In a small workshop in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, Halima al-Ankassuri embroiders traditional patterns onto a blue shawl destined for sale in an upmarket Paris, London or Dubai boutique.

The 54-year-old mother of seven describes her work as “modern products with shimmering colours, embroidered with Palestinian and Islamic motifs”.

“I’m proud to see Europeans wearing what we produce here and to see top fashion magazines take an interest,” she says, referring to the German online edition of Vogue, a large smile on her face, girded with a red veil.

The Jerash camp where she lives, in northern Jordan, was established to host more than 11,000 Palestinians who fled the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war – hence its alternative name, Gaza Camp.

Half a century on, more than 29,000 refugees live in the camp amid poverty, unemployment and crumbling infrastructure.

In 2013, Roberta Ventura, an Italian with a background in investment banking, decided to set up a social project to help women in the camp after visiting it and seeing their intricate skills close up.

SEP Jordan (SEP for “social enterprise project”) aims to “change lives not only of dozens but over time, hundreds, perhaps thousands of women”, she |says.

Items made on request

On the workshop’s tables lay traditional keffiyeh chequered headscarves with inscriptions of different colours, along with cashmere shawls and handbags.

“The project started with 10 women and now they are 300,” says director Nawal Aradah. “We make products on request – shawls, handbags, towels, |sheets and all kinds of household decor.”

Every two months, 11 to 14 cartons containing 190 to 270 kilograms of goods are sent to stores in Paris, London and Dubai. They’re also sold inside the Palestinian territories – in |Israeli-occupied Bethlehem, says regional manager Mahmoud al-Haj.

“Most buyers are foreign tourists,” he adds.

For women in the workshop, embroidery is an important source of income.

“We all suffer from poverty in this camp,” Ankassuri says.

“This work helps us to improve our lives, even if we charge for our products individually at low prices.”

Every product she embroiders requires at least a week’s work. She has pain in her hands, but enjoys being around the other women in the workshop.

Ventura says the women’s “unique talent” is “appreciated around the world”.

More than two million Palestinian refugees are registered with the United Nations in Jordan, but about half of the country’s population of 6.6 million is of Palestinian origin.

Ankassuri and her colleagues learned embroidery from their mothers and grandmothers.

Each region of historic Palestine has its own motifs and patterns.

As well as presenting Palestinian history and culture to a new audience, their crafts “help promote the cause of our people”, Aradah says proudly.

A flag and a map hang on the walls of the workshop, reminding the women of their link with the land of their birth or, for the younger ones, that of their ancestors.

“Every woman here has a story,” Aradah says. “This work

helps them send their children to school, change the furniture in their homes and improve their |living conditions, especially |since many husbands do not work.”

Hiba al-Hudari, weaving a blue purse with Islamic inscriptions, says the workshop had become “a second home”.

The 37-year-old mother of six earns enough to help her husband, a mechanic, provide for the household.

Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC), operator of the luxury mixed-use development, has joined with the Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association (RSTA) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in hosting the jaw-dropping performance designed and performed by Limelight, a group of world-class artists who are well-known for their 3D Projection Mapping. “Beautiful Bangkok”, which is inspired by the lifestyle, culture and history of the Thai capital, promises to be the best show of the year.

The performance takes place from Thursday (December 14) to December 31 at 7, 7.15, 7.30, 7.45 and 8pm daily.

And on New Year’s Eve at 11.55pm, MQDC invites everyone to join the fun and count down to 2018 together.

The partners have also launched a photography competition. It’s open to both amateur and professional shutterbugs and offers prizes worth up to Bt100,000. The rules are simple: send landscape photos or selfies of Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard (MRB) with a description on the topic “Beautiful Magnolias” and post them with hashtags #beautifulbangkok, #beautifulratchaprasong, #beautifulmagnolias, and #bangkokiconiclandmark in the caption. To submit your photos, upload photo file to one of the file storage websites such as WeTransfer,

Dropbox and GoogleDrive together with your contact details (name, address, telephone number) and send the link to beautifulbangkokbymagnolias@gmail.com.

The competition is open from December 14 to January 5 and the winner will be announced on January 30. Find out more at Facebook.com/MagnoliasRatchadamriBoulevard.

Imagine William Peskett, resident of Pattaya, an England-born Irishman (assuming there is such a thing in itself), sort of “googling” his name in the collected works of William Shakespeare, resident of Stratford thence London thence Stratford again, and finding multiple entries.

