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  • News & article

    True meaning of Loy Krathong floats away

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 20/11/2013

    » Loy Krathong, one of my favourite festivals during childhood, just passed. On the full-moon day of the 12th lunar month, many Thais float their krathong down a river or even a pond to pay respects to the Lord Buddha and seek forgiveness from the goddess of water for any misdeeds against her. The word loy means "to float" while krathong is a lotus blossom-shaped vessel containing candles, incense sticks and flowers. What I love most about the festival is that it is the time for the reunion of family and friends. What I hate about it is that the purpose of the tradition has been distorted in some ways and some people go overboard and can put others in danger during the festival.

  • News & article

    A pain in the bin

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 04/06/2014

    » Over the past two weekends, I have spent most of my free time tidying up my house. The first week I cleared unused things from my bedroom and moved all my books and DVDs from the first floor, back to the ground floor.

  • News & article

    The right to refuse

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 11/09/2014

    » I was 17 when I started university. I remember feeling happy and more than willing to participate in welcome activities or initiation ceremonies. The longing to be among the cream of the crop was stronger than any other feeling I had, so refusal or objection to do so never crossed my mind. Fortunately the activities my faculty organised, in my opinion, never reached what is nowadays called “hazing”.

  • News & article

    Time for action against 'troublemaking' Chinese

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 18/12/2014

    » The series of troubles and embarrassments caused by Chinese tourists over the past few years has continued, but never fails to take me by surprise.

  • News & article

    Dressing up what 'Thainess' means

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 10/04/2015

    » It is not an overstatement to say the past two weeks have been a happy time in my life in the wake of a new trend for Thais to wear traditional costumes in everyday life. The reason is simple — I collect Thai handwoven textiles and want to wear them often.

  • News & article

    Slaying the beast of human-elephant conflict

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 23/07/2015

    » A Thai proverb says, "You can't hide a dead elephant with a lotus leaf". This means a guilty conscience needs no accuser. It is absolutely true. The consequences of last week's brutal killing of a family of three wild elephants at a meditation centre in Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan, prove the rule of karma does exist. The tragic deaths made headlines and raised public concerns. Officials later found the three pachyderms were electrocuted. An employee of the meditation centre was finally arrested for erecting the electrified fence that killed the elephants. He was charged with hunting protected animals and faces up to four years imprisonment and a 40,000 baht fine under the Wildlife Conservation Act if found guilty.

  • News & article

    Roads are a dammed hindrance

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 25/09/2015

    » Earlier this month, I visited the Thai-Danish Dairy Farm and Training Centre in Saraburi province and heard some terrible news. A guide told me that the farm's Burmese Rosewood (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) forest, home to over 10,000 naturally grown trees would soon be gone as it has been marked for land expropriation under a motorway project.

  • News & article

    Angel delight is a passing fad

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 28/01/2016

    » Angel child dolls, or luk thep in Thai, have become widely known since the middle of last year and increasingly popular, especially among those in the entertainment business who believe the dolls bring them good fortune. The trend for luk thep -- dolls with added spirits of angels that are believed to have the power to fulfill the wishes of their owners -- has become a centre of criticism since a number of owners treat their dolls as if they are real infants in public.

  • News & article

    Do not feed the monkeys

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 19/09/2016

    » Since my childhood, I have loved all kinds of animals except snakes, rats and cockroaches. I have had several dogs and a cat as pets. I was bitten once by a temple cat, once by my own cat and several times by my dogs because I accidentally frightened them. However, the weirdest experience was being bitten by a monkey on Khao Wang, or Phra Nakhon Khiri, a mountain palace museum in Phetchaburi, over a year ago. When I was a teenager, I was once surrounded by monkeys who tried to steal my handbag at Phra Kan Shrine in Lop Buri.

  • News & article

    A dream to live sufficiently

    Life, Pichaya Svasti, Published on 02/01/2017

    » From Oct 29 last year on, almost everyone who has paid respect to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Grand Palace has received a photo of the royal urn and a small packet of rice grains as tokens of his memory. What is special about the rice is the label saying "sufficiency", specially designed from the King's handwriting. Most recipients keep the rice grains on altars at home in loving memory of King Rama IX. Many farmers keep them for their rice farming while some want to grow rice and follow his sufficiency-economy principles. As a frequent palace visitor, I keep one packet for myself and give the other to my housemaid to plant in her rice field in Si Sa Ket province.

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