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A rose of the North sought for Elite International modeling contest
Chiangmai Mail Reporters
Four hundred hopeful applicants from the Northern region
tried but only 90 made it through the selection process to go forward to the
Elite Model Look Thailand 2005 contest.
One of
the three supplementary girls who received a prize for best figure and most
beautiful skin from Nathasith Itthithavorn, managing director of Elite Model
Look Thailand, who will be evaluated again in Bangkok, where the highest
scorer will become the presenter for Brand Veta and receive a cash prize of
200,000 baht.
The final winners in turn will then take part in the
Elite Model Look International competition, when they will be competing
against models from 80 different countries.
Elite Model Look Thailand 2005 was presented by the
Tourism Authority of Thailand and Organizer IQ, which holds the license for
the event, which was sponsored by Brand Veta.
These
girls went through the procedure last year and were ready for advice for the
new contestants. Chiang Mai Elite girls 2004, together with MCs Gik and
Daisy pose for press and VIPs. From left, Boo, Jiap (overall winner 2004),
MC Gik, Daisy, Pom, Yaem, Yoon and Mai.
The organizers had already hand-picked beautiful young
models from different regions in Thailand, starting with the East and
Pattaya three weeks ago, and Phuket in the South two weeks ago. Now came the
hard task of selecting the Northern beauties in Chiang Mai.
The final competition will be on October 26 at the
Bangkok Convention Center, Sofitel Central Plaza Bangkok.
Number
38 became “Model of the Day” for outstanding performance, seen here
receiving her prize from Ajarn Kandalporn Sirijiam, national casting
director of Elite Model Look Thailand competition and of Barbizon Modeling
School. On the left, the overall winner of Elite Model Look Thailand 2004
Kamonlook Panin (Jiap).
At Elite Model Look International the winner will compete
for prize money of over 16 million baht and will become the special
ambassador of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, receiving the Elite
representative Mercedes Benz A Class to drive for one year, and cash and
prizes worth 2 million baht. She will also be traveling to Paris to model in
November.
There is also a special prize for the “Veta Radiant
Model.” The winner will become the presenter for Brand Veta and receive a
cash prize of 200,000 baht.
 Beaming
with pride was the family of Supaporn (Namwan) Roberts, a student of Chiang
Mai International School. Meow and Patrick Roberts with model Namwan in the
middle while little sister Tara can’t stop smiling, being proud of her
beautiful sister. She made it onto three national newspapers’ front pages
the next day!
The Saturday competition at Central Airport Plaza was
divided into two segments, the first which whittled the contestants down to
35 finalists, who then entered the second round. They introduced themselves
wearing the Elite International uniform. Even though some of the contestants
seemed to have lost their voice when it came to talking, and a few appeared
to run rather than walk down the catwalk, others were very confident in
presenting themselves.
Out of these 35, the judges, comprising of
representatives from Grammy, TAT, Central Pattana, Organizer IQ and Barbizon
Modeling School, the 11 semifinalists were chosen. There was a special prize
for the Model of the Day, which went to an outstanding contestant who had
shown herself as a superb model that day.
The 11
winners of the Chiang Mai competition received their “Elite Pass” which
will take care of their travel arrangements to the semifinal competition in
Bangkok to compete in the semi finals on Sunday, October 9, and posed with
the five judges in the middle.
Ajarn Kandalporn Sirijiam, national casting director of Elite Model Look
Thailand competition and of Barbizon Modeling School, together with her
husband Nathasith Itthithavorn, managing director of Elite Model Look
Thailand, handed over the prizes and wished all Northern contestants the
best of luck for the semifinals in Bangkok.
SGA floats idea of Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai ‘air limousine’ connection
M. Vogt
At a recent meeting of Skๅl International Chiangmai
and North Thailand, held at Jirung Spa of Eternity, Mae Rim, members had the
opportunity to welcome Dr. Jain Charnnarong, managing director of SGA, and
its commercial director Sansanan Koomman.
Different
perspectives – aeronautical professionals (from left) Sansanan Koomman,
SGA’s commercial director, Dr. Jain Charnnarong, managing director SGA,
and Yutakit Wanichanond, managing director Wind & Fire, exchanging their
views.
SGA proclaims to be the leading general aviation company
in Thailand, established in February 2001, and BOI promoted. The company
received its Air Operator Certificate in July 2002 and has been operating a
Cessna authorized service station since May 2003. The ISO 9001-2000
certification was received in August 2004 and the Bangkok-Hua Hin air
shuttle became a reality in November 2004.
