Thailand Week, organized by the de facto Thai embassy in Taiwan, is to be held from Wednesday next week to the end of the month, featuring a concert, a food festival and cultural events, the Southeast Asian country’s top representative said on Thursday.
Thailand Week is to be held just after Songkran, also known as the Water Festival, which marks the start of Thailand’s traditional New Year, Thailand Trade and Economic Office executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong told a news conference.
The office holds a similar festival every April, but the scale of the event has expanded this year, said Boonsatheanwong, who took up the post in February.
Photo: CNA
The week-long festival is to begin on Wednesday next week with a concert at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei by the Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music Youth Orchestra from Bangkok, he said.
The concert is to start at 7pm and is to mark the 72nd birthday of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua, he said.
The king’s birthday is on July 28, but events are held throughout the year to celebrate it, he added.
Six songs written by former Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej are to be performed by the string orchestra, as well as other famous Thai songs and Taiwanese pieces, he said.
Following the concert, which Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) is to attend, a Thai food festival is to be held at the Mandarin Oriental Taipei from Friday next week to April 28 at the hotel’s Thai restaurant, he said.
A Thai festival is to run on the same dates on the fourth floor of Taipei Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13, Boonsatheanwong said, adding that it would feature daily musical and dance performances, as well as Thai massage and cooking demonstrations.
The envoy said that the festival is to promote exchanges between the people of Thailand and Taiwan.
More information about Thailand Week is available on the office’s Facebook page: www.fb.com/TTEOTAIPEI.
Boonsatheanwong did not give a direct answer when asked if his country’s visa exemption program for holders of Taiwanese passports would be extended.
The program expires on May 10.
“Don’t worry, it will be announced soon,” he said through an interpreter.
Thailand’s government in October last year announced that Taiwan passport holders would be granted visa-free stays of 30 days until May 10, because the Southeast Asian country was seeking to draw more tourists as the high season approached.
Boonsatheanwong told reporters that Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations for Taiwanese, with 750,000 visiting last year.
The number of visitors from Taiwan would surpass 1 million this year, he said.
Boonsatheanwong is a former deputy director-general of Thailand’s Department of Consular Affairs. He has also been posted in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments