For Thai teens, TV is now 'so last year'

Internet and mobile phones rated as top two 'screens' of choice in media survey by local marketing firm

A recent study of Thai youths has suggested the role of television may be shrinking.
The study, by McCann Worldgroup, found Thai youths feel the Internet is the most important media, while the "second screen" is their mobile phone, which they "can't live without".
Television ranked third in terms of importance to their life.
Dropping by at a 7-Eleven is also part of life for local youths, while good morals
are their new cool, the study found.
McCann, a leading marketing communications group, conducted the study called "My Media" to explore the role of media in the lives of Thai youths.
Marc Davies, vice president of strategic planning at McCann Erickson Thailand, said there were a few surprises in the results.
"That's a shift from traditional media to innovative
and interactive media. We
have known about this but the speed of change is very rapid," he said.
Among other results include the finding that Thai youths love free things and that "good morals" are popular.
"Even though they like to break the rules, good morals are a new cool. But it must be expressed in a cool concept," said Varidda Voraakom, consumer insight manager at McCann. She cited a recent TV ad by Siam Commercial Bank called Namjai (thoughtfulness) as a commercial that Thai youths liked.
Varidda said the survey found Thai youths were very fragmented in terms of preferences and tastes, that below-the-line media campaigns were often significant to them, but the role of television in their lives was shrinking.
"The interesting thing is how to make online advertisements that are liked by teens," she said.
However, when asked about their preferred advertising channels, television was top and the Internet and mobile phone fell to fourth and fifth place respectively, behind even outdoor/indoor ads and magazine/radio ads.
Davies said the study strongly confirmed it was no longer enough for a brand to send messages to consumers. The advertising message had to be relevant to their lifestyle or teens would ignore it.
To utilise mobile phones, marketers must carefully think about "sending good news at the right time" such as a really interesting and exclusive privilege. Or using a reference by friends would be more effective.
"When the message tone is beeping, it's like giving me hope that my friend or someone is sending me message. But when I read, there're 3 messages from a mobile operator. I feel so sad," a female university student was quoted in the survey as saying.
Varidda said teens felt disappointed and automatically disregarded content when SMS senders were not who they expected.
Davies said targeting customers demographically was no longer valid. Instead, marketers should look at "psycho-graphic profiles of targeted customers.
"Demography such as where people live, their age, sex, and social income are no longer connected. A 38-year-old male may have exactly the same needs as a 21-year-old male or even female," he said.
Davies said marketers should also understand that it's age of "My time" now.
"More than half of youth advertising will involve consumers to consumers - 'I am the Media'," he said.
Varidda said the new "media paradigm" was online/ offline. Promotional events that include below-the-line activities were currently very popular among teens, and wireless users. Firms should no longer choose different types of media on the basis of penetration, she said.

Pichaya Changsorn
The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/21/headlines/headlines_30045853.php

NEW CHARTER : Yes: 56.7% No: 41.4%

NEW CHARTER : Yes: 56.7% No: 41.4% Invalid: 1.9% (19 Aug 2007 10.30 pm)




EXIT POLL
Suan Dusit Poll
1. Exit Poll
Percentage
Yes 67.94
No 32.06
2. Compare vote count between Bangkok and other provinces
Overall BKK Other provinces
Yes 67.94 75.49 67.56
No 32.06 24.51 32.44
3. Compare vote count among regions
Overall Regions
BKK North Central Issan South
Yes 67.94 75.49 65.58 77.73 57.07 78.17
No 32.06 24.51 34.42 22.27 42.93 21.83
4. Compare between male and female
Overall Male Female
Yes 67.94 66.32 69.26
No 32.06 33.68 30.74

Anantara Resort -Hua Hin

Hua Hin's Anantara Resort is a charmingly refined place with a seaside setting, writes Supida Kaewsuksombat.

