The island of Phuket, Thailand. Island number 13 (out of 100), country number 11 (out of 25), month number 13 (out of 100.)
The JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa is “set in 27 acres of lush tropical gardens with natural swimming pools, freshwater ponds, and natural preserved coastal wetlands” and “offers seclusion and tranquility overlooking the Andaman Sea.”
A 60 minute massage in their Mandara Spa will set you back Bath 3200++.
Just outside the property of the JW Marriott (meters away from the Marriott spa) a group of thai women have built a simple hut, a structure without walls but with a leaking roof. Under that roof they are offering one hour massage on the beach for 400 Bath – no “plus plus”…
For the last few days I stayed in the Marriott and had massages on the beach. The difference between the luxurious resort spa and the simple hut on the beach is vast. Yet, both offer the same service. (The experience of laying outside on the beach, listening to the waves is, in a way, more luxurious that laying inside in the air-conditioned and controlled environment.)
Seeing the same service being offered under so different circumstances, and at such different fees, makes you think about how un-evenly the wealth of humanity has been distributed.
Millions of foreign tourists visit Phuket every year – more than 33 million tourist visit Thailand each year, and about 1/3 of them go to Phuket – and they spent 1.71 trillion (!) Bath in the country.
And even if the average Thai salary has gone up, from 9000 Bath in 1999 to 14 000 Bath in 2016, that still only means that the average Thai person earns just 282 USD per month.
The JW Marriott Phuket Resort and Spa is controlled by the Marriott family, which, according to Forbes, is the 42nd riches family in the USA with a wealth of around 7 000 000 000 USD.
I am not, in any way an opponent of the Marriott operating in Thailand, on the contrary, and they can charge what they want for their massages. I believe in trade and business as a driver of good and positive development in many ways (I have been to North Korea and seen with my own eyes what a closed world and strict limitations on business can do to a country.) And I am thankfully aware that I belong to the very top percent of people on earth when it comes to access to financial means.
But I do think that a more efficient model of reducing the income differences between the rich and the poor is needed.
It’s easy to see.
It’s easy to say.
It’s quite difficult to know how it should or could be done.
Walking by the expensive Mandara Spa to get my massage on the beach I was reminded of the two world that are living worlds apart – just next to each other on this Thai island.
It served as a reminder of how we all – the entire humanity – are all living just next to each other on this small, little “island” called “Earth” which is floating in the big, black, vast, empty ocean of space.
Fredrik Haren, aka “The Island Man”, plans to visit 100 islands, in at least 25 countries, on at least 6 continents – in less than 100 months. The purpose of this “World Tour of Islands” is to get a better understanding of the world, a deeper understanding of the people who live here and a broader understanding of life. The island of Phuket was island number 13, country number 11 and month number 13.