Into Cambodia/前進高棉
I first came to Cambodia on February 10, 2015. I was there for an international workshop (February 9-13) on "Sustainable Water Technology: Appropriate technology for water in Asia", which was organized by Scientists and Engineers without Border (SEWB), Korea. The whole one day forum on February 12 was held in the campus of National Polytechnic Institute of Cambodia (NPIC), Phnom Penh. The field visits include suburban sites of Siem Reap and Phnom Penh cities. After this workshop was over, I arranged my free time (February 14-17) to visit Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.
Academic forum
In the academic forum, I myself presented this topic (PPT here): "Improving household water filter for arsenic removal in Cambodia: localized production and distribution of granular iron oxide". In regard to the issue of water and sanitation in Cambodia, I think there’re several aspects which can be explored in order to help meet its urgent needs. To name three of these, any processes are needed to take care of the problems of algae, waterborne pathogens, and arsenic. Not only do these processes need to be technologically appropriate and economically affordable, but also environmentally sustainable, to be applied in a developing country like Cambodia. For example, there’s one clever water purification product of gravitational membrane filtration demonstrated in the forum. It looks like medical syringe injection of drugs or nutrients. Inside this syringe-like cartridge are three components: activated carbon, pre-filter, and hollow fiber membrane. According to its company’s test data, its removal performance for bacteria and turbidity is extremely good. Apparently, it’s easy to carry, to operate, and to maintain. But, is it affordable and sustainable? This is what really challenges the field and academic researchers! I am very confident that SEWB can play an influential role to tackle the addressed problems in the near future because of its professional, compassionate and enthusiastic members.
Technical tour
The organizer (SEWB) and iWc (Innovative Water Center) arranged quite a few of field visits, including ceramic water filter (CWF) manufacturing plant, wetland, school-based water purification system and toilet system. Technologically speaking, these site visits are not appealing. But, it is the inspiring efforts and stories behind these site projects that really count.
For example, the CWF's were produced by Resources Development International Cambodia (RDIC) to "provide affordable high quality drinking water, at a household or classroom level, for communities who are otherwise without access to safe drinking water." Because of its significant contribution in dropping down diarrhea illness, the CWF was awarded "2008 Project Innovation Award Grand Prize" by International Water Association (IWA).
Ceramic water Filter manufacturing plant
The next, we moved to another site of a natural wetland. Observing from the spacious terrain, it appears that the size of this wetland is reducing. The reason can be booming of aquatic plants inside, due to rich nutrients input. As we moved to another side of this wetland, we found there’s continuous influent of domestic wastewater all coming from the nearby villages. So, you may imagine the dead end of this wetland. As a senior Korean scholar has put it, “we are concerned about their health, but they seem to be more concerned about their wealth", which one is their first priority? I think only people there have the last word.
Natural wetland
It’s highly admirable that Korean scholars have such compassion to resolve the problems of water and sanitation in the rural communities of Cambodia, especially for the sake of school children or villagers. The workshop participants were led to four sites to see water purification system, toilet system and campus wastewater treatment system, which were installed in the kindergarten, primary school and NPIC. After these field visits, I would say children there are so blessed because of those international water experts.
Water purification system installed in a kindergarten
Water purification system installed in a primary school
iWc toilet waste management system installed in a primary school
Campus wastewater treatment system (rock filter plus wetland/sand filter)
Cultural tour
As usual, I will arrange morning jogging whenever I get to a new place in a foreign country, especially in a place with rivers or lakes. So, I jogged twice in Phnom Penh (PP) and once in Siem Reap (SR). The road condition in PP was quite bad when jogging along Mekong river. In contrast, when running along Siem Reap River and later on turning into the forest road, it was felt much, much more comfortable I would say jogging is always an easier and better way to get to know a place or a city faster. On top of this, I could also take plenty of good photos since I have actually become a photo-runner.
Morning jogging in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
Michelle and I took some free time walking around the neighborhood of our staying hotel, when we were in Phnom Penh. Some spots we didn’t even know of their names. At any rate, whatever we saw and ate were all fresh and special to foreigners like us. As was strongly recommended, royal palace and central market were the two we should go to. So there we went. We did see something interesting on the street, and indeed the golden royal palace was magnificent.
Phnom Penh City
Royal Palace
People have kept telling me that Angkor Wat should be a must to visit if I were in Cambodia. So, in this trip of Cambodia, I specially arranged staying in Siem Reap for 3 overnights. On the second day in Siem Reap, I woke up quite early and started to jog at 5:01 am. Totally I ran 7.52 km from my hotel to Angkor Wat, and it took me 49’45" to get there. When I was in the Angkor Wat area, the sky was still dark. I decided to wait and stay until the daybreak so I could take some good photos. Later on, I was too exhausted to run back to my hotel, so I took a motorbike at a price of 10000 Cambodian dollar. With my being there in Angkor Wat early in the morning, I proposed to Michelle my plan of touring around Angkor Wat, as if I were a local professional tour guide. Then we spent one whole day there, based on my proposal. Of course, I took many photos up-and-down at any possible spots in the Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat
I got some idea about Tonle Sap Lake when I prepared my talk for the workshop. It’s located in the upstream of Tonle Sap River, which meets Mekong River in Phnom Penh. So, two things were in my mind before coming to Cambodia. First, I wanted to jog along Tonle Sap River when staying in the Landscape Hotel, Phnom Penh. Second, I wanted to pay a good visit to the Lake, even jogging along the lakeside, when getting to the city of Siem Reap. It ended up that we went to Tonle Sap Lake early in the morning, around 6 am, on the day of flying back to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap. The first attractive spot there was the morning market by the lake, where you could buy live chickens and ducks and seasonal local fruits. In addition, If you see the photos I took, you will find the water had 2 colors, yellow-brown and black. It’s yellow-brown, I guess, because of severe soil excavation along the lakeside or some other reasons which I don’t know. What about the black color, plus very bad smell? It’s all because of domestic wastewater discharged directly from the households. It’s so sad to see people making a living there in such a worsening environment.
Tonle Sap Lake
Closing Remark
- It’s such a good opportunity for me to participate this international workshop in Cambodia. I am thankful for the SEWB’s invitation and iWc’s guiding tours.
- See more photo albums in detail here:
Posted on February 22nd, 2015
小兵立大功/Household Water Filters
陶瓷淨水器(批覆銀粒子)(Ceramic Water Purifier)
註1卡夫過濾器(KanchanTM Arsenic Filter; KAF)
註2.三缸淨水器(Sono 3-Kolshi Filter)
註3.柬埔寨偏鄉地區，如何取得乾淨飲用水？
如果沒有砷的問題，目前廣為使用的是陶瓷淨水器(Ceramic Water Purifier; CWF)，主要是利用當地的黏土加上稻殼屑燒製而成。在燒製過程，稻殼因高溫燃燒留下孔隙，得以讓待處理水以所設計的速度通過容器。燒製後，再塗覆一層膠體銀粒子，主要目的是用來殺菌消毒。它的重量約4.8公斤，產水量每天約20-30公升，零售價7.5-8.0元美金。
對於偏鄉含砷的井水，一般家庭如何解決飲水問題？
在尼泊爾，他們使用卡夫過濾器(Kanchan Arsenic Filter; KAF; 售價約20元美金)，在孟買則使用三缸過濾器(3-Kolshi Filter; 3KF)。其主要組成是兩段式處理單元，第一階段使用鐵釘(KAF; 5公斤)或鑄鐵屑(3KF; 3公斤)除砷，第二階段使用細砂過濾除箘。兩者均對砷去除有極優的效果，但後者操作維護較困難[註4]。另外，使用鐵釘的卡夫過濾器，再補水時，會因添水之沖力使生鏽的鐵釘分佈不均勻，而導致局部水流未經砷吸附就直接進入第二階段之處理單元，使得砷去除效率不穩定。
顯然，元素鐵是砷吸附的關鍵材料，如果能夠取用鐵含量較高的當地無砷地下水，大量製造並以付得起的價格供應粒狀鐵氧化物，
或許可以改善並更廣泛推廣使用KAF及3KF這兩種附有砷吸附功能的過濾器[註5-8]，甚至，在上述陶瓷淨水容器內，裝填顆粒狀鐵氧化物，試著一併去除管井水中的砷，也是可以嘗試的作法。
註：
- 網站影音截取圖片：Youtube (Part 1; Part 2)
- B. Ghimire. KANCHANTM ARSENIC FILTER: Can Iron and Arsenic Particles Migrate through the Sand Layer? A research project submitted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology And\u2028Environment and Public Health Organization.
- AKM MUNIR and SB RASUL, M HABIBUDDOWLA, M ALAUDDIN, A HUSSAM, KHAN.\u2028Evaluation of Performance of Sono 3-Kolshi Filter for Arsenic Removal from Groundwater Using Zero Valent Iron Through Laboratory and Field Studies. Technologies for Arsenic Removal from Drinking Water.
- TKK Ngai, B Dangol, SE Murcott, RR Shrestha (Eds). A simple solution for arsenic problem: KanchanTM Arsenic Filter. April 2005, Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO).
- JC Hsu, CJ Lin , C-H Liao*, and ST Chen (2008). Evaluation of the multiple-ion competition in the adsorption of As(V) onto reclaimed iron-oxide coated sands by fractional factorial design. Chemosphere 72, 1049-1055.
- JC Hsu, CJ Lin , CH Liao*, and ST Chen (2008). Removal of As(V) and As(III) by reclaimed iron-oxide coated sands. J. of Hazardous Materials 153, 817-826.
- N Boonrattanakij, MC Lu, J Anotai (2011). Iron crystallization in a fluidized-bed Fenton process. Wat. Res. 45, 3255-3262.
- Yao-Hui Huang, Yu-Jen Shih, Fu-Ji Cheng. Novel KMnO4-modified iron oxide for effective arsenite removal (2011). J. of Hazardous Materials 198, 1– 6.
