What Price Progress?
The mayor of a little town in Isan is hoping enough lessons have been learned from the excesses of Phuket and Pai to prevent another disaster in the making
Kamol Kongpin should be the proudest man in Chiang Khan in Loei province, a quaint little settlement on the banks of the Mekong in the upper Northeast. For the 52-year-old mayor was the leading light behind the town's highly successful celebration of its centenary back in December 2009.
News of the event - spread by adverts, the internet and word of mouth - has slowly been transforming a sleepy river port, which had done precious little business since Laos went communist in 1975, into a burgeoning tourist mecca. The place has seen a huge influx of visitors in the past 12 months and now is even being touted as a rival to Pai, that much-hyped destination in Mae Hong Son province.
In the wake of the anniversary bash, tourists, mostly from Bangkok, hurried to Chiang Khan to experience its simple charm, picturesque shophouses and, above all, the company of its lovely, helpful residents. Guesthouse and resorts there, particularly on weekends and national holidays, have been fully booked from November last year right up to the end of this month, according to Mayor Kamol.
To develop resorts, investors from outside offered large sums of money to townspeople for riverfront land as well as plots along Chai Khong Road where many of the most beautiful old shophouses are situated.
These offers were often so tempting they proved difficult to resist. Prices have gone up tenfold in some cases. A 200 square wah (800m2) plot on the river that was worth in the region of 100,000 baht less than a decade ago, can now command up to one million baht.
"We've had to beg local residents not to sell our mun muang [inheritance]," the mayor lamented. "We try and persuade them to hold onto their land for the sake of their children or grandchildren who might decide to come back and open their own businesses."
So far only a few landowners have sold up to outside developers, but many locals have made good money by leasing old shophouses to investors who then convert them into boutique hotels, spas and restaurants.
And the rise in tourism has also created lots of entrepreneurial opportunities for people born here. Some locals are turning their homes into guesthouses and other native sons and daughters, who had moved elsewhere to find work, have returned to open their own businesses.
All this change has already begun to have an effect. Last month Mayor Kamol closed Chai Khong Road to vehicles between 5 and 9pm and asked motorists to park at nearby temples.
''It's the first time that Chiang Khan people have experienced traffic jams, which are usually only a problem for big cities like Chiang Mai and Bangkok!'' he noted.
Recently in an effort to reduce the consumption of bottled water and avert a growing problem with discarded plastic containers, the mayor asked the Provincial Waterworks Authority to install a water fountain for use by the general public.
And his worries go far beyond traffic congestion and waste disposal. Other unwelcome changes include architectural eyesores, the erosion of traditional cultural values, the influx of real-estate developers and the arrival of big retail corporates like 7-Eleven and Tesco-Lotus with whom local businesses will find it difficult to compete.
Sweet-natured local people, the ever-impressive Mekong and nostalgia evoked by old wooden shophouses and other remnants of the past all contribute to the rustic charm which draws many tourists to Chiang Khan.
Some landowners have modified or extended their properties, adding modern elements which are not in keeping with the surroundings. One glaring example was the conversion of an old shophouse on the corner of Chai Khong Road into a four-storey building. Construction work has been almost non-stop since November because developers are trying to finish projects before the introduction of a new regulation that will limit the height of structures to 12 metres or two storeys. Loei's Provincial Administrative Organisation passed a new building code last June but it cannot be enforced until such time as it is promulgated in the Royal Gazette. Townspeople who are typically tucked up in bed by 9pm have begun complaining about the noise and street obstruction caused by contractors' machinery and trucks.
The people of Chiang Khan are proud of their traditions but these, too, are facing an unprecedented threat. There have been grumbles about teenagers racing their motorbikes after dark, of disrespect shown to elders and inappropriate garb. In November the municipality even went to the extent of launching a campaign to educate women on how to give alms to monks. Female visitors are being asked to wear long skirts or pha sin, sarongs made from locally woven cloth, when they offer food and other necessities to the clergy.
To protect the town's beautiful period buildings, municipal officials have asked owners to register their properties for conservation purposes. Modifications to listed structures would thereafter require prior approval from the authorities. So far, 619 of the 2,317 old on Chai Khong Road and adjoining alleyways have been registered and the municipality has doled out some two million baht _ 20,000 baht to each of 103 owners _ to fund the restoration of period buildings. The municipality even won an architectural conservation award from the Architect Council of Thailand last year for its efforts in this regard.
Mayor Kamol insisted that the townspeople are neither resistant to change nor afraid of outside investment. ''We just don't want to become another Pai,'' he reasoned.
And the comparison with that tourist hotspot in Mae Hong Son is not as far-fetched as it might first seem. Both towns are (or were) blessed with laid-back, rustic ambience, a close-knit society deeply rooted in its past and an almost pristine environment. The rot tends to set in, however, once unscrupulous developers arrive in sufficient numbers to wrest control of a town's affairs from the native population.
''These investors just move around looking for new virgin spots, places untouched by tourism in which to make a quick profit,'' Kamol pointed out. ''They come in and usually end up destroying the tranquillity of a place, degrading the integrity of the local culture and environment ... like what happened on Khao San Road, in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pai.
''And once a place has become spoiled and polluted, the developers just up stakes and leave.''
PHOTOS: PEERAWAT JARIYASOMBAT
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
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