Peskett, whose short-fiction/essay collections “The Day of the Tiger”, “Selected Short Stories of Thailand” and “Return to the Go-Go” have all drawn praise on this page in recent years, goes by “Will”, as did the Bard of Avon. And, like the Bard did, he recognises the fertile ground for puns therein (“Will will at will repeat”).

In joining at play with the word and name found frolicking in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 135 and 136, Peskett – already a published poet – decided to portray his own world in this rhyme construction that’s not always easy to read and surely trickier to write. He shows a gift for the off-kilter couplets, but he’s the first to admit he’s no Shakespeare:

Comparison is reckless and perverse:

Where Will wrote wisdom, I write verse

The results are indeed mixed, the subject matter sometimes mundane, but there are many precious gems in this charming collection, lovingly presented in a petite 70-page paperback and illustrated with apt photos. It’s by turns amusing and cheeky, sombre and contemplative.

To begin with, the author looks at what’s on his plate and what’s buzzing around his own flesh – soft-shell crabs and dengue-laden mosquitoes (“The virus that’s to blame is in my blood / Its doings there are doing me no good”). And he converses with them in quizzical monologue, simple thrusts rendered complex by the circuitous, tumbled rhyming.

Paeans to crustaceans and even an insect cursed might be taken as acknowledgement of the ecosystem that preserves us all, yet Peskett has more in mind. He’s frequently tongue-in-cheek and flippant, but he might also be advocating that, rather than Tweeting and Facebooking our days away, we choose real life over its virtual shell. The poem “Mobile” suggests wedding vows updated for the tech era:

I will not give you up at any price,

My love, my darling sweetheart, my device.

Real life, for all its flaws, warrants less criticism when the subjects are human, as in “Expat Love”, safely presumed to be an ode to Peskett’s Thai wife.

“We’re student and instructor sharing praise,” it says, and Thai and farang roles reverse according to each passing day’s needs.

When age makes me the tutor you sit back

And suffer to be taught the things I’ve known;

Then you prepare me in the ways I lack,

So challenged by a culture not my own.

The scribe confesses to limited patience in comparison to his mate, the “diplomat at large”, and in the end concludes (as should all Westerners in their dealings with Thais, and vice versa):

We’ll never change each other, let’s be clear;

But, still the same, we make our contrasts mere.

Would that more of Thailand’s grumbling hordes of expatriates understood this. It should be written on the gates at Immigration.

The concepts aren’t so profound when Peskett rides on whimsy alone. Among the lightweight efforts are “Chilli” (“Those blessed with age are nothing like the young; / They crave spice in their lives, not on their tongue”) and “Sukishi”:

I’m hungry now, so as I walk I scan

The menus that they put out on the street

One common type of which I am a fan

Is one that promises “All You Can Eat”.

There are poems about snooker, Songkran, the noble pickup truck, and the Kingdom’s capital (“So only if your system needs a shock / Should you consider visiting Bangkok.” Not surprisingly, Pattaya fares much better in Peskett’s treatment.)

The entries “Ladyboys” and “Hot” simply joust poetically with conventional notions and matters of fact, offering nothing fresh. But the groan-worthy fluff is handily swept aside by musings of deep poignancy and excellent wordplay.

In “Ko”, the island destination is “rather an idea that dawns on you as you queue for the ferry”. “Cosmetic Surgery” is a lament for Thais seeking to look less Thai:

An Asian face with borrowed Western eyes?

I hear the heavens weep as beauty dies.

In “Drink”, present plans for a booze-up clash with dread over future self-remonstration, triggering a bout of schizophrenia, “When thoughtless now ignores what next day thinks.”

The poem “At Hellfire Pass” visits the quiet Kanchanaburi monument to one of the worst ordeals endured in World War II, “the trial that found the giant in every man”:

The generation that could meet that test

Bore mine, the ones untried whose lives are blessed

If “The Thailand Sonnets” lacks the sustained power of Peskett’s prose and the sheer thrill of the hunt found in “Day of the Tiger”, there are at least a couple of tigers lurking here. One appears in a humorous admonishment to those who deplore the spectacle of boys in girlie bars:

Objectors, fetch a Tiger from your shelf

And sit at home and drink it by yourself.

The other is not the beer but a real tiger, observed forlorn in chained captivity:

The wild ones, do they visit you at night

And press their noses to yours through the wire?

Where you are wronged, do they urge what is right?

And, where you’ve lost your fight, do they bring fire?

…

What drugs do these small showmen give to you

To make you pose with tourists as you do?

