#Myanmar (Burma) - China to restore Thatbyinnyu Pagoda.

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will sign an agreement for the restoration of quake-hit Thatbyinnyu Pagoda in Bagan during her visit to China.

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Thatbyinnyu Pagoda which is internally damaged is going to be renovated by China. Maung Zaw / The Myanmar Times The Union Minister for Religious Affairs and Culture Thura U Aung Ko made this announcement on May 6 at a press conference on the Bagan cultural heritage conservation held at the Bagan Archaeological Museum.

“Currently the State Counsellor is on a visit to European countries. After coming back, she will visit China. Among the various issues to be discussed is the signing of a bilateral agreement on the Thatbyinnyu Pagoda restoration. After that, China will start renovation works,” said Thura U Aung Ko.

Severely-hit Thatbyinnyu Pagoda was one of the over 400 Bagan pagodas damaged by an earthquake with its epicenter in Chauk township in August last year.

“During a renovation meeting held last February, we made a request to the Chinese Ambassador. China is best at restoration,” Thura U Aung Ko said.

China agreed to Myanmar’s request and all the costs of restoration will be borne by China, it has been learnt.

Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library (Bagan branch) director U Aung Kyaw Kyaw said that the damage was severe.

”Thatbyinnyu Pagoda is not externally but internally damaged. Even echoes can no longer be heard if you make a sound inside the pagoda,” said U Aung Kyaw Kyaw.

According to data from the Department of Archaeology, the pyramidal spire and base pillars of the Thatbyinnyu Pagoda were severely damaged by last year’s earthquake. At present, emergency maintenance works for the Thatbyinnyu Pagoda are being carried out by UNESCO experts and Myanmar engineers.

In addition to Thatbyinnyu, China also donated US$100,000 for restoration works on other quake-hit pagodas in Bagan; at present, offers to help in pagoda renovation have also been received from countries like France and Italy, according to Thura U Aung Ko.

“Conserving cultural heritage is important. If we cannot repair it ourselves, we should accept assistance from other countries. Not China alone. Where it is appropriate, we should get assistance from other countries,” U Soe Win, a Nyaung-U resident, said.

Thatbyinnyu Pagoda was built in AD 1144 by King Alaung Sithu. It is a four-storey cave pagoda with a spire and it is 210 feet high. It is reputed to be the tallest pagoda in Bagan.

 

#Thailand - Dozens injured in Pattani double bomb blasts.

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Many children among casualties; ‘mass killing’ cited as motive
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ABOUT 50 people were injured by a huge car bomb outside a department store in Pattani in the deep South yesterday afternoon that also caused widespread damage.
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The bombers used a common tactic in the insurgency – triggering a small initial explosive inside the Big C department store, which sent shoppers running outside in panic, before the second bomb concealed in a pickup parked at an entrance door was detonated. The first bomb also seemed intended to distract authorities ahead of the second much bigger blast.
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The attack took place at the store in Muang district at about 2.30pm, a time when the store was crowded with parents and children looking for school items including uniforms in preparation for the new semester.
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Among the dozens of people injured in the blasts were store staff, at least one of whom was seriously hurt, as well as many children.
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Colonel Pramote Prom-in, spokesman of the regional Internal Security Operations Command, said the bombers seemed intent on “mass killing”. 

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 “The bombers parked the pickup in front of the entrance of the store, clearly showing their intention of mass killing. However, the suspicious vehicle was spotted and people were evacuated from the area in time before the second explosion,” Pramote said.

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Source - TheNation + More Photos 

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#Myanmar (Burma) Laying treks to boost tourism in Pyin Oo Lwin

Trekking routes are to be mapped out and constructed as well as regional guide training are to be provided in Pyin Oo Lwin township, Mandalay Region, where locals and foreigners frequent.

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 Environmental conservation groups conduct a field inspection at Yay Pyan Mountain in Pyin Oo Lwin township, one of the initial trekking routes. Sithu Lwin / The Myanmar Times

The program – a joint effort between the Directorate of the Hotels and Tourism and entrepreneurs who run hotels in the Pyin Oo Lwin area – aims to improve the tourism industry there.

Ko Wai Lu, a hotel entrepreneur who runs Mya Nan Daw Hotel in Pyin Oo Lwin, said that the purpose of creating trekking routes in the Pyin Oo Lwin region is to open up job opportunities for locals.

