Saturday 27 May 2017

THAILAND: Phuket City Museum Closed,THAI Smile Airways Adds Flights

Officials have announced that the newly-launched Peranakannitat Museum is temporarily closed until exhibitors return all the items borrowed from Phuket residents to display during the grand opening ceremony held in Phuket City last week.

However, they could not give an estimated date as to when that might be.

The issue came to light after dozens of people complained on social media about not being allowed to visit the museum after Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the grand opening on May 17.

Phuket City Municipality yesterday issued a letter outlining the reasons for the closure. The letter briefly read:

“We are proud to have had Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn officially launch the museum. To make the event more special, we borrowed jewelry and other valuable items from Phuket residents to put on display.

“We are now in the process of returning these belongings to their rightful owners. During this time, we have to 'manage security', which is why the museum is temporarily closed.

“There are also other belongings and equipment such as speakers and decorative items that we need to take care of, so it might be inconvenient for visitors to be here at this time. We apologize for this delay and will have the exhibits ready for the public to visit soon.”

Some people expressed concern that the museum would now be ‘empty’, but municipality officials reassured them that there would still be many worthwhile exhibits to see.

“The ground floor will be empty after returning the belongings to owners, but we plan to use that to exhibit photographs of Her Royal Highness Princess Sirindhorn. We will keep adding to the exhibits, so please don’t worry,” a municipality official said.

Officials added that the second floor of the museum will house five stations with different themes, namely the Chinese War, origin of Tung Ka, Chim Jae, Baba (traditional Phuket) dresses and Baba food.

THAI Smile Airways has boosted its flight frequency between Bangkok and Udon Thani.

It now offers five daily flights. Under a promotion, special prices start at Bt1,050 per person for some flights.

Tickets are available for reservation until June 1. Passengers can fly from June 2 to October 28.

THAI Smile Airways also has added a flight to its Bangkok-Narathiwat route, for two flights a day. Prices start at Bt1,050. Services start from June 16.

Heavy rain and strong winds caused a large tree to fall over and damage houses in Chalong this week, causing about 100,000 baht worth of damage.

“The incident occurred at Soi Bangre, Moo 1 at about 2pm on Wednesday. A fallen tree, about 70cm in diameter, wrecked the wall of a guesthouse and damaged another house and a car parked nearby,” said Supawatakan Kunlak of Chalong Municipality.

A staff member at the guesthouse told police that no one was injured.

Municipality workers spent an hour clearing up the clutter. The owner of the guesthouse and the tree said that he would 'partially' compensate the others whose property was damaged.

Officials warned the public to 'be careful' during the monsoon season.

“The rainy season has arrived, so please be extra cautious when the weather is rough. If you see any trees that look dangerously unstable, please inform the local authorities.

If possible, do not park your car underneath or near such trees in order to avoid similar incidents in the future,” said Supawatakan sagely.

No comments: