Lloyd: Behold one of the great delicacies of Asian cuisine. It is a dishful of freshly harvested nests from a bird called the sea swift. One kilogram is worth more than two thousand dollars.
In the hands of a master chef, this precious commodity is the essential ingredient in a dish regarded by many Asians as nothing less than the elixir of life itself: birds nest soup.
In relatively inexpensive Thailand, my bowl set me back about forty dollars.
Anusart: Yes, very expensive. I think they call this the caviar of the east.
Lloyd: The caviar of the east?
Anusart: Yes.
Lloyd: It may seem a bit steep for a meal based on hardened bird saliva. But to those who swear by this exotic delicacys power to promote long life and good health, it is worth every satisfying cent.
Anusart: Because of the ginseng.
Lloyd: For centuries in southern Thailand, the sea swifts natural nesting habitat has been hillside caves. But three years ago in the city of Pattani, they suddenly and inexplicably -- discovered the comforts of urban living. En masse, they began checking into the basement of the biggest hotel in town.
Anusart: Actually the basement of the hotel was supposed to be either a karaoke bar or staff canteen.
The birds somehow got in because they found it is dark, damp and cool inside.
Lloyd: Just like a cave?
Anusart: Just like a cave. Yes.
Lloyd: At first Anasuart thought his non-paying guests were pests. But then he realised the birds were breeding -- and building nests for their young -- from a gluey secretion discharged from glands under their jaw. The strands dry on the concrete walls into a strong, resilient substance, a home for swiftlets. But once outgrown, the nests are of no use to the birds. To man they are a commodity so valuable they are known as white gold. Every month or so hotel workers descend to mine the latest crop.
Anusart: I think each kilogram ,depending on the size, the quality of it, how clean the nest is, per kilogram it goes between 2,000 and 2,500 U.S. dollars. I think
the value is much more than the paying guests above in the rooms actually.
Music
Lloyd: Like much of the south, Pattani is still small town Thailand. It wasnt long before the word on the street was that Anusart was making a killing, quite by accident.
Anusart: It generates big interest because people think the hotel, without planning or luring birds into the basement, can have the birds, so they start a building boom three years ago to build the bird condominium around the hotel as well.
Music
Lloyd: And so the great white gold rush of Pattani began.
On just about every street I found a shopkeeper whod gone to the birds. Nithiphan: Everyone knows the price
of the nest is expensive and the areas we live, the location we live, we can do this stuff.
Lloyd: Nithiphan Ampaijits family run an eyewear shop downstairs and live upstairs but thats about to change.
Nithiphan: Weve been living here and now were going to move into the other house and this is the third floor.
Lloyd: Right, who used to live here?
Nithiphan: My grandmother.
Lloyd: So its out with the ancestors. And out with the lights, to create the more familiar atmosphere of a cave.
Across town, some of the more adventurous white gold diggers have gone the whole hog and built a home for the birds from scratch.
Local GP Pongsak Jongjirisiris prison block inspired design probably wont win him any architectural awards. But he reckons its got the location! Location! Factor, being out in the open and under the sea swifts usual flight path. He reckons he is onto a winner.
Pongsak: Many people want this product.
The demand is very good but the supply is very little.
Lloyd: The doctors high rise bird trap cost more than 200 thousand dollars and it comes with some impressive trappings. An electric window that opens at sunrise to let the birds out, and closes again after sunset.
Music
Lloyd: Its a base for fishermen these days but southern Thailand was once a centre for pirates who plied the locals seas, plundering passing ships for treasure. Piracy may well be history but around Pattani, poaching is on the rise.
Dr Pongsak keeps a close eye on his tenants with a closed circuit camera. Extra security to protect his big investment.
Pongsak: If the people come and steal your nests its not only nests, but more birds will die too.
Music
Lloyd: If it all seems a bit extreme, consider the size of the investment and the booming competition. In just three years more than 100 homes have been turned over to birds or been built especially for them.
One suspects the people Pattani are breaking the golden rule of real estate: that supply should never exceed demand. Especially in a market where choosey tenants can simply flap their wings and move on.