The 187-room Anantara Resort in Hua Hin is a distinctive Thai village-style property located on the sunrise coast of the Gulf of Thailand, around 220 kilometres south of Bangkok. Hidden amidst 14 acres of luxuriantly landscaped gardens and lagoon pools, the picturesque resort enjoys a beachfront location at the quiet end of Hua Hin's long sandy beach.
A three-metre high terracotta wall cleverly cocoons the resort from the hustle and bustle of town. As you make your way along the landscaped driveway, a sense of clam descends. Polished timber floors and Thai-style sala (pavilions) heighten the ambience of the intimate tropical hideaway.
Echoing Hua Hin's mainly provincial, primary low-rise landscape, the Anantara comprises 21 two-storey structures interspersed with meandering pathways and ponds filled with lotus blossoms and lily pads. All garden and sea-view rooms and suites feature private balconies or terraces.
For those looking to indulge, the Lagoon Wing boasts 38 rooms and 12 Anantara Suites with large balconies surrounding a private pool and lagoon. The Lagoon Wing provides guests with the highest levels of attentive service and first-rate facilities. Guests in the luxurious Lagoon Wing can enjoy benefits such as a roundtrip airport pick up, in-room express check-in, a beautiful selection of signature soaps, one-hour Internet connection, CD and DVD selection, a choice of local daily English newspaper, an iPod connection and breakfast in your room or in the restaurant not far from the beach.
Three bars (including a pool bar) and four restaurants present guests with an extensive choice of wining and dining options. Breakfast is offered at Issara Cafe, which offers both a buffet and a la carte options. If alfresco dining is more your style, enjoy grilled specialities, sandwiches or pizza during the day and beachside barbecue dinners at Sai Thong.
The resort's signature restaurant, Baan Thalia, offers an innovative Italian menu for dinner only. Overlooking the swimming pool, Rim Nam serves international fare during the day. Classic Thai favourites and local dishes are presented in the evenings when the restaurant takes on an intimate ambience with a view of the romantically lit pool and palm trees.
With its elaborate teak ceiling, large overhead fans and ornate furniture, Sala Siam, adjacent to the lobby, is reminiscent of times long gone. Enjoy international and Thai cuisine for lunch and dinner or sip a cocktail and listen to live music in the evening.
For the ultimate in relaxation and rejuvenation, book a massage, health or beauty treatment at the stunningly sensual Anantara Spa. For those with more energy to burn, the resort has a fitness centre and tennis courts. Five golf courses are within a short drive of the resort. Thai cooking classes, excursions to Hua Hin's nature-based attractions and an array of water sports are amongst the recreational pursuits available.

History's wanton women

The journal of a 17th-century Austrian merchant offers a lopsided view of Siam's lewd ladies

