ScandAsia Denmark - February 2010

FEB 2010

Commander of the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 1

2 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

Your FREE Danish Magazine in Asia ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish residents in South East Asia.

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February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 3

Royal Thai Order for Danish Agr The Danish agronomist Gunnar Søndergaard was on Monday 4 January 2010 elevated to Commander of the Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn, which is the highest possible order for a non-Thai person to receive.

Gunnar Søndergaard has already previously received the Order of the White Elephant.

By Gregers Moller Photos by Disraporn Yatprom and Hans Peter Jespersen

4 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

unnar Søndergaard received the order in person from Crown Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand at a ceremony at the Thai-Danish Dairy Farm, which he established in the 1960’s. His achievement in making this dairy project a success is also the reason why he received the honour.

It was this farm, paid for by the Danish Agricultural Promotion Board, and the related projects in Muak Lek some 140 km north of Bangkok that in a comprehensive way brought modern dairy technology to Thailand, paid scholarships

G

for Thai dairy technicians to be trained in Denmark and made Danish genetic material the foundation of a new, high yielding milking cow stock in Thailand.

Today Gunnar Søndergaard is 83 years but still physically and mentally fresh. He had come to Thailand to receive the Order together with 18 members of his family. All of his four children were born during his and his wife’s stay in Thailand – all except one was even born in Thailand – and apart from sharing the honor with their father, the occasion was also an opportunity for them to visit their childhood home.

The Danish Farm The idea to establish the farm came to Gunnar Søndergaard during the years when he worked as a swine breeding expert for FAO in Bangkok from 1955 to 1959. In this capacity he had traveled all over the Kingdom.

“I couldn’t help noticing how cow milk was simply not available in Thailand,” he recalls.

“In the big cities you could buy sweetened condensed milk produced from milk powder but the total consumption was at that time only 1,3 kg milk per Thai citizen per year. In comparison, this figure is today 13 kg milk per Thai citizen but in Denmark it is today 90 kg per capita per year,” he adds.

Gunnar Søndergaard didn’t believe what many experts said at the time, that Thai people could not digest milk. When he was transferred back to Copenhagen where he worked at the National Research Institute on Animal Husbandry, he brought the dream with him that it should be possible to establish a dairy farm in Thailand.

He proposed the plan to the Danish Agricultural Promotion Board. The Board agreed and send a three men team including Mr. Søndergaard to make a feasibility study and look into the project in more details. At the time, the Danish development assistance organization Danida was not yet established, so it had to be this semi-official body owned by the Danish farmers associations, that established the farm.

Then things moved fast.

In January 1961 the team concluded that it was indeed feasible and in October 1961, an agreement

Most Admirable Order of Direkgunabhorn still it was up in the relatively cool mountains. The Livestock Department then started clearing the land, which was dense jungle at the time.

“I still remember crawling under the foliage up the hill trying to imagine if this would be a good place to build the farm,” Gunnar Søndergaard recalls.

“I made the drawings of the farm buildings myself,” Gunnar Søndergaard continues. “But because we wanted to be able to be ready for opening when King Frederik and Queen Ingrid were coming on a visit

to Thailand in 1962 we asked Christiani & Nielsen to do the construction.”

The Danish Christiani & Nielsen was at the time one of the most advanced engineering and building contractors in Thailand and specialized in tight project management.

There were problems getting some of the equipment up to Muak Lek because the rather narrow road to Bangkok was flooded, but eventually the construction could start on 10 December 1961 and on 16 January 1962 when King Frederik and Queen Ingrid arrived accompanied

by King Bhumibol of Thailand, the stables were ready to be inspected and declared open “The road was still flooded, so their majesties had taken the train to get from Bangkok to Muak Lek,” Gunnar Søndergaard recalls.

“Next, we needed to have some grass ready for the cows to come. I sent in a truck to cut grass along the canals in Bangkok and this we ploughed slightly into the soil on the cleared fields. The grass would then set roots from the knees and quickly grow up. In Denmark we sow grass, but this is the Thai way,” Gunnar Søndergaard explains.

Later in the year 1962 the first 39 red Danish milking cows came from Denmark, together with a red Danish bull. At the same time, Gunnar Søndergaard bought 378 small local Thai cattle and started breeding a mixed stock using sperm from the red Danish bull to inseminate the Thai cows.

“I knew from other experimental farms that the foreign imported cows would not live long in Thailand with the tropical diseases they

would catch, but I wanted to produce milk from the beginning,” Gunnar Søndergaard says.

In 1963 he bought another 257 cows from Indian dairy farmers in Bangkok. They were also inseminated with sperm from the Red Danish bull. Later that year, another 50 Danish cows arrived from Denmark, but none of them lived long either.

“The newly bred, mixed cows, could produce 37 pct of the milk that at Danish cow would produce.

This would increase when the cow was attended to by only the same farmer or if the calf was placed by the udder of the cow – then it would lay down more milk,” Gunnar Søndergaard explains.

Dirty Danish milk During the first couple of years, it turned out to be an unexpected problem to sell the milk. It was rumoured that the milk was full of bacteria although the cows were actually washed twice a day – more than needed anywhere else in the world.

“Eventually, however, one shop in Bangkok started selling the milk – and as the customers soon flocked to the place, suddenly the situation was reversed. Now, the shops would come to us and ask if they could be a reseller,” Gunnar Søndergaard recalls.

Actually, it was not initially planned that the project should include a dairy plant. The milk was to be delivered to an existing company for processing, but as they didn’t pay for the milk, the board had to rethink and establish their own dairy plant which packaged the milk in plastic bags.

ronomist was formally signed with the Livestock Department of the Ministry of Agriculture to be partner in the project. Gunnar Søndergaard became the first Danish Director of the project. As his Deputy Director he had handpicked a veterinarian friend he knew from his swine breeding days, Dr Yod Vadhanasindhu, who worked at the time in Chiang Mai. The department had three optional farm locations to offer – one closer to Bangkok, but down in the lowland, one in Muak Lek and one further up north in Pakchong. Gunnar Søndergaard found the Muak Lek location was the best. It was close to the market in Bangkok and

Gunnar Søndergaard surrounded by former students from the Thai-Danish Dairy Farm in the evening after he received the Royal Order. All of them owe their current life situation from the training they received at the farm and the opportunities it opened for them.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 5

Training The core idea with the farm was to train Thai farmers producing milk and when they had been trained they would be given a farmland near the Thai-Danish Dairy Farm in Muak Lek. That way the production in the whole area would grow and a modern dairy could be sustained with a steady and large milk supply in the area.

Søndergaard sent a man to visit all the agricultural schools in Thailand to pick out students for the one year training program at the new agricultural school in Muak Lek. The young potential farmers had completed 6 years of primary education and three years at a Thai agricultural college, before they came to the farm.

“But they didn’t know much about farming in real life, so the first three months we sent them into the field to be taught hands on the basics about farming by our instructor. It also had the effect that half of them quit and only the dedicated hard working trainees were left. Then they were allowed into the stables to milk by hand after having trained for several days to milk properly by hand on rubber uttersudders.

Only when we saw that they were good at that, they were allowed to use the milking machines,” Gunnar Søndergaard chuckles. “They had to work hard and were only paid 10 -12 baht per day!”

Some of the students were later given scholarships in Denmark and although some of them even decided to stay in Denmark after their scholarships ended, most of the students returned dutifully to Thailand where they were offered to buy cheap farmland around the dairy where they could start their own milk production. The farmers delivered their milk to the dairy plant and continued to receive guidance, courses and veterinary treatment from “The Danish Farm”.

Today, many of the students from the 1960’s are managing directors in the Thai dairy sector.

A job well done In 1971, the Thai government took over the responsibilities, and the project was organized under the management of a newly established enterprise named “The Dairy Farming Promotion Organization of Thailand” (DPO). Gunnar Søndergaard’s job was done. His replacement as Director became his counterpart over the many years since the project was established, Dr. Yod Vadhanasindhu. ”After almost fourteen years in

was the last Danida posting I ever got,” says Gunnar Søndergaard. ”Even when the DPO contacted Danida and requested them to send me on an assignment to Thailand, Danida chose to send another person.”

Correcting the myths

Ambassador H.E. Mr. Michael Sternberg and Madam Waltraud Sternberg (right) attended the ceremony where Gunnar Søndergaard received the Royal Order.

Gunner Søndergaard surrounded by his family at the evening party in their former home at the Thai-Danish Farm in Muak Lek. His four children are Thyge ‘Boyse’ (first from left), Benedikte ‘Diddi’ (third from left), Sune ‘Ki ngua’ (fourth from left) and Turid ‘Sussi (below Sune) who wore a silk dress which had belonged to their Mom.

Thailand since 1955, I also felt it was time to return to Denmark,” Gunnar Søndergard reflects. ”My family had grown to include our four children, Tyge “Boyse”, Bendikte ”Diddi”, Sune “Ki ngua” and Turid “Sussi”. My wife Ruth had given birth to all of them – except Sune - in Thailand. If they were to attend Danish school it was about time!”

More postings Gunnar Søndergaard and his family didn’t stay long in Denmark, though.

Malaysia had noticed the remarkable success of the Danish farm and Gunnar Søndergaard went to Malaysia on a four year contract to repeat the success. ”But the Malaysians misunderstood the concept.

Instead of setting up training facilities, they wanted to have large government dairy farms. It was a different approach and the project not successful.”

After working in Malaysia Søndergåard got a job as adviser in

6 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

Tanzania, where some of the large dairy farms had recently been nationalized. The job was to help these farms located on the foothills of Kilimanjaro.

“The location was beautiful, but I did not like the corrupt system” he says bluntly.

From Tanzania the family moved back to Denmark. Here Ruth was diagnosed with cancer and died after a short battle with the disease.

After two years in Denmark, Gunnar Søndergaard was given another posting in Kenya as agricultural consultant for the private sector.

This was a two year posting which was cut short because a member of the Danish staff at the Danish Embassy in Kenya. ”He engaged so fiercely in an argument with the Kenyan head of the department with the result that my project was terminated and I had to return to Denmark. I don’t know what he wrote in his report, but I am quite sure that he blamed the whole incident on me, because that

Looking back, there are two myths about the Thai Danish Dairy Farm, that Gunnar Søndergaard would like to set straight for the record.

