After nearly 60 years of flying kites, and having done just about everything to do with kites, Ron Spaulding says: "I'm living the best life I could ever imagine... and there are still a lot of new kite adventures waiting for me around the corner."
American-born Ron, a resident of Thailand for more than 40 years, got his first introduction to creative kiting in the 70s. “I was working in Sweden and enjoying a 'creative life' as Art Director at one of Stockholm's most creative agencies. It was on a memorable weekend in Stockholm at the Gardet Kite Festival that I saw amazing kite creations made by the students of Konstfact, the Swedish University of Arts, Crafts and Design. The seed was planted, and I immediately made my first kite, a two-meter bird. 
“In 1974 I accepted a dream offer in faraway Bangkok at the Couldry, Jones & Lindberg ad agency to work on the Thai International Airways account with Thai's marketing guru, Roy Howard.”

Reminisce about your travels as ALATi, the Mediterranean restaurant at Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, takes you to experience delicious flavours from the Mediterranean Sea.
Enjoy the ‘ALATi Up the Road’ mouthwatering three-course set menu, from France, Spain, Italy and Turkey to your doorstep. 
Executive Chef Carlo Valenziano has created five set menus, cooked to order and available as a takeaway or for delivery via the LINE MAN and Foodpanda application.

A Trip to France: THB 990 net per set
• Duck Terrine, Mesclun Salad, Pickles, French Mustard
• Roasted Pork Chop, Milk Sauce, Rosemary or 
Pan-fried Salmon with Meunière Sauce
• Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
• Bread of the day
• Choco Choux
A Trip to Spain: THB 990 net per set
• Salpicón de Marisco
• Duck Leg Confit with Prunes or
Seabass Basquaise Sauce
• Butter Mashed Potato
• Bread of the day
• Spanish Flan with Caramel
A Trip to Italy: THB 990 net per set
• Burrata Cheese, Rocket and Roasted Seeds,
Tomatoes with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Gnocchi Truffle or
Pan-fried Seabass, Sicilian Caponata, Pistachio Pesto
• Bread of the day
• Delizia al Limone
A Trip to Turkey: THB 990 net per set
• Spinach and Feta Cheese Pide
• Chickpea Hummus, Garlic Confit
• Tomato and Walnut Salad
• Pitta Bread
• Roasted Seabass, Cardamom Fried Rice, Tarator Sauce or Spiced Grilled Chicken, Sesame and Garlic Spinach, Harissa Sauce
A Green and Healthy Trip: THB 600 net per set
• Mediterranean Chicken Salad
• Pumpkin Soup
• Bread of the day
• Mango, Strawberries and Mint
Takeaway and delivery service is available daily between 12:00 and 20:00 hrs via the LINE MAN and Foodpanda application.
Tel. +662 162 9000 between 12:00 and 20:00 hrs, email dining.siambangkok@kempinski.com 

By Colin Hastings

M​agazine publishing reached its zenith in Thailand in the early 2000s, with every Dom, Tik and Hari believing they could, and should, get into a business they really didn’t understand.
Not surprisingly, most quickly went of business, a lot worse-off than they ever thought possible. One would-be lady publisher lost her house and land to pay off debts amassed in her pursuit to become Thailand’s version of Conde Nast, while others kissed goodbye to lifetime savings – and their partners in a couple of cases.
In the last issue of the BigChilli, we featured the front covers of some of the English language magazines that once graced the shelves of Bangkok’s bookshops. Here are few more:
Clearly, publishing isn’t as easy or rewarding as many imagine. And nobody knows that better than the BigChilli, so we’re not gloating.

By Little Wandering Wren

If you haven’t been to Phuket in recent months then come on down! There has never been a better time to visit. It is pristine and empty with fabulous resorts and hotels. However, with the returning tourist clock ticking don’t leave it too long. Phuket is readying itself as an Immunity Island to entice and welcome back international tourists. 
Phuket was developed as one of the world’s leading holiday destinations with visitors drawn to its wondrous beaches. What ruined Phuket for me in the past was that it became too popular, and as I live in Thailand, I’m not going to vacation with the masses.
However, as Covid 19 transformed the world, it also changed Phuket and since Christmas my husband and I have swapped our Bangkok city living for the gentler, good for the soul Phuket way of life. As was our custom for the past year, we went on staycations every weekend. We now continued our Thailand Staycations in Phuket hotels in nearly twenty hotels.
Look again Thailand, the island is truly special AND its people really need your help.

N​ot for the first time, climber Matthew Twight’s words came to mind. With crampons fixed firmly in the snow, our team crouched in defiance of the electric storm that hummed around us. Josh, our youngest climber, cradled his damaged hand. He had been injured by an electric shock when unclipping his metal carabiner from the conductive nylon rope that threatened to shock the whole team.
I threw my metal axe to the side and waited for instructions from Chad, our talisman and lead guide. In the deteriorating visibility I discerned a radio abandoned in the snow; one of the many metallic items discarded by the team after the first shock. Would I feel the lightening rod that killed me or would the lights just mercifully go out? The anticipation was sickening.
We were 200 metres from the summit of the highest mountain in North America. At 6190 metres, Denali was the dominant peak of the austere and impenetrable Alaska Range. Three weeks earlier, we had been nine jet-lagged strangers sitting in a circle in a bland Anchorage travel lodge. Like practitioners of meditation, each climber took turns to share their intention; why they were choosing to subject themselves to three weeks of extreme physical exertion, sleep deprivation from 24/7 daylight, the constant threat of cold injuries, and the disjointing effects of high altitude. I hadn’t been ready to explain that I sought restoration following a turbulent series of life events. There are things you share with a room full of strangers, and things you don’t.

By Robin Westley Martin

The year 2020 was the year that the scourge of Covid began to affect all our lives, to a greater or lesser degree. I myself lost a childhood friend, and it was a major contributing factor in the closure of my café business in Bangkok.
The pandemic, then, created difficulties for everyone, but for some there was worse yet to come. One such was Naruemon (Ploy) Chaingam, who was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer at the same time as the Covid pandemic was gathering steam around the globe. This is her story – a story of courage and determination.
The Northeast of Thailand, known as Isaan, is the poorest part of Thailand, and its economy is largely agriculture-based. This is where Ploy was born, in Sisaket, a province bordering Cambodia. Ploy was an observant and inquisitive child who took a deep interest in what was going on around her. From an early age she knew that a life in the rice fields was not to be her destiny.
Ploy is now a confident 40-year-old woman who has two teenage boys, aged fourteen and fifteen, and she has juxtaposed being a caring single mom (since 2010, when her children were three and four years old) with a successful career in journalism and documentary film-making. She learnt to speak English by herself (her spoken English is better than some Thai politicians I have interviewed) and Ploy is well-known - and respected - by the foreign media community in Thailand.

So let’s find out a little more about what makes Ploy tick:
​Robin: When did you first become interested in journalism and film work, and what was it about making documentaries that drew your attention?
Ploy: Growing up in a poor farming village in Isaan you see the real Thailand, the grassroots. It felt a long way from the Bangkok I saw on TV, let alone the rest of the world. But what things I was able to find out (long before smartphones and Google search) gave me a hunger to learn more about my country and further afield.