Posted on January 3rd, 2015
Prek Russey
Prek Russey是柬埔寨Kandal(甘丹)省Koh Thom區的一個村莊，位於湄公河西岸之洪水平原上，鄰近越南邊界。
2010年8月4日金邊郵報的一則報導：死“砷"臨到甘丹省村落(Arsenic deaths stalk Kandal village)。根據該村村長口述，該村100口井就有80口，其砷含量是世衛組織標準(10 ppb)的40-50倍、柬國標準(50 ppb)的8-10倍[註1 ：圖示]。跟其它260位村民一樣，村中有一51歲的婦女受苦於砷中毒的長期影響效應，她的哥哥(52歲)以及哥哥的27歲兒子才分別於(2010年)二、三月死於砷中毒。因癌性病變及壞疽，他們在死前截肢。在死之前，他們承受很多的痛苦，手掌、腳、身體極度發癢、長膿瘡、吐血、瀉肚子。一般砷中毒者，約在3-10年發生皮膚病變，接著肢體末端產生壞疽，嚴重者需要截肢。另外一位同村54歲的老農夫，也是深受砷中毒之痛苦，因爲沒有錢買自來水，當收集的雨水用完了，他還是得取用那含有砷的井水。
約四年後，金邊郵報又再度報導該村的狀況：沈默殺手收取費用 (Silent killer taking toll, 2014年3月19日)。記者報導了該村一位40歲村民，他在家後面鑿了一口井，全家喝了這口井水有五年之久，他自己、他的父親(2008年截肢，截肢三年後死亡)、嬸嬸、他的18歲兒子都出現砷中毒的症狀。他指著街頭街尾，很多人被診斷死於慢性砷中毒，很多人因此失去了父母或小孩。他很無奈地說，小孩都害怕看到他的病狀。他解開衣服鈕扣，在他的胸部、胃部、背部，看到的是覆蓋身體之過度皮膚色素沉著，甚至已延伸到外部手、腳。有些村民比他更嚴重，但大多已經死了。近一點的，他的鄰居失去她的丈夫及她的哥哥；遠一點的，在那對街有一位最年輕的砷中毒受害者，才只有13歲，經過多年忍受腿發爛之痛苦而後死亡；還有兩個小孩也死於砷中毒。村民說他們得不到政府的幫助，很多人也缺乏乾淨的飲用水。如果要買從附近河川接管過來的水，1立方米是2000瑞爾(約15塊台幣)，不過這種水還需要再處理以除去水中的細菌及農藥，並且太貴了。
喝一口純淨的水，對柬國甘丹省Prek Russey村民來講，談何容易！
註：
- J. Buschmann, M. Berg, C. Stengel, and M.L. Sampson. Arsenic and Manganese Contamination of Drinking Water Resources in Cambodia: Coincidence of Risk Areas with Low Relief Topography . Environ. Sci. Technol. 2007, 41, 2146-2152.
Posted on January 2nd, 2015
面對真相/Undeniable Truth
註1.面對此一重要的砷議題，柬埔寨政府於2002年成立跨部門次委員會(Arsenic Inter-Ministerial Sub-committee; AIMSC)，負責執行在一些省份鑑定砷中毒症狀的任務。金邊郵報在2006年9月21日之追蹤報導：井水使用者顯示出砷中毒的跡象(Well-water users show signs of arsenic poisoning by Cheang Sokha)。
根據2005年8月底，政府官員之會議報告資料：
- 在6個省份及金邊部分地區，發現管井地下水中砷含量達到不利健康的程度；
- 在Kandal及Prey Veng兩省之村民，發現有砷中毒之症狀。
針對219位Kandal省Koh Thom區Prek Russey之村民所做的調查，柬國衛生部預防醫學官員(Dr. Kol Hero)指出：
- 34位(16%)村民顯示砷中毒之外觀證據；
- 80%受調查者，疑似有毒性物質存留體內；
- 大部分村民的手、腳、胸等部位之皮膚，顯示有過度角質化(hyperkeratosis)病變，或極度色素(extreme pigmentation)變化；
- 因為實驗結果尚未出來，不能確定上述發現是否因砷所導致。但根據症狀，80%受測者顯示出砷的疾病。
UNICEF代表(Rodney Hatfield)表示，湄公河流域之砷污染已經證實，而Kandal省是屬於已知的地下水砷污染影響嚴重之省份。砷是一種累積性毒物，症狀的發作慢但必然，而小孩是處於最大風險的群組。 另外，MRD(鄉村發展部)、MoH(衛生部)、UNICEF(聯合國國際兒童緊急救援基金會)、WHO等四個機構，針對分布於Kandal, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang and Kratie等6省之162個村莊，以及首都金邊部分地區，聯合進行砷調查，預計2007年完成調查。
遍布柬埔寨鄉村的管井，其深度達100米，而一般傳統水井，深度很少超過20米。鄉村發展部之鄉村健康關懷官員(Dr. Chea Samnang, MRD)指出，砷元素存在於地面下50米左右的地下含水層，從此深度所汲取之管井地下水，可能遭致砷污染的問題。然而，砷並非出現在所有的管井中，主要依土壤及水井狀況而定。令人擔心的是，很多其它省分可能受到砷的影響。紓解該疾病的策略是，不喝受砷污染的水、吃富含多種維生素的食物及蔬菜、使用抗生素、停止抽菸。如果未妥善處理，將造成皮膚癌、或腎臟疾病。他又說，於2003年10-12月針對Kandal省暴露於砷的817戶家庭，根據衛生部預防醫學單位所進行的基線調查及砷中毒臨床檢查：
- 在雨季，有40%家庭主要以雨水為水源，在旱季，則有83%家庭飲用管井地下水；
- 一半以上家庭整年以管井地下水為飲用水；
- 4%使用河湖地面水源；
- 其餘使用瓶裝水。
另外，服務於UNICEF水及環境衛生之官員(Phan Sophary)表示，針對分布於13省的15,000 口井之水質調查，計有7省發現含有砷，這些暴露於砷之村民，應該教育他們不要喝含有砷的井水或以這種井水烹煮。若使用替代水源，則應注意細菌及病毒性之水污染問題。
柬國MRD部長(Lu Lay Sreng)表示，柬國政府政策擬於2025年達到100%的偏鄉地區可以取得乾淨又衛生的飲用水，建議於2015年能達到70%。不過，隸屬MRD之偏鄉自來水部門官員(Mao Saray)補述，目前(2006年)31%的偏鄉居民，得以取得乾淨飲用水，MRD的目標是於2015年能達到50%的普及率。
看來，為數眾多[註2,3]的柬埔寨偏鄉地區民眾要取得安全飲用水，還有一段漫長之路。
註：
- Arsenic Risk Map (砷風險地圖) adapted from: Fredericks D. Situation analysis: arsenic contamination of groundwater in Cambodia. Report, January 2004. Phnom Penh, Cambodia: UNICEF; 2004. 2.
- UNICEF (2008): 七個受砷影響的省份中(主要分佈在湄公河及巴賽克河流域)，計有38%的管井，其砷含量超出50 ppb，受此衝擊的人口數約136000人。 這個數字，Research Development International Cambodia (RDIC)認為是被低估了。
- RDIC-Dartmouth College (2008): 暴露在砷風險的人口數，單單在Kandal省就有10萬人，若以受影響的10省份統計，總人口數可能高達2百萬人。
Posted on January 1st, 2015
愛媛大學/Ehime University
看完2001年1月5日金邊郵報的一則報導：經檢測疑似砷中毒(Arsenic Poisoning Suspected by Testing)，有關日本愛媛大學Dr. Shinsuke Tanabe所領導的研究團隊，實在應該特別敘述一下，因為他們是首宗針對柬埔寨地下水砷污染影響的臨床研究。
該團隊的研究動機，主要起因於2000年9月世衛組織與柬埔寨政府所公布的砷污染報告，該報告提及相對較高砷含量的省分有Prey Veng, Kandal, Battambang and Kratie等四省。因此，他們也在同年(2000年)12月28-29日於首都金邊外的村莊，針對42位村民進行調查檢測。在這兩天的調查中，他們裁剪收集頭髮、手指、腳趾等部位之樣品，並檢視手腳外觀。他們觀察到重複出現的皮膚黑褐色素，以及與砷中毒有關聯之“可能致癌前奏病變"的發癢案例。他們也同時收集了這些村民所飲用的井水樣品，並影像留存那些具有上述異樣之村民的皮膚外觀，以進一步比對送回日本檢驗的頭髮與指甲樣品。這種砷中毒問題的潛藏悲劇是，他們發現有一家庭，一家大小五位成員出現皮膚乾燥、發癢等現象，也就是所謂的可能致癌前奏病變，從幼兒到成人，他們的年齡範圍從18個月到32歲。可以想像，這個家庭之未來將會是如何。
根據初步的判讀，村民身體上之異樣現象 ，他們高度懷疑都是砷中毒的身體症狀。不過，Dr. Tanabe強調，他不是醫生(註：世界著名的環境化學及生態毒物學家)，不宜針對這些案例做出診斷。雖然如此，他的判讀仍招致世衛組織駐柬代表之批判(Dr. Bill Pigott)，認為那是輕率且不成熟的言論。世衛代表強烈指出，他對於砷中毒的懷疑未經專家確認，檢驗結果也尚未出來，不應該有這樣的公眾論述，並且他也沒有那樣的能力或受過相關訓練能夠去做那樣的表述。世衛代表的強烈指正，也得到啟動柬國地下水質調查之鄉村部官員(Ly Thuch)之呼應：任何有關水質的資訊，都要小心地與可能受影響的民眾做溝通，否則一般民眾容易因環境中的毒素引起恐慌。
Posted on December 31st, 2014
沉睡巨人/Sleeping Giant
柬埔寨地下水中含有砷，說明了一件事實：自古以來，潛藏在地底下深層的砷，一直都沉睡在那裏，它與人彼此相安無事。但是，為了飲用更乾淨的水源，柬埔寨國內陸續開鑿了為數眾多的深層地下管井(Tube wells)，從此以後，這一沉睡的巨人就逐漸地被喚醒了，而其威脅對柬國人民是不容忽視的。
2000年8月18日，金邊郵報首次報導了有關柬埔寨地下水中含砷之消息：地下水調查發現砷威脅(Arsenic threat found in groundwater survey by Phelim Kyne)。
在這一篇報導特別點名到的省份，包括：沿著湄公河流域的Stung Treng、Kratie、Kandal等三省分(從上游到下游)；接鄰Kandal省右邊之Prey Veng省；柬埔寨西北方的Battambang省。參與地下水井水質調查之柬埔寨政府機構及外圍組織，則有：鄉村發展部(Ministry of Rural Development; MRD)、工礦能源部 (Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy; MIME)、世界衛生組織(World Health Organization; WHO)。另外，報導中也提及柬埔寨國內地下水井(手動汲水井)之委外建造機構，包括：聯合國國際兒童緊急救援基金會(United Nations International Children Emergent Fund: UNICEF；2000年之前的十年中建造了12000口井)、聯合國開發計畫署(United Nations Development Program; UNDP)、開發夥伴(Partners for Development; PFD；曾於Kratie及Stung Treng資助建造800多口井)、全球關懷(Concern Worldwide)等四個機構。
根據(2000年)6-9月針對柬埔寨13省份之初步地下水調查結果顯示：
- 所有樣品的9%有砷污染，而Prey Veng, Kandal, Battambang, Kratie等四省份之砷含量相對較高；
- 至少有兩個樣品來自未具名的省轄市；
- 很少數的樣品，含具可能危害程度的氟化物及硝酸根；
- 在4000個樣品分析中，未檢出殺蟲劑污染。
為什麼要做這一全國性的地下水質調查? 柬埔寨鄉村發展部官員(Ly Thuch, MRD Secretary General)敘述其啟動調查之原因，乃擔心於1993年孟加拉大規模之砷中毒(該國六分之一人口仰賴含砷之飲用水)，可能會發生在柬埔寨。他又指出，2000年所作之初步調查結果顯示，砷之公共健康風險仍屬於最小程度，短期內不會是嚴重的問題。因為柬埔寨的4萬口水井，大部分是於過去十年中所陸陸續續建造的，也就是說，一般民眾之飲用期間仍少於15-20年可能致命之砷暴露期，但進一步立即且緊急的砷污染威脅調查是必要的，以確定砷毒害之範圍，以及其可能的人體健康影響。
那時，世衛組織環境工程師(Steve Iddings, WHO Environmental Engineer)也呼應MRD官員所說的，地下水中所含之砷含量，將不至於引起像孟加拉之嚴重規模。大致來說，水質是相當好的，但密切注意是確實必要的。目前未顯示有臨床上的砷中毒，也不預期會發生這種情況，但須要進一步測試地下水中含砷的範圍，以及是否有任何民眾受影響。他也說，以技術角度來解決砷污染問題，對家庭式規模而言，不是太貴就是無法永續，最壞的劇本就是指導使用其它飲用水源。
世衛組織駐柬埔寨代表(Dr. Bill Piggot, WHO-Cambodia representative)指出，此次調查，地下水中會含有砷並不令人驚訝。從孟加拉已然測出之高含量砷，說明了東南亞地質層乃屬於容易有砷之區塊，而砷常發生在沿著河岸平原之沖積礦床。不過，他同時也指出一個不能改變的事實：地面水源因細菌性污染所造成之健康風險，仍然遠高於因砷所造成屬於長期性之可能危害。他的意思似乎是，兩害相權取其輕。
開發夥伴計畫經理(Inga L Olesky, PFD Program manager)認為應該評估20年之砷暴露風險，並與使用不安全地面水源之立即影響做一比較。設若因為害怕砷污染而改用地面水源，腸胃炎案例將增加，如此將影響最脆弱的敏感群組，例如：五歲以下小孩、孕婦及餵奶母親，換句話說，對於柬埔寨嬰兒死亡率，將有關鍵的影響。