The first myth is, that the Thai Danish Dairy Farm was established by Danida. ”Tthe fact is that Danida was not created in 1961 when the farm was built. Danida was not established until two years later in 1963.

Danida first came into the picture in 1966, when we started sending young Thai dairy students to Denmark - at that time we were already successful,” he states.

Gunnar Søndergaard adds, that he has tried to correct the text on the website of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which contains this information, but the misinformation remains in place.

The other myth is, that the ThaiDanish Dairy Farm was established on the initiative of HM King Bhumibol of Thailand. ”The true story is as mentioned above. The project was suggested by me and created with the support of the Danish Agricultural Promotion Board and with the Live stock Department under the Thai Ministry of Agriculture as the local Thai partner,” he states.

The inauguration of the Thai Danish Dairy Farm on 16 January 1962 by King Frederik IX of Denmark and King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand remains, however, a revered historical day for Thai agriculture. Every year in January, a Dairy Fair is held on the grounds of the Thai Danish Dairy Farm. The fair includes both a technical exhibition for suppliers to the industry and booths with products from the many dairy plants that has followed in its footsteps – and today also an increasing number of fun and entertaining events based on the cowboy theme.

It was during the Dairy fair this year, that Gunnar Søndergaard was awarded the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn.

Participating in the ceremony was also the Danish Ambassador and wife Mr Michael Sternberg.

Next month, Gunnar Søndergaard will be back in Thailand to receive an honourable doctor degree from the Maejo University in Chiangmai.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 7

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Carlsberg Malaysia on M Earlier this year, Malaysian media wrote that the Danish beer giant would lose market share to competitor GAB in Malaysia, but according to Carlsberg, they are now on the right track.

By Morten Scheelsbeck

alaysia is a very important market for Carlsberg, because the company here has a very high market share and high profits. The beer company has lost significant market share to competitor GAB through the past 10 years, but while Malaysian media this summer could tell that GAB won further forward, the Danish management at Carlsberg has a second opinion.

in the production. Fortunately we have not had to lay off some employees and I am very happy about that,” Ole S. Nielsen explains.

The Dane has been the head of marketing in Malaysia for two and a half years now. The marketing is directed at consumers and final customers through restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets and other types of outlets. Ole S. Nielsen’s department has 20 employees, and throughout the country Carlsberg Malaysia has about 580 employees.

“Regarding the financial crisis, Southeast Asia has not been quite as badly affected as the rest of the world - and certainly not as hard as the U.S. But despite of this, we of course could easily feel that things have been stagnant this past year and a half. Mainly, I think that the crisis has meant that consumers have become more aware of what they spend their money on.

Combined with the fact that Malaysia has the world’s highest taxes on beer after Norway, it has obviously led to some Malaysians not to spend money on beer, but we have definitely slipped through carefully, and now it is slightly up again.”

laysia, where the share was as high as around 55 percent. Since then, Carlsberg Malaysia’s market share has declined to its present level of 44 percent.

In the beginning of 2007, the current Managing Director, the 40-year-old Søren Holm Jensen took over responsibility of Carlsberg Malaysia. After his appointment and the appointment of a new leadership team, the company has experienced a real turnaround, and is now in a position to start winning back some of the lost shares and to improve profitability.

“Søren came in and sparked a lot of new and exciting initiatives here in the company.

He has really been good at reversing the whole thing in the right direction again, and for the first time in nearly 10 years we are again gaining market share from the GAB,” assesses Ole S. Nielsen, who is also Søren Holm Jensen’s Danish colleague in the company management team, and finishes: “Even though we are not the biggest brewery in Malaysia, we have always been proud of the fact that we sell the country’s most popular beer, the classic Green Label Carlsberg.”

New leader

Future goals

In the 1990s, Carlsberg sat on a larger share of the beer market in Ma-

But the current market position relative to GAB is not enough for

Two positive reasons Although sales of beer in Malaysia this year has been flat, the General Manager Marketing Ole S. Nielsen considers that Carlsberg will end the year with a satisfactory outcome, and to that there are two main explanations: Carlsberg gained a little bit of market share relative to its competitor, the brewery GAB which among other things sells Guinness, Tiger and Heineken. Carlsberg has now 44 percent of the market, and GAB sits on the rest.

The second reason that the year for the Danish brewery can be described as an improvement versus last year is the company, using some savings in operating costs will earn more money than last year, although the total sale of beer has not increased.“We have taken some important considerations on how we could save in the operation and

8 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

Through the crisis

the Move Again

GM Marketing Ole S. Nielsen

i Nu ävenika! r e m Norda

Carlsberg in the future. They will obviously want to win even more of the lost back, and for it to succeed, it must be boosted in several new initiatives. One of the new initiatives is in the market for imported specialty beers. In late 2008, Carlsberg bought Malaysia’s biggest importer of specialty beers, Luen Heng F&B, and it is starting to pay off: “We decided that we could service the needs of our customers better if we could offer them more several different types of beer.

We now have a broad portfolio of imported premium products in addition to our own strong brands, and it means we are in a good position when customers want a change from the ordinary beer,” explains

Ole S. Nielsen, who states that customers are constantly becoming more sophisticated and want more and new choices.

Carlsberg can now, after buying Luen Heng F&B, offer beer as Hoegaarden, Budweiser, Foster’s and Beck’s.

Beer and football There is also a plan for a big promotion from Carlsberg during next summer’s football World Cup in South Africa.

“The timing is really good for us and it is a good opportunity for us to restore power. Football is for many customers equal to cold beer, and we are already incredibly active in football area, and people associ-

ate the game with Carlsberg. We will try to exploit that to make some exciting activities during next summer,” Ole S. Nielsen says. He will not go into details with the ideas, but he promises that there will be many new things to experience.

“The bottom of the hill has been reached for our part; we can clearly say that we are climbing again. Our structure is better, we offer several new kinds of beers, our image is enhanced, and we begin to gain market share again. We do not have our arms up over our heads yet, but it goes well and we are heading in the right direction,” the full confidence Dane concludes.

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Banting Palm Oil Mill in Selangor, Malaysia, treats its waste water a little different from all the thousands of other palm oil mills in the country: This mill converts the waste water into fertilizer.

Danish technology makes it possible.

By Anya Palm

Danish Technology Cutting Emissions in Malaysia he water is still brownish. But we did not try to do anything to the color, as long as it is clean, says Tan Wah Kong, looking out on eight massive lakes from the top of a blue container. He is the project manager in the Malaysian company Aquakimia and as such, his job is to visit sites everywhere in the country. This one – Banting Palm Oil Mill in the province of Selangor – is different, though. All waste water from the mill goes through the blue container that cleanses it, before it hits the brown lakes. This way, the anaerobic process – which produces CO2-emissions – is skipped, because the water is filtered, before it comes into contact with oxygen.

It is the Danish company Simon Moos A/S that provides the technology. It’s a fairly simple technique, where chemicals are added to the waste water in the container causing the waste to develop into harmless solids. The solids can be recycled as fertilizer and the water is clean to be led out in the lakes.

Right now, just one test container is in use in a project in between Simon Moos and Aquakimia. But so far, the technique is looking promising This container…this Danish container… Hopefully, we can use it on all the palm oil mills later, because it works and it is very easy to use, says Kong.

Many Danish projects in Asia

T

The container can process 20 tons of waste every day, which means that a single container can save 5000 tons of CO2 every year.

And this is needed; 13 percent of Malaysia is covered in palm estates and the thousands of mills on them lead about half a million liter waste water - each. Normal procedure is to lead the water straight out into big lakes like the now clean ones on Banting Palm Oil Mill. This produces enormous amounts of CO2.

However, the Danish technology might change all that.

It is better for the environment.

And it is a good investment for us, says Kong, referring to the Danish state buying up the saved emissions from the project.

10 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

Simon Moos A/S is not the only Danish company, who are digging into the market of eco-friendly technology in Asia. Currently, Denmark is buying credits from 25 projects in Asia, spread over five countries. All of those projects use Danish technology to cut emissions and the Danish state is encouraging more Danish companies to follow Simon Moos’ good example.

The advantage is very simply put, that there is a much bigger market than just the Danish, so it is a way to expand. The world is bigger than Denmark, says Anette Eberhardt, the director of Eksport Kredit Fonden (EKF), a state-run agency, which aims to expand Danish export.

Denmark is a forerunner when it comes to climate friendly technology and equipment, which we can sell. And there are several Danish firms working in environment and technology. The market is open, she says.

Going bigger For Tan Wah Kong and Simon Moos this is certainly true. In Denmark Simon Moos-director Hanne Aamand is ready to go bigger, now the test-container has proven to be a success.

To us, the most important thing was to find a partner, we could fully trust, because of the big distance in

between us and the project. With Aquakimia we understood each other perfectly and there is full trust both ways. The objective now is to get more containers produces out there, with our concept and Danish standards, she says.

And in Malaysia, Tan Wah Kong is almost echoing his far-away-partner. Aquakimia has already decided to implement the containers on all of their 24 mills and the project manager has no doubt that other players on the market will be interested in the Danish technology.

This is the biggest industry in Malaysia, so we are just happy, we have the containers before anyone else. We can teach others how to use them and then, they can put them up on their own land, he says.

Everything looks fine at Banting Palm Oil Mill and project leader Kong gets into his car. On his way out, he passes a massive pile of solid waste, dumped there from the container and in the process of fertilizing.

All this could have been on the bottom of the lakes, but now it is right there to be recycled. That’s good, he says.

Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu:

The Admiral Who In books and articles, Richelieu has largely been portrayed as either white or black, as an untouchable icon or as an unscrupulous capitalist.

We tend to judge the past with the lenses of today, based on our current world view.

That is of course not right; we have to describe the man and the circumstances from the perspective of his period on earth, and what was regarded as reasonable and honorable in his days.

I have tried to add some human touches to the conventional image of the Admiral.

By Flemming Winther Nielsen Photos Siranath Boonpattanaporn

eflecting on the proud and stormy word ‘Admiral,’ I come to think of Lord Horatio Nelson of Trafalgar, British First Sea Lord Jellicoe of World War 1, Karl Doenitz, The German Grand Admiral, Master of the submarines and also the Dane Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu (1852-1932), Admiral, Minister of the Marine and Commander-in-Chief of the Siamese Navy.