“We have earmarked three routes but these have not been approved yet. We are still analysing what routes to be constructed. We will choose the routes that are for one-day trips.

“We aim for locals to get jobs as well as for the city to be developed. The routes are being chosen so that each will give travelers and trekkers a different experience and taste. One trekking route will include a waterfall scene, another would be through a jungle path, and yet another route will provide experience in the ethnic people’s lifestyle. It will be interesting because trekkers can enjoy the scenery along the trip and then they can also travel by car and rendezvous at a point where they can go trekking again,” Ko Wai Lu told The Myanmar Times.

The routes that have been chosen initially include the Yay Pyan Mountain route, which includes a seven-stepped waterfall and has become popular after The Myanmar Times ran a story about it.

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 Also included in the initial planning is trekking along the Pan Oo Taung village, where there are many Shan ethnic people.

On the Pyin Oo Lwin-Hsipaw trekking route are rendezvous points for both trekkers and tourists who go by car and by foot, according to Pyin Oo Lwin’s hotel zone entrepreneurs.

Local villagers will be given priority when choosing candidates for regional guide training but they have to have a basic level in the English language.

Also, those that contribute enthusiastically to the region’s development will be given preference.

Daw Nan Mon Kham, who owns the Royal Park View hotel in Pyin Oo Lwin, told The Myanmar Times “Although we are doing all this for the township’s development and opening up jobs for local residents, we don’t want the region’s tradition and spirit to be watered down by foreign tourists. That’s why we are educating the locals who live along earmarked routes to have a deep understanding of the local tradition and how to use local products effectively before these routes are constructed.”

Daw Nan Mon Kham said that trekking routes have to be mapped out to highlight tourists spots that will boost the tourism industry in Pyin Oo Lwin.

She said that more foreign travelers are going from Mandalay to Hsipaw directly but the number of tourists who visit Pyin Oo Lwin is decreasing although it has many beautiful places to visit.

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Exotic pet cafes in #Thailand cause delight and concern.

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Visitors enjoy experience; critics fear trend will feed illegal wildlife trade

It is a Sunday afternoon and a sunlit cafe on Bangkok's outskirts is buzzing with patrons. The air smells of french fries and disinfectant. Kittens and corgis are darting around between the legs of customers, who are trying to poke at two parakeets shuffling warily along the edge of a wooden shelf.

Excited murmurs ripple through the crowd as a waitress announces that the playpen is ready for the next round of customers. One by one, the patrons squirt disinfectant on their palms and enter a glass-walled room to cuddle a squad of meerkats.

Asia may have seen its share of pet cafes, but none quite with the menagerie offered in Thailand. Aided by relaxed laws and a thriving wildlife market, at least four exotic pet cafes have sprung up recently around the capital.

Animal activists, however, fear this trend will feed demand for smuggling and breeding of exotic wildlife purely for entertainment.

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Little Zoo Cafe, with one branch in Bangkok and another on its outskirts, touts raccoons, fennec foxes and silver foxes. The Animal Cafe, tucked in a quiet neighbourhood in Yannawa district, boasts a white-faced owl as well as caracals and a serval - both African wildcats. Zoota Bistro, housed in a shopping mall in northern Bangkok, advertises close encounters with a South American squirrel monkey, wallaby and furless sphynx cat.

Together with the existing mix of cafes nationwide featuring cats, dogs, bunnies, Siberian huskies, parrots and sheep, they are drawing steady interest from both Thais and tourists looking to touch creatures they can usually see only from afar.

"Kawaii (cute)! Kawaii!" Ms Kiyoko Nagashima, a 44-year-old sales executive from Japan, squealed upon entering the Animal Cafe last week, as she spied the exotic cats prancing around two soft-lit glass enclosures.

"I came here because I saw on Facebook that you could hug a raccoon," she told The Sunday Times. "In Japan, you can see them only in the zoo. You can't hug them."

Typically, customers must buy at least one food item and drink before they can interact with the animals. The prices are marked up - one meatball pasta dish at the Animal Cafe, for example, costs 320 baht (S$13).

Customers are made to clean their hands and take off footwear before entering the playpens. "Play" is supervised by staff, who sometimes scoop up the critters and place them on customers' laps.

