Video: Foreign tourists praised for mass clean up after the storm in Samui

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Video: Foreign tourists praised for mass clean up after the storm in Samui

 

video screenshot

 

Dozens of foreign tourists were filmed clearing up the beaches on Koh Samui after Storm Pabuk had passed through.

 

Channel 8 reported that local tourism operators were most impressed by the visitors to Thailand. 

 

 

 

A few Thais were also seen near the end of the video putting in some elbow grease to help the foreigners. 

 

A dog was watching - somewhat confused by the spectacle. 

 

The beach was strewn in litter and seaweed and the tourists, young and old, male and female, some with rakes, were all chipping in to tidy up. 

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-01-07

 

 

[Aussie999]

Well done... now I wait for someone to mention... nah, just reminder, it is NOT reserved for Thais.

[Youlike]

Those Thai beachcleaning robots work great! Also the locals take care of their beaches very well!!

 

Now what untill these images go viral in the West.....did you have a nice christmasholiday mate? Well we had a lot of rain, had to hide for a huge storm and after that we cleaned the beach for several days...

 

How was your turkey?

[mok199]

Aparentley the thais were to busy with the black slapping,self praising, photo opp...That thai drama and grandstanding is hard work !

[keithet]

I thought working or even volunteering needs the proper paperwork like a work permit. 

In other news BJ makes a crack down on foreigners working on the beach without a work permit 

[Chippy151]

You work hard all year long and then you travel half way around the world to clean beaches. I don't think so.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, Chippy151 said:

You work hard all year long and then you travel half way around the world to clean beaches. I don't think so.

I doubt that they were acting for philanthropic reasons. I think the tourists probably only had two options: clean a bit of beach themselves to sit on, or just sit in crap.

 

They could wait a very long time for someone else to clean it.

[Tropicalevo]

What a load of miserable bar stewards you lot are.

 

This is not just a Thai problem. There is carp on beaches all over the world and after a big storm there is more carp.

 

So whilst you lot sit on your bar stools (not paying the garbage collection taxes) and making sarcastic comments, other more generous people are doing something about the problems of today.

 

Everywhere in the world where I go I pick up rubbish from beaches. Not a lot and not as a full time occupation, but broken glass, bits of plastic etc can hurt people - especially kids. For goodness sake have some consideration.

[OZJAY]

2 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

What a load of miserable bar stewards you lot are.

 

This is not just a Thai problem. There is carp on beaches all over the world and after a big storm there is more carp.

 

So whilst you lot sit on your bar stools (not paying the garbage collection taxes) and making sarcastic comments, other more generous people are doing something about the problems of today.

 

Everywhere in the world where I go I pick up rubbish from beaches. Not a lot and not as a full time occupation, but broken glass, bits of plastic etc can hurt people - especially kids. For goodness sake have some consideration.

umm sorry, what’s carp?

[SpaceKadet]

Carp is a fish, quite tasty to eat. I have some Carp relatives swimming in my garden pond. They are called Koi.

[Tropicalevo]

CARP. For those of you that may be intellectually challenged, or new to TV, rearrange the letters into well known phrase or saying meaning exrement. (If that is difficult, look it up.)

 

A clue was in the fact that I had to edit the post as TV did not like the original spelling. ( See - Mild profanity removed)

 

Apologies to you if the post and message were too difficiult for you to understand. I will try to do better next time.

[ChipButty]

What no work permit? BJ will be right down there and those who allowed them will be moved to inactive post

[sammieuk1]

Its beyond the capability's of some government help then! or just subs cant be fitted with rakes ????  

[spidermike007]

This was work that should have been preformed by the mayors office, the local government. But, they have so little concern for the environment on Samui, and do not like to spend the fortune they collect in revenue, to beautify the island that is their golden calf. Samui desperately needs fresh leadership. This has been the case for a very long time. 

 

Kudos to the foreigners, for taking the initiative to do this work, that needed to be done. And shame on the local government, for dropping the ball for the 11,000th time. 

[huberthammer]

19 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

This was work that should have been preformed by the mayors office, the local government. But, they have so little concern for the environment on Samui, and do not like to spend the fortune they collect in revenue, to beautify the island that is their golden calf. Samui desperately needs fresh leadership. This has been the case for a very long time. 

 

Kudos to the foreigners, for taking the initiative to do this work, that needed to be done. And shame on the local government, for dropping the ball for the 11,000th time. 

We all know how much you hate Samui and that you moved away from here. Why do you still have to lurk around and come up with the same negative comments all the time. A positive story about somebody being proactive and your only contribution is to slag off Samui and the government. It is annoying and getting very boring.

 

In other SEA countries (aside from Singapore) it is not the government that cleans up the beaches but the hotels and businesses, not sure why you make it sound this is a complete fail of the local government. 

 

As for doing nothing on the cleanup - Army, Tessaban, local businesses and private organisations like Trash Hero will collectively undertake a big beach clean up today. In addition, they cleaned up the main road and are in the progress of fixing the damage of the last few weeks of rain. Not something that I have seen than that promptly in the past.

 

Yes, not all is perfect on the little island and there is room for improvement. You voted with your feet and left for a happier place so there is no need to get involved on every topic and pointing out how terrible everything is here. It would leave you a happier chap and spare us the annoyance from your posts. 

[overherebc]

21 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

This was work that should have been preformed by the mayors office, the local government. But, they have so little concern for the environment on Samui, and do not like to spend the fortune they collect in revenue, to beautify the island that is their golden calf. Samui desperately needs fresh leadership. This has been the case for a very long time. 