Three of these old salts commanded real fleets; hundreds of cannon with which they sank the enemy’s ships, and Lord Nelson fought on although he lost an arm and an eye. On the other hand, in 1893 when Richelieu was superintendent of the Marine, and Commodore, he had a few, in fact only four very old warships bought seemingly second hand in France in 1865 and no longer capable of sending any enemy to the bottom of any sea. There was also a newer one, also bought second hand, since the Spanish Navy did not want to receive it. Nevertheless, there was one very modern vessel, the new Royal Yacht Maha Chakri equipped with many state of the art guns. Unfortunately the lo-

R

cal officers of Maha Chakri had not yet been instructed in how to fire them.

Paknam incident When France instigated ‘gunboat diplomacy’ against Siam in 1893, and it came to bloody skirmishes, the result was almost given beforehand. In what has been named the ‘Paknam incident’ two state of the art French gunboats, ‘Inconstante’ and ‘Comete,’ on the 13th of July simply forced their way from the Bay of Siam up Chao Phraya River to Bangkok.

The battle lasted less than an hour. The batteries of the Chula Chom Klao fort, then and now, guarding the mouth of the river tried in vain to offer resistance, but the almost medieval muzzle cannons and guns did the French no harm and the ancient fortifications were laid in ruins, many marines were killed. The Danish commander survived.

A few kilometers upstream between Phra Samut Chedi and Paknam (Samut Prakan) Richelieu had established a blocking of the river using derelict ships and dynamite.

Behind this waited the Siamese battleships but they were no match

Old grenade

Cannon from 1789, used until 1893.

2 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

Went Ashore forbad Richelieu to engage the Maha Chakri, especially manned by foreign officers, knowing well that in case of the sinking of one of the French gunboats, France would have an excellent excuse to occupy the whole country.

The reason for the ‘gun-boat diplomacy’ was that France demanded huge areas to the East of the Mekong River currently occupied by Siamese; they got them.

With the King, Richelieu thereafter, still in a minor scale, worked on modernizing the fleet. In 1897 he was appointed Rear-Admiral, then Deputy C-in-C 1899 and C-inC 1901. Finally, Admiral En Suite in 1902.

This last title was given him as a sort of farewell present by the King.

In that year Richelieu had a serious bout of malaria and, his Danish wife and children leaving a bit earlier, left Siam where he had served since 1875. He left with a huge fortune achieved via his private enterprises (which will be covered in article 2), and was furthermore bestowed with Court Nobility Titles, countless Siamese, Danish, French, Russian, Greek and other orders, medals and precious gifts plus a high pension.

King Chulalongkorn and members of the Royal family saw him off to Singapore onboard the Royal Yacht ‘Maha Chakri’.

RichelieuÊs background Andreas was born on February 24th 1852 in Loejt Kirkeby, Southern Jylland where his father was

Admiral Richelieu in a Siamese nobleman’s dress at the Bangpain Palace in 1890.

Richelieu had at this point advanced to Vice Admiral and second in command of the Royal Thai Navy. In the book “Admiralen, Kongen og Kaptajnen” by Aldo Eggers-Lura, the captions says that his willingness to adapt the local culture was appreciated by most Thais but made the British look down on him.

Vicker Armstrong gun on lavet, range 4000 meters, calibre 57 millimeters.

for the modern French vessels, they sailed through the blockade and caused severe damage to the Siamese ships, many men were lost.

Walter Christmas, a Danish Captain in the Siamese Navy in 1893, and in charge on the occasion, described the situation as follows: “but just a hodgepodge of hopeless ships, useless guns, and incompetent crews, commanded by men who, however stout and resourceful in other fields, for the most part were without knowledge in military skills”.

(Christmas (1894) From ‘Thai-Dan-

ish Relations’ (1980), p. 128, published by the Royal Danish Ministry of Education).

Christmas himself fired his cannon four times, when he tried to fire the fifth time it collapsed.

At that time at least 25 Danish Navy-Officers served in the Siamese Navy, plus some from other nations.

From Copenhagen they were forbidden to participate in any fighting with the French, but they nevertheless did so.

King Chulalongkorn, the patron and friend behind Richelieu wisely

Inside the fortress as it looks today.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Th 3

Admiral Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu ...continued from the previous page.

Vicar (pastor). The family originated from France, immigrated to Norway around 1670, and sometime later settled in Denmark. There seems to be no evidence that the family was related to the original and famous bearer of the name, Cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642).

We next meet Andreas as a pupil of Roskilde Cathedral School in 1864. In the schools register his father is there mentioned as “the deceased Vicar Louis du Plessis de Richelieu, the Parish of St. Thomas.”

Andreas’ father died on St. Thomas, a Danish colony on an island in The West Indies, in 1859, seemingly alone, after staying there less than one and a half years and only 38 years old. It is known that the Danish islands were often used as last retreat for troubled careers. It would be interesting to know what happened to the rest of Andreas family and how this influenced his extraordinary life.

Later, Andreas Richelieu went sailing in the Merchant Marine. He became Lieutenant of the Reserve in the Danish Marine, where he earned his Ship Master Certificate.

In 1875, aged 23 years old, after talks with his superiors, he was granted an audience by King Christian IX

Left: Remains of fortifications on mangrove island off Phra Samut Chedi.

Right: Samut Prakan (Paknam) across the river.

This portrait in full uniform of Admiral Richelieu was published in the booklet “Thai Danish Relations Through Four Centuries” printed on the occasion of the State Visit to Thailand of HM Queen Margrethe II in February 2001. The caption in the book mentions Admiral Richelieu’s Thai name Phraya Cholayuthyothin which he was given when elevated to nobility by HM King Rama V.

in Copenhagen. The young man’s wish was a Letter of Introduction to the Siamese King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, who had ascended the throne in 1868 when only 15 years old. Andreas had visited Siam and Bangkok in the course of his work in the Merchant Marine, was attracted to Siam, and saw the possibilities for

4 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

himself there. By this act, he really took his life and destiny in his own hands, and equipped with his certificates and the personal introduction to King Chulalongkorn, he sailed off to Siam via Singapore. There, with the assistance of the Danish Consul Koebke, he was granted an audience on April 3rd 1875.

This was a meeting of two young men of approximately the same age; both of them ‘stand alone’ characters and able to look one another in the eye, being of almost the same height. That Richelieu did not tower over his counterpart, was and is not without significant importance in Siam/Thailand. Although cast in a relationship of Patron and client, there are strong indications that a friendship developed between the two, and a bond of absolute loyalty on Richelieu’s part as well.

A few weeks after the audience, he was hired as Captain-Lieutenant and offered a position as Second in Command of one of the Navy’s ships. This offer he turned down and asked for a command of his own. He succeeded and was given the command over HSMS ‘Regent’, bound for an inspection tour of the Western coast of Siam bordering the Andaman Sea, with the main town being Phuket. However, he only spent some of his energy on Navy matters.

Ready for business It is possible, also given the size of the Thai navy, that his duties were not onerous, so during his years in Siam, Richelieu also established a railway line, a tramline in Bangkok, an electricity plant and more. But first and foremost he established a very lucrative business relationship with H.N. Andersen of Andersen & Co., later to be known as EAC. These activities will be dealt with in Article 2.

Chaw-ka-cher Tropicana Lanta oh Lanta has many beautiful sandy beaches, breathtaking surrounding small islands, stunning scenery and rich culture, making Koh Lanta a dream destination.

‘Chaw-ka-cher Tropicana Lanta’ is a beautiful resort named after the twelfth letter of the Thai alphabet which means ‘Big tree’ that provides shade from the sun, and during your stay you will be able to find true relaxation. The resort is within walking distance from the refreshing sea breeze, warm sun and gentle waves of ‘Pra Ae beach’.

The resort was designed by award winning Southern Thai Architect ‘Pan Yah’, incorporating traditional Thai high tip roof houses. The stylish interiors feature naked cement textured walls,

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fine local fabrics and is decorated with hardwood furniture.

Each villa is set in the midst of a lush landscaped, shady tropical garden, capturing the essence of a rainforest and each evening, we light lanterns in the gardens to make dinning with us magical and romantic. The night sky is full of twinkling stars and can be observed from your terrace or open roofless bathroom as you shower under the moonlight.

Visitors can explore Koh Lanta’s natural beauty and experience the laid back and tranquil atmosphere of this charming island.

You will be truly comfortable at ‘Char-ka-cher Tropicana Lanta Resort’ where everything will be taken care of to ensure that your stay is filled with happiness and sweet dreams.

We offer with great value either during For High Season (1 Nov 2009-19 Dec 2009, 11 Jan 2010-30 Apr 2010) - 4 day 3 night package - 5 day 4 night package For more information, please contact: Sales and Reservation Office: 247/1 M. 2, Aonang, Muang Krabi 81000 Tel. +66 (0) 7563 7970, +66 (0) 8 1895 9718 E-mail: reservation@chawkacherresort.com Resort : 352 M.2, Saladan, Koh lanta, Krabi 81150 Tel. +66 (0) 75 667 122 – 4 www.ChawKaCherResort.Com

The Moroccan Dream Getaway ome celebrate your love by strolling along the shores of Pranburi beach. Let the breathtaking views and enchanting décor of Villa Maroc Resort bring you to your fantasy world where memories are created for a lifetime. Villa Maroc is the perfect setting for an intimate wedding party, honeymoon or private getaway.

Book the “Moroccan Dream Getaway” package which includes a 2 night’s stay in a luxurious Pool Court room for THB 21,500*, or upgrade

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to a breathtaking Pool Villa for THB 32,500*. The “Moroccan Dream Getaway” package comes with a sumptuous in-room breakfast so that you never have to leave the privacy of your room, a romantic candle-lit dinner with a complimentary bottle of wine, a 45 minutes Cleansing Hammam couples’ treatment and an additional 30% discount good towards other rejuvenating spa treatments.

This package is available from now until April 30th, 2010.

Reservation is subject to availability. Please call 032 630 771 or email at rsvn@villamarocresort.com *Remark: Prices are inclusive of service charge and VAT.

Magical Honeymoon

Sunrise Tropical Resort, an exclusive resort on Railay East Beach, Krabi, offers 3 Days, 2 Nights at only 19,999 Baht per couple. Package valid until 19 April 2010.

