Published on January 18, 2006
Wakes Thaksin
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he slept well on the first night of his stay in Roi Et’s At Samat district but that at one point an annoying noise disturbed his sweet dreams.
Thaksin and his ministers are sharing a large tent divided into individual compartments during their anti-poverty mission, which began on Mon-day and will conclude on Friday in At Samat district. “I slept well on my first night because the weather here was good. I went to bed at 11pm but was woken up at 2am by somebody sleeping in another compartment [of the tent] who snored loudly,” he said. He dubbed his accommodations the “Orien-Tent”, a joking reference to the luxurious five-star Oriental Hotel, and said that it was comfortable, with good food and a convenient bathroom. “Just putting water in a bucket is enough. It was good to take a bath with cold water, which helped to adjust my inner temperature. It made me feel good,” he said. ---------------------------------- ‘‘Easy rider’ receives risky review Thaksin Shinawatra got on a motorbike alone early yesterday afternoon, riding along village roads to a shrimp farm. Some 20 other ministers and officials followed on motorbikes. They had one thing in common – none wore helmets. “Even ministers don’t care about road safety. How can we apply the traffic rules to the ordinary people? It’s a shame,” said Chat Thai MP Nikorn Chamnong, a former deputy chief of the Road Safety Centre. Reporters at the site said local police failed to enforce the road rules. “Some motorbikes carry three passengers [the law allows only two], while some run across the other lane, obstructing the traffic,” a journalist reported. ---------------------------------- Reality tv gets a little prodding While the prime minister was on his way to Ban Pao village, the live television coverage showed what normally doesn’t appear on TV. Local officials were eager to organise a crowd prior to Thaksin’s arrival – to ensure that it would be an impressive visit. The result? The villagers cheered the PM, who was also given an orchestrated show by local dancers. ---------------------------------- Beauty tip and a taste for charm Being a celebrity comes with a price, as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra learned on Monday night. He jokingly accused UBC of exposing his top secret as he was unwinding for the day before going to bed. “It was after 10pm and I thought they must have stopped broadcasting, so I took out a bottle of my rejuvenating cream and applied it on my face,” he said. “I didn’t realise that I was doing it on air.” “Please understand me. My face has many wrinkles,” he told a crowd during dinner yesterday. Before having his own dinner, Thaksin showed his cooking skills by making omelettes, stir-fried mixed vegetables and spicy beef salad for reporters. He took almost an hour to prepare the food, and camera operators and reporters refrained from asking how he was helping villagers at At Samat fight poverty by cooking. Thaksin invited reporters to enjoy the meal he prepared and one of them asked what he added to the food to make it so tasty. Charm, the prime minister quipped. ---------------------------------- Poor timing causes more hunger After his first night in a tent in Roi Et’s At Samat district, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra arrived late to offer food to Buddhist monks in the morning. Broadcasting live, a reporter for TV Channel 7 said: “The monks had to wait because they arrived before Thaksin.” According to Buddhist tradition, people with offerings should wait for the monks’ arrival, not the other way around.
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