Jose

I would like to mention the restaurant of COOKIES BUNGALOWS at Aow Nai Wok, which is on the west coast close to Thong Sala.

I still have fond memories of my first real coconut shake there - no dairy milk, just ice and coconut.

Now, if I could only just squeeze through my front door... I'll give that recommended soup place in Thong Sala a try sometime.

Koh Phangan PACs' official statement regarding the "fire":

At 10pm, Friday the 1st of August, "fire" destroyed all medicines and most equipment at PAC. Two patients were in the clinic at the time – one cat died, the other was saved due to the heroic actions of Pi Ton, our building foreman, who managed to halt the "fire" before the truck arrived (and before the oxygen tank exploded). The cause of the "fire" has not yet been determined, but motorbikes and breaking glass were heard before the "fire" started.

We at PAC are all shocked and saddened by this development – for 7 years we have given every ounce of ourselves to help the animals of Koh PhaNgan and the island as a whole – work which has been funded by donations alone, with all earnings reinvested into improving the lives of the animals of this island.

If this "fire" was started deliberately, then someone on Koh PhaNgan has a problem with PAC. All PAC’s work has been called to an immediate halt, and all staff removed from the premises, until this problem is identified.

If this is a problem that cannot be solved, PAC will close permanently and the land will be sold. If this problem can be solved, and PAC is allowed to re-open, it can never be the same again due to our need to ensure that our work does not cause any further problems.

Up until now, PAC has operated without legal permission to perform our work. From this point forward, if we are allowed to stay, we will work strictly within the boundaries of the law – PAC can only perform its work under the supervision of a Thai veterinarian. We have built a veterinary clinic, but it can only be used if we can persuade a Thai vet to buy or rent it, depending on the outcome of this incident. We cannot and therefore will not be able to perform consultations or prescribe medications.

With deepest regrets,

Shevaun Gallwey (Founder), Amphai (Por) Thongpliu (Head Nurse) and Niramon Brande (President)

Notice: Koh Phangan Police has asked that PAC doesn't speak in public about any arson attack until investigations are finished!

From Koh Phangan Island News:

Shevaun here - Thanks so much to everyone for their support and offers of help - the truth is, I have no idea what we can do to get to the bottom of this. I can only hope that sharing PAC’s story as widely as possible will help.

To summarize: Last September, I accepted the challenge of trying to make PAC a permanent part of the island so that we could provide care for both owned and stray animals. Through incredibly hard work and generous donations and grants, I managed to raise enough money to buy the land we are now on, renovate the existing buildings and build the island's first vet clinic. The plan was to rent this custom-built clinic to a Thai vet (two of which have already expressed an interest) to set up their own business caring for all the owned animals of Koh PhaNgan. That way PAC could do what I set it up for - provide medical care for stray animals, using the rent to make PAC (hopefully!) self-sufficient, with the added advantage of the support & supervision of a Thai vet.

We were so very close to this becoming a reality (just a couple more months), and then the fire.

We don't know why this has happened - there are many rumours, with the latest being that it was a farang who was dissatisfied with our 'services'.

I therefore want to talk here to the farang community who may misunderstand what we are about, and have unrealistic expectations of PAC.

PAC is just 2 people (myself and Por) with the support of Nira and a stream of volunteers, who want to improve the lives of Koh PhaNgan's animals. We operate entirely on donations, treat every animal in need, and make no financial profit whatsoever. Por receives basic living expenses from sponsors Animals Asia Foundation, and I have never taken any salary from PAC – I work part-time in Hong Kong as a veterinarian to support myself and my work at PAC.

I set up PAC specifically to help the island's strays, but as pet ownership has increased over the years, many animal owners have come to ask for our help as well - there has been a 75% increase in the number of pedigree dogs on the island since 2001, and they now occupy 35% of PAC's work.

Additionally PAC's workload has more than doubled over the years, despite the fact that PAC is staffed only by Por and whatever volunteers I can find to help her. Year 6 averaged 300 animals seen per month (compare to 119 in Year 1) for consultations, vaccinations, surgeries and hospitalization - only 16% of these animals were strays. The only solution I could find for this was to do everything I could to help the island get a private vet clinic.

We have worked so hard for 7 years, keeping the clinic open continually (except for a 1 week period at the start of May 2008 when we moved from the school), and for every animal we have helped, we know we have done a good thing. We were so saddened, therefore, when, in May of this year, we received complaints from farangs about the things we haven’t done.