鄉村發展部官員最後指出，隨著此次的最終調查報告出爐，緊接著，(2000年)九月中將進一步檢測砷之影響範圍及其健康衝擊，並將結合各關心的機構團體與政府部門召開一系列之會議，期望使柬國所有偏鄉人口能享受和城市一樣的水質，城鄉不能有差別待遇或雙重標準的飲用水。
以上是2000年所報導的大致內容，14年後，金邊郵報的另一篇追蹤報導(點閱)，砷問題似乎不像當初的官員或機構代表所敘述的那樣樂觀。
Posted on December 30th, 2014
沉默殺手/Silent Killer
今年(2014)3月19日，金邊郵報有一則新聞，下了這樣的一個標題："沈默殺手收取費用(Silent Killer Taking Toll)"，聽起來還蠻聳動的。如果不解釋請楚，以為在柬埔寨這個國家發生了什麼職業殺手的暴力事件。事實上，這是一則令人心酸又感到很悲慘的報導(L. Barron and S. David)。
這個事件發生在環繞柬埔寨首都金邊的Kandal省份的一個區(Koh Thom)中的一個村莊(Prek Russey)，該村莊被一種無形無嗅的毒化物砷所籠罩著，大部份的村民被診斷出砷中毒，很多的村民與小孩也因此而喪掉生命。這個事件有點像早期台灣西南沿海台南縣北門鄉的悲劇事件的翻版，很多鄉民因為砷中毒被截肢，甚或死亡。
在過去15年的地下水水質調查發現，柬埔寨有十個省份其地下水含有超高濃度的砷，其中，又以鄰近首都金邊的三個省份(Kandal, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng)之含砷量為最高。從地圖上可以看出，這三個省份都在湄公河及巴賽克河(Tonle Bassac)的交會地帶。很不幸地，人口相當密集的Kandal省，乃砷污染最嚴重的省份。在其所屬15000口井所採取的水樣品中，有35%超出柬埔寨的水質標準50 ppb，若以世界衛生組織(WHO)的標準10 ppb計算，其所佔比率則為54%。換句話說，在這一個省份，有超出一半以上的地下水井，居民正飲用其砷含量超出WHO標準的地下水。罹患砷中毒的一位Prek Russey村的村民敘述，剛開始醫生對其皮膚異樣的診斷，以為只是長水痘，但是，這樣的症狀卻久久未消失。後來，該患者在極度疼痛中到醫院做進一步檢查，才確認是砷中毒。這位村民無助的指出，他感覺他的皮膚又癢又痛，並且肺及胃部也很不舒服(痛徹心扉)。他說：“很難呼吸，每天晚上都無法入睡。"為了舒緩疼痛，他得買維生素及止痛劑來吃，只是，他如果被迫無法耕作，就負擔不起這樣的花費。很無奈的，這一位村民想要僱用Painkiller來制服這一位Silent Killer，卻付不起費用。
更棘手也更無奈的是，根據這一則報導，上述處於砷污染高風險區之村民，雖然他們已停止飲用含有砷的井水，但是，在乾季，作物生長所需要的灌溉水源，以及動物所需要飲用的水，仍然得使用含砷的地下水來供應。因此，該區食物中的砷含量比起其他17個國家還要高，若與孟加拉相比(該國食物中之砷，被認為已達有害健康的含量)，約為60倍之高。所以從這一省份所出產的食物，因砷污染的緣故，對於公共健康已拉起了一則警訊。
因為缺乏足夠經費，柬埔寨的砷問題似乎掉落在隙縫當中。
註：地圖彙編自維基百科
Posted on December 26th, 2014
柬埔寨-人文地理
Cambodia-Geography, History and Demographics
柬埔寨位處中南半島南端，西鄰泰國，北接壤泰國與寮國，東邊及南邊與越南為界，西南方則為泰國灣(或暹羅灣)海岸線。以交通網絡來看，柬埔寨是中南半島南方走廊與南方海岸走廊必經之地[*]。依據維基百科記載，柬埔寨是東南亞地區歷史悠久的文明古國。建國於西元一世紀，在古代歷經扶南、真臘時期，其中九到十五世紀初的吳哥王朝國力強盛，創造了舉世聞名的吳哥文明。十六世紀末開始走向衰落，到了十八世紀末，柬埔寨基本上處於強鄰的控制之下，成為屬國。同時，從十七世紀到十八世紀，越南逐步佔領了下柬埔寨的全部領土，形成了今天的越南南方。
整個來看，現今柬埔寨其過去歷史，約略可分為以下古代時期、黑暗時期、殖民時期、當代時期與現代時期等幾個階段：
- 扶南 (約1世紀–550)
- 真臘 (約6世紀–802)
- 高棉帝國 (802–1431)
- 竹里木時期 (1431–1525)；洛偉時期 (1525–1593)
- 烏棟時期 (1620–1863) ；桑多時期 (1594–1620)
- 越南占領湄公河三角洲
- 法國统治時期 (1867-1953)
- 日本占領時期 (1941-1945)
- 柬埔寨王國 (1953-1970)
- 柬埔寨內戰 (1970)
- 高棉共和國 (1970-1975) (紅色高棉政權(赤柬))
- 柬埔寨王國民族聯合政府 (1970-1976)
- 柬-越戰爭 (1975-1989)
- 民主柬埔寨 (1976-1979)
- 柬埔寨人民共和國 (1979-1993)
- 聯合國過渡期駐柬機構 (UNTAC, 1992–1993)
- 柬埔寨王國1993至今
Demographics of Cambodia (2000-2012)
Posted on December 24th, 2014
中南半島五國之健康福祉指標比較
Country’s Health Indicators in Indochina
比較2012年中南半島緬甸、泰國、寮國、柬埔寨、及越南等五國人口，越南人口最多，約有9200萬人，寮國人口數最少，約有660萬人。平均壽命泰國最長(73.8)，其次是越南(72.4)，寮國則最短(62.8)，約達十歲之差距。零歲平均餘命（或以平均壽命稱之）是最常引用的健康狀況指標，可以藉此衡量該國之國民健康，以及生命消長之情形，並具體反應該國之醫療水準及進步程度。
以出生率來看，寮國最高，泰國最低；而死亡率也是寮國最高，最低則為越南。2010年，四週以下之新生兒死亡率，寮國、緬甸及柬埔寨依序居前三名；2012年，一歲以下之嬰兒死亡率，最高的為寮國，其次是柬埔寨、緬甸，最低者為泰國；五歲以下之幼兒死亡率，寮國最高，其次是緬甸及柬埔寨；而孕產婦死亡率以寮國為最高，接著是柬埔寨及緬甸。眾所皆知，嬰兒死亡率乃評估一國婦幼健康照護之重要指標，而母親的社經條件、衛生環境、個人生活方式和態度，均是影響嬰兒死亡率的主因。從這些婦幼死亡率數據比較來看，在五國當中，寮國的生活及醫護環境，相對來講，對婦幼族群最不利，其次是柬埔寨及緬甸。
2011年，五國之經濟狀況，以購買力平價(Purchasing Power Parity; PPP)指標來看，泰國、越南、寮國之人均GDP(PPP)居前三位，柬埔寨及緬甸則分別排名在後；若純粹以2011年之人均GDP來看，泰國5192、越南1543、寮國1266、柬埔寨878美元，柬埔寨的人均GDP遠低於其它四個國家，乃中南半島最貧窮的國家，但其平均壽命仍高於寮國，且婦幼死亡率亦低於寮國。顯然，寮國人民的較高所得，與柬埔寨相比，並不必然呈現較優的婦幼醫護及衛生環境。
綜合來說，上述的生命與經濟數據，其背後之主要影響因素，一般而言，包括：人口年齡、營養水準、飲食和居住、獲取乾淨的飲用水、醫療水準、傳染病程度、暴力犯罪程度、衝突、醫生數量、氣候。觀諸中南半島各國之社會、經濟及文化現況，這些影響因素當中，營養與醫療水準、乾淨飲用水等項目，應該佔有更高的影響權重。
參考資料
- 越南(91,519,290)>泰國(67,091,090)>緬甸(54,584,650)>柬浦寨(14,952,670)>寮國(6,586,266)
- 泰國(73.83)>越南(72.41) >緬甸(65.24)>柬浦寨(63.04) >寮國(62.77)
- 寮國(25.68/7.99)>柬浦寨(25.17/7.97)>緬甸(19.11/8.1)>越南(16.83/5.95)>泰國(12.81/7.38)
- 寮國(31.3) >緬甸(27.5)>柬浦寨(19.6) >越南(13.7)>泰國(8.6)
- 寮國(57.77)>柬浦寨(54.08)>緬甸(47.74)>越南(20.24)>泰國(15.9)
- 寮國(79.6) >緬甸(56.1)>柬浦寨(43.8) >越南(25.9)>泰國(14.5)
- 寮國(470)>柬浦寨(250)>緬甸(200)>越南(59)>泰國(48)
- 泰國(9,500)>越南(3,400)>寮國(2,700)>柬浦寨(2,200)>緬甸(1,300)
- 泰國(5192)>越南(1543)>寮國(1266)>柬浦寨(878) 緬甸(缺)
備註：
a: Index Mundi; b: The World Bank-World Development Indicators; c: 中華民國統計資訊網
Posted on December 21st, 2014
2015亞州新視焦
New Focus of Asia in 2015
亞洲的機會：2015整合成立東協經濟共同體
在東協經濟共同體 (Asean Economic Community; AEC)之架構下，單一的東協國家區域共同市場將在2015年形成，其區域整合的目標，是在東協國家創造一個六億人口的競爭市場。
隨著自由化的啓動，未來在此區域將有貨品、服務、資本投資及技術勞工之自由流動，這些項目將涵蓋關稅減免及一些行政程序的簡化。因此，很多產業已經著手預備自己，以迎接東協經濟共同體的挑戰與機會。這樣的整合，將有助於東協國家與中國及印度之競爭。
會員國所面臨的主要挑戰，在於區域內各國之進出口方面存有較大之差異。例如，在新加坡、泰國及馬來西亞其貿易程序相當簡易，而寮國、柬浦寨則非常困難；而物流之服務品質，在東協會員國中亦存有差異，比如說，報關、貨物遞送及快遞等。對此，新加坡是屬於世界級的物流服務，而寮國、柬浦寨、及緬甸卻無法與之相比。再則，在很多東協國家，其限制性法規阻礙了高品質的物流服務。
資料來源：Christopher W. Runckel. Asia Opportunities: Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015
大湄公河次區走廊
2015年東協國家將整合成型的東協經濟共同體，其中在中南半島的東協會員國，包括有緬甸、泰國、寮國、柬浦塞與越南等五個國家。由於交通網絡之連結，中南半島之大湄公河次區走廊也構成了不可忽視之經濟網絡。沿著交通主幹線，中南半島可以區分成以下九個走廊：
- 東西走廊
- 南北走廊
- 東部走廊
- 西部走廊
- 中央走廊
- 南方走廊
- 北方走廊
- 東北走廊
- 南海岸線走廊
擇一來看，其中的“東西經濟走廊"，橫跨緬甸、泰國、寮國、越南等四個國家。這東西走廊主要是由一條貫穿四國的1450公里公路所形成，左起緬甸的Mawlamyine港、中間橫跨泰、寮各省，東抵越南的Da Nanang(峴港)。
大湄公河次區走廊：從配角變主角
另外 ，根據商業周刊引用 <日經 Business>之資料，東協範圍內之大湄公河次區未來之生產製造，將取代中國製造。亦即，大湄公河次區將從配角變為主角。東協各國具備吸引外資之主要關鍵條件有三：
- 人口增加： 東協國家2012年突破 6億人口；
- 勞力年輕且充足：勞動人口平均年齡低，所佔比率達 60%，可維持至 2030年；
- 市場自由： 2015東協將整合形成經濟共同體，並已與中、日、韓、印、澳、紐簽署自由貿易協定。
Posted on December 20th, 2014
My Trip to Laos/寮國之旅
Laos is a country bordered by Myanmar and China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. It looks like this country is locked in somewhere, finding no ways out to the ocean or the sea. Yet, there is this long Mekong River, which meanders along the border between Thailand and Laos, and thus becomes Laos' very important waterway to the outside.
In October 2003, I first visited Golden Triangle in Thailand. We took a group photo at the riverbank of Mekong. It was there I first looked far into a mountain forest in Laos, a mysterious and hidden country. Afterwards, I got several times of opportunity to see this country from riverbank at different border towns in Thailand, such as Chiang Kham, Nong Khai, and Ubon area.
In the past few years, it seemed to me that I could only gaze this country afar. Then comes this opportunity because of the need to renew and apply my Thai visa at Thai consulate in Vientaine, Laos, while I stayed in Khon Kaen as a visiting scholar in Khon Kaen University. So, with a feeling of both expectation and excitement, I planned a 7-day trip to Laos (February 1-7, 2014), 4 nights in the capital city Vientiane and 2 nights in a tourist town Vang Vieng.
Transportation
