Thammasat University

This morning I flew back to Bangkok and after lunch I met with Dr. Nipon Poapongsakorn, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University. He had done some research on the possibility of a U.S. – Thailand Free Trade Agreement several years ago. We both agreed that without the president having Trade Promotion Authority the possibility of an agreement is slim. However, he thinks that U.S. beef and wheat could have a lot to gain if an FTA was signed. Since these are the two commodities I produce I was glad to hear this. Some sticking points in the negotiations might be our sugar quotas and intellectual property rules. With food prices high and the increased production of energy crops like cassava, sugarcane and oil palm a free trade agreement is more likely from the Thai side and the government is in favor of one. We had a really good discussion.

Tomorrow I fly home and it is really late here now. I will get almost no sleep as it is so I better end this for now. I will post at least one summary after I get home and have time to think a bit.

Phang Nga Agriculture

Monday was a national Holiday that translates as Buddha Day so not much was going on. We visited a rubber farm. Rubber is a major crop here but most farms are relatively small and run by one family. The trees are tapped early in the morning since the rubber runs better in cooler temperatures. The first picture below is a rubber orchard and second one shows a family processing the day’s rubber. Later in the day we visited a farmers’ cooperative that processes the liquid rubber for its members. We also stopped at some small vegetable farms that grow chili peppers and cucumbers for the local market the third picture is of the cucumber field. Our next stop was at a Muslim community, in addition to producing rubber they also have a small hydroponic greenhouse and produce salad greens for the resorts in Phuket. The greenhouse is shown in the forth picture and was added after the tsunami to diversify their production. The same farmer took us by boat to see their aquaculture operation. They have frames that float in the mangrove forest area and there are mussels and oysters hanging below the frames. This is not a good time of year for this enterprise because there is too much fresh water mixed in with the sea water from all of the rains. The fifth picture is of some mussels. On our way back we stopped to talk to a sea gypsy. Sea Gypsies live in their boats. As you can see in the sixth picture he is cooking on board his small boat. Many sea gypsies were lost in the tsunami and they now have some houses on land but they prefer to be on their boats.

I realized that I haven’t shown any pictures of the resort I stayed at in Khao Lak. The first picture is of the nearly deserted beach and the second one is of the large, fancy pool complex that I had all to myself. The Khao Lak area to back to normal after the tsunami, now they just need the tourist to come back.

Phang Nga Bay, Monkeys & Turtles

On Sunday morning we went to Phang Nga Bay. We took a long tailed boat through a mangrove forest until we came to the cave that is shown in the first picture below. We went through this cave and came out in the bay. We moved through the bay and by the many limestone islands that are in it. This is an absolutely beautiful place. I don’t have words to do it justice. The second picture is of Panyee Island. It is one of the very few inhabited islands in the bay. The residents are Muslim fisherman whose ancestors emigrated from Indonesia in search of good fishing. We stopped here for lunch on our way back. Next we stopped at a large boat that is home base for sea canoes. I got in a canoe and was given a tour of the bay. The third picture is of another canoe going through the first limestone cave. This cave is quite large but there are several others that you have to lay down in the canoe to fit through and if you were much bigger around than I am you couldn’t fit at high tide (which it was when I was there). The forth picture is the entrance to one of these caves. I think this is the one where you enter and surrounded by limestone walls with only enough room for a couple of canoes inside. I thought this was the coolest place but I guess some people might get nervous even though you can see the sky above you. After I returned from my canoe tour we continued through the bay to the island that is featured in the James Bond movie “The Man with the Golden Gun.” The fifth and sixth pictures are what is now known as James Bond Island. We briefly stopped here and then returned through the bay stopping for lunch at Panyee Island. I also did some shopping. If anyone wants some pearls this is the place to buy them. They are really inexpensive here.

Our next stop was Suwaan Kuhar cave temple. There is a golden reclining Buddha inside a cave at the temple but the real attraction is the large group of Long Tailed Macaques that live here. Khun Sunthorn bought some peanuts for me to feed them. They are suppose to take them out of your hand but one large male decided that he didn’t want to share with the others so he climbed me and took the bag and sat on my shoulder while he ate.

Next we visited Phang Nga Naval Base. It is home to a Sea Turtle Conservation Center. The center raises young sea turtles to give them a better chance at survival. I saw and held all sizes of turtles. The one pictured below is one of the middle sized ones. I think it was about 8 months old. This was an incredible day and there are many more pictures on the SnapFish site, click on the Fellowship Photos link.

This was supposed to be the end of the day but Khun Sunthron invited me to visit his farm which is a long drive across the mountains that run down the middle of the peninsula. On the way we passed through Khao Sok National Park, which is an incredibly beautiful place, the mountains here are stark limestone outcroppings just like the islands in the bay. The landscape seems otherworldly. I couldn’t get any pictures because it was getting dark. We visited Khun Sunthron’s farm. He has oil palm that is just starting to produce and in between the palms are banana trees. The bananas will be removed soon to give the palms more room as they mature. I didn’t get back to the hotel until very late. It was a long day but it was also one of the best days of my life. I will come back here.

