ScandAsia Thailand March 2015

MAR 2015
Kui Buri:
Caring for the elephants
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Disraporn Yatprom
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Prospects for Danish companies in Myanmar
When: March 27, 2015, from 07:30 – 09:00
Where: Grand Millennium Sukhumvit Hotel
30 Sukhumvit 21 (Asoke) Road, Klongtoey Nua,
Wattana - Bangkok
DTCC Breakfast Seminar presents ‘Political
Situation and the Opportunities for Danish
companies in Myanmar’ with Special Guest
Speaker: Danish Ambassador to Myanmar Peter
Lysholt Hansen.
Find out more on what you can do in
Myanmar, learn more about the state of play in
Myanmar regarding the peace process, elections
and constitutional reforms as well as the latest
economic developments. Danish development
assistance plans to Myanmar for the period
2016-2020 as well as opportunities for Danish
companies.
Ticket price for Non-members: THB1,100.00
Special ticket price for DanCham members:
THB750.00
Viking Wheelers Bangkachao Invasion
When: March 21, 2015, starting at 0900
Where: Admirals Pub and Restaurant
Informal and non-profit Bangkok-based bicycle
group with most members from the Nordic
countries, but welcomes people of all ages, lifestyle
and nationality who enjoy bicycling for fun and
camaraderie in the Nordic style - with plenty of
beers at the end of the tour.
The group celebrated its 10th anniversary last
year. It started out as the Danish Thai Chamber of
Commerce’s cycling team but has since open to
all comers.

March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 5

Norway’s
salmon exports
to Thailand rose sharply in 2014
Finland’s Jongla
mobile messaging
app targets SE
Asia
Jongla CEO Riku Salminen.
by Thana Poopat
Thai consumers’ seemingly insatiable
appetite for Norwegian seafood,
especially salmon, continued apace,
with more than 60 per cent increase
in Norway’s fresh salmon exports
to Thailand in 2014, according to a Norwegian
Seafood Council executive.
Jon Erik Steenslid, Norwegian Seafood
Council’s Regional Director South-East Asia, told
ScandAsia that Norway exported to Thailand a
total of 8,596 tons of salmon, worth a total of
NOK350 million. Of this, fresh whole salmon
jumped from 1804 tons in 2013 to 2935 tons
in 2014, representing an increase of 63 per cent.
“I would say that Norwegian salmon is still
in an introductory phase in Thailand. It is steadily
getting more and more known and popular
among Thai consumers,” Steenslid said. “The
future for Norwegian salmon in Thailand looks
bright.”
However, Steenslid said it is important to
keep in mind that Thailand is a major reprocessing
nation for seafood from all over the world,
meaning that only a fraction of the seafood that
is imported is actually consumed in Thailand.
“We do not have any figures showing
how much Norwegian seafood that is actually
consumed in Thailand. But we believe that the
majority is re-exported to other parts of Asia in
particular,” he said.
The export of fresh Norwegian salmon
to Thailand, which has increased over the past
few years, is indicative of a rise in domestic
consumption.
“It is unlikely that fresh salmon is processed
and re-exported from Thailand, which is a strong
indication that domestic consumption of fresh
Norwegian salmon is increasing,” Steenslid said.
“This fits very well with what we currently
6 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015
see in the Thai market where more and more
supermarkets are selling fresh salmon, not to
mention the proliferation of sushi restaurants, in
which salmon is probably the most important
ingredient.
In 2013 Norwegian salmon had a market
share of 97% in fresh salmon in Thailand.
The breakdown figures of Norway’s 2014
salmon exports to Thailand were as followed:
• Fresh whole salmon 2935 tons, at average
price of NOK 42.86 per kg FOB
• Frozen whole salmon 3910 tons, at average
price of NOK43.00 per kg FOB
• Fresh salmon fillets 275 tons, at average price
NOK 61.00 per kg FOB
• Frozen salmon fillets 176 tons, at average
price NOK 69.00 per kg FOB
• Frozen other products 769 tons (bi-products
and products not included above)
In 2014 Thailand was ranked as Norway’s
28th largest export market worldwide. Among
the East-Asian countries, it was No.6 behind
Japan, South-Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam and
Taiwan.
Norway in 2014 exported 999,000 tons
of salmon worth NOK43.9 billion, the highest
export level ever for salmon and represented an
11 per cent gain on the previous year.
Steenslid said the challenge in Thailand is
how to increase knowledge and awareness of
Norwegian salmon and seafood throughout the
value chain.
“That is why the Norwegian Seafood Council
is working to inform and educate the market on
product knowledge, handling and branding of the
Norwegian origin so that consumers get the best
possible quality and develop a preference for
buying seafood from Norway.”
Finnish mobile messaging company Jongla
has launched what it says is the lightest ever
instant messaging app.
Jongla CEO Riku Salminen.
Jongla Lite is a new 2.7MB version of the Jongla
cross-platform instant messaging app designed
for regions with limited telecommunications
infrastructure and for devices with limited
memory.
Engineering innovations have made Jongla
Lite on Android around 15 per cent of the size of
its nearest competitor and a tenth of the size of
the average instant messaging app.
Jongla believes the new version of the app will
be particulary attractive in markets such as India
and South East Asia where low cost phones are
commonplace and there is limited access to 3G
and 4G networks.
“Jongla Lite is the first of a number of groundbreaking
product developments we plan for
2015,” says Jongla CEO Riku Salminen.
“It has been designed for markets in South
East Asia where we have a significant and growing
user base already and India, where we see
huge potential demand for high quality instant
messaging.”
The company believes the new version of the
app will also appeal to younger users across the
world, who often have low specification phones.
In the weeks prior to the launch of Jongla Lite,
the company has increased speed, security and
capacity of the network through infrastructure
upgrades and a move to an increased number
of servers distributed around the world. Jongla’s
infrastructure can now support up to 320 million
users.
The company has also announced plans
for a further funding round with existing, and
potentially new, investors designed to enable it
to accelerate global marketing and monetization
plans and on-going research and development.
Jongla is available to download for free from
the App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone
Store and Firefox Marketplace.

