Introducing the Green Season on Koh Chang
Responding to your pleas for more unpaid contributing scribes to your excellent publication regarding all things Koh Chang, I want to address the issue of the wrongly titled "low season".
The expression "low season" has an immediate negative psychological impact as soon as its uttered, and it appears to be symptomatic as to how a good number of expatriate business people perceive this time of the year (that being May through October) on Koh Chang.
Almost as if someone strikes a bell on the 1st of May many local  businesses are moth balled and the inhabitants and operators of these places pilgrimage to Suvarnabhumi Airport and fly back to sunny summery Europe for 5 months.
Without wishing to be disparaging to anyone personally, I'm afraid that this attitude and behavior is disgraceful and morally bankrupt.
On the one hand expatriate business people come here during what is essentially the festive Christmas period, cash in big time during the "boom" months (paying their local staff virtually peanuts), then abandon Koh Chang and importantly its economy for between four to five months working through the summer in Europe getting big "Euro" incomes, then returning to Koh Chang in October to reap the Christmas tourism  harvest once again.
This behaviour does nothing for the long term future of Koh Chang, its people or its economy.
Koh Chang is a fragile young economy, and as long as this ridiculous "low season" attitude continues, the future of the place will never be assured.
Thai law should stipulate that if a foreigner wishes to establish a business on this rather special place called Koh Chang, then he or she should be commited to attend to it right through out the year, for a minimum of three years, so that a more stable local economy can be established.
The expression "low season" should now be referred to as the "Green Season" as this is the time of the year when the flora and fauna of Koh Chang springs to life, along with the abundance of cascading waterfalls / rivers / pools and wild life.
Dramatic thunder and lightning displays are as exciting to as many people as those who like to sit and watch sunsets, so lets start promoting these exciting features of Koh Chang through out this time of the year.
 In fact lets all start advertising Koh Chang through the media in every way we can, you can all afford it, and if you can't you shouldn't be in business here.
Koh Chang is warm right through out the year, and the opportunities to develop the "Green Season" into an eco friendly tourism period are abundant. There is a huge eco tourism market around the world and its time local business tapped into it.
Not every one who goes on holiday wants to lie on a beach or sit in the sun all day.
Come on all you European business people out there, get pro active about this situation, and stop being greedy over Christmas while you line your already well padded pockets, the local economy needs you to contribute to it through out the year.
The community will be better served by expatriates who take a long term approach to building a strong local economy for the people of Koh Chang, and plan for a yearly approach to operating their business.
Apart from anything else it is responsible and ethical business behavior and has an element that seems to be lacking in the general expatriate business community on Koh Chang, that being social conscience.
Er, by the way how much "tax" did you say you paid last season from your business here on Koh Chang?
Koh Chang is not simply an idylic summer destination for comparatively well off Europeans to come to exploit and ravage during the strong vacation season here (and European winter time) then leave to let it fend for itself during the rainy period.
The people of Koh Chang deserve much better from their European counterparts.
So from now on the period from May through to October on Koh Chang will be known as the Green Season, so start planning your yearly advertising schedule to that effect from now, and let every one on Koh Chang prosper accordingly.
Keith Williams
Koh Chang