Reporter: Peter Lloyd
Camera: David Leland
Editor: Stuart Miller
In the hands of a master chef, this precious commodity is the essential ingredient in a dish regarded by many Asians as nothing less than the elixir of life itself: birds nest soup.
In relatively inexpensive Thailand, my bowl set me back about forty dollars.
Anusart: Yes, very expensive. I think they call this the caviar of the east.
Lloyd: The caviar of the east?
Anusart: Yes.
Lloyd: It may seem a bit steep for a meal based on hardened bird saliva. But to those who swear by this exotic delicacys power to promote long life and good health, it is worth every satisfying cent.
Anusart: Because of the ginseng.
Lloyd: For centuries in southern Thailand, the sea swifts natural nesting habitat has been hillside caves. But three years ago in the city of Pattani, they suddenly and inexplicably -- discovered the comforts of urban living. En masse, they began checking into the basement of the biggest hotel in town.
Anusart: Actually the basement of the hotel was supposed to be either a karaoke bar or staff canteen.
The birds somehow got in because they found it is dark, damp and cool inside.
Lloyd: Just like a cave?
Anusart: Just like a cave. Yes.
Lloyd: At first Anasuart thought his non-paying guests were pests. But then he realised the birds were breeding -- and building nests for their young -- from a gluey secretion discharged from glands under their jaw. The strands dry on the concrete walls into a strong, resilient substance, a home for swiftlets. But once outgrown, the nests are of no use to the birds. To man they are a commodity so valuable they are known as white gold. Every month or so hotel workers descend to mine the latest crop.
Anusart: I think each kilogram ,depending on the size, the quality of it, how clean the nest is, per kilogram it goes between 2,000 and 2,500 U.S. dollars. I think
the value is much more than the paying guests above in the rooms actually.
Music
Lloyd: Like much of the south, Pattani is still small town Thailand. It wasnt long before the word on the street was that Anusart was making a killing, quite by accident.
Anusart: It generates big interest because people think the hotel, without planning or luring birds into the basement, can have the birds, so they start a building boom three years ago to build the bird condominium around the hotel as well.
Music
Lloyd: And so the great white gold rush of Pattani began.
On just about every street I found a shopkeeper whod gone to the birds. Nithiphan: Everyone knows the price
of the nest is expensive and the areas we live, the location we live, we can do this stuff.
Lloyd: Nithiphan Ampaijits family run an eyewear shop downstairs and live upstairs but thats about to change.
Nithiphan: Weve been living here and now were going to move into the other house and this is the third floor.
Lloyd: Right, who used to live here?
Nithiphan: My grandmother.
Lloyd: So its out with the ancestors. And out with the lights, to create the more familiar atmosphere of a cave.
Across town, some of the more adventurous white gold diggers have gone the whole hog and built a home for the birds from scratch.
Local GP Pongsak Jongjirisiris prison block inspired design probably wont win him any architectural awards. But he reckons its got the location! Location! Factor, being out in the open and under the sea swifts usual flight path. He reckons he is onto a winner.
Pongsak: Many people want this product.
The demand is very good but the supply is very little.
Lloyd: The doctors high rise bird trap cost more than 200 thousand dollars and it comes with some impressive trappings. An electric window that opens at sunrise to let the birds out, and closes again after sunset.
Music
Lloyd: Its a base for fishermen these days but southern Thailand was once a centre for pirates who plied the locals seas, plundering passing ships for treasure. Piracy may well be history but around Pattani, poaching is on the rise.
Dr Pongsak keeps a close eye on his tenants with a closed circuit camera. Extra security to protect his big investment.
Pongsak: If the people come and steal your nests its not only nests, but more birds will die too.
Music
Lloyd: If it all seems a bit extreme, consider the size of the investment and the booming competition. In just three years more than 100 homes have been turned over to birds or been built especially for them.
One suspects the people Pattani are breaking the golden rule of real estate: that supply should never exceed demand. Especially in a market where choosey tenants can simply flap their wings and move on.
Reporter: Peter Lloyd
Camera: David Leland
Editor: Stuart Miller