Some of the more knowledgeable employees explain the animals' behaviour. At the Little Zoo cafe, for example, as meerkats clambered onto their human visitors and tried to search the contents of their pockets, one employee explained that this is how the creatures forage for food in the desert sand.

A Wildlife activist and founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation, is critical of the trend, saying the artificial environments of these mini petting zoos could stress the animals. Owls, for example, are nocturnal by nature, but "if you keep them awake the whole day, they will be so tired they will sleep at night".

According to a 2013 report on the illegal wildlife trade by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Thailand is "mainly a consumer and trans-shipper of pets and high- value luxury items", with the rising sales of illegal wildlife on the Internet posing a challenge to law enforcement. Raids and Customs seizures in the past have turned up everything from pangolins to otters.

While the pet cafes typically do not use endangered animals, activists warn that Thai law provides little protection for non-native species. Also, some wild-caught animals have been known to be passed off as captive-bred.

"It is a bit difficult to differentiate between which is traded legally and illegally," says Ms Nancy Gibson, founder of Thailand-based Love Wildlife Foundation.

Animal Cafe co-owner Athit Samatiyadekul, 36, says his operations are all above board, and he has the paperwork to prove it. One raccoon, he said, was bought from a fur factory in Europe for 35,000 baht.

"We give them food. We give them a job. And we give them love," he told The Sunday Times. He started his cafe last year to showcase some of his personal collection of wildlife, which includes about 300 iguanas, some 80 giant tortoises, arowanas and Alaskan malamutes. He breeds caracals and servals, which he sells for 250,000 baht each.

He said the cafe is not profitable but he keeps it afloat by infusing money that he earns from his job as the marketing director of Sirivatana Interprint, one of the region's largest printing companies. The same applies to his partner, a friend who runs a Thai boxing gym, apparel store and restaurant.

"In other restaurants, people will eat many things," he said. "Here, they come to play with the animals and to take selfies, so they buy the cheapest food."

Yet they keep it running because "we like people to come here to be happy". Unconvinced members of the public have complained about the cafe to the wildlife authorities, he reveals.

On the day he was interviewed by The Sunday Times, officials turned up to check his paperwork - the second time in a year.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Kawaii (cute)! Kawaii! I came here because I saw on Facebook that you could hug a raccoon. In Japan, you can see them only in the zoo. You can't hug them. - MS KIYOKO NAGASHIMA, a 44-year-old sales executive from Japan, on the exotic cats at Animal Cafe.

CAN'T TELL THEM APART

It is a bit difficult to differentiate between which is traded legally and illegally. - MS NANCY GIBSON, founder of Thailand-based Love Wildlife Foundation, on wild-caught animals being passed off as captive-bred.

BENEFITS FOR ANIMALS

We give them food. We give them a job. And we give them love. - MR ATHIT SAMATIYADEKUL, Animal Cafe's co-owner, on the animals at his eatery.

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Source - TheNation

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#Myanmar (Burma) - Water taxi scheme details to be announced next week

The company Tint Tint Myanmar has been chosen to run a water taxi on the Hlaing River and Nga Moe Yeik Creek.

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The firm will announce the details of its implementation, said a spokesperson from Tint Tint Myanmar.

In order to upgrade Yangon’s public transport system, the regional government has planned to upgrade the circular train and water taxi services alongside bus transport, according to Yangon chief minister U Phyo Min Thein on July 2016.

The Yangon Region Transport Authority (YRTA) started accepting tender applications on November 21 until December 26 last year. The month-long application period was intended to allow sufficient time for foreign and joint-venture companies to submit their applications. The invitation to tender was issued through a state-owned newspaper on November 16 and 17.

Tint Tint Myanmar won the tender in March and they are currently working on the specifics and details to implement a water transport scheme. 

“All operational details will be done with the company’s budget, including the cost of construction of a jetty.

“This will not be related to the government’s budget,” said project manager U Htun Naing Lin from Tint Tint Myanmar.
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According to U Maung Aung, secretary of the YRTA, the purpose of this water taxi system is for commuters to avoid the congested roads on their way to downtown Yangon. It is hoped that this scheme will save time and will start running in May. 

The company has already bought ships from Australia, Thailand and Jordan.