Tsunami Survivors

On Saturday morning I flew to Phuket. I was picked up at the airport by my tour guide Sunthorn Thongprasert. On the way to Phang Nga he told me about the tsunami that happened in December 2004. Phang Nga was the hardest hit province in Thailand of the 5,395 people who died in Thailand 4,225 were in this province. Khun Sunthorn lost his fiancée, they were to be married the following May. He wasn’t able to find her remains until a year later when they were identified through DNA testing. There is still a significant number of people that have not been identified and the Thai government is still taking good care of the remains which have all been DNA tested in case there can be a match in the future.

Our first stop after lunch was the fishing village of Baan Nam Khem. This village is on a cape that sticks out into the sea and was one of the hardest hit areas. We first stopped at a lot in town where there are two large fishing boats sitting in a dry lot. The first picture below is of the Krisana Sakorn, since the tsunami it has been renamed The Blue Angel. On the day of the tsunami it was sitting at the dock with the engine running because it was about to go to sea. There was one Burmese sailor on board and when he saw the wave coming he tried to head out to sea. Instead the 59 ton, 73 foot long boat traveled over a kilometer into the middle of the village. Along the way a man was able to grab hold of one of the tires on the side of the boat while holding his three year old daughter with the other arm saving them both. This boat did not destroy a single house or take a single life before coming to rest in this lot. Right next to The Blue Angel in the same lot is the Sri Samut, now known as The Demon. On the day the tsunami struck this red fishing boat was also at a dock and didn’t have anyone aboard. As the tsunami carried it inland it destroyed houses and cars and is estimated to have killed over one hundred people. It destroyed more lives and property than any other boat on that day. It has been moved to this lot from its original location in town and the Thai government has purchased both boats as a permanent memorial. We visited the pier and took a small boat over to an island that lies just off the coast. The second picture below is of some of the small fishing boats that local fisherman still use. There are also many larger fishing boats and a large boat that is used to mine tin. This area used to be a tin mining area but now the boat travels to Indonesia. We walked down to a shop that is run by some tsunami survivors. I bought a pearl bracelet and ring from a lady and her husband showed me around the memorial museum. He was on a fishing boat when the tsunami hit. As his boat was swept inland he was able to pull several people aboard, saving their lives. His wife and one year old daughter were swept into the sea and were found several hours later and rescued. Their four year old son was lost. At another shop I bought a nice purse from a lady who also lost her son to the tsunami and her husband hasn’t been right since that day. We walked through the memorial. The names of the people who were lost are inscribed mostly in Thai but there are several European names and some have pictures. It is hard to even imagine what happened that day.

After we left Baan Nam Khem we went to a local market were Khun Sunthorn insisted I try Rotee (I don’t know if that is spelled correctly) which is a desert that is made by frying a thin layer of pastry with an egg mixture and in this case bananas wrapped inside. After frying it is covered in sweetened condensed milk and sugar. The first picture below is a Rotee vendor. These folks are Muslim. There is a significant Muslim population in this part of Thailand. Khun Sunthorn grew up Buddhist; in fact 14 years ago his father became a monk. His fiancée was Muslim and after she was killed in the tsunami her parents asked if he would like to become their son. He was so moved by this offer that he accepted and converted to the Muslim faith. Now he has two sets of parents. Our next stop was at a spot that is quite a ways inland in Khao Lak where a huge police boat came to rest after the tsunami. This boat was on patrol that day and there were several police officers on board all of them survived except one who fell overboard. The second picture below is of this boat. Then we stopped at another market where Khun Sunthorn bought several kinds of fruit for me to try. I am starting to feel like Anthony Bourdain from No Reservations on the Travel Channel. The last picture is of the busy market.

Food Safety Community

This morning I went to the Ministry of Public Health and met two of their staff and then we drove to Samut Songkhram Province. This is the smallest province in Thailand and it sits right where the river meets the sea. It is an interesting area. The food production includes seafood, fruit and sea salt. This area has been designated as a Food Safety Community by the Ministry of Public Health. This project involves producers, distributors, consumers and government organizations. There are projects to educate each sector and make this area a model in Food Safety. One of the highlights of this trip was Amphawa Floating Market. I had heard about the floating markets but this is the first one I have seen. The vendors sell food from small boats in some cases cooking it on board. We were there about 2 p.m. and the market doesn’t really open until 4 p.m. but there were a few vendors. The first picture below is of some of the ladies who were open for business. In the morning we visited a local fruit farming area and went to a facility that has many purposes. It is a center where local farmers are educated about production and food safety and it is also an agro-tourism facility with a home stay facility being added right now. The farmers in this area grow organic fruit mostly Pomelo and Coconut. The second picture is of some pomelo and the third is of the shop where I bought some coconut sugar. Coconut sugar reminds me a little of the maple sugar candy they make in Virginia where I grew up. The farmers here make their own compost and if I understood correctly they use molasses in it. They also use smoking vinegar as a natural insecticide.

