Students learning about fish on the Yom river.

Once again, the plan to destroy one of the last wild rivers in Thailand has come back to life — plans are in high gear to build a dam at the Kang Sua Ten rapids on the Yom river in Phrae.

We’ve run a course on the Yom for several years, Human Rights and The Environment: Rivers, Dams and Local Struggles.  A big part of the course is comparing the Mun river (already dammed and destroyed by the Thai state) and the Yom (impacted by a weir down river, but still vibrant and alive).  We paddle the river with local elders, learn about the fish and ecology of the river, and learn about their struggle to keep the river from being dammed.

The excuse for years has been that it will control flooding, or in more recent years, to prevent drought. As the villagers know, however, that is a lie. Flooding in the provinces downstream has been shown to be the result of local rainfall and poor drainage — not due to water carried down from the upper Yom. But that isn’t why they want to build the dam.

The real reason? The Yom river basin is also home to the last stand of golden teak left in Thailand — worth millions of dollars.  So whoever gets to dam the Yom not only gets to embezzle the money from the construction project (which we know from the research of Ajaan Pasuk is likely to be between 40% to 60% of the budget), but they also get the real prize — millions of dollars in rare golden teak.

The budget alone is about 11 billion Baht.

Thai pu yai (influential “big” people) seem to care only for money. They are also not stupid — they are clearly taking advantage of the political turmoil in Thailand to push through this project, hoping that people will not notice, will be too busy rebuilding their lives after the violence of May, and too busy to care and do something about it.

Some people have noticed, and now the Royal Irrigation Department is arguing for two “small” dams on the river — trying to back off, and make it sounds like it won’t destroy the river.  But it will — it will kill it, and destroy the ecology and the community.

And once the river is gone, it is gone forever.  Along with the livelihoods of the local community, the famers, young activists and others.  We know, and the community knows — just look at the Mun river after it was dammed.

The things that is most galling, of course, is that the dam is both unnecessary and won’t solve the problems it is said to solve. But the lack of scientific and empirical support has never stopped the building of a dam in Thailand before — as we see every spring as we live with and learn from the villagers impacted by the building of the Pak Mun Dam — thousands of lives and communities destroyed, fish stocks devastated along with the people who fished, all for nothing but a inefficient dam that doesn’t even pay for itself with the little electricity it does produce.

So they are doing everything they can to put another dam on the Yom.

This will destroy the lives of the community of teachers, mentors and leaders who have shared their lives, knowledge and wisdom with our instructors and students.

Our friends.

We will be doing everything we can to raise awareness about this, and hope to play a role in stopping the dam.

We’ll keep you posted.

—————–

Three articles to read:

Yom River Dam Will Devastate the Area

Sanan renews push for building of dam

Dept mulls two small dams for Yom River

The final course of the spring semester study abroad program at ISDSI is our course on Coastal Ecology and Culture.  This is the capstone of the semester, and brings together leadership skills, cross cultural and language skills, as well as expedition skills so that the students can study the reefs, sea grass, mangroves and local communities in Trang, Southern Thailand.

Here are a few photos taken by our instructor, Pi Ben, to give you a bit of a feel of what the course is like.

The prow of a new longtail boat on Mook island.

Krissy and Nikki paddling in on a double seakayak.

Ben sea kaking, leaving the beach for the crossing to Mook island.

Ben and Karen, leaders of the day, explaining the day's route by sea kayak.

Ben landing on the beach and pulling up his kayak. The ISDSI support boat in the background.

Dinner with a view. Camping on the beach in Trang.

Karen padding into the beach.

A longtail crossing by after a storm.

Karen and Ben, leaders of the day, sorting out the kayaks after a day's paddle.

Riley identifying different types of seagrass during a study of seagrass ecology and dugong feeding behavior.

A real pirate cave -- a great location for a seminar by Bang Hed, a village elder, about mangroves and community. (The pirates have been gone for a long time... at least that's what Bang Hed says...)

