Volunteer Work

DSC00918repairs.JPG


DAY 474: “I’m in a Toyota pick-up truck in Thailand!” an excited Noelle said in a Toyota pick-up truck in Thailand.  We had just arrived in Krabi’s bus terminal after a two-hour bus transport from Surat Thani—the hub town where the overnight train dropped us off earlier that morning—and were now headed to Krabi Town, the popular resort town where divers, rock climbers, sea kayakers, and plain old sunbathers came in droves—that is, before the catastrophic Asian Tsunami of December 26, 2004.

Not every tourist was as enthusiastic about traveling to Krabi province in southern Thailand as Noelle, not even the little dogs in t-shirts.  With the overly dramatic TV news media playing up the drama as usual, many people had canceled their travel plans to the Thai tourist meccas of Phuket and Krabi for fear of disease, the “second wave of death” as CNN put it, or another tsunami.  I saw beyond this and my intention to journey to Krabi wasn’t just to do the touristy things, but to find some hands-on volunteer work, like building a house or something, if it was available.  The travel agent in Bangkok who sold us our train tickets told us that volunteer work was still needed in Krabi, and I was psyched that being in Krabi would kill three birds with one stone with my limited travel schedule:  diving, rock climbing, and volunteer opportunities.

“IS THERE ANY SORT OF VOLUNTEER WORK AROUND?” I asked a guy at the tour office at the Krabi bus terminal.

“That’s finished already.  Where were you a month ago?!” he said, but not in a scolding way.

“Uh...” I bashfully stammered.  I was sitting on my ass in Manila, Philippines.

The guy told me that most of the repair work had been done already and that the rest of what had to be done was under control.  As one Swedish Phuket-based bar owner I met told me, “They work really fast.” Phuket was one of the hardest hit in Thailand from the tsunami, but was up and running to some capacity in just a couple of weeks.  “Everything is back to normal,” the Swede told me.  “[They just need tourists to come back.]”

As so, the opportunity to do some hands-on volunteer work washed away with the receding tidal wave.  “Well, at least you got my money,” I told the guy in Krabi, referring to my donation to UNICEF.

AS MY DUTY AS A “JOURNALIST,” I am happy to report and confirm that the fear of disease in southern Thailand is in fact an unwarranted one.  Everything is fine, at least from what I saw in Krabi Town and its “nearby” beaches.  I put “nearby” in quotes because after we checked into a guesthouse in the center of town, we discovered that Ao Nang beach was not within walking distance like we thought; it was a 15-minute, 20-baht ride away down the road.

Fifteen minutes and forty baht later, we were in the beach town of Ao Nang where businesses were indeed up and running—and eager for patrons.  The Thai people of the region sort of put all their eggs in one basket, becoming completely dependent on visiting foreigners for their livelihoods, and with the tourists at bay, so was the cash flow.  Some t-shirt vendors even went as far as to profit off the catastrophic event (much like the t-shirt vendors in New York as early as September 15, 2001).  December through April is usually the high tourist season in these parts, but with the remnants of damage still on the shores, tourists in Thailand opted for other beach towns that weren’t affected.

From what we saw that day, just five weeks after the tsunami struck, Ao Nang had bounced back to some capacity.  Sure, some of the beachfront restaurants were still in a state of disrepair (picture above), but most were fine—just waiting for people to show up.  The row of restaurants on a long deck was practically abandoned—just five patrons for seating of about a hundred— and some places had chairs up in the back since they weren’t being used. 

Knowing that the only way to help out in post-tsunami efforts now in the affected regions of Thailand was to simply pump money into it by being a tourist, Noelle and I bought lunch at one of the beachfront restaurants.  The chef there proved that Ao Nang was back in the tourist game by cooking us up a delectable curry prawn dish and a pot of spicy crab.  “[It’s slow now, huh?]” we asked our waitress.

“Farangs [foreigners] not here,” she said.  I asked her about her tsunami experience and with limited English she said that she was there, at a bar at the time, at that it was “scary.” Water came up from under the deck and then up over the side, tossing and turning everything like a big saltwater washing machine.  It all happened in a matter of twelve seconds. 

WALKING THE BEACHFRONT STRIP OF AO NANG gave both Noelle and I a mixed feeling of emotion.  On one hand, we felt sorry of what had happened there, and that the people were still suffering from it in terms of income.  On the other hand, it was sort of nice not to have it swarming with loud and obnoxious Western tourists.  Walking down the virtual ghost town, I said, “It’s like I own the place.”

To help out some more, we “volunteered” to pump more money into the economy by renting a sea kayak for an hour from an office called “Mr. Kayak.” Mr. Kayak (who was a woman that day) set us up with a two-person vessel, which we used to row—often out of sync—to and from the big limestone cliff formation on the eastern side of the beach.  Noelle raved about the schools of jumping fish jumping along side us, while I took pictures of the overhangs.  In the distance, we saw that construction was continuing at the far eastern end of the beach; some were building structures bigger and better than before.  Soon we were back in town to return the kayak in time for sunset, which we spent swimming and floating in the warmest waters I’ve ever experienced on any beach (that don’t involve volcanic activity).

IT’S NOT JUST THAI BUSINESSES that were affected by the doldrums in tourism; the ex-pat community that had set up business in town to profit from their Western brethren were also suffering.  We learned this when we ended up in The Irish Rover, run by (not surprisingly) an Irishman with his Thai wife and family.  Said the Irishman, “It’s supposed to be the high season now, but it’s lower than the low season.”

With that said, we helped him and his Thai family out by doing some more “volunteer work,” which I put in quotes because I really mean “drink booze.” Our continued support of post-tsunami relief came in the form of buying beer and many pints of Strongbow English cider, which not only made them happy, but us drunk. 

And so, I implore you Blogreaders out there:  while your contributions to UNICEF and the Red Cross were in fact beneficial, what the people of Krabi and Phuket really need now is for you to come on over and start drinking beer.  Who wants to volunteer?

SAVE THE DATE; DAY 503 IS COMING.  MARCH 5, 2005, NYC.
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This blog entry about the events of Friday, February 04, 2005 was originally posted on February 09, 2005 on the blog, "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World (Or Until Money Runs Out, Whichever Comes First)," hosted by BootsnAll.com. It is one of over 500 entries that chronicled a trip around the world from October 2003 to March 2005, encompassing travel through thirty-seven countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was this blog that "started it all," where Erik evolved and honed his style of travel blogging. (It starts to come into focus around the time he arrives in Africa.)

Praised and recommended by USA Today, RickSteves.com, and readers of BootsnAll and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, The Global Trip blog was selected by the editors of PC Magazine for the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" (in the travel category) in 2005.





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