Revelers gather on Times Square in New York, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, to take part in a New Year's Eve celebration. Photo: Craig Ruttle / Associated Press
Revelers around the world have been welcoming 2017 with crackling fireworks displays and loud cheering, saying goodbye to a year filled with political surprises, prolonged conflicts and the deaths of several beloved performers.
The people of Sydney were treated to a glittering display over their famed harbor and bridge that honored the singer David Bowie and actor Gene Wilder, who both passed away in 2016.
The tone was more somber elsewhere, though, including Berlin, where some expressed worry about the political mood in Germany. It was also relatively quiet in China’s two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai.
In New York City, meanwhile, people packed into Times Square hours before midnight to secure coveted spots to watch the annual ball drop.
People watch as fireworks explode over the Kremlin standing at Red Square blocked by police during New Year celebrations in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. New Year’s Eve is Russia’s major gift-giving holiday, and big Russian cities were awash in festive lights and decorations. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr / Associated PressRevellers photograph fireworks over the Arc de Triomphe as they celebrate the New Year on the Champs Elysees, in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan.1, 2017. Photo: Christophe Ena / Associated PressFireworks explode over Elizabeth Tower housing the Big Ben clock to celebrate the New Year in London, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo: Frank Augstein / Associated PressVail ski and snowboard instructors, some dressed up, help celebrate the New Year after the Torchlight Parade on Golden Peak, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Vail, Colorado. More than 200 instructors and hundreds of Beavo ski school students participated, which followed with fireworks. Photo: Chris Dillmann / Vail Daily via Associated PressFireworks light the sky above the Quadriga at the Brandenburg Gate shortly after midnight in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Hundred thousands of people celebrated New Year’s Eve welcoming the new year 2017 in Germany’s capital. Photo: Michael Sohn / Associated PressPeople watch the fireworks exploding over Copacabana beach during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo: Leo Correa / Associated PressFireworks explode over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as New Year’s celebrations are underway in Sydney, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo: Rick Rycroft / Associated PressPeople release balloons into the air to celebrate New Year, during a New Year celebration event at a Tokyo Hotel, early Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo: Koji Sasahara / Associated PressPeople release balloons and lanterns in the air in Istanbul’s Ortakoy district by the Bosphorus, during New Year’s cerebrations early Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. Photo: Emrah Gurel / Associated Press
Medics and security officials work at the scene after an attack at a popular nightclub in Istanbul, early Sunday. Turkey's state-run news agency says an armed assailant has opened fire at a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's celebrations, wounding several people. Photo: IHA via AP
ISTANBUL — An assailant believed to have been dressed in a Santa Claus costume opened fire at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul during New Year’s celebrations, killing at least 39 people and wounding close to 70 others in what the province’s governor described as a terror attack.
Gov. Vasip Sahin said the attacker, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian outside the club at around 1:45 a.m. Sunday before entering and firing on people partying inside. He did not say who may have carried out the attack.
“Unfortunately (he) rained bullets in a very cruel and merciless way on innocent people who were there to celebrate New Year’s and have fun,” Sahin told reporters.
Private NTV news channel said the assailant entered the Reina nightclub, in Istanbul’s Ortakoy district, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the man was still on the run, adding: “efforts to find the terrorist are continuing.”
“Our security forces have started the necessary operations. God willing he will be caught in a short period of time,” the minister said.
At least 16 of the dead were foreign nationals, Soylu said, without providing information on their nationalities. Five of the victims were identified as Turkish nationals while authorities were still trying to identify 18 of the victims. At least 69 people were being treated in hospitals, four in serious condition, Soylu said.
Some customers jumped into the waters of the Bosporus to escape the attack, the report said.
Sinem Uyanik was inside the club with her husband who was wounded in the attack.
“Before I could understand what was happening, my husband fell on top me,” she said outside Istanbul’s Sisli Etfal Hospital. “I had to lift several bodies from top of me before I could get out. It was frightening.” Her husband was not in serious condition despite sustaining three wounds.