Jack and his host family, Baan Iet, Ja Mai, Nong Chock, and Nong Lin.

Pi Noi, usually in the office, but also working the occasional field course, and Pi Toto, field instructor.

The host families of Jao Mai village with their students.

Mid-course seminar with Ajaan Mark. ISDSI field seminar rooms don't have WiFi, but we like them!

Ben watching the sunset over the Andaman Sea.

Each Expedition Field Course has a mid-course seminar — a chance to reflect on what is being learned, summarize, and prepare for the next phase of the expedition.  Ajaan Abram, teaching the rivers course, met the students in Nong Khai and traveled with them to the seminar site.

Students working on their posters in the guesthouse overlooking the Mekong river.

For the Rivers course, the seminar took place in the riverside town of Chiang Khan, in Loei province.  Chiang Khan used to be a sleepy town of wooden buildings built along the banks of the Mekong river, across from Laos.  Now, the old wooden buildings are being converted into guest houses, Internet cafes, and funky restaurants — as it is only a day’s drive from Bangkok. It is a great place for mid-course on Rivers, as it is half way between Issan (the Northeast of Thailand) and the Northern Thai province of Phrae, where the students paddle the Yom River (go to our maps page to see the course locations).

A street in Chiang Khan.

During the seminar the students ha a chance to talk through what they had learned from the communities of fisherfolk along the Mun river, the impact of the Pak Mun dam, as well as what they had observed on the transect of the Mekong river up from Ubonratchathani province.

Filling in the details before presenting.

Two of the key questions that were discussed were about connections and interactions taking place in and around rivers in SE Asia.

Taylor and Karen talking about the “Bangkok Monster” and its impact on the river, villagers, ecosystems and other players in resource management.

Students were asked to draw the spatial, environmental, economic and sociological connections of major players in and around the Mun River before and after the construction of the Pak Mun dam. They were also asked to reflect on transboundary interactions of players on the Mekong including the spatial, environmental, economic and sociological connections.

Jill, Emily and Kadilyn (with the Mekong river behind them).

Here are some photos of the day, along with their posters and explanatory text, to give you a feel for the course.

Exploring the connections between environmental, social and economic impacts of the Pak Mun dam.

Women in Chiang Khan selling “popia tot” (fried spring rolls).

Karen and Taylor discuss the Mekong as a chocolate river (more below).

Transboundary issues -- as water flows down the river, each user takes out some, leaving less for the downstream countries.

Vested interests of different actors in managing the Mekong river.

Motorcycle with rattan basket in front of the guesthouse. (You can see the Mekong River and Laos through the window out the back of the guesthouse.)

The Mekong represented as a giant catfish — with each group trying to take a share (eat the fish).

The Mekong river as the chocolate river in the Willy Wonka factory, with each user (country) drinking from the river, the ompa-loompas as the Mekong River Commission trying to get everyone to cooperate, and consumerism floating down the river.

The village and their livelihood before the dam and “development” — with villagers self-sufficient in fish, and earning money from a very rich fishery. After, they loose their self-sufficiency and are forced to migrate to the city to work.

Sunset over the Mekong river -- Thailand on the left, Laos on the right.

We got back from our recon of the Yom River late Monday night for our Rivers course. It was a good chance to learn more about the river, test out our new canoes, check on gear and rigging, and see how the canoes performed in both swift water as well as some of the long shallow sections of the Yom. Not the usual prep for study abroad courses, but standard practice for ISDSI Expedition Field Courses.

Unloading the canoes for the recon.

The Yom is an interesting river.  The section we paddle (about 48 km) flows through forests, and along some fields, but not through any villages or under bridges — so it has a much more “wild” feel than many rivers in Thailand.  There are no weirs or dams on this section of the river, and it supports a vibrant ecological and human community — people fishing, birds hunting fish, etc.  It also flows through the last remaining stand of golden teak in Thailand. The reason we paddle this section is that this is the part that will be lost if the government goes ahead with plans to dam the river (and cut the teak). So the village elders and youth activists we paddle with treasure canoeing down the river as much as we do.

