Showing 1 - 10 of 18
Crowning glory
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 29/10/2021
» Passion -- according to Fred Mouawad, entrepreneur and fourth generation co-guardian of the century-old Mouawad jewellery house -- is about emotion.
An oasis in the desert
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 20/03/2020
» In Oman, one of the most anticipated events of the year is the Muscat International Book Fair, which was first held in 1992.
A kiss is still a kiss
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 23/12/2019
» What's a better way to send off 2019 than a big smooch? The gay kiss at parliament last week shook the entire country. Outcries about the inappropriateness of such a public display of affection at a "sacred" place were loud. The symbolic expression was met with polarising responses, even from LGBTI people themselves. Even liberal politicians who called for equal rights apologised for it. Honestly, saying sorry for a kiss seems ironic under a roof where far worse things have taken place. Unfortunately, the public reaction has been mostly negative. The message was inadvertently lost, and many people forgot why the couple kissed in the first place: to advocate for marriage equality.
The sacred and the mundane
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 17/07/2019
» When people want to learn of certain cultures, they mostly look to something big like opera, literature, arts and even cultural heritage specific to that country.
The spectral art
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 09/04/2019
» Sexy women, ghosts, simplistic plot, tendency to be naughty and violent. These are the stereotypical characteristics people have come to associate with the old-school Thai-style pulp comics that are close to disappearing from the market.
A zeal for New Zealand
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 07/06/2018
» The sky was gorgeous. That was the first thing I noticed about New Zealand after we left Auckland airport. Just the right shade of blue. The right amount of sunlight and cloud. Underneath the vast blue expanse, rolling green hills stretched as far as the eye could see. We were on our way to Rotorua, a city 230km southeast of Auckland, and luckily we were able to appreciate all the surrounding nature that led us to it. Plenty of sleep onboard Thai Airways' Royal Silk Class meant we landed feeling refreshed, ready to explore all the sights and adventures Rotorua has to offer.
Waiting for justice
Oped, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 12/02/2018
» Making headlines this month is yet another scandal about the rich and powerful with their hands caught in a cookie jar. No, this is not the 26th watch — or would that be the 100th? — in Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon’s I-borrow-them-from-my-dead-friends saga. Nor is it the 300 million-baht loan to ex-police chief Somyot Poompunmuang. This time, a man has been caught with his fingerprints on a rifle, sitting in a forest next to protected wildlife carcasses.
Preserving history
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 05/02/2018
» Wearing a long-sleeve shirt and wide-brim hat, both hands clutching various digging tools, several men stooped down on the dry red dirt. With their feet planted firmly and under the supervision of archaeologists, they began digging in order to uncover the history of their homeland.
Way of the rising dragon
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 31/08/2017
» Industrial towns, rolling green hills, skyscrapers, Mount Fuji -- the scenery shifted as I gazed outside the chartered bus that sped from one prefecture to another on the Shoryudo route in central Japan.
Snapping up the bad guys
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 18/07/2017
» In deep jungle, a forest ranger in his black uniform slowly climbed up a tree. With trained, quick hands, he strapped a camouflage case to a high branch that could oversee an area underneath it at a wide angle. Inside the case was a camera trap that can monitor the movement of animals, and especially humans who may enter the forest illegally.