Sunday, December 03, 2006
Untouched Thailand
Yes I know I've been working on marketing and with that comes crazy buzz words like "untouched" or "real," but I feel very fortunate to be on the North Andaman coast right now. The place is truly not (and hopefully won't become) disturbed and almost every day I seem to be experiencing some new jaw dropping location or activity.
Today was no different as I helped take a film crew (iHot TV out of Bangkok) into Tung Nung Dam. Real tough work as every time I visit a village I feel it's more a privilege than a work task. Today no different and again the film crew was impressed with the experience...traditional coastal living is not just foreign to the typical westerner but also to the Thai urban go-getter. Today was a better experience for me as some of the local villagers I'm starting to see often are warming up to me and saying that even though there is a language barrier it is no barrier to the fun they have when hosting foreigners. The day concluded with a full-moon longtail boat ride back to the pier...quite serene.
So, the last week or so...swimming under waterfalls, finding great mountain biking terrain, more sunset swims in the Andaman, a day in Ban Talae Nok helping host a sports day, a day in Tung Nung Dam gathering research on a local hike, a BBQ/bungalow warming party at a fellow volunteer's, and last night we supported the only other NGO in town (Swiss Development Corporation) at their closing party. The entertainment was quite slow as it was traditional Thai fun...karaoke without any spunk. It is very common here (and most of Asia) to sing karaoke even though you have a horrible voice and are just standing on stage with your hands in your pocket. Even some regional political leaders attending sang in this same banal fashion. Sure enough, NATR was called upon to sing a song. Even though the average Thai singer is bad, I am far worse, so don't worry, I stayed seated. But Erik and Bret got up and put together a gut-wrenching with laughter, and possibly a reputation-damaging performance to Michael Jackson's "Beat it." Hilarious and very frightening for Bodhi (our Director). While it was definitely extremely entertaining, they also seemed to be praised from most all the crowd, including the high-ranked politicians, but you never know if they are just saving face and looking for ways to deport us and our program soon. According to our good friends at SDC, it was all good.
On top of this, a bunch of us went out and spent last weekend on our own island at Ao Koh Kwai. Yes, you can still get your own tropical island in Thailand! Jo's boyfriend Bau is a local fisherman and was our transportation and food gatherer for the weekend. While he struck out on Friday, he delivered on Saturday with some stingray and baracuda. The stingray was a little chewy while the baracuda had tasty tender meat. For appetizers we often ate oysters and snails found in our bay. The snorkeling was very decent albeit one intense zone of sea lice. These things have been in most of the waters I've swam in around southern Thailand but usually just a short single-pointed sting. There was one section off our island exerting much more force with hundreds of concurrent stingings that felt like you were getting electrocuted. This rightfully aborted our group of three grown men's attempt to swim around the island.
The untouched Thailand bias was strongly enforced during this trip as I constantly looked at the mainland's coastline and saw nothing but beach and forest. Oh wait, there was one siting of a white building but otherwards...nature.
Work is great...starting to feel like I'm adding value both in terms of marketing progress and overall teamwork. We had a beyond belief November with 22 guests going through Andaman Discoveries, and more rewarding, the fact that four of them told us they had life-changing experiences in the villages!
While it all seems peachy, community-based tourism is no simple task, and our most attractive feature is also our largest obstacle. Their happy-in-the-moment attitude does simplify their existence and is apparent to guests visiting their lifestyles. But meanwhile, we are trying to teach them ways to preserve this attitude through long term thinking, vision, and planning. This is tricky and needs to be done carefully. To help them maintain their livelihoods forever (something they truly want...unless maybe someday huge amounts of money persuades them otherwise similar to traditional tourism development where the locals are "bought out") we feel tourism in their communities needs to provide supplementary income only and never detract from their traditional sources of sustenance. This means the number of tourists must remain limited. So what am I doing in marketing, well, we are not at capacity yet. Marketing is a main facet of this program I doubt the villages themselves will ever truly understand or be able to conduct. This is OK as long as they understand the significance of marketing and that there is a cost for this need.
They are getting pretty good at delivering the product, but continuously take for granted the efforts we put into bringing them business, organizing tours, and being Uncle NATR with deep pockets. Due to the large amounts of tsunami relief money that fled into Thailand, some of the local people assume that westerners will just keep on giving. Then there is the normal corruption factor where we are learning there is a strong likelihood that one village's leaders are pocketing most of the "community fund" money. The community fund (20% of all revenue) is intended to benefit the entire community through needed projects. It could be worse, we could have local mafia all over us (and they are starting to pay close attention) as we become successful in bringing in tourism money. The only reason mafia are not involved in our business already is because we created a new market...when it comes to the bigger, already developed businesses such as scuba diving around the Similan Islands, oh yes, they are in control. I do not totally understand the extent of "mafia"...it doesn't seem to be anything dangerous and does seem to be prevalent in all facets of business. One reporter estimated that over 60-70% of all business in Thailand is mafia related or corrupt. My best guest is if the mafia is involved it basically means there is a large sum of money laundering going to certain people.
