Photo: Martin Cathrae

Period : 2 days, 29^th Saturday and 30^th Sunday January 2011
Time: 09.00 – 17.00
Farm space: 60 rais
Entrance fee: None

1 Chef Demo by Anotai Cookery School. Sponser by Gaggenau. Media partner by Matha Stewart Thailand Living Activities at the festival will include:

1. Chef Demonstration by Anotai Cookery School with cooking equipment sponsored by Gaggenau and Martha Stewart Living Thailand as the media partner “Organic food is real food” captures the pure philosophy of eating healthily without pesticides, chemical fertilizer and synthetic hormones. The organic cooking by GAGGENAU Star Chef Anotai Gongvatana at Organic Food Festival at Rai Pluke Rak presents simple, healthy, and delicious dishes made from all natural ingredients grown at Rai Pluke Rak.

2. Organic Kids (with Mother & Care as the media partner) This corner is divided into three following groups:

2.1. Kru Cheewan Storytelling where children enjoy making toys and listen to stories by Kru Cheewan Wisasa, one of Thailand’s leading children book illustrators and cartoonists who frequents Rai Pluke Rak’s Organic Family Day.

2.2. Lively Reading with Phi A, Wipawee, an award-winning author and storyteller, whose selections include children stories based on nature.

2.3. Organic heart by Ya Nid Hedhunsa, one of the most experienced children ‘cultivators’ in Thailand, who will lead the children to explore the heart of organic living among them.

3. Organic Live Music (with FM105 Family and Children Radio as the media partner) A fun, aerobic rhythms portraying the organic living, stories of vegetables, animals and bugs whose collective roles are vital in any organic farm. Children will enjoy the aerobic dancing with Kru Tarn Hedhunsa.

4. Organic Gardener This serves both backyard organic garden and out-of-town holiday home with a space large enough for more serious plantation. An advocate for organic farming as a taming tool for global warming, Rai Pluke Rak presents an organic workshop where participants learn how to make plant lice repelling soaps, tea fertilizer, bug repelling herbs, crop rotation, trichoderma development, insect-killing nemotodes and vegetable seeding. Special for those interested in the business of organic farming, there will also be special workshops on export-standard organic farming and successful export marketing by experts from Thai Organic Trade Association (TOTA).

5. Education Zone The “Organic Heart” Exhibition World collection of organic movies Homeopathy Seminar is an ancient art of healing originated in Europe over 100 of years ago. This healing philosophy, to be presented by the expert Dr. Rado from the Czech Republic, suits those who want to avoid chemical and synthetic medication treatments.

6. Field Day January is Thailand’s cool season and the best yield time for Rai Pluke Rak’s organic corps such as cherry tomatoes and salad leaves. At the festival, the farm allocates a nice lovely space to display its own fresh produce and invite you to become a farmer for a day and enjoy harvesting the fresh vegetables right from the farm and enjoy various styles of our scarecrows.

7. Organic Body Treatment sponsored by the Sareerarom Tropical Spa Meet the world’s latest trend of natural body and skin treatments with organic substances from the nature. Here, skin and beauty experts from the up-scale Sareerarom Tropical Spa will demonstrate various ways of organic skin indulgences promised to pamper both your skins and the Mother Earth.

8. Culture & Yoga Demonstration The famous shows of musical yoga by over 20 underprivileged children from Baan Un Rak and the Nang Yai Wat Kanon performance* portraying Thailand’s rich cultural treasures. (Nang Yai Performance is a Southern Thai puppetry made from carved animal skins.)

9. Organic Farm Kitchen Shop for delicious organic Rai Pluke Rak’s produce cultivated on international standard. Available dishes are made from organic fish, free-range eggs as well as organic ice creams and sorbets – all free from chemical substances, preservatives and chemical colouring.

10. Organic Bar Beautiful organic floras of Rai Pluke Rak are as various as the faunas that depend on them. The natural balance of lives here represents the very ultimate philosophy of organic living and farming. Refresh yourself with the delightful organic blooming teas by Rai Pluke Rak and the aromatic organic Zolito coffee from the North of Thailand.

11. Organic Business Community and Farm Shop Time to shop and taste the multitude of over 150 organic produce and products by Thailand’s organic farmers and producers in Thai Organic Trade Association.

