TwoHelp.org Updates

A Fond Farewell to Khao Lak

So our time in Khao Lak has come to an end. As so often happens, we spent our last day doing many of the things we’d talked about doing the whole time we were there. Clay was at last invited behind the magic curtain at Lamuan Seafood, to observe firsthand how Granny creates her magical daengmoo baan (watermelon shake). Unfortunately, this was an instance when ignorance truly is bliss, as the amount of sugar syrup that goes into this creation is enough to make pages, maybe entire chapters, fall out of the South Beach Diet book. Nevertheless, the truth is now preserved on video tape and we are looking forward to trying our hand at a less-sugary version when we return home.

We spent some of the day on a rented motorbike and explored beachfront areas that we had not yet seen. Going to more remote areas, we chanced upon the Bang Sak Beach Resort. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since soon after the tsunami. It had the eerie feeling of a ghost-resort - guest records still littered the lobby area and none of the debris and rubble had been cleared at all. Yet further down the beach, the Khao Lak Orchid Resort was abuzz with activity and almost fully rebuilt, despite the devastation still apparent in its natural surroundings. While this sort of quick resurrection is more of the exception than the norm for the resorts in the area, it is an important example of how the area can be rebuilt and the optimism that some owners hold for the future of tourism in the area. The tour provided a perfect sort of closure for us, to see how much rebuilding had been done and how we had contributed to it in our two months there, but also how much work there is still to do to return the Khao Lak area to its former level of natural and physical beauty.

It was hard to say goodbye to the many friends that we have made, both our fellow volunteers and people from the community. We both hope to return there sometime, hopefully sooner rather than later, to see how the area changes and progresses. I know when I am back at school this fall I will seriously miss the days of piling into the back of a pick-up truck with 15 people, rain or shine, and heading off to do some tangible work for the day. I am extremely grateful for my time in Khao Lak, the people I met there, and the lessons I learned from the Thai people about accepting challenges and moving forward with dignity, grace, and humility.

Not once did either of us swim in the ocean in Khao Lak during our time there, so we decided to spend our last week in Thailand at the beaches on the other side of the country. Our first stop was Koh Samui, the largest of the group of Thai islands on the Gulf of Thailand. Described by guidebooks as the gem of the Thai islands, we lasted barely a night there before the intense desire to move on set in. Clay compared it to the worst of Myrtle Beach; my associations were more with the worst of the Jersey shore. Yes, the beaches were beautiful, but they were so littered with people, jet skis, trash, and beer bottles, that we found ourselves seeking respite in our dark, stuffy, dirty, and uncomfortable bungalow. And once we moved inland to find food, we were accosted with a never-ending and mind-bogglingly tawdry mix of t-shirt shops, go-go bars, tattoo parlors, and beer-guzzling tourists. That night, lulled at last to a precious two hours of sleep by the bass of non-stop techno music, we decided it was time to go. We moved on quickly to the next island in the chain, Koh Phangnan, but even the most remote beach we could find there was still not quite what we had in mind and we seemed unable to escape the smell of raw sewage. Perhaps in other circumstances we might have continued the search for a place on the beach to relax and enjoy ourselves, but after such an intense and involved experience in Khao Lak, watching how our fellow vacationers wanted no more of Thailand than cheap food and beachfront bungalows, we decided to head back to ‘real Thailand’. We hopped the first overnight train and came back to Bangkok.

Our brief time in the islands was in stark contrast with our experience Khao Lak, but also an important reminder of what tourist areas can become if development is unchecked and unplanned. It seems clear to me that without serious effort and investment the beautiful beaches of Thailand are in severe danger of environmental degradation and destruction. Perhaps, if nothing else, the tsunami will prevent the Khao Lak area from a similar fate.

We thank you all for keeping up with us over the past two months. Our current plans are to continue coordinating various types of events through TwoHelp.org, so stay tuned for future updates. We will be back in the United States on August 6th and look forward to catching up with you all soon.

