ScandAsia Thailand - June 2017

JUN 2017

Got no money?

Don’t expect to leave Thai jail BUSINESS

PEOPLE

COMMUNITY

KIDS’ CORNER

Danish commercial Counsellor tours Denmark

Tom Sorensen joins Boyden Thailand

Café Europe in Krabi closes

Farm de Lek

JUN 20

17

Past Events

Doing business with Finland Bangkok seminar

O

n 11 May the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok had the pleasure to co-host the ‘Doing Business With Finland’ seminar together with Finnpartnership and EEP Mekong.

The embassy repor ted that the seminar highlighted our Finland’s exper tise in clean tech, especially in waste-to-energy and bioenergy solutions, and encouraged the local companies to leverage this exper tise by seeking partnerships with Finnish businesses.

Deputy Director Gener al Eija Rotinen pointed out in her opening remarks that despite the lack of abundant natural resources, Finland has been able to develop into an innovative and environmentally conscious society by investing in its people and guaranteeing equal education oppor tunities to all.

Ambassador Satu Suikkari-Kleven noted that the Finland 100 year is also the year to celebrate our cooperation with other countries and regarding to Thailand – a great oppor tunity to fur ther explore where the needs of Thailand meet the Finnish expertise.

? money jail Got not to leave Thai

xpec Don’t e ESS BUSIN mercial com Danish or tour s Counsell Denmark

PEOPLE

nsen Tom Sore en joins Boyd Thailand

UNITY COMM pe

RNER KIDS’ CO Farm de

Lek

Café Euro closes in Krabi

Front cover photo: The Phuket News

Your FREE ScandAsia Magazine in Thailand ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish residents in Thailand.

We also publish a ScandAsia magazine in China, Singapore and the rest of South East Asia.

Please sign up for your own FREE copy: www.scandasia.com Publisher : 211 Soi Prasert Manukitch 29 Prasert Manukitch Road Chorakae Bua, Lad Prao Bangkok 10230, Thailand Tel. +66 2 943 7166- , Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: news@scandasia.com Editor-in-Chief : Gregers A.W. Møller gregers@scandmedia.com

Source: Embassy of Finland in Bangkok Photos: Antti Rahikainen

Swedish universities held presentation to Thai students

Managing Editor: Joakim Persson Joakim@scandmedia.com Journalist: Nadja Dam Jensen Advertising : Finn Balslev finn@scandmedia.com Joakim Persson Joakim@scandmedia.com Piyanan Kalikanon piyanan@scandmedia.com Nattapat Maesang nattapat@scandmedia.com Graphic Designer : Peerapol Meesuwan Peerapol@scandmedia.com Printing : Inthanon Interprint Co., Ltd.

Daily news and features here: www.scandasia.com

O

n 27 April the University of KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Lund University, both Swedish, held an evening for Thai students considering to study at these universities in Sweden.

Former alumni joined to talk about what it is like to be a student in Sweden. Ambassador

Staffan Herrström held an opening speech where he encouraged students to take the chance and study in Sweden. The Embassy of Swesden was happy to see so many participants sharing knowledge and experience.

Source: Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok

June 2017

ScandAsia Community

4 Thailand Junior Water Prize winners 6 Café Europe in Krabi closes 6 Norway’s National Day celebration

7

Mr. Tom Sorensen

From Grant Thornton to Boyden Thailand

10 Thai prisoner bilateral agreement transfer issues

ScandAsia Business

4

10

3 Doing business with Finland Seminar held in Bangkok

Ms. Birgit Sarah Kondrup-Palmqvist Denmark’s consul on issues for foreign prisoners in Thailand

7 Thai-Finnish business networking

6

Reception held at Ambassador’s Residence

12 D2 Real Estate

Franchise stores launched

Mr. Peter Sand

14

6

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June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 3

Community

Thailand Junior Water Prize winners announced

T

he winners of the 2017 Thailand Junior Water Prize were announced in an awards ceremony in Bangkok on Monday 1 May. The winning team comes from the Bangkok neighbour province Nonthaburi’s Nonthaburi High School that have invented a waste-collecting boat powered by solar energy.

The winners will represent Thailand in the world final of the competition at the World Water Week in Stockholm in August.

The Swedish Embassy’s Daniel Klasander held a speech and welcomed the winners to Sweden.

Thailand won the global competition in 2016. Three students from Thailand, Sureeporn Triphetprapa, Thidarat Phianchat and Kanjana Komkla, received the 2016 Stockholm Junior Water Prize for their innovative water retention device that mimics the water retention of the Bromeliad plant.

By examining the efficacy of natural water collection by plants – especially in terms of the shape of plants that collect and capture water – Sureeporn Triphetprapa, Thidarat Phianchat and Kanjana Komkla built a device that mimics the water retention of the Bromeliad plant. The device has also been installed on rubber trees on rubber plantations. For this, they have been awarded the 2016 Stockholm Junior Water Prize, showcasing that nature is the best teacher.

The Jury was impressed by the winners, in particular their exceptional creativity, unrelenting diligence, enthusiasm and true passion for water.

“The theme of the 2016 World Water Week is Water for Sustainable Growth. The winning project addresses future water security and rural livelihoods using an elegant leap-frog technology which looks simple, but its beauty masks its 4 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

complexity! The project embodies the theme well through its journey from the idea to application,” the Jury said in its citation.