Police with riot gear and machine guns backed up by armored vehicles blocked the area close to the Reina nightclub, one of the most popular night spots in Istanbul. Several ambulances flashing blue lights arrived on the scene, some taking wounded to hospitals.
The White House condemned what it called a “horrific terrorist attack” and offered U.S. help to Turkey.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said President Barack Obama was briefed on the attack by his national security team and asked to be updated as the situation developed. Obama is vacationing in Hawaii this week with his family.
National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the attack on “innocent revelers” celebrating New Year’s shows the attackers’ savagery.
“Our thoughts are with victims and their loved ones. We continue to work to prevent these tragedies,” European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini tweeted.
An estimated 600 people were celebrating inside the club that is also frequented by famous locals, including singers, actors and sports stars. Several shocked revelers were seen fleeing the scene after the attack and the music fell silent.
The country has been rocked by a series of deadly attacks in 2016 carried out by the Islamic State group or Kurdish militants, killing more than 180 people.
On Dec. 10, a double bomb attack outside soccer stadium — located near the Reina nightclub — killed 44 people and wounded 149 others. The attack was claimed by Turkey-based Kurdish militant group, the Kurdish Freedom Falcons. Nine days later, an off-duty Turkish riot policeman assassinated Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov at a photo exhibition in the capital, Ankara. The government has suggested that a movement led U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind the killing — an accusation the cleric has denied.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag vowed that Turkey would press ahead with its fight against violent groups.
“Turkey will continue its determined and effective combat to root out terror,” Bozdag said on Twitter.
Security measures had been heightened in major Turkish cities, with police barring traffic leading up to key squares in Istanbul and the capital Ankara. In Istanbul, 17,000 police officers were put on duty, some camouflaged as Santa Claus and others as street vendors, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.
Pedestrians walk past New Years celebration balloons hanging on a metal barricade, Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
As 2016 draws to a close, revelers around the world are bidding a weary adieu to a year filled with political surprises, prolonged conflicts and deaths of legendary celebrities.
Beachgoers Tara O’Sullivan and Tomek Juszczyk pose for selfie photos as they spend Christmas Day on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP Image via AP)
After a year that saw the deaths of a seemingly endless parade of entertainers, Sydney will honor some of the most beloved. The city’s famed fireworks display over the harbor will pay homage to Prince and David Bowie, and will be set to a music medley inspired by the late singers.
“We are hoping to make it rain purple this year for the first time, not only off the barges, but also off the Sydney Harbour Bridge,” fireworks director Fortunato Forti said, referencing Prince’s hit “Purple Rain.”
The 7 tons of fireworks launched from barges on the harbor will also include a “Willy Wonka moment” in tribute to the late actor Gene Wilder’s most famous role, fireworks co-producer Catherine Flanagan said. And there will be a nod to the Bowie classic “Space Oddity,” with Saturn, moon and star-shaped fireworks. Bowie lived in Sydney for about 10 years during the 1980s and ’90s.
“This year, sadly, we saw the loss of many music and entertainment legends around the world,” Flanagan said. “So celebrating their music as part of Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks displays is an opportunity to reflect on the year that has been and what the future may hold.”
Around 1.5 million revelers are expected to ring the harbor to join in the festivities. An extra 2,000 police will be on duty and buses will be used to block off certain pedestrian areas following the deadly truck-driving attacks in Berlin and Nice, France.
Officials urged residents to carry on celebrating as normal, despite the threats of extremist attacks across the globe and in Australia. On Friday, a man was arrested after police say he posted threats on social media related to Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. New South Wales police said he was acting in isolation and had no known links to extremist groups.
“Ultimately the best way that we can respond to the threats around the world is to fight for our freedoms, enjoy our freedoms, and part of that is ensuring that we go about and celebrate New Year’s Eve,” state Premier Mike Baird said.
Return to the top for the next slide.