In the first day of my trip, I took an international bus at a newly operated Khon Kaen Station, leaving for Vientiane directly at 8 am. Thanks to Pang, he gave me a ride so that I could catch up with this morning bus. Like boarding a flight with a boarding pass, I was asked to present my Laos’ tourist visa to purchase a ticket. Arriving at the overland checkpoint in Nong Khai, where I went through the whole process of exiting from Thailand, crossing the border bridge, and entering into Laos. Then, into Laos, this international bus went on driving to the bus terminal in Vientaine. From bus terminal, I took a Songtaew to my hotel of Malinamphu. Totally, it took me around 4 hours to get to Vientiane from Khon Kaen.
After staying in Vientaine for 4 nights, I took a van to Vang Vieng at around 10 am and arrived in there at around 2 pm. The van ticket cost me 65,000 KIP (around 260 Bhat). On the way to Vang Vieng, there’s a middle-point rest stop. Actually it’s just a simple shop, where you may grab your brief lunch, go to toilet, or walk around the nearby village.
Again, after 2 nights stay in Vang Vieng, on my way back to Thailand, I decided to take an international bus, leaving from Vang Vieng to Nong Khai (bus ticket, 85000 KIP), because it was more comfortable in the bus than in the van, considering space inside. Certainly, the bus speed is not as fast as the van. Since I was not in a rush, I could take my easy time enjoying the landscape alongside the mountain road and seeing one village after another. From Nong Khai I took another bus to Khon Kaen. It took around 12 hours from checking out of my hotel in Vang Vieng to entering into my condo in Khon Kaen. Why did it take so long a time? Because there’s a long line of visitors in the process of entering Thailand. By the way, it’s quite hot lining up under the scorching sun. In addition, I was waiting for around 3 hours at Nong Khai to get on the bus back to Khon Kaen.
Instead of Nong Khai, I should have taken a direct international bus to Udon Thani to save money, time and energy. In Udon Thani, there’re more frequent bus service.
Capital City Vientaine
Mekong river
In the capital city Vientaine, the first thing I did was to find where the Mekong River
was located, and take a really long walk along its riverbank and nearby villages. What I saw there was the landscape of Thai-land, no longer the Laos’ view as I gazed from riverbank of Thai side in the past. Since my hotel is near to riverbank, I had my morning walk every day. I tried to get up as early as possible, in order to shoot some good photos of sunrise there. Of course, I also enjoyed staying there in the afternoon until the sun set.
The flow of Mekong river in the section of Vientiane looks quite slow. I am sure you will see it gentle and peaceful. Besides, as you can see from the map, Mekong river makes a sharp turn of 90 degree in downtown Vientiane area; approaching to Vientiane, it flows horizontally, and then downwardly, going away from Vientiane. This thus creates quite spacious flood plains near the riverbank because of flow characteristics of stagnant water at the corner.
One thing I want to specially mention was my morning jogging along the riverbank of Mekong. I would love to jog every morning there, yet I still got pain in my right knee. So I could manage only one lap to realise my dream of jogging along Mekong river. So I started from the corner point and jogged down to the southern end of sidewalk. Then, turning back, I jogged all the way to the other end, which is quite close to Wattay International Airport. Totally my jogging distance was around 11 km.
Historic sites
I did not spend too much time touring around the city because the weather there was hot during the day time. The upper three photos here were taken near my hotel: Chao Anouvong (at riverbank), King Srisavangvong (at Rue Samsenthai and Rue Setthathirath), and That Dam Stupa (Rue Chanthakoummane). That Dam Stupa reportedly houses a seven-headed dragon that protected local citizens during the 1828 Siamese-Lao war that destroyed much of the city, according to Robert D. Fiala.
The middle 2 photos are like landmarks in Vientiane: Buddhist Architecture, and Pha Tha Luang. The building in the former one belongs to Luang Prabang style. In the latter one, "it is the most significant Laotian religious and national monument. It is situated on a hill about three miles north east of the center of Vientiane (Robert D. Fiala)." So, if you said you have been to Vientiane, Laos, you should present this photo with you in there as a proof. That’s what I told to Dr. Wanpen Wiroganagud, who has been in Vientiane for her training program quite a few times, but never had this picture of her.
The lower 2 photos are the views of front side and upper tower of Patuxai. According to Robert D. Fiala, "the Patuxai, The Arch or Gate of Triumph, is reminescent of the Arc de Triomphe of Paris - large scale and with a single arch with an observation deck on top. It was built to commemorate Lao who had died in battle serving their country before the revolutionary wars. It was begun in 1960 and completed with concrete donated by the United States for the construction of the airport. As with its Parisian counterpart, there is a broad processional avenue leading to it and a series of roads radiating out from it. Up close one can see the various Lao motifs and designs. The upper part is uniquely Lao."
Tourist town Vang Vieng
Vang Vieng became a famous tourist town because of its unique terrain and limestone karst landscape. Like a basin, this town is surrounded by mountains and hills (green area in the map), with Nam Song river flowing through it. Roughly, Vang Vieng can be divided into 2 parts of river and plain, in view of journeying around this town. Water activities like kayaking or inner tubing attract many young backpackers, while its natural terrain can be hikers' and climbers’ favourite place. As I have observed, this town was always full of foreign tourists, including westerners and visitors from China, Japan and Korea.
