Return to paradise

At Maya Bay, hawk-eyed park officials patrol the sandy stretch, whistles at the ready. It was a gorgeous morning last Thursday, just days after the fabled beach on Phi Phi Leh Island had reopened after three years of closure, and the 300 or so holidaymakers, masked or otherwise, were ambling or striking catwalk poses on the pillow-soft sand, awestruck by the emerald splendour around them.

But look there. A group of shirtless farang men, carried away by the lulling waves, began to wade too deep into the water. One of the park officials spotted them (as I in turn spotted him) and quickened his steps. Eyes stern and telescoped on the group of excited foreigners about to…