Skๅl
members and guests are networking prior to the meeting – from left Lilli
Saxer, Impulse Tourism, Mohamad Jesr, Lotus Hotel, Rob Waardenburg, Rowaco
Asia Travel, Annette Kunigagon, Marketing Manager Palaad Tawanron
Restaurant, Marc Dumur, The Legend Chiang Rai, and Ramlah Magnusson, Magnus
Media.
So far a great success story. SGA is operating Cessna
Caravans, known for their excellent operation visibility, and one of the
most rugged aircraft due to the short take-off and landing. Being asked
about the available comfort on board, Sansanan explained and showed the
interior comfort with 12 seats and plenty of baggage space, excellent
passenger comfort and sightseeing capabilities. Interesting also were the
facts of the dependability of the Cessna Caravan. Over 1,300 airplanes are
operating in 60 countries, there is a Cessna 24 hrs factory support, they
fly 30,000 flight hours every month with a +99 percent fleet dispatch
reliability, are simple and low cost in maintenance with SGA as the local
authorized service station. Recognizing the fact that Hua Hin air shuttle
operates eight months without flight cancellation sounds almost too good to
be true.
 Impule
Toursim’s Armin Schoch, in his incomparable style, shot the first
questions towards the SGA representatives.
SGA is currently studying the feasibility of a regular
connection between Chiang Mai (CNX) and Chiang Rai (CEI), a distance of 88
NM (140 km) one way, flight time 34 min one way, and a convenient check-in
of only 15 minutes before departure. But how about the costs? Taking into
consideration that an airport limo (Corola-Camry) one way costs between
2,200-3,500 baht, a hotel van one way even 3,000 baht with an average time
on the road of 3 to 3.5 hours, the 34 minute flight with a fare of 2,200 –
2,400 baht sounds very tempting.
 Wirat
Thong U-ral, general manager Tao Garden (center), enjoys being taken care of
by his personal assistant and Natalia Kortchouganova, asst. spa director
Jirung Spa of Eternity (right).
A survey for the route CNX-Pai was put to 1,350-1,500
baht one way. To make it profitable, at least two to three trips per day are
needed, with 25 person/day per route for a start, (average 50 percent cabin
load factor), working on a semi-scheduled basis where resorts/agents book
SGA flights at Chiang Mai. The Cessnas could even be booked privately, and
one could consider SGA’s services to be an air limousine.
The Skๅl members followed both Dr. Jain’s and Sansanan’s
explanations with great interest, and the common feeling toward the idea was
very positive. Without being over-enthusiastic, SkŒl’s tourism
specialists considered such a service a potential add-on to the ever-growing
improvements of Chiang Mai’s infrastructure. The meeting ended with a big
thank you to the presenters, and a massive flower pot for Natalia
Kortchouganova, Jirung’s assistant spa director, for organizing this very
enjoyable meeting. The next meeting of Skๅl International Chiang Mai
& North Thailand will be held at the Rydges Amora Tapae Hotel on
Thursday, October 27, from 7 p.m. onwards.
The
meetings attendants were invited to fill a survey form, assisting SGA in
their planning for a possible air link between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
Khun In’s ranad performance
a highlight of music festival celebrating school’s centenary
Preeyanoot Jittawong
A traditional Thai “ranad” or xylophone performance
was a highlight of the music festival held to celebrate the centenary of
Yuparaj Wittayalai School.
Chiang
Mai governor Suwat Tantipat (2nd
left) and Dr. Chao Duang Duan na Chiang Mai (2nd
right) jointly open the centenary event.
The event was organized under the patronage of HRH
Princess Petcharat Rajsuda and held on September 25 at the Kad Theater, Kad
Suan Kaew.
Chiang Mai governor Suwat Tanipat presided over the event
along with Dr. Chao Duang Duan na Chiang Mai, president of the Chiang Mai
Cultural Counci. Thana Anonthawilad was chairman of the organizing
committee.
Narongrit
Tosa-nga or Khun In performs on the ranad.
The ranad performance was by Ajarn Narongrit Tosa-nga,
also well known as Khun In, a character in a Hom Rong Thai movie. Earlier in
the month he had given a ranad performance in Moscow. For the Yuparaj
Wittayalai event the performance was accompanied by puppets from the Joe
Luis Theater, a very different style of presentation as the puppets move in
a human manner.
Khun In is currently teaching ranad in Bangkok and in addition to his
movie work he is well known as a musician with the Bangkok Acoustic Band.
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