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Mission completed
The management team of the Thai Garden
Resort,
led by Rene Pisters (3rd left) celebrate “Mission Completed”.
The management team of the Thai Garden Resort show themselves in the new
bathrobes to celebrate the completion of the renovation of 120 rooms and
apartments.
Over the past 4 months an extensive renovation of the hotel’s
accommodation has taken place.
This was preceded by last year’s renovation when the resort built a new
63-meter-long outdoor pool with landscaping, and a new lobby and
restaurant with kitchen.
The new deluxe rooms and apartments come complete with flat screen TV, a
new bathroom with rain shower, and all the amenities that are expected
of a four star resort.
UNESCO award for ‘Sam Chuk’; living 100-year-old market
Thailand’s Sam Chuk Community and Old Market District along the Tha
Cheen River not far from Bangkok, northwest of the Thai capital in
Suphan Buri province - is a bit of Old China in once rural Siam. Witness
to a disappeared way of life, the distinctive river and canal-side
community was recently granted an Award of Merit in the 2009 United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.
 Thailand’s
Sam Chuk Community and Old Market District was recently granted an Award
of Merit in the 2009 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture
Heritage Conservation.
A century ago, Sam Chuk was a renowned centre for waterborne trade and
commerce, when rivers and canals were Siam’s main mode of transport. But
today, times have changed, and the old town’s way of living has changed
accordingly. The negative impact on its survival was heightened when
roads were cut through the old community, reducing the need for and
importance of water transport, and cutting off easy access to places
that had once been central.
Passed by the new ways of life, Sam Chuk was deteriorating, falling into
ruin. Old wooden houses and buildings were decaying as a result of
termites and accumulated damage from rain and old age.
Realizing the changes taking place, local residents formed a Sam Chuk
Market Conservation Committee. Rather than pulling down the old
buildings, they organized to preserve what they received from their
ancestors and restored 19 local buildings, adapting the old style
architecture described in Thai as Khanompang Khing (ginger bread) style,
into a contemporary market, welcoming to traditionalists and those with
new style taste as well.
Local homes have been converted into welcoming shops, cafes and museums,
where visitors can get a glimpse - touch, taste and feel the past - a
sense of what it was like a century ago when the market was really
bustling.
As a venue for its mouthwatering rare traditional dishes and old-style
desserts, Samchuk Market has attracted visitors and habitués from all
walks of life, particularly those Thais who are known for crossing
cities or towns just in order to taste local delicacies.
“I’m very impressed by this place. I’ll definitely come back and will
take my friends here next time,” said one enthused tourist.
However, the road to success of the community was not easy. The Sam Chuk
Market Conservation Committee’s members worked hard to restore the town.
“I’m glad. It’s been over 10 years we’ve done this together. I’m so
happy to see what it’s now become,” said a local pharmacy owner.
“After I heard the news [of the UN award], I was thrilled and very
pleased. We’ve seen Sam Chuk since we were young. We’ve helped each
other to revive it, make it a tourist attraction. It took a lot of time
and effort and we faced so many problems, so that our town being honored
by the UNESCO is beyond our expectation,” said a local resident.
The old market community would not have been restored to life if the
locals had neither seen the value in their traditional way of life, nor
put real effort into conserving the town’s soul.
“No matter what you do, when it comes to an old market, you have to know
what you want or how you want it to be. You have to think what you’re
going to do and how you’re going to do it with your ‘social capital’, so
you don’t have to invest more,” said another resident.
“I think it’s best to consider that. It’s better than to create a new
identity of the town. Everything that has happened and been conserved at
the Sam Chuk market is really because of the participation of local
residents in our community,” said Pongwin Chaiwirat, mayor of Sam Chuk
sub district.
Being honored with recognition by the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage
Awards derives from the accomplishments of local individuals and
organizations within the private sector, and public-private initiatives
to effectively preserve the legacy of old architecture and heritage in
the region.
The revitalization of eligible projects must have been done within the
past decade and the projects themselves must be over 50 years old, with
buildings in use for a minimum of one year from the date of the awards
announcement.
The awards are divided into one Award of Excellence, three Awards of
Distinction, four Awards of Merit, and four Honorable Mentions. Sangiin
Dalai Monastery in Mongolia was honored with the Award of Excellence
this year. (TNA)
THAI eyes return to Big Apple
Sirima Eamtako, TTG Asia
Thai Airways International (THAI) plans to resume its direct Bangkok-New
York flight next June, according to executive board committee chairman, Wallop
Bhukkanasut.
Wallop told the TTG Asia e-Daily the service would resume with a six-weekly
service. He added the airline was now in the process of re-looking the seat
configuration which would likely see fewer business-class seats and more
economy-class seats.
The airline axed the daily service from July 1 last year. At the time, it cited
a surge in oil prices as the key reason for the suspension. The previous service
was operated by a 215-seat Airbus 340-500 with 60 business, 42 premium economy
and 113 economy class seats.
Thailand enjoys healthy
Nordic demand
Sirima Eamtako, TTG Asia
Tourist traffic to Thailand from Nordic countries is returning to
healthy levels, with TUI Nordic reporting 120,000 customers this year, a level
last seen in 2007.
TUI Nordic cites proactive pricing schemes offered by its Thai hotel partners
for the boost.
TUI Nordic CEO Christian Clemens said the tour operator initially revised this
year’s target down by 10 percent in light of the recession. However, with
tactical and early-bird deals offered by Thai hotels reducing rates by 10
percent on average, about 60 percent of its winter tour programs have been sold
to date.
Despite two difficult months of August and September, this year’s summer program
closed with a 99 percent load factor totaling 15,000 tourists.
The positive outlook has prompted TUI Nordic to increase its winter charter
capacity by 10,000 seats by adding a fourth Boeing 767 aircraft. In total, the
tour operator will operate 34 flights per week from various cities in Nordic
countries to Phuket and Krabi between December 15 and March 5.
Clemens said volumes for summer next year were expected to increase by 10
percent. “I am optimistic that we will see a full recovery for the winter
2010/2011 season, but it is still too early to say.”
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