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Timely show presents the best of building materials
Saksit Meesubkwang
 Niwat
Tantiyanusorn, president of Lanna Architect’s member of commission and
Chatri Makka, managing director of TTF Interna-tional Co., Ltd.
More than 100 stands displaying building and decorative
materials and services were on display at Lanna Architect 2005, organized at
the Baan Lan Tong room in Lotus Pang Suan Kaew Hotel in Chiang Mai.
The exhibition also featured a conference with leading
architects presenting their views on the current and future state of
building techniques and technology.
Organizing the event were the Association of Siamese
Architects and TTF International Co.
Amongst the activities were a house clinic, an area for
budding junior architects, and a competition under the theme of street
furniture. The latter event focused on Wua Lai Road, which is to be improved
and rehabilitated to become a tourism community.
Chatri Makka, managing director of TTF International,
said that Lanna Architect 2005 was an opportunity for anyone involved in the
building industry to see the construction materials available in the North,
and that with a good deal of reconstruction being undertaken in the wake of
the floods the timing of the show ensured it was of widespread interest.
Amongst the categories of visitor attending were architects, engineers,
interior designers, contractors, land developers, building managers, and
building and decoration materials merchants.
Amongst the booths were displays of kitchen and sanitary ware, house
paints, marble, granite, carpets, wallpaper, electrical equipment, lighting,
and roofing. More than 70 companies were represented, an increase of 20
percent over the previous year.
“Links to your future” - IC-ACE’s Ed-eXpo USA
Mike Hock
(From
left) Fulbright Director Porntip Kanjananiyot, IC Director Dr. Busabong
Jamroendararasame, US Consul General Bea Camp, Mike Hock of IC-ACE
An impressive display of Thai and US flags accompanied
by pennants from 12 top high schools, U.S. universities and Chiang Mai
University (CMU) International Center, greeted the 400 visitors to
IC-ACE’s Ed-eXpo USA 2005 on November 18. This annual educational event
at the CMU International Center celebrates the US State Department’s
International Education Week was also the opportunity to mount challenges
for the Champion School title in the BrainFlex Plus! Olympiad.
While the Olympiad had not been designed as a
“Tri-Wizards Tournament”, there was excitement in the air as the
top-notch teams from 12 high schools in Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Lampang
were welcomed. After a keynote briefing by California State University
(CSU) East Bay (public) to launch their Direct Admit Program and
Scholarships for new freshmen, contestants rushed out for the U.S.
Education Rally-Showcase. CSU East Bay also announced USD 18,000
scholarships for English teachers to be trained in a six-month TESOL
Certificate program at their campus near San Francisco, California.
The pace then picked up with contestants running into
the Global English Survivor Essay and Quiz contests after a briefing by
University of San Francisco (private). Other contestants started their
American Talentime Solo
and Team performances, entertaining an all-schools audience and impressing
the judges.
 Spirited
team in American Talentime
Ed-eXpo USA delivered activities relevant to teachers,
students, and the public. Fulbright Program director Porntip Kanjananiyot
gave two motivational talks on learning and growing. The U.S. Vice-Consul
held a workshop to explain US student visa application procedures. Teachers
were invited to join a TEFL and US Culture Workshop, jointly sponsored by
IC-ACE and the US Embassy-RELO, “TUSC-4: Developing Effective English
Student Newspaper Programs” with Jack Neale of PRC as Guest Speaker.
Awards ceremonies started with Trophy Bearers leading a
procession of VIPs into the hall. In her keynote address, U.S. Consul
General Beatrice Camp congratulated IC-ACE on becoming an EducationUSA
Advising Center affiliated with the US State Department, “It’s a timely
development to provide professional advisory services for the growing
number of students interested in US education.”
Prince Royal’s College contestants had done very well,
scoring a total of 195 Trophy points, and were particularly outstanding as
winners of the US Education Rally-Showcase worth 100 Trophy points.
When it was announced the Champion team had scored 200 Trophy points,
the audience was electrified as U.S. Consul General Bea Camp awarded the
Challenge Trophy to Montfort College. Montfort’s team secured victory by
placing in the top three of every contest – a great improvement over
2004. In true sporting spirit, PRC’s team and coaches heartily
congratulated the new champions, but also declared, “We’ll be back in
2006…!”
Fun for
the teachers too.
NAP draws the crowds with colorful and varied displays
Nopniwat Krailerg and
Preeyanoot Jittawong
Thananan
Wilson presented clothes in the 6th
NAP
The 6th NAP, the Nimman-haeminda Art and Design
Promenade, saw crowds of visitors enjoying the shops and stalls along
Nimman-haeminda Soi 1.