I love to walk around in a new place. So, after seeing around the riverbank of Nam Song, I have spent most of my time in exploring its plain area, which is harvested rice field between the river and the mountain. This reminds me of my childhood in my hometown, Taiwan, walking on the trails of clay soil of paddy. Also you can see lots of cattle,
grazing on the fields from one place to another. I even explored to a place of limestone cave. I spent 10,000 KIP to buy a ticket. Then, a guide took me into the cave. It’s like getting into an underground tunnel, deep and narrow. You need flashlight to find your way in there. At the end, there’s a water pool. The guide told me whether I want to swim in it. I was thinking who dare to swim in such a deep and dark place. He said that there’s an underground river of 20 meter long.
After coming up the cave using my feet and my hands, the guide told me that you have to paid me 100,000 KIP. I replied "why I have to pay it? I have paid the ticket already." He said “you pay to the tour guide." He did not let me know that he is my tour guide. He should have told me before we had this cave adventure. Well, I paid it.
Water activities
Foothill paddy
Schools in Laos
I was very curious about Laos' education system before I went there. Luckily, Dr. Aom Dechapanya of Ubon Ratchathani University introduced to me her Ph.D. student of Laos, Sidxay Makvilay (Tee), when I planned my trip to this country. In turn, Tee told me that he will ask her sister Keomany Makvilay (Kheng) to help tour me around the city once I get there.
Kheng is a lecturer of Faculty of Education in National University of Laos, Vientiane (NUoL-V). So I asked her for campus tour. After I met Kheng and had lunch together, I got this opportunity to see her campus in the north of Vientiane. The next day, Kheng invited me to participate a dinner party organized by senior students in another campus of Faculty of Engineering. Because of Kheng’s arrangement, I guess I at least got some idea about NUoL-V, though still quite superficial. In general, NUoL-V consists of 11 faculties, including architecture, engineering, economics and business administration, environmental sciences, law and political sciences, agriculture, education, forestry, letters, sciences, and social sciences. These faculties are located, respectively, in 4 different campuses in the city of Vientiane.
In Vang Vieng, I came across by chance a high school when I walked along the street. I saw many students on the street walking or riding their bikes into campus before the office hours.
Driven by my curiosity, I also walked into their campus to see what’s going on in there. I tried not to disturb their school activities and stood afar to take my photos. Then, I thought I’d better talk to some teachers and express my intention so that I might be allowed to hang around in the campus. So, I talked to School Director and his colleagues and we took a photo together. Since one class was in recess, I approached and talked to them in English. They were curious about a foreigner like me, but they all were too shy to chat with me in English. Yet there’re 2 of them, who were confident and capable of English conversation. Actually, both of them spoke English quite well. I was surprised at their fluent speaking because they learned only from school class. At the end of our conversation, I took a photo with these two high school students, the future of Laos.
After leaving this high school, I took another long walk into a village, where I found a primary school and a secondary school. Both of them were bordered to each other, with a simple bamboo wall erected in between. What might catch your eyes in there is always spacious playground, bungalow-like classrooms, and national flag pole station. Kids were so pure and happy, hanging around and playing in the playground.
Like students, I went further into secondary school campus through a hole of this bamboo wall. Again, I first talked to school teachers and then students. Accompanied by a lady teacher, I was allowed to have a talk with a girl student, who is good in English speaking. She asked me in English how old I am. Wow, that’s a good start of our conversation! I responded, "you make a guess." She said that I am 30. Did I look so young? I encouraged her to speak more and replied, “More than 30." She said, 20. After her teacher’s hint, she changed a number of 40. Like this, we had a happy talk. At last, I took her a photo. There seems full of hope in her eyes, as she looks out through the window.
National University of Laos, Vientiane
High School in Vang Vieng
Primary School in Vang Vieng
Secondary School in Vang Vieng
On the Streets and Meals
On the Streets
When you get to a new place, most of time you will be walking and walking. So you’d better open your eyes, erect your ears, and enjoy your dull walk. There’re something interesting you may catch on the streets.
When I got off my international bus at Vientiane bus terminal, the first scene I saw on the street was metal ball throwing game. According to WikipediA, "Pétanque (French pronunciation: [petɑ̃k]; Occitan: Petanca [peˈtaŋkɔ])
is a form of boules where the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet (literally "piglet") or jack, while standing inside a starting circle with both feet on the ground. The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel, but can also be played on grass, sand or other surfaces." Then, on the sidewalk of one major road in Vientiane, you will see a whole row of street sellers who are selling Chinese herbal medicines, some old spices and ingredients, and some other weird species. Some of these stuffs are rare to see in supermarket or even in the traditional market.
As I walked into a village near the riverbank of Mekong, a quite loud music of Issan melody caught my attention. The music was cheerful and delightful. So, I traced to the source of the sound and found that there’s a banquet. The banquet host and guests appeared to be fully amused with Laotian's dancing after the banquet was over. With their warm welcome and hospitality, they treated me, a stranger and foreigner, a glass of Beerlao and invited me to join their dancing. Why not? I was gradually used to such a dancing event in Khon Kaen though I was quite awkward at dancing. It’s so good I could talk and take photos with the people of Laos, despite of language barrier. After all, this is a way to explore culture of a different country. And this made my trip more fun and more meaningful.
Another thing worthy of notice was monk parade early in the morning.
It looks like that such an event is quite common everyday and everywhere in Thailand and here in Laos. Before monks appear, villagers with meals in their hands would have lined up, waiting for their coming. One by one, villagers gave food to monks. In Vientiane and Vang Vieng, I saw villagers giving sticky rice to monks. Later on, monks will sing some blessing song to villagers. Such an event goes on and on at a fixed time every morning. It appears that both monks and villagers depend on each other. There’s give-and-take. Who is the giver and who is the taker?
Besides, in Vang Vieng, when I passed by a temple, I saw a lady statue sitting at a side gate, with her raised right hand beckoning to the street passersby. The scene posed here seems to deliver a mixed feeling of the old and the new together. It is the old part when you watch a solemn temple, and it is the new part as you see lady's beckoning gesture, which is, sort of, a modern way of advertisement. As I walked further on the street, look what I have found: a barbershop of very old fashion. I imagined what I would look like and how barber would cut my hair, sitting on barber’s unique chair there. Following this, I was surprised to see a lady backpacker. Her backpack was made of bamboo material and it looks ergonomic and durable. In contrast, it is totally different from the ones the young ladies have carried in their back, as shown in another photo. Finally, I saw a seat-on-the-street restaurant: no decoration, no tables, no chairs, no air conditioning, and on the ground just the food you eat. So, you sit on the straw mat and enjoy your food and the sky roof up there.
On the streets in Vientiane
On the streets in Vang Vieng
Meals
The first day of my stay in Vientiane, I found a restaurant at the riverbank of Mekong quite special. I was attracted by its lanterns hung on the trees. At night, they become a very special view along the Mekong river. As usual, I ordered my favourite meal of Issan (Laos) style, which includes sausage, pork, sticky rice plus Beerlao. It’s my first dinner in this country of Laos and it tasted just perfect and wonderful.
Then I had one lunch with Kheng in a special restaurant near a lake called Nong Seum located in the north of Vientiane. There you can reserve a “Kotex (thatched cottage)" for your lunch for the whole afternoon. In the lunch, Kheng ordered one special dish called 'Larb'. As Kheng has explained, it means "lucky". It is a traditional Laotian dish served in special Baci ceremony such as wedding, new year, house moving, and so on.
In another dinner, it’s also a special one, not because of meals or appearance of restaurant, but because I got to know another 2 friends of Laos, Teauto Mueangvong and Add Vilayphone. Both of them are Kheng’s good old friends. Teauto teaches in a high school of Vientiane and he is quite good at French language. So, totally, now I have 4 friends in Laos, including Kheng, Tee, Teauto, and Add. It’s so good to have them joining in the dinner.
Concluding Remark
Laos has been my dream country, and finally I went into its land, walking and jogging along Mekong river, and exploring 2 different cities, Vientiane the capital city and Vang Vieng a tourist city. I guess this trip serves to mark the end of my days in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Because of Dr. Aom and my Laos friends Kheng, Tee, Teauto and Add, I could experience such a wonderful trip.
Posted on February 11th, 2014
Department Retreat in Amphawa
I was so lucky to participate this biennial retreat of Environmental Engineering Department, Khon Kaen University on January 12-15, 2014. The place of retreat is located in Amphawa District, southwest to Bangkok.
Scenic Spots
It took at least more than 7 hours from Khon Kaen to Amphawa by Van. On the way to Amphawa, we stopped by at Suwan Farm, Rockefeller Foundation for a brief rest, and the nearby of Ayutthaya for a lunch. Around 4 pm, we arrived at Bann Suan MaeKlong Resort (Symbol “A" in the map), where we stayed for 3 nights.
In this 4-day trip, we visited Amphawa floating market (“D"), Damnoen Saduak floating market (“G"), Bung Kung Camp (“I"), coconut sugar workshop (“H"), Don Hoi Lod seashore area (“F"), and a railroad market near Maeklong railroad station (“E"). Of course, quite a few temples were also on the list of scenic spots. Furthermore, this trip was highlighted by the brainstorming of both faculty members and staffs on future Department development in the conference room of the Resort on the second day. It’s always good to have a tour, cultural and technical, thinking of the future in a good mood and very enjoyable environment!
Brainstorming
The key theme of this retreat is “all possible connections to 2015 AEC".
After my presentation regarding CNU’s past history and future development, Dr. Wanpen Wirojanagud asked me to show and explain in detail the roadmap of Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science (CNU) since it’s in Chinese. In my presentation, the ultimate exit goal of CNU’s roadmap is to become a top university, with quantifiable contributions to the society and the country. I was surprised to find that Dr. Wanpen then invited her colleagues to focus on their department development in connection to Asean Economic Community (AEC), which is to be launched in 2015. According to Association of Southeast Asian Nations, "The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) shall be the goal of regional economic integration by 2015. AEC envisages the following key characteristics: (a) a single market and production base, (b) a highly competitive economic region, (c) a region of equitable economic development, and (d) a region fully integrated into the global economy. The AEC areas of cooperation include human resources development and capacity building; recognition of professional qualifications; closer consultation on macroeconomic and financial policies; trade financing measures; enhanced infrastructure and communications connectivity; development of electronic transactions through e-ASEAN; integrating industries across the region to promote regional sourcing; and enhancing private sector involvement for the building of the AEC. In short, the AEC will transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital." This exit goal in line with national and international policy seems to fit the key very well in the brainstorming meeting.