A section of the topographic maps we used. We use digitized versions we customize and print out for the course.

For the recon we had three goals.  First, we needed to assess how low the river really was.  The data that we had from the Thai Hydrology and Water Management Center (hydro-1.com) showed that the Yom was running at about 60 cm.  Last year when we ran the river a month further into dry season, the river was running at about 80 cm.  That is a pretty significant drop from last year, and we wanted to see what that meant.

The Yom river tends to have three distinct types of river topography — long and deep sections without much current, short drops with rapids (cobble stones or larger rapids), as well as sections of braided river flowing through willow thickets. Even in very dry years, the long deep sections can be paddled, but we weren’t sure about the rapids and willow thickets.

Pi Pu (with Pi Carrie in the stern) checking out the willows and reeds up close and personal...

The second reason to do the recon was to check out how the new Mad River canoes performed. We’ve used two other types of canoes in the past, PakCanoes and SOAR canoes. The PakCanoes are a skin-on-frame design, and while exceptionally lightweight, running them over rocks and rapids (especially limestone) and through willows eventually wrecked them. They are great canoes for remote wild rivers with bigger water, or lakes, but for the rough conditions we encounter didn’t really work.  The SOAR canoes are amazing — they have taken the same technology for river rafts and created a two person canoe. They inflate, and are thus very easy to transport (and are, in fact, very popular in remote locations in Alaska and similar places).  We used them for a few years, and then had problems with the floor welds (that kept the floor tube flat) failing. The company was fantastic, and fixed the boats for free. We’re holding on to them to use in bigger water (they are terrific whitewater boats) as well as to use if we run courses in more remote locations.  In the meantime, we purchased 15 Mad River canoes (Explorer 16s).

No advanced materials for this guy's boat -- just a hewn log and hand carved paddle!

The Mad River canoes we used performed very well.  The polyethylene hulls stood up to a great deal of abuse, and slid over the cobbles and river rocks (where the other canoes would have stopped).  We also found that due to their hull design, you could edge the canoe (lean up on one side) and get through or over tight rocky sections. The canoes also tracked very well (were easy to keep straight) and moved very quickly in the long slack sections of the river.

Pi Noi taking a break from being office manager and dealing with paperwork to get out in the field.

The final reason we did the recon was a combination of the first two.  We needed data on how fast we could expect the group to travel on each section of the river. This is a combination of the specific river topography (slack water, shallow rapids, braided willows) and the specific boats we are using (shallow “v” hulled polyethylene canoes).  We used topographic maps with a 1 km UTM grid and a GPS to determine our location, and then calculated our average rate of travel for each section.  That way the instructors and student leaders of the day can gauge their progress, and know when to stop, and how fast to pace themselves to accomplish the academic objectives of each day — studying the river ecology, local knowledge and community efforts to conserve the river and the fish.

Ajaan Mark and Pi Ben working out location and pace off a map and GPS (with Pi Carrie and Miriam cooling off in the background).

The recon went well.  We started paddling on Saturday at 3, and started looking for a campsite as it was getting dark.  The next morning, we got up early, had breakfast and broke down camp, and paddled through the day with a few rests and a lunch break.  Paw Sanguan, one of the village elders, met us at lunch, and we were able to talk over the logistics for the course more, as well as how the boats handled. Paw Sanguan is expert fisherman and river paddler (in the old style dug-out canoes the villagers use as well as our new ones), and is a key instructor for our course.

We pushed hard  until just before dark through lots of rock gardens, rapids, braided willow channels, and slow deep sections.  We camped, ate dinner, and fell to sleep sore but happy.  We were making amazing time, and would probably be able to make the take out at the Kaeng Sua Ten (Dancing Tiger Rapids) sometime the next day.

Paddling late into the day.

