January your guide to what’s on 2006 IS A YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF THAI KING BHUMIBOL’S 60TH JUBILEE. HIS MAJESTY IS THE WORLD’S LONGESTSERVING MONARCH. ANNUAL EVENTS WILL HONOUR THE KING’S LIFE AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THAI SOCIETY. SPECIAL EVENTS INCLUDE JAZZ FESTIVALS, REFLECTING HIS MAJESTY’S FAVOURITE TYPE OF MUSIC. www.TOURISMTHAILAND.ORG 1 The Queen’s Gallery in Bangkok is honouring Thai artist Pratuang Emjaroen on his 70th birthday with a retrospective. The exhibition charts the development of his work from 1963 to 2005, including oil paintings, poems and drawings that aim to capture the beauty of rice grains, lotus leaves and light. Until 24 January. www.queengallery.org 8 Enjoy some obuku-cha (“great prosperity tea”) at a hatsugama tea ceremony – from hatsu, m ean i ng “first”, and gama, meaning “kettle” – after a week of events at the Itsukushima Shrine celebrating the New Year. See it at Tokuju-ji Temple, Miyajima island. An umbrella festival without rain? Brightly coloured Sa paper umbrellas – made more for decoration and sunscreen than rain protection – have been made in Bo Sang, Thailand, for generations. Each January, an annual fair celebrates the traditional cottage industry that became big business. 28-5 Singapore celebrates the Chinese New Year with the Chingay Parade and a flower show in Sentosa Island’s Fountain Gardens, culminating in a spectacular fireworks display. www.sentosa.com.sg 30 YOU ALMOST CAN’T LOSE AT THE FESTIVAL OF CHE KUNG, HONG KONG’S GOD OF GAMBLING. ON THE THIRD DAY OF THE NEW YEAR, BELIEVERS SPIN A COPPER WINDMILL THREE TIMES AT THE CHE KUNG TEMPLE. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE THE WHEEL STOPS – AS LONG AS IT SPINS THREE TIMES, IT’LL BRING LUCK. THIS COULD PROVE USEFUL AT NEARBY SHA TIN RACECOURSE. APART FROM THE STATE LOTTERY, HORSE RACING IS THE ONLY LEGAL WAY TO GAMBLE IN HONG KONG. THE TEMPLE AND RACECOURSE ARE IN TAI WAI, SHA TIN, NEW TERRITORIES. 29 Get caught up in red and gold for the world’s oldest New Year festival. The colours indicate happiness and wealth – but where to celebrate Chinese New Year? The party rages from China to Singapore via Chinatown in Bangkok, ringing in the New Year with red lanterns, parades and fireworks – especially good across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. February your guide to what’s on 1-7 THE “ROSE OF THE NORTH”FLAUNTS HER FLORAL SPECIES AT THE CHIANG MAI FLOWER FESTIVAL. THANKS TO A TROPICAL CLIMATE, HIGH-ALTITUDE AREAS AND COOL WINTERS, CHIANG MAI IS HOME TO A CORNUCOPIA OF FLOWERS, INCLUDING RED DAMASK ROSES, YELLOW CHRYSANTHEMUMS, ORANGEY-GOLD GOLDEN SHOWERS, PINK WEEPING LANTANAS AND MORE THAN 3,000 TYPES OF ORCHIDS. 4-12 See professional tennis under the Thai sun at the Pattaya Open. Previous entrants include Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis. Confirmed players for this year include Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe and Paola Suarez from Argentina. For tickets, call +66 (0)2 382-3491. 12 Ghostbuster, spirit-guide or fire-stopper? Choose your favourite tale behind the Chinese spring lantern festival. When spirits swoop about during the first full moon of the New Year, locals wave lanterns either to scare them off or to guide them back to the world of the dead. A third version tells of the Jade Emperor seeking revenge on a man who had killed his goose, by trying to burn down the man’s house. A good spirit told the man to hang out lanterns to fool the Emperor into thinking that his house was already on fire, so he would leave it alone. 14 Witness wedding vows on the year’s most romantic day. Valentine’s isn’t Thai tradition but it’s so much sanuk (fun) that they’ve taken it to heart. Dive down to 12m below with 30 couples at the Trang underwater wedding ceremony – or bundle into to Bangrak, Bangkok’s “District of Love”. 15-19 Savour fine foods and wine at the Rafles Hotel’s 11th annual celebration of gourmet cuisine in Singapore. Chefs include two-Michelin starred Jacques and Laurent Pourcel of Le Jardin des Sens in Montpellier, France. Tel +65 6337-1886, www.raffeshotel.com 9-12 Be entertained by some of the world’s great performers at SouthEast Asia’s highest-brow event. The highlights of this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival include a play by Alan Bennett, Chinese opera featuring gender-switching paragon Koi Ming-fai, dance choreographed by dance guru Lin Hwai-min and John Scofield playing the music of Ray Charles. www.hk.artsfestival.org