In view of AEC's goal, human resources and skilled professionals can be cultivated and developed greatly by educational institution like Khon Kaen University in Northeastern region of Thailand. So, it seems on the right track to develop all department feature and capacity by linking to 2015 AEC. Then and there they went on brainstorming by dividing all colleagues into two groups: lecturers and staffs, and with this key word “CONNECTION" as a catalyst. The good thing of this brainstorming is that all participants can have their words in the dialogue process, jotting down and expressing the thoughts. Each group was assigned a facilitator to collect and summarize the final common consensus among group members. I am sure the final conclusion can be of great help to Chairperson Dr. Chatchival Aiyathiti when he lays out the whole department roadmap for its future development.
Lecturers’ group
Staffs’ group
Final proposal and group photo
A big family
In these 4 days, we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together; we went sightseeing together; and we had dinner and dancing party together. There’s connection going on all the time among all of us. At least, now I can call all their nicknames of the staffs, and I got some more friends and “likes" in my Facebook. This retreat brought and bound everyone of us together. It looks like a big family, working and playing together. I am sure there’s buildup of a sense of belonging within this big family, especially after going through the part of brainstorming.
I am very grateful that I can be part of this family in Environmental Engineering Department, Khon Kaen University. Also, I appreciate that I was allowed to have 2 bowls of rice soup every morning. Certainly, the owner and his family of Bann Suan MaeKlong Resort providing beautiful place and meals make this retreat even more wonderful. At last, thank Noina Kulyakorn for making a good shot of me and cat; it made me feel not lonely though without my wife Michelle in this trip.
Meals in the garden
Good companions!
Video clips:
1. Brainstorming;
2. Coconut sugar manufacturing;
3. Damnoen Saduak Floating Market;
4. TrainMarket;
5. Boat trip in Amphawa.
Posted on January 24th, 2014
Visit to Ubon Ratchathani University
When I first arrived in Khon Kaen for my sabbatical visit to Khon Kaen University in November 2013, I got connected to Drs. Sompop Sanongraj (Dom) and Aom Dechapanya, a very hospitable couple working in Ubon Rachathani University (UBU). They invited and asked me whether I could pay a visit to their university. I said I would love to see my old friends like them whenever I was ready, since I was still new to this city of Khon Kaen. Then, after almost 2 months, it came the official invitation from Dr. Sompop and I was invited to give a 3-hour speech in Chemical Engineering Department at UBU on January 18-22, 2014. And Dr. Chatchai Kunyawut was in charge of arranging my visit schedule.
I was so honoured that Dr. Kunyawut and his graduate students picked me up at my place in Khon Kaen. It took around 4 hours to get to Ubon Ratchathani by Van. We stopped by at Roi Et (means “101") and passed through Yasothon. On the way to Ubon, there’re endless harvested rice fields, one after another and another, on both sides of the highway. There’s no doubt that this region must be one of the rice barns in Thailand. At around 6 pm, I checked in Sunee Grand Hotel.
Ubon Ratchathani University
The next day was Sunday. I went to the nearby Church in the morning and gave a talk at UBU in the afternoon. In my presentation, I was specially interested in the UBU's logo. I spent quite a while to talk about it. In the bottom three layers (see the picture below) of the logo, they represent three major rivers in Ubon region, including Mekong, Chii and Mun rivers. This quite makes sense as you see these three rives in the map, with Mekong river flowing southward in the east. On top of this, there’re 5 lotus petals, with the lower 2 petals representing "intellectuality and morality", and the top three "reaching to happiness". In addition, the blue frame of this logo stands for strength and stability of this university. The university tree is Kan-Krao. It can survive in even very infertile soil and this points to the strength and unity of the university working towards the future. Indeed, what a meaningful logo! But I was wondering whether students know all about this logo.
After the talk, Dr. Chatchai toured me around the campus before the sunset. I did take some good photos of UBU’s beautiful campus and some featured buildings. The most impressive look is its huge lake, which was a man-made one according to Dr. Chatchai. He said it was made for water supply purpose when this campus was to be established. If you see the lake area in the map, you can tell how large it is, in view of its proportion to the whole campus area. It appears that this lake can become an attractive scenic point and a good jogging place along the lake bank.
Then we went to another area where the two brand new buildings was just constructed. One is the UBU’s campus hotel, with a name "U Place", and another is the convention hall. If you see this building of convention hall carefully, you will find it looks like the image of UBU’s logo. Even the image of “U place" looks similar as well. UBU’s infrastructure, the hard part, seems connected to the logo very well. As for the soft part, it takes some more time to see if it also fits to the spirit of this university.
3-hour Speech
Campus Tour
Scenic spots
On the third day, UBU’s driver took us to the border town, where Mekong river meets Mun river. It’s very clear to see the difference of water colour at the point Mun flowing into Mekong; the former is cleaner-blue while the latter is with muddy-brown colour. This may indicate that possible deforestation occurs in the upstream of Mekong river.
Another breathtaking place we went was Pha Taem National Park, further north from 2-color point. When I walked in the park, it’s like I was walking in an immensely gigantic rock. I was wondering how the trees there can grow out of such a hard rock. Along the trail of the park, you can see beautiful Mekong river on your right hand side. Again Laos is on the opposite side. This country was so near to me several times, like the ones in Golden Triangle, Chiang Khan, Nong Khai, and Ubon. Yet, so far there’s no chance to get into Laos.
Sitting on the hilltop, I am sure the spacious flood plains would draw your attention to gaze for a while. I was thinking there that I was so blessed to see many natural spots in Issan region all because of so many lovely friends here in Thailand. Without their favour, my sabbatical stay in Issan could not be so wonderful and abundant.
Besides, the highlight of this national park is its pre-historical painting on the cliff. The painting still remains quite clear after so many and many years. The pictures relate to their surrounding environment and their daily life. Wild animals, people and tools were painted on the wall. It’s just hard to imagine how our ancient ancestors could make it. Human being seems loving to paint what they see and imagine. So there’s no wonder that you’ll see pictures on the walls everywhere in any big cities of any countries. One last thing I want to mention is this: tiny tree branches supporting giant rock. Of course, this is kind of sense of humour of Thai tourists. As the sign post has regulated, it is not allowed to do like this, but it looks very meaningful. I always gave it a smile when I saw it again and again, walking along the trail.
Two-color Point
Pha Taem National Park
Brief getting-together with Dom and Aom
During this visit, it happened that Mew, younger son of Dom an Aom, got a terrible fever. The fever just went up and down, and they had to send him to the hospital for a closer blood checkup. So we could not have meals together for the first 2 days of my visit. Only when it was one day before I left Ubon, they brought Mew and Max (older son) to have dinner together. However, Mew appeared to be uncomfortable and so shy that we could not sit and enjoy the dinner of Vietnamese style. After a few of rush photoshots and a very brief talk with Dom and Aom, they had to leave earlier for the sake of Mew’s fever. Their stay was in a moment, yet this could last for quite a long time in my memory with these valuable photos.
Appreciation
Again I would like to extend my thankfulness to Dr. Chatchai Kunyawut for all his arrangement in this visit to Ubon Ratchathani University. He even entertained me with surprising Taiwanese song and melody when I sat in his car. This made me feel like I was driving on the street in Taiwan. I also appreciate for being able to listen to Issan music and songs, which he has collected in his CD album.
Posted on January 24th, 2014
Trip to Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University
Dr. Wichidtra Sudjarid (Jeab) visited Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Taiwan twice for both of her MS and Ph.D research work. Her research was under supervision of Dr. Jin Anotai of King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi and Dr. I-Ming Chen of Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science. After she earned her Ph.D. degree from Chulalongkorn University, she is now working with Sakhon Nakhon Rajabhat University, Thailand. Since as a visiting scholar I am teaching in Khon Kaen University a subject of Nanotech, I was invited to give a talk in her University on January 5-7, 2014. In addition to the academic speech, she also brought me and Michelle to see some famous scenic points like downtown Sakhon Nakhon, Royal farm, and Nong Han Lake.
Sakhon Nakhon Rajabhat University
It’s been late in the evening when arriving Sakhon Nakhon Rajabhat University (SNRU) hotel, the Phuphan Place. It took around 3-hour car driving to get to Sakon Nakhon city from Khon Kaen. This hotel is located right in the campus, and it’s quite convenient to have an easy walk in the campus and grasp some feeling about this university, a school for teachers nurturing in the earlier times.
History
SNRU is located in the west of Nong Han Lake. I was told that Nong Han Lake is the second largest lake in Thailand. The current university has gone through 3 stages of transition which were Teachers’ Training School in 1964, Teachers College in 1970, and Rajabhat Institute in 1995. The campus area is around 245 acres, and the student enrollment was 14800 as of 2011. SNRU consists of 6 Faculties, including Humanities and Social Sciences, Education, Agriculture Technology, Industrial Technology, Management Science, Science and Technology.
Campus
Walking around the campus, soon you will find out a featured convention hall building. If seen from its side face, it looks like an air fighter, ready to take off and full of battle force. In the front, a rising sun is right in the centre of front panel. I also found that this building faces east, welcoming the morning rising sun. Looking into this front side carefully, it’s like a spaceship sitting erectly on the launching platform. Anyways, when you see it you’ll have much imagination on this splendid building. The second featured building catching your eyes will be SNRU’s museum; its appearance is classic and elegant. Inside the building display the Issan's log cabins, daily articles, weaving, indigo dyeing, pottery, cooking wares, fishing tools and etc. The third one will be the green forest in the lake and canal area. In general, visitors will gain an impression of this university, clean and neat and peaceful.
Talks
In the campus tour, we got some opportunities to talk and take photos with SNRU’s students, friendly and smiling. Also we had a dinner talk with faculty members of SNRU, including Dean Marlee Sriprom, Director Tosawat Seetawan, Chair Pithak Wongchalee, Phalapha Thanwised, Pichai Srimanta, and Songsub Arungamol (Tuk).
A longer talk was my 3-hour speech in the conference room, Faculty of Science and Technology. It’s all about my past experiences of advising graduate students and my research focus on nanotechnology. In the beginning of my talk I shared what I observed from campus and scenic tours. Because of abundant natural resources in the surrounding area of SNRU, e.g., lake, forest and farm, there’s much research which can be conducted locally or through inter-university collaboration. At the end, we have a group photo, marking the end of my trip to Sakhon Nakhon.