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2. LAS VEGAS
In this Oct. 18, 2016 file photo, the Las Vegas Strip is seen in the background as a pedestrian passes in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
More than 300,000 visitors are expected to descend on Las Vegas for an extravagant New Year’s Eve celebration.
Nightclubs are pulling out all the stops with performances from DJ Calvin Harris, rappers T-Pain and Kendrick Lamar and artists Drake and Bruno Mars. The city’s celebrity chefs have crafted elaborate prix fixe menus complete with caviar and champagne toasts.
An eight-minute fireworks show will kick off at the stroke of midnight, with rockets launching from the tops of half a dozen casinos.
Federal officials have ranked the celebration just below the Super Bowl and on par with the festivities in Times Square. FBI and Secret Service agents will work alongside local police departments that are putting all hands on deck for the big night.
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3. JAPAN
Foreign tourists take a selfie at the Sensoji Buddhist temple in the Asakusa district in Tokyo, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
Temple bells will echo at midnight as families gather around noodles and revelers flock to shrines for the biggest holiday in Japan.
“I feel this sense of duality,” said Kami Miyamoto, 21, an economics student at Meiji University in Tokyo, who traveled home in Hakusan, Ishikawa prefecture, for the holiday.
“The world is heading toward conservative insular policies,” she said of the U.S. election, Brexit and what she believes lies ahead for elections in Europe in 2017. “We learned about how valuable it is to get correct information.”
One of the most memorable experiences for Miyamoto in 2016 was a three-week study program in South Korea. She was surprised and moved by the friendship she formed with South Korean students, and she has decided to focus her studies on relations with South Korea.
“Studying about the U.S. and Europe seems to be about looking at the past, but East Asian studies are focusing on the future,” she said.
Miyamoto’s mother is preparing soba noodles, a standard New Year’s Eve dish in Japan, except in their home it will be filled with green onions and shrimp. As the new year rolls in, the entire family, including her younger brother and sister, will drive to a nearby shrine, which, like temples all over Japan, will be filled with those praying for good fortune in the Year of the Rooster, according to the Chinese zodiac.
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4. CHINA
A woman and her child wearing Santa Claus hats pose for a souvenir photo in front of a Christmas tree decorated at a shopping mall in Beijing, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Residents in Beijing and Shanghai, China’s two largest cities, will pass New Year’s Eve in a relative state of security lockdown, according to Chinese media reports citing police.
The Bund waterfront in Shanghai will not have any celebrations, authorities announced this week, while the sale, use and transportation of fireworks in central Shanghai will be prohibited altogether. Large buildings that often display light shows will also stay dark. More than 30 people died two years ago in a deadly stampede on Shanghai’s waterfront, where 300,000 people had gathered to watch a planned light show.
Beijing police also said countdowns, lightshows, lotteries and other organized activities will not be held in popular shopping districts such as Sanlitun and Guomao. Beijing police advised citizens to avoid crowded areas, closely watch elderly relatives and children, and be aware of exit routes in venues.
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5. SOUTH KOREA
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye march during a rally opposing her impeachment in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans will usher in the new year with a massive protest demanding the resignation of disgraced President Park Geun-hye. It will be the 10th straight weekend of protests that led to Park’s impeachment on Dec. 9 over a corruption scandal.
The evening rally will overlap with Seoul’s traditional bell-tolling ceremony at the Bosinkgak pavilion at midnight, which was also expected to be a political statement against Park.
The city’s mayor, Park Won-soon, invited as guests a man whose teenage son was among more than 300 people who died during a 2014 ferry sinking, and a woman who was forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s World War II military.
Park came under heavy criticism over the way her government handled the ferry disaster.
“So many unbelievable things happened in 2016. It didn’t feel real; if felt like a movie,” protester Lee Huymi said about the bizarre scandal that brought Park down. “So I hope 2017 brings a movie-like ending to the mess. Everything getting solved, quickly and all at once, leaving us all happy.”
