Bring Me to Siam: Thailand Trade Exhibit 2015 At SMX

- February 26, 2015, Thursday.

- One of the things I look forward to during the year is the Thailand Trade Exhibit, frequently (if not always,) held at SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia compound. This annual event is organized by Thailand's Department of International Trade Promotion, the Royal Thai Embassy in the Philippines, and the Thai Trade Center. This year, the trade exhibit started today, and will conclude this Sunday, March 1, at 7pm. As always, businesses and services (food, clothes, jewelry, health and well-being, travel, etc.) that want to expand or look for partners in the Philippines are present in the event, but knowing me, my main purpose was to catch the Thai cultural shows that liven the event.

- I normally visit the trade exhibit on the last day, because the last day of the exhibit is usually a Sunday, and is the day when the most number of visitors arrive, which means more spectacular cultural numbers, and probably more products for sale. This year, I decided to go on the first day, since I will be attending another cultural event this Sunday. Fortunately, I arrived just in time for the opening ceremonies, and the first dance of the whole event.

Tada!!

The Thai and Philippine flags.

VIPs on their fluffy couches.

- The first dance is a human-puppet dance accompanied by a Khmer-looking apsara dance. The human-puppet dance is a special Thai dance that uses a human, dressed up as a puppet, whose movements are controlled by three puppeteers in black, who also appear on stage and mimic the general dance movements of the puppet.

Apsaras.

Took me a few seconds to realize that it was a human pretending to be a puppet.

Synchronized movements.

- The dance was followed by speeches by Ms. Rachakorn Saksri, the minister counselor of the Thai Trade Center, and Ms.Somjai Taphaopong, a consul from the Royal Thai Embassy. After their speeches on strengthening the bilateral relations between Thailand and the Philippines through trade, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was done, and another puppet dance was performance. This time, the puppeteers did the "Hun Lakhon Lek." The dance was similar to the human-puppet dance, only this time an actual wooden puppet was used. The puppet they used today was a Hanuman (monkey-god) puppet.

Ms. Saksri.

Ms. Taphaopong.

Hurray!!

Hun Lakhon Lek.

Synchronized movements once again.

Hanuman close-up.

Entertaining the VIPs.

Hanuman looking at an apsara.

- After the puppet dance, a mini-fashion show with the models wearing clothes and accessories from the traders in the event. Before the opening ceremony ended, there was also an official photo session with Ms. Saksri, Ms. Taphaopong, and other consuls and representatives from various embassies in Manila.

Fashion show.

VIPs.

- I roamed around the hall and saw a fruit carver and another lady making Foi Tong, a kind of Thai dessert made by cooking strands of egg yolk in syrup-water, and rolling up groups of strands into a tube. Apart from these two ladies, another area in the hall had a man skillfully painting umbrellas with Thai-style nature motifs.

Thailand in a photo.

Making Foi Tong.

Fruit (and veggie) carving.

I love her costume.

Umbrella painter.

His workplace.

Finished product and his materials.

- I had a quick lunch in Mall of Asia, before coming back to SMX to catch more performances. I came back in the nick of time, and caught the last few steps of an Isaan (Northeast Thai) dance, and the final pose. Afterwards, the female dancers were asked by the organizers to have a photo op near the fruit-carving-and-foi-tong area; I had my photo taken with them, so that was a consolation for not seeing their whole dance. I was also prepared with my Thai accessories, so much so that the Filipino visitors, and even the Thai organizers thought I was Thai.

Final pose of the Isaan dance.

With pretty painted umbrellas.

I blend right in.

Sorry I covered your face Thai girl number 3.

- I rested for around half an hour just to catch another dance performance. At around 3pm, a Central-Thai courtship dance was done; the dance was performed with a slight modern execution. I suspect the dance had influences from the "Lakhon" dance style. The costumes were also designed with some contemporary twists too.

Interesting designs.

Men of the village.

The dance incorporated some lakhon and movements.

Vibrant colors.

Final pose.

My moment with my Thai women.

Traditional pose.

- After the dance, the dancers had another photo op, and of course I had my last hurrah before leaving. Until next year then, for Thailand Trade Exhibit 2016!!

The Sudden Multicultural Hoard: Manila Fame - The Design and Lifestyle Event

- October 17, 2014, Friday.