“It has already proven to be scalable and is now being tested in the field, by hundreds of farmers, who are now benefiting from the inspiration from beautiful plants which have an exceptional capacity to collect and store water.”

Asked how she would want to take the winning project further, Sureeporn Triphetprapa said: “I will use our idea to relieve poverty in our community.”

“This shows that to make real progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to start at the local level. This is a very good example of that; a simple, smart and scalable solution, making a big difference”, said Torgny Holmgren, Executive Director of SIWI. Stockholm Junior Water Prize gather s imaginative young minds from all over the world, encouraging their continued interest in water and sustainability issues. The competition draws more than 10,000 entries from over 30 countries.

H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is the Patron of the prize.

The national and international competitions are open to young people between the ages of 15 and 20 who have conducted water-related projects of proven environmental, scientific, social or technological significance. The projects range from local or regional to national or global topics.

The winner of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize receives a USD $15,000 award, a blue crystal prize sculpture, a diploma as well as the stay in Stockholm.

Sources: Embassy of Sweden in Bangkok, SIWI

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 5

Community

Café Europa in Krabi closing after nearly 27 years

By Nadja Dam Jensen

A

little Scandinavian oasis in Krabi, known for its home made Danish and Scandinavian food, is closing after 26 and a half years of bringing people together, travellers as well as locals, over great food and the essential aquavit.

Café Europa was founded in 1990 by Tipakorn, Henrik and Finn, who is still running

the restaurant today, but from tomorrow there the trio will close down the restaurant to focus on another project.

On 9 April Café Europa announced through their Facebook page that Wednesday 12 April 2017 will be their very last business day of Café Europa, where they’ll be open from 9am to 5pm.

By locals the restaurant is called the little Scandinavian Embassy. Maybe because of their openness for sharing advice and inside tips to their visitors.They even have a famous read called ‘tips of town’ where they share all of their insider information on what to do and see in town.

Many people are reacting to the sad news on Facebook, thanking Café Europa for the many memories they have been a part of, expressing their grief over their closing, saying they will miss the oasis of Scandinavian food and wishing them good luck in the future and with their new project. One even shared a picture of a large

elephant sharing a beer with founder Henrik at the restaurant.

And elephants are exactly what is going to be the new focus point of the people behind Café Europa.

“Our new animal rescue project; Krabi Elephant Sanctuary will start fundraising beginning of may and we hope you will support this new home for old, abused, blind and retired elephants from the tourist and logging industry,” writes Café Europa on their Facebook page.

Awareness of animal abuse is not new for Café Europa. Not only are they part of Wildlife Friends Krabi, on their website they are clearly expressing the impor tance of saying no to elephant riding and animal abuse. They will keep people updated on their new project through Café Europa’s Facebook page.

Joyful celebrations of Norway’s National Day Text: Nadja Dam Jensen

1

7 May is a big day for all Norwegians. It is a day where many dress up in their national dresses, a day filled with Norwegian flags waving in the air, a happy day of celebrating Norway and the Constitution signed on 17 May 1814, declaring Norway an independent kingdom.

For all of the Norwegians living abroad, it was no exception. In South East Asia, Norwegian communities gathered for celebrations.

In Bangkok the Norwegian Embassy and the local 17 May Committee hosted celebrations from 10:45 in the morning. Starting with a speech from this year 17 May general,Anne-Kari Gulliksen, Norwegians in Bangkok kicked of a wonderful day, although the weather was not quite on their side with rain pouring down over Bangkok for long periods during the day.

Afterwards, it was time for the obligatory parade with Norwegian flags and a marching band playing as everyone walked three rounds 6 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

around the embassy residence. Luckily, and to everyone’s relief, the rain stopped just as the parade started, but also came back as soon as it ended.

Kjetil Paulsen, Ambassador of Norway to Thailand, held a speech right after the parade with a greeting from Norwegian King Harald to the Norwegian colony in Thailand. He also introduced young Karoline Bjørnsen, who followed him with a speech celebrating 17 May abroad.

The day ended with a gala dinner at Sheraton Grand Sukhumvit Hotel, hosted by Nordmannsforbundet.

Photo: Royal Norwegian Embassy, Bangkok

Thai-Finnish networking reception held in Bangkok

Business

A

Thai-Finnish business networ king reception took place at the Residence of Ambassador of Finland on 24 May 2017.

Khun Kiatipong Ariyapruchya (The World Bank), Mrs. HongSin Kwek (Phoenixict) and Khun Natta (Office of the Public Sector Development) were guest speakers.

Photos: Antti Rahikainen Source: Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commerce

Tom Sorensen joins Boyden Thailand as Partner

Text: Gregers Møller

T

om Sorensen has left Grant Thornton to team up with Boyden Thailand as a Partner.

“I was attracted by Boyden’s business model that combines retained search, interim management executives and human capital consulting,” Tom Sorensen said.

