The Chiang Mai Arts and Culture Festival is centred around the Tom Payom Market near the city’s university and is an annual highlight of the social calendar in the region.

This year’s festival runs from April 9th to 13th and is likely

to be on the itinerary of many people using Thailand hotels.

Features of the celebration include musical performances, dance exhibitions and art installations, as well as children’s puppet shows, traditional street food and handicraft displays.

The festival exists to maintain the customs of Lanna, the former Thai state that is now northern Thailand.

First held in 1996, it has been growing in popularity every year and is viewed by many people as a perfect introduction to this area of the country.

Located about 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, Chiang Mai stands on the Ping River and is one the country’s most culturally significant cities.

People staying in Chiang Mai hotels during the festival may also like to enroll on a course at one of the city’s many Thai massage schools.

But he won’t be jailed, or even questioned, because the Thaksin you are likely to see at the Siam Discovery complex will be a waxwork effigy of the man in the world’s 10th Madame Tussaud’s exhibition of famous figures.

Siam Discovery, with other investors, is spending US$15 million on Thailand’s first professional exhibition of waxwork images according to issue 2121 of ‘Travel Daily News’. A spokeswoman said that 8,000 visitors per day were confidently expected through the doors.

Madame Tussaud opened her first permanent exhibition of lifelike famous figures in London in the late 1800’s. Centrally located in the British capital, it has for decades been consistently one of the top tourist attractions of the whole nation.

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Low cost carrier, AirAsia, is now offering a self check-in service at several airports, including Chiang Mai.

For added comfort and convenience, customers can also utilise its web-based check-in service, the carrier said in a statement.

AirAsia said the initiative was part of its on-going mission of using the information, communication and technology (ICT) forefront to exploit technology and practice cost efficiency.

By adopting a cost effective service and liberating the traveling experience for customers, the innovative service will also avoid airport congestion, long queues and reduce waiting time at no extra cost, it said.

Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia Berhad said “We have invested quite a significant amount to develop our ICT facilities in order to keep-up with global standards. Now, we have equipped ourselves to fully exploit the benefits of it and achieve a competitive excellence in the market. What could be simpler than going on-line and checking-in at the tip of your fingers be it via mobile or at home? This new service is relatively easy to deploy, saves cost and benefit both – guests and AirAsia. As Asia’s biggest low cost carrier with a strong domestic and extensive network within the Asean region, we believe our amazing low fares and innovative services have an edge over the masses and empower more travelers to fly with us.”

Quick and easy self check-in methods :

1) Web Check-In

All you’ll need is a connection to the internet, a printer and your travel itinerary and you’ll be able to check-in 48 hours prior and up to 4 hours before the scheduled departure time using Web Check-In. With your Boarding Pass, you can proceed straight to the Document Check Counter to stamp your boarding pass and then on to the Boarding Gate. If you have baggage to check-in, drop your baggage at the Self Check-In Counter at least 60 minutes prior to the boarding time.

2) Self Check-In Kiosks at the airport

Beat the crowd, check-in from our kiosks at the available locations below 6 hours prior and 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. You’ll need the details of your travel itinerary to check-in. With your Boarding Pass, you can proceed straight to the Document Check Counter to stamp your boarding pass and then on to the Boarding Gate. If you have baggage to check-in, drop your baggage at the Self Check-In Counter at least 60 minutes prior to the boarding time.

About 20 red-shirts led by Weng Tochirakarn gathered in front of the Royal Thai Police head office on Tuesday demanding a progress report on the prosecution of the People’s Alliance for Democracy for its takeover of Don Meaung and Suvarnabhumi airports from Nov 26 to Dec 2, 2008.

About 50 police from Division 6 of the metropolitan police were deployed to control the situation.

In Samut Prakarn, about 50 members of the red-shirt people group led by Chanu Chaiya went to the provincial offices and submitted a letter to the governor, Surachai Khan-arsa, asking for a similar progress report. Suvarnabhumi is in Samut Prakarn province.

The red-shirts say it is now more than a year since the incident but there has been no  legal action taken against PAD leaders who led their supporters to occupy the capital’s two international airports.

It was reported that Petcharawat Wattanapongsirikul, a core leader of the red-shirted Rak Chiang Mai 51 group, had gone to a meeting with core leaders of the anti-government United People for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in Bangkok to discuss rally plans in Chiang Mai.

According to an informed source, the red-shirt people group is planning a three-day rally in the northern tourist destination, beginning tomorrow.

They will rally on Wednesday and Thursday to demand the resignation of Pol Lt-Gen Somkid Boonthanom, commander of Provincial Province Police Region 5 and a defendant in the murder of a Saudi businessman who disappeared in 1990.

On Jan 29, the UDD plans a mass demonstration against the government and the president of the Privy Council Prem Tinsulanonda at Chiang Mai Royal Golf Course in Chiang Mai’s San Sai district.