Telenor/dtac appoints new Thailand CEO
News Brief
dtac on February 12 announced the
appointment of new Chief Executive
Officers (CEO), effective April 1, 2015.
Lars-Åke Norling, currently the CEO of DiGi.
Com Berhad in Malaysia, assumes the role as new
CEO in Total Access Communication PCL (dtac)
to pursue the agenda of building dtac to become
Thailand’s leading internet operator. Sigve Brekke
will step down as interim CEO in dtac and return
to focusing on his role as Executive Vice President
and Head of region Asia, Telenor Group. He
continues to serve as Vice-Chairman in dtac’s
Board of Directors.
“On behalf of dtac’s Board of Directors,
I’m pleased to announce the appointment of
dtac’s new CEO, Lars-Åke Norling, following a
selection process over the last few months. Lars-
Åke brings relevant technical and commercial
experience from two of the world’s most
advanced digital markets, Sweden and Malaysia.
As Lars-Åke joins dtac, the company is set to
deliver on its strategic ambition of internet for
all and to contribute to the development of
Thailand’s Digital Economy. The Board expresses
its gratitude to Sigve for his efforts to establish a
new direction for dtac in his role as interim CEO,”
says Boonchai Bencharongkul, Chairman of the
Board of Directors, dtac.
Lars-Åke Norling brings significant industry
experience to dtac. He joined DiGi as CEO
in August 2014, where he has overseen the
company’s strong development in revenues and
overall market position. Previous to DiGi, Lars Åke
was CEO in Telenor Sweden from 2009 to 2014
and served as their CTO from 2007 to 2009. He
has also held a number of executive positions in
the fixed broadband provider Bredbandsbolaget
in Sweden, as well as in Ericsson.
Sigve Brekke stepped in as interim CEO in
dtac in September 2014:
“Over the last six months we have set a
new direction for dtac: to become the leading
internet operator in the market by delivering
the best internet network to the data-loving Thai
consumers. This ambition is support by a significant
network expansion drive, service innovations
and business transformation programs. dtac has
pledged to deliver the best customer internet
experience to Bangkok, its Metropolitan Area
and 30 other major cities by March 31 this year. I
will work closely with dtac’s management team in
strengthening the company’s position as a digital
frontrunner,” says Sigve Brekke.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute
to the development of dtac. Based on its strong
position with Thai consumers today, dtac has the
opportunity to deliver further growth. I look
forward to working with the dtac team and the
Board of Directors in achieving the company’s
strategic ambitions,” says Lars-Åke Norling.
Call +352 43 88 77 77 to find out more about our service
Lars-Åke Norling, CEO
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March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 7
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Food Academy Bangkok
Abruptly Closed Down
Susanna Asklöf in action baking
a cake at the time when
everything was still fine.
Photo: Daniel Herron
The Food Academy Bangkok (F.A.B),
set up by a Swede only a few years
ago, has come to an abrupt end. F.A.B
suddenly closed down by the end
of 2014 and in the process a dream
project of the initiator, Susanna Asklöf, was ruined.
The website said: ‘Closed due to external
circumstances!’ On F.A.B’s previous Facebook
page Susanna elaborated: “Dear friends and
sponsors in Bangkok/Scandinavia!! After almost 3
years building up F.A.B and putting in 110 % effort,
I regret to inform you that I can no longer keep up
with the demands of the job and will be closing
FAB. Since some people made my hard work even
harder it is impossible to continue.”
The circumstances surrounding the closure
are murky and the Scandinavian community is
tight-lipped on the subject. F.A.B had enjoyed much
support from Swedes and other Scandinavians
in Bangkok, not only for its Scandinavian food
and bread but also for its cause – helping
underprivileged people in Bangkok’s slum area in
Klong Toey to a career within restaurants - food &
beverage - through learning the skills of cooking
and baking, including also basic accounting and
English skills. Susanna Asklöf had wanted to make
a difference; ‘making merit’, as Buddhists would
definitely define her efforts.
8 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015
Many feasts and Scandinavian events, such
as crayfish and midsummer parties, were held at
F.A.B and the catering became successful in the
community.
F.A.B was started and operated using her
own funds, and with the help of private donors
– a Swiss foundation among them – along with
income from selling food and holding private
events.
It all went well – until something went terribly
wrong, the details of which Susanna Asklöf declines
to reveal.
“F.A.B enjoyed a fantastic response but what
good did that do when Thais did not believe in my
sincere intentions, believing I was making a profit
and wanting their share of that. I had to close
down F.A.B since it was incomprehensible for the
authorities to believe that I ran the project as a
non-profit organization, and instead persistently
believed I was doing something else.”
“I spent all my private savings to build up
F.A.B and could never take out a salary. My private
economy is in ruins.”
She did not mince here words in describing
what she had been going through leading up to
the closure.
“It’s been hell for me, and a catastrophe.
They’ve ruined my life and my future.”
Who are they? Susanna’s concern for
herself and the safety of all the organizations and
individuals that supported are more important for
her than elaborating any further.
Those causing trouble for her were only after
money, she said to ScandAsia.
“My friends have supported me immensely
during this time and I have fought extremely hard.
Those who supported and were there with us
already know – and we are protecting each other
now. There is not much to add. No more people
should get in trouble because of this.”
“Though difficult, I have greatly enjoyed
the experience of helping young people getting
started in the food business and I can’t thank
you enough for also helping to provide new
opportunities for those with limited options in life.
I greatly appreciate all your help and support with
this project,” she announced too on Facebook.
From her adopted home country Sweden she
is deeply disappointed about Thailand, the country
in which she was born.
“I feel safe now but I will never forget this hell
I’ve been through, and I’m pretty disappointed to
have seen that Thais do not understand that one
might want to do something without having the
ambition to make a lot of money.”

