Samui
Profile Tawin
Ever wondered why there are no
coconuts in the trees in your hotel. The reason is because every few
months the likes of Tawin Seegan climb up and collect them. The
following is an interview between Samui Traveler magazine and Tawin.
What is your background and why did
you come to Koh Samui?
I am from Yasothin province in the
North East of Thailand and I came to Koh Samui in 1987 when I was 14
years old with my father and 11 relatives. We had heard that the money
was good here and my family didn’t have enough money to help me finish
my high school studies so I came here to work and seek a new life. At
that time at home we could only earn 30-40 baht a day while in Samui it
we could get 80 Baht a day working in and taking care of the
plantations. I remember coming on the boat from the mainland and I had
never seen the sea before. It was quite an experience and I have to
admit I was a little scared too. When I was 19, I went north to work in
Bangkok as a roofer and this is when I found out I had little fear for
heights. 2 years in the big city was enough for me and then I came back
to Samui in about 1994. By this time Samui was starting to get a lot of
tourists and was becoming more popular When I was 23 I got another
dangerous job but going the other way, digging wells in the ground. When
I was 28 I got a job working for the Local Electricity Company clearing
the trees away from the wires and lines, this is when I started to learn
the skills needed for my business.
What was Samui like in those early
days?
When I first came it was just trees,
forests and jungle with hardly any tourists. To call my Mother I’d use
the phone box and she would go to the village headman’s home to take the
call. These days Samui doesn’t look so nice because of all the
development and building and it’s not so natural anymore, but
opportunities are good and the money’s good too so we can’t complain too
much.
What is your business and why did you
start it?
I set up a company in 2005 to prune
and tend to the coconut trees in hotels and bungalow resorts. Myself and
my team go into hotels and resorts to clear anything from the trees that
might fall down on the buildings or people, be it coconuts, leaves or
the tree itself might have to be chopped down. I thought it was the
right time to try and go it on my own so I made some business cards and
gave them to the managers and gardeners in the hotels. I didn’t get any
calls for a year and continued my full time job but as the tourism grew
I picked up some regular clients and now we have contracts with many big
hotels like the Sala Samui, Tongsai Bay, Four Seasons, Karma and Centara
resorts. Business is very good and we have work everyday at the moment.
A couple of years ago there was a lot
of talk in the papers about insects eating the coconut trees here in Koh
Samui, is this problem getting any better?
No not really. It looks better because
there are three kinds of insects damaging the trees in Koh Samui. The
first is the Ngam Dam insect which eats the skin of the leaves and makes
the trees look brown. This doesn’t kill the trees but can make the trees
look unbeautiful. Last year a lot of trees had this problem but I think
its now under control. The local government released some Vietnamese
wasps into the environment here, and this helped as they will feed on
the larvae of the insect. The second kind is The Red Beetle. They will
make a hole in the tree but not eat it. The third kind, the Elephant
Beetle is the most destructive. It enters the hole made by the second
beetle and then can eat the tree from the inside slowly killing it. The
big problem is they breed in the tree too and then 100 or more of the
offspring then spread to the neighboring trees.
How did the problem start and what can
be done about it?
It might have started when a tree was
imported and planted in a hotel. Before a lot of wildlife in the
plantations and jungle fed on the beetles too. Squirrels, rats and
anteaters all used to roam wild, climb the trees and feed on insects in
the trees but now with the development of tourism and the fact people
like to shoot, catch and eat these insects, this has caused these
animals to multiply and the problem has got worse. Our team mainly deals
with climbing the trees to prune them and take out the old leaves and
coconuts so they don’t fall on the tourists in the hotel but in places
like Plai Laem and Choengmon, the problem is so bad in parts we also
have to protect the trees by inserting chemicals in the trees. If Samui
lost its coconut trees it wouldn’t be half as beautiful. The problem can
only be solved if all landowners co-ordinate their attacks against the
beetles together. At present one landowner will protect their trees
while the neighbor will do nothing, so the insects just move to a
unprotected area and then move back later when it’s safe.
What dangers do you encounter everyday
in your job?
We take great care when climbing up
the trees so no-one has ever fallen from a tree yet. It can be quite
common for us to cut ourselves with our knives when pruning the trees at
the top and also exposure to the chemicals when placing them in the tree
could be dangerous for our long term health, so we take care not to let
that come into contact with our skin.
What do you do in your free time to
relax?
I used to box for extra money until a
few years ago, but I’m getting old and also don’t need to do that now so
I am studying for a high school diploma on Sundays. I didn’t’ get a
chance to study when I was young so I want to learn a lot now.
What are your plans for the future?
I think I will keep on working until I
am about 40 then go and open a shop in my home province of Yasothon. I
have been here many years and I don’t think the legs will keep me going
up these trees forever.
If you have any trees that need pruning, chopping
or tending to near your home or resort, you can call Tawin on 08
72761972.
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