Sam Chuk market honoured

       Sam Chuk market and community received an Award of Merit at this year's Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.
       The Suphan Buri market was one of 48 places from 14 countries competing for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation award.
       The top award went to the Sangiin Dalai Monastery in Mongolia, the UN agency said yesterday.
       The merit award came as a surprise to the Sam Chuk community.
       "We are honoured. We admitted that it was beyond our expectation to get the award," Pongwin Chaiwinat, chairman of the committee set up to revitalise the market, said.
       Unesco did not give details on why it picked the market for the merit award.
       The market and community, located on the bank of the Tha Chin, or Suphan Buri, River, was established as a trading post for the Central Region in 1894. The market was recently on course for collapse until local residents took action to revive it and transform the location into one of Suphan Buri's most popular tourist attractions.
       The community at first did not intend to enter the competition, but decided to submit its project to Unesco after encouragement from conservationists and academics, Mr Pongwin said.
       "Now we are proud of being internationally recognised," he said.
       When a Tesco-Lotus supermarket was being built near the community, locals were worried the retail outlet would bring to an end the old market.
       But Mr Pongwin said the superstore had little effect on the market."By the time Tesco-Lotus was completely built,the market already boomed," he said.
       Its popularity also drew traders from other areas to the market, but the community leader said most of the vendors are Sam Chuk residents.
       Sam Chuk market is the second old Thai community to be recognised by Unesco in the past two years. Last year Ban Amphawa in Samut Songkhram received an Honourable Mention for showing the success of private and public efforts to safeguard the cultural site.