Crackdown: 25 Resorts Seized In Nakhon Ratchasima's Thap Lan National Park

[webfact]

25 resorts seized in Thap Lan crackdown

The Nation

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: -- In a series of raids since Tuesday, forestry officials have seized 25 resorts in Nakhon Ratchasima's Thap Lan national park, including a newly renovated one on a 7.5rai plot yesterday.

The raids are part of a crackdown by the Royal Forest Department, which is targeting another 118 resorts in the park in addition to those previously designated as illegal.

Phongthep Malasing, who leads a local tourism group, said villagers and resort owners were not protesting against the raids as strongly as they were late last year, because they have a better understanding of the crackdown.

He said the price of rooms had been cut by up to 60 per cent, not because of the crackdown but because it was low tourist season.

-- The Nation 2012-04-21

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

[pimay11]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

Don't worry they will twist the facts around and foreigners will be blamed.

[OzMick]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

Something lost in translation possibly. I do remember laughing at a group of bungalows titled "Last Resort" but the location evades me.

We have had one presumably farang poster vehemently defending illegal 'resorts' (Jughead?) but he declined to answer if he was affected personally.

[geriatrickid]

About time. Dismantle them, recycle the building materials and restore the protected lands.

[LuckyLew]

They should name and shame the owners and developers of these resorts

[chuckd]

In our village, motels in the countryside are considered resorts. Many of them are short time bungalows and very little else.

[pimay11]

About time. Dismantle them, recycle the building materials and restore the protected lands.

How about Alpine Golf Resort? We can't have double standards remember.

[Yunla]

Just so long as it is a 'centre of excellance' I will stay there.

[whybother]

About time. Dismantle them, recycle the building materials and restore the protected lands.

How about Alpine Golf Resort? We can't have double standards remember.

It's not encroaching on a national park.

[pimay11]

In our village, motels in the countryside are considered resorts. Many of them are short time bungalows and very little else.

There's a "love motel" down the road from my place with two small one room structures. The sign out front reads "Heavenly Resort".

[pimay11]

About time. Dismantle them, recycle the building materials and restore the protected lands.

How about Alpine Golf Resort? We can't have double standards remember.

It's not encroaching on a national park.

Correct. It was only monastic land that could not be bought or sold. But who cares about the rule of law.

[hellodolly]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

It has been my experiance here in Thailand that they have a different definition for some English words and resort is probably as close as they can come to the Thai definition.

And after all we are in Thailand not the western world.

Leaving the resort definition aside they are still buildings on national park land without any proper authority to be there.

And before any one says well they paid there money remember it was paid as a bribe to commit a illegal act.

Makes no difference if it was paid by a Thai or a Foreigner.

Restoring them to there natural habitat is in line with reforestation to help prevent floods.

[catmac]

About time. Dismantle them, recycle the building materials and restore the protected lands.

How about Alpine Golf Resort? We can't have double standards remember.

It's not encroaching on a national park.

Correct. It was only monastic land that could not be bought or sold. .

And that is why it has nothing at all to do with this thread, i.e. encroachment in National Parks. Such a pity that you cannot enter into any thread without trying to drag the Devil Incarnate into it.

[theblether]

I dont understand the reference to the room prices being cut? can someone shed some light on that? Surely if the resorts are being seized the price of rooms is an irrelevance? Or am I being thick???

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

It has been my experiance here in Thailand that they have a different definition for some English words and resort is probably as close as they can come to the Thai definition. And after all we are in Thailand not the western world.

Yes we are in Thailand, and I am doing my part to improve their use of my language and use it correctly. There are plenty of words in English to express fine gradations of meaning, some would say too many, but personally I love it.

I'm going with "bungalow" here for now. . .

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

Leaving the resort definition aside they are still buildings on national park land without any proper authority to be there.

And before any one says well they paid there money remember it was paid as a bribe to commit a illegal act.

Makes no difference if it was paid by a Thai or a Foreigner.

Restoring them to there natural habitat is in line with reforestation to help prevent floods.

Of course, should be immediately bulldozed and the developer/owners/corrupt officials fined enough to restore the natural flora and fauna, including personal hard labor over at least ten years.

My "foreigners" point was the recent statement by some government wanke_r that the majority of Thailand's land was being illegally bought by foreigners, IMO to take the public's attention by local-only abuses like this.