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6. INDIA
Hindu holy men or Sadhus pray at the Sangam, confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati in Allahabad, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
For most people in India, New Year’s Eve is a time for family. In New Delhi and many other cities, newspapers are full of big advertisements for lavish parties at upscale hotels and restaurants. The big draws at the hotel parties are song and dance performances from Bollywood and television stars.
Police with breath analyzers check for drunk driving, and security is tightened in malls and restaurants.
The western city of Mumbai will host big street parties with thousands of people at the iconic Gateway of India, a colonial-era structure on the waterfront overlooking the Arabian Sea. There’ll be music and dancing and occasional fireworks.
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Associated Press writers Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Michelle Rindles in Las Vegas, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, Gerry Shih in Beijing and Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi contributed to this report.
BANGKOK — For many, 2016 was one piece of bad news after the other, with global terror attacks, surprise election victories, the death of Harambe and so on.
But on its last day, the hashtag #BestThingsOf2016, was trending on Twitter, with Thai users pausing to reflect on the wonderful stuff that happened to them during the Annus Horribilis.
So what were some of those #BestThingsOf2016? for the Thai Twitterverse? Many cited family and friends.
Still having my parents with me, I want them to be with me every year. – @Sasikarn895
An immigration police officer at a Thai-Malaysian border checkpoint Wednesday in Yala province.
BANGKOK — Just in case you forgot, new regulations on entering Thailand by land will become effective at midnight.
According to the new rule, which was approved seven months ago but only made public Dec. 1, foreigners entitled to 30-day visa exemptions will be able to enter the kingdom at land crossings without visas only twice per calendar year.
The change will not affect those who enter through international airports, according to the Royal Gazette. Malaysian nationals are also exempted from this amendment.
For those wondering: 30-day visa exemptions are available to travelers from the following nations: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Slovak, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States.
The last sunrise of 2016 greets tourists Saturday at Mo Ee Daeng Cliff on the Thai-Cambodian border.
Some will observe New Year recovering from hangovers. Their passage of time marked by the fact that all they can recall is blurry due to intoxication, alcohol or not.
Why bother, since technically speaking, tomorrow, the first day of 2017, is just another day and anyone over drinking-age has the right to get very drunk on New Year’s Eve?
On the other hand, the New Year marks an important passage of time as a new year begins.
People in tropical countries are less fortunate than their temperate brethren in that seasonal variation is less distinct. The weather in Thailand, particularly central Thailand is mostly hot, hotter and humid. Temperatures may drop by a few degrees for a few days at this time of the year but then it’s back to neverending summer sooner than later.
Marguerite Duras described it succinctly in her classic book “The Lover” when she referred to the weather of southern Vietnam long ago: “[W]e have just the one season, hot, monotonous, we’re in the long hot girdle of the earth, with no spring, no renewal.” (Translation from French into English by Barbara Bray, by the way.)
This could have very well been a description of the weather in central Thailand – no spring, no renewal.
Actually for the horticultural inclined, we have three seasons in Thailand – supposedly cool and dry (which is supposedly now), hot and hot, and hot and rain. There are too few deciduous trees around to shed leaves at this time of the year to make distinct seasonal variation, however.
Bangkok in late December is just slightly less hot, or cooler, depending on your perspective or where you grew up. It’s little or no reminder from deciduous trees. There’s no red maple leaves like in Canada or falling yellow gingko leaves to strike sadness in one’s heart like in Korea. For those unable to properly observe the passage of time, life goes on, on and on, a seemingly never ending passage without any punctuation mark, until they reached a big full stop – death.
That is why the approaching New Year makes it more pertinent for Thais to try to consciously mark the passage of time in order to take stock of life, its success and failures, what has passed and what may lie ahead.
Another year is ending and we are closer to not just another new year and a new beginning but death. Without death life might have become a never ending TV series. It is death or the end of our lifetime that gives us a sense of urgency and reminds us to cherish life and our ephemeral and fragile existence. We try to make life meaningful because death awaits us. For those not believing in heaven or hell, the afterlife or reincarnation, this world is their heaven and hell.
