If you are a fan of British comedy, you must have heard of Sue Perkins before. If not, it doesn’t matter. I’ve just watched her Lost in Thailand three-part travel series and they were very fun to watch and packed with useful information for conscious travellers.
While the series quickly show beautiful visuals of major tourist attractions, they feature more on off beaten path – sustainable – unique attractions and experiences, stories of extraordinary people, the wildlife, the culture and Thai ways of life.
In Lost in Thailand, Sue sustainably explores three regions of Thailand. Her journey starts in Chiang Mai in the north, where she features adventurous mountain climbing – abseiling, a Thai massage by an inmate in a women’s prison, a study visit to Chiangmai Life Architects specialising in sustainable architecture using natural materials – mainly bamboo, Elephant Nature Park – one of Thailand’s biggest elephant sanctuaries, Poo Poo Paper Park where she learns how to make paper from elephant poo, and an exciting traditional longboat racing.
Then in the second episode, Sue takes the audience to Phuket and Phang-Nga in the south. In this episode, she joins an underwater clean-up dive near Mai Ton island just off Phuket, visits Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, visits rubber plantation to watch how the farmer extracts the rubber from the tree trunk – turns it into rubber sheets ready for export, tries surfing on an e-hydrofoil, and tours a lovely Muslim fishermen village of Ko Panyee.
Lastly, in the third episode, Sue takes her audience to the bustling Bangkok and a little of Petchaburi, Bang Saen and Ratchaburi which are just a short drive from Bangkok. The episode starts with Bangkok where Sue pumps up her adrenalin by walking on a glass floor at the top of Mahanakhon tower, followed by a Muay Thai lesson. Then she heads to Petchaburi to visit a charity-run wildlife sanctuary. After that, she’s back to Bangkok to ride an e-tuk tuk, called Muvmi. In Bang Saen, Sue visits Hell Garden – a unique amusement park, themed around hell and the afterlife. Then she visits a serene organic coconut farm in Ratchaburi. Lastly she meets Chef Tam, the young chef and the founder of Baan Tepa, a two Michelin-starred restaurant where the menu rooted in the farm-to-table concept, using seasonable – sustainable ingredients.
I love how she ends her series by saying that Thailand is far more than beautiful beaches, sunsets and amazing food. It’s about people and culture.
So far there are 3 episodes, and viewers in Australia can watch them on SBS on Demand here. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. (Unfortunately this link is for viewers in Australia only. I believe UK based viewers can watch them online on Channel 5 YouTube channel.)
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