Love from Thailand,
Clay and Alexis

The Saga of Laem Pom

Imagine for a moment that a freak wave comes through your neighborhood and destroys your house and all of your possessions, killing many of your friends, neighbors, and relatives. As the chaos of the destruction begins to settle, imagine that the mafia comes to your neighborhood in the middle of the night and puts up a fence around your property, claiming it as their own. Imagine that, two years earlier, the mafia had come through during the middle of the night and buried the remnants of a house and restaurant near your property, without any explanation. What you have is the beginning of the story of Laem Pom beach, near Ban Nam Kaem, Thailand.
Continue reading The Saga of Laem Pom…

Completed Logo and More Pictures

As promised, here is the photo of Alexis with the logo that she designed and completed at the Cape Pakarang boat yard. It is duplicated, with the lettering reorganized, on the other side of the boat.
Continue reading Completed Logo and More Pictures…

Cape Pakarang Boat Shed

Today, for the first time since our arrival in Khao Lak, Alexis and I worked at the same site. The boat yard at Cape Pakarang is a project that was started to help provide fishing boats to the Thai fishermen who lost their boats during the tsunami. The initial plan is to built about 50 boats. In total, they cost about $4500 each. All of the money to build them comes from donations to the boat yard. In return, the people who gave money get a logo of their choice on a designated boat. Recently, a boat built from donations from Prince Andrew was completed, and it now sports a Royal Thames Yacht Club logo.
Continue reading Cape Pakarang Boat Shed…

Penang Chicken with Prendchaw

Continue reading Penang Chicken with Prendchaw…

Fundraising goal reached!

Thanks to the generous support of our 40 donors, we achieved our fundraising goal! Any additional funds donated to us through TwoHelp.org will be donated in their entirety to ongoing reconstruction projects in the Khao Lak area. Once the money is donated, we will post updates that detail the projects to which the money is given.

Noteworthy local projects include the Cape Pakarang Boat Shed, which is building boats for the Sea Gypsy people who lost their livelihood as a result of the tsunami and 4kali.org, which supports Khao Lak area children orphaned by the tsunami. Thank you for your generosity, and help us keep the donations coming!

Another sunny day in Thailand

Well, it’s still the rainy season, but you’d never know it this week. It has been sunny and gorgeous, but HOT. Clay and I escaped for the weekend to a beach further south, Railay, to actually enjoy rather than avoid the water. The beaches here are still very unsafe for swimming or even running on, both because of the fierce currents this time of year, and the tons of debris (literally) that are on the ocean floor and still washing ashore every day. So far, beach clean up efforts in this area have collected and removed over 50 metric tons of trash, but this undertaking is still far from complete. There are many things known and unknown beneath the water, including parts of resorts and housing (concrete blocks, tin roofs, TV sets, etc.), trees, boats, and the like, but diving clean ups cannot resume until after the end of the monsoon season in October. Sadly, this means that many of the beaches of Khao Lak are not (yet!) where we want to spend our days off.
Continue reading Another sunny day in Thailand…

Stinky Fruit

It is over two weeks since we arrived in Khao Lak, and the only consistency here is that every day is different. We work a variety of different projects — some construction, some administrative. Among other things, we created a map of the town of Bang Ban La On that is connected to a business directory. While the purpose of it is to keep incoming volunteers informed, there has also been some outside interest from travel guide companies.

One funny story, and then some pictures:

Alexis once fell in love with Ka-noon — Jackfruit. While I’ve had jackfruit before and seen it growing on the tree, it turns out that both of us were unaware that it has a smaller cousin. Neither of us remembers the name.
Continue reading Stinky Fruit…

The Force of The Wave

To give you an idea of the force of the waves that hit this area, take a look at this picture:
Continue reading The Force of The Wave…

Day 6

So, it’s Day 6 and I think I’m beginning to get the lay of the land here, maybe, sort of. Today was gorgeous. It was the first day without a cloud in the sky and my plastic poncho finally got a chance to dry out. Clay and I did some work in the “office” at the Volunteer Center this morning. I am undertaking a survey of local businesses; on the surface to provide a map and directory of services for volunteers, and more peripherally, to assess if any that have re-opened are having financial troubles or any other difficulties. It is a very basic and somewhat haphazard needs assessment, mostly because if serious needs are identified, it is unclear what assistance the Tsunami Volunteer Center will be able to provide.
Continue reading Day 6…