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June 2006
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Moving On...
At one time or another in our lives most of us wonder what it might be like to change our name, put the past behind us, and all start over. The people who formerly operated Purple Dragon have done just that. In April the company morphed into “Purple Dragon Ltd.” While not quite as dramatic as sexual reassignment surgery, we are optimistic about a bright new future.
We are very excited about the opening of our two new satellite offices in Phuket and Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Cambodia. The Phuket office is inside Club One Seven Boutique Hotel in Patong. Club One Seven's manager, Daniel See, is a well-known community leader and was Purple Dragon’ Operations Manager in Phuket for the last year. The Siem Reap office can be found at Figo, Siem Reap’s second gay bar and restaurant, which opened last November. Another Douglas brainchild, Figo (www.figobar.com) also operates a two hectare organic vegetable garden and cut flower nursery on the outskirts of Siem Reap, which they have dubbed "Figo Farm." Purple Dragon’s ambitious plans for the next two years include more Figo locations and continued diversification into hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry. We are also considering applying their unique approach to tour packaging to new destinations outside of Asia.
We are grateful to everyone who joined our photo contest. We received several hundred photos from our members--all of them good, some of them fantastic. Congratulations to our first prize winner, William Reyland. Second prizes go to Steve Oppenheim, Gordon Crofoot and Stephen Shephard. You can see the winning photos here. To see all of the photos entered, click the link at the bottom of the winners' page. Here's our problem: One of our computers had an attack of temporary amnesia and we are not able to identify all of the photographers. If you see one of your own photos in the slide show and your name is not mentioned, please let us know so we can make sure you get appropriate credit. Many thanks to our judges: Sujit Benarjee, Khim Bunlin, John Goss, Michael Howard, Robert McLeod, Roberto Pace, Nattaphat Ruaenwong, Daniel See, Tom Van Blarcom and Zhao Zhi Wei and our office staff. New On Our Website Everything on the Purple Dragon website is new. We have a bright new look with additional features to make navigating around the site easier. Our Concierge service is new. Our concierge can help you with things like finding a serviced apartment in Bangkok, booking train travel, shopping for special gifts, restaurant and spa reservations, arranging for mobile phone for use during your visit, chartering a jet, or making sure the money you send for your friend's English lessons are actually spent on English lessons. We have recently added several new packages: Angkor Adventure. This is a new four-night Angkor Wat package that includes Beng Melea Temple, one of Angkor's most fantastic ruins. Until a few months ago it was hard to visit because there was no road. DETAILS Phuket Leisurely is the slow and easy way to enjoy Thailand's magical island on a budget for a week or more. The longer you stay, the lower the cost. Plenty of activities--from island trips to beach picnics, to nightlife adventures--can be arranged after you arrive. DETAILS Sensual Samui has a new bumper crop of gay accommodation and nightlife. If you have given Samui a miss in the past, we hope will take another look at this oh-so-beautiful emerald island. DETAILS
On the
Drawing Board. We are hard at work on several new packages that will appear
on our website soon:
If you can't wait to see details on our website please
contact us.
Where to Stay
We constantly fine-tune our programs and we
listen closely to what our customers have to say about the hotels we use. Here
are two hotels we have added to our packages. We know you will love them: Amansara
Thailand's Political Situation
You have probably seen news stories about demonstrations in
Thailand to remove/retain the current prime minister, Taksin Shinawatra. While these
often-noisy
public gatherings have become a regular occurrence in Bangkok and other parts of
Thailand, they take place well away from areas tourists normally visit. There
has been no violence and there probably will not be any. Police have shown a
great deal of restraint. Many people in Thailand are very passionate about this
issue one way or another. We think it is an exciting opportunity to see democracy
at work as Thai people exercise civil rights that people in many other countries
take for granted. We do not feel unsafe here, and you should not either. The
street demonstration phase is probably behind us anyway as the battle moves to the
courts.
New Directions for Bangkok's Pride Celebration
This year something new and exciting is coming from from Bangkok's GLBT
community. It's "Pride Festival - Bangkok."
That's the new name for this year's Pride events in Bangkok. The theme of the
festival is ‘Bangkok Together 2006’ and the new goal is to bring everyone
together to increase community participation of friends and families, and show
the diversity of the GLBT Thai community.
The new name for the organizing group is Pride Festival Coalition (PFC) and its
organizational structure will be more like other Thai organizations. This is a
reflection of the fact that Thais are in the majority on the new executive
committee and will assure the diversity of representation and appropriateness of
planning and activities.
Organizers promise to make changes to the traditional in response to suggestions
from the community. The new new dates (October 28 through November 5) include
celebrations of both Halloween and Loy Krathong. The new directors say
they are open to suggestions.
Current Club Sanook
Goodies
Almost everything is new at Club Sanook. The club's website now has a small
bookshop and a convenient way to reserve a room at your favorite hotel.
Current Member Specials include free nights at three hotels in Siem Reap (Angkor
Wat), two hotels in Chiang Mai, and one of our Krabi resorts, plus
discounts/freebees in Cambodia, China and Vietnam.
If you are not yet a Club Sanook Member, we hope you will join today. Membership
is free and it takes only about three minutes to join at
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