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The king’s sister causes a stir as PM candidate
The biggest jaw-dropper of last week—and in modern Thai political history—was the news that Ubolratana, the eldest sister of King Mahavajiralongkorn, is running for prime minister in the general election as the nominated candidate of the Thai Raksa Chart Party. According to Thailand’s new election act, every political party participating in the election must submit at least one candidate for the Prime Minister position. On 8 Feb, the last day of the application, the Thai Raksa Chart Party, which is linked to the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, announced before the Election Committee that Ubolratana will represent the party as its only PM candidate. The 67-year-old royal known is known to younger Thais as an active Instagrammer, a Thai tourism ambassador, and long-time anti-drug campaigner through her successful To Be Number One campaign. Among the older generation, she has a reputation as a talented academic who holds multiple degrees from acclaimed international colleges—mathematics and biochemistry from MIT and public health from UCLA. According to the Thai constitution, the monarch and the royal family is barred from getting involved with politics. But that’s not the case for this family member. Born royalty as the first child of His Majesty, the former King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, Ubolratana gave up her royal titles in 1972 to marry Peter Ladd Jensen (div. 1998), a fellow of MIT, with whom she has three children: Ploypailin, Poom (passed) and Sirikitiya
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Landhaus
Thanks to Oktoberfest that has now been celebrated all over the world, you must have been so much familiar with Bavarian food and beer. But do you know that Bavarian breads have more kind than just sourdough and pretzel? Now, your chance to explore the many more varieties of Bavarian bread is here, with Landhaus, a new bakery in Ari that has taken the concept and recipes from its bigger sister in Austria, Gragger & Cie, to become one of the very few places in Bangkok that offers the most authentic Austrian-Bavarian taste. With the name that means ‘a farmhouse’ in German, the bakery flaunts itself as its name suggests: a tiny, homey white house with raw-cement walls, natural wood furniture, and a giant wooden table loaded freshly baked goodies—the space is all decorated in a bare minimal manner. In one corner, a coffee machine is at the ready to brew you smell-so-good coffee from beans from Northern part of Thailand. Despite adopting the Austrian-born recipe, Landhaus opts for a sustainable (and more practical and affordable) approach by making breads using locally sourced, natural ingredients—all of which will be carefully baked in a custom-made wood-fired oven built after the original oven at Gragger & Cie in Austria. (The bakery also donates leftover breads to a neighboring school or anyone in need instead of throwing them away.) The menu comes packed with loaded choices of pastry. Being indecisive? Go for one of their sets. The Austrian breakfast set (B250) comes with
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Alita: Battle Angel
Moviemaking juggernaut James Cameron doesn’t do boring. Loud? Sure. Epic? Definitely. Groundbreaking? Invariably. But boring? Never. But this enervating science-fiction blockbuster that he co-wrote and produced for director Robert Rodriguez (Rodriguez also co-writes, along with Shutter Island scribe Laeta Kalogridis), however, comes pretty darn close. Only its often bravura visuals and some sparky cyberpunk races keep it engaging, until its umpteen story threads and endless mythology-meets-tech-porn jargon finally pound the interest out of you. Adapted from a manga by Yukito Kishiro and set in 2563 in a post-apocalyptic metropolis called Iron City, the project has simmered away on one of Cameron’s many back burners for nearly two decades. It feels like bad timing that it’s finally arrived just as dystopian YA sci-fi is starting to feel played out. If you’ve seen The Hunger Games, Divergent, Mortal Engines or the similarly manga-inspired Ghost in the Shell, there’s nothing to surprise you in this story of Alita, a cyborg girl (Rosa Salazar, given an eerie CG makeover and cartoon eyes) reconnecting with her warrior past. Christoph Waltz—who can sleepwalk through stuff like this, and often seems to—plays a kindly scientist who takes her on as his personal Pinocchio. Meanwhile, a mysterious overlord called Nova rules this venal cityscape from a floating realm above. Although the story plays out in predictable ways, Rodriguez handles the combat sequences well enough as Alita’s k
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Five years and two spin-off movies later, writer-producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller return to Bricksburg for a bigger, louder and brasher second Lego installment. But while it maintains the same level of playfulness, it doesn’t quite capture the novelty or fizz of the original. At the end of The Lego Movie, we learned that the characters’ adventures were a product of a boy named Finn’s imagination. Now, his sister is here to play and their rivalry has caused a downbeat change in Bricksburg. Everybrick hero Emmet (Chris Pratt) is still his glass-half-full self, while Lucy (Elizabeth Banks), his Master Builder girlfriend, has become more brooding as their town, now known as Apocalypseburg, takes a beating from Duplo invaders. When an alien kidnaps Lucy, Batman (Will Arnett) and pals, Emmet mounts a solo mission to rescue them. There are some hilarious new songs (look out for “Gotham City Guys”) and the jokes are more meta than ever, with Arnett’s Batman still invariably the funniest figure in the room. But the comedy feels like overcompensation for a story that gets more convoluted as it shifts back and forth between the human and Lego worlds. Still, if you’re willing to let the quantum mechanics slide, you’ll have a pretty awesome time.