Up early on the river, and a cold breakfast to help with a fast start, and into our first set of rapids right away. Along the way we ran into one of the village elders (or “Paw” — meaning “father”) who was out fishing and recognized us. He figured we’d make Dancing Tiger Rapids and the national park office by mid-afternoon at our pace.

Mist on the river in the morning, with a local fisherman pulling up the night's catch just ahead of us.

We were able to push hard through some long rocky sections, and made it to a place the students will use as a campsite in time for lunch, and made a quick satellite phone call to set up our pick up. Then a couple more hours of deep slack water, and then a kilometer plus of rapids, including the Dancing Tiger Rapids.  With the water level as low as it was, it involved a bit of pushing here and there, and was really technical and tricky — threading through rock gardens, and navigating the final “S” turns of the Dancing Tiger Rapid with a lot more rocks than usual (but a lot less water volume).

Ajaan Mark and Miriam (who was taking a break from Chiang Mai International School) in the midst of the Dancing Tiger Rapids.

We made it by about 3 in the afternoon — just about 48 hours total, three days, two nights.

Pi Carrie and Pi Pui pleased to be out of the willows, with a clean run down the final rapids.

We hauled gear and boats out of the river, got picked up later that afternoon, and then had a long van ride back to Chiang Mai, where we arrived late at night. The trip was great, we learned a lot about the gear, the river and the current state of the Yom.  We also have enough valuable information to pass on to the instructors and students so they can make the most of their time on the river, starting on Friday, March 5th.

Each time we run the Yom, we wonder how long it will last, and how long the community can keep the river wild and undammed. Every rapid, every willow thicket, every campsite — and their home village — will all be inundated if the dam is ever built. Each run on the river helps makes their case stronger — two years ago they used photos of ISDSI students paddling the river in testimony before Thai Parliament to argue that the river was not only ecologically significant, but also internationally important — not just valuable for “only” local people (the argument of those who want to dam the river). So while our role in saving the Yom might be small, we’ll do what we can.

We’re also donating one of the Mad River Canoes to the village activist group to help them in their on-going work of studying the river and documenting its ecological significance. Paw Sanguan already is looking forward to paddling it to his favorite spots, and teaching the younger generations about the Yom.

Last week was the final week of the 5 week homestay. To thank the families and to gather as a community, we hosted a farewell dinner and party with the families, students, instructors and staff of ISDSI.  We ate out under the stars near the foot of Doi Suthep mountain, at the side of a lake (for those who know Chiang Mai, along the canal road near the 700 year stadium).  It was a traditional “kantoke” dinner, with everyone sitting on mats on the ground, eating off a small round “kantoke” table filled with sticky rice, curry, steamed vegetables, and other Northern Thai food.

In addition to the dinner, there was a local group of youth performing traditional songs and dances, and then the ISDSI students performed as well. Alone or in pairs, students and their families prepared songs (in Thai!) as well as traditional dances.  It was a great time, and we all enjoyed it immensely.  Here are some photos taken by Pi Ben of the event.

Lindsey's host family getting her ready.

Kristen and Jill doing a traditional Lanna Thai dance with their host sisters.

Nikki doing the nail dance with her host sisters.

Krissy singing in Thai "Sao Chiang Mai" (Chiang Mai Maiden), a well loved Northern Thai folk song.

Ajaan Wilasanee (pictured) and Pi Pu were the MCs for the event and did a terrific job jumping between Thai and English explaining the dances and songs.

Pi Pu introducing the students (some out of the frame), who sang in Thai "Bang khon kin khanom pang" (or "Some people eat bread") a folk song celebrating eating sticky rice, the Northern Thai staple. The song starts saying "Some people eat bread..." but goes on to say "but I eat sticky rice" -- which, since Westerners "all" eat bread, is especially fun when Western students sing it. It celebrates that the students have embraced Thai culture -- eating rice and singing in Thai. (Note too the families taking photos like it is a UN press conference.)

