THE hillside land on which the tsunami volunteer centre stands near Khao Lak is being sold.

Four years on from the tsunami, an important piece of local history will probably disappear with the sale.

This is where as many as 6000 volunteers from across Thailand and around the world came to stay while helping the villages along the Andaman coast to rebuild and recover.

It was probably one of the first places in Thailand where the then unusual Japanese word ''tsunami'' was painted on a wall in large letters.

It was also the home of a trend that grew into a movement, spawned a new word, and helped to revitalise the coastal businesses in this area.

Someone christened it ''voluntourism.''

The Thai owner, Khun Saroj, said the site was originally the Khao Lak Nature Resort when the wave swept in, causing substantial damage.

The property has a beach frontage on the other side of the hill, extends across between nine or 10 rai, and is going for around 60 million baht.

Other buildings associated with the tsunami time are also changing.

The boatyard on Cape Pakarang where volunteers and locals built and repaired nearly 70 craft is now the beachside Boatyard Restaurant.

It was the brainchild of Scott Cater and a couple of friends. Scott, an American, had never been to Thailand and had a job to return to in California.

But he came when he heard about the tsunami and stayed on in Thailand, working hard until every fisherman in the region had a boat.

Then he built one of his own. His plan to sail around the world did not materialise, but his volunteer's dream to restore the livelihoods of hundreds of locals did.

If he returns one day, he will never be short of a meal or a place to stay.

Under the arrangement, the owner of the land allowed the volunteers to work there on condition that they got to keep the building.

Change is everywhere around the region now. Some of the volunteers are probably seen in the streets these days, having returned to Khao Lak as genuine tourists.

Along the road to the handsome boatyard, near the award-winning Sarojin resort, work has begun on what appears to be a new resort dotted with lagoons. Khao Lak is back.



Here's how one volunteer, Australian Michelle Taffe, described the experience: ''I arrived in Khao Lak, Southern Thailand, in late February 2005 as a tsunami volunteer. Though the popular 'tropical paradise' had been tranformed into something resembling a war zone, the Thai people's strength in the face of their adversity was amazing. Working side by side with local Thai people slowly rebuilding their lives, I got to know them and their suffering, which in general was borne with a stoically positive outlook for the future. Having suffered the loss of my older brother in a traffic accident five years previously, I had something in common with the Thai people, many who had lost family members. On leaving the Khao Lak area I received many thanks and much gratitude from the villagers I had worked with in helping rebuild their houses. But I felt the lessons I had learned from these people about dealing with life and death far outweighed my contribution. As a result of this experience I try to live life on a more day to day basis and have a different attitude to obstacles and problems that once may have seemed insurmountable.''



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