- This morning I was doing some academic work when I checked my Facebook during one of my little breaks. I saw some updates from the Indian Embassy's Facebook page, featuring photos of the new ambassador and a ribbon cutting ceremony. When I read the details, my eyes widened when I found out that the ribbon cutting ceremony was for the Indian pavilion in the on-going trade event named "Manila Fame - The Design and Lifestyle Event," held in SMX from yesterday (October 16, 2014) until Sunday (October 19, 2014.) The photos showed some Indian booths selling souvenirs, clothes, and accessories from India. Not long after, I googled the event just to know if it was worth visiting; the event website proved the event to be more interesting than I expected, because apart from the Indian things I saw in the photos, the event also has booths that sell Philippine and other international handicrafts, clothes, accessories, furniture, and decorations. (I knew that the Indian ambassador would be long gone once I arrive, but I was also interested in the event itself. Still, I would have loved to meet him if only I knew earlier that he would be in Manila Fame.)

- I got dressed in a jiffy and dashed off to SMX. The public transportation system seemed to be on my side, so I got to SMX in no time. I entered SMX, and registered; thanks to my student ID, I got a half-price discount for the entrance fee (50 pesos instead of 100 pesos.)

Manila Fame!!

- The trade exhibit, organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM, )  occupies the whole second floor of SMX, I was glad that I decided to come during a weekday, because I knew I would not need to worry about a big crowd, which also means less competition in case I see something fancies me, but need some time to think whether to buy it or not.

- The exhibit booths were very organized. One side of it was solely for native handicrafts, while the other half of the venue was for the international booths. Among the international booths, those that sold Indian items were the most in number. I had a quick browse through the local booths before spending more time in the international booths. Upon canvassing for items, I realized that unlike many bazaars and trade exhibits, the items being sold in Manila Fame had the most reasonable prices. For instance, the scarves, necklaces, and keychains that were sold in in booths had the exact same price as those that are being sold in India. Some items might cost a bit higher, but still within the "very very reasonable" range (take note of the double "very.")

- I went around the Korean pavilion, the Indonesian pavilion, the Pakistani booth, and the Taiwanese booth briefly; needless to say, I spent most of my time circling the Indian pavilion like a vulture. Apart from coming from different companies, I noticed that each of the Indian booths sold items from a specific state of India; one stall sold things from Delhi, another from Rajasthan (Jaipur in particular,) another from West Benga (Kolkata specifically,) another from Kashmir, and so on. The Indian pavilion actually reminded me of Dilli Haat (read about Dilli Haat and my short visit here.) I got myself a small Ganesh keychain (for 10 pesos!!) and a kashmir scarf.

The large Indonesian pavilion.

I had my eye on this stall.

Woven-textile vendor.

HELLO INDIAN PAVILION.

Happy me.

A large cloth from Kolkata.

Hand-made paintings from Jaipur. They're a bit expensive because of the paper used, and the type of paint used - and because it's hand-made.

One of the more interesting pavilions too.

Colorful Kashmiri goods.

Kashmiri necklaces made with real-gold paint.

Not sure what the Taiwan booth was all about.

- Another booth that I found interesting was the Malaysian booth (care of Pua Heritage Boutique.) I got myself a traditional Sarawak ikat-design silk polo, and a Sarawak batik sarong. I wanted to buy the booth's beaded items too, but I had a budget to take note of; beaded items anywhere are usually pricey because making beaded belts and lanyard-like necklaces do take a lot of time, effort, and skill to make the perfect design. Because I bought two items, the Malaysians gave me a small beaded bracelet for free!!

Can I take them all home??

Malaysian flags.

Yay for my Sarawak ikat-design polo. The one I'm wearing is an Indonesian-style ikat design. I had my tailor make it for me.

- Finally, I went back to the Cordillera booth in the Philippine side, and once again, to my surprise, the traditional items there were very reasonably priced, so I decided to buy some unisex Kalinga necklaces and bracelets to add to my collection of traditional accessories. Apart from accessories, they also sold some bags, belts, ponchos, and women's clothes made from the traditional woven fabric. As in the Malaysian booth, I was given a freebie as a reward for purchasing a handful of items.

The Kalinga vendor explaines the necklace to me while she wears a poncho made with traditional Kalinga woven textile.

This other vendor rocks her beads and textiles!!

- I had to leave after realizing that I had not eaten lunch by around 3pm, and mostly because I did not want to come home penniless. I feel fortunate that I was able to attend this international trade exhibit, since I would be missing this year's international bazaar in the PICC tent; the international bazaar is a one-day event, held every third Sunday of November, that I wait for and attend every year (read my visit last year here,) but I can't visit this year due to an academic conference overseas. Perhaps next year, I could attend both the international bazaar and Manila Fame!!