“Boyden’s global network brings a uniform approach to top executive and management recruitment, a common global technology

platform and the world’s best CRM client and candidate software.,” he adds Tom comes to Boyden with 14 years of executive recruitment experience at Grant Thornton Thailand. He explained, “As an international audit firm, we found it increasingly difficult to provide non-audit services (including executive search) to the firm’s many global audit clients. An audit anywhere in the world, of a company in the same group as our client in Thailand, effectively blocked us from getting involved here. SEC rules and other compliance laws will continue to make life more and more difficult for audit firms that provide non-audit services as well. Could this spell the end for audit and non-audit services in the same firm?”

Tom is an active blogger on tomsorensen. in.th and columnist, and writes thought leadership articles for web sites, magazines and newspapers.

He is a sought-after public speaker in the Thai and international business community. He is a former president, chairman, and director of many organizations and committees including Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce and Thai Board of Trade. As his personal Corporate Social Responsibility projects, Tom has for years been lecturing both students and business professionals at Sasin Gr aduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University,

Mahidol University and Wall Street English on topics such as best recruitment practice, effective resume writing and job interviewing.

Boyden Thailand’s Managing Partner, Yupadee Yudhanaraweesak, added: “It’s like winning the lottery to have Tom join our team. He has for years built a strong corporate and personal brand as the person to go to for executive search. That he chose Boyden is a testament to our local and global brand as one of the world’s top retained search firms.”

For more information, please contact Yupadee Yudhanaraweesak, Managing Par tner, Boyden Thailand, at 02 654 0760, email yupadee@ boydenthailand.com or visit Boyden website at www.boyden.com.

About Boyden

Boyden is a global leader in the executive search industry with more than 70 offices in over 40 countries. Founded in 1946, or 71 years ago, Boyden specializes in high-level executive search, interim management and human capital consulting across a broad spectrum of industries. Boyden Thailand was established 34 years ago and is considered the oldest search and recruitment firm in the country.

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 7

Kids’ Corner

Farm de Lek

Farm de Lek is a fantastic educational ‘organic’ farm for children. The perfect place for your kids to spend a wholesome day learning about farm life, feeding farm animals, riding ponies and swimming in the farm’s pond!

It may be difficult to find and visiting the farm requires an advance booking. It is very popular and only takes a handful of visitors each day so make sure to call ahead! But it is well worth the effort!

SUMMER SCHOOL The British School of Bangkok Ltd.

From July 3rd to August

8 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

11th

F

By Gregers Moller arm de Lek is located in Klong 15, in Rangsit off the road from Bangkok to Nakon Nayok about an hour drive from central Bangkok. The name comes from the original owner, Khun Lek, but since Lek in the Thai language also means ‘small’ it could not fit any better.Today, the farm and all its amazing activities for families with children is run

by Khun Lek’s Granddaughter Gaye Pantrat.

The farm has horses, goats, pigs, hens, ducks, rabbits and fish and the young visitors join in feeding them, gathering eggs from the hen, ride the ponies and play in the big lake - safely with swim-vests strapped on.

“Farm de Lek also promotes farming among kids, which has long been the lifeblood of this country,” Khun Gaye explains.

“As technology has gradually taken over, we simply forget where our basic food comes from.

We want to bring back a-nearly-lost agricultural culture to our children through fun, engaging experiences.”

As the images show, kids are absorbed in the experience. Finally, here is something more engaging than their smart-phones!

Farm de Lek Summer Camps are now open for booking for children age between 8-13 years old. For more information or any inquiries please contact us at 098 4638223, 081 8327848, 02 5382215, Line ID : farmdelek or Inbox Facebook/ Farm de Lek

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 9

Community

Got no money?

Don’t expect to leave Thai jail

By Nadja Dam Jensen

Denmark and other foreign countries have a bilateral agreement with Thailand allowing prisoners to be transferred to their home countries after serving a certain amount of years, depending on the length of penalty the prisoner has been given.

But despite the bilateral agreement, prisoners should not expect to get out if they have a fine and cannot pay it.

Ms. Birgit Sarah Kondrup-Palmqvist Denmark’s consul on issues for foreign prisoners in Thailand

L

ight is always shining brightly in the hundreds of prisons in Thailand. Simply because fights and assaults happen so frequently that it is too dangerous to even turn the light off. Even though it is a violation against human rights.

In general, human rights are not the biggest focus point in Thai prisons. People are cramped up in overcrowded cells, some places being forced to unwillingly spoon with strangers. Contact with friends and relatives means sitting on opposite sites of a ditch, five or ten meter apart, and yelling to each other because the phones are often broken and everyone is trying to yell louder than all the others who are also yelling to speak with their loved ones.

In some of the prisons, prisoners explain that food consists of a bowl of rice and some soup, three times a day. Once a week five chickens are split between approximately 500 inmates. They get barely any meat, no vegetables, no fruit. Just rice and water.

These are the conditions in the prisons of Thailand. Welcome!

after serving four years of a time limited sentence in Thailand. Receiving lifetime, prisoners will have to wait eight years to be able to ask for transfer.

Being transferred back home not only lets you be closer to friends and family, it entails a huge improvement in living conditions too.

Four years in a Thai prison can be worse than any form of imprisonment you could experience in Denmark. But just because there is an agreement between Thailand and Denmark, prisoners are not guaranteed to automatically be transferred back to Denmark after four or eight years.