A "rot daeng" or "song taew" (two-bencher). A common mode of transportation for students.

This spring semester several of the students are blogging their experiences.  Check them out for some great insights into Thai culture, homestays, and their adventures in Thailand! Here are some excerpts (with spelling and grammar left as is…)

Jack:

I’ll wake up every morning at around 5:45 AM when it is still dark out, but two hours after the roosters have started keekaakaaing around my window. When I can finally drag myself out of bed (usually around 6) I’ll shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed in my school uniform (white collared short sleeve shirt and black pants) so as to look reep roy (proper/put together).

I’ll eat breakfast and then bike ten minutes down the road to highway 118, where I can park my bike for 5 baat (~15 cents) at a small cafe/restaurant for the day. From there, I catch a rot luuang downtown, where I switch the the rot dang (red bus) that will take me to ISDSI. The ‘buses’ I refer to are actually called song tow, which means two benches, and pretty much describes the nature of the vehicle. They can comfortably fit around 10 people inside, though when adding those who hang off the back (often me) and the occasional person who rides on top, I have seen song tows hold up to 23 people, though two of the passengers I am counting are infants.

Caroline:

“You have to be at school by 7:30am. What time do you usually get to school?”
“7:00am or 7:05am.”
“Okay. We’ll drive you so you won’t be late.”

That was part of last night’s dinner conversation. I got to school at 6:50am (a new record) today. Usually I take public transit and get to school pretty early, but my host parents wanted to be sure I was more than on time today.

Lindsey:

Farming in Mae Taa.

On this farm they began growing banana plants 20 years ago because they sprout up quickly giving shade to smaller plants. At the same time they planted mango trees as well as some smaller plant species like pineapple. After several years, the mango trees grew taller than the banana trees and began to choke them out. While at a “normal” farm this would be seen as a bad thing, the banana trees on this organic farm served their purpose, and the remains went back into the ground to fertilize the next wave of plant life.

The farm we visited was only on a couple of acres of land, but it had over 80 species of plants! It also included a small pond with tilapia. Chickens or other animals feed on vegetable/plant leftovers on the land, then the tilapia eat the chicken poop. Tilapia are very efficient, easily grown fish that provide an easy source of protein for the farmers.

Betsy:

Weekends are generally a good thing, but for some reason I had an absolutely spectacular weekend. It started with our group from ISDSI (17 students and 3 instructors) heading out to a site outside of Chiang Mai called “Crazy Horse”. Crazy Horse is a site for a series of caves and cliffs. We spent the morning exploring a couple different caves and learning about the different features of caves. We then zip-lined across one cave to a stalactite and repelled down 150 feet! It was pretty thrilling. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon rock-climbing the cliffs outside of the cave. I’m not the best climber, but I was surprised to find that I was very capable of climbing the different rock faces. I spent Friday night with my host family, and singing chereokee with Nong Yeem (my younger sister).

Saturday came and for the first time in about a week I got to sleep in! (til 9! haha…) I ate breakfast and did some homework, and then my Paw said that I needed to relax from my long day of climbing….so….our family went to the hot springs outside of the city! My afternoon was pretty harsh….taking a hot mineral bath (pretty much like a hot tub) and ending the day with a Thai massage. The hot springs are a popular picnic area, and when people eat at the hot springs, they boil eggs in the hot spring! haha it’s pretty sweet! My Paw asked me if I wanted an egg, and I said yes, so he popped an egg into the hot spring bath for about 3 minutes and bam! soft boiled egg!

Ben:

Fried crickets. Yum!

After three weeks of Thai class four hours a day and living in a Thai family my Thai has improved. This is something that is so rewarding as you begin to understand reading and writing more and more, and your speaking and comprehension of the language expands. This knowledge can be used immediately and enables you to communicate with your Thai family better and also understand the culture you are living in better. It is a great feeling to make progress especially against the challenges of the Tonal language with an alphabet that borrows from Sanskrit. I have a long way to go, but I am sure to get better with the 44 consonants, 32 vowels, and the 5 tones.

