Origami Birds
Oh, for some reason the link does not work...It says this:
100m origami birds flutter down on Thai Muslims
John Aglionby, south-east Asia correspondent
Monday December 6, 2004
The Guardian
An estimated 100m paper birds were released yesterday on the birthday of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a goodwill gesture by the predominantly Buddhist kingdom towards a mainly Muslim region mired in communal violence.
Thousands waited outside their homes as the origami cranes descended from more than 50 air force planes trailing smoke in the red, white and blue colours of the Thai flag.
Everyone in the targeted southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat was hoping that he or she would be the one to find a bird which had been folded and signed by the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra - the prize was a scholarship for a child and a good job for an adult.
By last night no one had claimed the sought-after bird.
Mr Thaksin called for the gesture after being widely criticised following the deaths of 78 demonstrators in the south in October. They suffocated when bound and stacked on top of each other to be transported to a detention centre. About 500 people have been killed this year in the region.
All 63 million Thais were ordered to fold at least one bird, and for the past fortnight local television has shown everyone from cabinet ministers to prisoners busily using everything from bank notes to colourful plastic.
While ordinary people appeared to enjoy the bird drop, community leaders in the predominantly Muslim provinces said it would do little to arrest the escalating unrest.
"The paper birds are not a traditional symbol for us," said Abdullaham Abdulsamad of the Narathiwat Islamic Council. "It's a different culture. Our people do not understand what the birds stand for."
The stunt did not prevent one person being shot dead yesterday, and police being called to defuse a 10kg bomb on a road where hundreds of people were waiting for the bird drop.
Analysts blame the violence on a combination of Islamist-inspired separatism, cross-border banditry and turf wars between the police and military.
The government's heavy-handed response has been criticised for aggravating rather than calming the situation.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
Better they had this story of disasters for real birds:
Thai Environmental Stupidity
particularly if How To Be a Bad Birdwatcher is all the rage. Now why did not RS think of that?
The month has started cold; you know at mid-day it is only C26. The result:
We all have to put our coats on!:
We went up to Uttaradit: about 40 miles where there was reported to be yet another new Tesco!
Yes and an MK Suki restaurant. 6 persons stuffed with suki, dim sum, duck, vegetables and beer-750Baht ie. £10.
It is not clear to me why this has not caught on in the UK. They are basically slow fast food restaurants. Sit at a table on banquettes with the cauldron of hot water already bubbling away in the middle. We order six or so dishes of dim sum, including duck’s tongues—the dim sum in the Kamtong Restaurant in Queensway MUCH better-even if 5 times the price, a half roast duck with ginger and cucumber, then platters of mushrooms-3 varieties, sweet corn, cabbage, Chinese leaf an Chinese greens, tripe, beef, pork, squid, prawns, tofu, eggs and lime green noodles. Bowls of Suki sauce and soy sauce with chilli arrive together with iced tea. Elodie has her own little set of bowl, mug, spoon and special suki sauce. She thinks this good and drinks it-refills arrive in a big kettle.
We put this feast little by little into the boiling water. Everyone has a slatted spoon and a spoon for getting ‘nam soup’-soup water. I like to mix a lot of the water with the suki sauce, but this is considered eccentric.
An hour later everyone is ‘bouffe’.
Tesco is as dreadful as ever. Whatever their strategy maybe for going ‘up market’ in the UK, here they have reverted to the days of green stamps and pile it high. I have rarely seen such an assembly of cheap tat under one roof.
The Thais use it as a cash and carry for village shops etc., so you have families wheeling out six carts of fanta and coke and 10 carts of TVs!
I bought a bottle of olive oil which I cannot get here. Elodie bought two pairs of knickers. Asked why, she said: ‘For going on holiday!’.
She is desperate to get to the seaside…we’ll go in the New Year
The excuse for this jaunt was the king’s birthday. The night before we wandered out to see the family Likay troupe..pics not so good…and then in the evening up the lane to where a huge pic of HRH was installed with an eye-blinding set of strip lights
I was dragged out of the house by the sight of a yellow clad band stumbling up the road playing, of course, Yellow Submarine.
We each have a little candle…sing patriotic songs..wave candles in the air and eventually set them in front of the king.
Elodie holds candle with concentration,
then announces…
’kin khanom dee gwa’, ie: ‘ I think I would rather eat some sweets’…
Thais crease up. Then she asks:
‘Sing Happy Birthday, King?’ More laughter. She is getting to be ‘a case.’
The lane is stuffed with vendors selling sausages, grilled chicken, meatballs, toys, clothes, lurid drinks and a sort of lottery which no-one can get near because of the crush. The air is thick with barbie smoke! Round the corner in ‘Snug Alley’ where trade is plied under blue and pink strip lights les belles de nuit have decorated the corrugated iron shacks with portraits of the king and candles. Most houses have flares made out of ‘Lipovitan’ bottles..bit like brown glass half size HP sauce bottles… with kerosene and wicks! I asked Ma: ‘Why?’. ‘Dunno.’ ‘Done it for decades.!’
When the car came back, mended. She looked at it thoughtfully.
Then:
’Edodie car come back’. ..everything belongs to her.
‘Yes’.
‘Mummy drive again?’
‘Yes’.
‘This time Mummy carefully!’
E has spent much time trapping the cat, known as Ee Boolong, in the laundry basket. The cat now hares off when he sees E. The dog is more patient:
It has been too the month for kite flying: Wing Wao!
Here I watch very carefully
Then fail lamentably
Also as part of becoming Thai, I have to master Karaoke:
