To burn or not to burn – sunbathing in the tropics

Sunbathing in the tropics – to do or not to do? Sure, a dose of vitamin D is good for you, even essential, but this whole sunbathing thing – lying in the sun on a beach or poolside reclining chair for hours covered in oil – we thought was a late 20th-century phenomenon. Apart from the obvious risks of skin cancer, long-term exposure to the sun isn’t good for you is it? Bear in mind Thailand and Malaysia’s beaches lie very close to the equator – the sun is nearly directly overhead at midday regardless of actual temperatures or what the weather’s doing. It’s the sun’s ultraviolet rays that burn, not the heat.

Ok, sunbathers are grown adults, so it’s up to them and of course, they’re not doing anyone any harm – we’re just curious really! What’s the fun in it? You lie there slowly cooking, oiled up and greasy all over, brushing off the encroaching sand on your sticky towel, waving off the sand flies so that…? So that ideally you can go back to Monchengladbach or Milton Keynes with a healthy-looking, glowing tan, saying ‘Hey, look at me, I’ve been somewhere hot and sunny for my hols’? (You’re not going to see many Aussies sunbathing, are you – they know better.) Fair enough, if that’s your priority, except that for every sexy-looking tan we’ve seen on a tourist, there’s another one around the corner with horrible and painful-looking red blotches and peeling skin.

Now, ironically for the locals, brown leathery skin means one thing – you’re a poor farmer and to them, looking like a poor farmer is to be avoided at all costs! So the locals wrap up when outside, even if it’s 35 in the shade, wear t-shirts and shorts for swimming (and that’s not only for modesty’s sake), and spend fortunes on dubious whitening creams and products.

We do offer plenty of beach and island extensions, but generally, on our regular tours, coastal and island visits involve activities such as snorkelling or boat trips rather than sunbathing in the tropics. Both of these, however, also provide opportunities to get suntanned, and/or seriously burnt! Lying on your front with a thin film of water covering your back above a coral reef is perfect for either. To our minds, a compromise between local and tourist solutions is optimal. Covering up when snorkelling is the best way to avoid getting sunburnt and reduces the need for sun cream, which damages the marine environment and coral reefs. (The amount of cream you may be coated in might seem unimportant, but imagine the litres that end up over the fragile reefs at popular snorkelling spots such as the Perhentians or Trang’s islands.)  Without resorting to the elbow-length gloves of a Vietnamese motorcyclist or the balaclava of a Thai farm worker, a t-shirt’s generally acceptable to most and whilst we wouldn’t suggest snorkelling in a pair of jeans either the loose, thin cotton trousers known as ‘Thai fisherman’s pants’ are perfect for swimming and cover up a lot of bare skin.

So, sunbathing in the tropics – probably best avoided. We’ll leave you with a link to some ‘reef-safe, biodegradable sunblock’ which sounds good so…happy snorkelling and swimming.