First of all, it takes a lot of time consuming paperwork. The prisoners will also need to have their case brought for a Danish judge. However, the Thai authorities will have to accept the judgement in absentia given to the prisoner as reasonable.

“In the end, it is the Thai authorities that make the decision. When the crime has taken place on Thai grounds, it is Thailand that gets the last call.

The Danish authorities do not have a say in that,” says Birgit S. Kondrup-Palmqvist, Consul at the Embassy of Denmark in Bangkok.

Agreement does not give the right to transfer back home

Less than a square meter

According to a bilateral agreement between Thailand and Denmark, a Dane imprisoned in Thailand can request a transfer to a Danish prison 10 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

According to statistics published by the International Federation of Human Rights, the prison occupancy rate in Thailand is 224 percent.

Imagine sharing a cell with between 30 and

It is in fact better for someone to receive lifetime in jail, than receiving a penalty with a fine they cannot pay, but only in connection with talking of the possibility of being transferred to your home country, of course. The best is always to stay out of trouble

100 people and having just one single square meter of space to you.That is approximately how much allocated floor space the average person in a Thai prison has got. In some prisons the occupancy rate even passes 300 or 400 percent.

Prisoner s will typically sit inside the overcrowded cells for 16 hours every day. And for the eight hours left, they will sit on the ground in a just as overcrowded yard.

There is not much to do for prisoners serving time in Thailand. No opportunity to work out, no books, no activities at all. Just one television in a corner running in Thai, a language most of the foreigners does not understand.

No money, no transfer

A prisoner’s life can go on like that for a very long time if they have received a fine along with their penalty which they are not able to pay. The way the Thai prison system is built, even a four year sentence for a mild crime can turn into a fate of spending the rest of your life behind bars.

It has not always been this way. It was just two years ago that this law was implemented.

Although based on a Thai person, the law also applies to foreigners imprisoned in Thailand.

When committing a crime and receiving a penalty, it often means spending time behind bars and receiving a fine. The fine can be anything from half a million to sixteen million

Thai baht, which is a lot of money for someone who is imprisoned and unable to earn any kind of money. It is a lot of money even for relatives to help the prisoner pay. But if the prisoner hopes to get out, or even being transferred to his home country, he must pay up.

Having spent four years in a Thai prison does not get you anywhere as long as there is still a fine to pay off. With an unpaid fine, prisoners will not be allowed to transfer to a prison in their home country, nor will they be released at all until the last baht has been paid. That is the way things have worked since the laws were changed two years ago.

Birgit from the Danish Embassy explains that there are prisoners who had nearly served their four years and were ready for a transfer as the new law was implemented. As they were so close to serving the rest of their penalty in a much nicer place and closer to their relatives, they were suddenly denied transfer because of their unpaid fines. Earlier, a Royal pardon allowed these prisoners to be transferred or released, but suddenly not anymore.

Working group to change rules

Along with people from the EU, Canada, United Kingdom and Nordic countries, Birgit has started a working group to change this.

Arguing that it is a law based upon a Thai

person and not a foreigner, who does not have the same oppor tunities as a Thai to get the money together by selling his car or house, she hopes to be able to make a change and get more prisoners back to their home countries.

Furthermore, in the Danish laws, fines are not part of the punishment when it comes to drug crime and thereby the Thai judgement cannot be converted directly into a Danish judgement. This should be considered when the Thai Committee for Transferring of Foreign prisoners decides on the individual cases.

Having star ted the working group on 10 January 2017, the Danish consult is hoping to see a change of the Thai ruling before the autumn of 2017.

“It is in fact better for someone to receive lifetime in jail, than receiving a penalty with a fine they cannot pay, but only in connection with talking of the possibility of being transferred to your home country, of course. The best is always to stay out of trouble,” she says.

“With a lifetime penalty the prisoner might be transferred after eight years and there is no fine to be paid. But with a time limited sentence with a fine, you will only get out once the fine is paid.”

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 11

Business

New real estate concept

Dane introduces new concept in travel and real estate in Thailand.

First franchise store opened 1st of June 2017.

T

he former Danish top travel agent, who established one of Europe’s biggest charter travel bureaus in the late 1990s, Jens Brochner Nielsen, who was originally educated as accountant, came to Thailand in 2004 after having sold his travel empire to one of the World’s biggest tour operators.

He established D2 Real Estate with an early retirement in mind and just having a small sideline in real estate. Time would tell that D2 Real Estate’s activity rapidly grew, and in 2007 Jens Brochner Nielsen took over V.I.P. Real Estate Company which was established in 1988 by some of the most prominent business people in Thailand.

VIP Real Estate has through the years built a large number of high rise condominiums and housing projects. Today the group consists of no less than eight fully separated, highly specialized companies with activities in real estate, property management, investments, developer, interior design, furniture and home decoration, operation of restaurants, spa and wellness center.

The companies have several cer tifications such as Thai Standard certification in Property Management, real estate licensed company as well as a number of international licenses such as cer tified international proper ty specialist membership in several organizations, such as Thai Real Estate Organization, Thai Condominium Association, Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the companies have international membership in FIABCI, ICREA, CPIS, NAR, the American National Association of Realtors.

The latest initiative from Jens Brochner Nielsen is the establishment of a franchise project in travel and real estate. The first master store is at On-Nut Road in Bangkok in the Paseo Community Mall /Toyota TBN., five minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport.