Farm Chokchai

On Thursday I traveled 2 hours northwest of Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima Province where I visited Farm Chokchai. This farm was started in 1957 by a gentleman that came from a successful rice trading family but he wanted to do something different. Inspired by movie westerns he traveled to the U.S. and studied animal science. He returned and bought his first 100 acres in this area. This was a big risk because at that time the area was still very wild with many tigers and the land had to be cleared. Even today the main ranch is right next to a National Wildlife Sanctuary and the largest National Park in Thailand. He first tried raising Santa Gertrudis cattle but they didn’t work well here, so eventually he shifted to dairy cattle and the farm has been a dairy for 36 years. Over the years it has expanded to 8,000 acres on 5 ranches. They currently have 4,000 cattle and would like to expand to 5,000. Over the years they have developed their own breed of cattle that is now 86-90% Holstein but also has influences from American Brahman, Santa Gertrudis and a breed that lives in India and Pakistan. These cattle are better adapted to the climate in Thailand. They often have visitors from the surrounding countries that would like to purchase some of their cattle to start a new dairy. Unfortunately, many of these people have no knowledge regarding dairy production, so if any of you want to manage a dairy there may be an opportunity for you in Asia. The first picture below is of a herd of heifers grazing on Ranch #3. This is a beautiful place.

In 1999, the founder’s son took over the company and decided to start an agro-tourism program. They now give farm tours complete with Wild West shows. The Thai people are really fascinated with the American West and apparently it doesn’t matter that they are dairy cattle. Mr. Chokchai also owns both Thoroughbred race horses and Quarter Horses as well as several other species of animals and many breeds of dogs which are part of the farm tour. They also have 3 steakhouses, one on the farm and 2 in Bangkok. They don’t produce the beef. They contract with another rancher to do that. They also have two other restaurant concepts the steak hut and the burger hut. The restaurants are currently the most profitable part of the business. They produce their own dairy products and have 3 dairy stores. They hope to expand the retail side of the business soon. There is a good demand for milk right now, partly because Australia has been in a drought and has cut back on production. In 2004 they opened Farm Chokchai Camp, a boutique camping and activity package. This camp is in a beautiful setting in the back of the main ranch. It is expensive by Thai standards so mostly multi-national companies and international schools use it. The package includes an ice cream workshop (where you make ice cream and can take it home when you leave), a farm tour, a morning walk to the top of a hill along with a picnic breakfast and a night ATV ride with a view of the stars. The accommodations are tents but they are nicer than some hotel rooms I have been in, with air conditioning and Wi-Fi internet. It also includes 3 gourmet meals. The bathrooms and showers not attached to the rooms but they are really neat, open to nature but still private and luxurious. This would go over really well in the U.S. The second picture shows the tents.

KC Fresh

Today I visited KC Fresh. This is a company that produces fresh vegetables and fruits for both the domestic and export markets. Specifically they produce many Chinese vegetables and tropical fruits. I first visited a packing house and farm run by one of the farmers that grows vegetables for them. I saw Ung Choi (Chinese Morning Glory) being harvested which is the first picture below. We also visited fields of Basil and Lemongrass. There are several growers in this group and they all bring their produce to this lady’s small packing house. She also manages the planting to ensure a steady supply of product. They are very careful about food safety including testing their irrigation water to make sure there isn’t any contamination. The second picture shows a post that has the land and block number on it so that the products can be traced back to the small block where they were grown. The company treated me to lunch at a local restaurant where we tried some of their products. Everything was really good. After lunch I met with Carin Joubert. She is a Technical Consultant originally from South Africa. She makes sure that all of the requirements are met so that they can export to England, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong and Japan. Over the years she has worked in many countries around the world. We discussed the challenges of working with the Thai farmers who only have .6 hectares of land on average. Many of her biggest challenges have to do with language problems; they don’t have words for many of the technical words we use in dealing with food safety. I really enjoyed talking to Carin and we had a wonderful discussion. She feels that she is making a difference in these farmers’ lives and I agree with her. This is a very interesting operation.