Riley:

The Thai dinner table is the perfect setting for asking questions. Is this an animal or vegetable? Can you eat this(said with perfect sincerity)?
To the undiscerning eye your best luck is to simply watch what the locals do with the items on their plate.
Things do not become that much clearer even if you prepare the food yourself. I went to a Thai buffet. They bring hot coals to your table while you pick from dozens of raw meats which you will fry yourself. Seeing the food both before and after cooking it brings only marginally more enlightenment.
Tonight for dinner my host mother taugh me to make sweet green curry with chicken. While this seems straight forward one of the main ingredients is coagulated chicken blood. The most disturbing part is that the blood doesnt dissipate but instead remains as chunks that resemble soft tofu as you eat them. The dish was delicious despite the blood.
There are a lot of things I eat that I cant decipher but most of these things taste good in the end.

Jeremy, Rebecca and Jonathan with their host families (Bang I'et, Ma' and A'Lee). From Jeremey's blog.

The students are back from the coastal course – sea kayaking through mangroves, skin diving reefs, camping on the beach, and living with host families in a small fishing village on the coast of Trang. While we had a few big storms, the weather was good overall, and it was a great course – the students really got into the material, worked (and played) hard, and learned a lot. A highlight of the course, and a great capstone to the semester, is staying with the host families in this mostly Muslim fishing village. The families are amazing, their hospitality humbling, creating a very real connection between the students and their families.

Here are some highlights from the student blogs:

From Acadia:

As we came back to our guesthouse on Ko Mook from snorkelling off Ko Chu-ah, the tide was very low, exposing the extensive mud flats offshore of Ko Mook. Our boats went in as far as they could and we walked the rest of the way in to the island. While a long pier juts out a little ways down along the road to remedy (partially) this problem, it is not used much by local residents. Instead, they walk and haul their catch sometimes 150 yards, preferring to leave their boats cradled in the soft intertidal zone. Thinking about another extreme, NYC, where every shoreline has been extended with landfill and concrete piers, it seems in many ways the villagers on Ko Mook have got it right.

The night before, students reflected on how people here seem to have stronger relationships with natural cycles and phenomena than we do in the U.S. This has been a recurring theme throughout my time here in Thailand. In part because of the favorable climate, folks are able to incorporate a lot of outdoor space into their primary living area and seem to like this set-up despite the bugs and rain and critters passing through. Nature still has the upper hand in the local community on Ko Mook, as well. Low season for the tourism industry occurs during the monsoon season when the channel is too choppy for the island’s small boats to safely transport visitors. On a stormy day, the fishermen stay on shore and talk with their friends or do chores around the house rather than brave the elements as larger trawlers are able to do. Women follow the tides out and collect clams on the mud flats, only one example of how intimately their lives are tied to the moon cycle.

Both Jeremy and Jonathan posted some great photos on their blogs of the course.

Here are a couple of photos of the different type of sea kayaking we do on the course from Jonathan:

Crossing from the mainland to Mook Island.

Paddling through the mangroves.

Here are some photos from Jeremy:

Anna, Bang I'et and Pi Toto listening to Bang Hed talk about community forests and mangroves.

Ma' roasts cashews fresh off the tree.

On Monday next week the spring semester at ISDSI starts, with most of the students arriving on this Friday (a few are trickling in before then…).  First thing Saturday morning, a quick orientation to living with a Thai host-family, and then the students will go home with their families.  (In the past the families picked them up from the airport, but that can be difficult if the family is working late, as some do.)  Then after a weekend alone with the host family (many of whom don’t speak English), 8 AM for the first class in intensive Thai!

So right now the office is quiet, with Thai language instructors working on new curriculum, library books getting sorted and reshelved, gear being cleaned and organized, and the classrooms set up for Monday’s classes.