In “Jungle”, what remains of Thailand’s ancient forests are found to be “isolated … tufts around the planet of our skin”. Peskett named his imprint Cycad Books because he sees cycads as characterising tropical flora equally old. The venerable gingko is just one familiar example.

“They remind me of visits to humid hothouses in botanical gardens in my youth, times when I never dreamt I’d ever have such things growing in my own garden,” he said in an email. “I trained as a biologist, so it runs deep. Also, cycads haven’t evolved much in 10 million years – so, a bit like me, really.”

The Thailand Sonnets

By William Peskett

Published by Cycad Books, 2017

Available at Amazon.com, Bt250

(e-book Bt66)

Reviewed by Paul Dorsey

A DAY after being-awarded one Michelin star in the first Michelin Guide Bangkok, 72-year-old Supinya Junsuta, better known as Jay Fai to her customers, is hard at work, expertly wielding her wok over the hot charcoal brazier and wearing the oversized goggles she favours to protect her eyes from spurts of hot oil.

Supinya Junsuta, better known as Jay Fai, wears oversized goggles while cooking her signature dish of crabmeat omelette over charcoal. Her eatery is the only street food venue to have earned one Michelin star.

She occasionally glances up at the crowd of hungry diners queuing to try her signature dishes and the large group of reporters who have invaded her small shophouse in the Pratu Phee area, next to the Golden Mount. While Bangkok is known the world over for its incredible street food, Jay Fai is the only street venue to have earned a Michelin star, bringing it on par with such fine-dining establishments like Nahm by David Thompson, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, J’aime by Jean-Michel Lorain, and Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin.

“I have just this one branch here at Pratu Phee and I’m the only cook. I work 12 hours a day, from 1.30pm until 1.30am every day except Sunday,” she tells The Sunday Nation.

Jay Fai – the “Jay” a familiar term for older sister and the “Fai” a reference to the mole on her neck – inherited the business from her father, a stir-fried noodle chef – 40 years ago and quickly made her ordinary eatery extraordinary. Thirty years ago, when a dish of rad naa (stir-fried noodles topped with gravy) cost Bt20, Jay Fai dressed up her dish with a giant-sized portion of seafood and sold it for Bt120. The price didn’t turn diners off and the eatery’s reputation for top-quality meals quickly spread.

Classic Thai recipes are served at the onestarred Paste.

Known for premium local seafood dishes, the best-selling dish is crabmeat omelette that varies in price from Bt800 to Bt2,000, while the most expensive is a rad naa made with Mexican abalone that can go as high as Bt10,000 a pop. The cheapest items on the menu are guay tiew kua gai (wok-fried noodles with chicken) and pork rad naa, each Bt200.

“I carefully select only the best local ingredients. The fresh crabmeat is from Nakhon Si Thammarat and, for my omelette, I use only the meat from the crab-paddle legs. There is no frozen meat and seafood here. My eatery is always welcomes high-profile figures and international chefs. Several chefs have flown in from New York to learn how to cook Thai-style omelette, crab curries and dried congee,” Jay Fai says.

“I didn’t expect to get a star because we’re just a small eatery so it’s an enormous honour.”

A star goes to Thai restaurant Chim by Siam Wisdom for its exceptional traditional fare.

Though Jay Fai is the only roadside venue to earn one star, the debut edition of Michelin Guide Bangkok has highlighted 28 street food locations with “Bib Gourmand”, a rating that recognises restaurants offering exceptionally good food at moderate prices, in Thailand’s case for a maximum of Bt1,000. The newly minted eateries include Go-Ang Kao Mun Gai Pratunam for its aromatic and flavourful chicken with rice, Jay Gee’s garlic fried chicken on Soi Polo, celebrated pad thai outlet Thipsamai Pratu Phee, Jay Daeng’s tasty som tam on Chula Soi 42, and crispy patongo (deep-fried Chinese dough) served at Pa Tong Go Savoey in China Town.

Michelin’s full-time food inspectors have been busy over the last eight months, making anonymous visits to restaurants to gauge their food. Restaurants are rated on such criteria as the quality of ingredients, consistency, cooking technique and flavour, the chef’s personality and value for money.

“The first edition of the Michelin Guide dedicated to Bangkok highlights the rich gastronomic diversity,” says Michael Ellis, international director of Michelin Guides. “Thai food is recognised around the world. Everyone knows tom yam, pad thai and satay. Bangkok’s food scene is varied, diverse and intense. The spices and intense seasoning are unique to Thai cuisine, as it mixes all tastes to the palate – salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. Thailand also has incredible street food that should be included in the selection.”