The Royal Project

On Tuesday I visited the Royal Project Development Center at Inthanon and the Inthanon Royal Research Station. This is one of the 36 Royal Project sites. The Royal Project began in 1969 when the King visited this area and observed how the hill tribe people were living. They were producing Opium Poppy and not making much money. The King set forth a vision of a new life for the hill tribes that included a better lifestyle and didn’t include opium production. Today there is no opium production in Thailand, instead the hill tribe people produce over 350 different fruit, vegetable, flower and fish products that many people thought could not be produced here. The station is on a mountain and the high elevation makes it possible to produce plants that usually grow in colder climates. Plants have been imported from all over the world and a lot of research has been done on which ones grow the best. This is the only project in the world to get rid of opium production, just think how wonderful it would be if similar things could happen in Afghanistan or in Columbia with cocaine production. They showed me their food safety and traceability systems. Most of the products are sold domestically but some are exported to Europe so they meet all of the Europe GAP requirements. They also supply the vegetables and fruit for Thai Airways in-flight meals. I got to talk to a farmer who produces celery and Chrysanthemums. He told me that he is rich by Thailand standards. He has about 1 million THB (33,333 USD) in annual sales and about half of that is profit. The average income for this area is 80,000 THB. The first picture below is of some workers peeling carrots before quick chilling them for transport. The second picture is their aquaculture operation that produces Rainbow Trout, which is a high value item in Thailand. The third picture is of a lady spreading fertilizer by hand in one of the “plastic houses” on the operation where I talked to the farmer. The forth picture is one of the beautiful flowers they produce for the domestic cut flower market and the fifth picture is of a young lady packaging some long stemmed roses for sale. The last picture is a view of some of the many plastic greenhouses on this mountain.

OSU Links & Zoo

Today I visited both Maejo University and Chiang Mai University. The Presidents of both universities are graduates of Oklahoma State University and Dr. Bob Terry was advisor to both of them. When I arrived at Maejo, I was greeted by a large sign that says “Home of the Cowboys.” President Thep was out of the county but I met with three members of their agricultural production faculty. We discussed Food Safety and Traceability and International Trade. They answered several questions I had about Thai agriculture and we had a really good discussion. Here are some interesting statistics. 20% of Thailand exports are agricultural. 60% of the Thai population is involved in the Agri-Food industry and Thailand is the #1 exporter of rice, rubber and canned tuna. The Vice President for International Affairs treated the professors and I to lunch at an International buffet. Next I went to Chiang Mai University and met with President Pongsak Angkasith. We talked about his time in Oklahoma and he told me that a group from his university is on their way to Oklahoma right now with Dr. Terry. Maybe I will get to meet them when I get back. After the meeting I went to Chiang Mai Zoo which is right next to the university. This is a really nice zoo and it seemed that the animals were posing for pictures. I am a big kid when it comes to zoos – I love them. Check out the pictures below and there are more on the SnapFish site, click the Fellowship Photos link on the right side of the page.

Tonight I plan to go to the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar which is held in the streets that surround my hotel. Things are really cheap and I love all of the Thai art and jewelry.

Chiang Mai Tour

On Sunday I took a one day tour. The first stop was an elephant camp. There are many of these camps in this area. The elephants that used to work in the logging industry are now employed in the tourism industry. We rode the elephants up the hill from the camp and stopped a few times to buy bananas to feed them. I rode the largest elephant, the only male in the group. He was very hungry and would stop often and put his trunk back over his head for a banana. He kept me and the Thai gentleman who rode with me busy feeding him and occasionally the mahout (elephant trainer) had to encourage him to move along. Below is a picture of one of the baby elephants at the camp, the second picture shows some of the other people feeding their elephant and the large elephant in the foreground of the third picture is the one I rode.

Next we went bamboo rafting down a river. This was fun but I could have done without being splashed with the river water by the local people who were resting along the river. We had lunch at a local Thai restaurant and then we went trekking through the jungle to a Mien hill tribe village. The hill tribes are a historically migratory people who have no nationality. This particular tribe was originally from central China but now reside in Thailand, southern China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. From the village we trekked on to a beautiful waterfall and took a rest there. Below is picture of the waterfall.

From the waterfall we went down the other side of the mountain to a Karen hill tribe village. This tribe is originally from Myanmar and now lives in both Myanmar and Thailand. The first picture below is a view of some of their rice fields. Their houses are built on stilts and the animals live downstairs, the second picture is of some of their pigs. The women of this village weave beautiful silk scarves and table linens. I bought two scarves and a table runner. The third picture is of one the ladies and her weaving equipment.

After I got back from the tour I went to the Sunday Walking Street. They shut off a street and vendors set up stalls of merchandise to sell to the local residents and tourists. I found a really good Italian restaurant on this street and had dinner. It rained on and off and I was very tired so I didn’t buy much but there are some really nice crafts and everything is really cheap.

Chiang Mai Sightseeing

On Saturday morning I flew to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. After eating lunch at my hotel, I caught a taxi to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. (Taxis here are small pickups with an enclosure on the back and two benches.) The Wat (temple) is very beautiful. It sits on top of a mountain overlooking the city and has a wonderful view. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain just as I arrived and started up the steps, so I got soaked. In one of the pictures below you can see the water running off of the roof in the foreground.