Downtown Sakhon Nakhon
Before my talk, we had a chance to drive through and around downtown Sakhon Nakhon. There’re no tall buildings in downtown. The streets are all clean. it’s a small town, and it’s a clean city or rather it’s a people loving clean environment. In downtown, a special scenic point is this unique and golden shiny temple. As for the meals we ate, it seems to me that they were slightly different from what I usually eat in Khon Kaen though both of them are Issan style. For example, meal materials for papaya salad look and taste different, fish was from Mekong River, and there’s one kind of bitter herbal species used in the soup. Another special dish of western style was spinach wrapped and baked inside the cheese. It tastes just excellent.
Royal Farm
In addition to touring around downtown, we went to a royal farm, where you can see rubber tree forest, livestock of unique and colourful species, fish farm and weaving workshop. In the rubber tree forest, you’ll see something special hung on the tree stem in the distance. After you have a closer look, there’s a bowl hung at the bottom for collecting liquid latex. The skin of rubber tree was peeled off in a way of downward spiral surface. So latex flow, due to gravitational force, can be easily collected. Another special species is the rooster with white ear lobes. "In most cases, the colour of the earlobes will indicate the colour of egg that the hen will lay. A chicken with white earlobes will produce white shells, and brown shells, with red earlobes. The offspring of a rooster will have the same earlobes colour as the rooster."
Nong Han Lake
The climax of this trip was the boat cruise on the Nong Han Lake in the afternoon. After we journeyed through the royal farm, Jeab and Tuk took us to this big lake. As I mentioned earlier, it is the second largest lake in Thailand. We were so lucky to be there and enjoyed its beauty, peace and sunset.
It’s about one hour cruise on the lake, and the boat charge is 100 Baht each person. On the boat trip, the first feeling is its huge open space and emptiness.
You will see only a blurred horizontal line of lake bank area in the faraway. The reflections of tree clusters in the water tell you that the lake is calm because the weather is not windy. So, this make you feel very peaceful there.
When we passed by a hand-paddled boat, I took quite a few of photos in a series, trying to catch this very moment. When I saw those photos, I thought of a movie “Life of Pi" by Ang Lee, born and educated in Tainan, Taiwan. It’s about man and tiger on a boat. Is the presence of tiger on a boat posing a threat to this man or creating a situation which helps this man survive in such an endless and helpless ocean? Indeed, this can be worthy of much thoughts of yours.
In the centre of this lake, there’s an isle, a piece of so-called "land of heaven". According to the owner of the boat, the towering trees have been there for more than 500 years. It could be easily caught on fire when struck by thunderbolts because of their fuel-like composition. Walking along the trail of this isle was relaxing especially in the very moment of sunset.
Concluding remark
In this 3-day trip, Tuk was our driver. He is working in the Faculty of Agriculture, SNRU. He and Jeab drove back and forth to Khon Kaen, and drove us to tour around Sakhon Nakhon. His hard driving is really appreciated.
Posted on January 10th, 2014
KKU’s Artworks in the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts
The Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts first drew my attention because of its colourful building. Especially, its orange and brown colours in the green forest campus look even more eye-catching. Second, I noticed that there’s a unique coffee shop attached to the other side of the building; it looks classic and elegant under the shade of tall forest trees in the morning time. So, one day, Michelle and I went inside, and found in there art workshop and exhibition of all kinds of artworks. This was kind of surprise to discover art treasures in here. In addition, you can always see 2 dogs playing together in the open space within the area of this Faculty. I am sure art students here must be fond of playing with both of them after their tiresome and exhaustive art working.
After my jogging, I always pass and walk through this Faculty building almost every morning. So I got plenty of opportunities to enjoy their newly created artworks, or even their deserted ones. In general, what I have seen in here include handicrafts of rattan, wood or bamboo; statue of clay material, cast metal art; and crafts of plastic. In view of raw materials, most of them were available from the local natural resources. The themes of artworks could be relevant to their local culture and lifestyle, or environmental concern, for example, baby cradle of different material, bamboo bucket for sticky rice steaming, banana and fire-dragon fruit of plastic.
In general, the featured artworks designed and created by this Faculty can be categorised into three: (1) aesthetic artworks in the Mekong basin; (2) metal casting artworks by using environmentally friendly, inexpensive and efficient folk-wisdom-method; (3) local clay artworks focusing on those of the provinces along Mekong river, including Loei, Ubon Rathathani, Nokornpanom, Nong Khai and Mukdahan. Specifically, aesthetic art in this Faculty relates to folk wisdom, identity, and the interaction of fine arts, such as images of the buddha, wickerwork, mural painting, performing arts and music in the Mekong basin.
Through these artworks I am grasping something more about the region of Issan: what they think, what they believe and how they live.
Aesthetic art
Clay art
Cast metal art
Plastic art
Posted on January 4th, 2014
People in Issan region
泰國東北地區民情風俗
We need to learn how to live in a simple and natural way.
隨遇而安
First I want to explain this Chinese saying “隨遇而安(Suei-Yu-Er-An)" in English. It means “always feeling at ease in whatever circumstances, or feeling comfortable wherever you are." I would apply this phrase to people here in Issan region, where I stay, so far, for almost 3 months. They seem, by nature, to be free of worrying in a strange or unfamiliar place. They live a natural and unrestrained life.
席地而坐
Another is this: “席地而坐 (See-Di-Er-Dsuo)". It translates literally as “Seats on the ground to sit". If you go with people here for any trips, outings or special events, you don’t worry about where to find a seat to sit on. Always, they've got something like straw mat to sit together. They, as a group or a family, like to stay or party together. They are people of group life. They seemingly don’t like to stay alone or to live a life of so-called individualism.
就地取材
On the other hand, they can be tent-people. I was wondering why they love to stay in the tent overnight. As I travel around this region of Issan, I found that it’s an agricultural region, where you may not find hotel easily. So, it’s the best and economic way to bring with you a tent as you drive and travel between cities. I think they know how to survive in this natural environment. They’ve got all survival kits at any times in any circumstances. Even they can “就地取材 (Joe-Di-Ch-Tsai)" because there’re tons of wood available for camp fire on the way to their destination. The Chinese phrase here means “Take wood nearby." For example, one day, as I was walking along the forest trail in a chilly cold morning in the campus of Khon Kaen University, there’re motor-bike riders circling the wood-burned fire to keep them warm while they took a short break in their journey. Certainly, the wood was from the nearby.
What is true happiness? You may find it there in the region of Issan.
Posted on January 4th, 2014
Lake of pink water lilies, Nong Han Kumphawapi
Surprising tour
Right after the visit to Phufai Flora, Dr. Wanpen Wirojanagud brought us to an amazing place called Lake of pink water lilies on December 31, 2013. It’s located in Nong Han Kumphawapi, Udon Thani. It takes about 1 hour by car to get to this place from Khon Kaen.
When Dr. Wanpen suggested to go to this scenic place, I thought in my mind that I had ever seen similar view in my hometown - Town of Lotus - and maybe it’s just nothing special. But it turned out that we never saw such a huge view before, pink water lilies all over the place in this big lake area. According to the tourist brochure, water lilies blossom especially during these 3 months of December through February. And you need to take a boat trip in the morning time to enjoy this world class scenic point.
Sea of water lilies
Arriving at the Lake area, Dr. Wanpen bought tickets for the boat trip. The weather in the morning time was a little bit cold, especially cruising on the lake.
Blurred pink strip
In the beginning, it seemed nothing you can see but the blue sky and huge open space, plus noisy motor sound when sitting in the boat. But, later on you could see a blurred pink strip in the far end of horizon. The flag of Thailand with red, white and blue colour just matches this landscape perfectly. It’s a good idea to have the Thai flag standing in this place, announcing to the whole world that this fantastic view belongs to Thailand, and you will be really proud of visiting this place in Thailand. What a wonderful place God has created!
Seeing is believing
You wouldn’t believe what you have seen until you were in this sea of pink water lilies. Dr. Wanpen said she never saw this before even when she had ever conducted some project in this lake area. Also Tom Ratpukdi commented on the Facebook that he had driven and passed by this place more than 20 times, but never had expected to see such a view. With such a wonderful place, Dr. Wanpen would suggest to her colleagues that bringing coffee and dessert along is even the best in the early morning trip. If possible, take the hand-paddling boat, instead of the motor-powered one.
How did this sea of water lilies form over the time? The boat owner mentioned that it’s only a small area of water lilies in earlier times. So there must be some ecological conditions favouring and nurturing this pink area, like the algae bloom in some reservoirs.
Quiet isle within the lake
As was the last day of 2013, the tourists would cruise and land at this quiet isle, and pray for the prosperous life in the next new year. When walking around this isle, you will see some Thai-style log cabins under construction. They said these are all for the monks to live in there. The log cabins uplifted in the forest looks so peaceful. I guess this is where you may ponder and meditate for a while.
Posted on January 4th, 2014
Phufai Flora, Chaiyaphum
Dr. Wanpen Wirojanagud arranged an eco-tour to Phufai Flora on December 29-30, 2013, the very end of the year. Dr. Supar Nanakorn, Director of General Education Center at Khon Kaen University, joined us in this trip. This trip was made even more inspirational because of Dr. Supar, when we talked about religion and meditation on the way to this organic farm.
Montree and his family
Dr. Montree Boonsener is the master of this Phufai Flora, a name taken from Phu Pha Man District. Dr. Montree earned his Master degree in Geotechnology at Asian Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering at Khon Kaen University under Dr. Wanpen’s supervision. With the great help of his wife Udomluk, he intends to develop his farm into a learning and ecological education centre. Montree is good at engineering planning, while Udomluk excels in horticulture. In addition, both of them also gain their professional advices from their 2 sons, Chakat specialised in food technology, and Prach in industrial engineering.
Phufai Flora
We arrived at the farm in the afternoon, and were received warmly by Montree and Udomluk. First, Montree led us to walk around his farm cabins, facilities and hydroponic vegetable garden. There’s a house for ground water treatment by using reverse osmosis process, providing all drinking water demand in the log cabins. The water used in the hydroponic vegetable garden is pumped from the nearby creek.
Windmill tower
In the centre of this farm area, the windmill tower receives the most attention as soon as you enter this place. This tall tower building provides multi-functional usages, including villagers' gathering, banquet, sightseeing, musical entertainment, and accommodation. It’s the most enjoyable time, having dinner with fresh salad at the upper floor with all mountain range in the eyes, and with tender singing voices of Montree and Udomluk in the ears.
Next day, I woke up quite early in the morning, in order to see the sunrise. It’s rare that you can see both the sunset and the sunrise at the same scenic point. But here you may see the sunset in the direction of Nam Nao National Park, while having dinner, and the sunrise from the forest area in the east.
