On Sun, 14 Oct 2001 22:01:06 +0800, Bjorn Vang Jensen
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I was thinking about you and our Thailand diving plans when I posted my
follow-up to Mike, shortly before yours (clocked by the archives :-)).
I think we posted about the same time and said about the same thing,
independently, though I was less blunt (for a change <BWG>).

Had I read yours first, I would have simply said,

"My sentiments precisely!   Well said!"

-- Bob.


>An excellent idea - if only the money would be spent on the maintenance of
>the reefs. Naturally, however, like Cozumel, the money will find its way
>straight into the pockets of officials, with the bulk no doubt going to Mr.
>Suraswadi himself.
>
>This is the same bleding-heart environmentalist bastard who allowed 20th
>Century Fox to film The Beach in Maya Bay, where they destroyed beyond
>repair one of the most beautiful natural parks in South East Asia. It seems
>Leonardo wanted palm trees, which unfortunately don't grow in Maya Bay, so
>they brought in bulldozers, stripped hundreds of years worth of topsoil,
>planted coconut trees on the beach, then wrecked it again when they removed
>the trees and brought in foreign soil on barges to "replace" what they
>destroyed.
>
>Mr. Suraswadi, at the time, authorized this, in direct contravention of
Thai
>law on natural parks. 20th Century Fox of course paid for the usage of the
>park, but there seems to be some disagreement between what the studio says
>they paid, and what the Forestry Department deposited. And even if they had
>paid a trillion Dollars, it would STILL have been illegal to use the park
>for anything at all other than admiring it. Corrupt usurpers like Mr.
>Suraswadi wreak more havoc on the environment than a thousand scuba divers.
>
>So forgive me if I am a bit cynical. With "friends" like the Thai Forestry
>Department, the environment doesn't need any enemies. And with collectors
>like him, the environment will never see a penny.
>
>Bjorn
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Mike Wallace" <[log in to unmask]>

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