When I got back to the hotel I walked down the street to a restaurant that my guidebook recommended. It is called Chiang Mai Saloon and serves Mexican food and steaks. I had fajitas and they were very good. Below is a picture of their sign. I couldn’t resist buying a shirt with the cowboy riding the bucking elephant.

My last outing of the day was the Chiang Mai Night Safari. This new tourist attraction has animals from all over the world as well as a lighted musical fountain show with lasers. The trams take you by the animals and they shine a light so you can see them. It was impossible to get any pictures because of the limited light but it was an enjoyable evening.

KU Kamphaengsaen Beef Producer Co-op

My day didn’t start until 11 a.m. today which was nice because I have been starting at 7 a.m. most other mornings. Apparently today was a government holiday in Thailand that loosely translates as Agriculture Day. There is a ceremony were a cow/buffalo is allowed to choose between many different items to eat and depending on what she chooses there is a prediction about the crops for the coming year. In another ceremony the King or Prince spreads some of the country’s best rice seeds and later farmers try to pick up as many as they can to bring them good fortune. Unfortunately, nobody told me about this until it was over as I would have liked to attend.

Today I had a translator for the first time in Thailand. Her shortened name is Ja and she is a veterinary student at the university we visited. I really enjoyed visiting with her on the way to and from our meeting. We traveled to Nakhon Pathom Province to the KU Kamphangsaen Campus Beef Producer Cooperative. By the way KU stands for Kasetsart University not The University of Kansas. The university has developed a breed of cattle that is well suited to Thailand’s tropical climate. They crossed the native cattle with Brahman and then crossed the offspring with Charolais cattle. The new breed is 25% Native, 25% Brahman and 50% Charolais. They call it Kamphangsaen. After developing the breed they started building a network of farms to raise these cattle. There are Cow-Calf, Stocker and Feed Lot phases and the individual producers are members of the cooperative. In addition to being paid for their cattle based on carcass score when they sell them to the co-op they also share in any profits the co-op makes at the end of the year. The first picture below is of one of their T-Bone steaks. The second picture is of an RFID ear tag that is used in their national tracing system. Foot and Mouth Disease still exists in some parts of this country, mostly near the borders, so it is important to know where cattle are coming from. The members also keep detailed health records on each animal. The co-op is growing fast with about 800 head slaughtered in 2006 and 1622 head in 2007. Demand continues to grow in Thailand but they cannot export because of FMD. The third picture below is a steer at a feed lot farm; their steers are about 3 years old when they go to slaughter. They also run their own restaurant on campus. When you enter their location there is a large sign over the gate that says Cowboy Land and has a cowboy on a horse roping a steer. There are also signs for Texas Steak and the last picture is of the entrance to the restaurant, notice the cowboy and Indian décor complete with teepees. We ate at the restaurant and I had a ribeye steak it was good and tender but it was cut very thin by U.S. standards.

Betagro

On Wednesday evening I went out exploring for a restaurant to have dinner. As I walked down the very busy street that my hotel is on I came upon an elephant. Elephants were historically used as labor in the timber industry and other industries in Thailand. Now they are out of work and some are reduced to having their owners beg tourists to pay to feed them. I have no idea where this young elephant lives the rest of the day, as this is a very congested part of Bangkok.

On Thursday morning I went to meet Dr. Arayan Trangarn at the Betagro headquarters. Betagro is a privately owned company that is also involved in the poultry and hog integration industry here in Thailand. They also have some operations in China, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The owner of the company is a Chinese gentleman who immigrated to Thailand many years ago and started with nothing. He first started a feed mill and then expanded into the poultry and swine industries. They are involved in many of the same operations as the CP Group but they don’t really seem to have a competitive relationship. Betagro actually benefits from some of the lobbying activities and influence that CP Group has. We first met with the CEO of the company and then we traveled to Lopburi Province to their Food Complex 1. They chose this location because it is near the corn production area of Thailand but they still have to import a lot of their feed ingredients from other countries. They are now considering locating any new plants they build closer to the port because of the increase in transportation costs. When the Avian Influenza outbreak occurred in Thailand they were impacted and had a cull a large number of birds. Since then there have been many changes to their operations. In hindsight Dr. Trangarn thinks it has been a positive thing for the company. In addition to instituting more advanced practices and more security on their farms, they have also had to build new plants to further process their chicken thus adding value to their products. They currently export these cooked products to the EU and Japan. They were the first company to use an electronic traceability program in Thailand. It is all computerized and is quite impressive in the detail that they can access. Consumers can not access it over the internet yet but they do have what they call “Spy on Me” terminals in some domestic supermarkets where some of the information can be accessed. These terminals also give recipes for how to cook the products, which consumers seem to be more interested in than the traceability information. The traceability system at this plant requires 20 full-time employees and costs more than 1 million Baht per year and that number would at least double if it included all of the other parts of the production process. We toured the further processing plant and it was a very sanitary facility and I had to put on a lot more protective clothing and wash my hands many more times than I would to tour a plant in the U.S. The major difference that I noticed was that they were doing a lot of hand slicing and cubing of the product. Labor here is cheap and so they can do this kind of time consuming processing. However there is a shortage of labor and they would like to open another plant to produce more skewered products for the Japanese market but they aren’t sure they can find the workforce. Even though labor costs are low the cost of feed still makes producing chicken in Thailand more expensive than in the U.S. so they are not sure that they would support a Free Trade Agreement. As always no photos were allowed in the plant.

