Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Within weeks, however, the villagers had
begun rebuilding their lives, and with the help
of a young American who had been working in
a nearby guesthouse, they set about deciding
on a new future for themselves. The result
was Andaman Discoveries, a community-
based tourism venture that aims to provide a
supplementary income to fishing in villages
like Ban Talae Nok. It's a form of tourism very
much on the villagers' terms: they are involved
and consulted throughout, and eighty percent
of a trip's cost goes direct to the village (twenty
percent of this via a community fund).
Andaman Discoveries recommends that
visitors opt to stay with a host family while
in Ban Talae Nok. This homestay scheme is
organized by the villagers on a rotation basis,
and it's the best way to find out more about the
locals (a translator is provided to smooth over
communication problems) and sample traditional
Thai cuisine. Guests can also make soap or batik
(a fabric hand-dyed using wax) with the women's
co-operative. There's also the opportunity to do
381 ExpEriEncE
coastal villagE
lifE, thailand
Standing on the shore by
the village of Ban Talae
Nok, looking past the
ambling water buffalo to
the rainforest-covered Gum
islands a kilometre out to
sea, it's hard to imagine
that in December 2004 the
tide suddenly receded as
far as those islands, before
returning as a wall of water
that destroyed almost
everything in its path. In the
wake of the tsunami almost
a quarter of Ban Talae Nok's
two hundred inhabitants had perished, including
fifteen children who had been rehearsing a play
for New Year in the school.
The sea at Ban Talae Nok;
Preparing the ingredients to
make soap
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