News Brief
The world’s most adulterous countries
Tetra Pak in Thailand. Photo:
dairyreporter.com
New Tetra
Pak Training
Centre in
Thailand
The multinational food
packaging and processing
company of Swedish origin
has opened a new training centre in
Rayong in Thailand, DairyReporter.
com writes.
It has cost around 40 millions
to build. It is 3,000 square meters
and has three packaging lines and
laboratories. The new Training
Centre is the second established
in Thailand.
The centre will be lead by
educated engineers from Tetra
Pak’s own company in the region
supported by the company’s global
training organization in Lund,
Sweden.
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Scandinavia and Thailand is in
top ten, when it comes to
adultery in marriage, a new
survey made by Statista and with
numbers from Match.com shows.
Only Sweden stays out of the list.
Using data from Match.com and
The Richest, Statista has plotted the
top 10 countries with the highest
percentage of married adults who
admit to being adulterous.
Thailand is the leader by quite
some way, although it is interesting
to note that the next nine are all
European – including the UK in joint
ninth place.
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March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 9

Energy saving
is a serious
business
Karsten Holm’s career path has been a roller
coaster ride, but along the way he also managed
to achieve significant legacy in energy efficiency
strategies for Thailand.
By Thana Poopat
It’s easy for people in rich industrial countries
to take for granted instant access to virtually
limitless energy supply that money can
buy. But for Thailand and other developing
countries, the road to sustainable, affordable
and relatively clean energy has to be meticulously
planned and closely managed if social and
economic development is to be achieved,
maintained and propelled forward.
That’s where Karsten Holm, an energy
management expert came into the picture. In
his line of work, energy efficiency is the cheapest,
most reliable and climate-friendly way of meeting
energy needs.
“We can’t develop any sector within society
without reliable supply of energy. Reliable supply
of affordable and clean electricity and energy is a
basic assumption for developing societies,” Holm
said. “Even Supply of food relies on reliable supply
of energy.”
Holm should know. With the benefit of
hindsight, his three-stint, starting in 1993, with
the UNESCAP, a development arm of the United
Nations in Asia and the Pacific, offered him
good preparation for his future career in energy
management consulting business.
But his career in energy management
consulting business is not without its ebb and flow.
Holm, who has spent the last 14 consecutive years
living and working in Thailand and neighbouring
countries, knows full well the need to stay vigilant
against booms and busts and be ready to adapt to
constantly-shifting business landscape.
The first time Holm, an engineer and energy
planner by training, was hired by Danish Energy
Management to lead the consulting firm’s Bangkok
office, it turned out to be a non-starter as the
1997 Asian financial crisis got in the way.
“I was hired at the beginning of 1997 by the
company because of my experience [working with
the United Nations] in the region. The company
was looking for opportunities in energy sector
in Asia with Thailand as a regional base,” he said.
By July that year, Thailand was laid low by the
10 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015

