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International Dance Festival 2009

More than 600 dancers and performing artists from around the world will be featuring art in their own forms in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket in "International Dance Festival 2009", starting today, until March 25.

Dance performances from 12 countries include the folkloric dance company Reda from Egypt, a Korean Triple Billed Programme, the contemporary dance performance Touch from Italy and Gershwin Fantasy, a concert by versatile US opera singer Janice Martin.

More performances by talented Thai performers and dancers and dance companies from all over the world will be presented to local audiences free of charge. Rare workshops and classes from master teachers from both Thailand and abroad together with exhibitions will be accessible free of charge.

In Bangkok, shows are held at Centrepoint Playhouse on the 8th floor of CentralWorld and Aksara Theatre at the King Power complex. Free performances are provided on the "Young Talented Stage" just opposite the main stage at CentralWorld and at Benjasiri Park today and tomorrow.

Some of the shows, like Touch, Argentine Tango, The Last Silver Crane and Gershwin Fantasy, go to Phuket and Chiang Mai.

Free performances are at Port Jungceylon in Phuket from March 18 to 21 between 6 and 8pm; and at Central Airport Plaza in Chiang Mai on March 21 and 22, from 5 to 7pm.

Tickets are 500, 1,000 and 1,500 baht. Visit http://www.thaiticketmajor.com/ or call 02-262-3456.

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Banyan Tree Chasing Growth in China

BANYAN TREE, the resort brand that had its beginnings on Phuket, has completed an investment fund of several hundred million dollars to finance its planned projects in China, sources have told the Reuters news agency.

One industry source told Reuters that BT has raised at least $500 million for its China Development Fund, which will have an office in Shanghai to support five or six hotel projects across China, including a new hotel in Tibet.

Banyan Tree has also begun to hire senior executives in Shanghai to run the China fund, the sources were quoted as saying.

While growth in travel to China is expected to slow, the other side of the economic downturn is expected to restore the appeal of the tourism industry worldwide.

With China's gradual emergence as an economic powerhouse, a return to normal will again maximise the spending power of a large economy and a burgeoning middle-class.

Laguna Phuket, the large island resort sanctuary where Banyan Tree had its beginnings, retains close connections with the international brand, now based in Singapore, that uses a large island tree as its logo.

On Phuket, Banyan Tree has been a constant innovator, pioneering resort villas as an upmarket accommodation alternative and making the connection between property investment and resort revenue.

BT now has three hotels in China, including one on the tropical resort island of Hainan, often dubbed China's Phuket.

The sources who spoke to Reuters declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Laguna Phuket was among the first groups to identify the long-term impact of the global financial setback, putting on hold last year its plans for a new resort on Phuket and expansion to Vietnam through a large resort project at Hue.

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The flavor of Songkran

Songkran, Thai New Year, which falls on April 13 to 15, is a time for renewal and cleansing and it is usually celebrated by communal water fights and by cleaning images of Buddha, as well as making resolutions.

You might get a rude reaction if you try and splash people in Jakarta with water, but you can get a taste of Songkran at JW Marriott’s Sailendra restaurant.

To celebrate the astrological event, marked by the beginning of the sun’s journey northward, the restaurant is hosting the “Thailand Food Festival” from April 10 to April 19, as part of its “Wonderful Thailand” promotion, organized by the Royal Thai Embassy in Jakarta.

Opened with a traditional Thai dance, the food festival also features Thai arts and crafts.

Guests have a chance to win a stay at the JW Marriott Bangkok or the JW Marriott Phuket by dining at the hotel during the festival and entering their business card into the draw.

During the food festival, guests can not only try the widely recognized Tom Yam Kung (seafood soup), but also get to know other Thai cuisine such as Som Tam Thai (Thai salad) and Tom Kha Gai (chicken soup).

Som Tam Thai is similar to West Java’s raw karedok salad and consists of grated raw papaya, long beans and tomato pounded together with a mortar and pestle and mixed with peanuts, chili, palm sugar, dried shrimp and lime juice.

Tom Kha Gai is as soothing as chicken soup can be and gives a fulfilling, warm sense long after the coconut milk and lemongrass base has passed ones lips. There is also, of course, Pad Thai, rice noodles pan fried with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, tamarind pulp, chopped peanuts and egg combined with chicken, seafood or tofu.

The festival features all the classic Thai soups and salads as well as some you may not be so familiar with such as Gaeng Kiaw Wan Gai (Thai green curry with chicken and eggplant), in which the chicken and eggplant are cooked with kaffir (lime leaves), nam pla (fish sauce), palm sugar, basil and chili peppers.

