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Ghoulish Tourists

post #1 of 13
1/1/05 at 11:24am
Thread Starter 
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-228627c.html

Ghouls rush in

PHUKET, Thailand - While volunteers struggled to collect bodies washing up on the once-pristine beaches of this upscale resort isle, ghoulish tourists rolled out their towels yesterday, doffed their bikini tops and vacationed like nothing had happened.

On Patong Beach and Kata Beach - where hundreds died or disappeared four days ago - the smell of suntan lotion wafted from the shore as a new influx of tourists determinedly ignored the carnage around them, frolicking in the surf or reading under umbrellas.

...Some Thais are amazed that the foreigners can be so insensitive to be sipping cocktails poolside while surrounded by death and grief.

*******************************

Sorry, but this irritates me. Sure, tourism will and should return to Thailand. But the insensitivity and lack of regard for human suffering and death is shameful. Shouldn't we as fellow humans have respect for those who've just lost family and friends? It hasn't even been a week yet! I don't care if it is cold in Belgium. Wear a coat or go to another beach in another country.
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post #2 of 13
1/1/05 at 11:47am
I saw that on the news tonight - a lot of them are German tourists who've refused to cut their vacations short! How insensitive can you get? "Ghoulish" is the right description. There's nothing like "Me first!" They're probably also the ones who won't have any "loose change" to donate.
There are people who are doing everything they can to help, though. CNN International had a report yesterday about the number of Thais from unaffected areas who'd traveled to "Ground Zero" to help interpret for foreign victims, provide health care for the injured, etc..
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post #3 of 13
1/1/05 at 11:57am
Yeah. Things like this do bring out both the best and the worst in people. That kind of insensitivity really is too much
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post #4 of 13
1/1/05 at 11:58am
I have heard on the radio that they are imploring people not to cut short their holidays or not to cancel if booked for the following weeks. this I understand as they could obviously do with the tourist money etc. But I agree, for heavens sake people go to another beach!
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post #5 of 13
1/1/05 at 1:10pm
I just don't get some people. If I had a vacation planned for Thailand, sure, I would still go, but I wouldn't be on the beach lying in the sun. I would be doing what I could to help out.
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post #6 of 13
1/1/05 at 1:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmberThe Bobcat
I just don't get some people. If I had a vacation planned for Thailand, sure, I would still go, but I wouldn't be on the beach lying in the sun. I would be doing what I could to help out.
That my my first thought too, John. I was thinking that I would definintely still infuse the little money I already had planned to the area, but I would be helping in the relief effort doing whatever little things I could there. Definitely not just lying around drinking pina colatas. Doing that is truly callous.
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post #7 of 13
1/1/05 at 7:54pm
Sometimes I am so ashamed to be human. That is just horrible. So rude, mean, inconsiderate(SP?)

I think it's very selfish. I felt as though the resorts should have been closed for tourists or something. I guess I imagined they were all gone. I assumed that the beaches would be closed. EEEEK!!!

I could NOT go there so soon after such a tragedy. I don't think I would ever want to go there for any kind of vacation. Life does go on, but some things, especially with mass ammounts of death invonved... I just would never be able to see past the loss of life. If I went there that would be all I would think or dream about.

If only one of those vacationers there could have what ever this empathy thing is that I have, and just suddenly have the ability to take in all the emotion surround a place. I bet they'd leave very quickly.

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post #8 of 13
1/1/05 at 7:56pm
We (at my house) were discussing all the points that you've all mentioned... Helping, going to a different beach, etc... I just can't imagine how those people could have fun laying, and feel alright with themselves just sitting around while all that is going on... ?? They've got to be missing something... a soul? a heart ??? ???
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post #9 of 13
1/1/05 at 7:58pm
That's just so wrong... sigh. Makes you wonder about people, truly. I can understand that they paid for a vacation, etc but still... go somewhere else. People have died, everyone is still mourning, you can't ignore it and go about like nothing has happened!
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post #10 of 13
1/2/05 at 9:59am
I understand the theory of helping out etc - but okay what could you do? We are talking thousands and thousands of dead bodies here! Not just brushing away a bit of sea water from a beach hotel. 'Helping out' is best left to the professionals or those on the ground in my opinion. I would not cancel my holiday to Thailand or Indonesia even under these circumsances. These countries are not itty bitty islands with just a beach and a town centre. They have forests and mountains and thriving economies. This should not be ignored and the more money that goes into these counties after this disaster has got to be a good thing. Think about taking your summer holidays there later in the year - thats when all the initial horror has been forgotten and the rebuild is flagging. What happened to the victims of the earthquake in Iran 26.12.03! I cant remember the name of the place (that shames me). The entire town was destoyed and thousands died - who gives money to them now?
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post #11 of 13
1/2/05 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tulip2454
...I would not cancel my holiday to Thailand or Indonesia even under these circumsances. These countries are not itty bitty islands with just a beach and a town centre. They have forests and mountains and thriving economies. This should not be ignored and the more money that goes into these counties after this disaster has got to be a good thing. Think about taking your summer holidays there later in the year - thats when all the initial horror has been forgotten and the rebuild is flagging...
Tourism is great for the economy of the country. No arguing that point. But to sit out on the VERY beaches where people died five days earlier; where clean-up is still going on; where potentially--bodies could wash ashore? People just died. Lots of people. It seems disrespectful to put your umbrella up over the place where life left and act as if nothing dreadful happened. It's callous.

Go someplace else in the country. Give the hotel your money if you're truly concerned aboutthe economy. But take your umbrella and your sun block and your generous heart elsewhere. We don't dance on caskets. We shouldn't lie in the sand and get a tan either.


http://www.startribune.com/stories/722/5164081.html
"Charles Vickson, a Buddhist visiting from Hong Kong, said that at Phuket's Laguna resort, which was not badly affected by the waves, he saw bronzed European tourists return to sunbathing by the pool just minutes after the tsunamis.

"They laid out their towel ... and the lady, with her headphones on, resumed her sunbathing as if nothing had happened," he said."
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post #12 of 13
1/3/05 at 1:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsd
http://www.startribune.com/stories/722/5164081.html
"Charles Vickson, a Buddhist visiting from Hong Kong, said that at Phuket's Laguna resort, which was not badly affected by the waves, he saw bronzed European tourists return to sunbathing by the pool just minutes after the tsunamis.
"They laid out their towel ... and the lady, with her headphones on, resumed her sunbathing as if nothing had happened," he said."
Point taken -
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post #13 of 13
1/3/05 at 7:29am
If it were me that had scheduled a trip to thailand, I would have gone still, sure, but not to go to a resort!! I would have happily gone and tried to help where I could.
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