(Sunset)
(Sunrise)
Breakfast
The breakfast was the most “unforgettable" because of this special meal of sticky rice. Montree said that the stick rice they cooked is a special species quite different from what we usually have eaten in the restaurant. It was grown in drought area and could emit some delightful flavour while cooking. It smells so good and tastes so delicious that you may eat it only, forgetting there’re still other dishes on the table. To be exaggerating, you may even forget the presence of your wife. Another dish I liked very much was the Issan sausage. It tastes a little bit sour. This may be because of fermented sticky rice stuffed inside.
The breakfast was simple but really unforgettable to me. I should have asked for bringing home the whole bucket of unfinished sticky rice.
Wild walk
After breakfast, Montree toured us around the wild area. In the open space, it used to be the ricefield. Montree reserves this for the future development. As we walked into the border of his farm, there’re newly planted teak trees standing out there. According to Montree, it takes 20 years to grow them up fully, in order to make use of teak wood for construction. To be self-sustained in an ecological way, something just has to be well-prepared far ahead of time. Next to Montree’s farm, there’s a forest of rubber trees. Why growing rubber trees here? He said they are forest product with high economic value, and it’s safer to grow them in here than in southern Thailand when considering social stability.
Our trip was concluded by visiting another hydroponic vegetable farm run by Udomluk’s brother.
Posted on January 3rd, 2014
Playport Udon Thani
Jeab
She was originally from Buri Ram, later on, moved to Khon Kaen, and finally started her business Playport in Udon Thani. Her name is Jeab Prasertthawonsiri.
She got her agriculture-related bachelor degree from Khon Kaen University (KKU). Upon university graduation, she worked as a secretary with Thai Regional Environmental Office. Afterwards, she was recommended by her Office Director to become an Assistant to Dr. Wanpen Wirojanagud, then-Chairperson of Environmental Engineering Department, Khon Kaen University. For 7 years, there she worked with Dr. Wanpen, a mentor and incubator to her current business.
Oftentimes Dr. Wanpen would mention to her the importance of family time in such a busy society. Bearing such a core value in Jeab’s mind, she has kind of realized Dr. Wanpen’s thought by running a business like Playport, where family members may enjoy their family time together the whole day in there.
But, in fact, there’s still a long way to get to her current situation, mentally and financially.
Starting her business
Gardening
Jeab first began her business with gardening and landscaping. According to Dr. Wanpen, she was quite good at decoration design when she’s in KKU. In addition, everyone liked her and loved to work with her at that time. More important, she was capable of implementing what she had planned, not just talking it but completing it. In Dr. Wanpen’s eye, she is very trustworthy and responsible. And these are important personal character to run all business.
Swimming pool
After some time, Jeab made her attempt to shift her gardening work a little bit to swimming pool business based on her initial market survey. In Thailand, it’s quite true that most area is with hot weather, and there’s quite a long summertime. In addition, the foreign group seems to be in a significant population in Udon Thani area, and they are used to a lifestyle of swimming and playing with kids. Furthermore, in view of cost-effectiveness, the business revenue of swimming pool (plus landscaping) in each case may triple that of gardening and landscaping. So this explains the reason behind a transition of her business.
In the beginning, she targeted her sale to foreign residents. After gaining and knowing more market information, she tried to revise and propose her business model by selling to local residents who have their own business. Jeab's business promoting point is to help them make profit out of swimming pool installation, directly or indirectly. For example, when running a kindergarten or a private children school, facility of swimming pool can become an important measure to increase kids enrollment.
Playport
In swimming pool business, kids who can be reached are quite limited because it involves only those in private learning schools. To further reach out a general public, kids and their families, water park in a larger scale appears to be a promising business.
So the layout of Playport was proposed and constructed at a location next to a major transportation trunk. It took about 1 year to finish all construction work. This Playport was then given a test run in August 2013. Approximately, there’re 1000 persons every day coming to this water park. The number of person further increased to 2000 on October 23, 2013. As was scheduled, the grand opening of Playport will be set in April 2014.
When running this Playport, Jeab was proposing an idea connected to government’s children education policy. Instead of just giving away tablets to school children without any education software in them, why not offering a certain budget in physical exercise such as swimming activity? This can benefit kids more in a sense of outdoor activities rather than indoor game playing. In other words, parents may request free service of swimming activity from any public schools, and the pool providers can provide services out of government budget. In a long run, this can be a win-win business.
To run a water park like Playport, the required capital is huge to a business starter like Jeab. For example, if the land area needed is 2 hectare, this can cost 250 million Baht in the region of Udon Thani. As for the business operation, overall this may require 40 millions. In the initial phase, 5 million Baht should be prepared beforehand. If bank loan is available, the issue of capital and operation expenses can be mitigated. However, it appears that there’s no way to get a bank loan because a business plan like Playport was both innovation and initiation. Fortunately, Jeab had a partner who owns the land of the current location and provides its share in this regard. The other initial cash she needed was all from her family and friends. Indeed, this was quite a hard part for Jeab to start Playport and its operation.
Thinking of the poor
Over the conversation, Dr. Wanpen was especially touched when Jeab had the kids from poor families in mind. In general, Issan kids belong to the poor group in their society. Usually, those kids would swim in some dirty rivers or pools, and they may get drowned because of lack of safety measures. To the kids in rural area, it’s just too luxurious to enjoy swimming in a pool with high quality water and lifeguards. She thought she could also provide special services to those kids in need from time to time. Such an activity was planned and organized on Children's Day, Jan. 11, 2014.
Future prospect
As observed from the current customers, most of them fall in the kids or teens group. In the future, Playport will install spa and hydrothermal therapy pools to provide services for adults and senior residents, according to Jeab. This is to say that as a whole Playport is to provide services for groups of various age levels.
It is anticipated that Playport will become a Family Club for the cities in Udon Thani area. Such idea will be further disseminated to some other provinces such as Nong Khai, Buri Ram and Yasotoin. On the other hand, to deepen this business, the business mode of Playport will be repeated in different districts of a province.
"Not just a fun water park, Playport is a park of lifestyle, healthy and sustainable," said Jeab.
Concluding remark
It appears to Jeab that she ran into her business mentor Dr. Wanpen by destiny. They met and worked together in the past, starting a special relationship like mother and daughter. Jeab was most grateful to Dr. Wanpen for her financial support and guidance whenever she was in hard times and in need. I am sure that such a true relation will continue to bless Jeab’s business in years to come.
Posted on January 2nd, 2014
Weather in Khon Kaen, Thailand
Average Weather
Information source: http://weatherspark.com/averages/33984/Khon-Kaen-Thailand
This report describes the typical weather at the Khon Kaen Airport (Khon Kaen, Thailand) weather station over the course of an average year. It is based on the historical records from 2005 to 2012. Earlier records are either unavailable or unreliable. Khon Kaen has a tropical savanna climate with dry winters. The area within 40 km of this station is covered by croplands (95%) and lakes and rivers (3%).
Daily High and Low Temperature. The daily average low (blue) and high (red) temperature with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile).
Information source: http://weatherspark.com/averages/33984/Khon-Kaen-Thailand
This report describes the typical weather at the Khon Kaen Airport (Khon Kaen, Thailand) weather station over the course of an average year. It is based on the historical records from 2005 to 2012. Earlier records are either unavailable or unreliable. Khon Kaen has a tropical savanna climate with dry winters. The area within 40 km of this station is covered by croplands (95%) and lakes and rivers (3%).
Daily High and Low Temperature. The daily average low (blue) and high (red) temperature with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile).
Historical Weather For The Last Twelve Months of 2012
Information source: http://weatherspark.com/history/33984/2013/Khon-Kaen-Thailand
This report describes the historical weather record at the Khon Kaen Airport (Khon Kaen, Thailand) during the last 12 months. This station has records back to January 1949. Khon Kaen has a tropical savanna climate with dry winters. The area within 40 km of this station is covered by croplands (95%) and lakes and rivers (3%).
The coldest day of the last 12 months was January 1, with a low temperature of 14°C. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 18°C and the low temperature drops below 15°C only one day in ten. The coldest month of the last 12 months was January with an average daily low temperature of 18°C. Relative to the average, the coldest day was May 17. The low temperature that day was 20°C, compared to the average of 25°C, a difference of 5°C. In relative terms the coldest month was October, with an average low temperature of 23°C, compared to an typical value of 23°C. The longest cold spell was from July 7 to July 16, constituting 10 consecutive days with cooler than average low temperatures. The month of September had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 73% days with lower than average low temperatures.
Information source: http://weatherspark.com/history/33984/2013/Khon-Kaen-Thailand
This report describes the historical weather record at the Khon Kaen Airport (Khon Kaen, Thailand) during the last 12 months. This station has records back to January 1949. Khon Kaen has a tropical savanna climate with dry winters. The area within 40 km of this station is covered by croplands (95%) and lakes and rivers (3%).
The coldest day of the last 12 months was January 1, with a low temperature of 14°C. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 18°C and the low temperature drops below 15°C only one day in ten. The coldest month of the last 12 months was January with an average daily low temperature of 18°C. Relative to the average, the coldest day was May 17. The low temperature that day was 20°C, compared to the average of 25°C, a difference of 5°C. In relative terms the coldest month was October, with an average low temperature of 23°C, compared to an typical value of 23°C. The longest cold spell was from July 7 to July 16, constituting 10 consecutive days with cooler than average low temperatures. The month of September had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 73% days with lower than average low temperatures.
Temperature. The daily low (blue) and high (red) temperature during the last 12 months with the area between them shaded gray and superimposed over the corresponding averages (thick lines), and with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile). The bar at the top of the graph is red where both the daily high and low are above average, blue where they are both below average, and white otherwise.
Precipitation. The full year of hourly present weather reports with the days of the year on the horizontal and the hours of the day on the vertical. The color-coded categories are thunderstorms (orange); heavy, moderate, and light snow (dark to light blue); heavy, moderate, and light rain (dark to light green); drizzle (lightest green); freezing rain and sleet (light and dark cyan); snow grains (lightest blue); hail (red); fog (gray); and haze (brownish gray).
Humidity. The daily low (brown) and high (blue) relative humidity during the last 12 months with the area between them shaded gray and superimposed over the corresponding averages (thick lines), and with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile).
Daily High and Low Temperature in November. The daily average low (blue) and high (red) temperature with percentile bands (inner band from 25th to 75th percentile, outer band from 10th to 90th percentile).
Posted on December 31st, 2013