On the way back to Bangkok we made an unscheduled stop at a huge wholesale market. This one was much cleaner than the one I saw in China with the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program Group. The meat section still wouldn’t meet U.S. standards. Below is a picture of one of the poultry vendors and another of a fruit stand. The bottom picture is of some of the fruits that Dr. Trangarn bought for me to try. Clockwise they are a Rose Apple, a Rambutan, a Mangosteen, Lychees and Longans.

Bangkok Produce Merchandising Public Co.,Ltd.

This morning I met Dr. Wanchai Pholprasertku with the Department of Livestock Development and he escorted me to Saraburi Province to Bangkok Produce Merchandising Public Co., Ltd. They are a division of the CP Group which is a huge multi-national company that is involved in many industries including telecommunications, real estate, motorcycle manufacturing, medical supplies and retail but its origins are in agriculture and food production. They have operations in Thailand, China, Indonesia, India and Turkey and export around the world. This facility is a chicken processing operation with both a fresh chicken facility and a further processed plant. They produce every possible chicken product that any country could want. Because of Avian Influenza they can only export cooked product. Although they have had no cases of AI in their fully enclosed, climate controlled poultry houses, there have been cases in Thailand and so there is a ban on the export of fresh poultry. They showed me a video about the on-farm production side of the business and it appears that they use all of the same advanced technology that is used in the American poultry industry. They produce their own feed; have their own breeder hens, hatchery, broiler farms and processing facilities. I was given a tour of their further processing facilities and slaughter facility. They are both just as sanitary as, or more sanitary than, the Tyson plant I toured in Oklahoma. Although at the Tyson plant we walked through the production floor and at this plant they have a glassed in walkway where you look into the plant, so you don’t get quite as close up of an experience. In addition to meeting every possible food safety and good manufacturing standard they also meet Halal standards so they can export to Muslim countries. As far as I can tell this means they stun using electric shock making sure the chickens aren’t stunned to death and they have a Muslim do the slaughtering. Their products are completely traceable back to the farm. As with all processing facilities they don’t allow pictures so the only one I have to offer is this one of the many ready-to-eat products they produce.

Thai Food Safety Meetings

This morning I met with my Program Administrators for Thailand, Paul Wedel and Patcharee Pinitsuwan (Khun Lek) with the Kenan Institute Asia. Then I met with two government agencies this afternoon. The first one was the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS). They were established in October 2002 with the mission of protecting the benefits of trade on agricultural commodities and food products of Thailand as well as safety for consumers both in and out of Thailand. ACFS is assigned to be responsible for regulating the agricultural commodity and food standards. They seem to be making good progress for such a young agency. Many of the issues they have dealt with have to do with the seafood industry and pesticide residue issues in produce. Next I met with the Department of Agriculture Food Safety Division dealing with fresh fruits and vegetables. Their mission is very similar as they monitor food safety issues in exported products. 2004 was designated as the Year of Food Safety and they believe that there has been a lot of improvement since then. Both agencies are promoting Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and HACCP. Tomorrow I get out of the city again, which I am looking forward to since I am not a city person.

Ayuthaya

This morning I was picked up for a tour of Ayuthaya. The bus first arrived at the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace, built during the Ayuthaya era. The palace is beautifully decorated in both traditional Chinese and European style. King Rama V traveled extensively and brought back many European influences to the Palace. Below is a picture of the Thai Pavilion, my favorite part of the palace, and a herd of elephant topiaries.

Next we arrived at Ayutthaya, the Ancient City, which was the former Thai capital for over 400 years. Nowadays the glory and the beauty of the grand palace and temples of its past has vanished, leaving merely a glimpse of ruins, despite this it is a good reflection of the past. We saw a combination of both the ruins and the remaining historical attractions.

We first stopped at Wat Maha That. Over 600 years old, Wat Maha That was the heart and soul of the Ayutthaya people. It was almost completely destroyed by the Burmese during the Thai-Burmese war. Below is a picture of the famous Buddha head inside the trunk and roots of a tree. After the Wat was damaged during the war it was looted and the heads of all of the Buddhas were stolen. Somehow this one was hidden under this tree and eventually became part of the tree. The second picture is of one of the few remaining Buddha statues with ruins in the background. There are many more pictures on the SnapFish site, just click the Fellowship Photos link on the right side of the page.