Knowing that we won’t be around forever enable us to become less selfish, more compassionate, more forgiving, selfless, and rise above the pettiness of things and feelings that do not matter.
Another new year is around the corner. Life is short. Lead it well and make it count. Do not let a year pass without reconsidering the meaning of life, time and what is left.
Reporters were given a glimpse of an alleged hacker, whose name was not disclosed, being brought Friday to the Technology Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.
BANGKOK — The military transferred three more alleged hackers to police custody on Friday after an unknown number of days in secret detention.
The three men, whose name were not disclosed, were brought to the Technology Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok. They were said to be part of the online movement attacking government, police and military sites to demand revocation of recently passed cybercrime legislation.
“We assure everyone that we have adequate evidence to prosecute this group of people,” said police spokesman Krissana Pattanacharoen.
The three will be charged with being part of a criminal network along with four other charges under the 2007 Computer Crime Act for hacking a computer system.
That makes for four suspects jailed and charged for alleged involvement with coordinated cyber attacks against the government online in response to the controversial law which opponents say undermines online freedom and grants broad powers for the interception and censorship of data. The first suspect revealed to public was Natdanai Kongdi, a 19-year-old denied bail Wednesday.
It was unknown how many if any more people were still being detained in military custody under the junta’s special policing powers. Police said they did not know.
Natdanai was said to share screenshots of a police server he had penetrated to online hacktivist group Citizens Against Single Gateway. The group has been campaigning to demand junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha scrap the revised Computer Crime Act which critics say is a threat to cyber freedom and privacy.
The group said the alleged hackers detained under military custody were innocent. It had previously said it could not verify who was involved because it operated anonymously. The page admin posted Friday that he had fled the country for safety.
When police held a Monday news conference to show off Natdanai, who is accused of hacking into the central police investigation department, his details were made public. But the displayed evidence against him – a computer, guns and a network security book – invited skepticism that they had much of a case.
In contrast, the three new suspects were taken directly to the Technology Crime Suppression Division without any information or evidence presented.
Commander of Technology Crime Suppression Division, Maj. Gen. Suppaset Chokchai declined to give information, saying the national police chief authorized only its communications team to speak about the case.
Junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha on Dec. 7 inspects a guard of honor at Royal Thai Police headquarters.
BANGKOK— How will the political landscape alter under new laws to be introduced for the next general elections and after?
While the process of passing new laws to support the referendum passed in August is not completed, a political science professor said she foresees mid-sized political parties and their leaders becoming the biggest beneficiaries of the proposed laws for political parties, politicians and elections.
Such mid-size parties, said Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, associate professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University, would be well-placed under the new regulations to forge an alliance with the junta-appointed senate while big and small parties stand to lose.
Essentially Thailand would see a return to “guided democracy,” the scholar predicted, in which elections are staged but have little impact on governance.
Reduction of Big Party’s Influence
Because most senate members will be appointed by the junta, Siripan said the two big parties, Democrat and Pheu Thai, are unlikely to win a majority and single-handedly form a government. The only unlikely scenario, she said would be the two parties, which have been at odds with one another for over a decade, forming a coalition.
Otherwise mid-size parties will form alliances with the junta-appointed upper house to form a government.
Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University.
Around the world, electoral engineering is being conducted to strengthen political parties as institutions. What’s happening under the junta-appointed charter drafters is the opposite, however, Siripan said.
Under the new proposed laws, politicians from big parties could defect to mid-sized political parties friendly to the military junta. The prospect is that mid-sized parties with good relations to those in power now could benefit, she added.
Party Over for Up-Starts?