Gaggan, which is known the world over for its progressive Indian cuisine, earned two stars.

The inaugural edition awarded 14 restaurants one star, highlighting the quality of local cuisine with seven of them – Bo.lan, Nahm, Saneh Jaan, Chim by Siam Wisdom, Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin, Paste and Jay Fai – offering Thai food both prepared to traditional recipes and with a contemporary twist. The other one-starred restaurants are Japanese eatery Ginza Sushi Ichi, three French establishments – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, J’aime by Jean-Michel Lorain and Savelberg – as well as two European contemporary venues – Suhring and Elements – and the 12-seat Upstairs at Mikkeller that pairs innovative cuisine with craft beer.

Chef Phatchara Pirapak might be only 27, but her refined Thai cuisine drawn from age-old recipes and the elegant ambience she has created in new restaurant Saneh Jaan on Wireless Road were enough to win the hearts of Michelin’s food inspectors.

A single star goes to Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin, a place that changes diners’ perceptions of Thai food.

“We try to offer traditional and authentic Thai tastes and pay attention to every detail. We insist on only the best ingredients. The glass noodles, dried rice noodles and black bean curd come from Kanchanaburi, the shrimp paste from Klong Kone in Samut Songkhram, the palm sugar from Phetchaburi, and the dried salted fish from Tak Bai in Narathiwat,” says Phatchara, a graduate of Suan Dusit University’s School of Culinary Arts who honed her formidable skills with Chumphol Jangprai.

Among the best-selling delights are khai palow (five-spice egg with pork), a mix of hard-boiled eggs and tiny chunks of caramelised pork belly braised for three days with Chinese spices, black soy sauce and palm sugar, as well as stir-fried long bean with aromatic shrimp paste.

“I think the Michelin Guide will benefit our gastronomic scene. It will guide foreigners to experience the many different aspects of Thai cuisine,” Phatchara says.

The small Upstairs at Mikkeller gets one star for its innovative cuisine.

Ancient royal Thai recipes are brought back to life with a contemporary approach by experienced chef Bee Satongun in the one-starred Thai restaurant Paste at Gaysorn Village. Paste offers a range of signature dishes inspired by the Snidwongse family cookbook and a few other private sources. They include roasted duck with nutmeg, curry paste and saw tooth coriander served on rice crackers; watermelon and ground salmon with crispy shallots and roasted galangal powder; and southern-style yellow curry with crabmeat seasoned with black pepper, pennyworth leaves and hummingbird flowers.

Three big names on the city’s food scene – Gaggan on Soi Langsuan, Le Normandie of the Mandarin Oriental, and Mezzaluna on the 65th floor of Lebua – won two stars. No restaurant has as yet achieved the coveted three-star rating.

That comes as a little bit of a  surprise even though it is not easy to attain with the extremely high standards required to merit three Michelin stars. For example, in France, which has published the Michelin Guide for over a century, there are only 27 three-starred restaurants out of 4,500 establishments rated in the guide. Overall, there are 22,000 restaurants all over the world listed in the Michelin Guide and out of those, only 116 have three stars and just 450 two stars.

Ginza Sushi Ichi is Bangkok’s only Japanese restaurant to earn a star. 

“Evaluations are carried out every year and the restaurants can win or lose stars,” says Claire Dorland Clauzel of Michelin Group.

But not everyone is satisfied with Wednesday’s announcement. “Fewer Bangkok restaurants received stars than I would have expected. I think our city has more restaurants qualified for one star,” commented food connoisseur and gourmet Litti Kewkacha, who operates dessert cafes Sfree, Parferio and Kyo Roll En.

“I’m disappointed that no restaurant earned a three-star rating and that no Chinese or Italian establishments were included on the list. The three two-starred restaurants serve their food course by course, which is probably more familiar to the inspectors than the Thai culture of sharing dishes that complement each other. It’s a good chance for Michelin to learn more about our culture and at the same time, we must improve our level to the internationally-recognised standard, particularly on service and consistency.”

The Michelin Guide Bangkok makes Thailand the second country in Southeast Asia after Singapore and the sixth in Asia to have its own culinary reference. The red guide in both Thai and English costs Bt650 and will be available at leading bookstores from tomorrow. A digital version will follow soon.

JIM THOMPSON has unveiled two new fabric collections able to add elements of Romanticism, Art Nouveau and Moorish culture to any home, with luxurious, elegant looks.

