A Traveller’s Crime

I set foot on the nice, soft and sandy beaches in Phuket

Leaving thousands of footprints behind.

Of course, I am not the only tourist there.

The whole beach was littered with footprints and rubbish.

Sometimes I really wonder what is this really all about.

Would my presence interrupt the lives of the locals?

Am I damaging the natural beauty of this country?  

Others said tourism makes the cash register rings.

With all that money, the country will rise and prosper

But all those cash were replaced with luxurious resorts,

and with artificial tourists attractions.

They did not realise that nature’s true beauty cannot be replicated.  

Worse still, they had used animals to attract the crowd

Training performing animals with a long slash

Going against the habits of nature

Making Elephants stand on its two hind feet

With its heavyweight crushing against its two poor feet

Baby monkey stretched his long arm to reach for its Mother

But was sadly chained to a small wooden tree house.

I could not bear to look at it anymore,

Standing behind those camera flashlights,

Doing nothing but watching others cheering and clapping

As they snapped pictures of animals with eyes filled with sorrow and fatigue.  

I saw more pairs of blue eyes staring back at me

I heard more accented English than any other languages

I sensed an emptiness invading this island

I tasted the saltiness and that tinge of bitterness in the seawater

This island was once a rare gem in the Andaman Sea.

But now it was broken and crushed into tiny pieces,

Right under our feet.

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