• Struggling for survival
• 'Washed up' fishermen turn carpenter and build their own boats
• 'Tsunami village' rises from rubble
• Inspired by Church aid, sea gypsies turn to Christ
• Foreign aid crucial
• Body ID center looks future
• Shoddy housing doesn't make a home
• Outside volunteer carves new career in housing
• Counting the costs to the environment
• Underwater tourist trails
• Turtle hatchery at risk after waves
• Where the money went
• Covered for everything but the wave
• Corporations learn that caring counts
• Starting again from scratch
• Swedish survivor gains perspective after wave 'turned my life upside-down'
• Reasons to smile
• Justice will prevail, investor believes
• Courage and resilience ease personal pain
• Help wanted
• Second chance to get it right
• Tide turns on tourist demographics in Khao Lak
• Light on the horizon
• One day at a time
• Widows and orphans left out in the cold
• Art for the heart
SUSTAINING LIFE
Courage and resilience ease personal pain
Five-star owner worked shoulder-to-shoulder with labourers to rebuild and now has expansion plans
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| The tsunami ruined rooms at Le Meridien Khao Lak Beach and Spa Resort but they are now restored. |
Phangnga - ''That's where my girl is lying,'' M.L. Vitaya Chakrabandhu points to a tombstone, situated 25 metres from his office at the Le Méridien Khao Lak Beach and Spa Resort.
Kara, at 22 the youngest of his four daughters, was one of the 18 people who perished at the resort when the ferocious Indian Ocean tsunami struck the Phangnga coastline in the morning of Dec 26, 2004.
''Kara went down to the beach curious why the sea water on the beach in front of our hotel was quickly receding. Before she knew it the gigantic waves came, struck and washed her away,'' recalls the gentle-looking man in his 60s, relating the tragedy calmly while his eyes brimmed with sorrow.
Casually dressed in a simple white T-shirt, baggy Bermuda shorts and sandals, M.L. Vitaya is the owner of Phangnga's prime five-star resort, about 60 km north of Phuket airport, that was devastated by the wave just six weeks after it first opened.
M.L. Vitaya, who had spent 28 years in Atlanta as a real estate developer, was widely credited for being a courageous hotelier who has coped extremely well with the heartbreaking turn of events, professionally and personally.
He managed to rebuild the severely damaged property, at a cost of 700 million baht, back to its original splendour, just nine months after the catastrophe, while many other resorts in the area are still struggling to recover what had been lost.
So, what has been driving the speedy reconstruction of the 243-room Le Méridien Khao Lak that reopened for business on Sept 24?
''First, I simply didn't want to see a gloomy picture that reminded of sorrow to physically stay alive for a long time. So the sooner the rebuilding is completed the better,'' he says.
Having seen tragedies from natural disasters like tornadoes in the US, M.L.Vitaya seemed to be able to come to terms with the tsunami fallout, accepting it as fate, telling himself that he had to move on.
He largely attributed the speedy construction to the quick settlement of a compensation claim with Bangkok Insurance, which paid him 370 million baht, about half of the property's value.
That speedy settlement was the result of using a third-party damage valuator who came up with a transparent and fair assessment, acceptable by all parties, he explained.
M.L. Vitaya was also thankful to the support from the government which cleared hurdles that would otherwise have held up reconstruction.
He literally spent the first nine months of this year in workers' housing near the hotel, toiling hand-in-hand with 520 labourers in a two-shift operation.
''I lived and ate like the workers, some of whom were Burmese labourers. That probably spurred dedication from them,'' he says.
''Look at that lake,'' he points to the reservoir on the front side of hotel. ''It took us two solid months to restore it, draining out a huge quantity of mud and seawater and dirt including 200 motorcycles and 20 cars that were swept into it by the powerful waves.''
Many things were swept 200 metres from their original locations and all of the beautiful shrubs and gardens that had dotted the 60-rai property was destroyed. Ten-wheel trucks made 187 journeys -back and forth between Bangkok and Khao Lak carrying plants.
''Maybe I was a little bit in a rush. But I had no time to waste if I was to make even next year. Definitely we will be in the red this year,'' he said.
Le Méridien Khao Lak was reopened for business on September 24 this year with an occupancy rate beyond M.L.Vitaya's expectation.
''I thought we would have 10-15% occupancy in November but we got 28%. In December, we've got bookings for 40%, higher than the 25-30% we thought. It is likely that we can comfortably achieve a more than 45% rate in January,'' he said.
The low-rise resort did not use discounts to lure back holiday makers, which are mostly Europeans. It is applying peak-season tariffs that see the cheapest rooms there go for about US$100 a day.
Guests coming back to Le Méridien Khao Lak underlines that the fact they are not superstitious, a critical issue that prevents tourists, particularly Thais and Asians, from visiting the tsunami-affected areas in southern Thailand.
However, the proportion of European guests, who have different perceptions about the supernatural, far outnumber other tourists - at 90%, with the remaining 7% Asian and 3% Thai.
''Initially, many of employees and workers were fearful of ghosts. So I kept the whole area well lit at night,'' he says light-heartedly. Then he turns more serious.
''I myself have not seen the ghost of my daughter though I wished to see her at least once.''
He expects that Khao Lak's hospitality business will revive in the middle of next year with the return of the tourism industry, as the memory of the tsunami tragedy fades.
As Khao Lak offers significant growth potential as a tourist destination, M.L. Vitaya has begun to think about expanding the resort that would cost some 1.8 billion baht.
He wants to turn another 70 rai of beachfront land adjoining the existing resort, part of the big plot of land in Khao Lak he bought more than 10 years ago, into a new wing with 300 five-star guest rooms, suites and villas.
The expansion, to be executed in phases, will start toward the end of next year. He aims to complete the work in 14 months, ready for Koh Lak's full recovery as a major tourist destination.
''Banks are ready to provide financial support. Anyway, having a bad habit of smoking myself, I don't have spare time to put things off,'' he says.
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