Things to Do in the Nude: Bungee Jumping

Imagine the scene: a group of tourists from Hong Kong line up to try out bungee jumping. One young woman in the group shows up in a black bikini and suddenly takes it all off before she takes the leap.
Nobody complained, nobody seems to have been shocked enough to call in the police, and as the picture from Coconuts Bangkok shows, the young woman had a great time.
Yet, before last weekend, this simple event in the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai suddenly became international news, with even newspapers in Taiwan devoting ample space to it.
The reason was that somebody had posted pictures of the event online, and that somehow the police department in Chiang Mai had noticed those, and visited the premises.
The result was a fine of 1,000 baht or about 30 US dollars for the operator of the bungee jumping site. While one can understand there are laws in this respect, going to fine nude bungee jumping a week after the fact, when nobody complained about it, is totally unnecessary and a waste of resources.
The authorities in the city thought of mentioning that the event would harm its international standing as a location with a rich culture, but Chiang Mai is hardly likely to be remembered from now on as "the place where that woman jumped in the nude" rather than as a scenic must-go place in Northern Thailand.
While some reports said the Hong Kong woman was a model, named Natalie, who was out to garner fame, her actions were nothing more than an innocent fun thing to do, like skinny dipping. She showed how much more fun things can be when you do it in the nude, without the restrictions of clothing, feeling the wind and the sunshine on your bare skin.
And for those who want to try real naturism in Thailand and do things in the nude without the fear of being fined - though I think bungee jumping would not be possible - they can turn to http://thailandnaturist.com, where they can also look up naturist hotels and resorts in the Southeast Asian country.

I am a Thailand Naturist

Little did I know in December 2011, when I chose the Naturist Association of Thailand as my Real Naturist of the Year 2011, that the organization would take such a flight and that I would join it.
According to its website http://thailandnaturist.com, it now has more than 1,400 members, not just in Thailand, but worldwide. And from now on, that also includes me.
No, I do not live in Thailand, but only four hours flying away, and that's why I joined.
Most Asian countries ban public nudity in all its forms, including the non-sexual social nudity of naturism, which is so popular in other parts of the world, with free nude beaches, resorts, hotels and campings. None of those exist in the Asian country I live in, so my only naturist periods so far have been at home or during short visits to Europe, where I managed to fit in a day at a beach, if the weather happened to cooperate.
Thanks to the NAT, that should now change, because not only is it an organization, it also has succeeded in letting naturist resorts get off the ground in Thailand.
I haven't visited any of them yet, but I have been taking a look at their websites.
There is the Oriental Village in North Thailand's Chiang Mai (www.orientalvillage-chiangmai.com) which looks like paradise, in the middle of rice fields, with a sunny pool and beautiful villas. Speaking on a personal note, its location might be the downside for me. Being remote from the town, it would be difficult to find outside restaurants, while the fact that it also caters to non-naturists might be positive for my non-naturist wife, but not for me.
On the opposite side of the scale, there is the Chan Resort (www.chanresort.com) in busy Pattaya. No problems finding restaurants, shops and nightlife there, I'm sure. The only drawback - and it's a small one - is that it feels a bit locked in. Since there are no naturist beaches, it's not possible to walk along in the sand to the edge of the sea, there's only the swimming pool, which you can see in the picture above.
What sounds great is that the Chan Resort is also the site of an annual international naturist conference, this year on June 4-11. I have not decided yet whether to go. The only such event I attended before, was the International Naturist Federation congress in 2004 at the Croatian resort of Valalta. My biggest disappointment there was that because there was a rule that you had to wear clothes inside the buildings, the whole naturist congress was ... textile! I do hope and expect that will not be the case at the Chan Resort.
The third resort that caught my attention was the Sala Villas (www.salavillas.com), also in Pattaya close to the Chan Resort, which does not have real pictures on its site yet. It has the same advantages as the other Pattaya place, though one practical drawback is that for some reason it does not accept credit cards. In contrast to the Oriental Village, it is very strict about being nude inside the resort, which is good for me, bad for my non-naturist wife.
Having made those remarks, I must praise all of those resorts for doing a great job in launching naturism in one of Asia's most beautiful countries.
With a lessening of political tension on the horizon, I am hopeful that I might soon be able to stay at one of them. The Chan Resort might be my first choice, during the conference or not, but I want to give the others a try too.
Thailand was already a frequent destination for my travels around 2006, and the NAT is likely to put it back near the top from 2014 on.