New Mandala

Long-term readers may recall that I have something of a sideline interest in the unevenness of Western fast food proliferation across mainland Southeast Asia.  Indeed two of my very early New Mandala posts were on this topic (back in the first months: 30 June 2006 and 4 August 2006).  In May 2008 I even put out an endorsement for KFC’s decision [...]

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One Night in Bangkok
 Chris Coles
 Â
Wednesday 5 August
7pm @ Forth Gallery
69A Pagoda Street
Singapore
The blinding neon and shady denizens of the Bangkok night are captured vividly in American painter Chris Coles’ watercolour renditions of the lurid and colourful world of the Thai capital’s notorious nightlife.
Heavily distorted lines and strong, clashing colors dominate in these paintings which [...]

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From a New Mandala reader in Bangkok:

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On 25 May 2009 the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) lavishly celebrated the decision to found their political party in the sports stadium in Thammasat’s Rangsit campus. There were marches by the various PAD chapters of the different provinces in folkish costumes, and a large show re-enacting the sanitised history of their protests of last year, [...]

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Readers hoping to get a more visual insight into the current showdown in Bangkok will find a number of eye-opening images at Thai Photo Blogs.  A much more graphic image of this morning’s carnage is available here (Warning: please don’t click if you will be disturbed by a blood-soaked picture).  Readers who come across other [...]

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Thanks to Leedom Lefferts for this image from a traffic circle just to the south of Jinghong.

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Slightly more than a year ago, on 22 July 2007, Bangkok saw a violent street protest when the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) protested in front of the compound of General Prem Tinsulanonda, head of the Privy Council. Even today this event is cited as proof of the supposedly uncontrollable violence of Thaksin supporters. Most of the Thai [...]

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Well, if that heading doesn’t give us a Google boost, nothing will! But the objective is art not advertisement. It is the title of the following painting by artist Chris Coles.

Chris tells us that he has “painted a lot of shabby, evil and badly intentioned people in a series of paintings called Bangkok Noir.”
I’m no artiste but this [...]

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A nice follow up to the announcement about Phil Taylor’s edited collection on religion in Vietnam …

Here is another nice juxtaposition of images from Leif Jonsson. Both are from Hanoi – one from the entry hall of the Women’s Museum and the other from a Catholic church.
Leif’s previous contribution, also on a religious theme, is available here. I [...]

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