12 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

The franchise concept will be very streamlined, and future franchisees will be completely bound to an entirely new and innovative concept. The concept focuses on local real estate, rent & lease of vacation homes, residents for senior, sale of vacation homes in the beach areas, as well as an investment concept where customers can buy vacation homes with a guarantee for renters in a period of up to ten years and with a return of maximum seven percent per year. The concept will primarily focus on the Thai market with an expectation that about 80 percent of the prospects will be Thai citizen and 20 percent foreigners.

The offer will include package tour with bus for weekend trips to nearby beach areas, self-drive where guests can book an overnight at the beach for long weekends, and short- as well as long-term booking of vacation homes and apartments. The vacation spots have full service on site.

In addition, a completely new concept within real estate, focusing on the local peoples areas under the concept “Do it yourself ”. It has been observed that most Thai property owners do not want to pay commission to the real estate agents. D2 Holiday and Real Estate introduces a brand new concept where customers can buy a marketing package which includes presentation in stores, on Thailand’s largest website for real estate and by designing billboards to advertise the property sale. Afterwards, potential buyers themselves contact the property owners. If the property owner wishes assistance to set up a contract or help regarding land registration, this can be added to the package, but the owners themselves perform the presentation and set up the sales agreement.

The franchise concept would typically be aimed towards individuals who dream of a small and independent business. The concept focuses

on having two employees working in an office alone. It provides a full marketing package for franchisees - a full concept so the owner of the franchise can focus on the most important thing; providing the customers with the best service.

Introduction price for a franchise project will be 250,000 THB then rising to 500,000 THB. The price includes a complete shop fitting.

Requirement for being a franchisee is being able to provide a location in a top ranked local shopping mall or community mall, which must be approved. It is also possible for the franchisee to receive advice on finding a good location.

In 2017 it is expected that six franchise stores will start within the vicinity of Bangkok, increasing to 25 within the following two years, and afterwards establishment of stores in the provinces near Bangkok will follow.

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 13

Business

Meeting with Danish Agriculture & Food Council and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration

Green-Jakobsen, is specialized in safety, leadership and HR in the maritime industry

Meeting with Rasmus Holscher, CEO of Holscher Design

Ole Bergstein, Sales Director at Vifa (left)

Trade Council Bangkok

T

he Commercial Counsellor at the embassy of Denmark, Bangkok, Mr Peter Sand, was back in Denmark in early April meeting with design companies, discussing wireless speakers, wastewater management and much in between!

The Head of the trade section also met with representatives from both the Danish Agriculture & Food Council and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration to discuss two inspections that Thai authorities plan to carry out in Denmark within the next year in order to allow for a continued export of various types of Danish livestock.

All par ties agreed to work together on this important project, reports the Embassy of Denmark in Bangkok.

“It is of great importance to us to secure access to the Thai market for us in those fields,” said Jan Laustsen Director of Danish Agriculture & Food Council.

“The embassy looks forward to collaborating on the project and on preparing and carrying out the inspections.”

One of the companies Peter Sand met 14 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

with was Windelev, a Danish family-owned company founded in 1960 by Jørgen Windelev providing high quality dry-offset printing plates for the packaging industry. Jørgen’s daughter was recently appointed as new Managing Director.

Windelev indeed wishes to expand and grow and this may well mean looking further into Thailand and potentially also the Philippines as its future markets. As a result, Louise will consider whether to apply for a Vitus-program or whether to use other incentive schemes providing subsidies for SMEs (small and mediumsized enterprises) The Vitus-program is a very comprehensive export program of the Trade Council for SMEs much like Windelev.

“I certainly don’t want to exclude that we start working with the Trade Council in the very near future,” said Louise Windelev.

Green-Jakobsen, is another company, specialized in safety, leadership and HR in the maritime industr y, that Peter met with.

Green-Jakobsen can deliver the full course of development – from analysis to process planning and implementation.

Obtaining a preliminar y analysis of the

potential in Thailand would make sense to us, said Erik Green, Managing Director at GreenJakobsen, who expressed an interest in favour of gathering a group of companies for a market visit to Thailand.

The Commercial Counsellor also visited Rasmus Holscher, CEO of Holscher Design, a leading Scandinavian design agency, to discuss market opportunities in Thailand. The meeting took place at Holscher’s premises being the historical factor y site of the former Laurids Knudsens mechanical establishment.

Rasmus said: “Thailand appears to be an attractive market and we would like to look into how the Embassy in Bangkok can assist us in identifying customers within the lightning and outdoor segments.”

“Bringing Holscher Design to the Thai market would be a major achievement and we hope to be working closely with Rasmus and his colleagues to deliver on this target,” commented Peter Sand.

Another stop was to ISS and a meeting with Kenth Kærhøg, Senior Vice President at ISS, who is a key account with the Trade Council and for whom Peter is the Key Account Manager. The

Vand Center Syd (VCS): Director Henrik Werchmeister and project manager Thomas Abildgaard Jørgensen

Windelev, provides high quality dry-offset printing plates for the packaging industry

Kenth Kærhøg, Senior Vice President at ISS

on Denmark tour meeting was one of several yearly meetings that Kenth and Peter carry out to coordinate the cooperation between the Trade Council and ISS. “It is a good opportunity to take stock of our cooperation and to assign priorities,” said Kenth Kærhøg, who also stressed the importance of discussing ISS par ticipation in official Danish export promotions in the future.