The accomodation will be in Tropical Villa Plus and the room will be incl. complimentary fruit platter, small bouquet of roses, round trip transfer from / to Krabi Airport by private a/c coach. A long tail boat one day excursion tour to Phi Phi Island. Furthermore, meals are included (set menu: a. Breakfast (2), b. Lunch (1), c. Dinner (1)) and one facial treatment at Arunburkfa Spa for couple. When you don’t want to leave there is an Extend Night Discount of 10%.

Summer Special 2010 20 April 2010 – 31 October 2010, 3 Nights per room Tropical Villa THB 8,200, Tropical Villa Plus Junior THB 8,950 Tropical Villa Plus THB 11,200

More information, Please contact Sunrise Tropical Resort Tel: +66 (0) 7581 9418-20 Moblie : + 66 (0) 1979-6299 www.sunrisetropical.com February 2010 • ScandAsia.Th 7

Dream Island for Slow The Surin islands north of Phuket is well-known heaven for its beautiful marine life in the Andaman sea.

Lesser known is a rare beauty emerging closer to the mainland; Koh Prathong - the island of the golden Buddha. A wild and frightened survivor of the devastating tsunami five years ago, Koh Prathong is slowly growing up like a young teenager, not yet aware of her rare, natural beauty.

Text and photos: Disraporn Yatprom

ashed over by the Tsunami on 26 December 2004, Koh Prathong has today fully recovered with plenty of interesting forest types like dark green mangrove forest on the east cost, dusty green coastal forest on the west coast and in the middle a beautiful Savannah with rare, wild orchids clinging to the special trees and red, insect-eating plants scattered on the ground under the short, silky grass.

To maintain the natural forests on Koh Prathong as well as to protect against commercial exploitation, the Royal Thai Forestry Department has joined hands with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the local people on Koh Prathong to protect and preserve all their valuable natural resources while developing eco-tourism in order to increase

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the sustainable income to the local population.

Rich in rare birds Birdwatchers will find several rare species of kingfishers, egrets, herons and even horn bills, which on Koh Prathong are far less timid than their cousins in the jungles on the mainland. A research conducted by the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand recently found that Koh Prathong has at least 137 different bird species. However, Oriental Pied Hornbill seems to be the most interesting for bird watchers since Oriental Pied Hornbill is otherwise only found in Khao Yai or Kang Krajarn.

Sea eagles circling over the island is also a majestic and common sight.

Along the forest line, there is also an abundance of natural resources

fascinating for tourists to explore. A visit to the Tung Dap Village where one of the farmers is breeding the “Dendrobium cruentum” species of orchids is also popular among the mostly nature loving visitors.

Sand and Rock The beaches of Koh Prathong may look similar to the beaches elsewhere in Thailand. Only if you look carefully you’ll see different footsteps of rare sea animals that let you imagine what kind of animal left those footstep behind. In November and December the sea turtles will crawl up on the beach to lay there eggs. A walk on the beach in the sunrise at 5.30 will reveal the characteristic broad and shuffled tracks leading from the sea up to the pitch where they have laid their eggs and back out into the sea again.

Previously, the villagers earned

Speed Lovers beach and play hide and seek with the waves washing over them.

The local people There are only four small villages on Koh Prathong; Baan Pak-Jok, Baan Paeyoy, Baan Tung-Dap, and Baan Kah-Ra. Ethnically, 70% of population are ethnically a tribe called Morgan, with the rest being immigrated Chinese from Hainan. Fishery is the main occupation for local people on Koh Prathong. In ancient times, zink and other metals were extracted and traded.

Before the Tsunami, about 1000 people lived in Baan Pakjok village.

Even though Lion Club helped build 150 houses to replace the ones destroyed by the disaster, only 50 local people live there today. The rest are too scared to return and have settled elsewhere. To make good use of the houses built by Lions Club, the few local people now offer the uninhabited homes as home-stays for visiting tourists to generate a small income for their family.

Kanitha, an elderly woman who survived from Tsunami, describes vividly how she heard a loud, thundering noise on the day the Tsunami hit. She thought it was a bomb exploding at a pier nearby. Then she saw her two horses screaming and the big wave coming gushing at her.

She and her horses floated together until the water receded. She feels lucky that she and her husband are still alive but she lost one of her horses by that big wave.

Golden Buddha Resort

their income from concessions on collecting turtle eggs. But as turtle eggs became a rare commodity, the government and Conservation Authority today have extensive turtle conservation projects and build turtle breeding farm instead of hunting them at sea.

Other tracks on the beach are from monitor lizards hunting the crabs that live in abundance on the

Golden Budha resort is the best resort on Koh Prathong. A resort that was previously located here before the Tsunami has disappeared without a trace. The Golden Buddha Beach Resort that has replaced it extends along the Andaman Sea facing the setting sun. Each beach house is uniquely designed and comfortably sleeps between 2 and 6 people. The resort has a total of 25 private houses. Some are located tugged in among the tall pine trees, some are beach front houses with sea view, peace, and total privacy.

Each beach house is fully equipped except for TV and electricity. The houses are supplied with electricity from a generator between 17:00 and 23:00. After that the electricity is turned off except

at the resort’s restaurant where the dinner buffet is being served.

Apart from Golden Buddha Resort one small resort with few guests are found. But in Baan Pakjok there are several home-stays that are built in the style of a traditional Morgan house which are offered at a low rate for eco-tourist.

Koh Prathong is good place for people who want to get away from tension at work, newlywed couples on their honeymoon, naturists enjoying the 10 km long deserted beach, eco-tourists exploring the rare fauna and wildlife - or even heart broken people who need time to recover from their loss.

Although there are small shops in the local villages, it is a good idea to bring a torchlight as the light is turned off at 23.00, sun lotion, bugs prevention lotion for the little black beach flies that emerges when the sun has set and the rare mosquito, good book(s), snacks to keep you from being hungry between restaurant opening hours, common pills and whatever medication you may need.

Activities Koh Prathong is for outdoor loving, low speed people. You can go for long walks, go snorkeling, go on a boat trip to dive on a reef, or just relax. The internet is slow or sometimes off which is good for having a relaxed time without any technology. Even the mobile phone is slow speed.

At Koh Prathong you can stay on your porch and read a book and suddenly look up to find rare birds

flying over your head - no need to go on deep jungle trekking trips, just sit still and don't blink.

How to go there By road from Bangkok, take Route 4, passing Prachuab Khirikan, Chumporn, and Ranong, to take the boat from the Kuraburi harbour. The boat is about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

For more information: Tourism Authority Thailand, District 4 South Tel. 0-7621-1036, 0-7621-2216, 0-7621-7138 Golden Budha Resort / Ms Tanya: Tel. 081 892 2208, 081 919 5228 Pak-Jok Home Stay / Ms Lamyong: Tel. 087-281-1360 Tung-Dap Home Stay / Mr. Thep: Tel. 087-993-4331

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Th 9

The Viking Wheelers Great Ride from Prachuabkirikhan On 4 December a team of 13 Viking Wheelers started out on their annual marathon cycling tour, this year a distance of about 425 km from Prachuab Khiri Khan to Surat Thani.

By Henrik Friis and Hans Henrik Melchior he team consisted of President Henrik Friis, Bent Laasholdt, Morten Luxhoi, Mads Tranum Nielsen, Claus Bergenfelt, Jan Peter Jensen, Finn Soerensen, Matthew Pearson, Kenn Lauritsen and Hans Henrik Melchior.

Flying in from Denmark to join this event were Jesper Madsen, a friend of Morten and Mads, who joined this annual event for the third time, and Poul-Erik and Kirsten Ring, good friends of Henrik Friis.

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After an about 4 hours drive from Bangkok the team arrived in Prachuab Khiri Khan where it enjoyed a lunch at a restaurant at the beach just south of the city. During the lunch a lone British cyclist passed the restaurant and stopped to find out who the guys in red and white were. When he asked, the Vikings proudly told him that they were just about to start a tour going all the way down to Surat Thani.

He then announced that he had left Chiang Mai a week earlier and was on his way to Kuala Lumpur. Although clearly not impressed by the plans of the Vikings, he did cheer the team from the balcony of his hotel when they passed about half an hour later!

33 km warm-up ride The Friday ride was a “warm up” ride of about 33 km to the cosy Jack’s Beach Resort north of Thap Sakae. At the beginning of the ride the team’s flying President, Henrik Friis, assumed the temporary role of air traffic controller, stopping all incoming and outgoing flights in the local international airport, so the Vikings could safely cross the runway.

Apart from a short stint on HW 4 the rest of the ride was on small country roads, along the beach and

10 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

through plantations, soybean fields, cattle farms and small villages down to the resort, which is located right at the beach.

Before the start of the Saturday ride, the local Village Headman arrived at the resort and, duly impressed by the handsome Vikings in their red and white jerseys, he invited the team to participate in a ceremony at the pier, just about to commence, releasing into the ocean about a million scrimps, on the occasion of H.M. the King’s birthday, and the Vikings happily complied.

One of the Vikings was, however, so unlucky to drop his plastic bag with about 1,000 scrimps, which obviously did not make it back to the ocean. Nobody, except maybe for the scrimps, seemed to care about this mishap.

dogs, which, unfortunately, were not scared by Mads in his frightening outfit with horns sticking out of his helmet, and instead started chasing Mads, who did get scared and in his efforts to evade the pack rode over a sharp edge and got a flat tyre.

Anyway, the team was in high spirits when it arrived at Baan Maprao Resort, located on a fantastic beach. This was the second time the team visited this resort, as the riders also stayed here when they were on the Tour de Thailand in 2004. Before and after the dinner Mads and his guitar entertained the group by singing popular Danish “viser” by i.e. Shubidua, Kim Larsen, Lasse and Mathilde, something he was much better at than chasing dogs.

94 km to Chumporn 75 km to Baan Maprao Resort The day’s rid e was about 75 km to Baan Maprao Resort in Bang Saphan Noi, also along the beach and on small country roads, mostly pancake flat, except for a long hill a few kilometres before the end of the ride, which the organizers claimed was not there when they made the survey trip. During the ride Mads attempted to chase some stray

At 8 am sharp Sunday morning the brave Vikings commenced what would be the toughest ride so far during this year’s marathon, a ride of about 94 km to Chumporn. Although also this ride was on scenic country roads, there were plenty of rolling hills, some of them very challenging, but the Viking Wheelers had by now built up lots of strength, so all passed the test and were very happy and proud when they arrived

to Surat Thani in Chumporn in the mid-afternoon, looking forward to their evening dinner in the local KFC. Hans Henrik knew that Khun Vichien, the driver of the support van, is a keen cyclist longing to get in the saddle. So, after lunch HH gracefully offered to drive the van for the last 30 km and Vichien was very happy to get this opportunity to cycle this leg.

