Mysterious Mekong on show

CHIANG RAI, 1 September 2014: A week-long exhibition Mysterious Mekong, was opened on a high note at the popular Central Plaza in Chiang Rai Friday evening.
Under the guidance of Guy Heidelberger, director of Alliance Francaise and French Honorary Consul in Chiang Rai, the documentary-style “Mekong” exhibition took most of Thursday night to put into place at the popular Central Plaza shopping mall.
Display all the photographs and accompanied captions, maps and other necessary information. Some voluntary helpers were on stand by to make sure that the exhibition was a success.
The ribbing cutting ceremony was presided over by Professor Nakorn Pongnoi, director of the Royal Foundation Rai Mae Fah Luang.
A guest of honour was Rebecca Weldon, convener of the Informal Northern Thai Group (INTG), who is the top experts on museums in throughout North Thailand.
The exhibition was the first of its kind to be presented in Chiang Rai a city that is known as a home of artists.
“It’s a great shame that fewer tour groups visit museums when travelling in Northern Thailand,” Weldon explained. That was one of the reasons, why the “Mekong” exhibition was chosen to be held at the shopping mall to reach as many people as possible in Chiang Rai and surroundings.
After a traditional musical performance of some colourful dancers from the Mae Fah Luang University, there was a VIP tour through the exhibition, which mainly highlights 72 photographs done by expatriate, media and tour specialist, Reinhard Hohler, who resides in Chiang Mai.
The exhition features landscapes and scenery seen during an expedition conducted in November 2002, which started in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan/China, passing through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia, before ending in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
The exhibition – first sponsored by the German Embassy in Bangkok – includes photos marking the group’s visit to the gravesite of the famous French explorer Henri Mouhot in Luang Prabang, the transfer of the group’s hovercraft around the scenic Khone Falls on the Lao-Cambodia border, as well as a side trip to the ruins of Angkor in Cambodia and Oc Eo in Vietnam.
A unique collection of photographs, supplemented by some artworks, the exhibition illustrates the role the Mekong River, the longest river in Southeast Asia, plays in the social and economic lives of communities on its banks.
It also serves as a timely warning that this majestic river is under threat mainly by the building of dams and industrial development schemes.
The underlining message of the exhibition is that we need to protect this precious asset,” Mr Hohler said.
The exhibition ends 4 September. There are plans to take the exhibition, “Mysterious Mekong,” to the campus of Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai.
For further information, please contact GMS Media Travel Consultant Reinhard Hohler, based in Chiang Mai/Thailand, at: sara@cmnet.co.th.
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