It was recently been reported that thirty false killer whales swam ashore in Thailand on the isle of Phuket. With fast help from local residents and hotel staff all but one was saved. The whales, upto 4.2m in length, came ashore on one of the tourist Thailand beaches on Racha Island in the Andaman Sea were the residents and hotel staff acted quickly and together to carry them back to the rough seas.

It was decided that for the safety of people ten of the whales would be loaded onto trucks and transferred to another beach about a mile away, where calmer waters made it easier to return them to sea. Unfortunately during this transfer one of the whales died from shock.

Staff at the Phuket Marine Biological Center are not sure why the whales ran aground but have said “They may have done so because of the strong waves, or they could have been misled by their leader’s sonar signal.”(src) This is not the first time false killer whales have ran aground on Thailand beaches but this was a very large number to be beached together. Scientifically classified as dolphins these social creatures and are well known for stranding themselves.

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited Hua Hin in the south of Thailand and to be honest after my last visit there I didn’t think I would be going back. I won’t go into details why I disliked it but from what I’ve heard recently it has changed a great deal and has become a tourist destination again.

Since 2001 Hua Hin has hosted a Jazz festival on its beaches and this year, 2008, the dates have been set for 13-14 June. This festival has grown in popularity each year and is now a major event in June in Thailand. This can only be good for those who like to visit the country in what is described as the ‘Green Season‘. Between May and October tourism in drops off and most towns outside the major places like Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya etc can become a little like a ghost town. Maybe this is why I didn’t like my first visit to Hua Hin!

This festival however makes visiting Thailand in the cheap season worth doing again, even if you don’t like Jazz. With two beach stages at the Hilton Hotel and Sofitel Hotel and a host of events along the beach between these two it has been nicknamed the “Jazz Alley” for this weekend.

As normal with most events in Thailand Heineken beer is the main sponsor and will be setting up a “Charity Zone”, I think this is called a beer tent in most other places. Heineken however are charging 500baht to get into this zone but some of your ticket price will go to the charity ‘Thai Red Cross’ so I guess there not all bad. You will also get some free beer and a prize draw entry for your baht, but when ever I’ve took part in these Ive never found out if I won or not, that reminds me I must get on with my Thai language course.