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| Easy Tempo Thai Island Faces Environment Challenge |
| 日期:2003-09-24 17:04 编辑: system 来源： |
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Connected with the mainland by frequent ferries leaving every 30 minutes, Si Chang Island keeps an incredible tinge of tranquillity and the slow- paced life of a small fishing village that have long lost in Thailand's most traffic-convenient coast and islands.
"Life on the island is quite and simple," said Pui, who nine years ago withdrew to the serene gateway of Thailand Gulf, starting her life of being a nun.
When Pui first met her current teacher on Si Chang, the idea of becoming a nun budded in her mind. She had to waited for three more years when she finished her bachelor degree in chemical science and reached the legal age of 24 to be a nun.
"We are trying to achieve mindfulness, concentration and inside knowledge through daily practice," Pui explained in English. Among thick jungles, in deep caves and on high platforms facing sea, she and other 21 nuns and 22 monks of the same temple practice meditation. "The meditation lasts even till we go to bed," she added.
Physical labor is the other form of Buddhism practice. Separated by sea from the Siracha coast district some 120 kilometers southeastern of Bangkok, monks and nuns of the temple try hard to support themselves.
Vegetables are planted to provide food and eight ponds were built to serve as reservoir to meet the extreme need of fresh water. Hammers and chisels in hands, monks and nuns are again knocking down rocks into gravel's to pave lanes around the temple area.
Stoic life of the temple goes well with that of the 4,000 registered residents living on the island, which was inhabited more than one century ago and has been viewed as the gateway of Thailand Gulf for its close location to Bangkok.
Jugs for retaining water and makeshift reservoirs are a common scene under the roof of almost every household on the island. Relying on fresh water transported from the mainland, island residents, most engaged in fishing, have to pay 150-200 baht ( about 3.57 -US$4.76) for per cubic meter fresh water, which is sold only 70 baht (US$1.67) elsewhere.
At the end of August, the island authority inked an 50-million- baht (1.19-million-dollar) contract to build a desalination plant to guarantee the supply of fresh water, said the Si Chang District Officer Apisit Teerapaviri.
The officer's eyes gleaned again when he mentioned the other project related to enormous rebuilding of a palace used to hold the royal family.
It's the pride of the island that three kings had lived in Si Chang , Thailand and the island had been chosen as the summer palace location of the enlightened monarch Rama V, who carried out social and political reforms in the 1870's.
Having consumed some 40 million baht (US$952,380), the royal-funded rebuilding project needs more investment to complete. The local authorities expect the project to bring in both tourists and cash. The small number of visitors ferried to Si Chang are mainly nearby residents and a few long-haul foreign tourists.
The Thai government yet has its own arrangement for the fate of the small island facing a string of refineries around the Siracha district over a bay of water.
Floating on the oil-rich Bangkok Bay, Si Chang is the venue of oil tank farms and a deep-sea port built some 10 years ago. Two huge tanks sitting high on the south point of the island oversee a long iron trestle bridge with oil transported pipes extending to the sea as deep as 23 meters.
The almost-finished terminal has been left unused due to the 1997 financial crisis and protest of environment consideration.
In a blueprint described by the Energy Minister Prommin Lertsuridej, tank farms here would be upgraded to accommodate oil tankers with capacities of up to 250,000 tonnes and an oil pipeline system from the island will be built underwater to connect oil refineries in Siracha.
There's still environmental concerns over the project which will launch in three to six months. Passing by hundreds of barges and cargo ships mooring on the sea, visitors on voyage to Si Chang are faced with a sea of the color between dark green and brown and foams left over by ebbing tide. Environmental officials were present at the Energy Ministry's meeting on the oil hub.
Residents on the island seem to care less about the government- touting project and keep on their easy tempo of island life.
The small island celebrated the 150th anniversary of Rama V's birthday on Saturday. Locals dressed up to the night fair, where a traditional costume competition attracted participants from toddlers to graybeards.
Not far away from the fair bustling with music and laughter, the iron trestle bridge blurred under the light of fireworks. |
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