The Dancing Drummers from Southwest India’s
Karnataka State perform the colorful Dollu Kunitha drum dance on Walking
Street Sept. 19-20 as part of a 19-country tour.
Sue K
Indian honey collectors who beat drums to keep tigers
at bay staged their own roaring performance on Walking Street as part of
a 19-country tour.
The Dancing Drummers came to Pattaya’s nightlife
district Sept. 19-20, delighting passers-by with the colorful Dollu
Kunitha drum dance of Southwest India’s Karnataka state. It is a dance
that features both spectacular variety and a complexity of skills in the
process that both entertains and satisfies spiritually.
The troupe consists of about a dozen artists who
actually earn their living harvesting honey from the forests of India
where tigers make their homes. They use drumming and dancing to keep the
tigers away, rather than kill them.
Later on they started to use these skills to perform
at festivals and cultural events.
The Indian government sponsored their trip to
Thailand. The troupe has performed in 19 countries to date and after
Thailand these drummers will take on the mighty Brazilians on their own
turf at drumming when they get there next month.
Sirima Eamtako,
TTG Asia
Koh Samui will welcome three direct charter flights from
Kunming and Chengdu in the first week of October, during China’s Golden Week
holiday.
Vorasit Pongkumpunt, adviser to the president of Koh
Samui Tourism Business Association said, “This marks the first time we - the
island’s travel trade, Bangkok Airways and Chinese tour operators - are
working hand in hand to promote Koh Samui.”
The flights will be operated by Bangkok Airways, using
its 144-seat Airbus A319, and 80 percent of the seats have already been
booked. Vorasit expects the flights to be full once operations begin.
Chinese tourists to Koh Samui are a high-end, not
zero-dollar, market, he said. Shops on the island do not offer commissions
to guides.
“They book accommodation from 3,000 baht a night in a
deluxe hotel room to more than 10,000 baht in a luxury pool villa.”
Koh Samui’s travel trade is planning to stage road shows
in Chongqing, Kunming and Chengdu later this year to create awareness. They
are also hoping to encourage Chinese tour operators to introduce charter
flights into Koh Samui during the Chinese New Year season in February.