There are few things that raise Thai hackles more than hearing their beloved country branded by foreigners as a sex paradise.
Yet this reputation does not date back, as one might imagine, to the Vietnam War, when American serviceman flooded into Bangkok and Pattaya for rest and recreation and the sex trade thrived.
In fact, the image can be traced back to the 17th century when junk merchants regularly passed through the kingdom. Christoph Carl Fernberger von Egenberg, for example, described Siamese women as "excessively lewd".
"They are always approaching the men and urging them to go with them into their houses and have sex with them," he wrote in his diary, which was discovered in 1972.
Fernberger arrived in the harbour of Ayutthaya in November 1624 during the reign of King Songtham. He was 26 at the time. His accounts of his travels in the region, which include Siam and Pattani, are almost unknown to foreign scholars but many Austrian historians believe Fernberger was the first of their countrymen to set foot in the two Southeast Asian harbour cities.
The first Austrian in Ayutthaya was impressed by the wealth of the kingdom and the wise rule of the Siamese king as well as his "open door policy" and strict law enforcement, says associate professor Helmut Lukas who recently talked about Fernberger's diary at a Siam Society lecture organised in cooperation with Chulalongkorn University's Centre for European Studies.
Lukas, however, doesn't agree with Fernberger's perspective of the women in Ayutthaya.
"Like any big port, Ayutthaya had a well-established prostitution ring catering to foreign seamen. But it would be wrong to assume that their behaviour was indicative of Thai women of that era," says Lukas, an academic with the Social Anthropology Research Unit, Centre for Studies in Asian Cultures, Austrian Academy of Science.
As an independent observer with no obligations to a trading company, Fernberger's diary may offer an alternative perspective to the often one-sided Dutch sources, the Austrian anthropologist adds.
"But his pages on the women in Ayutthaya were based on his impressions of a very limited area, which he wrongly extrapolated to the entire country," Lukas points out.
Unfortunately, many Dutch merchants held similar views of the woman they took as their "wives" in Ayutthaya, according to professor Barbara Watsan Andaya, author of the paper "From Temporary Wife to Prostitute: Sexuality and Economic Change in Early Modern Southeast Asia" published in the Journal of Women's History in 1998.
"VOC employees in Ayutthaya even referred to their 'wives' as whores, sluts and trollops and the like," writes the professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii.
While researching her paper, Andaya discovered that other than several works covering prostitution, no historical investigation has been carried out into the changing attitudes toward sexuality in Southeast Asia, despite the fact that the "high status" of women is often cited as characteristic of the region.
Siamese women in the 17th century are also mentioned in the diary of French ambassador Simon de La Loub่re, who arrived in Ayutthaya some 30 years after Fernberger.
The ambassador writes in his memoirs about a brothel in the capital of Ayutthaya, which was home to some 600 women from different levels of society, including the daughters and wives of the court's noblemen.
La Loub่re, who was in Siam during the reign of King Narai, also relates how prostitution tax, collected from those with permission to run brothels, was first imposed in this reign and that the largest brothel was run by one of the king's noblemen.
Prostitution in the port city of Pattani is also mentioned in the journals of several 17th-century foreign traders.
The Dutch merchant Van Neck, who arrived in Pattani in the early 1600s, describes the women at the harbour and their services.
"When foreigners come from other lands to do their business…men come and ask them whether they desire a woman. The young women and girls also come and present themselves, from whom they may choose the one most agreeable to them, provided they agree what he shall pay for certain months. Once they agree about the money (which does not amount to much for so great a convenience), she comes to his house, and serves him by day as his maidservant and by night as his wedded wife."
For his part, the foreign trader had to agree not to consort with other women while the temporary wife was similarly forbidden to converse with other men. The "marriage" was deemed to last for as long as the man kept up his residence, "in good peace and unity".
Fernberger, who arrived in Pattani in December 1624, wasn't interested in hooking up with a woman at the harbour. His attention was on the female ruler with whom he had been granted an audience.
Pattani was under the rule of Raja Ungu, the third of four successive queens to take the throne. Fernberger describes her as an absolutist ruler who did not listen to any council.
In his diary he describes the royal entourage of 200 women. As a sign of royal power, she kept about 50 elephants and possessed some 50 men who she used for her sexual pleasure.
Lukas says the women of Pattani, and especially the queen, enjoyed many liberties.
"This proves that being a Muslim doesn't mean being "macho" or a misogynist. The gender equality in the old Pattani kingdom sets an example for modern times," he says.
But some of Fernberger's accounts about the queen are much less credible.
Lukas smiles as he recounts Fernberger's reason for leaving Pattani.
He writes that after being granted an audience with Raja Ungu, she provided him with a house and 10 slaves. He later helped her fight the Siam invasion in January 1625 in which Pattani won the battle. The young Austrian describes how the queen expressed her gratitude by sending him a present and passing on a message that she would visit him at night.
"Fernberger says a Malay colonel gave him to understand that the queen intended to make love with him. As he'd heard that men who had failed to meet her high expectations were ordered to be killed, Fernberger clandestinely sneaked down to the shore, boarded a small sailboat and went back to Ayutthaya. His stay in Pattani lasted 71 days," says the professor, laughing.

