I have lived here in Khao Lak for several years. It is what I call home. In all this time there has been ups and downs - good and bad. But it has retained a certain charm that always made me feel comfortable.
4000 hotel rooms and still not one one national chain (except for the opticians - which has never been explained to me?). In fact, the small town atmosphere was really made special by the fact you had to find a local restaurant - no matter what.
Sure, the 7-11 popped up a few years ago - but if you wanted/needed anything aside from sugar bread, sugar water, beer and/or liquor you had to find a local market.
There has been no regulation, no zoning laws to prevent big chains from moving in, but they just never did.
I understand growth, and the changes in markets - our business is directly related to that! But this is the first, really painful slap in the face about the price you pay for developing into a tourist mecca.
It is with great pain that I see the new McDonald's sign. I feel as though my trust has been violated.
Yet, it will bring more jobs than our shop can. The Local population feel that their tiny town is finally respectable! No other town in this province has a McDonalad's - or any fast food at all! In fact the nearest Fast food is one hour south at the airport. So it's a big deal.
Just to make a point - I am only talking about Western fast food too. There are several small Thai oriented places. And if you count the little food carts - there are quite a few. And our shop is just a small foreign owned place that caters to foreigners - so locally no one would care if we open or close.
Over the past years I've kind of shrugged at the "progress" that has happened. So when I walked the 100 meters to take that picture - I barely noticed the person asking me if I want a Taxi, the guy trying to get me to buy a suit or the squealing women at the massage place (a note - it is ACTUALLY massage, but that will change soon enough). And these are all people who have been here in Khao Lak for several years.
So all in all, I guess the McDonald's helps the town. Yet I feel like something bad has happened.
-Similan Diving
1 comment:
Oh no!!!
The food is so good in Khao Lak and they definitely don’t need that junk food!
There was always a bit special when we went to Phuket Town and got that junk food. =) Even if it’s not that good I still wanted it because you couldn’t get it any where else.
Sad to hear but hopefully this will give a lot of job opportunities for the Local population.
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