Old World charm manifests in an array of ornamental prints in the Floriental collection. The name combines “floral” and “oriental” for a collection that revives 18th-century damasks and warp printing, giving historic artworks a fresh lease of life.

The Romanticist designs glorify the past and nature in a classically ornate manner, with picturesque birds nestled among blossoming peonies on bright silk and linen with chintz finishes. Decorative Art Nouveau motifs meanwhile appear on rich velvets.

The Floriental pattern itself originates from a fanciful block-print kept in the Jim Thompson archive. The birds among the peonies are screen-printed onto a flowing silk-and-linen blend in a lively, contemporary palette.

This fresh design is enhanced with a chintz finish, then calandered, giving it a handle and drape, while increasing durability.

The Otago pattern is inspired by an abstract image of the Otago, a legendary ship captained by author and adventurer Joseph Conrad, who visited Siam during the 19th century.

Here, the layers of lineation and illustrative brushstrokes are separately screen-printed onto a finely slubbed linen ground.

Inspired by the work of French furniture designer Louis Majorelle, the Majorelle pattern has been reworked from an archived turn-of-the-century image. The original nature-inspired print has been carefully redrawn and then screen-printed onto sumptuous velvet, in layers of deep ink shades and metallic tones.

The subtle lustre of the metallic pigment, paired with the jewelled colours of the modal ground, brings this decadent 20th-century document back to life.

Dusk Garland is a romantic, mystical design depicting a blooming garland. It’s been constructed from the traditional technique of warp printing. Printed warp yarns are woven with undyed yarn to create a pattern that appears to move subtly, like shadows.

The Saracen collection features high-performance fabrics that similarly reflect the opulence of a bygone era. Constructed in a Trevira CS flame-retardant textile and inspired by Moorish art and architecture and the highly decorative motifs of the Byzantine Empire, Saracen brings together style and durability in equal measure.

An arabesque look and feel is a distinct feature in different patterns like Moorish stripe Ablaq, marble-inspired jacquard Ebru, and Nasrid, a geometric design that is in turn influenced by intricate palace tiling from the culturally rich metropolis of Constantinople.

Also named after the collection, the jacquard woven, Trevira CS cut-velvet Saracen pattern takes its cues from the colours and patterns found in traditional Byzantine architecture. The repeated trellis motif is a popular pattern, adopted by many cultures, which evokes the East-meets-West connection that runs throughout this collection.

Moss is Jim Thompson’s latest durable velvet. The impressive Martindale result and luxurious upright pile finishing, which enhances its handle and depth of colour, ensures it is suited for upholstered works.

Presented in a large and versatile colour offering, Moss is available in various punchy tones and elegant neutrals.

Pomare’s abstract design is inspired by the oceanic art of the Pomare Dynasty of Tahiti, sharing its partiality for distorted forms. The distinctive appliqued-embroidery detail is achieved using a computerised machine-embroidery process on a sumptuous linen ground, creating a soft and lightweight woven construction – perfect for a curtain.

Learn more at http://www.JimThompsonFabrics.com.

Centred on the concept “Wondrous Christmas Town at T77”, the event will feature Santa Claus and his friends along with plenty of places to shop, eat and chill in the wintry atmosphere.

Shoppers and gourmands alike will be thrilled by the “T77 X’Mas Town” strewn with fairy lights all the way from the entrance. A “Mood Wall” adorned with mood pins greets visitors at they enter while more than 120 hip stalls are being set up in seven zones. The “Market Zone” will be packed with stalls featuring popular restaurants and food trucks and offers fashion, health goods, antiques and house décor items.

The highlight is the “Santa Factory Zone” with replicas of Santa’s toy factory. Join in the fun games and receive wonderful prizes presented by Bangkok Bank. Be enchanted by experimental shows at the “Zoolumination Zone” under the theme Winter Forest that mimics an arctic forest, aurora borealis and animals with lights programmed to imitate their movements as though they were coming to life.

Over at the “Playground Zone”, children and families can enjoy a variety of playthings that are guaranteed to bring laughter and joy and stimulate imagination in children. Next door is the “Dog Pavilion Zone” filled with stalls designed for pet lovers and a large plaza for dog training.

And don’t miss the “Workshop Spaces Zone” and the “Music & Show Zone” where mini-concerts by artists such as Film Bongkot and Sqweez Animal on December 16 and Lipta and Season Five on December 17 will be performed.