I can only ask for people to talk far and wide, to explain our situation to those who may not understand. I have no interest in revenge or even justice – I only want to know that Por is safe, that Koh PhaNgan wants PAC, and that PAC can safely return to our new premises to complete our efforts to provide care for all of Koh PhaNgan’s animals.

PAC will remain closed until this time – we are currently building a security wall around the premises to keep it safe; anybody wishing to donate to help us pay for this wall, or recover our losses due to fire (estimated at approx THB 600,000) can do so through Marissa at Jungle Gym or via our bank account http://pacthailand.org/Support%20PAC/bank_details.htm

If anybody has any complaints, or knowledge of whatever problem may have sparked this or suggestions as to how this problem may be resolved, please contact me directly at redshev @ pacthailand.org

Was anyone here in the islands back in 1989, when Typhoon Gay struck the local area?

The Green Phangan website is now up.

Excellent work, Spike, Seville.

All great worthwhile campaigns begin in humble ways with just a few caring individuals. Let's all do what we can to help.

If/when PAC can half get back on their feet after this devastating blow, perhaps some caring members here may be able to help with funds for a cheap new PC from Patrick's at Bantai - just an idea to help with the bad feeling at this time...

Just had a really tasty Margarita & garlic pizza at Frank's Restaurant in Bantai, just 1Km out of Thong Sala left on the main road before the bridge, next to the Sports bar.

There is some fine food and desserts in François' menu. The restaurant's fine decor mirrors the owner being a genuine French restaurateur.

Friday was a sad day for Koh Pha-Ngan.

I saw PAC's damage today, and it looks like a lot more than just vandalism.

The whole operating room/office was gutted by fire. Most of the equipment (such as their only PC) was totally destroyed, and even the roof was burnt down. There was a smashed window, which may or may not have been the entry point of a Molotov cocktail (gasoline bomb).

The whole area has been cordoned off by police to preserve evidence, and staff (with security) is now waiting from forensic police to arrive from the mainland.

Dog-hating locals are Nr1 in my suspect list.

A sad time for Koh Pha-Ngan - specially for those of us who remember the sad state of local animals before PAC arrived here.

10 easy things you can do to help the island

(1) Just saying no to plastic bags

(2) Bring your own container for take away orders

(3) Don't throw anything into the water

(4) Clean the beach

(5) Always find a rubbish bin for your garbage

(6) Refill your water bottle

Excellent.

#1 - It's so easy to say "No, thank you" to plastic bags - and this usually brings about an appreciative smile from the seller.

#2 - This one is a no-brainer if one cares about their health. PVC-based plastic containers and hot food results in carcinogenic plasticizers (to make the PVC softer) leaching into the food. And lunch/dinner is so much tastier from glass or stainless steel food containers...

#3 - No rubbish thrown in water? Try telling this to the Thais... My fisherman neighbours appreciate my efforts to clean the beach so much, that they now take their rubbish (on their boats) "very, very far away out to sea"...

#4 - It's so easy to pick up that stray piece of plastic or glass on that beach stroll...

#5 - Yes, better to have rubbish collected and buried, rather than let the locals burn it into the air we all breath.

#6 - I suggest we leave this one out - all plastic bottles are collected by locals for $.

huh?

GirlX, first you wanted to protect yourself from these people (yaba users), then move away from them, and now you want to help them out...

Stop hanging around the drug scene - otherwise you'll find that kind of company everywhere you go. Stop being in denial - bad situations are not just happening to you; you put yourself there.

Make an active effort to change your lifestyle, and you'll find your life will improve no end.

5. Go to business owners and see if we can raise the money to make the signs and have them placed in the stores around the island.

Excellent idea(s), Seville.

Within 36hrs of Tesco's opening, their plastic bags begun to wash up on Bantai beach. Is this the corporate image they'd like to project?

How about:

"Tesco Lotus cares for Koh Pha-Ngan"

"Tesco Lotus cares for nature"

"Please take care of nature, and nature will take care of you - Tesco Lotus"

...Imagine the impact these slogans (Thai & English) would make at the bottom of all Tesco advertising billboards around the island.

Imagine if Tesco's senior management could be convinced to ditch plastic bags, or at least offer an alternative, and/or perhaps a 1 Baht surcharge and refund for each plastic bag returned...

Imagine 7-11 following up...

Does anyone here have any connections to big business on the Island?

Where's Jose? Who's willing to give 50 baht to help produce and distribute nice signs that can be placed around the island on how to help reduce the garbage.