Under the new proposed law, a political party must obtain 5,000 members in its first year and attain at least 20,000 members within four years. It must establish branches in all the four regions of the kingdom. Members will also have to pay 100 baht membership fees per annum or 2,000 baht for lifetime membership. Any political party not fielding candidates for two consecutive elections would automatically dissolve. These restrictions, said Siripan, place barriers for the formation of new, small parties and reduced their chances of survival.
“The prospect is that small parties are being discriminated against as a result. The requirement for the setting up of regional branches is costly,” she said.
Also the Election Commission will enjoy greater power under the new laws as proposed, she said.
Siripan elaborated that 100 baht annual membership fees is not a negligible sum for poor people struggling to make ends meet. This would make it more difficult for small political party to attract members.
“The biggest beneficiaries are the well-oiled medium-size parties with good connections that can afford to buy politicians,” she said.
Return of Guided Democracy
With big political parties weakened and the difficulty in forming new parties, Siripan predicts Thailand will see its bureaucracy, independent organizations under the constitution and junta-appointed senate playing a Big Brother role resembling the period under Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda, who was prime minister three decades ago from 1980 to 1988.
“In this political landscape, the great struggle for politicians will be that against the ‘senate party,’” said Siripan, referring to the junta-appointed upper house, with 375 senators, as a de facto political party. “They will only win if the two major parties unite and manage to gain more than 375 members [of parliament]. Otherwise it will become a guided democracy for the first eight years.”
The prospect of the two major parties forming a coalition is slim, however, as Siripan sees the Democrat Party as being “opportunistic and always short-sighted” while the Pheu Thai Party remained essentially under the control of ousted and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Pheu Thai is also at risk of some key factions leaving for junta-friendly parties and the senate. Former premier Yingluck Shinawatra could find herself in prison under charges of mishandling the rice-pledging scheme, leaving the party with few cards to play.
“This is the problem of Thai political parties,” she said, adding that Thai political parties are yet to become political institutions and are not ideologically driven. “I don’t know what to say.”
As for the junta, Siripan said the those who seized power in May 2014 have planned well to consolidate power in a lasting way.
“It was well-planned – to suppress its opponents,” she said.
An error message from Kasikorn Bank's smartphone application. Image: @Teeratr / Twitter
Update: Kasikorn says it restored services about 7pm, but some services such as mobile banking app may still be offline.
BANGKOK — Kasikorn Bank says it is working to fix the complete outage of its services Friday, which comes just before a bank holiday.
On a day many say they need access to their money the most, K-Bank’s ATMs as well as online and mobile banking systems have been offline since Friday morning and were still unavailable as of 5pm.
The bank has yet state the cause of the error, but responded to complaints on its Facebook page and Twitter account it was trying to solve the problem.
The bank said it could not provide the specific time its website and application services would be working again.
K-Bank’s mobile system was also disrupted briefly Thursday evening.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
BANGKOK — To evoke the life of a friend who died young, photographer Harit Srikhao conveys his feelings and mystery of life in an upcoming exhibition.
Capturing moments they played in a decayed Bangkok motel, planetarium stars and a pickled embryo at Siriraj Hospital, the images taken by 21-year-old Harit look like a horror photo essay of a dark world where his memories are haunted by a middle-school friend who never had a chance to grow up.
“A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time,” is part of the Project New Visions series and was selected to show in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Mexico.
The exhibition launches at 6:30pm on Jan. 7 and runs through Feb. 25 at Kathmandu Photo Gallery on Pan Road just off lower Silom Road, across from the Hindu temple. It can be reached from BTS Surasak, Sala Daeng or MRT Silom.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time
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A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
A Boy Who Was Kidnapped by Time Exhibition. Photo: Harit Srikhao / Courtesy.
Bangkok in late December is just slightly less hot, or cooler, depending on your perspective or where you grew up. It’s little or no reminder from deciduous trees. There’s no red maple leaves like in Canada or falling yellow gingko leaves to strike sadness in one’s heart like in Korea. For those unable to properly observe the passage of time, life goes on, on and on, a seemingly never ending passage without any punctuation mark, until they reached a big full stop – death.