A shuttle bus service is available between Onnut BTS Station and T77, leaving from under the pedestrian bridge for BTS Exit 2 in front of Tesco Lotus Onnut. Temporary parking at Wat Mahabut (Onnut 7) is available.

The fair is open on all three days from 4 to 10pm.

Digital mobile phone service Line Mobile has upgraded its app and added a new function that can help you save on your phone bills.

Just select the icon “Refer a friend” and send invitation codes to your pals to subscribe to the mobile phone service and you get to use the service for free for up to five months, after which you will get Bt10 discount per month per referred friend.

A collaboration between Line Thailand and DTN (dtac), the Line Mobile app is very convenient and transparent too, allowing users to manage their own monthly packages without having to go to or telephone call centres. Users can use the app to change their package, control data use and pay bills.

The “Refer a friend” function generates a code that you can immediately send to friends via your social network apps, like Line, Facebook or email.

Once your friends click on the link, they will be taken to the Line Mobile web page where they can buy a SIM card and subscribe to a package.

After your friends have subscribed via your shared code, you will receive a code to redeem for one month’s free usage. You can redeem the free usage up to five referred friends, meaning you can use the service free for up to five months.

Moreover, each of your referred friends can invite his or her friends to get the same free usage for up to five moths.

And after the five-free month period ends, you will get Bt10 per month per referred friend and your referred friend will also get the same Bt10 discount per month. Line Mobile says it has no ceiling for this Bt10 discount. So the more friends you invite to use the service, the more you save.

While this is a clever marketing strategy, it does help you save on your phone bills too. And there are further savings to be made, as Line Mobile has just reduced the cost of five of its seven monthly packages by 50 per cent. For example, the S package is reduced from Bt339 to Bt170 a month and the XL package from Bt749 to Bt375.

During my trial use of the service, I detected no problems other than a very occasional and quickly righted glitch, the Internet data was fast and the voice calls were loud and clear.

PROMOTION PACKAGES

S: Bt170 (Bt339)

M: Bt215 (Bt429)

L: Bt300 (Bt599)

XL: Bt375 (Bt749)

Unlimited: Bt850 (Bt1,699)

The Insta 360 One 4K 360-degree camera ensures that you get every detail of a panoramic view, using “smart” technology, with in still photos or video. It’s packed with functions for making premium 24-million-pixel photos and 4k videos. RTB Technology distributes the Insta 360 to stores for Bt11,900.

Shoot like a pro

Sony’s Alpha 7RIII 35mm full-frame mirrorless interchangeablelens camera boasts 42.4-megapixel resolution for professional-style results. The strong, compact body affords greater flexibility in any situation. It can shoot up to 10 frames per second continuously. A good performer in low light, it uses a builtin five-axis image stabiliser. The body sells for Bt114,990.

Four cameras, no waiting

The Nubia Z17s phone packs four cameras – two up front and two at the back – plus AI technology to enhance your shots. On top of a 5.73-inch display, the phone has plenty of power thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, and you have 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Expect to pay Bt17,990.

Safe for kids

Safe, lightweight and sized for kids, JBL JR300BT wireless headphones feature Safe Sound technology to protect young ears. Bluetooth-enabled and with 12 hours of battery life, they have a soft padded headband and ear cushions for a feathery fit. Get them at a promotional discounted price of Bt1,990 from http://www.MahajakLife.com.

Monster listening

ATHM50x Red full-size Monitor headphones from AudioTechnica were built for studio engineers. The 45mm large aperture drivers carry rare-earth magnets for exceptional clarity and solid bass. The professional-grade ear band and headband remain exceptionally comfortable over extended use. Deliver great sound isolation as well, the headphones come from RTB Technology for Bt7,290.

Winter illuminations around Christmas and New Year have long been popular across Japan and now Bangkok is getting in on the act with the launch of the Thailand Illumination Festival 2017 on Ratchadaphisek Road.

“The concept of Thailand Illumination Festival 2017 draws on the Luminous Garden Lighting Festival in Japan, which is held in almost all cities across the country every winter, each with a distinctive display and style. The lights are a definite tourist attraction and never fail to impress both local and international tourists. Amusement parks and shopping malls as well as the city streets are all lit up too. The festival has become one of Japan’s winter traditions,” says Yuiji Matsuyama, president of Apollo (Thailand), manufacturer and distributor of Idemaitsu and Daphne lubricants and the organiser of the lighting extravaganza.