From 2004, Danish Energy
Management, with funding
from Danish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Ministry
of Climate and Energy,
helped develop a carbon
credits trading programme
in Thailand, involving
Danish and Thai companies
with the Danish Embassy
in Bangkok serving as
coordinator.
1997 financial meltdown that sent shockwaves
around East Asia, causing a sharp downturn and
disruption to economic activity in much of the
region.
“I felt like a salmon swimming upstream to
lay eggs” was how Karsten Holm described the
desperate situation in which he found himself
at that time. “Virtually all the foreigners working
here [in Thailand] were trying to escape,” he said.
“There was no way anyone could continue
to do business. No company dared invest in
anything. All they wanted to do was struggling
just to survive.”
Karsten Holm went back to Denmark and
was reassigned to work in the Baltics to provide
much-needed consulting services to the then
recent breakaway republics of the former Soviet
Union.
“From 1998 to 2000, I worked in Estonia,
Lithuania and Latvia, which were trying to upgrade
and develop their energy sector,” Karsten Holm
said.
His work as energy management
consultant involves giving advice to companies
and governments to help them save energy
by investing in energy-efficient equipment and
practices to achieve quickest possible return on
investment.
Accurate measurement is the name of the
game. “You won’t have anything to work with
unless you measure, monitor and verify energy
consumption precisely. Companies need to also
measure energy use.”
One of the good things about a career in
consulting is you can always repackage your
professional skills and expertise to help clients
solve new problems as they emerge. But only the
more resilient and adaptable givers of advice will
thrive in the fast-changing global environments
the way Holm has done.
Toward the end of 2000 Karsten Holm
returned to Thailand as team leader of a small
project on energy audit of Thai small and medium
size enterprises (SMEs). He advised the National
Energy Policy Office on organisational set-up and
analysed incentives for private sector to introduce
energy efficiency in the production.
Danish Energy Management, led by Holm,
made positive impressions on Thai government
agencies and private companies they had worked
with. The Danish consulting firm went on to build
up an impressive portfolio of projects in Thailand.
Then opportunities started to knock. Danish
Energy Management got to work with Thailand’s
Ministry of Energy on some major assignments,
technical assistance programmes funded by
DANIDA, the Danish government’s international
development agency.
One of these programmes was designed
to help the Ministry of Energy revise Building
Energy Codes between 2001 and 2004. Karsten
was put in charge of giving technical advice to
the ministry, reviewing the existing codes and
provide recommendations for adjustments
through analysis of saving potentials in larger
buildings in Thailand. The assignment included
analysis of minimum efficiency levels for lighting,
air-conditioning and ventilation and overall
thermal transfer value as well as energy building
design for commercial and public buildings.
From 2004, Danish Energy Management,
with funding from Danish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Ministry of Climate and Energy, helped
develop a carbon credits trading programme in
Thailand, involving Danish and Thai companies
with the Danish Embassy in Bangkok serving as
coordinator.
The Danish consulting firm was assigned to
handle complex procedures of carbon accrediting
to get projects in Thailand approved by applying
MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification)
methodologies.
But the economics of CDM projects and
commitment to greenhouse gas reduction by
industrial countries have always been highly
uncertain. From its height when a tonne of carbon
dioxide emission reductions was traded at over
20 euros in 2008, the price has dipped to its
lowest ebb at less than a quarter of a euro in
2014.
“Carbon trading has nearly stopped at this
price. There is no incentive for anyone to spend
resources in verifying CO2 emission reductions.
But the Danish government has decided to
honour the existing contracts until they expire at
the end of 2015,” Karsten Holm said.
It would seem all has gone to waste. Not
really, according to Karsten Holm. At least 16 Thai
companies, ranging from oil palm processing to
tapioca flour mill to pig farm, have benefited from
the trading system that have altogether generated
about USD4.5 million from sale of carbon credits.
Carbon credits earned through reduction
of greenhouse gas emission by Thai companies
upgrading to more energy-efficient machinery,
installing biogas production facilities or generating
carbon neutral power, provide incentive to
energy efficiency while at the same time reduce
overall greenhouse gas emission into the earth’s
atmospheres.
Holm and his Danish Energy Management
team had spent several years building up the UNapproved
carbon credits programme, one of the
biggest of its kind in Thailand.
But all is not lost. Between the 1997 financial
crisis and the collapse of carbon trading system,
Karsten Holm and Danish Energy Management’s
Thailand office have built long-lasting legacy.
The company has been behind several really
useful schemes for Thailand. Among the most
notable examples are the minimum building
energy efficiency standard that is now in force
in Thailand, requiring commercial and public
buildings with total floor space of 2000 sq m and
up to meet the minimum standard for energy
efficiency.
“I worked on this for three years to draw up
Building Energy Efficiency Code. This standard
applies to new buildings and major renovation of
old ones. Today, the minimum energy efficiency
standard becomes part of the Building Energy
Efficiency law,” he said.
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 11

Caring for the
wild elephants
By Gregers Moller / photo by Disraporn Yatprom
12 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015
Kui Buri (pronounced “Gui Buri”) is
a district in the northern part of
Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, the
same province that also includes Hui
Hin, only 80 km further to the south.
Driving by car from Bangkok, the 260 km will
usually take four hours.
Neighboring districts are Sam Roi Yot to the
north and the city of Prachuap Khiri Khan to the
south. To the west, Kui Buri is so close to Myanmar
that it borders directly to the Tanintharyi Division
of that country. To the East you have the beautiful
coastline along the Gulf of Thailand.
One of the major attractions of the province
is a visit to the National Park, which is so far away
from all the Bangkok weekend campers that it is
really what it was meant to be - a protected area
where nature rules.
Kui Buri National Park
Kui Buri National Park covers a major part of the
western area of the district including the Thai side
of the Tenassirim mountain ridge. The park also
extends into Sam Roi Yot and Prachuab Khiri Khan.
What the park is probably most well-known for is
its large herds of wild elephants that may be seen
from several observation posts within the park.

To keep the wild elephants within the park
and not be tempted to go out and eat the
pineapples or sugarcane in farm areas just outside
the park, volunteer groups occasionally join the
park rangers in building salt licks at strategic points
where the elephants may also be favourably
viewed by binoculars at a safe distance.
The group that my wife and I joined recently
consisted of photo enthusiasts from Bangkok. By
helping them dig the salt licks, we were paying
back favours to the rangers, who had taken
us off the beaten track into the park to watch
the elephants at particularly close range from
shelters hidden in trees along the route where
the elephants were regularly walking.
If three men can dig a hole in one hour
The elephant watch had been a great experience.
Helping to dig the three by three meter wide
holes down to a depth of one meter was harder
than expected, but under the guidance of the
officials, we worked in shifts, slowly, but steadily
and after four hours, the three holes were dug.
The salt that is mixed with the softened up
soil and then covered with part of the soil again,
was raw sea salt, which the province produces
plenty of along the coastline.
Sea salt production
To produce raw sea salt, you need shallow fields
near the coast where you can pump the salt water
into. The sun will heat up the water and make it
evaporate so that more water can be pumped
into the field. Eventually, the salt concentration is
so high, that the salt starts crystallizing on the clay
on the bottom f the field.
From now, no more water is poured into the
field. When the last drop of water has evaporated,
the salt can be scraped together and scooped
into bags for further cleaning. Only this cleaning
process is not needed when the salt is used for
elephant salt licks.
Apart from the elephants, a large number of
krating - a wild ox that lives in the park as well -
also come out of the woods to enjoy the salt licks.
To ride or not to ride
Current, a controversial debate is going on
among Nordic tour operators, whether riding
on elephants is animal cruelty or is indirectly
responsible for animal cruelty.
The debate is based on the false claim, that
all elephants have been tormented as baby
elephants, starved and beaten into submission.
The fact is that domestically born elephants are
being trained without any torture, just like young
horses are being trained for riding and young
oxen need to learn how to pull a plow.
If offered a trekking tour on an elephant, you
have as a customer obviously no way of checking
if the elephant that will carry you around was
once captured in the wild. However, as there is
no lack of domesticated elephants in Thailand, it
is more like that it was born by a domesticated
elephant than captured in the wild.
As the ride is a business, the owner also has
for sure a good reason to maintain his assets,
the elephants that give him his income, as well
as possible. On the other hand, he would have
suddenly no use of the clumsy beasts, if all tourists
suddenly turn their back on this great experience
and for sure no money to feed them.
Keep in mind also, that elephants were
carrying people on their back long before Lord
Buddha was born. Enjoy your vacation.
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 13