Our next stop was Wat Na Phra Mane. It remains in perfect condition, as it was used as the Burmese headquarters. The splendid Golden Buddha, dressed in regal attire, was placed in the temple along with the three thousand-year-old green stone carved Buddha. Both are considered as extremely valuable national relics. A picture of the Golden Buddha is below.

Our last stop in Ayuthaya was Wat Lokayasutharam. This Wat has a mysterious past, whereby its origins are unknown. The temple enshrines the Largest Reclining Buddha Image which was built during The early period of the Ayutthaya region. Two other ancient temples, as well as the ruined site also surround the compound area. Here is a photo of the reclining Buddha.

We next boarded a boat for our trip back to Bangkok. We were served a delicious buffet lunch. Throughout the journey I was able to watch the Chao Phraya River banks scenery and had a clear view of the life of the inhabitants that dwell along the river, and the unforgettable scenery of children as they greeted us as we went by, making it an altogether worthwhile experience.

Bangkok Sightseeing

My first stop of the day was Wat Pho Thai Massage School. I had heard that getting an authentic Thai massage is a must and this is the best place to do it. A one-hour full body massage only costs $12. The massage school is inside Wat Pho, the modest hero of Bangkok’s holy temples. Wat Pho features a host of superlatives: the largest reclining Buddha, the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand and the country’s earliest center of public education – the massage school. The first picture below is the decoration above a doorway at the Wat, this is typical Thai ornamentation. The second picture is the head of the Reclining Buddha, which is absolutely huge.

My next stop was Phukhao Thong (Golden Mountain). The main attraction here is the view of Bangkok from the top of the hill the temple sits on which is pictured below.

Wat Benchamabophit or the Mable Temple came next. It is made from white Carrara marble and was built in the late 19th century. There were services going on while I was there and there is a picture of the monks below.

The Thais really love their King. He is 81 years old and the longest serving monarch in the world. Tomorrow is Coronation Day; a Public Holiday to celebrate the day he took the throne. There are pictures of him everywhere and I think they are always there not just for the holiday. See the example below.

Next I visited Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace. This is a beautiful place. The pictures below are of yaksha (mythical giants) who guard the area. I think some areas of the palace were closed because tomorrow is Coronation Day which is one of the few days that the King still uses this palace; he lives in another palace now so this one can be enjoyed by the public.

My last stop for the day was Chatuchak Weekend Market, which may be the largest open air market in the world. It sells everything including food, pets, clothes, handicrafts, home décor, antiques, plants and anything else imaginable. This is a shopper’s and haggler’s paradise. I am not that big of a shopper and it is really humid here this time of year so I had had enough after a couple hours.

Hello, Bangkok!

I have arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. Today was a travel day, so I don’t have much to report. My accommodations here are very nice. I have a serviced apartment with a small kitchen and best of all I get to spend a whole week here before I have to pack up again. I think the longest I have stayed anywhere is three nights in a row. I feel like I have been in a perpetual state of motion but I wouldn’t have had it any other way because then I would have missed something. The trip has been wonderful so far and I am sure it will continue to be here. Tomorrow I plan to do some sightseeing. I am hoping that I can get a massage at Wat Po Thai Massage School, visit The Grand Palace and go to Chatuchak Weekend Market all in one day. Wish me luck on finding my way around. I will let you know how it goes.

Last Day In Malaysia

This morning I went to the U.S. Embassy and met with Ambassador James Keith, Mr. David Shear, Mr. David Cottrell, with the USDA FAS office and Dr. Marjorie Harrison, the Cultural Attaché. They asked me a lot of questions about the things I have seen in Malaysia and my impressions about the country. We had a very good discussion.

After I left the Embassy, I went by my program administrator’s office to drop off a box of stuff that I have accumulated during the trip to be shipped home to Oklahoma. Then I went back to my hotel and walked over to the shopping center that is below the twin towers. There is an aquarium in the basement of the convention center that is between my hotel and the towers and I took time to visit it. I had a hard time getting any good pictures but below is one of a shark from the walk-through tunnel exhibit. It is a very nice aquarium. Next I went to the grocery store, or as they call them here hypermarket, that is in the shopping center. I had a special request by email from a friend who is an apple grower in Washington State to check out the produce section and guess what I found – a whole section filled with Washington Apples. Below is a picture to prove it. There were also Idaho potatoes available. Unfortunately, there was no U.S. produced meat in the very small meat section.

After lunch I went to my last meeting in Malaysia. It was with the Chief Executive Officer of a company called TraceTracker Malaysia. They are an IT Company that develops food traceability systems and also Halal traceability systems. Currently most of the interest in their systems is for exports to the EU or Japan but they think that the domestic market will eventually also demand traceability especially for Halal. We had a lengthy discussion about Halal standards and he told me that he thought that there would soon be an international set of standards for Halal that most if not all Muslim countries would recognize. I know that many American companies would like to see this happen, so that they could more easily understand what exactly is or isn’t Halal.