12. Opening Ceremony of Organic Business Community at 17.30 And a special program on the Saturday night 19th January by special artists hope family bands at 18.00 – 21.00

13. Organic Farmer Calendar (a fee applied) At Rai Pluke Rak, farmers take detailed notes on their planting calendar to make sure that their corps are right to the seasons. From our extensive organic cultivating experiences of over 10 years, we have collected a number of seasonal seeding and sowing tips for you to prepare a planting calendar of 12 vegetables in 12 months so you can enjoy a year-round organic farming of your own.

More info: thaiorganicfood.com

Over 200 million baht circulating funds emphasized the results of Bangkok Motorbike Festival 2010 ran counter to world economy crisis. As a consequence of recent world economy, Thailand had faded. It affected to the overview investment and tourism with the exception of motorcycle business.

The Bangkok Motorbike Festival 2011 is the biggest Motorbike, Part & Accessory, Apparel and Protection Gear trade fair with Motorbike activities for Thai and Foreign bikers in this region. The show could have Motorcycle Brands, Protection Gears, Apparels and more activities.

Website: thailandmotorbikefestival.com

Photo: cbr150club.com

Today there is an impressive list of recognised brands that are built in Thailand including the vintage UK brand Triumph. Now in its second year the Bangkok Motorbike Festival 2010 will be hosted, the capital’s newest mega mall. The event highlights an export success story, but also the popularity of motorcycle travel in a country where two wheelers are household items along side the refrigerator and TV.

They are predicting a bumper event that is essentially an international exhibition showcasing the latest models, accessories, apparel lines and protection gear. They reckon over 150,000 bike enthusiasts will tour the show, plus thousands of consumers attracted by the flashy machines lined up on the mall’s catwalks.

Enthusiasts will be over the moon studying the finest details their dream machines from race proven brands to icons of the touring fraternity. Among the leaders on display will be Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Ducati, BMW, Sachs, Can-Am, Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki representing road luxury, touring, track racing and off road riding.

Motorbike caravans are a popular feature for clubs throughout Thailand. Usually, they are linked to a festival, or concert in a provincial town, but sometimes the choppers ride for charity, delivering toys to children in hospitals and orphanages.

Sources: bangkokmotorbikefestival.com, tourismthailand.org

Photo: WICSIR

If the capital city’s Christmas celebration haunts are losing their shine, then a more traditional festival in an unlikely destination in Northeast Thailand might be just the ticket. Sakhon Nakhon is definitely on Santa’s itinerary as hundreds of village children in the tiny village of Tha Rae will substantiate.

Christmas Eve holds special meaning to its residents; devout Christians who can trace their ancestors back to Vietnam and troubled times of persecution and a hurried migration west. Today, family celebrations, that dominate the scene in Sakhon Nakhon province, 24 to 25 December, are in the news as the Tourism Authority of Thailand regional office in Nakhon Phanom promotes the season of good will to a much wider audience.

Tha Rae village has all the right credentials. Home to a Catholic Seminary, where priests are trained and ordained, the village also boasts an imposing, St Michael the Archangel Cathedral and the seat of a Bishop, who oversees a flock that extends beyond Sakhon Nakhon to neighbouring provinces Kalasin, Mukdahan, and Nakhon Phanom. An estimated 50,000 Catholics reside in these provinces and many of them will visit Tha Rae to witness the Star of David festivities.

Residents parade thousands of “Stars of David” while there are scenes of the nativity all in a genuine context not performed as a tourist attraction. Carol singers and a star-studied line up for an evening concert will add to the Christmas atmosphere along with a street-side stalls and open-air dining.

The Christmas Star Festival parade culminates in residents decorating their homes with multi-coloured lights and stars to symbolise their faith. The stars remain over doors and windows for months after the festival is over.

Tha Rae, just off highway 22, is on the northern shore of Nong Han lake the largest natural lake in northeast Thailand fed by the River Nam Pung. The lake has public parks on its banks and is a popular spot for fishing.

However, visitors celebrating Christmas in Sakhon Nakhon will probably head for Nakhon Phanom that stands on the banks of the Mekong River, some 83 eastward on highway 22. It has a wider selection of hotels, restaurants and an imposing riverside promenade. Just a couple of blocks from the clock tower, donated by the Vietnamese community, a bustling night market, attracts residents and tourists shopping for local sweets and savoury snacks, Isan dishes and home-made curries. Nearby, are trendy pubs and restaurants, while the more up-scale riverside restaurants are 1 km north of the clock tower, quite close to the TAT information office.

While visiting this picturesque town, there is an opportunity to hire cycles to enjoy a tour of several important temples and historical sights. One is the residence of Ho Chi Minh, who sought refuge in a small teak house on the outskirts of town, during the French Indochina War. The residence is now a museum.