Bent, feeling sorry that HH should be alone in the van, volunteered to keep him company, an offer which was accepted without hesitation.

Monday was a day of rest in Chumporn, and several Wheelers used the opportunity to get their bicycles trimmed at the local Trek bicycle shop. During the waiting time they were seen roaming around the local water holes.

The group also found time to plan for 2010, and as everyone were in good spirit it was decided to have 9 events next year including a week ride in the North Eastern part of Thailand. The completed plan will be posted on the Viking Wheelers website www.vikingwheelers.com The Vikings assembled in the evening for a very nice Vietnamese/ Thai dinner followed by a pit stop at the local backpacker hangout to get some Viking neutralisers.Rumours have it that the President had

bought shares in this bar as he was seen running around behind the bar and instructing the staff.

After neutralisers, the Vikings were ready for some more action, but soon realised that Chumporn is not the most active place in the world, so 2 of the senior Vikings, Bent Låsholdt and Mads Tranum formed a new band called the Viking Whistlers, and took over a local Karaoke Place and turned it into a Danish Music place, and songs could be heard in most of Chumporn, so don’t be surprised if you hear some local Thais whistling the tunes of a Kim Larsen melody next time you pass though the city.

88 km ride to Paknam Tuesday all Vikings were fresh and ready for takeoff at 8.00 hrs and, with the Flying President leading the way out of Chumporn, the Vikings embarked on the 88 km ride towards PN Seafood resort in Paknam. The first 20 km were up and down hills, and apparently a little too much for Mads, the Viking Whistler, as he lost the air at the first pit stop and was taken to the local hospital by his friend Morten. The hospital soon got him up again but apparently the nurses had heard that he could play music so they hooked February 2010 • ScandAsia.Th 11

him up to a heart monitor and sat all night and listened to the beat of his heart before he was released the next morning.

The rest of the Vikings continued the trip, with regular up-dates from the hospital so they could conquer the hills up and down with relaxed minds. After 65 km lunch was at Ban Pak Tako beach, and Morten and Hans Henrik (who had gone to the hospital to lead Morten and the van with all the luggage back to the group) joined the lunch and rumors started circulating that the 2 gentlemen had slipped something into Mads’ coffee so they could avoid the hilly ride in the morning.

After lunch the riders embarked on the remaining 23 km with a pit stop for the sissies 10 KM before final destination, which the front runners Claus, Matthew and Finn skipped. The President regretted he stopped there, as some of the Vikings before him had dug a hole and filled it with loose sand and gravel with the result he fell flat over on his bike and scraped his elbow and bent 2 -3 ribs. During the fall he also knocked all the air out of the lungs, and bystanders described the event as similar to a kangaroo jumping a ball that bursts when it lands on the floor.

After the President was cleaned

up and new air pumped into the lungs all riders, including the flying President, continued to PN Seafood resort where cool beer awaited them upon arrival.

84 km to Roong Arun Resort Wednesday, the Vikings took off at 8.15 a.m. as they had to wait for Mads to return from the hospital. At arrival Mads took the wheel of the van and delegated the bicycle job to

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the driver Vichien.

The day’s ride was mostly on flat roads, and some of the Vikings picked up so much speed that they lost the way after 9.5 km and added an additional 6-7 km to the planned 84 km ride. Discussions are still ongoing on how to describe an asphalt road and a main road, but the organizers accepted the penalty of a round of beer in the evening, and to read a few Danish-English dictionaries and maps before next year’s ride.

The weather gods had decided to change from cloudy to sunny and, although the roads were flat, the day became very hot, so the only female rider, Kirsten, gave up pulling the “turtles” (Viking Wheeler language for “slow riders”), and decided to join Mads in the van. According to Mads the gentlemen still on the road then reduced the speed so much that the van got over heated due to the slow driving.

The group arrived safely at Roong Arun Resort after 84 km, and a delicious seafood lunch was served together with some cool beers.

The Vikings had the resort for themselves and Kenn decided to be the manager and sell beer to late night beach visitors.

A total of 425 km Thursday started with breakfast cooked by the owner of the resort and the driver Montri, as the kitchen staff had reported sick. The entire team agreed that it was the best breakfast on the trip and Morten is now considering to extend the Khao Yai Van to include a kitchen so he can get home cooked breakfast in future, but he has not yet agreed the price for borrowing Henrik’s

12 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

driver Montri as a cook.

The team headed off at 8.00 hrs with the first 19 km on flat roads.

The first pit stop was before the rolling hills started and apparently it had some effect on the President as he jumped into the bus with the excuse the ribs were hurting. The rest of the riders conquered the hills without problems and arrived at the last stop in record speed where they enjoyed a few refreshments before they proceeded for the last 10 km.

The entire team arrived at the small Happy Inn Hotel, after a total 425 km ride, and after showers and a few beers the cars were packed and they headed off for the last joint lunch before going to the airport.

Everyone looked happy but tired and was pleased that they could fly back to Bangkok instead of cycling.

Sorry You Missed The Trip??

If you regret that you did not - or could not - participate in this year’s Viking Wheeler’s Great Annual Tour, then consider going on your own, “in the wheel prints of the Viking Wheelers”.

Every rider on the trip got detailed turn-by-turn description of the 425 km long trip and these documents are made available to interested individuals here if you would like to go on your own trip on all or part of the way.

1. Turn-by-turn excel sheet.

2. Day-by-day route maps The files also show what a huge amount of time and effort the organizers have put into preparing the trip!

If interested, look up www.vikingwheelers.com

The 90 Years Anniversary

Scandinavian Society Siam Text & Photos by Gregers Moller earls, feathers, dresses, smoking and red lipstick – and of course a Martini.

The theme was 1920’s gala when Scandinavian Society Siam celebrated its 90 Year Anniversary. The Grand Ball took place on Saturday 30 January 2010 at the Dusit Thani Hotel. Former Chairman Steinar Paulsen was Master of Ceremony for the two hundred members who were all dressed up, and he guided the evening through its various phases.

Special speakers of the evening were - apart from Chairwoman Dharmaporn ‘Eid’ Alexandersen former Chairman Vibeke Lyssand Leirvaag, Anders Lundquist, Poul Weber and Tom Sorensen.

Free flow of champagne and delicious wine went well with the gala menu: Starter was Gravad Lax with sweet mustard sauce and seafood chowder. Then a refreshing sorbet before the main course: Roasted Australian Beef Tenderloin. Dessert was Three spices milk chocolate mousse and fresh fruit. After that, the bar was open.

Well deserved praise for a fantastic arrangement rained on Eid Alexandersen and her Party Committee chairwoman Elina Koski for the extravagant party from the reception arrangement with 1920 photo opportunities to the cake cutting ceremony, complete with a sabre - which had earlier in the evening been swung by Jaana Kopra to ceremoniusly swoop open the first bottle of Champagne.

The party was a great success - but would not have been possible without impressive sponsoring backing by prominent Scandinavian companies. In return their logos were clearly displayed all over the event and they deserved the gratitude which both the MC and the Chairwoman expressed from the podium.

See one round of images uploaded in the Image Gallery here: http://scandasia.com/gallery/main. php?g2_itemId=808 Anyone with more images, please register and upload for all to enjoy in subfolders in the gallery or elsewhere, like picasaweb and similar photo-pages, and paste the link to your images below as a comment.

Thank you!

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14 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

Day Trip Sailing from Hua Hin to Dolphin Bay candAsia together with Peter Rehn invites you to a memorable Day Trip Sailing from Hua Hin to Dolphin Bay. You can drive with us from Bangkok to Hua Hin or you can meet up in Hua Hin on the pier. Details will be sent to all participants. The program on board is simple: Relax with a glass of wine, swim in nice crystal clear water and fish off the beautiful coast with National Park “Sam Roi Yod” with 300 mountains hilltops as fabulous background. If we are lucky, we will see the Irrawaddy and and IndoOcean Humpback dolphins. We will take off at 8.00 hrs. from Hua Hin and be back at 17.00 hrs. A Scandinavian lunch will be served on board (exclusive of alcohol beverage).

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Day Trip Sailing with Peter’s yacht to Dolphin Bay, Hau Hin On Saturday, the 20th of March 2010 Price THB 1,850 / person **inclusive lunch **exclusive transportation from/to Bangkok Transportation: THB 400 / person Due to limited space if you plan to attend, we ask you to please sign up at pimjai@scandmedia.com or call Ms. Pimjai Chaimongkol at 02 943 7166 by Mach 12.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Th 15

Astudo Hotel & Resort Group Launches X2 Residences Astudo Hotel Group, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and resort management companies, officially launched their latest project’X2 Residences’.

X2

Residences - pronounced “cross too” - is a low rise, high design, gated luxury development offering a unique lifestyle opportunity. The first projects have been launched in 3 locations within Thailand, Kui Buri (Hua Hin), Koh Samui and Koh Kood. The residences offer luxury accommodation within a 5-star resort environment providing unlimited access to all X2 Resort facilities. A variety of residence types are on offer including 1 bedroom apartments and 1-3 bedroom fully equipped private pool villas. The villa and apartment constructions make use of the highest quality materials and are fully furnished with designer pieces hand picked by the owner himself Anthony McDonald.

The lifestyle opportunity being offered by X2 is unlike any other residence projects within Thailand.

To complement the 5-star resort lifestyle, a MINI Copper has been incorporated into the launch package to add to the lifestyle experience termed the X2 Lifestyle Experience.

This unique project offers the only opportunity in the world to own a residence in an accredited “Design Hotel”.

The apartments and villas start from 4.5 million THB and range up to 44.4 million THB with up to 80% finance available and a 90 year lease or freehold option. The investment has no additional ownership costs and guarantees 5% return for 5 years through a rental management program provided by the X2 Resorts group.

