about gem of thailand is now a sprawling mass of cheaply contructed bungalows, tacky t-shirt kiosks, and backpacker bars. The island seems to be well on it's way to rivaling Koh Samui in the west gulf for tasteless marketing and disregard for the land. Acctually from the breif glimpse we caught before fleeing to the charm of the more southerly islands, Koh Chang seems to spiraling towards ecological devestation. The littering, septic problems, water usage issues, and deforesting are a joint venture of the locals and the tourists. Both have their motives for being there and doing what they do but neither can be excused for their abuse of the land and animals.
Traveling on to the smaller, more remote islands, we were awed at their natural beauty and anachronistic charm, but everywhere the ominous sight of rusty old concrete mixers and workmen slapping together unregulated bungalows looms like foreshadowing. I think the influx of tourists (especially Brits and other europeans who are increasingly flocking to SE Asia instead of holidaying in their nearby but now Euro dollar-pricey continental destinations) will spread latterally across that chain of island until they all eventually look like Koh Chang.
But whats being done about it? Well, some outspoken local ecologists have been vocal in the press with the message "The government and commercial communities along the west coast in the areas struck by tsunamis are rushing headlong to rebuiling the tourist infrastructure there, but we should be looking into rebuilding the enviromental infrastructure. Unregualted building and greediness have turned that area into an eyesore, and we should take this opptunity to give it a facelift and trink of new, more intagrated ways to build there." As you can imagine, these scientists are none too popular with the business community and of course their incestuous partners in the government. The rift is palpable just from opening the Bangkok post. On the editorals page environmentalists sound off abou the damage that has allready been wreaked upon the west coast and undersea life around phuket and krabi, while in the soft-news, journalism-for-hire "Travel" section, the headline is: Calling all Tourists! West Coast up and Running Again!.
I think there is growing conscern about the effect tourism is having on this region, even internationally. Im sure the news item from a few night ago about the tourists who were killed in a speedboat being piloted back from the full moon party to Koh Samui at night by a probably (maybe multiply) fucked-up driver will be a wake up call to the world at the wreckless way some of the tourist industry here is run. Probably there will be call for more governmental involvment and regulation of these aparatus, but the governments here are famously incompetent for handling such things (looking over my shoulder as im typing that). Well enough of that political shit, more blissed-out recogniscience next time. word.