Amazing! Parallel universes!
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| Bang Bao, Koh Chang, Thailand (left) and Hanuabada, Port Moresby (right) |
The Cambridge Dictionary describes a parallel universe as:
“a world that exists in addition to, and is like, the world that
we know, but that is also different from it in important ways.”
And so, I entered a portal and was transported to the
Kingdom of Thailand.
Amazing Thailand
When I arrived, I was amazed. I discovered that ‘Amazing
Thailand’ is a promotional slogan of the Tourism Authority of
Thailand (TAT) to promote tourism. Originally conceived in 1998, the
slogan was then extended for several years. Since then, it has become a permanent,
and very appropriate, trademark of Thailand.
Once I had entered this parallel universe, I soon realised
that Thailand was truly an amazing place and all other worlds are perhaps only pretending
to be ‘amazing’.
This made me confused. Maybe I hadn’t entered a parallel
universe after all, but rather, I had been living in one!
Here are just a few things I found out about Amazing
Thailand.
Amazing Food: Thailand has over a hundred different dishes. In
2017, seven Thai dishes appeared on a list of the "World's 50 Best
Foods", an online poll of 35,000 people worldwide by CNN Travel.
Thailand had more dishes on the list than any other country.
Amazing people: Thailand
is known as ‘the land of smiles’ because its people are friendly and welcoming.
Buddhism is the main religion followed by over 94% of the population with
40,000 amazing Buddhist temples located around the country. Islam and
Christianity are also found in Thailand.
Amazing culture: Thailand preserves its unique language and
culture and has tremendous pride in it. It’s a genuine culture, not socially-engineered
or divisive, that respects all people. That’s another reason it’s called ‘the
land of smiles’.
Amazing transport system: Buses and trains around the
country are amazingly affordable, as is local air travel.
Amazing beaches: Thailand has an immense coastline full of
idyllic beaches and some of the world’s best dive and snorkelling sites.
Amazing hospitality: Thailand is eager to please visitors to
its land. The tourism industry also provides employment for hundreds of
thousands of Thai nationals. The capital city of Bangkok is one of the safest
and most relaxed cities in the world. It is also one of the most visited cities
in the world. Thailand has other amazing cities like Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang
Mai.
Amazing markets: whether it’s souvenirs, clothing or food,
Thailand markets are like no other in the world.
Amazing festivals: Thailand loves to party, especially
around the annual Songkran Festival. There are other unique and solemn
festivals, some are religious or in honour of the Thai Royal Family.
This is not the same as any other world I have known. It
simply has no parallel, nowhere, never!
I needed to dig deeper for similarities.
The big cities of Thailand are like nowhere else in the
world. But some of Thailand’s most fascinating places are those lesser known.
Some places in rural areas have striking similarities with Port
Moresby and Papua New Guinea, the ‘amazing’ universe from where I’d come.
Here are two examples.
Bang Bao Floating Village
Location: Koh Chang
I thought I had arrived somewhere like Hanuabada! It sure looked like it.
However, Bang Bao has coffee shops, restaurants, souvenir and
clothing shops – all targeting tourists who visit the floating village to join
diving and snorkelling tours on boats that take them out to explore the
beautiful waters and islands around Koh Chang.
Bang Bao floating village has reliable power and internet.
It even has a health centre.
Bang Bao is located in Koh Chang (this translates as ‘elephant island’),
Thailand’s third-largest island. It’s in Trat province, about 300 km
east of Bangkok and close to the Cambodian border. A ferry carries
people, and vehicles of all sizes, from the mainland to Koh Chang. The ferry
takes about 30 minutes to reach the island. During this time, you can take in
the beautiful scenery. It looks so much like coastal areas of PNG. On board the
ferry, there are a couple of small shops. So, you can also enjoy a coffee or
smoothie during the trip as you ponder the possibilities.
Koh Chang has become a popular tourist destination in
its own right, with a wide variety of affordable accommodation options
and numerous gorgeous and tranquil beaches surrounded by crystal
clear water.
This little island, of approximately 210 km2, with its
humble guesthouses, bars and eateries, attracts over one million visitors every
year.
