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Prime Minister Of What Country Just Drove Through The Night Bazaar Area?


DavidMavec

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Just leaving the breakfast buffet at Le Meridien about 20 minutes ago there was a huge police presence and many many cars in a procession. They made me stop on my motorbike twice. Both times I asked the police what was going on and they said that the prime minister of a country that starts with a B (sounded like Bagababawan or something) was going through. When they could tell I never heard of the country (I thought I could not understand the Thai pronunciation of the country name) both of them laughed and said they never heard of it, that nobody has ever heard of this country! Hehehe... I'm no geography expert but if I had understood the pronunciation I think I probably would have known it.

Anyone know which country's prime minister was travelling in a procession through the night bazaar area at around 7:30 AM today?

Just curious...

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Based only on your effort at repeating the pronunciation you heard, I'm guessing that it was someone from Brunei Darussalam. Brunei is located on an island shared with Malaysia and Indonesia. The capital city is Banda Seri Begawan, one of my favorite capital cities to pronounce, that and Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Fun to say, but never been to either.

What do I win?

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They had the street blocked of yesterday at around 10:30 in the morning. I had just arrived on the scene and waited a few minutes then about 4 vehicles looking some what official drove by going the wrong way. As soon as they went by traffic was opened up at La Kroh I think they went down to the D2 and traffic was let up on Changklan at that time.

I wonder if this has something to do with that water convention. They are already shutting schools down supposedly to lesson the traffic so Chiang Mai will look like it has no traffic problems.

Makes one wonder of the convention center is worth it.

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There are 200+ "VIP" delegates in town for the Asia Pacific Water Conference. I was told that the king of Brunei was attending. The government has spent upwards of 30m baht (some say more) on a Son et Lumiere type show in Vieng Khum Kham which they are going to stage on Sunday evening (VIP guests only, by the way). I can't wait for it to be over - it's Son et Lumiere hell where we live with rehearsals every night until 10.30.

i-jwdPzcM-XL.jpg

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There are 200+ "VIP" delegates in town for the Asia Pacific Water Conference. I was told that the king of Brunei was attending. The government has spent upwards of 30m baht (some say more) on a Son et Lumiere type show in Vieng Khum Kham which they are going to stage on Sunday evening (VIP guests only, by the way). I can't wait for it to be over - it's Son et Lumiere hell where we live with rehearsals every night until 10.30.

i-jwdPzcM-XL.jpg

Thanks for the photo.

Got to stay home for a few days because I read that the conference runs until the 20th and many could be here longer to enjoy Loi Khroa Rd.

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Also, Ahmadinejad (Iran's PM) is in town. Staying at Shangri La I believe.

And many other PMs/presidents.

Saw him in Spicy last night:P
It's good to hear that they are taking advantage of all of the culture that Chiang Mai has to offer... Edited by JimShortz
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Also, Ahmadinejad (Iran's PM) is in town. Staying at Shangri La I believe.

And many other PMs/presidents.

Saw him in Spicy last night:P
It's good to hear that they are taking advantage of all of the culture that Chiang Mai has to offer...

The only culture at Spicy is bacterial.

p.s. maybe fungal as well

Edited by mamborobert
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It is surprising why so many dignatories have to come into town and "lord it" in the likes of the D2 and ShagriLa; Meridian disrupting everything and everyone.

they have spent at least 2 years developing the conference centre; it still looks like an abandoned toy town....but did they not think of building accomodation there. middle of no where, security would seem easy (unless firebombed from the sky) and no need for police or anything.

even without accomodation, there are dormitories and 3 bed houses available at the 700yr stadium, now reduced 50bt a night from 600 to 550baht.

they should have shipped the lot of them there and spared the city.

What's wrong with the Phucome? Close enough whistling.gif

They could even set fire to Doi Pui & have the "son et lumiere" there laugh.png

Edited by MESmith
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Judging by the vehicles in the parking lot at Phucome, that's where the Thai TV crews are staying. W-A-Y too down-market for the kings, PMs and presidents coming for the water conference.

I'm sure the film crew guys are having fun there when they come back in the evenings.wink.pngrolleyes.gif

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It is surprising why so many dignatories have to come into town and "lord it" in the likes of the D2 and ShagriLa; Meridian disrupting everything and everyone.

they have spent at least 2 years developing the conference centre; it still looks like an abandoned toy town....but did they not think of building accomodation there. middle of no where, security would seem easy (unless firebombed from the sky) and no need for police or anything.

Because it's a free country (economically anyway). If anyone sees an opportunity for accommodation near the conference venue then they can acquire the land and start something.

What you are implying is a bit communist: government running (or encouraging) a hotel business as a top-down planning kind of thing. Has never worked and never will work.

So in short, if there are many conferences there, then it will likely happen. Just perhaps not the top of the line 5 star places any time soon; a bit too far out of town.

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How curious no one posts anything about the purpose of the meeting and anything about the meeting and the exhibition.

Thank you, Mapguy, for posting something about the purpose of the meeting and about the meeting and the exhibition. I was hoping someone would. :)

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I think Rati Lanna is playing host to the entire Thailand police force!

Some of those big BIB's certainly have nice cars.

And the ones that don't drive themselves (like the big guys here from BKK) are chauffeur-driven in these decked out mini vans that have only 4 separate seats in each van. The seats are similar to the ones in a high-end movie theatre, DVD's playing, mini bar, etc. About a year ago I was standing on the street at Charoenrat and about 4 of these vans came pulling up to the light. There was a minor accident in progress and the vans were stuck in traffic. A window came down in one van right were I was standing and the cop looked out. I peeked in. These guys were decked out with so many stars on their shoulders and numerous medals and ribbons on their chests, wearing Ray Bans and other expensive glasses, and really looking quite cool. Kind of like rock stars in their own right. They looked like they had all just come from the hair salon/spa.

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Last night I saw Amadinejad drinkin' a pina colada at the Shangra-la bar and his five o'clock shadow was perfect.......aaahoo.

Good thing he didn't order a B52, otherwise you'd have to clear the building.

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So, did we actually work out what the purpose of this meeting was? I've been looking at the website and not too obvious. Some of the topics look like choices for a geography essay. But that's about it.

Presumably it has something to do with the 350 billion water project (Thailand).

Does anyone know exactly what this involves and whether bids have been put in yet for the projects.

Where is the money coming from exactly?

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Water-projects-awash-with-uncertainty-30205102.html

The Emergency Decree on Investment Loan for Water Resource Management and Future Development issued by the Cabinet earlier
this year allows the government to borrow at most Bt350 billion by June 2013 to finance infrastructure projects for water resource management.
This fund is off budget similar to the stimulus packages in
2009 (Thai Kemkaeng 1 & 2). It is approved by the Cabinet and its allocation and spending need not go through the budgetary process and Parliamentary scrutiny. Hence, it is not counted in the budget balance, but is counted in public debt.
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