Adventurous active
Vartika Adventure Retreatic Resort is a
completely new ‘brother’ resort of Vartika
Resovilla KuiBuri situated just only 800
meters away from the Vartika Resovilla KuiBuri .
Vartika Adventure Retreatic Resort offers fun
and excitement for families and friends who seek
for adventurous activities during the stay.
The resort is fully open in 2015 with 41
rooms. It contains the colorful concept with
unconditional designs for both interior and
exterior decoration combining oddness and
harmony as one in order to give the idea of
“Experience a new world of every visit” as same
as Vartika Resovilla KuiBuri does.
Vartika Adventure Retreatic Resort provides
a big curvy-shaped, salted swimming pool with
the pool bar inside for you to sit in the pool at the
bar. Within the resort, you can have Thai, Italian,
American, Asian, and international dishes from
three types of restaurants; from café to fine dining.
Vartika Adventure Retreatic Resort
62/1 Moo 5 Bornok, Muang, Prachuapkirikhan THAILAND 77210 Tel : 032-820180-2 Fax: 032-820169 www.vartikaadventure.com
14 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015

recreation
In terms of activities, everybody of all ages can
enjoy from light activities to extreme ones such as
zipline, abseiling, sky walker, BB gun, shooting, and
archery. Kids also can enjoy kid’s club with games and
movies provided, or even the Do It Yourself (D.I.Y)
arts of glass, bags, t-shirt painting, frame making, and
jelly candle.
The Vartika family, under Busree Boutique
Resort Group, maintains the concept of being
friendly to the environment and saving the natural
source as much as possible by adapting alternative
energy into practice. Also, we do support the local
produces such as vegetables, fruits, milk and seafood
in order to sustain our community.
The two Vartika resorts are located in Kuiburi
district, Prachuap Khiri Khan which is about 270 km.
south from Bangkok. Kuiburi is increasingly visited by
worldwide tourists and domestic citizens every year,
it is famous for the wild elephants in Kuiburi National
Park and also for other natural sightseeing such as
caving, local canal cruising, waterfalls, historical sites,
mountains, and local lives.
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 15

Agneta’s
World
Flowers,
fragrances and pampering!
That’s just so wonderful with Thailand; you
can go and pamper yourself without paying
a fortune.
If I happen to have a day completely without
any duties or must do’s, I often chose to pay
a visit to the Flower Market. If you still not
have visited this amazing place you absolutely
must do.
I take the BTS at Asoke, closest station to
where I live, change at Siam and go to Saphan
Taksin the last station before crossing the Chao
Praya River.
Walk down to the river and catch one of the
express boats or even a tourist boat, the only
difference is the price. The Express boat cost less,
15 baht and the Tourist boat 40 baht and both
take you to the same piers. It’s a nice trip and
mostly a bit windy. You go off at Pier 7 by the
Yodpiman River Walk and walk through the newly
opened small shopping arcade with handcraft
boutiques, small coffee shops, ice cream bars and
several restaurants. The arcade reminds me of the
beaches and their small malls on the Californian
coast, built colonial style.
From there it’s not very far to the streets
where all flowers are sold. You can get the scent
of the flowers almost from the river. There are
flowers everywhere and the colors are beautiful.
I think you can find most flowers and especially
the orchids are seen at every booth.
You have to walk around and ask about
prices, as there can be a big difference between
the stales. Don’t forget, for us “farangs” the prices
are higher than for the locals. I have tried several
time to bargain, but no use, for us the prices are
fixed. You can’t really complain as the flowers are
already at a very reasonable cost. Where else can
you buy a bunch of 50 roses for 100 baht?
Once you become familiar with the market,
you will most likely also find your favorite sellers.
I bring one of the practical IKEA plastic bags
and carry the flowers home that way. You easily
become a flower shopaholic at the market. After
around 30 minutes I am normally done with my
shopping and I return home with a happy feeling
to fill my home with the fresh and beautiful
flowers.
16 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015