Location: Kanchanaburi
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| Photo: Hellfire Pass Interpretative Centre, Kanchanaburi |
The Burma-Thailand railway is a major tourist attraction for the Thai province of Kanchanaburi.
Each year about 5 million tourists visit Kanchanaburi. The
vast majority of these are Thai, not foreigners.
They are attracted to the province for many reasons: its
accessibility from Bangkok, its natural beauty and its eco- and
adventure-tourism, offering activities such as trekking, rafting and elephant
riding.
It also has an important war history.
This is where the ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ is located and
the Burma-Thailand Railway, along with ‘Hellfire Pass’.
Hellfire Pass is a railway cutting on the former Burma
Railway, also commonly called the Death Railway, in Thailand. The pass was
built with forced labour during the Second World War, mainly by allied
prisoners of war (POWs) from many countries. The work was done in harsh
conditions, with heavy loss of life suffered by the POWs.
Hellfire Pass is so called because during construction, the
pass was lit up by oil lamps and fires at night, which made it look like the
vision of Hell that it was.
There is now a permanent memorial and visitor centre managed by the Australian Department
of Veterans’ Affairs, located at Hellfire Pass. The memorial was opened in 1998
and has gradually attracted an increasing number of tourists, peaking at 90,000
to 100,000 per annum. The majority of these visitors are now Thai. Other
significant national groups are Dutch, British, Americans and, of course,
Australians.
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| Photos: ‘glamping’ at Hintock River Camp, Hellfire Pass, Kanchanaburi, Thailand |
Kanchanaburi is approximately 129 km west of the Thailand
capital of Bangkok.
In comparison, Owers’ Corner, the start/end of the Kokoda
Trail is approximately 50km east of Port Moresby.
Owers’ Corner has enormous potential to be developed as a
memorial and visitor centre for the Kokoda Trail, allowing day-trippers from
Port Moresby to experience and learn more about the Kokoda Campaign, without
having to undertake an arduous 138km/8 day trek.
The site would add value to every landmark and stop along
the way, including Port Moresby as a starting point.
For more on the potential of a visitor centre at Owers’
Corner, see ‘further reading and links’ listed below.
I soon learned that even the similarities between ‘Amazing
Thailand’ and ‘Amazing Port Moresby’ are worlds apart.
It was more a case of fact versus fiction.
Thailand is truly ‘amazing’ and deserves its title ‘Amazing
Thailand’.
On the other hand, Port Moresby is not so ‘amazing’.
Maybe not just yet. But it does have real potential.
Koh Chang
Amazing Thailand: The Tourism Authority of Thailand
https://www.tourismthailand.org/Destinations/Provinces/Ko-Chang/467
Burma-Thailand Railway / Hellfire Pass
Department of Veterans’ Affairs / Australian Government,
Canberra
https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/burma-thailand-railway-and-hellfire-pass-1942-1943
https://www.hintokrivercamp.com/
The case for a Visitor Centre at Owers’ Corner (Port Moresby, PNG)
Kokoda Treks blog by Charlie Lynn OAM, OL
https://blog.kokodatreks.com/2016/06/06/case-for-a-visitors-centre-at-owers-corner/
https://blog.kokodatreks.com/2022/04/17/owers-corner-the-road-to-nowhere-80-years-on/
About the author
Glenn Armstrong has lived and worked in Papua New Guinea since 2001. He was Marketing Manager of Post-Courier (2001-2004); General Manager of EMTV (2004-2009) and then Executive Marketing Manager of Air Niugini (2009-2013). At Air Niugini, he also created the Destinations Loyalty Program. He was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for services to Papua New Guinea in 2012. Glenn has also authored three major books on Papua New Guinea: The Tonda (A Journey on the Bensbach River); 100 Treks Across the Kokoda Trail with Charlie Lynn; and 40 Years of Hargy Oil Palms. He has also produced several TV documentaries in PNG, including the Happy Gardener series with EMTV. Before coming to Papua New Guinea, Glenn was a publishing executive at Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press in Sydney for 14 years. https://www.tlamediagroup.com
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