The Haripunchai Pagoda bathing ceremony will be held from May 16-22 at Prathat Haripunchai temple in Muang District, Lamphun. The ceremony is held annually to allow local people to pay worship to the city’s pagoda and the Buddha relic kept inside the pagoda.
The Dancers’ Company
The Brigham Young University Dancers’ Company will present an unforgettable evening of motion, colour, fun and artistic energy. These entertainers will perform with a high level of discipline and an athletic, dramatic style. Led by creative artistic director, Rebecca Wright Phillips, the company continually wins awards for its outstanding repertoire. The company will perform at Kad Theatre, Kad Suan Kaew Department Store on Saturday 7th May at 7 p.m. The proceeds from this event will go to the School Funding for Orphans and Chiang Mai Schools Cricket Alliance. Tickets prices are 100, 400, 500 and 1,000 baht and are available at information counters on the G floor at Kad Suan Kaew, Suriwong Book Centre, and the Chiang Mai Ballet Academy, 053 306357. For more information please call Linda Buck 07 191 3807 or Cheryl Penney 01 764 7987.
Mos Olympic 2005
Microsoft Office Specialist Olympic 2005 will be arranged on May 26th at the Far Eastern College, Chiang Mai. The event has been co-organised by the Institute of Information Technology Development, Microsoft (Thailand) Limited, Peak U Up 88 FM, and the Far Eastern College to seek national representatives to compete in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship that will take place in August in the United States. For more information, call 026826350-4 ext 513-4 or visit www.itit.co.th.
Chiang Mai-Bangkok Badminton Open 2005
Chiang Mai will host the Chiang Mai-Bangkok Badminton Open 2005 during May 18-25 at the Gymnasium 1 and 2 of the 700th Year Anniversary Stadium. Over 3,000 badminton players from 10 countries and 100 Thai teams will partake in the event including the honorary player HSH Princess Siriwanwalee Mahidol. The competition is divided into 11 categories of ages including 9, 11, 13, 15 and 18 and elderly ages of 40, 45, 50 and 55. Winner teams of each category will be awarded with trophies granted by HM the King Bhumibol and Princess Som Saowalee.
For more information, contact the 700th Year Anniversary Stadium 053-896035.
Exhibition On Summer
Lan Kruad shop, 4 kilometres drive from the Ton Payom market on the left side of the Canal Road, will feature an exhibition titled ‘Summer’ from May 16 to June 16. The exhibition opens from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m. and is closed on Sundays. On display are paintings and drawings from 10 Lanna artists who express their own experience towards the summer season and the Songkran festival through their imaginative works. For more information call 09-7551990.
Home And Decor 2005
The 2nd Chiang Mai Home and Decor 2005 is to be arranged from May 20 to 23 at the Lanna Hall, 4th floor of Central Airport Plaza by the Chiang Mai-Lamphun Real Estate Trade Association. The first Home and Decor, held at the end of last year, was been proven to be so successful that the event will be expanded and rearranged with an aim to deliver information regarding housing estates, home furniture and decoration, construction, banks loans as well as financial and law consultants in Chiang Mai and Lamphun to consumers. For more information, call 053-224140-1, visit www.c-mice.com or send e-mail to info@c-mice.com.
Rejoice Beauty Voice Contest
Rejoice Shampoo and RS Promotions will seek beautiful voice singer with beautiful hair of the North on May 14th at the Central Airport Plaza. Talented singers who also have healthy hair (Ed. ?!?) should partake in the contest as it also offers you a pretty chance to become a new singer with the prominent RS Promotion. Prize for the winner is around 200,000 baht. For more information about application, call Central Airport Plaza 053-281661-80 ext 1301-8.
The 1st Street Basketball
Street Basketball will be arranged to allow young boys and girls aged 15-25 to partake during May 28-29 at the Lanna Hall, 4th floor of the Central Airport Plaza. The winner team will be awarded with a prize of 100,000 baht. For more information and application, call Central Airport Plaza 053-281661-80 ext 1301-8.