Nail Plus
The first time I walked for hours,
couldn’t get enough, and of course
my feet then started hurting, so on my
way home I passed my favorite place
for manicure and pedicure, “Nail Plus”
located on Sukhumvit soi 19, in the department
store Robinson. This place belongs to two young
Thai women, Khun Orn and Khun Tammy, smart
business girls.
They met 10 years ago when they worked at
the same beauty company and 8 years ago they
decided to start their own business. Today they
have three shops, first one to open was the newly
decorated at Robinson, second is not very far
from the first one, located on Soi 19 behind the
Sacha Uno Hotel and the third is on Sukhumvit
soi 23 and is called Nail Plus Signature (a bit more
exclusive than the 2 others maybe).
I asked if their customers are mostly “farangs”
or Thai and they said, about 10 % Thai and the rest
a mixture of Asians and Westerners. They offer
almost everything and some of the “girls” are real
artists doing the most complicated patterns on
both hand nails and toe nails.
Walking back home on clouds. The feet are
like silk, nails in a bright color and I feel good.
Panipa
Taking a glimpse at myself in the show
window, I realize I need to have my
hair done. Well, at Westin Hotel on
the 8th floor you’ll find the hair salon
Panipa.
Very often I am asked by women who just
settled in Bangkok, where to go for a haircut or
coloring. It’s not every hairdresser who is able
to treat the Western women’s hair. We have a
completely different hair structure compared to
the Asian people.
Panipa has specialized on our hair type and
I have never been disappointed. They also do
manicure and pedicure, waxing, facials, massages
and more and the prices you can’t say much
about. They are open every day, except for a few
days around New Year.
Panipa has several salons all over Bangkok
and also in the surroundings like Nichada Thani
and La Salle. The Westin salon is relatively small
and the staff very friendly and capable. The first
salon opened in 1967, so the brand Panipa is
deeply rooted.
That’s just so wonderful with Thailand; you can
go and pamper yourself without paying a fortune.
This is how I enjoy a day off and I recommend
you to give it a try.
Spoil and pamper yourself, because you are
worth it! Of course this is not only for us women.
Men are also more than welcome and of course,
they need to spoil themselves too, at least once
in a while!
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 17

Similan
Islands
ScandAsia reporter went
for a mesmerizing first dive.
By Lasse Henriksen
Photo: Jesse Wekerle
18 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015
The boat was heading for the Similan
Islands. A nature reserve that is only
open to visitors half of the year. The
Islands are a haven for divers, with
pristine clear waters with nuances
from turquois to deep blue. With its diversity
of marine life and large number of dive spots
ranging from calm bays to deep dives, the
Similan’s have a reputation of being one of the
world’s top ten dive spots. Here there is room
for both snorkelers and experienced divers
looking for whale sharks and manta rays.
Recreational diving has become a very
popular holiday activity, and why not, you can get
introduced to the underwater world relatively
cheap and finding a dive school is definitely not
a problem in Thailand, where places like Phuket,
Khao Lak or Koh Tao are basically littered with
dive centers.
But even though diving has come within
reach of the common man or woman, it is still
an activity that requires skill and respect. Just
filling out the medical statement is a reminder
that diving does not come without risks. Quite
a few diseases can affect your safety, you are not
supposed to fly within the first 12 hours after
diving and you have to confirm that you know
diving involves deadly risks.
Surprisingly simple
The concept of breathing under water and
being able to move around freely is arguably,
like flying and space travelling, a pinnacle of
modern civilization. But like boarding a plane,
our technology has made this venture into a
new element awfully simple. Sucking air out of
the mouthpiece is as easy as breathing through
a snorkel and you can adjust depth perfectly by
pushing a button.
This does not mean that diving is just a
walk in the park. Telling your brain it is okay to
breathe underwater without hyperventilating,
holding your breath or getting a minor panic
attack is more of a challenge. But all good diving
schools takes this into account and will start
you off at a pool or low waters, where you can

get comfortable under the water and practice
recovering your mouthpiece, if it should fall out
of your mouth.
Remember as long as you stay calm, chances
are nothing bad will happen. Your instructor will
be an experienced diver who can always help
you to the surface or give you air if you lose your
mouthpiece or are too stressed to remember
how to empty it from water.
A break from the world
Before you can dive at the Similan Islands
two hours on the slow boat from Khao Lak is
necessary. The islands are too far away to see
from the shore, but as you get closer small dots
of a different shape of blue will appear between
water and sky. While you watch the islands grow
in the horizon, there will be plenty of time to
enjoy breakfast and get a thorough briefing
about the dive spot.
Like many other parts of the west coast
the reefs at Similan Islands were damaged by
the 2004 tsunami. On top of the tsunami, the
reefs at Similan Islands have suffered from coral
bleaching due to rising temperatures and marine
tourism. But while some of the corals look like
they have been taking a beating, the diversity of
marine life is still high.
“I used to dive at Koh Tao - here you got
so many fish. Just counting triggerfish, in the 4
months I spend at Koh Tao I saw 2 species, on
my first dive here I saw 4,” Jesse Werkerle, who
is a diver and our underwater photographer said.
Underwater adventure
At the dive spot you just have to believe that you
won’t sink and jump in the water. The descend
will be slow. Surprisingly enough there is less of
an ear pain diving compared to snorkeling where
you rarely have time to equalize the inner air
pressure.
As a complete beginner you will see a lot
of the same fish and corals as when you go
snorkeling, but when you are diving you get the
chance to go a few meters deeper, stay down
there and have a closer look without worrying
about resurfacing to catch some air.
Another nice thing about the slow boat
is that there is space for a kitchen and tables
you can eat lunch at between the dives. For
beginners it is highly recommendable to have a
2nd dive, you will be more confident and able to
focus on other things than the surreal fact that
you are breathing 9 meters under water.
On the way back to the mainland, beer is
obligatory and there is a chance share your
experience with other divers and listen to
instructor’s bragging about the size of the seacreatures
they have encountered.
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 19