Edited April 21, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[BigJohnnyBKK]

I dont understand the reference to the room prices being cut? can someone shed some light on that? Surely if the resorts are being seized the price of rooms is an irrelevance? Or am I being thick???

Probably being "seized" by the corrupt bureacracy so they can continue to operate them for their own personal profit once the media attention-span has expired. . .

[EarthAlien]

This issue is a lot deeper and more insidious than we might imagine.

118 illegal resorts equates to a lot of palm greasing and insider support.

Anywhere in the western world, any such illegal construction would get halted before it even got completed. Imagine going into a national park in Australia or NZ for instance and starting to construct any kind of "resort" or village. It would get jumped all over in a virtual heartbeat and yet here we have 118 (that have been counted at least) finished projects.

In the two years that I first read of these illegal resorts being "discovered" I haven't heard of one single instance of any part of any construction being dismantled.

Too much is at stake and vested with deep rooted corrupt persons that I doubt we'll ever see anything but commenting on this issue without any real action being taken.

I would be dleighted to be proved wrong in that regard but in the meantime I look on with amazment!

[loongjohn50]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

. .

Resort is often used by Thais and Laos to designate a place with beds for rent outside of an urban area; i.e. short-time knocking shop or a place to take your mia noi on the sly. Most have running water. A swimming pool? Fugettaboudit.

[Unkomoncents]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

It has been my experiance here in Thailand that they have a different definition for some English words and resort is probably as close as they can come to the Thai definition.

And after all we are in Thailand not the western world.

Leaving the resort definition aside they are still buildings on national park land without any proper authority to be there.

And before any one says well they paid there money remember it was paid as a bribe to commit a illegal act.

Makes no difference if it was paid by a Thai or a Foreigner.

Restoring them to there natural habitat is in line with reforestation to help prevent floods.

Yeah, I'd love to see how they'd react if farang started reinterpreting the meanings of Thai words to fit their own image needs. On the subject of how Thais use English, I get such a kick out of their audacity to reinterpret the actual sounds of English letters based on their own obscure calculations. A perfect example is the high-end hair salon Chalachol, pronounced Cholakon (also Phaholyothin Rd). So according to their logic, the consonant "L", using general English pronunciation rules with the other letters, has TWO possible sounds?! You have to give them credit: they really, really do have b*lls.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

This issue is a lot deeper and more insidious than we might imagine.

118 illegal resorts equates to a lot of palm greasing and insider support.

Anywhere in the western world, any such illegal construction would get halted before it even got completed. Imagine going into a national park in Australia or NZ for instance and starting to construct any kind of "resort" or village. It would get jumped all over in a virtual heartbeat and yet here we have 118 (that have been counted at least) finished projects.

In the two years that I first read of these illegal resorts being "discovered" I haven't heard of one single instance of any part of any construction being dismantled.

Too much is at stake and vested with deep rooted corrupt persons that I doubt we'll ever see anything but commenting on this issue without any real action being taken.

I would be dleighted to be proved wrong in that regard but in the meantime I look on with amazment!

You must be kidding, this kind of thing happens all the time all over Thailand. The only unusual thing is that there's a story about "the law" actually being enforced. Check back in six months and see what's happened, I'd be very surprised if anything resembling the public interest has been pursued, that's just not the job of so-called civil servants here.

And while the general population may not like that fact, they certainly do accept it and consider it to be the normal state of affairs.

On the subject of how Thais use English, I get such a kick out of their audacity to reinterpret the actual sounds of English letters based on their own obscure calculations. A perfect example is the high-end hair salon Chalachol, pronounced Cholakon (also Phaholyothin Rd). So according to their logic, the consonant "L", using general English pronunciation rules with the other letters, has TWO possible sounds?! You have to give them credit: they really, really do have b*lls.

Actually, the transliteration of Thai into Roman letters is a totally different topic from their attempted use of the English language.

The official system of transliteration is the least likely to correspond to actual sounds, very unhelpful for foreigners trying to figure out how to pronounce a Thai word.

It is helpful to know that **any** Thai word ending in "L" will be pronounced "N", as in Thai it is impossible for L to be the ending consonant, they have as much trouble with that as we do with the "NG" sound at the beginning of words (sleepy, confused, that furry red/green fruit that looks like tribbles).

Back to English - is "mansion" actually used in any native-English countries for any other type of building than a large single-family dwelling for the wealthy? Here's its commonly used for "apartment building".

[Woodcaulk]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

Yes they do. Now the old "chicken farm" outside Koh Kong Cambodia....that in its heyday was a resort !