Putrajaya

On Thursday I traveled backed to Kuala Lumpur and made a brief stop at my hotel before going to Putrajaya. In an earlier post from the day I met with the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, I included a couple of pictures of some of the beautiful buildings in Putrajaya. I was invited to go back to Putrajaya by Tan Sri Samsudin Osman the President of Putrajaya Corporation and a 1997 Eisenhower Fellow. Although he is not elected, he serves in the same capacity that a mayor would in the U.S. We met at the Agricultural Heritage Park. Putrajaya has many beautiful parks and this one is dedicating to preserving Malaysia’s agricultural heritage and educating urban residents about agriculture. One section of the park is still occupied by the rubber trees that used to cover all of the area that is Putrajaya today. I was shown how rubber trees are tapped and how small holders of rubber processed their rubber for market. The first picture below is of the tapping process. I grew up in an area where we produced maple syrup and was familiar with tapping those kind of trees however this is a bit different. When we tap Maple trees we just drill a hole into the tree, with rubber you strip a narrow band of bark from around the outside of the tree in a sloping direction and the rubber runs along the slope into a small cup. After enough rubber is collected it is put in some water with a little acid to coagulate. Then the rubber is flattened by hand and then run through a rolling machine that is much like a pasta machine until it is very thin. Next it is run through another rolling machine that scores the sheet of rubber. After it dries some more it is put in a smoke house that is fired by rubber wood. The smoked rubber is worth much more that non-smoked. I learned a lot and I think I will be seeing some more rubber in Thailand. The second picture below shows one of the rolling machines. The third picture is of a Jack Fruit tree. As I had said in a previous post I really like Jack Fruit. This is a huge fruit and I am told that they can get much larger than this. The Agricultural Heritage Park also features an orchard that has many different species of tropical fruits and spices.

Next we traveled around the city of Putrajaya looking at the beautiful architecture and well planned layout of the city. We had a wonderful dinner at the boating club dining room. And after dinner I enjoyed a sunset cruise around the lake with a lady who is now with the Public Relations department but she was the head of the environmental department when the lakes and parks were being built and was able to tell me about that process. The picture below is of one of the bridges taken from the boat. All of the bridges are unique in their design; this one is quite traditional while others are modern. A lot of thought and planning has gone into the development of Putrajaya.

I realized that I haven’t posted a picture of the Petronas towers yet. This is the fourth room I have been in at this hotel and I am finally on the side facing the towers, so here is the view from my window.

Cameron Highlands

On Wednesday morning I was up early for the long drive to Cameron Highlands. The Highlands are north and slightly east of Kuala Lumpur and were named for the surveyor who first explored them. One of the oldest industries in the Highlands is the tea estates. I first visited the Boh Estate, which was established by John Archibald Russell in April 1929 and is still owned and operated by the Russell family. Boh is a well established brand in Malaysia and has at least a 50% market share in the domestic market. I got the same tour that any tourist would get at this location. Next I went to another Boh Tea facility, the Sungai Palas Tea Center and met the Estate Manager. We had a long discussion over lunch about tea production and processing and after lunch he gave me a personal tour of the tea factory. Tea plants are rooted in a nursery and transplanted to the field when they are 12 months old and about 42 cm tall. After transplanting it is about two and a half years before the first plucking. They are plucked every 25-30 days and pruned every 3 years. Tea plants can have an unlimited life span if properly cared for, some of the plants on this estate were planted by the original Dutch owner in the 1930’s and are still in good shape today. They do use mechanical harvesters now but the rows on this estate are planted on the contour and aren’t nearly as straight as the ones I saw in Japan, which makes using the harvesters more difficult. This estate produces black tea and the one I saw in Japan produced green tea. The only difference is how the tea leaves are processed. Like in the U.S. one of the biggest challenges is getting enough labor to run the estate. Even with the mechanical harvesters, 180 people are still needed to keep the place running. Most of their labor force is from Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Below is a picture of part of the estate from their new visitors’ center which sits on a hill with a panoramic view of tea plants as far as you can see. The second picture is the finished premium product straight from the factory.

After my visits to the tea estates I had some free time to explore the Highlands. This is a very agricultural area with many farms producing vegetables, cut flowers, live plants and it is most famous for producing strawberries. The first picture below is of one of the many beautiful flowers that I enjoyed seeing during my visit. The second picture is of some of the many small shops that sell the local produce to locals and visiting tourists from all over Malaysia and Singapore who come to Cameron Highland because the 5,000 foot elevation offers some relief from the heat. Everywhere you look in the Highlands there are farms many in plastic covered greenhouses and others terraced up the sides of the mountains. The third picture is of the hydroponic production in one of the famous strawberry farms. I also visited another butterfly farm and a honey bee farm. The last picture is of one of the butterflies that actually sat still long enough for me to get a picture of it.