Locations Each X2 Residence location is unique in all aspects - location, design, furnishings and atmosphere. X2 Residence in Kui Buri is a prestige project offering 25 private villas with a total value of 370 million THB. The total residence area is 6 Rai (9,600 square meters), consisting of pool, garden and beachfront villas with access to a restaurant, swimming pool, library, spa, fitness centre and meeting room. The project, characterized by the rock wall design, adjoins the existing 23 villa beachfront X2 Kui Buri Resort. Accordingly, the entire layout of the project is designed in conformity with the successful X2 design concept developed by renowned Thai architect Duangrit

16 ScandAsia.Th • February 2010

Bunnag.

X2 Residences Koh Samui is the second of the 3 locations, offering 10 private villas with a total value of 250 million THB. As like the Kui Buri Residences, Samui Residences offers pool, garden, restaurant, swimming pool, library, spa, fitness centre and meeting room on 3 Rai (4,800 SQM) of land. The residence adjoins the existing X2 Samui resort with its 27 private villas. The design was developed by international architectural firm Steven J. Leach, Jr+Associates.

The X2 Residences at Koh Kood offers a variety in room types with 9 apartments and 16 private pool villas with either pool side, garden or sea view option. The total value of the project amounts to 260 million THB. The total residence area is 6 Rai (9,600 square

meters), and offers the same facilities as the other X2 Residence projects with additional beach bar, dive centre, and games area. The design was inspired by natural camouflage and seasonal colours of the island to create an eco-residences development. X2 Koh Kood resort and residences was designed by international architectural firm Steven J. Leach, Jr.+Associates and will begin construction during 2010.

Astudo Hotel & Resort Group plans to launch eleven X2 Residences Projects throughout South East Asia by the end of 2012.

For more information about X2 Residence Projects please visit www.X2residences.com

Georg Jensen Damask Changes Representative Tablecloth, placemats and tablerunners as well as beautiful luxurious bed linen, terry and kitchen towels from Georg Jensen Damask will now become more widely available in Singapore - and soon also launched in other parts of Asia.

eorg Jensen Damask in November changed representative in Singapore from Danish Living to MJ Management Pte Ltd. The Danish luxury brand includes tablecloth, placemats and tablerunners as well as beautiful luxurious bed linen, terry and kitchen towels.

The MJ Group celebrated the takeover with a reception on 14 November at its premises in Capital Tower on Robinson Road. Georg Jensen Damask is now the third brand under the MJ Group organization. The other brands are the luxury Danish audio visual brand Bang & Olufsen and the Danish designer furniture brand Fritz Hansen.

"Georg Jensen Damask is known for generations of weaving tradition in Denmark," says Andrea Tan, MJ Group Marketing Executive.

"We will now build its position in Singapore - and soon in other parts of Asia as well."

"Very soon, www.gjdasia.com will also be available online, so you will be able to shop and view our wide selection of Georg Jensen Damask products, view local store opening hours and check for news and updates," she adds.

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Old Chinese Technique The art of Damask originated in China during the Han Dynasty and was used for producing colour-

ful, precious silk fabrics. The technique came to the Orient via the “Silk Road” and Damascus in Syria became the centre of the damask weaving technique. Traditionally, damask textiles were exclusive and considered only for the rich.

Damask is characterised by dense, fine-threaded textiles where beautiful relief patterns are created by the alternating dominance of warp and weft. The pattern effect is

reinforced by the use of two different yarn colours.

Explore the world of Georg Jensen Damask at www.damask.dk.

For more information about Georg Jensen Damask in Asia, please contact: Ms Andrea Tan, ant@gjdasia.com, +65 6513 9522 MJ Management Pte Ltd 168 Robinson Road #02-01 Capital Tower Singapore 068912

SCANDINAVIAN SHOPPE Special offer:

* Scandinavian Shoppe 30 South Buona Vista Road How to get there?

- MRT to Buona Vista. Bus no. 200 to Lor Sarhad.

- MRT to Harbour Front / Vivo City. Bus no. 10, 30, 143 to Redwood West. Walk up South Buona Vista Road Tel:+65 6476 2575 - scandishoppe@singnet.com.sg

‘Gamle Ole’ Vintage Cheese

S$

45.65 pr/kg

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Sg 1

Clothes, Shoes, Jewellery and a Birgit Ziegler, a woman with a preference for Danish design It’s especially her Danish children’s shoes that are in high demand. Birgit is very focused on providing her costumers with great quality shoes avoiding all shoes with PVC – A plastic material feared to be dangerous to children and frequently found in cheap shoes.

It all started with children’s shoes but as time went on Birgit Ziegler’s business grew.

Today the cheerful woman is the owner of three shops all selling interesting ‘must have’s from Denmark.

Dependent on tourists It was bit of a coincidence that let Birgit to open her first store. It started when Birgit went on a shopping spree to find shoes for her daughter Nicole who back then was only a baby. Birgit quickly realized that there were no quality shoes in Singapore for children only cheap plastic ones with blinking lights and crazy sounds.

By Sarah Mia Haagerup

here is a lot going on in ‘Ziegler Shoes’ when I step into the small shop located on the second floor in Tanglin Mall.

Birgit who is wearing a pink loosefitting top approaches me with a big smile. “You must be from ScandAsia. Welcome. Give me just two minutes and I will be there”, she says and I find a good excuse for looking through all the beautiful clothes and shoes in the shop. Even though the shop is very small you can find roughly anything here from shining jewellery and stylish handbags to flashing summer sandals and smashing clothes and you can tell that Birgit has good taste. The best part however is that nearly all the items are from Denmark. The jewellery is from Denmark, the clothes from Danish brands like Saint Tropez and Vila while the shoes stand out by being from the shoe Mecca of Italy,

“I thought, well I’ll be damned! That’s not at all what I call good footwear like what I grew up with in Denmark. There must be a big market for this in Singapore”.

T

2 ScandAsia.Sg • February 2010

which I guess is okay seeing it’s Italy.

A young girl named Amanda is serving the costumers. She moved here from Denmark with her parents about eight months ago and has been hired by Birgit to look after the shop. It’s her second day today but she seems to be doing quite well.

For a second there it’s almost as if I am back in Denmark.

After a little while Birgit is back a little less busy this time, still with a big warm-hearted smile on her face making you instantly feel at ease with her.

Birgit has lived in Singapore with her husband for about 16 years and the Zieglers are therefore a wellknown name in the local community.

Birgit’s husband Henrik is the managing director of Marel Food Systems - a large provider of food processing machines - while Birgit, who is trained in the shoe industry, runs her three shops ‘Ziegler Shoes’, ‘Boutique Nicole’ and ‘Inside Living’.

All three shops with one thing in

common - a preference for Scandinavian design, most of all Danish.

Why Danish is the best “Denmark is pretty good at being ahead of things especially in terms of clothing. The quality of the clothes is good and the people behind the brands are good at trying new things”, Birgit says with a distinct Jutlandic accent.

In Birgit’s boutiques you can find all the sizes you would find in a regular shop in Denmark but when she goes out purchasing items for her store the suppliers almost always assume that she only needs the small sizes since she is doing business in Asia, where most people are smaller than in Europe.

But Birgit has a pretty good and broadly-based clientele, which requires her to provide lots of different sizes. Lots of her costumers are tourists mostly from Bangkok and in addition to that she gets a lot of costumers from Singapore, locals as well as foreigners.

Birgit had always wanted to open a shop and with her knowledge of the shoe industry it was an obvious choice to open her own shoe shop.

So in 1996 she introduced the Singaporean’s to children’s shoes from Denmark and it was an instant success.

As her clientele grew bigger and the need to expand became too big to ignore she decided to open her second store ‘Ziegler Shoes’.

Unfortunately she chose to open four days before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and therefore had a slow start because many tourists, in the wake of what had happened, were too terrified too fly.

Seeing that Birgit is largely dependent on tourists, sales were also affected by the outbreak of SARS in 2002.

“In situations like that we are very sensitive. When such things happen people don’t want to shop.

They panic”, Birgit says.

The recent financial crisis also

Romantic Interior Store took its toll because many foreigners left Singapore during this period.

But with the support of Birgit’s local costumers there were no red lights flashing at any time.

Difficult Ă‚Inside LivingĂŠ In May 2007 Birgit took the plunge and decided to open an applied art and furniture store. She fell in love with a location in the shopping mall Cluny Court because the cosy and romantic settings reminded her of Denmark. Like her other two stores she wanted to sell Scandinavian design but it showed to be easier said than done since “interior stores demands much more work than a clothing storeâ€?, Birgit says. For one there was the hangup about the difference between the climate in Singapore and the climate in Scandinavia. Singapore has a much higher humidity and it resulted in a lot of complaints from the costumers because of cracked surfaces and things

like that. “There were just too many complaints and I felt I couldn’t’ answer for it�, she says.

Second was the handling of goods, which turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. All things considered there were too many problems so Birgit chose to terminate her lease even though she had found the perfect location.

Many costumers were disappointed to hear the news since ‘Inside Living’ is the first of its kind in Singapore selling romantic style items from Danish designers such as Lene Bjerre, Villa Collection, Udesen DK and Nordal.

Birgit will close down ‘Inside Living’ on the 1st of May and as a result she will have a closing-down sale in the weeks before.

So if you have a preference for Scandinavian design like Birgit you shouldn’t miss it for the world.

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February 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ ScandAsia.Sg 3

Why isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it cheaper than back home?

5. Check the electricity plug. You may require an adapter when you get it home. Get one included in the price. Further, make sure the item will recharge on your home country voltage without converters etc.

Scandinavians living in Singapore often have to advise visiting friends about some of the ground rules of shopping for electronics in Singapore. This list on TripAdvisor.com covers the basics.

6. Ensure you have a world wide warranty. Many products are sold without warranties and can become a costly paper weight when you get them home. On any Chinese look-a-like products, ignore warranty promises, it will never happen.

1. Have a strong understanding of the product brand, model and price - otherwise you could pay twice what you would pay at home.

2. Before you start bargaining (at Sim Lim or Lucky Plaza you must bargain) - determine whether the deal includes GST. There will be assurances that you can make a claim at the airport but this does not always work. Understand the terms and conditions of the GST refund system before you assume you will get one.

3. Always determine whether it is a cash price or credit card price. Some vendors may charge up to 2% plus on a credit card transaction. If you are putting it on your credit card, know what your bank will slug you on conversion ie rate of the day plus a 1-3% conversion fee. It may add up to 5% to the cost which will kill the bargain.