Peter expressed hope to find more areas of cooperation between ISS and the Trade Council being identified.

Also, in Viborg Peter met with Vifa, a Danish supplier of ver y well-designed and wireless speakers. Vifa uses Kvadrat’s design textiles as an important element of the product.

Vifa cer tainly sees a potential in Thailand and presently discusses a co-operation with a potential distributor, said Ole Bergstein, Sales Director at Vifa.

Peter presented the por tfolio of services that can be offered by the Embassy, and Ole stressed the need for keeping in a close contact going forward.

Peter also met with Vand Center Syd (VCS), an organization that offers training programs in a wide range of topics within water and wastewater

Bringing Holscher Design to the Thai market would be a major achievement and we hope to be working closely with Rasmus and his colleagues to deliver on this target

management. VCS also supports larger Danish consultancy engineering companies focusing on water at foreign markets.

Henrik Werchmeister, Director at VCS and Thomas Abildgaard Jørgensen, project manager, underlined that Thailand deserves being looked into and that VCS would be ver y interested in being introduced to larger water utility companies in Thailand. Also, VCS wanted to look into the idea of having a small group of water companies participating in a market visit to Thailand.

The Trade Council is the expor t and investment organisation within the Ministr y of Foreign Affairs. Their office at the Royal Danish Embassy in Bangkok promotes trade and investment between Denmark, Thailand and Cambodia by assisting Danish companies with partner searches, CSR reports, contact to key decision makers and much more.

Source: Embassy of Denmark, Bangkok

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 15

EAT around the world Agneta’s World

Photographer: Daniel Herron

while staying in Bangkok!

H

ave you ever thought how lucky we are having such an international diversity of restaurants right here in Bangkok? We can literally have the most delicious international cuisines without leaving town!

Let’s presume you wake up one morning with a huge longing for good Lebanese food? No problem, there are several very good Lebanese restaurants around town. Try e.g. Nadinos on Sukhumvit Soi 24. Here you can sit inside or al fresco.The food is exceptionally good and I would think, changed a bit to suit foreigners’ taste, but you feel like you are having authentic dishes.The menu is rich and the only thing missing: belly dancers.

If you walk around the Nana area, you will find many restaurants serving the typical Arabic food and many of them are open all night. I remember once, after a wild night, I had an early breakfast at one of those restaurants and some people came to smoke the hookah (water pipe). That I didn’t try.

It’s almost like walking around in Lebanon or Turkey with all the stalls, looking like a “souk”, the typical Oriental bazaar. Sukhumvit Soi 3 is also called Soi Arab or Little Arabia. It’s interesting to walk around there; it looks like a movie set. You really don’t think you are in the middle of Bangkok.

If you are a woman, you should maybe consider going with company.

Maybe you suddenly feel like having Indian food? Maya is one popular Indian restaurant, located on Soi 22 at the Holiday Inn. Here, the expat women gather on Wednesday evenings, and guess why? Well, if you order some food for a small amount, around 400 baht, you have free flow Prosecco during the evening! No wonder we ladies like it. If you feel for dancing, there is a live band and also DJ’s - pure Bollywood atmosphere.

And, of course there are many more good Indian restaurants around town.

If you feel for Mexican or Spanish, Margarita Storm Mexican American Bistro is located on Sukhumvit, corner soi 13. Here, you can enjoy small dishes and frozen Margaritas, or why not a 16 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

cold beer? You can sit outside and watch people walking by; a place to see and be seen. Daniel, the photographer, is from California where Mexican food is prevalent and says this food is very authentic. The Chef is actually from Mexico.

If you’re in the mood for a steak, the best to be found is at the JW Mariott Steakhouse, but we found a small steakhouse on Sukhumvit, opposite Holiday Inn, soi 22, named El Toro. It has only been open a bit over a year, but hope it’s here to stay. The owner is Signor Jair Da Rosa from Brazil.

This restaurant is an authentic Brazilian Steakhouse and Churrascaria BBQ restaurant.

Here you have the best selection of meat cuts from Argentina, USA, New Zealand and Australia, not to forget Thai Wagyu beef from their own farm in Thailand. For none “red meat eaters”, there is also a choice of chicken and fish. The salad buffet is rich.The signature dish is Tomahawk.

All the meat is fresh and has never been frozen, which guarantees genuine meat flavour. All steaks you will find on the menu come with traditional side dishes like baked potatoes with sour crème, salad and different sauces.

El Toro is open daily for lunch and dinner and from 5 pm until midnight, you can enjoy Churrasco, eat as much you can from skewers.

During weekends, you can also enjoy Churrasco BBQ for lunch. It’s a calm atmosphere. Pick a window table and you have a view of the busy Sukhumvit street life while enjoying your steak.

Order a bottle of Argentinian, Chilean, French or Australian wine while waiting for your meal, or, if you are thirsty, a cold beer.

