Blog Ambassador Kees Rade (12)

The Dutch Ambassador to Thailand, Kees Rade.

De Dutch ambassador in thailand, Keith Rade, writes a monthly blog for the Dutch community, in which he outlines what he has been doing in the past month.

Dear compatriots,

The highlight of the month of October was without a doubt our visit to THE cave, or the place near Chiang Rai where the whole world watched with bated breath last summer when an entire football team was trapped there.

Six ambassadors were invited by the Tourism Authority of Thailand on October 19 and 20 to visit this place, with the intention of stimulating tourism to this region. After words of welcome from the Minister of Tourism and Sports, and a meeting with half the team and their coach, we were given an explanation of what happened in those days in the large welcome hall. When you hear that again, you realize what an incredible adventure it has actually been. For example, after a training session you enter a cave that you know to celebrate the birthday of one of your football buddies, and suddenly you are cut off from the outside world in pitch darkness by rapidly rising water. Without food and without the ability to communicate. The rise of the water forced the boys to go further and further into the cave. Finally, they ended up in a relatively high space about two kilometers from the entrance of the cave, which is almost ten kilometers long. Fortunately, their bicycles were parked at the entrance of the cave, so that people soon realized that they had to be in the cave.

The following days saw an unprecedented operation, including the flying in of experienced cave divers from around the world. The lead diver, who was also present during our visit, explained to us that the Thai Navy's Navy Seals are excellent divers, but cave diving requires special skills.

The breakthrough came after a few days; divers found the boys alive and well in their hideout. A huge relief, because until that moment it was unclear whether they could be reached at all. The rest of the story is known. In groups of a few boys each, they were anesthetized and taken out of the cave wrapped up, with an oxygen mask over their faces, because they had to be transported under water for a mile. What is less known is that there is also a Dutch dimension to this story. In addition to the plan to get the football players out of the cave with the help of divers, the Thai authorities also wanted to have a plan B, namely to pump out the cave. A Dutch company, Van Heck from the Frisian Noordwolde, offered to do this, which produces the strongest pumps in the world. A representative of van Heck immediately flew in and went to Chiang Rai accompanied by an employee of our embassy. A pumping plan was drawn up together with the local experts. The moment two additional experts from the company were queuing up at Schiphol Airport together with a few boxes of material to travel to Bangkok, the first boys came out of the cave. The Thai government then decided to call off plan B.

Nevertheless, a nice gesture from this Dutch company! A visit to this location is definitely worth it. It is a bit of a circus, but the welcome hall and the museum provide a good insight into what happened here. The statue erected for the only victim of this operation, a Thai diver, is also impressive. The cave itself cannot be visited, and the question is whether that will ever be possible. Thousands of tourists come to this place every day. It is difficult to imagine how you would have to lead them in and out of this cave in a safe way. But even without being able to enter the cave, it is highly recommended!

Incidentally, the film made about Wild Boars (that's the name of the football team) will be released at the end of November.

Climate was also on the agenda again this month. On 4 October, together with a few fellow ambassadors, including those from the European Union, I had a meeting at the residence with the head of the unit responsible for coordinating Thai climate policy. Thailand committed at the Paris conference to reduce CO2 emissions by 2030 to 20% by 25 compared to a business as usual scenario. A challenging task. Although there are no farmers or construction workers in Lumphini park yet, this will also lead to difficult choices in Thailand. The impression is that the awareness of the need for this has not yet penetrated everywhere. But a recent study, which has been widely reported in the press, has once again shown that something is really happening, and that climate change may be happening faster than previously thought. This study states that as early as 2050, large parts of Bangkok could be flooded at high tide. The good news is that the CEO of Shell Thailand, who was also present, presented a scenario drawn up by the Shell think tank showing that it is certainly feasible to keep the temperature rise below 2 degrees in 2100.

And also had many meetings with the Dutch community this month, lively meetings in Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin – where Be Well gave information about their interesting initiative to set up a GP center based on the Dutch model – and also in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap , where we presented the new Dutch Honorary Consuls. And as I write this, Karin Bloemen is singing in the garden of the residence. That will undoubtedly be fun tonight, and in Pattaya where she will give another performance on November 2nd.

Regards,

Keith Rade