Writing Workshop: Paved Paradise

For this weeks writing workshop over at Sleep is For The Weak the idea was to be inspired by a song or lyric. I was struggling to choose and then inspiration came in the most unexpected way. The song is Big Yellow Taxi by the amazing Joni Mitchell.

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot, With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

This post runs the risk of me sounding like a spoilt cow, but I can assure you that I am well aware that I am beyond lucky. Healthy, with a great daughter and a family who love and support me in all that I do. I have more than enough to be grateful for.

Now I have gotten that bit out the way I am going got have a little rant/moan, call it what you like but I have a bee in my bonnet about this. 

You see I have grabbed the chance to have a few days relaxing and chilling out with my Dad on the beach. Working in Bangkok makes this a perk I take advantage of whenever I get the chance, who wouldn't? especially as Nana is very kindly looking after Dodo!  Being time poor we took a recommendation and popped down to Phuket's Kata beach.

An easy 1hr flight and a short hop in a taxi and wham bam..beach time. But hold on..whats this I see? Well it's not the sea view I was hoping for, a big stonking great concrete wall. Running pretty much the full length of the beach, preventing any view of it from the road. Thanks for that Club Med! What was undoubtedly a stunning natural palm fringed beach is now utterly ruined by row upon row of plastic sun loungers. Concrete and building sites are creeping up the once green and leafy hillsides around Kata. The result is a pretty ugly town with nothing that makes you have any feeling that you are indeed in Thailand. The Indian tailors that badger you at every turn to buy ill fitting suits add to this dislocated vibe.

Now all of this being said Kata seems very popular with tourists and many of them look like they are having happy holidays. For me though it just makes me so sad. I am struck by a feeling of loss, a perfect wonder of nature has been dumped on by short sighted and ill planned tourism. Is this progress? Or will the very tourists they hope will fill the plastic loungers eventually abandon Kata in search of the next beach which will in turn be ruined? I write this whilst sitting on Kata Noi, which is the next beach over the hill, and although it is rather more tastefully developed will no doubt end up the next sacrifice to "progress".

Phuket was hit by the boxing day tsunami in 2004. This tragic natural disaster has been compounded by the man made catastrophe of over development. In the frantic rebuilding post tsunami, an opportunity plan for and think of the long term impact of mass tourism has been missed. The wave took the lives and wrecked the businesses of many people but surely a more positive outcome could have been achieved?

The tsunami has been in my thoughts allot since arriving in Phuket. Watching families splashing around in the sea and thinking of those who were lost is a huge reminder that life is short and we need to make the most of the one we have.

For those of you not familiar with Joni Mitchell check out her performance of the song that inspired me.