4 ScandAsia.Sg â&#x20AC;˘ February 2010

7. Finally, have a strong understanding of the product - brand, model and price - other wise you could pay twice what you would pay at home..... and yes that is a repeat of the first point!

4. For a mobile phone, find out if it is unlocked - easiest way to guarantee is to put your foreign SIM in. This will also give you a chance to see if you like the display, touch etc and whether the default language is the one you need. For example, cheap Chinese look-a-like brands will not have the original makers software and are likely to have Chinese as the default language. That is, if you need menu and instructions in English not everything will be in English and every time you turn on the phone you will need to change the language option to English (ie always defaults to Chinese).

Bargaining tips Try a few stores to get a feel for the rock bottom price, if you think you have got the best price, see if you can negotiate for inclusion or deep discounts on some wanted accessories that usually have higher markups - for example, cameras may not come with memory cards. In one case a friend thought they got a great deal on a high end SLR only to find it did not include the lens!)

Johnny Reimar: Thailand is my second home Every year, the famous Danish entertainer and crooner, Johnny Reimar, goes back to Thailand. Not only to donate money to an orphanage in Pattaya but mainly because he loves the country.

Johnny Reimar gave a charity concert in Bangkok at the Danish restaurant Stable Lodge in order to raise money.

He could bring 60,000 baht to the orphanage two days after.

By Rikke Bjerge Johansen

The entertainer took his time to play around with the kids who were eager to show him their toys.

ictures in Pattaya: Jan Mouritsen/Pictures in Bangkok: Gregers Møller Did you know that Johnny Reimer in the year 2000 appeared on Thai TV to accept a prize called ‘Friends of Thailand’? The Thai government wanted to acknowledge his passion for Thailand and his support to the orphanage in Pattaya.

“It was a very unusual event, and I’m not sure how in the world they heard about me,” Johnny Reimar says with a smile.

It is 30 years since the Danish celebrity and entertainer and singer Johnny Reimar travelled to Thailand for the first time and it was love at first sight. Johnny Reimar and his whole family totally fell for the country and have been back constantly ever since. Two of his sons have even worked at hotels in Hua Hin and Krabi and his youngest son Mads speaks Thai.

“Thailand is our second home.

When we first arrived to Hua Hin in 1980 there was only a couple of hotels and it was very unspoiled compared to now. But still, the same values have remained; the Thais are lovely, the climate and food excellent,” Johnny Reimar says.

It was especially Krabi that blew away the family.

“It was completely different compared to Hua Hin and right in the Andaman Sea. Krabi was very primitive and very provincial compared to Bangkok, and the nature

was fantastic. We totally fell for it and will never grow tired of Krabi.

At that time, we stayed in the brand new hotel Phra Nang Inn, and now 25 years later we still do, even though it is now one of the older ones,” Johnny Reimar tells with a laugh.

P

Life changing orphanage After a few years of holiday in Thailand, Johnny Reimar got asked by the Rotary Club in Denmark if he would help raise money for an orphanage in Pattaya. It was lead by Father Brennan from America and the children desperately needed more money.

Johnny Reimar agreed to visit the orphanage and it changed his life.

“I was amazed to see how much time, effort and work the orphanage spent to help the children. I felt it was my obligation to support it as well, both personally and via charity concerts to raise money,” he remembers. “I have four wonderful children myself who are healthy, fit and live a luxury life compared to many others. I sleep better at night by supporting these orphans in Thailand,” says Johnny Reimar.

Through the years he has donated half a million Danish kroner to the orphanage, both from his own pocket and via donations from charity concerts. And the 13rd of January this year was not an exception. Again, Johnny Reimar gave a concert at the only Danish restaurant in Bangkok, Stable Lodge on

Sukhumvit soi 8. The garden was full of Danes who supported the good cause by listening, clapping and singing to a live performance by Johnny Reimar.

Thanks to everyone, Johnny Reimar collected 60,000 baht, almost 10.000 Dkr. The money went directly to the orphanage in Pattaya and its 850 children. Many of them have lived there from they were born and stay there until they graduate university. Then, the orphanage also has 200 children, some handicapped, who come to the orphanage every day to get training and help. They are also starting up a brand new project, a house and

shelter for street kids. ”They do a fantastic job in order to help these children. I’m also very pleased that 500 of the kids have been adopted to Danish parents. Unfortunately, many of the mothers disappear before signing a document that allow the children to be adopted by others. It is very sad, since people are on a waiting list to adopt a child from here,” Johnny Reimar tells.

After the visit to the orphanage, Johnny Reimar and his wife Annie are spending six weeks in the south of Thailand around Krabi and Koh Lanta. Here, all their four children will join them.

The children at The Orphanage in Pattaya greeded Johnny Reimar with a dance performed to his hit song ’Halli Halli Hallo. Vi vinder i Mexico’. They ended the show by giving him flowers and Johnny was very touched.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 11

Cheated Death Three Times Bo Tromborg followed his parents to Singapore when he was 14. At that time he lost his heart to Asia. He took two different educations in his Danish home town Skive. His life was saved three times in Denmark, still he feels Asia is the place where he belongs. Today he lives in Indonesia with his wife and their daughter.

from at least ten different nationalities.

A long story...

By Bjarne Wildau

anish Bo Tromborg is truly a fighter. More than 10 years a go the now 37 year old wood technician died three times during his hospitalization at Rigshospitalet the Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. But he was resurrected every time and after several years of rehabilitation, he was healthy enough to live on his services in the furniture and wood industry in Indonesia. Then he was cut down again by the financial crisis in 2008.

But after a count to eight, the fighter Bo Tromborg is now on his way up again!

D

Our meeting It was by pure coincidence that I ran into Bo Tromborg one Saturday evening in the backpacker street Jalan Jaksa in Jakarta. I was about to go home after an evening with music and some Bintang beers at Memory Café. Almost at the same time as the waiter gave me my bill, I heard Bo Tromborg’s loud voice behind me speaking his typical English with a very heavy Danish accent.

Bo Tromborg and his English friend were quite upset. They had just been rejected by the check inn staff in the airport. “You don’t believe it; China has just over night

12 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

changed its visa on arrival policy!” he complained.

“I have a meeting in Beijing tomorrow morning, but that will not happened. I have to go to the Chinese embassy tomorrow morning and start the visa process. Hopefully, with some luck I can get going Tuesday or maybe Wednesday!”

I wanted to meet him again so we exchanged phone numbers and on the following Monday, having submitted his application, we met again - this time at the wonderful small “KL” Restaurant in Jalan Jaksa where we found a table in the middle of an ethnic ocean of guests

Bo was looking at the menu when I asked him what brought him to Asia. He looked up at me, hesitated, then smiled and eventually started to laugh.“Well, it’s a long story,” he began and his eyes turned upwards searching the sky.

“I was 14. My dad was a manager in a furniture factory when someone wanted to start a factory in Singapore. My father got the job as the manager and then my Mom, my brother Jan and I just followed.”

“It was fantastic in many ways.

I went to an international school, where we were all more or less in the same boat. None of us had chosen to leave our friends, families and so on.”

“But it was very nice. I still have friends from my teen years in Singapore - today spread all over the world - and that’s nice”.

Three years later Bo anyway wanted to go back to his home town Skive, the centre of furniture production in Denmark. But at this point in the story, Bo suddenly gets nervous. How do I intend to write his story, he asks.

Instead of answering, I suggest we leave Jalan Jaksa and go down to the schooner harbour Sunda Kelappa where hundreds of schooners offload their wood from islands days or weeks away. Bo had never heard about Sunda Kelappa, so he is buying in to the idea without any problems.

When we reached the harbour we started walking along the ships anchored up and he continued where we left.

“When we lived in Singapore, I got this idea to break away from

the craftsman traditions of the family and become a business man.

That’s why I went back to Denmark to enrol myself in the local business academy. But it was a mistake,” hea adds.

“I never liked it that much. So when I was 20 I became an apprentice as a carpenter which was a bit late, but it was good for me and I finished the education in the estimated time.”

His first major job after he graduated was in Vilnius in Lithuania. It was not in the Far East, but at least it was abroad.

“I assisted the management of a factory there. It was exiting and challenging at the same time. I loved it,” says Bo

Almost dead Then the he starts telling me about the terrible time he went through when he actually passed away, and even several times - and still managed to cheat death last second.

“I was 26, when it happened. I

had come to Vilnius on a very good contract. But I had hardly started on the job before I got seriously ill. I became dizzy, then lost consciousness and was urgently transferred to the National Hospital in Denmark.”

When he woke up at the Danish hospital, he was told that he was born with an extra twin in his body. A so called “Fetus in Fetu”. It’s something that is estimated to occur in 1 in 500,000 live births. Normally the extra twin stays calm until the carrier gets into his or hers twenties. Normally it then starts growing in the lover back, and the foetus is then removed in a small smooth operation.

Unlike normal cases, his twin was in his brain. And by a double misfortune it started to grow when Bo Tromborg was just about to turn all his dreams and hopes into reality.

“The operation took 11 hours.

The fetus was at the size of a hen egg. The tumour like twin had presContinue on page 14

Bo Tromborg was highly sceptical if all the wood off-loaded in Jakarta’s schooner harbour Sunda Kelappa was all legally cut. He has been working with wood all his life.

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14 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

Bo Tromborg in Jalan Jaksa, the backpacker street of Jakarta, where we first met him.

His ‘wandering eye’ is the only visible sign of how close he has been to death.

sured my brain, and it was that pressure that had made me so ill,” “Later I met the brain surgeon, who had hands like frying pans. He told me that during his first coffee break four hours into the process, he almost gave up the whole mission. But luckily he carried on,” Bo jokes.

During the following days, he almost died three times. Bo clearly remembers one of the situations.

“I remember when I came to life again. I woke up to a terrible fuss. And I remember that I got upset and told the doctor and nurses to stop messing around and get out of my site. I had no idea, they were there because I had almost passed away.”

A nurse who later became his good friends, asked him to shot his big mouth and then continued moving him urgently to the intensive care unit.

Off to Malaysia Months later, when Bo had recovered, he left Denmark once again.

He was heading to Penang in Malaysia, where he was going to help his father run a furniture factory while at the same time recover his health completely.

Four years later, he returned briefly to Skive, to finish an education as a wood technician. But as soon as he had completed that, he went back to his beloved Asia again.

Since then, he has had only two jobs, both involving wood.