Sunday Cycling
Chiang Mai Municipality in cooperation with the Sunday Bicycle Club is inviting Chiang Mai people to join bicycle riding group on Sunday, May 1st and May 15th. The riding will start at 4 p.m. at a former office of the Chiang Mai Forestry Office, just 200 metres from the Alliance Francaise on the same side of the road. The campaign is by the Sunday Bicycle Club to promote good health and reduce the city’s air pollution.
Art Courses At Art Space
Four-week courses on glass working (stained glass, warm glass, fusing and painting), drawing and painting taught in both English and Thai will start on June 4 at Art Space, located near Suriwong Book Center. The courses will end on July 15. Registration for the courses are still open until the starting date of the course, call 04-0417982, 07-1822710 or send e-mail to Chadwick Gray at artspacecm@yahoo.com for registering or more information.
Art In Pai
Pai is as laid back as it comes for backpackers and although sipping lattes by the Pai River and chilling at the Be Bop Bar are as active as many travellers get in this Mae Hong Son valley village, there is an emerging arts scene which is developing quite nicely. Baan Pittalew Art Gallery has, until the end of May, an exhibition entitled ‘Art in Pai’ which features works by 15 professional and amateur artists residing in Pai. Their works of many mediums offer abstract, realistic and impressionistic works reflecting the artists’ feelings towards the town, the nature surrounding Pai, its community as well as its relatively new visitors – the backpakers. Baan Pittalew is just 2 kilometres drive from the heart of Pai, on the way to Ta Pai Hot Spring. For more information, call 06-1911369.
It Fair
The IT Fair will take place from May 1st to May 15th at the Icon Square. Over 40 shops and boutiques will join the fair and offer visitors various trendy IT products and equipment. This is a good chance for people with IT mania to look for new arrival IT products, second hand computers and knowledge on IT products and maintenance. Visitors will also have a chance to win the big prize of the Icon Square. For more information, call 053-404188-91.
Doi Luang, Chiang Dao
A timely celebration of the (temporary?) collapse of the Government’s harebrained project to build a cable car up Doi Luang Chiang Mai, a colour photo exhibition ‘Doi Luang, Chiang Dao’ by a freelance writer and photographer Samith Tananitichot is to be held from May 14 to May 30 at Lanna Architecture Centre, Chiang Mai. The exhibition is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. For more details, call 09-7552707.
The Wisdom Of Yong Arts & Craftsmen Walking Street
The pedestrian market will showcase arts and handicrafts from 21 villages of Yong people, a local tribe of Lamphun and some part of Chiang Mai. Yong are well-known for their unique handicraft techniques which reflect in their elephant wooden carvings, bamboo products, souvenirs, cloth painting, cloth dolls and so on. The walking street will cover a distance of 4 kilometres offering a wonderful variety of ethnic products and exhibitions on Yong lifestyle. This market is run every Saturday from 4 p.m. - 11 p.m. at the road leading to Borsang village in Tambol Buak Kang, San Kamphaeng District until September 30. For more details please call 053-446548-9 or 053-381035.
Heart Of The Street
The Volunteer Group for Children’s Development, an organisation which works to improve the life of street children, is going to organise the exhibition entitled Heart of the Street from May 28 to June 11 at the Chiang Mai University’s Art Museum. The opening will be on Saturday, May 28 at 2 p.m. with a performance by Payap University’s Jazz Jazz and Sud Sanan bands from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, call 053-874065 or visit www.vgcd.org.
Workshop For Smes Entrepreneurs
The Northern Industrial Promotion Office is inviting all Small and Medium- seized Enterprise (SME) businesspeople to join its special workshop on SMEs during May 19 to June 19 to enhance their capacity and learn more about investment strategies, business expansion and administration. The workshop introduction will take place on May 2 at the Imperial Ballroom 2, Rydget Hotel and application and interview will be on May 3-6 at the same venue. Chosen applicants will join the workshop during May 19 to June 10 at the Imperial Mae Ping Hotel. For more information, call 053-245361-2 ext 510 or fax 053-248315.
