Trip to Surat-Thani with my kids:

Here we are...

I made a trip last weekend with 5 students from my school to visit Surat Thani on the east coast of Thailand.

The subdistrict(Tabon in Thai) is called "Re-lat". Tambon Re-lat is a representative model of sustainable tourism in Thailand and the purpose was to demonstrate to the children and the teachers what values and interests are important to keep in mind when taking a stab at sustainable tourism.

It was a pretty successful trip. The community in Re-lat has strong (solid-rock) leadership and commitment from various sectors in the area. The shrimp farming businesses that threaten the mangrove and the wildlife were brought on board during the planning and discussion stages of building the sustainable tourism model. The shrimp farm waste that normally was deposited in the waterways and was contaminating the water, disturbing the ecosystem and killing the mangrove is now being sold to farmers to be used as fertilizer. This seems like a simple concept but even this small step takes serious effort to accomplish.

Most of all, Tambon Relat in Surat Thani provides hope for a different path...

Photos Here...

A teacher and myself enjoying some conversation... this trip brought together teachers and students from all over southern Thailand.

Another sweet sunset...

Monster shrimp. Kinda nightmare-ish. I bet they are delicious.

Here it is. As big as your head and could probably feed on you if it got hungry enough.

More photos are on the way...