“The last job I lost because of the financial crisis,” Bo says.

“As it is, it is almost impossible to find a new job. Instead, I am trying to start my own company,” he

says optimistically.

However, just to register a company in Indonesia takes approximately 100.000 US $ and this kind of money he is not able to raise himself. First step is therefore to find a trustworthy partner.

Happy family While Bo Tromborg’s professional carrier is thus a little up in the air, the private part of Bo’s life is more secure and settled. While he was recovering from his illness in Penang Malaysia, he met a Christian Indonesian women. She belongs to the Batak tribe.

“Over several years we met now and then. Almost three years ago we got married and settled in the central Java, and build our own house in Wonosobo, close to the industrial town Semarang,” he tells.

“My wife’s sister has an agency taking Indonesian labour to Malaysia and my wife has now started doing the same. It’s a good business, so we can handle the daily life with our small daughter Alexandra who is brought up as a Christian. My wife believes god so much, that she is praying to him every evening before she sleeps,” Bo adds.

“I am more relaxed,” he admits.

“I join her now and then when she goes to church. They are singing very beautifully, so it’s not a big sacrifice,” Bo Tromborg smiles.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 15

From Gentofte to Eco Lodge Many people are dreaming of changing their life. Pia and Jeppe from Gentofte actually did it. They decided to pull the plug for a year and are now living their Vietnamese adventure, surround by rice fields, hill tribes and mountains.

By Rikke Bjerge Johansen hen Pia and Jeppe Skovhus Gerholt from Gentofte travelled around Vietnam for a couple of weeks in March this year with their two young children, they went to the north to Sapa in the Lao Cai province. Here, they stayed three nights at the Danish Topas Eco Lodge, surrounded by rice fields, mountains and hill tribes and before the three days were over, it had changed their lives.

W

Freja and Liva mingle with the local hill tribe, the Red Dao people

The who family Skovhus Gerholt in the mountains of Sapa. Jeppe, Pia and their two daughters Liva and Freja, 4 and 6 y.

“We talked to the Danish couple who ran the hotel and they told us that they were going back to Denmark in half a year. We felt immediately that this was an opportunity we could not miss,” Jeppe, 35, says.

“We had talked about living abroad before but we didn’t want to do the typical ‘expat-family way’ where Jeppe has a job and I’m going home. Here, we could do everything as a family and the timing with the kids’s age were perfect,’” explains Pia, 40, referring to Freja and Liva, 6 and 4 years old.

When the holiday in Vietnam was over, the couple couldn’t forget about Sapa. They went back to Denmark and contacted Danish Topas Adventure Travel which owns the Eco Lodge. Because of their backgrounds – Pia has worked in the travel business before and the couple has been to Vietnam many times before and love the country and culture– Topas decided to hire them as the new Lodge Managers.

16 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

So, they subleased their house and Jeppe was lucky to take a oneyear leave from his job in Microsoft while Pia unfortunately had to quit her good job at Lundbeck. “You can’t get everything served on a silver plate and this opportunity was too good to turn down. It was now or never. I will worry about my job situation when I get back to Denmark,” Pia says and smiles.

Creative kids and not materialistic The family said good bye to their home in Gentofte, Denmark in October and welcome to Topas Eco Lodge in the mountains and rice fields of Sapa. When they arrived, the 25 beautiful bungalows were fully booked and the family has been busy from the start. They care of the guests, make sure the bungalows and restaurant is running smoothly, they have to order new deliveries and take care of their 40 local employees. On top of it, Pia

is also home teaching the oldest daughter Freja, 6, with books, study material and a plan for 1st grade home study.

“We are doing everything as a family and we get so many experiences together. We have also learned new things about each other,” Jeppe says and laughs.

The two blond children are running around playing. They proudly come over to show a little sofa that they have just made out of cardboard. “The kids have become extremely creative in the way they play and invent stuff because they don’t have all the plastic toys. Compared to our life back home with going to work, pick up the kids, dinner and to bed, this is so stress free. We and the kids are enjoying it and it has brought us very close together.

For me it is very important to show them another part of life. They see how children out here are living and how poor the hilltribe families are,” Pia tells.

Biggest challenge With 40 local staff hired from nearby villages, Jeppe and Pia have learned a lot about the cultural behavior and difference.

“It is by far the biggest challenge out here. We have to tell them what to do all the time. They don’t take any initiative or come up with suggestions themselves – at all. And we have to double check if they have done the job we ask them to do. It can be a bit frustrating sometimes and it really makes me appreciate my Danish colleages and our ways of thinking independently,” Jeppe admits and adds: “They are also living in the present moment with no long term planning what so ever. For instance, one of the staff came up to me and said : ‘I’m getting married tomorrow. Do

Topas Eco Lodge is surrounded by the most spectacular landscape in Northern Vietnam

in Sapa you want to join?’. Or they call in the same day saying that they can’t come to work anymore because they have to build a house or something. But then it takes two hours before they have found a brother or another family member to replace,” Jeppe says.

Other values The family’s contract ends in October next year and it’s back to normal life. However, for the Skovhus

Gerholt family their Sapa adventure will influence their way of living.

“I can honestly say I have also become much less materialistic already from living here. 600 Danish kroner for a vase in a Danish‘Bo Bedre’-catalogue simply does not make sense to me anymore. Maybe it will again when we move back, but I really hope it won’t,” Jeppe says.

“And just the amount we could spend on a dinner in a restaurant in Copenhagen is absolutely insane.

You could live on that amount for a week or two out here,” adds Pia and continues: “Back home in Denmark you can schedule a dinner with friends four months ahead in the calendar.

Everything is so planned. What I’m hoping to learn from this culture is to be better to live in the present moment and enjoying it right now. I also hope this experience has given us the courage to do something spontaneous again one day. I have a

feeling this will not be the last family adventure abroad,” Pia says and smiles.

For contact, info and prices www.topasecolodge.com or Tel: +84.20. 387 1331 They also offer trekking, visits to local villages, hill tribes and schools. Follow Pia and Jeppe’s Sapa adventure on their personaly webpage: http://skovhusgerholt.wordpress.com/

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 17

Danish Project Gives Handicapped in Hanoi a Voice In Vietnam, handicapped people battles prejudice, low self esteem and an impossible architecture.

However, the Danish-supported organization Handicapped People of Hanoi are having success improving the conditions.

By Anya Palm

gyuen Trung sits back and raises his wheel chair a bit by shifting his weight. Then he slides over the little step in between his living room and his hallway. The floor is not even; it slopes downward, which is why there is another little step on the other end of the living room as well. Vietnamese architecture usually has many levels, steps and plateaus and Trung’s little house in Hanoi is no exception – getting around is one of the biggest problems for the 60-year-old retiree, who was struck by polio at the age of 2 and has been sitting in a wheel chair ever since.

However – this situation is

N

Vu Manh Hung, Director of DP Hanoi, in his office. slowly changing thanks to a Danishfunded project run by local poliovictims. Disabled People of Hanoi, a local NGO working to organize the handicapped of Hanoi, has managed to give people like Ngyuen Trung hope of a better future.

“Disabled People Hanoi helps us raise our voice. We are more organized and we can make claims today. Last time [Earlier] we could not be heard,” Trung explains of the Danish project.

DP Hanoi arranges workshops providing leadership training and drafts laws which take into consideration the handicapped population of the city. In just three years, DP Hanoi has gone from 19 “clubs” with no legal rights, to 29 district offices, 17 clubs and 2500 members.

It started in 2006, where DP Hanoi presented the idea of orga-

nizing handicapped people in Vietnam to the Danish Society of Polio and Accident Victims (PTU). PTU has traditionally focused on polio and where founded in the late 1945, when Europe was experiencing repeated polio epidemics.

Today, however, polio is nearextinct in Denmark and an efficient vaccine is at hand. Following that development, PTU has increased focus on countries still battling the disease, and the work has furthermore broadened out to also include people being handicapped by other causes than. Already involved in charity in Vietnam, PTU decided to fund the project over a two-yearcourse in 2006, when they were presented with the idea. And after having seen the remarkable results the little local NGO produced, the Danes decided to continue funding the good work in Vietnam. So far, the project is funded by PTU until 2010.

DP Hanoi’s headquarters is in the other end of town from Ngyuen Trung’s house. The anonymous white building is almost deserted and the office lies on the 15th floor, through a parking house and in through the back door – hardly an ideal place for a handicapped orgaNgyuen Trung is a former adviser for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam.

Today he is pensioned but still busy. He builds wheel chairs and teaches how to use them getting around the not very handicap friendly streets of Hanoi. Behind him are two of his colleagues from DP Hanoi, Le Diu and Thai Thuy.

18 ScandAsia.Dk • February 2010

nization, especially since the elevator seldom works, but they make do. Recently, DP Hanoi expanded the number of district offices from 14 to 29 local offices, all over the city.

“With the new offices, we can reach 90,000 handicapped people.

And the more voices, we can hear, the louder we can speak about changing discriminating laws and making new ones,” says Vu Manh Hung, director of DP Hanoi.

In addition DP Hanoi has managed to get quite a few handicapfriendly laws passed - among them one that allows handicapped free bus fare. Since June, 10,000 people have exercised that right and are driving around the city on the free bus pass.

This is good news to the Danes, who are monitoring the project closely. PTU project coordinator Heidrun Derflinger spent the two first weeks of November with the Vietnamese staff and she is impressed with the little hardworking NGO. “DP Hanoi has in very short time reached to establish district branches in the Hanoi area and helped them to get legalized and recognized by the local authorities.

This is an important precondition for getting support to the activities of the district branches by local authorities and mass organizations,” she explains.

PTU plans on collaborating with DP Hanoi for the next five-six years, depending on the possibility to get funds from the Danish government, so the NGO might even – as is the dream of director Vu Manh Hung – become spread beyond Hanoi and become nationwide. Then they can reach even more handicapped people.

For Ngyuen Trung, he might put up a slide in his living room to get rid of the little steps, he says. Or he might not – they don’t even bother him anymore.

“I can do a lot of tricks with this wheel chair, I live in it!” he says.

As a matter of fact, he has come to appreciate his special skill through a DP Hanoi workshop, where he teaches other less experienced wheel chair users to navigate around in the impossible streets of Hanoi.

“You can lift the chair up, like this,” he says and demonstrates.

February 2010 • ScandAsia.Dk 19

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