|
Poles desert busses for low-cost airlines
Poles
begin the nearly 24-hour bus journey from Warsaw to London, where some will
seek work, Thursday, March 10, 2005. Britain is one of three old European
Union countries to open its labor market to citizens of the ten new EU
states, but a feared exodus of workers to the West has failed to occur.
That, along with the growth of budget airlines, means many buses these days
are nearly empty.
Dive expo in Thai capital
More than 130 companies and organizations from 21
countries will be participating in the 11th Asia Dive Expo (ADEX) which
takes place in Bangkok this year from March 31 to April 3.
Dive companies from the US, UK, France, Italy, Singapore,
China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, New Zealand, and Korea
are among 82 overseas exhibitors at the four-day event which is being held
in the Bangkok Exhibition Center.
The show is targeted at dive professionals, retailers,
wholesalers, travel buyers, and features developments in dive travel, dive
equipment and dive technology.
ADEX 2005 is sponsored by the Tourism Authority of
Thailand and the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau. This is the
third time that the show has been held in Thailand. March 31 is trade only
day. For more information visit website: www.asiadiveexpo.com (TTG Asia)
Emirates to boost kangaroo route
Emirates will boost services to Australia via Bangkok
with the introduction of a third flight on March 29 and is planning to go
daily from May 1. The new Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney daily service will fly on to
Auckland, New Zealand, replacing the airline’s Dubai-Sydney-Auckland daily
service and opening up new connections between Bangkok and Sydney, and
Bangkok and Auckland.
Emirates will use its Boeing 777-300 aircraft in
three-class configuration on the new service, offering 18, 42 and 320 seats
in first, business and economy classes respectively. The service will
increase Emirates’ flights between Dubai and Bangkok from twice daily to
three-a-day. (TTG Asia)
Golden headpiece to undergo further scrutiny
The golden headdress at the center of an international
acquisition row will be subjected to further scrutiny by experts before the
Thai government determines whether or not to seek its return, the
director-general of the Department of Fine Arts, Arak Sanghitakul, said.
Controversy has raged over the golden headdress since the
discovery that it was being displayed in a San Francisco art museum. Basing
their opinions solely on photographic evidence, experts are divided on
whether the headdress is an ancient piece, possibly stolen from an Ayuthaya
temple, or whether it is a contemporary piece made to look ancient to fox
foreign purchasers.
Last week Arak said that a panel established to prove the
provenance of the headdress had submitted its findings to a team of experts
for further deliberation.
According to a panel member, Assoc. Prof. Sanue Nildech,
the golden headdress was made in the Chiang Saen, Sukhothai or early
Ayuthaya period. If all experts agree on this theory, a team will be sent to
San Francisco to view the golden headdress itself.
But Arak conceded that it was too early to judge whether
or not the headdress was in fact of contemporary workmanship, saying only
that it was important not to jump to conclusions.
He also confirmed that a panel would be set up to protect
ancient artifacts from leaving the country in the future, while noting that
several local communities had called for the return of artifacts currently
being stored in museums. (TNA)
China Airlines takes over
Taipei–Chiang Mai connection
China Airlines will inaugurate its third direct service
to a destination in Thailand when it takes over a Taipei–Chiang Mai route
from subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines, on March 29.
The service will be operated with a Boeing B737-800
thrice weekly on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. CI649 will depart Taipei at
09.00 and arrive in Chiang Mai at 11.55. CI650 will return the same day,
leaving Chiang Mai at 12.55 and arriving in Taipei at 17.55.
Bangkok assistant general manager marketing, Teerasak
Saejeng, said while the route was not profitable under Mandarin Airlines,
China Airline’s industry clout would make a difference. “China Airlines
has a long history and solid reputation in the Taiwan market and this will
give us an advantage in negotiating for special rate agreements with other
airlines,” he said.
To inaugurate the service, CI will offer four package
tours to Chiang Mai and northern Thailand with prices starting at US$420.
(TTG Asia)
Monkeys invade villages as drought grips Yasothon
Residents of Thailand’s north-eastern province of
Yasothon have been so badly affected by the current drought conditions that
they are now forced to rely on handouts of food from provincial officials.
However, the residents are not humans, but crab-eating macaques, who were
being forced by the drought into stealing food from local villagers.
The group of around 600 macaques, who live in forest
areas in Pa Tiw district, were said to be growing desperate after the
drought dried up the ponds dug for them by local residents and killed off
the fruit trees they relied on as a source of food. But the villagers were
less than happy when the monkeys invaded their own homes, taking whatever
food they could find.
On March 10, Sathiraporn Naksuk, president of the
provincial administrative organization, fed the group with food, including
water melons and bananas, and said that the provincial authority was
preparing funding to plant more fruit trees for the monkeys. The eventual
aim will be to develop Pa Tiw as an eco-tourism destination, where tourists
will be able to view the macaques in the wild. (TNA)
|
