SAI KAEW BEACH RESTAURANTS.

 

The 12 restaurants on Sai Kaew Beach were severely affected by the tsunami; all but two were completely destroyed, but fortunately with no loss of life. Prapasee Ariyaudornkit was washed from her restaurant on the beach across the main road leading out of Phuket and dumped on the other side miraculously without serious injury. This was all that remained of Tanayot & Boonapa’s restaurant. (No 6).

 

 

 

 

When Christiane & Barry Cager first went to see the damage on Sunday 2nd January freezers & fridges had either been washed away or were lying in crumpled heaps along the 1000m stretch of beach.

In Prapasee’s (No 4) restaurant which was still standing work had already started on repairing the severely damaged concrete flooring. Soon a Thai lady, Getnapa, whose brother Huad owned one of the restaurants, came to see these Farangs because she could speak some English. A meeting with all the restaurant owners was arranged to find out more about government help and the plans for rebuilding.

 

At this meeting the decision was taken to try to raise funds to help rebuilding from friends of Christiane & Barry from various countries so the “Appeal” was launched. The speed of the response and the generosity of the donations completely took them by surprise. Whereas they had expected a few hundreds, thousands started arriving from Australia, Azores, Barbados, France, Ireland, Spain, Thailand, New Zealand, United Kingdom & USA.

 

 

 

 

On Monday 10th January it was possible to make the first cash payment to the 12 owners with pledges to continue to give support until the rebuilding project was completed. It was a very moving little ceremony as the money was handed out one family at a time and at last they knew they had concrete support. Good intentions are all very well but money on the table speaks volumes! This is Prasit & Nuanchan looking very pleased. (No 8).

 

 

 

 

 

A bulldozer was hired to clear the site and push the rubble into manageable piles. From then on the refurbishing of the two restaurants not totally destroyed was done incredibly quickly and by Saturday 15th January they had both opened for business.

 

Seven other restaurants had started rebuilding from scratch laying concrete flooring and erecting breeze block walls.

 

 

 

 

Every couple of weeks an assessment of progress was made and when appropriate further installments were paid according to the amount of work done since the previous payment. Naturally progress varied from one restaurant to another and in some cases owners had to earn a living in between building. It was difficult to hire labour as the tourist areas lower down the west coast of Phuket had grabbed all the building workers. Most of the work was therefore done by them. Tanayot & Boonapa (Wilai) whose restaurant was completely washed away. (No 6).

 

The Yacht Haven Marina, where yacht “Coco de Mer” is moored is only 15 minutes drive from Sai Kaew Beach so a number of the yachtsmen were encouraged to eat at the newly opened restaurants. The Thai culture would not allow Christiane & Barry to pay for their meals so it was agreed that the first time was free and from then on they would pay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things were really up and running when John Spencer owner of yacht “Seaglass” held his wife’s Birthday Party for 45 people at Prapasee’s restaurant with lobster, tiger prawns, crab and we all sat at a long table on the beach overlooking the beautiful Andaman Sea. (No 4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By May 1st 8 restaurants are completed and open for business. Two will be completed soon and two have not yet started. The owners have other jobs; Prasit Saejiem is the chef in his wife’s Nuanchan’s restaurant next door to his vacant site so it may be a long time before he rebuilds. Funds have been reserved for the rest of this year if they decide to rebuild. Tanayot & Boonapa are in their new kitchen and finally back in business. (No 6).

 

 

 

 

All the owners were present to greet Eve & George Fasenfeld from Ireland who had

“kick started” the Fund with a very generous donation. This made it possible for us to commit to help the restaurant owners rebuild at a very early stage when they really needed to know that someone was there to help them.

 

They sailed their yacht “Franz Too” in the Blue Water Rally which left Gibraltar in October 2001. Barry and Christiane joined them and the Rally in Panama in February 2002 and arrived on “Coco de Mer” in Phi Phi Don together with George & Eve in December 2002. Both yachts have remained in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

The restaurants will each have a presentation folder with the names of all the donors so anyone visiting Sai Kaew beach and eating in the restaurants will be able to ask to see it and probably get a free beer.

 

 

This was the first “Coco de Mer” Tsunami Relief project and it has been successfully completed.