“Our aim is organising this festival in Bangkok is to create a new attraction in the heart of the city to help promote the tourism industry in Thailand. This is the key to stimulating the Thai economy. It is also intended as a social activity that fosters a sense of sharing among our staff and the public, as well as giving everyone an opportunity to make merit through donating to charity. In addition to proceeds from sales of food, fun games will also raise funds for a number of important foundations. We were only able to make this event a reality due to the efforts and willingness on the part of Apollo Oil to express in a practical way our concern for the community and to benefit society,” he adds.

Thailand Illumination Festival 2017 features elaborate and colourful light displays made of millions of LEDs spread over 39 rai of land opposite Esplanade shopping centre in the centre of the area’s exciting night life venues.

Getting there is easy and convenient with the MRT Thailand Cultural Centre station just a short walk away from the action.

The entrance to the festival boasts a beautifully crafted sign with the festival’s Thai name, “Silp Saeng Haeng Raeng Bandal Jai”, meaning “Inspirational Illumination.”

On the other side of the gate, an exhibition presenting Apollo Oil’s CSR events is adjacent to a copy of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol’s speech about doing good for the benefit of others through public health, education, helping the underprivileged, nature conservation and sports.

A little further into the festival are five game booths. One invites you to throws darts at balloons or a board, another to throw balls in cans and yet another to toss rings. Players are rewarded but the prizes go not to them but to the Foundation for the Blind in Thailand, Baan Fuengfah Home for Disabled Babies, Pakkred Babies Home, Rachawadee for Girls, and Baan Nontapum, a Home for Children with Disabilities.

And the festival is not only a showcase of dazzling illuminations. It also commemorates His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and honours His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun with an exhibition titled “Nai Luang Nai Duangjai” featuring the portraits of King Rama IX and King Rama X as well as their actions for the Thai people.

The exhibition “The King of Our Heart” is a must-visit and pays tribute to the late King through a garden of light sculptures presenting the late King’s personal belongings and a fabulous light and sound display with the late King’s compositions such as “Blue Day”, “Echo”, “Near Dawn”, “Alexandra” and “Still on My Mind”. It runs for 12 minutes and gets underway nightly at 7.

The centre of the festival is a sea of blue lights. Visitors stroll through a tunnel of lights made of millions of blue, yellow and red LEDs, the perfect background for that must-have selfie.

You emerge from the tunnel into a kaleidoscopic garden of lights boasting illuminated rabbits, chickens, houses, trees and spheres as well as fountains as well as lifesize animals of the 12 zodiac signs. Even the trees have LED branches.

And just as it should be with any festival, part of the space is dedicated to an open-air eating area manned by 30 leading street food stalls selling pork satay, bone soup, noodle soup, grilled pork and beef, maw soup, meatballs, Isaan food and Japanese delicacies. Part of the proceeds from food sales will go to the Chaipattana and Siriraj foundations. There’s music to, courtesy for a band from Mahidol University.

On December 31, this spectacular illuminated garden will play host to the “Apollo Thai Countdown 2018” with mini-concerts by Chanakan “Atom” Rattanaudom, Jennifer Kim, and the Sincharoen Brothers.

Shining in the night

– “Thailand Illumination Festival 2017” takes place nightly through January 6.

– Admission is free.

– It runs from 6 to 10 Monday to Thursday and until 11 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

– Visitors can leave their cars at the MRT Park and Ride building, Thailand Cultural Centre, Ratchada Soi 6 and the Park and Ride building of Lat Phrao MRT.

– Find out more and join the conversation at Facebook.com/ThailandIlluminationFestival2017

An ultra-compact digital camera which uses similar technology to Sony’s acclaimed RX100 V, the Sony DSCRX0 more than makes up for its minimal appearance and lack of control buttons by capturing outstanding photos and videos.

Boasting only a power on/off button, shutter/video button, a menu button, an “enter” button and four navigation keys that also serve other functions depending on the current usage, the camera can be controlled through a smartphone and Sony’s PlayMemories Mobile app.

The app is particularly good for keen home moviemakers as it can be used to control up to five RX0 cameras for multi-angle shooting. One RX0 is connected to your smartphone as the “group owner” with the four others connected to the “group owner” as clients. You control the group power that in turn controls the client cameras.

Your smartphone connects to the camera with a Wi-Fi connection (the camera has a builtin Wi-Fi function) and when using the phone to control a single RX0, you can check the composition or settings on the smartphone screen, which should save you screwing up your eyes to make out the image on the tiny 1.5-inch, 230,400-dot camera display.

