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 Leg Killer: UP Asian Center Christmas Party + UP Lantern Parade 2013

- December 18, 2013, Wednesday.

- Just when I thought I wouldn't be dealing with school during my Christmas vacation, the Asian Center held its Christmas party today as a pre-event for the big university-wide lantern parade. The Asian Center asked us to either wear the Asian Center shirt, or wear an Asian costume instead. Of course, I chose the latter. Since everyone thought I'd be wearing something Indian, as always, I wanted to surprise everyone by being non-Indian, but just as flamboyant.

- I rushed to UP from my morning rehearsal, and changed to my Thai costume. I'd like to have this opportunity to thank my friends from Thammasat University, Silpakorn University, and Mahidol University, for serving as my consultants for my costume; I wanted to be authentic, or almost authentic at the very least. I decided to wear something Thai jsut so I'd have a chance to wear my not-authentic-but-just-for-costume's-sake mukut (the crown) that I haven't officially used since I bought it in a local costume store 2011. My Thai friends told me not to wear the mukut since it wasn't authentic, it didn't fit with the costume I wore (and if I did I had to wear another more appropriate costume used for dramas like the khon drama.) Still, I just decided to bring it for the photo ops during the lantern parade; it made my costume fancier, and I just had this lame excuse of me adding a crown to my formal Thai outfit to pretend to be an ancient Thai monarch of some sort. The chain that hung across my shoulder and my belt were both assembled by me. (The chain wasn't something hard to assemble - it's just a chain connected as a loop.)

- After a Jeopardy-like game, I was called to do my secret special number. I also hid my costume in a Japanese yukata to make people initially think that I was going to do something Japanese. I introduced myself and explained some things about my dance while the sound system was being fixed. I did the 4 Regions Dance of Thailand, a medley of dances from each region of Thailand (North, South, Northease/Isaan, Central.)

Denzel, Clio, and Nica as the seated children.

My diguised costume.

My real, "correct" costume.

- While waiting for the lantern to be set off, we took more photos in the Asian Center lawn, and did some karaoke to kill time. It was nice to see teachers and students loosen up to one another and have fun; the Asian Center is a smaller family compared to most institutes, schools, and departments. We also had a "Best Asian Costume" contest, and because the staff had a fear of everyone else backing out if I joined, and because I had a reputation of wearing culturally-inspired attires everyday, they just decided to make me a judge. I told them I'll just judge based on how they explain their costumes, to make the contest more objective and easier to decide on the winner, and most importantly, to know who knew the significance of their costumes.

My apsara pose.

Doing an impromptu pangalay dance.

Our Sarimanok lantern.

With Denzel, my co-South-Asian major.

- We later marched to our lantern's station a long way from the Asian Center. We stood there while waiting for the parade to commence. By that time, we were already tired and thirsty. Our lantern, by the way, was a Sarimanok, or a mythical, magical, and colorful rooster originating from Southern Philippines. Our Sarimanok was gold, and with a glowing orb in front of with.

Ready to leave!!

Our station.

Banner holder!!

My South Asian specialist and the two South Asian majors.

- We went around the oval for two and a half times, with three judging stations, and bumping into friends we knew. Apart from that, I was holding one side of the Asian Center banner, and also acted as a mascot, mostly due to my complete ensemble. (And yes, the towering crown did the trick.) Many kids, families, teenagers, and passers by took photos of and with me. Since I felt honored to be their mascot, I posed like a Thai dancer would, to complete the "Thai" look. My flat shoes gave so much pain to my feet, but I had to wear those shoes because they were the most appropriate one for my costume.

Lol.

Selfieeeee.

Oh hi Zorro!!

Our friend Wayne made it!!

Reporter from ABS-CBN right in front of our lantern,; she interviewed my professor.

- After the parade, I/we limped back to the Asian Center. I changed into my street clothes, rested a bit, and limped with some friends to grab a cab to the train station, and head home. My whole body ached after arriving home, and each time I had to force myself to pee or to stand up for anything else, I'd moan so much and so dramatically, because my muscles/fats were really sore. I (sort of) enjoyed my first lantern parade though. Well, except the too-much-walking-plus-thirst part; heck, I haven't sat down for almost 6 hours, and more than half the time was spent just standing. At least I had a perfectly nice excuse to wear a nice flamboyant costume.