HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]: 

Poles desert busses for low-cost airlines

Dive expo in Thai capital

Emirates to boost kangaroo route

Golden headpiece to undergo further scrutiny

China Airlines takes over Taipei–Chiang Mai connection

Monkeys invade villages as drought grips Yasothon

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)

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