Showing posts with label Screening points. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Screening points. Show all posts

Friday 3 November 2017

#Thailand - ‘Inappropriate behaviour’ leads to ban on visitors entering Royal Crematorium


THE CULTURE Ministry announced |yesterday morning a ban on entering the Royal Crematorium of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej after visitors reportedly touched exhibits and displayed other inappropriate behaviour during a trial run on Wednesday spread on social media.

After HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the opening of the Royal Crematorium exhibition yesterday morning, the ministry announced a new rule restricting photography to the area outside the Royal Crematorium in an effort to protect the sacred structure.

 The Culture Ministry hosted “trial run” tours for 16,500 invitees on Wednesday, including governmental officials, monks, students, physically disabled people and other citizens. Three separate hour-long tours of the complex took place.
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The exhibition organising committee, led by Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn, permitted the select audience a close-up look of the Royal Crematorium, including visiting the interior second level.

But photos posted on social media showed visitors with their heads leaning together and posing with the Crematorium in the background. Additionally, people were seen touching the sculptures decorating the masterpiece, while others took items from the exhibition. 

“In order to run the tour smoothly with appropriate manners, the ministry announced that from November 2 [yesterday] onward, the general public can visit only the surroundings of the Royal Crematorium,” Anan Choochote, director-general of the Fine Arts Department, told Kom Chad Luek.

He added that the committee was also concerned for the safety of visitors.
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In the afternoon, Deputy Prime Ministry Wissanu Krea-ngam met with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at Government House to discuss Princess Sirindhorn’s advice regarding related problems.

“The government will take action immediately on HRH Princess Sirindhorn’s advice to solve problems related to visitors crowding the area at the Royal Crematorium Exhibition, where items could be broken before the exhibition closes at the end of this month. However, there is no discussion on the extension of timetable,” Wissanu said.

Officials were seen yesterday equipping sensors on some items, which were said to be a preventive measure to detect if people came in too close a proximity.

Wassachon Thiangtae, a second-year student at Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin Poh Chang, said that it was a pity that people cannot enter the second floor of thcrematorium after the prohibition was issued. “Because of them [people displaying inappropriate behaviour], people today missed an opportunity to get closer and to have an experience to visit the Royal Crematorium. 

“Those people are selfish and did not think about others,” said Wassachon.
She added that she and her friends would return to the site since one hour was not enough. 
“We waited at the screening point only a short time. Officials there have very good management,” Wassachon said.
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Sanchai Premsiri, 53, from Bangkok, said at first he planned to just look around, but after an official told him the queue was not long, he waited only 20 minutes to take the tour. 

He agreed with the prohibition preventing people from entering the second floor, saying items could be damaged if 100,000 of people went there each day for one month.

“This place is not a tourist attraction, it is a sacred site,” Sanchai said. He said he wanted the Royal Crematorium to be kept intact for the next generation. 

A Cultural Ministry official said the tours were running smoothly, with people dressing properly, behaving well and following the rules. 

As many as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition daily, with the eight roads adjacent to Sanam Luang remaining closed. In total, more than 3 million visitors are projected to visit the Royal Crematorium exhibition, which is open to the public until the end of November from 7am until 10pm.

Source - TheNation
 

Wednesday 1 November 2017

#Thailand - Royal Crematorium exhibition open on 2 November


IN A MUCH-ANTICIPATED move, the Royal Crematorium ceremonial grounds at Sanam Luang will open to the public tomorrow at 8am after Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn officiates at the opening of an exhibition in honour of her father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, at 7am.

Eight roads linked to Sanam Luang will be closed from tomorrow as 100,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition each day. The security will be as strict as that during the Royal Cremation. 

Visitors must bring ID cards or passports, and will have to go through one of five screening points. There are four screening points for ordinary people at the Territorial Defence Command, Tha Chang, the Earth Goddess Statue and Thammasat University, which will also provide for the disabled, while monks and foreign visitors are invited to check in at the Defence Ministry screening point. 
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At Saman Luang, tents will be provided for people to wait before entering at one of two entrances. One is near the Earth Goddess statue and another is close to Thammasat University, where wheelchairs will be provided. 

Visitors will be provided pamphlets there about the Royal Crematorium and, before leaving the exhibition, postcards, which will come in nine versions. Three million each of the pamphlets and postcards will be available. There will be English-language pamphlets for foreign|visitors.

The one-way tour will take about an hour to complete, with 5,000 visitors at a time being able to view its three zones. In the first zone, visitors will see exhibits related to Royal projects such as demonstration rice fields, “Monkey Cheek” water-retention systems and Chaipattana water mills. Visitors will be able to stay 15 minutes and take photographs.
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Guides will then lead visitors to see the grand architecture of the Royal Crematorium, featuring the centrepiece Principal Pavilion (Busabok) with the fire screen surround by the Monks’ Pavilions and Dismantling Halls. Visitors will be restricted to the first level of the Royal Crematorium.

The tour will end at the Songtham Pavilion, where three murals depict the late monarch during his 70-year-reign. The exhibition will also highlight his biography in five sections. 

Special guides will be set up for the disabled, including an audio commentary and touchable exhibits. At Tab Kaset Hall, next to the Dismantling Hall, blind people will be able to imagine the grandeur of the Royal Crematorium by touching a replica and listening to audio.

From 8am to 5pm, a pipat – traditional Thai ensemble – from the Culture Ministry’s Musical Department will perform and, in the evening until 10pm closing time, there will be public performances by some of the thousands of artists who performed at the Royal Cremation. Khon masked dance will be performed on the weekend.

The Culture Ministry expects 3 million visitors to view the exhibition, which will end on November 30.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority will provide 60 free buses a day on six routes from 4am to 11pm. The routes to Saman Luang will depart Victory Monument, Hua Lampong Station, Mo Chit, Ekkamai, Southern Bus Station and Rattanakosin Island in Dusit district. Free ferries will be provided daily from 6am to 10.30pm from Rachanavik Sapha Pier at Thonburi’s Royal Navy Auditorium to Nivej Woradit Pier in Dusit near the Grand Palace. 

Source - TheNation