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It was a short trip to re-live the bygone years. As it has been the norm, the group would pick out a nearby destination to unwind- to joke, laugh, visit and goof around. It was a group of 60-year-olds who met as freshies at university in 1983.
This time, Phuket was chosen. As it was just an hour's flight away and offered affordable foreign exchange, it beat other destinations hands down. It did not matter that many of the members had been there before. After all, it was the company that mattered, not the destination.
The first stopover was at Phi Phi island. The same island that had been overwhelmed by a tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004. Twelve years later, the island decided to leave the past behind and move on. Barring the signage that reminded people where to gather in case of emergency, a tsunami specifically, there isn't an inch of reminder to tell visitors of the tragedy. It is business as usual, with the calls to have a message and chartered boat trips for island hopping.
Even before our trip, it was no secret that Indian visitors to Thailand were leaving a bad name for themselves on the island and nationwide. They had earned themselves the unenviable title of picky eaters with 1,001 conditions on their dish - vegetarians, no garlic, no oyster sauce and the list goes on. That too at a food court. Then there are the misers who order one miserable drink to be shared by many.
Even before this, hotels all around the world had identified them as serial hotel pilferers, pocketing hotel appliances and utensils!
To clarify, everywhere we went, we made ourselves known to our hosts that we were Malaysians, their neighbours, promptly getting a ‘Selamat Datang’ greeting. Then, we knew we were seen in a different light.
The last time I came to this island, about 20 years ago, I remember the service was better. Phuketians were bending over backwards to usher travellers and keep them happy with liberal, toothy greetings of 'Sawadeekaap' to their humble businesses showcasing their dirt-cheap produce. All that had apparently changed now. The price of goods and services had skyrocketed, with a glaring decline in services.
Being in the limelight for so long, perhaps, they have been complacent or plain tired. The constant streaming of the nouveau riche from all over the world had convinced them that the good times would last forever. Or maybe, they had grown tired of playing dance monkey to the increasingly uncouth visitors who had nothing good in them but money.
Another obvious change, which I did not notice, 20 years previously, was the clear presence of ladies with hijab and the sprouting of so many eating outlets which restricted consumption of pork and alcohol. Even non-halal restaurants join the halal bandwagon.
The Phuketians are no longer the laid-back people they used to be. The wheel of capitalism must have caught up with them. They are in a hurry. They have no time for play to the tune of tourists, who have upped their act and show entitlement to 'demanding the moon and the stars'.
Evidence of the host being quite fed up with the influx of tourists and their antics is evident in the reels that circulate on social media. My Thailand Facebook page churns out numerous AI-generated caricatures of various tourists acting beyond their welcome. This is treading on a slippery slope. Their subjects are mostly Russians and Indians. Visitors do not want to see this. They want to be treated like royalty, not the butt of jokes. If the Thais are too lethargic to fulfil people's idea of a wasted weekend, perhaps they will look elsewhere.
People easily get bored. It may be time for tourists to venture elsewhere to spend their hard-earned moolah. Another site will turn up, go through the same cycle, grow too big for its shoes and lose its lustre too.
* a line from Murray Head’s 1984 one-hit wonder ‘One Night in Bangkok’. The song gives a degrading occidental outlook of Bangkok, slanting heavily on the red-light district and the exploitation of women. The song was banned in Thailand.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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