Scandinavians
rocked
through the night
The annual garden party organized by
Scandinavian Society Siam was held at the
Danish Embassy this Saturday. Meet some of
the people who joined the event and hear what
they think are the best about living in Bangkok.
Text & Photos: Louise Bihl Frandsen
Kenneth and Berit Radencrantz with Ginny and Jan Eriksson, the President of the Swedish chamber
20 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015
While caviar crème, piano
music and champagne set
the scene Saturday night in
the garden of the Recidence
of the Danish Ambassador.
Rock ’n’ roll, sweaty dance moves and free flow
of beer quickly took over. The garden party was
organized by Scandinavian Society Siam.
An easy life
Berit and her husband are from Sweden. They
lived in Bangkok for 15 years.
“There are so much I love about Bangkok. I
love the easy life down here, and I feel I can be a
real lady,” Berit explains.
Ginny agrees. If there is something she is sad
about, it is the internationalization of the city.
“I used to love to go shopping in all the
local stores, but now everything has become so
international. I miss the local stores,” she says.
From Vietnam to Bangkok
Helena Ahola and her husband were the only
people representing Finland at the garden party
this Saturday. They have been living in Bangkok for
eight years now.
“The event is a good way to meet people and
communicate. We have been to many events like
this and other kind of events with Scandinavian
Society Siam as well,” the Finnish couple tell.
Helena is head of development in the ministry.
Her and her husband used to live in Vietnam, but
eight years ago they moved to Bangkok.
“Bangkok feels very safe. And compared with
Vietnam, people does not come up to you all the
time to sell you things,” Helena explains.

Q&A
Reader profile of the month
Ika
Forssell
Jakob Korslund and his wife Savija Pannark Korslund
What Helena loves most about Bangkok, is
the food and the concerts, and she also has a
passion for the theatre. Her husband agrees with
her but adds to the list:
“I am a golfer,” he laughs.
Exercising every day
Nils Wickberg and Kirsten Kjelsås are from
Sweden and Norway. Compared with many of
the other guests, the couple only lived in Bangkok
for one and a half year.
“I am the one who is working, my husband
exercises,” Kirsten and her husband laughs.
“We like the restaurants and that everything
is so cheap and people are so nice,” Kirsten says.
Kirsten works at the Norwegian Embassy
while her husband is retired.
“I go to the fitness centre everyday and after
a little exercise, I jump into the pool,” Nils laughs.
Setting boundaries
Jakob Korslund used to work at the Danish
Embassy. Now he started his own company with
a friend. His wife Savija Pannark Korslund is one
of the organizers of the garden party. While Jakob
is from Denmark, Savija has roots from both
Thailand and Denmark.
“In Bangkok you can do everything. You can
go shopping in the middle of the night if you want.
Only you are setting the boundaries,” Jakob says
and adds that the party tonight is a great way to
talk with people from many different job areas.
Tutti Frutti, all over rootie
The band got almost everyone on the dance floor
with classics like Jailhouse Rock and Tutti Frutti.
Ika Forssell is a Swedish painting
artist living in Singapore. She is also
a translator - English to Swedish
- and occassionally she has been
writing articles for ScandAsia as
well. Ika arrived in Singapore in 2005
with her husband and two children.
Currently, her eldest son is now 18
and has moved back to Sweden while
her daughter at 15 still lives with her
parents in Singapore. Ika’s husband
works for Bona, a Swedish company
in the wooden flooring business. The
couple have no plans to relocate -
at least not before their duaghter
graduates in 2017. But Ika admits to
missing Sweden more and more lately
which she didn’t do for the past ten
years. The family visits Sweden every
summer.
My husband and I decided to move to
Singapore because... he was offered a job
as a regional manager for a Swedish company
Working in Singapore has taught me...
that connections, networking and an open and
curious mind are key. Being an accompanying
expat here in Singapore has been an
opportunity for me to spend time on what I
really wanted to do, which is painting. Singapore
art scene is quite happening, and I have been
lucky enough to exhibit my work at a number
of fairs and art shows.
It never ceases to amaze me when...
another new shopping mall opens. How much
stuff can they sell?
In Singapore I will never get tired of...
eating tropical fruits every day.
In Singapore I could do without...
construction work sites and the noise that
comes with them.
Raising my children in Singapore has
been... a great opportunity for them to mix
with people from many different cultures, learn
different languages and make friends from all
over the world.
My best advice to a newcomer in Singapore
is to... explore everything quickly, while
you are still eager and curious.
Since 2005 Singapore has... changed
immensely, with new buildings constantly
popping up.
Living outside of Scandinavia has made
me realize... how much I value fresh air and
untouched nature
Satisfying my social needs is no problem
because... there is plenty of opportunity to
party or engage in all sorts of social activities.
For many years, I played tennis almost all the
time, and now I have a group of friends I met
through my art.
The biggest day-to-day struggle in
Singapore is... planning transportation in a
way such as not to get sweaty or soaked by
sudden rain.
I go home to Scandinavia... every summer.
The most beautiful time of the year.
I use the Scandinavian community in
Singapore to... invite to my art exhibitions,
and to attend events organized by SWEA or
the Swedish church.
March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 21