 

Kudos to the foreigners, for taking the initiative to do this work, that needed to be done. And shame on the local government, for dropping the ball for the 11,000th time. 

Agree.

Take it to the next stage and when the holiday makers arrive they will find a large bag and garden rake in the room along with a timetable noting when and where they should do their beach cleaning.

Just sayin'

[Tropicalevo]

22 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

This was work that should have been preformed by the mayors office, the local government. But, they have so little concern for the environment on Samui, and do not like to spend the fortune they collect in revenue, to beautify the island that is their golden calf. Samui desperately needs fresh leadership. This has been the case for a very long time. 

 

Kudos to the foreigners, for taking the initiative to do this work, that needed to be done. And shame on the local government, for dropping the ball for the 11,000th time. 

You are correct in theory. However, how many people reading this article pay the garbage taxes? Or for those renting their accomodation, how many landlords pay the garbage taxes. The answer is - very few. Not enough to fund the current garbage collecting. That is why the bins are being removed.

 

People come here expecting first world facilities - but do not want to pay first world taxes.  Thailand is a developing nation and things like garbage collecting/beach cleaning etc are funded by direct taxes which Thais avoid like the plague and foreigners cannot be bothered to sort out.

 

(The tax is the reason that locals burn their garbage.)

[spidermike007]

4 hours ago, huberthammer said:

We all know how much you hate Samui and that you moved away from here. Why do you still have to lurk around and come up with the same negative comments all the time. A positive story about somebody being proactive and your only contribution is to slag off Samui and the government. It is annoying and getting very boring.

 

In other SEA countries (aside from Singapore) it is not the government that cleans up the beaches but the hotels and businesses, not sure why you make it sound this is a complete fail of the local government. 

 

As for doing nothing on the cleanup - Army, Tessaban, local businesses and private organisations like Trash Hero will collectively undertake a big beach clean up today. In addition, they cleaned up the main road and are in the progress of fixing the damage of the last few weeks of rain. Not something that I have seen than that promptly in the past.

 

Yes, not all is perfect on the little island and there is room for improvement. You voted with your feet and left for a happier place so there is no need to get involved on every topic and pointing out how terrible everything is here. It would leave you a happier chap and spare us the annoyance from your posts. 

 

I am truly sympathetic to the paper thin quality of your skin. I do not hate Samui. I was just there for the holiday. I still enjoy a visit to Samui. I cannot help it if you find my criticism of the place boring. That is your issue, not ours. Nothing I am saying is a fabrication. I am simply pointing out the many shortcomings of Samui. All of my friends who live there are aware of these issues. Deny all your want. It changes nothing. The local government is, and always has been an abomination. Sometimes, the entire island feels like a dirty old dishrag, that has been rinsed off too many times. Even my friends there say that. It is an island with a tremendous amount of natural beauty, and a sweet climate. But, it is not being taken care of, to the extent that it deserves. That cannot be denied. Clean up is such a simple task, and costs the local government so little. It all boils down to a staggering lack of pride, on the part of so many of the Samui locals, most of whom are not from Samui, and are all about the money (many local ex-pats are excluded from this generalization), and the local leaders and politicians. 

[happy chappie]

I see in the video the Thais were helping out by burying the crap..while the stupid farang use plastic bags.

[huberthammer]

I don't think I am allowed to link to other pages here but it is reported that over 900 people attended today's island cleanup of which most were Thais (including Army and Tessaban). 

 

What a success story that shows that the haters and know betters don't get it all correct. Kudos to those organising such a tremendous effort. 

[carmine]

I would have thought that local government would have had a plan in place to get the island and its beaches cleaned up asap.......they get all authoritarian threatening tourists for dropping a fag butt yet are not interested in cleaning the beaches up after Pabuk!!  Interesting!!

[carmine]

On 1/10/2019 at 3:05 PM, huberthammer said:

I don't think I am allowed to link to other pages here but it is reported that over 900 people attended today's island cleanup of which most were Thais (including Army and Tessaban). 

 

What a success story that shows that the haters and know betters don't get it all correct. Kudos to those organising such a tremendous effort. 

I've not seen anyone on any beach doing any cleaning.  And for future reference, to want to see your adopted home clean and in its natural beauty does not make you a hater or a knows better.

 

The fact that you are so rich in praise for such a totally inadequate below par reaction speaks volumes.

[huberthammer]

1 hour ago, carmine said:

I've not seen anyone on any beach doing any cleaning.  And for future reference, to want to see your adopted home clean and in its natural beauty does not make you a hater or a knows better.

 

The fact that you are so rich in praise for such a totally inadequate below par reaction speaks volumes.

so you are saying the 900 people that were mobilised are a fantasy and nothing was done just because you have seen nothing? I would argue that there were bigger priorities after the storm than the cleanup of the beaches right away. It was great that something was done within a week. 

The hater is not even living here nor was his point about a clean environment, it was all about slagging Samui off and telling everybody how bad it is here. 

 

 

[carmine]

5 minutes ago, huberthammer said:

so you are saying the 900 people that were mobilised are a fantasy and nothing was done just because you have seen nothing? I would argue that there were bigger priorities after the storm than the cleanup of the beaches right away. It was great that something was done within a week. 

The hater is not even living here nor was his point about a clean environment, it was all about slagging Samui off and telling everybody how bad it is here. 

 

 

I said i had not seen anyone cleaning beaches. I also said the organized reaction to the aftermath of the storms was wholly insufficient.

 

I you disagree then fine, thats your opinion. Mine, when i walk along the beaches that remain filthy, will have to disagree.  And of course the tourists will be seeing exactly what i am seeing.