On the Basis of Sex
Thinkers debate with passion in Mimi Leder’s intellectual On the Basis of Sex, a knowingly old-fashioned (but far from dated) biopic of the inimitable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Written by the 85-year-old Ginsburg’s nephew Daniel Stiepleman with affection for his aunt’s lifelong work on behalf of women’s rights—as well as her decidedly ennobled marriage founded on pure equality—On the Basis of Sex (like the stirring documentary RBG) is both a welcome cinematic dissent from today’s disastrous politics and a reminder that words, paired with meaningful action, can change the world. A winning, inspirational crowd-pleaser à la Hidden Figures, Leder’s film follows the early accomplishments of the young Ginsburg (an assured Felicity Jones, convincingly slipping into the trailblazer’s shoes), beginning in 1956. That’s the year in which the bouncy, opinionated Ruth marches into male-dominated Harvard Law School—at a dinner party, the handful of female students are asked to justify their academic seats, ones that could have gone to “Harvard Men.” It’s also where her devoted, ever-supportive husband Marty (Armie Hammer, lovably pragmatic) studies. Through Marty’s unforeseen health crisis and Ruth’s unfairly deterred professional aspirations (excuse after sexist excuse, law firms refuse to hire her), the film patiently advances toward the ’70s, focusing on the couple’s family life and Ruth’s career as a professor, leading sizzling feminist discourse among razor-sharp mi
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SO Sofitel Bangkok
Gorgeous views and unique designs are the key reasons you’ll love SO Sofitel Bangkok. Located a few blocks away from Lumpini Park, the enclaves lush greenery can be spotted from most rooms. Room styles are crafted around four different themes: earth, water, wood and metal. The Earth rooms are embellished with playful, curvy walls inspired by prehistoric cave paintings found in Pha Taem National Park in Ubon Ratchathani. Metal rooms are decked out like an urban refuge with minimal, modern decor and pristine white furniture. The Wood room, on the other hand, is inspired by a traditional Northern Thai wooden house, while the Water room—the sexiest room of all—features concrete walls and semi-transparent glasses partitions.
Out of town
Doi Tung: a mountainous land transformed with love and nurtured with faith
If you visited Doi Tung, one of Chiang Rai’s northernmost peaks, some 30 years ago and never had a chance to return, you’d barely recognized it today. The once desert-like mountains suffered from mobile plantation and—worse—opium planting; now, it’s one of the lushest areas in the north. Everything changed when Princess Srinagarindra, the grandmother of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, set up the Doi Tung Development Project in 1988 with an aim to improve the quality of both the people’s lives and the area they lived in. She even had a house built in the vicinity so she could watch her project grow at close range. Learning from the consequences and successes of previous projects initiated by her son King Bhumibol, the Princess Mother opted to start out “small,” taking a slow contemplative pace—like with everything in her life. She didn’t want to merely give money to those in need; she wanted to help the people stand on their own feet, which is why she carefully created an environment and cultivated micro-industries that the community could benefit from. Thirty years have passed and, though Princess Srinagarindra didn’t get the chance to see Doi Tung in full bloom, her wish did come true. The once scraggly mountainside is now a lush plantation that produces gorgeous textile, paper and pottery—all trice handmade—and, most importantly, some of the world’s best macadamia nuts and coffee beans. Opium was replaced by harvests more beneficial to the community, both morall
The best of Tokyo (in 72 hours)
For the second year, Time Out Bangkok’s editor (okay, that’s me) was invited to be one of the judges of Time Out Tokyo’s Love Tokyo Awards, which celebrates the best that the vibrant Japanese capital can offer. I joined editors from London, New York, Barcelona, Australia (Melbourne and Sydney), and China (Beijing and Shanghai). Like the year before, it was more or less like a treasure hunt—we were individually tasked to visit and experience (that means eating, drinking, shopping and, well, beyond) the shortlisted nominees for this year, all in three days. Time Out Tokyo staffers accompanied us to some venues to help communicate with the locals and to act as translators, but, for the most part, I got to visit and discover some places on my own, which was not a problem as—like many Thais—Tokyo is my holiday playground and very familiar to me. The complete list of winners and nominees is available on the Love Tokyo Awards website, but I’ll go ahead and share my best finds, greatest discoveries and most exciting experiences. Hopefully, it can come in handy especially for those who are visiting Tokyo this coming holiday season.
Pai mai?
Pai in the '80s was a small village populated only by a cluster of locals and few backpackers in the know. But secrets can't be kept for long. In recent years, it's been transformed into one of the most visited mountain destinations in Thailand—with numerous tourist sites (and traps), guesthouses and restaurants sprouting along its dusty streets. However, Pai is far from losing its charm. Despite now catering to more tourists than ever, the village is still a beautiful and peaceful place everyone can fall in love with. Come in November, when the rains let up and the temperature dips, Pai invites the intrepid to witness the different facets ofits humble beauty. Here are the reasons why Pai should become the next destination on your bucket list. You can now say "no" to the life-threatening minivan ride There used to be only one way to get from Chiang Mai to Pai — via a minivan ride through the notorious Route 1095 that takes you through 762 steep and winding curves. Now thanks to Kan Air, there is a daily connection from Chiang Mai (weather permitted) on a small 12-seater, single-engine turboprop that looks slightly like a run-down minivan from the inside (you need to buckle up and no cellphone is allowed on board). Though a claustrophobic nightmare, the 25-minute ride unveils a stunning bird's-eye view of Pai's lush geography. Roundtrip from B2,380. There are plenty of lnstagram-worthy viewpoints Surrounded by mighty mountains and dense jungles