Trash is art
No. 13 proves golden for Thais at Asian Games
Posted: Monday December 14, 1998 01:08 PM
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thirteen has proved a lucky number for Thailand, where millions swear by the numbers.
At the 13th Asian Games Sunday -- December 13 -- the hosts reached their record number of gold medals -- 13.
Thailand's best previous performance at Asia's version of the Olympics was 12 gold at the 1966 Games in Bangkok. Before the current event started, Thai sports officials had targeted just 10 gold medals.
The Thais, including political leaders, are great believers in numerology and frequently make decisions based on numbers.
With a record number of golds already assured, the government on Monday scheduled a celebration for its athletes on December 21, the day after the games' closing, at Government House.
It also announced a Christmas Day party by Deputy Prime Minister Bhichai Rattakul, chairman of the games' organizing committee, for other committee members to celebrate the games' success.
Trashy Art
Spectators at the Asian Games are being asked to throw trash into art.
To recycle some of the 70 tons of rubbish discarded daily at one of the major sports complexes, four plastic sculptures are being used as mega-garbage cans.
Encouraged by free gifts, fans at the Thammasat Sports Complex are urged to toss empty aluminum cans into the sculptures for recycling.
Additionally, the Asian Games rubbish contractors employ 600 people just to keep the one complex clean.
Tuk-tuk threat
Drivers of Bangkok's noisy, fume-belching but beloved "tuk-tuk" taxis are threatening to strand athletes and officials at the Asian Games.
Some 70 drivers of the three-wheeled, open-sided vehicles were hired to shuttle games' participants at the Thammasat Sports Complex, one of the major games centers.
They first went on strike before the games started December 6 because they had not been paid their promised daily allowance of 300 baht (US$8) even though they had been working since November.
Now, about 20 of the drivers have gone home while the rest are threatening to strike again. They don't trust organizers to honor the contract since the last payment is not due until December 23 when the games will have finished.
Negotiations are under way.
Ticketless Thais
Thais scouring for hard-to-get tickets to watch their soccer team play at the Asian Games have turned to touts, who in turn are being rounded up by police.
Authorities arrested about 70 people selling black market tickets to Saturday's match between Thailand and Qatar, sometimes asking for 300 percent over the official price.
Ticketless Thais scaled fences and hurled bottles, cans and shoes at police when they couldn't buy tickets to Saturday's game, which Qatar won 2-1. Despite the loss, the Thais reached the quarterfinals anyway.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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