The RX0 uses the 1.0-inch-type (13.2mmx8.8mm) Exmor RS CMOS image sensor like the one used in RX100 V but with lower resolution of 15.3 effective megapixels.

Moreover, the image sensor comes complete with a DRAM memory chip, allowing for fast readout and enabling impressive performance including super slow motion.

Adding to the camera’s fast performance is BIONZ X image processor that efficiently processes light to enable movies and stills to be recorded with more realistic details, richer tone gradations and less noise.

The RX0 is capable of shooting high-quality super slow-motion movies at high frame rates of up to 960 fps/1000fps in NTSC/PAL modes. You can switch between them through the menu.

The RX0 also supports Picture Profile and SLog2 gamma settings, which enable prostyle movie expression. In addition the RX0 can record uncompressed high-quality 4K data on an external recorder.

And the RX0 uses a super speedy anti-distortion shutter of up to 1/32000 sec. At this speed, fast-moving subjects can be frozen in frames without distortion.

Thanks to its fast image sensor and fast image processor, the RX0 also has a continuous shooting speed of up to 16 fps.

The RX0’s lens is made of 6-element ZEISS Tessar T glass and has fixed a focal length of 24mm in 35mm photography and fixed aperture of f/4.0.

And despite its compact size, the camera is robust thanks to its duralumin body. That means it doesn’t need an underwater housing to able to take great photos and snap videos at depths of up to 10 metres. You can even drop it from a height of up to two metres and it won’t complain and it’s crushproof too, supporting weights of up to 200 kgs.

The RX0 allows you to select five still modes: Intelligent Auto, Superior Auto, Programme Auto (P), Manual Exposure (M), and Memory Recall.

The Superior Auto is more advanced than Intelligent Auto and takes multiple shots to compose into one photo in dark or backlit scenes.

Both auto modes analyse the scenes and select proper scene modes for the exposure. The camera is capable of recognising Portrait, Infant, Night Portrait, Night Scene, Backlight Portrait, Backlight, Landscape, Spotlight and Low Light scene modes, though in certain cases (Portrait, Backlight Portrait, Night Portrait and Infant), you must first turn on the Face Detection function.

In P mode, the exposure or shutter speed adjusts automatically while you can use the Fn (Function) button and Menu button to change various functions and values.

In the M mode, you must adjust the shutter speed manually.

During the test, I enjoyed shooting with Superior Auto and I captured sharp and clean shots with well saturated colours in most lighting conditions.

For shooting videos, the RX0 provides four modes: Intelligent Auto, Programme auto, Manual Exposure and High Frame Rate (HFR). The HFR is fun as it allows you to shoot super slow motion video for enjoying later.

To change shooting mode, select the one you want from the menu or use the FN button and the arrow keys. For certain shooting modes, you may have to go through a few layers of menu levels. Time being at a premium, I stuck to the automatic shooting mode. The RX0 can also be expanded with more accessories. For example, you can buy a housing that allows the RX0 to be used underwater at the depth of 100 metres. There is also a Filter Adapter Kit that allows you to attach 30.5mm filters to the camera lens for creative shooting.

The Accessory Kit comes with an optional rechargeable battery pack and a charger. The RX0 battery is capable of shooting about 240 shots or about 35 minutes of video shooting per one charge, making the spare battery kit a must have.

Sony DSCRX0 has a suggested retail price of Bt24,990 with a free micro SD card of 32GB storage.

KEY SPECS

– Sensor: 1.0-type (13.2mm x 8.8mm) Exmor RS CMOS sensor with 15.3 effective MP

– Lens: ZEISS Tessar T Lens, 6 elements in 6 groups (6 aspheric elements) with fixed f/4.0 aperture and 24mm equivalent focal length

– Image processing engine: BIONZ X

– Focus modes: Singleshot AF; Preset Focus; Manual Focus

– FocUs area: Wide (25 points contrastdetection AF); Centtre; Flexible Spot (S/M/L); Expanded Flexible Spot

Light metering mode; Multi Pattern; Centre Weighted; Spot

– ISO: Auto: ISO12512800

– Electronic shutter: 1/4″  1/32000

– Recording media: Memory Stick Micro; Memory Stick Micro (Mark2); microSD Memory Card; microSDHC Memory Card; microSDXC Memory Card

– Input/Output terminals: Multi/Micro USB Terminal , Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0), Micro HDMI, Microphone jack (3.5mm Stereo mini jack)

– Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1

– Battery: Rechargeable battery pack NPBJ1 (240 shots per one charge)