Experimental Film And Video Art Course
Found Footage Film workshop will hold a cinema studies course on Experimental Film and Video Art on May 21-23 and May 28-29. The 5-day course will be conducted from 9.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. daily. You will explore the works of several mental/avant-garde filmmakers and video artists from the birth of cinema to the present day such as Georges Melies, Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, Nam June Paik and Bill Viola. The course will be conducted in Thai by Sasithorn Ariyawicha (M.A. Media Studies, The New School, New York, independent filmmaker since 1993) at Baan Thor Fun, 21 Nimmanhaemin Rd, Soi 17. Only 10 sessions are open with only a maximum of 20 persons each. Registration fee is 3,500 baht. For more information, call 09-7844550 (unavailable contemporary during May 1-8) or e-mail foundfootage@gmail.com or visit www.geocities.com/filmstorm/exp.html.
Elephant Exhibition
Eight national museums in the North have jointly held this exhibition up to May 31st at Chiang Mai National Museum. The exhibition is arranged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of HRH Princess Sirindhorn. An exhibition will demonstrate relationships between elephants and Thai people, elephant life, importance of the royal elephants, Thai belief concerning the elephants, elephants and art as well as elephants in HRH Princess Sirindhorn’s point of view. Photos of elephants from all over Thailand will be displayed along with performances and a fair of elephant products and souvenirs.
For more information, call 053-221308.
Football Match
Football will be used to strengthen relationship between officials and locals in all districts of Chiang Mai. The tournament has started and will be completed on May 22nd. The venue is the 700th Year Stadium’s fields. First round matches are to kick off on May 14th while the second round on May 15th and final round on May 22nd. All districts of Chiang Mai have sent their teams to compete and build networks. The winning team will be awarded 50,000 baht while the first and second runners up will receive 20,000 and 12,000 baht respectively. A special prize of 2,500 baht will be given to the last 8 teams joining the first round. Call 053-896035 for more information.
The Land Foundation
The Land Foundation proudly invites you to visit its ‘One Year Project’ exhibition which will be held from May 7th to June 30th at its office located in Soi Wat Umong behind Chiang Mai University. For more information please call 053-811555 or visit www.thelandfoundation.org/download.zip.
Mop Group
The exhibition of water colour paintings by ‘Mop’ group led by Tanoon Kongchan, Naes Punmanee and Serm Warcharin is still on show until May 4 at Galerie Panisa.
For more information, call 053-202779.
Alliance Francaise Chiang Mai
Tel : 053 275277
May 2005 Film Programme
Friday, May 6, 20.00
LA BETE HUMAINE (1938)
by Jean Renoir with Jean Gabin • Simone Simon • Fernard Ledoux • B&W • 100mn
Severine and her husband Roubaud kill their former employer on a train. Jacques an engineer witnesses the murder but does not report them to the police as he is deeply in love with Severine. However, during an epileptic fit, he kills her...
Friday, May 13, 20.00
LA GRANDE ILLUSION (1937)
by Jean Renoir with Jean Gabin • Erich von Stroheim • Pierre Fresnay • B&W • 114mn
During 1st WW, two French officers are captured. Captain de Boeldieu is an aristocrat while Lieutenant Marechal was a mechanic in civilian life. They meet other prisoners from various backgrounds, as Rosenthal, son of wealthy Jewish bankers. They are separated from Rosenthal before managing to escape. A few months later, they meet again in a fortress commanded by the aristocrat Van Rauffenstein. De Boeldieu strikes up a friendship with him but Marechal and Rosenthal still want to escape...
Friday, May 20, 20.00
TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI (1954)
by Jacques Becker with Jean Gabin • Jeanne Moreau • Lino Ventura • B&W • 95 mn
“Don’t Touch the Dough” Jacques Becker’s 1954 farce starring Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura and Jeanne Moreau visits the underworld of the paris mafia and the two gangsters, now in their 50’s, who have decided to retire, just like everyone else...
Friday, May 27, 20.00
LA VIERGE DU RHIN (1953)
by Gilles Grangier with Jean Gabin • Elina Labourdette • Andree Clement • B&W • 82mn
Reported missing in 1940, Jacques Ledru comes back to Strasbourg as Martin Schmidt. He tracks down his wife Genevieve, but she's remarried and has taken the head of his shipping company. She and her husband will do anything to get rid of Jacques and keep his company ...