[henryalleman]

Will they also make a crackdown on their own resorts in natural parks in the province of Sangkla Buri, where civil servants of their own ministery of natural resources can stay for free.

[belg]

soon we can read how government crackies are living there for free or enjoying a nice long free holliday overthere .... why not destroy them all and let nature take it course ?

[blazes]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

How about "holiday camp"....your average "resort" north of Chiang Mai makes Butlin's look quite spacious.

[pacovl46]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

A resort by definition is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays and vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishments operated by a single company. The term "resort" is now also used for a self-contained commercial establishment which attempts to provide for most of a vacationer's wants while remaining on the premises, such as food, drink, lodging, sport, entertainment and shopping. The term may be used to identify a hotel property that provides an array of amenities and typically includes entertainment and recreational activities.

Therefore a number of bungalows operated by a single company or family IS a resort!

[allan michaud]

They should name and shame the owners and developers of these resorts

They probably planned to but found that they were all Thai. I feel pretty certain that any foreigners would have been paraded publicly by now to a great fanfare. That or they are too well connected to be embarrassed in public.

And the 'Resort' thing is the same here in Cambodia, pretty much anything remotely touristy is described as a 'resort'. As a Brit personally I think of Butlin's as a resort, not my cup of tea, but at least they have a bit more than rooms and some chairs.

[OzMick]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

It has been my experiance here in Thailand that they have a different definition for some English words and resort is probably as close as they can come to the Thai definition.

And after all we are in Thailand not the western world.

Leaving the resort definition aside they are still buildings on national park land without any proper authority to be there.

And before any one says well they paid there money remember it was paid as a bribe to commit a illegal act.

Makes no difference if it was paid by a Thai or a Foreigner.

Restoring them to there natural habitat is in line with reforestation to help prevent floods.

Yeah, I'd love to see how they'd react if farang started reinterpreting the meanings of Thai words to fit their own image needs. On the subject of how Thais use English, I get such a kick out of their audacity to reinterpret the actual sounds of English letters based on their own obscure calculations. A perfect example is the high-end hair salon Chalachol, pronounced Cholakon (also Phaholyothin Rd). So according to their logic, the consonant "L", using general English pronunciation rules with the other letters, has TWO possible sounds?! You have to give them credit: they really, really do have b*lls.

Actually it has worked both ways, if to a much more limited extent. The famous Oz racehorse Phar Lap is a mongrelization of the Thai for lightning but of course not spelled with a Ph here. And there are plenty of English words whose pronunciation seems to have bugger all to do with the spelling.

[tragickingdom]

I guess the army and the royalists are getting even after their boss Surayudt lost his property...

[bigbamboo]

Is it just me, or do the Thais overuse the word "resort" here?

To me the bare minimum would be swimming pools, tennis courts maybe golf and horseback riding, all self-contained in a single large complex. Other than of course when used for an entire town or area, as in "ski resort, seaside resort".

But I guess there isn't a good English word for "collection of bungalows", maybe "development"?

Were there 70 separate developments, or just 70 houses?

And wasn't this supposed to be a problem caused by foreigners? No mention of that here funny enough. . .

It has been my experiance here in Thailand that they have a different definition for some English words and resort is probably as close as they can come to the Thai definition.

And after all we are in Thailand not the western world.

Leaving the resort definition aside they are still buildings on national park land without any proper authority to be there.

And before any one says well they paid there money remember it was paid as a bribe to commit a illegal act.

Makes no difference if it was paid by a Thai or a Foreigner.

Restoring them to there natural habitat is in line with reforestation to help prevent floods.

Yeah, I'd love to see how they'd react if farang started reinterpreting the meanings of Thai words to fit their own image needs. On the subject of how Thais use English, I get such a kick out of their audacity to reinterpret the actual sounds of English letters based on their own obscure calculations. A perfect example is the high-end hair salon Chalachol, pronounced Cholakon (also Phaholyothin Rd). So according to their logic, the consonant "L", using general English pronunciation rules with the other letters, has TWO possible sounds?! You have to give them credit: they really, really do have b*lls.

Actually it has worked both ways, if to a much more limited extent. The famous Oz racehorse Phar Lap is a mongrelization of the Thai for lightning but of course not spelled with a Ph here. And there are plenty of English words whose pronunciation seems to have bugger all to do with the spelling.

Phar Lap was a Kiwi who became an ex pat in Oz!