So, yes, I do ask myself at times what are us idealistic white folks trying to do here. But the answer is simple, you gotta believe. As far as tourism goes, I am a huge believer that we have two key attractions: nature and culture. Now we must work on ways to continue to have these.
Today was no different as I helped take a film crew (iHot TV out of Bangkok) into Tung Nung Dam. Real tough work as every time I visit a village I feel it's more a privilege than a work task. Today no different and again the film crew was impressed with the experience...traditional coastal living is not just foreign to the typical westerner but also to the Thai urban go-getter. Today was a better experience for me as some of the local villagers I'm starting to see often are warming up to me and saying that even though there is a language barrier it is no barrier to the fun they have when hosting foreigners. The day concluded with a full-moon longtail boat ride back to the pier...quite serene.
So, the last week or so...swimming under waterfalls, finding great mountain biking terrain, more sunset swims in the Andaman, a day in Ban Talae Nok helping host a sports day, a day in Tung Nung Dam gathering research on a local hike, a BBQ/bungalow warming party at a fellow volunteer's, and last night we supported the only other NGO in town (Swiss Development Corporation) at their closing party. The entertainment was quite slow as it was traditional Thai fun...karaoke without any spunk. It is very common here (and most of Asia) to sing karaoke even though you have a horrible voice and are just standing on stage with your hands in your pocket. Even some regional political leaders attending sang in this same banal fashion. Sure enough, NATR was called upon to sing a song. Even though the average Thai singer is bad, I am far worse, so don't worry, I stayed seated. But Erik and Bret got up and put together a gut-wrenching with laughter, and possibly a reputation-damaging performance to Michael Jackson's "Beat it." Hilarious and very frightening for Bodhi (our Director). While it was definitely extremely entertaining, they also seemed to be praised from most all the crowd, including the high-ranked politicians, but you never know if they are just saving face and looking for ways to deport us and our program soon. According to our good friends at SDC, it was all good.
On top of this, a bunch of us went out and spent last weekend on our own island at Ao Koh Kwai. Yes, you can still get your own tropical island in Thailand! Jo's boyfriend Bau is a local fisherman and was our transportation and food gatherer for the weekend. While he struck out on Friday, he delivered on Saturday with some stingray and baracuda. The stingray was a little chewy while the baracuda had tasty tender meat. For appetizers we often ate oysters and snails found in our bay. The snorkeling was very decent albeit one intense zone of sea lice. These things have been in most of the waters I've swam in around southern Thailand but usually just a short single-pointed sting. There was one section off our island exerting much more force with hundreds of concurrent stingings that felt like you were getting electrocuted. This rightfully aborted our group of three grown men's attempt to swim around the island.
The untouched Thailand bias was strongly enforced during this trip as I constantly looked at the mainland's coastline and saw nothing but beach and forest. Oh wait, there was one siting of a white building but otherwards...nature.
Work is great...starting to feel like I'm adding value both in terms of marketing progress and overall teamwork. We had a beyond belief November with 22 guests going through Andaman Discoveries, and more rewarding, the fact that four of them told us they had life-changing experiences in the villages!
While it all seems peachy, community-based tourism is no simple task, and our most attractive feature is also our largest obstacle. Their happy-in-the-moment attitude does simplify their existence and is apparent to guests visiting their lifestyles. But meanwhile, we are trying to teach them ways to preserve this attitude through long term thinking, vision, and planning. This is tricky and needs to be done carefully. To help them maintain their livelihoods forever (something they truly want...unless maybe someday huge amounts of money persuades them otherwise similar to traditional tourism development where the locals are "bought out") we feel tourism in their communities needs to provide supplementary income only and never detract from their traditional sources of sustenance. This means the number of tourists must remain limited. So what am I doing in marketing, well, we are not at capacity yet. Marketing is a main facet of this program I doubt the villages themselves will ever truly understand or be able to conduct. This is OK as long as they understand the significance of marketing and that there is a cost for this need.
They are getting pretty good at delivering the product, but continuously take for granted the efforts we put into bringing them business, organizing tours, and being Uncle NATR with deep pockets. Due to the large amounts of tsunami relief money that fled into Thailand, some of the local people assume that westerners will just keep on giving. Then there is the normal corruption factor where we are learning there is a strong likelihood that one village's leaders are pocketing most of the "community fund" money. The community fund (20% of all revenue) is intended to benefit the entire community through needed projects. It could be worse, we could have local mafia all over us (and they are starting to pay close attention) as we become successful in bringing in tourism money. The only reason mafia are not involved in our business already is because we created a new market...when it comes to the bigger, already developed businesses such as scuba diving around the Similan Islands, oh yes, they are in control. I do not totally understand the extent of "mafia"...it doesn't seem to be anything dangerous and does seem to be prevalent in all facets of business. One reporter estimated that over 60-70% of all business in Thailand is mafia related or corrupt. My best guest is if the mafia is involved it basically means there is a large sum of money laundering going to certain people.
So, yes, I do ask myself at times what are us idealistic white folks trying to do here. But the answer is simple, you gotta believe. As far as tourism goes, I am a huge believer that we have two key attractions: nature and culture. Now we must work on ways to continue to have these.
Labels: Kuraburi, sustainable tourism, Thailand