The UDD has accused Varin Pulsiriwong, the owner of the golf course and of Naew Na newspaper and a close associate of Gen Prem, of illegally obtaining ownership of the land.

The airline, Air Bagan, plans to add more services to Cambodia, Thailand and China in 2010, with a service between Yangon and Chiang Mai opening last Thursday.

Chiang Mai and Kuala Lumpur are now the airline’s two international destinations, the news agency says. Phuket and Siem Reap, the destination closest to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, are next on the wish-list, with China’s Kumming and Guagzhou.

Air Bagan, which flies to 20 destinations inside Burma, has yet to cement its reputation internationally.

The airline’s first international scheduled service to Bangkok began on May 15, 2007 and the second, to Singapore on September 7 the same year.

Both of the flight services were suspended in 2008.

The chamber was left with no choice as the board of THAI stood by its decision to end the service, said president Supot Klinpraneet. The chamber is to file a complaint with the court seeking an injunction against THAI’s plan.

That was despite THAI’s assurance that its sister low-cost airline, Nok Air, will take over the route.

However, the Chamber of Commerce did not feel confident that Nok Air would manage the service well and stand by any future directives from THAI, according to Mr Supot.

The revelation of THAI’s proposal has resulted in a large number of cancellations by tour guide agencies, said Mr Supot, adding that Mae Hong Son’s tourism industry generates at least 2 billion baht per year. The provincial health office also said that without a plane service on the route, the transport of blood supplies to certain hospitals in the province would be affected.

They were told to recite a motto given by Thasksin in exchange for prizes.

They were told to recite “To have bright future, children must learn technology” but some kids recited the motto of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajva, which says: “Be creative, be diligent in studying and uphold morality”.

A lot of red-shirt people took their children to join the celebration. Prizes given by Thakin included a BlackBerry phone, 60 bicycles and many sports equipment.

Read the full story in The Nation

Puppeteers U Daung Yin and Daw Nan Tin and puppet makers U Aung Than Tun and U Khin Maung Htwe, who are all from the Htwe Oo Myanmar traditional marionette troupe, are now participating in the program, as well as poet U Maung Maung Thein, composer Parimi Shunn and Ms Kit Young from Gitameit.

The program began on December 26 and will finish on January 17. It is being held at Chiang Mai’s Empty Space Arts Centre.

Under the program, puppetry experts from across the region are teaching students from US-based institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, Barnard College, Long Island University and the California Institute of Arts.

The leader of the Htwe Oo Myanmar troupe, U Khin Maung Htwe, said the program presented a good opportunity to spread knowledge about all aspects of the country’s traditional marionettes.

“I am proud the organisers have invited us to take part in this and given us the chance to spread our art to interested students,” he said. “I’m also hoping to learn a lot from the program.”

He said the program would culminate with the production of a contemporary opera, a joint project between marionette experts and students.

The Chiang Mai Puppetry Program aims to provide students with the opportunity to study with master artists from a variety of Asian puppet traditions, according to the Empty Space Arts Centre’s website.

“The importance of puppetry to Asian cultures cannot be overstated,” the website says. “In the US however, no such premium is placed on puppetry. This means that US artists working in puppetry are left to borrow, reinterpret and adapt forms and techniques from other cultures to create their art. For students of theatre, puppetry and interdisciplinary art, this means studying with masters of the craft from all over the globe.”

Chiang Mai police found the bombs, 6 pistols, a rifle and a shotgun at the home of 45 year old Narong Bunchongcharoen, who had worked as a security guard at the last ‘red shirt’ rally. He denied possessing illegal weapons, saying the bombs were ‘fireworks’ which remained unsold after the Loi Kratong festival. The guns had been given to him in settlement of a debt, he claimed.

Late on Wednesday night, police made another arrest at a city centre karaoke bar, where they found 22 home made guns and gun-making equipment.

On Thursday, about 100 red shirted protesters briefly surrounded the central Phrasingh police station, demanding that an arrest warrant be cancelled for a local radio presenter who had allegedly made death threats to the PM. The warrant has yet to be served.

In a statement, the PM said that if the event he was to attend had been a government one, he would have come as planned. But as it came from “the private sector” he had “followed their suggestion” to remain in Bangkok.

PM Abhisit Vejajiva is due to attend a national meeting of Thai Chambers of Commerce, here in the epi-centre of the ‘red shirt’ pro-Taksin Shinawat faction.

Today, Governor Amornphan Nimanand said: “The red-shirt anti-government group in Chiang Mai has now turned to non-violent demonstrations to avoid giving the city a bad image.”

The meeting of the many regional Chambers is intended to attempt to solve economic problems and help rehabilitate the economy.

Editor’s Note: Many of the PM’s recent visits outside the capital, Bangkok, have featured helicopters and big military and police operations after demonstrators attacked his mini-bus last month and managed to pull open a door.