Boat Mafia In Tonsai

[girlx]

my friend and i took a longtail boat from ao nang to tonsai to enjoy our day in the most laid back part of touristy krabi. we had a couple drinks at a friendly beach bar and enjoyed the mindblowing scenery. when we wanted to leave, the bar staff suggested we find a full boat coming in to the beach and jump on after they had unloaded their passengers to go back to ao nang. which we did. but the local boat drivers sitting on the beach started yelling at our boat driver, who made us get off saying we belonged to the local boats and needed to take one of them (?!?). so we headed back towards one who was readying his boat. he waited for the first boat to leave before he told us we had to wait for more people. i said "mai dai" since there were few people in sight and none of them wanted to go back to ao nang. he laughed and took off speeding away in his boat. so my friend and i stood in the middle of the bay (on a sandbar which was more of a mudbar), and were laughed at by all the boats which came in or left to ao nang with other passengers for the next 40 minutes without us. finally one guy was sympathetic and came to pick us up. we still had to wait for more people but only for about 10 more minutes. and off we went for the usual 60 baht.

[womble]

taxi's with wheels or rudders in thailand are run by mafia, it is seriously damaging the tourist industry and I know a number of people who will not return due to these ######s.

[girlx]

yes definitely presents a horrible image of thailand.

[NBT TV Phuket]

Mini-video: Longtail boats at Ao Nang in Krabi are now regulated for better service standards.

To see or download mini-video, go to http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=198470

Since December 1st the long tail boat services at the famous tourist beach of Ao Nang in Krabi has been re-regulated to better serve tourists. The move, mobilized by the Krabi provincial authority, aims to resolve the issues which damage the tourism image there, which include guest annoyance and unfair prices. The Krabi Vice Governor Chai Panitpornphan said the province, working with the Marine Office, Ao Nang Administration Organization and the Ao Nang Longtail Boat Club agreed to re-regulate to tidy up the beach. Under the new rules, boats are asked to queue up and tickets are sold to passengers. The vice governor stressed that this makes it easy to check on boats as well. Around 140 boats are under this new scheme. Ao Nang is a start point for many outlying islands in Krabi including Railey, Koh Hong and the split sea.

from Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) + Radio Thailand FM90.5 Phuket City, both broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, 8.30am & later on Phuket Cable channel 1, Wednesday 13th December 2006 & www.Thaisnews.com { Our news text and mini-videos can be freely copied and posted on other websites, but please give credit to Andaman News TV11 Phuket}

[Aussietraveller]

This sounds like a great system if it works.

The extortion that happens on a regular basis is very damaging to tourism, and hopefully this will stop the paractice.

Would be nice if this could be implimented in other areas (tuk tuks, Taxis etc)

[Mikey7]

Mini-video: Longtail boats at Ao Nang in Krabi are now regulated for better service standards.

To see or download mini-video, go to http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=198470

Since December 1st the long tail boat services at the famous tourist beach of Ao Nang in Krabi has been re-regulated to better serve tourists. The move, mobilized by the Krabi provincial authority, aims to resolve the issues which damage the tourism image there, which include guest annoyance and unfair prices. The Krabi Vice Governor Chai Panitpornphan said the province, working with the Marine Office, Ao Nang Administration Organization and the Ao Nang Longtail Boat Club agreed to re-regulate to tidy up the beach. Under the new rules, boats are asked to queue up and tickets are sold to passengers. The vice governor stressed that this makes it easy to check on boats as well. Around 140 boats are under this new scheme. Ao Nang is a start point for many outlying islands in Krabi including Railey, Koh Hong and the split sea.

from Andaman News TV11 (VHF dial) + Radio Thailand FM90.5 Phuket City, both broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, 8.30am & later on Phuket Cable channel 1, Wednesday 13th December 2006 & www.Thaisnews.com { Our news text and mini-videos can be freely copied and posted on other websites, but please give credit to Andaman News TV11 Phuket}

This may all be true BUT... Heres the new game. Buy a ticket at Ao Nang to go to Tonsai (60 baht) and the boatman will try to dump you off at Railey. Then the Railey boatmen will charge you 150 baht to go over to Tonsai.

[yabs]

not to metion the damge they do to the environment

they should be outlawed

beautiful beachs at krabi, shame about the film of gasoline on top of the water

from the "curse of the longtail".

Ao nang is basically another Patong/Pattaya

[smartecosse]

not to metion the damge they do to the environment

they should be outlawed

beautiful beachs at krabi, shame about the film of gasoline on top of the water

from the "curse of the longtail".

Ao nang is basically another Patong/Pattaya

give it a rest

how would you get there - swim

oh, hang on lets build a bridge, no I know lets get a really BIG boat, they dont pollute, oh, we could sail on our balsa constructed craft

Edited March 17, 2007 by smartecosse

[Robroy]

The same thing happens on land.

My gf and I wanted to get a ride from Krabi town to Ao Nang the other day. We were besieged by taxi drivers, but we wanted to find the cheap white van that goes between the two towns. The taxi guys spun us all inds of stuff about how it wasn't in service that day.

Then one pulled around the corner. We walked toward it; the taxi drivers started yelling in the window at the driver, threatening him if he undercut their prices (!)

So the driver (who normally charges 20 baht) said the price was '100 baht'. The taxi drivers went away then, and we caught up with the driver and jumped in for 20 - he was fine about thast when not in danger.

Unless southern Thailand can get on top of some of these problems - the plastic and broken glass on the beach is another - a lot of people will continue to stay away.

[DrFisher]

Sounds like New York taxi drivers.

[Minburi]

You have been living down there for how long and you did`nt know this

[THAILIBAN]

oh, this gonna be a lovely experience then in July when I am there