Nam pla, a very aromatic and strong tasting fish sauce, is the ingredient found in almost all Thai dishes from every region of the country. Besides nam pla, shrimp paste and a combination of ground shrimp and salt is also used extensively.

The hotel’s executive sous chef Deden Gumilar said that for the festival his team used ingredients available in Indonesia, as most Thai foods contain similar ingredients and spices used in Indonesian dishes. Even nam pla can be found in Indonesia’s major retailers.

“Thai cuisine is well-known for having the longer hot and spicy flavor compared to our [Indonesian] cuisine because they usually use lime juice, fresh coriander, lemon grass, galangal root and dried chili,” Deden said.

Thailand is known for its rice cultivation and two varieties are featured in the festival: jasmine and sticky. Jasmine rice, sometimes known as Thai fragrant rice, is a long-grain variety that has a nutty aroma and a subtle pandan leave-like flavor, while sticky rice is a unique variety of rice that contains an unusual balance of the starches present in all rice, which gives it a gluey texture when cooked.

To ensure authenticity the restaurant flew in Chef Wisanu Srijaikham and Chef Pradit Kaewnikom from the JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok especially for the occasion.

Besides food, traditional Thai beverages such as Cha Dhra Khai (lemon grass ice tea) and Nam Ma Muang (mango syrup) are on offer. For dessert, try the Banana Roti, a crispy pancake with a sliced banana filling and various toppings.

Sailendra Restaurant

JW Marriott Hotel Jakarta
Jl. Lingkar Mega Kuningan
Kav. E, I.2 Jakarta
Phone: 021 5798 8992

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Wild Bear Buys Phuket Penthouse in Kata

SURVIVAL is definitely the main thought going through the minds of many property people on Phuket these days, but who'd have thought that up would pop Edward ''Bear'' Grylls?

Bear, if you haven't heard of him, is quite well known in the US for his survival program Man vs Wild on the Discovery channel.

In Britain, he also has a following through another show, Born Survivor.
And now the Bear has a new lair, and it's on Phuket.

The people at Kata Rocks say he has just signed up for a Club Penthouse at the Kata Rocks development, on the headland at the south end of the beach, looking out towards Crab Island (Ko Boo).

If Bear does for Kata Rocks what Formula One racing champ Kimi Raikkonen has done for Outrigger Serenity Terraces Resort in Rawai, the Kata Rocks team will be more than pleased.

The marketing benefits of having someone famous buy one of your properties are becoming startlingly obvious.

So be aware, if you happen to be in that neighborhood of Kata, that there's a Bear out there . . .

The adventurer and tv personality has, from all accounts, just the kind of eating habits needed to survive the wilder regions of Thailand.

Bugs, live snakes, live frogs and the fluid from an elephant's dung . . . it seems he has come to the right place.

Bear, 34, was a trooper in Britain's SAS special forces when he broke his back in three places in a parachute jump at the age of 21.

''Lying in a hospital bed with the doctors wondering if he was going to walk again, Bear set a goal to climb Mount Everest,'' says the Kata Rocks media release.

''At the age of 23, Bear became the youngest Briton to climb the mountain and survive.''

He has since gone on, so they tell us, to take a Rigid Inflatable Boat from the US across the Arctic to Britain.

He has also taken a jet ski around Britain (on the water, we presume), he has the world record for the highest dinner party held (below a balloon at 25,000 feet) and he has also taken a powered paraglider higher than anyone else over Mt Everest.

''Bear has also written several books and is an accomplished motivational speaker,'' the Kata Rocks people tell us, and motivation is certainly something the Phuket property business could use.

''All this along with his TV work means that he has been in demand on the chat shows in both the US and Britain and has appeared on Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman and Jonathan Ross among others.

''This month he is on the front cover of Men's Journal in the States and he has been voted seventh coolest guy in the Britain.''

Apparently when he is not out in the wild, drinking elephant fluids, Bear likes to enjoy the finer things in life with his family.

Which brings us to the Club Penthouse in Kata Rocks on Phuket.

Mr Bear said: ''I guess in part that I make a living by eating some pretty disgusting things to show how to stay alive if you are in a survival scenario.

''But when I want to just chill out with family and friends, then I try and pick places that are discreet but spectacular.

''Kata Rocks is both of those in abundance. A very special hideaway.''

Kata Rocks, designed by Hong Kong-based architects Original Vision, is on the headland between Kata beach and Kata Noi beach, two of the best on the island.

The development will also include an oceanfront clubhouse with bistro and sunset bar along with a luxury spa, fitness centre and function rooms.

The Kata Rocks people say sales have been ''extremely strong'' despite prevailing market conditions, with almost half sold off plan in the first few months of 2009.

Construction is due to begin in June 2009 and the project should be completed by the end of 2010.

For more: www.katarocks.com

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