“We can say all are ready to run but we are still testing – we are focusing on safety.  We will announce plans within the next week on how many ships we will use, how many people the ships can carry, ticket pricing, whether we are charging cash or via a prepaid system, and other details.

“We are in discussions regarding the start date for our operations,” said U Htun Naing Lin.

The regional government has already set rules and regulations that the company must obey, he added.

Taking lessons from the YBS chaos and inconvenience, the government should be more cautious about the procedures and should test them before implementation. They should prioritise the safety of commuters, said MP U Kyaw Zay Ya from Dagon township.  

The idea of introducing water taxis to relieve Yangon city congestion was floated by a regional MP last May. Some, at that time, saw the scheme as a far-fetched proposal to solve the traffic issue.

Daw Thida Maung, who made the suggestion, said the Nga Moe Yeik River that flows though many townships could help alleviate the daily gridlock.

“If water taxis would be a service that runs on time and looks nicely decorated, people will be interested in taking them. Now, 21 percent of commuters in Yangon use buses. This number will then be reduced,” she said.

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Source - mmtimes 

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#Thailand - Senior policeman turns himself in to face underage sex charge.

Local authorities inspect night entertainment places in Mae Hong Son's Pai district.

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A HIGH-RANKING police officer accused of buying the services of an underage prostitute turned himself in yesterday as local authorities in Mae Hong Son stepped up surveillance of human trafficking and vice in the province.

According to Mae Hong Son police station superintendent Satasak Pimolthip, Chai Prakan police station deputy superintendent Pol Lt Col Mongkol Panti had acknowledged sexual involvement with a girl younger than 15.

It was reported that after Mongkol was told the allegation against him, police conducted a brief interrogation before releasing him. He is alleged to have bought sex from the young girl brought by prostitute provider Kwanhatai Ruekudom, who has already been arrested for human trafficking.

Mongkol is accused of having sex with the girl in his home in Mae Hong Son while he worked in the province.

Officials in Mae Hong Son have been trying to repair the province’s damaged reputation after a large human trafficking and sex network was exposed there. Steps are being taken to avoid similar activity in the future.

Mae Hong Son district chief Phisit Bunkitanan said that local authorities held a meeting with local businesses, hotels and restaurants to discuss prevention of human trafficking. More than 50 representatives attended.

 “We need to urgently solve this chronic problem [human trafficking] since it has already made headlines nationwide and harmed the reputation of the province,” Phisit said.

On Friday night, the Mae Hong Son Provincial Social Development and Human Security Office and local authorities led a team to inspect businesses in Pai, another famous tourist attraction. 

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Source - TheNation

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#Thailand - Police in trouble after raid finds mass #Drug use.

An official conducts a test on urine samples from customers at a night entertainment venue in Bangkok’s Khao San area following a raid by authorities early yesterday. Sixty-six samples tested positive to illicit drugs. 

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THE Metropolitan Police have set up a committee to investigate possible negligence at the Chana Songkhram police station following a raid by non-police authorities on a night entertainment venue in Bangkok’s Khao San area early yesterday.

A total of 59 customers were found to be under the legal age of 20, |while urine samples from 66 customers tested positive for illicit drugs.

The authorities involved in the raid also found a lot of equipment said to be used for taking drugs.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Pol Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn said yesterday that he had ordered the formation of a fact-finding committee to determine whether any officers at the Chana Songkhram police station, which has jurisdiction over Khao San area, should be held responsible for negligence.

Anyone found to have been negligent in carrying out their duties would face disciplinary action, he added.

National police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda yesterday thanked the various agencies from the Interior Ministry that were involved in the raid.

He said the Royal Thai Police had measures to take action against the responsible local police officials found to have been negligent.

Most of the authorities involved in the raid on the Zed Club nightspot came from the Local Administration Department of the Interior Ministry. The club is located opposite the Bowornniwet Temple in Phra Nakhon district.

Many of the customers rounded up during the raid were found to be below the legal age. 

Twenty-five of them are aged under 18, with a few as young |as 16, according to the ministry.

Of those who tested positive for drugs, 25 people are under 18.

Drugs including ketamine and Ecstasy were found abandoned on the floor and in toilets.

The raid came after the authorities received complaints from parents that their children gathered at the club and took drugs.

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Source - TheNation

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