You can also buy fresh meat cuts from El Toro House and Meat Butchery, at the entrance and take away, at reasonable prices. If you want to organize a private event, there is a room on the second floor that can seat up to 30 people. Also, El Toro offers to prepare dinners at your home, bringing both the chef and, if necessary, the grill for larger events.

If you want to eat Thai, the choice obviously, is enormous – from street food (supposed to be forbidden come end of 2017) to the most exclusive restaurants. If I have guests who want to try Thai genuine food, I take them to one of the four Baan Khanitha restaurants. The first opened is located on Sukhumvit soi 23, there is one on Sukhumvit Soi 53 (next to the elegant Glass Moon Bar, same owner). Baan Khanitha and Gallery is the biggest and located on Sathorn.

Baan Khanitha by The River at Asiatique, is the latest to be opened. Here you can sit inside or outside on the terrace and look over the Chao Phraya river. Here you can also book a dinner on the newly launched cruiser Baan Khanitha. This gold teak cruiser is very elegant and the menu rich and beautiful. It’s absolutely worth trying.

Another nice Thai restaurant is Rosabieng also called the Train Restaurant. It got its nickname due to a Merklin train driving around in an alp landscape inside. The owner had a plot of land near the train station and her father-in-law was a train architect.The food is tasty with inside seating or al fresco in the garden atmosphere, complete with live Jazz music in the evenings!

It’s always fun to take guests, who haven’t been in Bangkok before, to Cabbage & Condoms on Sukhumvit soi 12. This restaurant is decorated with condoms all over in all colours. It might not sound very tasteful, but in fact it’s very well done.

With your bill, you receive condoms instead of the little bonbon. The concept of Cabbage & Condoms is great. SWEA is looking into a possibility to join Khun Mechai (founder and owner) in one of all his projects for less privileged women and children.

Most of us love Italian food and wines, so I have to mention my favorite Italian restaurants, probably already known to most of you.

I’ll start with Rossanos located on Sukhumvit soi 3 Asok, Montri Road.This is a legendary Italian restaurant that has been around for many years.

When you walk inside, you feel like you are somewhere in Tuscany. Signor Rossano ran the restaurant himself for many years, but recently turned it over to two other Italian guys (Signor Piergiorgio Lattuille the general manager and Signor Marco Ravasio, Chef), who are fortunately running it the same way.

it opened. The ambiance is cosy and the staff friendly and efficient. Khun Noi, has been working here for years and has a table and smile for everyone. Not to forget, the wine list is fantastic!

Here some of us Swedish “girls” used to come frequently, star ting with Prosecco in the bar before ordering. We were, at that time called ‘Rossanos’ angels’ (remember the popular TV series ‘Three angels for Charlie’?) Unfortunately the group split due to moving away. On certain evenings, you can enjoy young opera students entertaining you while you are eating, a great place!

Among my absolute favorites is also About Eatery, located almost opposite Rossanos, in Ocean Tower. Here Signor Giulio greets you. He is very charming and knows everything you need to know about wine. His wine selection is excellent and very complete and most of the wines are biodynamic or organic, as well the beers.The food is elegant presented and taste healthy. Chose a couple of tapas dishes or order a small traditional Italian dish.The homemade Limoncello or Grappa makes for the perfect digestion.

On the popular tourist spot, Sukhumvit Soi 11, you find restaurants from almost everywhere. We decided to go to Zaks, very close to Rosabieng.

Zaks is a modern restaurant with a variety of international entrées. You can sit both inside and outdoors. Here you will meet the actress Holly Berry’s look-alike, named Tai. She is a great hostess and speaks perfect English. Zaks has all the classic Italian dishes on the menu, but one specific signature dish Linguini with seafood in a coconut/curry sauce, tasted great and looked like a work of art. We also tried a pizza with Salami; thin and crispy crust, and tasted delicious! The manager Kristen, who comes from New Zealand, is very friendly and helpful. Come for Happy Hour or a traditional meal. At Zaks you will meet a professor from Chulalongkorn University. He comes every day at the same time, sitting outside in the comfortable surroundings and enjoys a glass of wine. You can set your clock after him!

We have now done a small trip around the world, but there are so many more international restaurants to discover and new one’s opening all the time!

Go ahead; try a new restaurant every week.

I’m sure no one will manage during a lifetime to try half of Bangkok’s existing restaurants, but make a start at least.

Bon appetite!

The portions are huge and can be split for two. The quality has the same high standard since June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 17

มุมภาษาไทย l mum pha:să: thai l Thai Language Corner

Dress up in Thai

By Klavs Johansen (thai@snakthai.dk)

simply, ชุดเดรส / chút drét /, where เดรส / drét / obviously is Thai pronunciation of English dress.

Note the word ชุด / chút /, which means a set (of something) and as such it is used to count sets of clothes, e.g.

ชุดกระโปรงสองชุด / chút kràpro:ng sŏr:ng chút / ~ two dresses, and ชุดชั้นในเจ็ดชุด / chút chán nai jèt chút / ~ seven

sets of underwear.

In general, however, pieces of clothes are counted using the word ตัว / tua /, the fundamental meaning of which is body. Just a few examples: เสื้อยืดสามตัว / sûea yûe:t să:m tua / ~ three T-shirts, and

กางเกงขาสั้นห้าตัว / ka:ng ke:ng khă: sân hâ: tua / ~ five pair of shorts.

