|
Nok Air presents Nok Plus
Sponsors 10th anniversary Bakery Music
Maetavarin Maneekulpan
Nok Air is now offering “Nok Plus” seats at a
surcharge of B. 500. These seats are larger and at the front of the Nok Air
planes.
 Suki
(Kamol) Sukosol Clapp, co-founder, Bakery Music boards a Nok Air Boeing.
Purchasers of Nok Plus will also be offered a flexible
no-limit flight change for up to three months after their first confirmed
reservation. In addition, a special snack box and free newspaper will be
given to all “Plus” passengers, while their luggage allowance will be
upgraded to 30 kg. Nok Plus seats are available on all Nok Air flights.
Nok Air has five daily flights to Chiang Mai, one to
Phitsanulok, three to Udon Thani, Hat Yai, and Phuket. They are using 149
seat Boeing 737-400s.
Nok Air travelers have the option to make reservations
through the Nok Air website (www.nokair.co.th), which provides them with the
opportunity to choose their own seating (Nok Plus status will be indicated
on seating map), or they can call the Nok Air call center (1318). Payments
can be made online or via the call center with a credit card, or at any
7-Eleven throughout Thailand featuring Counter Service Plus, or at Siam
Commercial Bank ATMs (for SCB account holders), or at any Nok Air airport
counter.
Nok Air joined with Bakery Music as it celebrated its 10th anniversary to
fly Bakery Music’s management team and artists to Chiang Mai.
Tibetan meditation retreat
Lister Hannah
The Prem Center has recently been privileged to host, for
the first time in South East Asia, a seven day (December 16-22) teaching and
meditation retreat presenting the “Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud”, the highest
teaching of the ancient Tibetan Bึn tradition. The great Master, H.E.
Yึngdzin Lopึn Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche, the senior authority of
this tradition, led the instruction. He was supported by Khenpo Tenpa
Yungdrung, abbot of the monastery in Kathmahdu. This occasion attracted
widespread interest and participation.
 The
great master, H.E. Yึngdzin Lopึn Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche
The Bึn-religion is the original and oldest of the
five spiritual traditions of Tibet where it had been practiced as the
state-religion for 2000 years, before the introduction of Buddhism from
India in the 8 th century A.D. Bึn
represents the indigenous source of Tibetan culture and spirituality, and so
H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama
emphasized “The importance of preserving the Bึn tradition, as
representing the indigenous source of Tibetan culture, and acknowledging the
major role it has had in shaping Tibet’s unique identity.”
Today scholars and practitioners from many countries in the world feel
drawn to Bึn because of its richness of profound ancient knowledge and
its unique spiritual practices for awakening the individual to the real
nature and the full meaning of life.
Chiang Mai to get electric train system within 4 years
Chiang Mai is to get its own electric rail system within
the next four years, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning
(OTP) revealed.
Speaking at a seminar on Chiang Mai’s transformation
into a regional transportation hub, OTP director-general Khamroblak
Surasawadee said that the OTP and the Chiang Mai municipal authorities were
currently designing a new transportation system for the city.
Not only would the city get a new bus system, it would
also get an electric train system, which would take around a year to design
and another three years to construct, he said, adding that the first route
would link the Chiang Mai provincial hall to Chiang Mai International
Airport and Hang Dong district.
Information technology experts from Chiang Mai University
are currently working on a bus system for the city, expected to be up and
running by the beginning of next year.
A recent public consultation on the city’s
transformation into a regional transport hub witnessed widespread support
from local people, but also a proposal to ensure that the project respected
the environment. (TNA)
THAI wins environmental standards certification
An international accreditation body, BVQI, handed an
environmental standard certification award to Thai Airways International
Public Company Limited (THAI), the national flag carrier on December 20.
Speaking after receiving the ISO 14100 award, THAI
president Kanok Abhiradee noted the importance of environmental standard for
the aviation industry.
While acknowledging that the environmental standard had
received more attention abroad than in Thailand, he promised that the
national flag carrier would be at the forefront of standard development,
pointing out that all five of the airline’s business units had already
received ISO 9000 status. He also revealed the airline’s three-point
strategic plan for 2005, saying, “THAI will ensure a balance in investment
in aircraft procurement, with both the purchase of new aircraft and the
modernization of its existing fleet. At the same time, the airline will
focus on customer services, while ensuring that it receives consistent
revenue.”
Next year the airline predicts a six percent growth in
passenger numbers, and a 5-6 percent increase in revenue. Nonetheless, Kanok
admitted that rising oil prices remained a risk factor, and noted that the
airline would have to bring down costs in order to compete within the
context of the increasing liberalization of the aviation industry. (TNA)
Public invited to visit special Royal exhibition at parliament
The parliament is organizing a special exhibition in honor
of a late Thai Queen. Rear Adm. M.C. Pusan Sawadiwat, the deputy president
of the Memorial Foundation of the late Their Majesties King Rama VII and the
Queen, presided over the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the
parliament in Bangkok on December 20.
The exhibition, aimed to pay homage to and honor the late
Queen Rama VII, Her Majesty Queen Rampaipannee, is being held at the first
floor hall of the parliament from 20 December, 2004-21 January, 2005.
Visitors will learn the Royal biography and activities of
the late Queen, and the history of the Thai democracy, which began in the
late King Rama VII, with Her Majesty Queen Rampaipannee being a key
advocate. (TNA)
|