Held from December 2 to December 5, NAP received great
feedback from Thai and foreign tourists alike. The fair was not only an
opportunity to see what the shops had to offer, it was also a good place to
pick up bargains, for the prices were marked especially low for the event.
Each day during NAP there was a different theme. December
3 saw a fashion show presented during the evening, with boutiques including
Studio Nanna, Sompol, Classic Model and Thananan Wilson displaying their
designs against a Lanna setting.
Besides the fashion show, the organizers also provided a
Tung demonstration, a Fon Leb Northern Dance, and a Thai puppet show.
Funds raised by the 6th NAP will go towards victims of the tsunami and
also to flood victims in the North of Thailand.
Multi Cultic project looking for musicians
Chiangmai Mail reporter
 Recently
David Toussaint (Blues Harp) and Albert Audsley (Bass) have joined the
project with their never-ending creativity. Some rumors say that Took from
the Brasserie will put down some tracks as well.
It has been five month since the three dedicated
musicians started to work on about 20 songs in the different genres of Funk,
Jazz, Blues, Drum n’ Bass, Soul and Lounge Music. Their project involves
many ‘old friends’ they used to jam and play music together over the
last three years.
The reason they started this musical journey was the lack of a song about
‘their’ city Chiang Mai in English. This stimulated them to put down
some basic work and arrangements and filled them out with musicians from the
local scene. They would like to invite solo musicians to lend a hand on this
project. Needed are players of saxophone, trombone or any other usual or
unusual solo instrument. Contact numbers are: 0 6919 6874, 0 1765 6585 or 0
1366 4086. They are especially looking for a singer, preferably Thai,
who’s ready to put down some vocals on the ready tracks. Also foreigners
who love music, since the plan is to perform live after the album’s been
released.
Glimpses of Lanna
Sommai Lumdual
 Umbrella
- Glimpses of Lanna – oils and watercolors by Louise Truslow can be seen
at the Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai in cooperation with La Luna Gallery.
Dec 9 to Jan 15.
La Luna Gallery in Chiang Mai presents Glimpses of Lanna
– an art exhibition by Louise Truslow, at the Four Season Resort in Mae
Rim, Chiang Mai.
Taking her inspiration from the lush beauty and
traditional ways of the old Kingdom of Lanna, Louise has painted hill tribe
villages and people, as well as the northern landscape, from a variety of
perspectives. In particular she has created images from
the many stunning sights to be seen around the
tranquil Four Seasons
Resort.
The main themes of the exhibition - the people, flora and
fauna of the region - are interwoven and contrasted with each other. Thus,
elephants are depicted both interacting with each another and villagers, and
in the stylized form of a sandstone fountain. Similarly, the natural world
is shown as a broad panorama, dense bamboo forest and in the detail of a
single flower.
Based in Bangkok for the past 15 years, Louise Truslow
has exhibited annually in Bangkok since 1997 and has been a permanent
exhibitor at La Luna Gallery, Chiang Mai since its opening in 2004.
“With Glimpses of Lanna I hope to share my enthusiasm for the people
and the sights of Northern Thailand with both residents and visitors,” she
says. For more information please contact Som-
mai Lum-dual, on 09 635 7667
2nd Anniversary festivity at ‘The Writers Club’
Chiangmai Mail reporters
Just in time for the festive season, Chiang Mai’s
Writers Club has launched a Christmas stocking-sized novelette that author Bob Andrews describes
as a “moral tale from Thailand.”
 Proprietor
Robert Tilley in the middle of those people who helped him to make it all
happen at ‘The Writer’s Club’. (From left) Tew, Robert Tilley, his
wife Tong and Du.
“Boom Boom Baby” is a familiar story (middle-aged
Englishman meets Pattaya bar girl), but told in an unusual fashion, almost
exclusively through an exchange of letters between two elderly ladies. And
the moral of the tale emerges just as Christmas approaches.
“Boom Boom Baby” was launched at a Writers Club party
that coincided with the Club’s second anniversary. Most of Chiang Mai’s
writing fraternity turned out, and guests came from London, New York, San
Francisco and Brisbane.
The Writers Club is now attracting international attention — the
Myanmar Times, Rangoon, recently described it as the “arts hub” of
Chiang Mai. The Correspondent, the official publication of the Foreign
Correspondents Club, Hong Kong, says it’s the place to go for gossip about
illegal border trades, where to get the best noodles, and who really did
what to whom, in media-related sagas gone by.” And one of Britain’s
leading dailies, The Guardian, tells its readers Chiang Mai’s Writers Club
is full of “characters from a Graham Greene novel!”
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