Palai wall? Yes please

The article by Marque A Rome castigating the building of a retaining wall and pier at Palai Beach showed all the romantic imagination that his name suggests. However, logic and forethought were sadly missing.

To me, the Palai area has an almost unique opportunity to become one of the most important leisure- and tourism-related business areas in Phuket for Thais and farangs alike. It was partly for that reason that I bought a house in the area.

Almost totally undeveloped at the moment, it already has one of the island’s most popular attractions in Phuket Zoo, has some of the best seafood restaurants in Phuket and is part of the region’s most ideal natural harbor – Chalong Bay.

It is situated about 15 minutes from Phuket City, the coast has much better road access than the dreaded Chalong Circle area, and it is adjacent to the picturesque Klong Moo Dong and mangrove forests, and as already mentioned, has the advantage of being a “blank canvas”. But enough of the advertisement for Palai.

What I fail to understand is, after seeing the improvements made to the sea-front at Patong, Karon, Kata, Nai Harn, Chalong, Rawai and other areas, by the building of sea walls, promenades or jetties, anyone could possibly criticize a similar plan for Palai.

Hopefully this will be the first stage in enhancing the natural beauty of the area while making more practical the use of its natural advantages.

There is plenty of space for the creation of a launching slipway for pleasure boats, parking and many other tourism-related projects.

I for one hope to see the Great Wall of Palai finished as soon as possible and I’m sure that even Marque A. would admit, “Rome” wasn’t built in a day.

Chris Garnett Soi Palai2

Low-cost airlines helping development

I enjoyed Bill Barnett’s low-cost travel article [Gazette, June 16-22 issue].
I would be remiss of me if I did not point out, however, that the transportation infrastructure provided by the low cost/budget airlines was an important ingredient to the success of property developers.

Not only is pricing an important factor, but so is providing service to locations on a schedule that meets the demands of the people traveling on the route.

This was recognized by several low cost carriers as a requirement and was an important item adding to their market segment acceptance.

Destination Air is currently beginning services to locations not easily accessible or convenient by road or boat.

The scheduled shuttle service will provide property developers – and tourists and residents too – with the ability to travel to locations previously regarded as inconvenient or possibly too time-consuming to reach.

Between Phuket and Ranong, the options are a four- to five-hour van trip or 30-minute seaplane flight.

Between Phuket and the Koh Lanta-Trang area, a five- to six-hour van/boat transport or a 20-35-minute Ko Lanta/Ko Mook jump.

Please keep the Property Watch information flowing. It is a solid insight to the trends and thinking in our community. As goes the land, so go the people.

The demographics of Phuket are changing and your articles continue to allow us to have an insight to the changes and maintain pace.

Pat James Managing Director Destination Air Shuttle