F

ormer PM Thaksin: 'I'm

calling it quits'

In this interview with

Time magazine, former
Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra
said
he
disagreed
with
the
junta's
recent
controversial economic
policies including capital
controls
and
the
proposed changes to the Foreign Business
Act. "No one can adopt protectionism
anymore," Thaksin said. "Thailand has to be
ready for globalizationyou cannot turn
your back on it. Anything that reverses what
is already very open will cause confusion
and uncertainty. This is when investors pull
out." Thaksin also said that the current
regime wanted to take the country
backward and away from its push to become
a more knowledge-based society.

Controversial
Proposed Vocabul

ary
Protectionism

Pull out
Knowledge-based society

Football star Zidane shares

Thailand trip with his family

French
footballer Zinedine Zidane,
currently in Thailand to take part in a charity
tournament, was spotted taking in the sights

of Bangkok on Monday. The father of four

took his children to watch a muay Thai fight,
and went with his wife to the Grand Palace.
Zidane will travel to Chiang Mai this
weekend to participate in a football match
to raise funds for local AIDS charities.

Vocabua
ry
Tournament

Spotted
Taking in the sights ,

Funds
Charities

Breathing easier as the battle for

blue skies pays of

A decade and a half after Thailand began

a battle for better air quality, Bangkok has
emerged as a role model for pollutionchoked capitals in Asia, with considerably
cleaner air than Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi
and Shanghai, according to Thomas Fuller of
The New York Times. Improvements were
realized after Thai officials demanded for oil
companies to produce cleaner fuel, used
higher taxes to phase out two-stroke
motorcycles, converted taxis to run on
clean-burning liquefied petroleum gas and
imposed progressively stricter emissions
controls
based
on
European
norms.
Bangkok's air, on average, now falls within
the limit set by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency of 50
micrograms per cubic meter, but is above
the European Union limit of 40.
The New York Times

Vocabua
ry

Emerged , Role
model
Pollution-choked

Phase out , (
)
Imposed ,

Interview: Thai director

Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Thai
filmmaker
Apichatpong
Weerasethakul talks
in
this
interview
about
the
recent
decision by the Thai
Censorship Board to cut four scenes from his
new movie "Syndromes and a Century."

Apichatpong said that rather than cut the

four scenes, including one in which a monk
is simply shown strumming a guitar, he
decided to pull the movie's domestic release
entirely. Apichatpong said he was saddened
he was forced to pull the movie, but is
taking the opportunity to submit a petition
to the government to question what's wrong
with the system. "For some filmmakers, it's
become such a standard that when one
makes a film, they're automatically aware of
the censor system so they won't do this and
that," he said. "I think it afects the way we
tell stories. So many Thai films resort to
being about comedy or ghost stories or
something very light. But at the same time,
this is about a studio system because my
film is not part of this system that operates
on fear."
:
So-so Conducted ,

Respondents

Infrequent

Above (
)

More than a puppet on a

string in Thailand

Sakorn
Yangkheowsod,
also known by the nickname
Joe Louis, is helping to singlehandedly
keep
alive
Thailand's classical puppetry
theater. Although classical
puppetry has a long history
in
Thailand,
the
performances dwindled in the 20th century
with the arrival of cinema and television.
Beginning in 1985, Sakorn began the
Traditional Thai Puppet Theater, also known
as the Joe Louis Puppet Theater, at the Night
Bazaar in Bangkok. Many have credited
Vocabua
Sakorn with not simply having revived
ry
classical puppetry, but having endeared it to
the masses. Last year, the Thai troupe won
in the Best Cultural Performance category at
the World Festival of Puppet Art in Prague,
Czech Republic.

Nickname ,
Single-handedly (
)

Dwindled
20th century 20 (
.. 1900 1999)
Endeared

angkok Night Bazaar defies

deadline to close
Shopowners at
Bangkok's Suan Lum
Night Bazaar are
planning to defy a
deadline on Monday
to vacate the
premises while a court decides whether to
shut the popular tourist destination. The site
is located in prime real estate in central
Bangkok due to its proximity to Lumpini park
and the subway, and the land is owned by
the Crown Property Bureau, which manages

the royal family's assets. In February, the

CPB signed a long-term lease on a large
section of the site to mall developer Central
Pattana, which is looking to build a
skyscraper, a hotel and shopping facilities.

:
Defy ,
Vacate the premises

Prime real estate

Proximity
Assets
Skyscraper

The struggle to save classic

Thai architecture

A
small
group
of
architects
in
Chiang Mai is
working
to
preserve
Lanna-era
temples
and
revive the architectural style. Many of the
Northern Thai temples have fallen into
disuse and disrepair, sufering from years of
neglect by municipal authorities and a lack
of enforcement of laws to protect heritage
monuments. Also, about 70 percent of the
temples in Chiang Mai are rented out to the
poor or have been put to commercial use in
some capacity. "This is our identity; we have
to conserve it, otherwise we will have
nothing to be proud of," said Vitul
Lieorungruang, an architecture professor at
Chiang Mai University. "A place that
becomes completely modern doesn't know
who it is anymore."
:
Disuse

Disrepair
Neglect
Municipal authorities

Heritage monuments

Train derails after track

sabotaged

A passenger train derailed Monday in

southern Thailand after saboteurs loosened

a section of track. Nine people were injured.

A three-meter section of rails was
unscrewed, sending the northbound train of
the tracks. Local officials suspect that
Muslim rebels were responsible. The train,
carrying about 200 passengers, derailed
about 750 kilometers south of Bangkok in
Pattani province's Kok Pho district.
:
Derails
Saboteurs
Section
Unscrewed
Northbound

Thailand, other Asian countries

warming to golf

Asian
countries
including
Thailand,
China and
Vietnam are
turning
former tea
plantations into golf courses. However, the
way golf is played in Asia difers from how it
is played in the West. For example, in many
Asian countries, caddies are required and
most are women. The author also advises
Western golfers in Asia on holiday to bring
their own golf shoes, as Asians usually have
much smaller feet than their Western
counterparts.
The Toronto Star
:
Warming to warm to to
warm towards

Plantations
Caddies

Advises
Counterparts

Thai dowries change

with the times

Warangkana Chomchuen of U.S. news

broadcaster NBC said in this opinion piece
that the tradition of giving a bride's family
adowry is changing in Thailand. Chomchuen
said the Thai groom typically pays the "Sin
Sod" of cash, jewelry, gold or property to
prove to the brides family that he will be a
good provider. In a marriage between
two affluent families, the dowry can reach
as high as $500,000. Chomchuen said that
in recent times, young Thai grooms give
dowries as a simple symbolic gesture, and
then have the money returned to them by
the bride's family after the wedding is over.
NBC

:
Dowry

Groom
A good provider

Affluent
Symbolic /