Pair, as added in the English translation, isn’t used in Thai for trousers. The Thai word for pair is คู่ / khû: / and it is indeed used for counting (pairs of) socks or shoes:

ร้องเท้าแตะสองคู่ / ror:ng thá:o tàe’ sŏr:ng khû: / ~ two pairs of flip-flops, รองเท้าบู๊ทสี่คู่ / ror:ng thá:o bú:t sì: khû: / ~ four

pairs of boots.

When we need to count single shoes or socks, as when lost in laundry perhaps, the word ข้าง / khâ:ng ~ side is used:

ถุงเท้าข้างเดียว / thŭng thá:o khâ:ng diao / ~

one sock.

Finally, head dress is หมวก / mùak / and is counted using ใบ / bai / as in

หมวกกันแดดหกใบ / mùak kan dàe:t hòk bai / ~ six sun hats, and

หมวกกันน็อกใบเดียว / mùak kan nórk bai diao / ~ a single (motor cycle) safety helmet.

N

ext to what we eat, what we put on arguably provides the most useful everyday vocabulary. Let’s this month look at some words and expressions associated with clothes and how to wear it. Prepare for a heavy dose and, as usual, do ally yourself with a Thai close by and practice speaking out the Thai parts with her or him.

The word for clothes is เสื้อผ้า / sûea phâ: /, where ผ้า / phâ: / ~ cloth and เสื้อ / sûea / alone refers to upper garments, as in เสื้อยืด / sûea yûe:t /~ T-shirt or เสื้อเชิ้ต / sûea chóe:t / ~ shirt, the latter recognizable from English.

But let’s start from the inside, ชั้นใน / chán nai /: เสื้อชั้นใน / sûea chán nai / ~ undershirt, or simply เสื้อใน / sûea nai /.

Underwear in general is ชุ ด ชั้ น ใน / chút chán nai /, and กางเกงใน / ka:ng ke:ng nai / ~ underpants, colloquially abbreviated to กกน. / kor: kor: nor: / ~ panties.

The term is unisex, so very feminine models may be referred to as กางเกงลิง / ka:ng ke:ng ling /, where ลิง / ling / in this case isn’t monkey, but actually derives from French lingerie.

While we are there, เสื้อยกทรง / sûea yók song /, or simply ยกทรง / yók song /, is the bra, 18 ScandAsia.Thailand • June 2017

where ยก / yók / ~ to lift and ทรง / song / ~ form, figure.

Moving on quickly, ถุงเท้า / thŭng thá:o / are socks, while รองเท้า / ro:ng thá:o / ~ shoes. เท้า / thá:o / is the polite word for feet, and, if you know that ถุง / thŭng / is a bag and รอง / ror:ng / to support, it all makes sense.

Trousers are กางเกง / ka:ng ke:ng /, which you will remember from above, and skir t is กระโปรง / kràpro:ng /. We get กางเกงขาสั้น / ka:ng ke:ng khă: sân / ~ shorts, where ขา / khă: / ~ leg, สั้น / sân / ~ short, and guess what, ยาว / ya:o / is long, and we have กางเกงขายาว / ka:ng ke:ng khă: ya:o / ~ long trousers.

Similarly, กระโปรงสั้น / kràpro:ng sân / ~ short skirt, and กระโปรงยาว / kràpro:ng ya:o / ~ long skirt.

Knowing that แขน / khăe:n / is arm or sleeve, we may now derive เสื้อแขนสั้น / sûea khăe:n sân / ~ short sleeve shirt, and เสื้อแขนยาว / sûea khăe:n ya:o / ~ long sleeve shirt.

A dress is ชุดกระโปรง / chút kràpro:ng / or,

If you want to know more of counting in Thai, look up the October 2014 column, “Thai when it Counts”, and the November 2014 column, “Thai When it Counts 2”.

To put on or wear clothes is ใส่ / sài / as in ใส่เสื้อเชิ้ต / sài sûea chóe:t / ~ to put on a shirt and ใส่ชุดกันฝน / sài chút kan fŏn / ~ to put on rainwear.

A slightly more elegant word for putting on or wearing clothes is สวม / sŭam / as in สวมหมวก / sŭam mùak / ~ to wear a hat, and สวมเสื้อแจ็กเก็ต / sûea jàekkèt / ~ to put on a jacket.

For lower garments, the word นุ่ง / nûng / may be used:

นุ่ ง กางเกงยี น ส์ / nûng ka:ng ke:ng yi:n / ~ wearing jeans,

นุ่งผ้าขาวม้า / nûng phâ: khă:o má: / ~ wearing

a pha khao ma, the traditional Thai multipurpose cloths, in this case worn around the waist.

A broad word for removing clothes is ถอด / thòr:t / ~ to take off. We have: ถอดเสื้อผ้า / thòr:t sûea phâ: / ~ take off the clothes, and ถอดร้องเท้า / thòr:t ror:ng thá:o / ~ take off the shoes.

Thereby, we end where we started: เปลือยกาย / plùeai ka:i / ~ bare, not wearing anything, ล่อนจ้อน / lôrn jôrn / ~ nude.

See you in the next issue or, in between, at the Thai Language Corner on Facebook!

June 2017 • ScandAsia.Thailand 19