From : http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/23/lifestyle/lifestyle_30041864.php

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation

Thai youth hooked on computer games

About one in every four youths play computer games everyday, a poll reveals.Abac Poll Research Centre found 26.3 per cent of those aged 10 to 15 play computer games everyday or nearly everyday. Another 21.1 per cent plays between three and four days a week.
Almost one quarter of those playing on a daily basis are aged between 16 years and 20 years and one fifth is aged 21 years to 24.
In general, almost a quarter of youth plays on a daily basis or nearly everyday while 22 per cent plays between three days and four days a week. Another 23 per cent plays between one and two days a week.
The survey found 10 to 15 year olds play an average of two hours and 44 minutes a day while those aged 16 years to 20 years play about three hours and 13 minutes. Twenty-one to 24 year olds play three hours and 21 minutes.
So, in general, youths play computer games, online or offline, approximately three hours and one minute a day.
Entertainment was the main motivation for 97.8 per cent of respondents, reducing stress from study or work was cited by 91.7 per cent while 83.4 per cent sought to develop computer skills. Seventy-four per cent likes to make new gaming friends and 74 per cent likes to meet people online.
Respondents admitted to negative aspects of playing computer games.
Wasted money was cited by 89.4 per cent, eyesight problems was admitted to by 82.9 per cent and 64.7 per cent said it was a waste of time and 50.6 per cent admitted to it affecting study or work.
Centre director Noppadon Kannika concluded that 90 per cent of polled youths played games in the 30-day period before the poll and more than half love playing fighting and shooting games.
Compared with results two years ago, the number enjoying violent games had increased, he said. He encouraged the government to implement preventive measures against violence in youth.
The survey was conducted from July 8 to July 25 and involved 1,441 people aged between 10 and 24 in Bangkok and its surrounding provinces.

Bangkok

Bangkok was founded in 1782 by the first monarch of the present Chakri dynasty. It is now the country's spiritual, cultural, diplomatic, commercial and educational hub. It covers an area of more than 1,500 square kilometres, and it is home to approximatlely ten million people or more than 10% of the country's population.
Over the last few decades, Thailand's capital city, Bangkok, has changed into a modern, exciting and sophisticated city. It offers to visitors not only the cosmopolitan amenities they would expect from other big cities, but also a unique treasure trove of cultural attractions. Thailand, in the heart of Southeast Asia, was never colonised and thus kept its unique culture and heritage intact. Bangkok offers visitors the opportunity to experience fascinating glimpse of Thailand's gentle culture amidst the bustle of a great and dynamic metropolis. This great city has had astounding success in combining the ancient and modern world.
For tourists, Bangkok has a feast of attractions to offer. The city is dotted with 400 glittering Buddhist temples of great beauty and fascination, magnificent palaces, classical dance extravaganzas, numerous shopping centres and traditional ways of life, especially along the "Venice of the East" timeless canals and the Chao Phraya River of the "River of Kings" winding through the city. It is worth taking a trip along its waters before exploring further into different canals to take a glimpse of old Bangkok.
Useful tourist information on Bangkok can be obtained from the official website of the Bangkok Tourism Division : http://www.bangkoktourist.com/

Planet of the apes

Set down in Lop Buri and you'll find that the monkey is king, writes Steve Rhodes