มุมภาษาไทย l mum pha:să: thai l Thai Language Corner
Learning Thai
from the Maid
By Klavs Johansen (thai@maprao.dk)
Inspired by a recent article from ScandAsia Weekly about the wide use
of maids by Scandinavian expat women in Thailand, we will dedicate
this month’s column to the vocabulary of housekeeping and talking
to the maid.
We have previously (Thai Language Corner, February 2014)
written about the real life opportunities to practice Thai in everyday
encounters with taxi drivers and waiters, and practicing Thai with the maid
fits into this category of ‘free’ Thai lessons from persons in a service position
with little choice but to listen to your best attempts. Usually, though, such
practice is good fun for both parties, otherwise we wouldn’t recommend it.
Few people like the Thais give such generous encouragement to foreigners
trying to learn their language.
The English word ‘maid’ has entered the Thai language and become เมด /
mè:t /. Another word for maid is created by combining
แม่ / mâe: / ~ mother and
บ้าน / bâ:n / ~ house, home, into
แม่บ้าน / mâe: bâ:n / ~ housekeeper, maid.
This word may also in other contexts be translated as ‘housewife’ by
the way.
Household chores are การบ้าน / ka:n bâ:n / (actually also means ‘homework’)
or งานบ้าน / nga:n bâ:n /. In the following, we will cover some examples of
งานบ้าน / nga:n bâ:n / and associated vocabulary. We start with the cooking:
ทำาอาหาร / tham a:hă:n / ~ to cook,
ทำาอาหารเช้า / tham a:hă:n chá:o / ~ to make breakfast,
ทำาอาหารเที่ยง / tham a:hă:n thîang / ~ to make lunch,
ทำาอาหารเย็น / tham a:hă:n yen / ~ to cook dinner.
Try out the examples with your maid or another Thai close to you.
Listen carefully to their pronunciation and try to imitate it.
The following is useful for washing, cleaning and so on:
ซักผ้า / sák phâ: / ~ to wash clothes,
ซักมือ / sák mue: / ~ hand wash,
ซักเครื่อง / sák khrûeang / ~ machine wash,
เครื่องซักผ้า / khrûeang sák phâ: / ~ washing machine,
ตากผ้า / tà:k phâ: / ~ to hang clothes to dry,
รีดผ้า / rî:t phâ: / ~ to iron,
ล้างจาน / lá:ng ja:n / ~ to do the dishes,
ทำาความสะอาด / tham khwa:m sà’ à:t / ~ to clean,
เช็ดฝุ่น / chét fùn / ~ to dust off,
ดูดฝุ่น / dù:t fùn / ~ to vacuum-clean,
ถูพื้น / thŭ: phúe:n / ~ to wash the floor,
กวาดพื้น / kwà:t phúe:n / ~ to sweep the floor.
Finally, a little note on how to talk to the maid. In Thai culture, the
relationship between people is reflected in the language to a greater extent
than anywhere in the West. With a maid your traditional relationship is that
of a mistress, or master, with a servant, or you could, more contemporary
perhaps, just consider it an informal relationship as with someone part of
your household, being inside the private sphere of your family. Either way,
you will not use the polite particles of ค่ะ / khâ / (female speaker) and
ครับ / khráp / (male speaker), which you may have been taught to use
with strangers or workplace colleagues. You may use the more informal and
friendly particle จ้ะ / jâ / (in particular as a female speaker) or none at all. The
maid, on the other hand, will normally use ค่ะ / khâ / when speaking to you
(assuming your maid is female). The same applies when addressing the maid
with ‘you’. Here, you will generally not use the universal and polite คุณ / khun
/, but rather her title, i.e. แม่บ้าน / mâe: bâ:n /, or merely her first name.
แม่บ้านสบายดีไหม / mâe: bâ:n sàba:i di: mái / ~ Are you well? (speaking to
the maid).
You may get some indication which to use when listening to how the
maid refers to herself.
แม่บ้านสบายดี / mâe: bâ:n sàba:i di: / ~ Yes, I am well (maid speaking).
A couple of useful words to soften requests are ช่วย / chûai / ~ help,
placed in front of the request, and ด้วย / dûai / or หน่อย / nòri / following the
request and translated with ‘please’ as in
แม่บ้านช่วยตากผ้าด้วย / mâe: bâ:n chûai tà:k phâ: dûai / ~ Will you please
(help) hang the clothes out to dry.
โชคดีนะ / chô:k di: ná’ / ~ good luck!
22 ScandAsia.Thailand • March 2015

Swedish Meat Balls
and Mashed Potatoes
There are as many different recipes for Swedish meatballs as
there are Swedish Mammas. When it comes to meatballs, it
gets personal. This is a basic recipe on which to build your
own. Over the past twenty or so years, most families only
bother making meatballs from scratch for special occasions
and tend to stick with the bought version for everyday events. This is a
shame because homemade meatballs taste rather different. Most would
say that a dish of meatballs, mashed potato with cream gravy and lingonberry
jam is about as Swedish as things get. It’s up there with ABBA,
Volvos and Wallander.
For the meatballs:
• 700 grams lean minced beef AND 500 grams minced pork (min 10% fat)
• 1 onion, grated
• 60 gram porridge oats
• 2 eggs
• 350 ml stock (chicken stock works well)
• 2 ½ tbsp plain flour or corn flour
Spices: 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp ground allspice, ½ tsp ground black pepper,
2 tsp ground white pepper
For the cream gravy
A knob of butter (approx. 10g), a heaped tablespoon of plain flour (10 g),
water from the potatoes, 50 ml of cream. Lingonberry jam (we recommend
Lingonsylt from either Tillmans or Felix, both available at Scandi
Kitchen).
1. Soak the porridge oats in water for fifteen minutes. Whisk the eggs
together and mix with the oats. Add onion and spices and mix well.
2. Mix the meats together in a mixer to ensure thoroughly mixed. Add
the egg mix and flour. You should be left with a mouldable, but sticky,
mixture.
3. Roll the individual meatballs in your hands and leave ready to fry. It
helps if your hands are damp. Each meatballs should be around
2 cm in diameter - or larger if you cannot be bothered making 80
meatballs.
4. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan and once hot, carefully add meatballs.
Shake the pan gently to ensure they don’t stick and keep them
moving as they fry - thus ensuring their “roundness”. You will most
likely need to do two batches. Fry until done - for around 5 minutes.
Keep in a warm oven until needed.
5. Add a knob of butter to the meatball pan over medium heat. Add
flour to form a roux and whisk. Add the water from the potatoes bit
by bit and let it boil to thicken. Once at desired quantity and thickness,
add the cream. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve meatballs with mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and the
gravy, with lingonberry jam on the side.
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March 2015 • ScandAsia.Thailand 23

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