Over the next weeks, I will be providing some of New Mandala‘s trade-mark commentary, anecdote and analysis from the sauna that is southern Thailand.

Back in the land of coconut plantations, tourist vistas and bustling maritime commerce – it is good to be home.

Everything is busier, faster and louder down here. With the rubber price consistently over 70 baht a litre (compared to the 10s and 20s that plantations could hope to get a few years back) the rubber producing provinces are, as people say, “gamlang boom yuu” (booming). The tourists are also here in droves!

Shiny new pick-up trucks and handsome sedans fill the streets. New constructions – hotels, shopping plazas, roads and residentials areas – are everywhere. True to form, pictures and commentary will be inbound soon.