Monkeys are everywhere just like being wound up as an extra in a "Planet of the Apes" movie.
It has been a long, hard journey filled with fitful slumbers and wild dreams, and when I finally stagger off the bus at the Lop Buri bus terminal, I can't help feeling that I must still be dreaming, and that I have somehow wound up as an extra in a "Planet of the Apes" movie.
Monkeys are everywhere, swarming along power lines and periodically leaping down and helping themselves to some choice morsel from a noodle vendor's cart before fleeing back to the safety of their lofty perches, just out of range of the enraged vendor's slingshot.
I make my way across the street in search of a bowl of fortifying noodles and discover Nirundorn Luengsak-sri, an earnest young man of extraordinary talent and ability, who has transformed the humble thong sandal into an art form with some deft strokes of a sharp knife and a vivid imagination. His designs were originally inspired by the monkeys but he has since branched out into more ambitious and lavish models.
Prices range from about Bt200 upwards, depending on the complexity of the patterns. Being something of a thong buff, I promptly snap up several pairs.
Nirundorn tells me an interesting story.
"Monkeys run this place," he says. He goes on to explain how the human population have even erected a temple in the middle of the town to accommodate the thousands of simians who populate the place.
The temple was built 800 years ago and has become the scene of an interesting annual event known as the Monkey Banquet.
Tradition demands that when you visit the temple and pray to the monkey god for help or advice, and actually get the help that you ask for, you must repay the monkeys with an offering of food. A local hotel owner who wanted to improve his business got wind of this and dropped by the temple to seek guidance.
Business boomed and he was so grateful that he now stages a massive feast at the temple every year where the monkeys gorge themselves on all manner of delicacies while the newspapers and television networks have a field day covering the event.
Nirundorn has asked the monkeys for help with his thong carving business and it is also doing very well. He suggests that I should pop round and have a look at the temple and then proceed on to the recently completed monkey hospital at the local zoo, which has been set up by the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand to treat ageing monkeys who, not as agile as they used to be, have been involved in road accidents.
The hospital has four staff made up of two vets and a couple of wranglers who help subdue larger apes while they are having minor illnesses treated without anaesthetics.
Then there's Colonel Virat Phupeangjai, once a director of the zoo. He retired four years ago and is now secretary of the Lop Buri branch of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation.
Voluntary work at the hospital keeps him pretty busy but what spare time he has is devoted to writing. Recently he completed a book called "Mike", a hilarious account of the life and times of one of the zoo's more colourful characters, an orang-utan who was being smuggled out of Indonesia but was intercepted at Bangkok airport and sent to Lop Buri Zoo.
His subsequent adventures are chronicled in the colonel's book which is lavishly illustrated and well worth a read. It's available at the hospital for Bt95 and proceeds from the sale go towards buying much-needed equipment for the hospital, where visitors to the zoo are welcome to drop in.
In addition to Colonel Virat's book, there is an interesting range of souvenirs, the sale of which also goes towards equipping the hospital.
All in all visiting this rather obscure little town was an eye-opening experience. Without the monkeys, Lop Buri would be just another provincial town in Thailand. The monkeys have put it on the map and attracted tourists who would otherwise have no reason to go there, thus greatly benefiting the town's human population.

Baht measures proposed to Commerce Ministry

The joint private committee comprising the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the Thai Bankers Association, on Monday proposed its short-term and medium to long-term measures of dealing with the stronger baht to Commerce Minister Krirk-krai Jirapaet.

The short-term measures include the extension of the period that exporters can hold the foreign currency accounts to more than the current limitation of 14 days.
More, the government should urge the state enterprises to repay US dollar-denominated debt before the due dates.In addition, the committee urges the government to set up the fund to help the SME exporters, which have been affected by the stronger baht.
According to their proposed medium and long-term measures, the government should establish fund to handle the continued baht appreciation as well as providing more privileges to local investors to encourage their overseas investment.
The joint private committee would in this evening meet with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to propose the measures.
Separately, Narongchai Akarasanee, chairman of Export-Import Bank of Thailand, said in a seminar on Monday that Thai government should use at least US$10 billion of foreign reserves which is at around US$73 billion at present to help curb baht appreciation as a short-term measure.
He said the government should allow state-enterprises as well as private sector to convert their foreign debts into baht.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Chalonphob Sussangkarn commented on Monday that he doesn't agree that Thailand should implement the fixed exchange regime or the basket of currencies as suggested by some. "It is too old fashion," he said. He added the solution for the baht appreciation is that the central bank fully implements the existing measures. So far, the central bank may act too slow, he said.
In addition, Bank of Thailand governor Tarisa Watanagase insisted that the central bank would not turn back to implement the fixed foreign exchange regime.
Asked how the central bank would help exporters amid rising baht, she said the BOT has already helped "oversee" baht.

Rewat "Ter" GMM Concert

GMM artists including Ter’s eldest daughter “Patt” Suthasinee, paid a tribute to late Rewat "Ter" Buddhinan concert last Saturday at Impact Arena.

BMA: Bangkok will become a paradise

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will establish a fund for the project to turn Bangkok into a paradise.

"The fund will be used most efficiently to tackle problems like garbage, pollution, traffic and drugs," BMA spokesman Chanin Rungsaeng said yesterday.

He said the fund would also be used to provide recreational activities, sports and education in the capital.

"We plan to complete the project within four years," he said, adding that the project to turn Bangkok into a paradise city was in line with HM the King Bhumibol Adulyadej's initiative.