The Rotary Club of Patong Beach - Tsunami Relief Trip Report: Baan Pak Triam

12-13 March, 2005

Rotarian Larry Amsden

Current Status of Projects:

As of 12 March, 8 houses have been completed except for the stairs.   9 more houses have been framed and the roofs are on.   They are awaiting some funding from us to pay off their building materials supplier for materials delivered to date, on credit.   As soon as this is taken care of, they can order the siding they need to finish the houses.   Khun Chet will be delivering the receipts, outstanding bills, etc. to us today.   I recommend that we expedite this payment in order to keep the work going on the houses.

At the Pak Triam site, I noticed two nearly completed long tail boats.   Both hulls were complete except for some calking.   I was informed that these boats will be in the water in a matter of days.

The water well has not yet been started, but according to subsequent telephone conversations with the Emom, the concrete rings for the well are to be delivered tomorrow.   They expect to have the well completed in about two weeks, max.   I have received construction drawings for the steel water tower from the structural engineer at the Karon Tessaban, which he did free for our project.   In discussions with the Emom at Pak Trium, and Bodhi Gatrrett in Kura Buri, it was thier opinion that there is no steel shop in Kura Buri which could build the tower, so I will get bids from local (Phuket) steel shops for the construction of the tower.   It is designed such that the pieces can be transported via pickup truck, and bolted together on site, as there is not sufficient electrical supply at the site to weld it together there.   I will submit cost quotations as soon as I receive them.

The tie-dye project is proceeding.   The villagers have now figured out how to die material in red, green, and the original orange colors, using indigenous plants in the area for the dye.   They have no idea how to market the products.

Eco-tourism Project

In discussions with Jonathan Morris, a volunteer from the Kao Lak Tsunami Volunteer Center, working at Pak Triam, the villagers are interested in hosting a small number of tourists for a fishing expedition and possible home stay in the village, on a periodic basis   (see Brad's trip report from last week).   This might prove to be a viable second source of income for the village.   They are “pilot running” the program on Saturday nights, with farang volunteer workers in the village.   John has agreed to monitor their progress and give us his observations on the possible success of this program.   He also volunteered to help organize the villagers into a Rotary Community Corps with this project being the core project.   If it appears to be a viable project, we should consider assisting them with a marketing program, and seed funding, if needed.   I will try to get Jonathan down to Phuket in the near future to further discuss this possible project.   We might also consider getting one or two of the leaders in the Pak Triam Community Corps to visit the eco-tourism, home stay program in Koh Yao Noi, which is acknowledged to be a success.

Meeting with Brodhi Garrett of NATR in Kura Buri

The model boat building project initiated by the Moken people is progressing well.   Bodhi has received about ten more model boats, and the quality seems to be improving considerably.   Bodhi was most enthusiastic about the possibility of getting the students from the University of Southern California involved in developing a generic marketing plan for all the various products from the villages in the area.   He agreed to spearhead this effort, when and if the USC students arrive.

Additional request from the village

The women in Pak Triam have decided to study the English language in order to better communicate with the many farangs working there, as well as future visitors to their eco-tourism project.   They have requested that we supply them with 5 Thai-English dictionaries, and 5 English-Thai dictionaries.   This seems like another good Community Corps project, and I recommend we purchase the dictionaries for them.   I will get a cost estimate and submit to the board this week.   If approved, I can deliver the dictionaries to them this week end.

Side note:  

According to my Thai-English dictionary, Triam is defined as:   “being in a state of preparedness;   prepared for the worse”.   The estuary and klong adjacent to the village is known locally as Klong Triam.   So, I guess a rough translation of our village, Baan Pak Triam would be Mouth of the Klong of Preparedness.

Next planned visit:   This week end, 19-20 March, with Rotarian Bradley.

Rotarian Larry Amsden