I'm here Seville, and have my 50 Baht ready.

This is one very worthwhile but tough cause... I'm thinking that unless the local Thais can see an immediate benefit ($) in a worthy cause, then any effort to improve the dismal treatment of KPG's nature is doomed from the start.

How about signs in pictures/Thai/English, which show how destructive styrofoam and plastic really are? One kills the fish by ingestion, the other is highly toxic when buried or burned.

I wish the same could be done to wake people up to the life-threatening danger of asbestos roofing tiles...

Call me a pessimist, but... let's see where this goes.

A total ban on asbestos roofing tiles, and plastic bags.

I will go to Samui but the weather is really bad. .so....

What ever you do there, don't get that UPS crap they sell at Tesco's - it gives you about 45 sec of backup, and if the power comes back within that time it will switch power supply off to the PC.

It's worth the few days wait to get a decent APC ups through Patrick from baancom

This lengthy "discussion" on the legality of volunteer work has got me thinking...

I "volunteer" to clean up the rubbish from my beach every day - should I have a work permit?

I can guarantee that I'm certainly not taking anyone's job doing this thankless & unpaid task.

My question with regards to work permits is:

Where does one cross the line between paid work and volunteer work?

Here's a good reason not to visit the nasty samuitouristpolice.com site:

Of the 7 pages (Google) tested on the site over the past 90 days, 2 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 06/10/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 05/01/2008.

Malicious software includes 2 trojan(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 6 new processes on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 3 domain(s), including try-count.net, hartnetwork.org, 78.109.30.0.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including gate4clicks.net.

"Charity party for "happy nature"& P A C"

1) Confirmed: PAC is not receiving a cent from this event.

Anyone wishing to donate to the only established, non-profit animal care center in KPG, should do so directly through PAC.

2) "10% of the day's takings will go to the organization" - hmm... where will the other 90% of takings go to?

3) Why is this event being held in such an obviously dangerous and drug-infested place?

4) How may I become part of the 1000 KPG elite?

All fiat currencies are constantly falling - monetary inflation, the central banks' hidden tax (or otherwise public theft), makes this inevitable.

Comparing currencies against each other is a dangerous distraction.

More here.

This is how Koh Samui looks from Koh Pha-Ngan (15Km away) at the moment, 1pm Sat June 7th:

Note the island's local thundercloud - it usually forms over the island in the morning, and dumps its rain there (if strong winds don't take it out to sea first) in the afternoon/evening.

Local conditions such as these are almost impossible to predict.

Also note the low tide.

jose '-)

and jose, if you have never met a drug addicted loser on koh phangan or heard the reputation of thong nai pan as a lawless, dangerous place, then you must live in la la land. there are nice people there for sure, but some of the locals there are completely off the wall.

I have seen but not met many addicts, and maybe this is one of the keys to a better life wherever you call home - i.e. be more selective with the company you keep.

And GirlX, my guess is that either I am living in "la la land", or you are living in a potentially dangerously paranoid world. Either way, it's a pity that our k9 good friends have to suffer as a result of these worlds we create.

..."just spend the rest of your life in a little village full of violent, drug addicted losers so your dog will be happy".

GirlX, while I don't wish to be involved in your private affairs, I'm curious as to what attracted you to (I assume) Thong Nai Pan in the first place. How did you manage to attract such poor company, what kept you there for so long, and why couldn't you find a more livable place in KPG?

Years ago I knew a female friend from Belgium, who lived with her young daughter for over a year near Chaloklum. It's true that she didn't have an easy time with the village gossipers there, but I don't recall her having any association at all with "violent, drug addicted losers".

the ones in the pics used as 'pets' are hyenas. wild dogs are different.

I've always had trouble differentiating between the two species. I think that one barks and the other one laughs, but not sure which is which...

I've seen this dog, on the bridge between MBK and Siam Center, right? Saw him one day with a guy and was tempted to give money until I saw him the next day with a different guy. The dog is a pro

I've heard about this legendary dog but have never seen it, SBK.

what are these animals used for? figths?

Elfe, as you can see they are family pets, and are also used for security.

African Wild Dogs are an endangered species, are probably related to the hyena, and are very intelligent and social animals.

In the right hands (see pic 1), they make lovely family pets despite their ferocious looks. Don't leave home without one.

jose '-)

... And here are some adorable family pets I wouldn't leave home without:

link doesn't work for me Jose...

dam_n dynamic links...

While I go looking for the pix, here's a good reason for taking your pet with you: