Editorial | Introducing Soohyun Kim, New UNESCO Regional Director in Bangkok

Happy Holidays!

How quickly it seems we have come to the end of 2023 and will soon be celebrating the start of the coming leap year, 2024. What do you plan to do with this extra day? Some of you in Indonesia may be celebrating your candidate winning the presidential election in February, and in this issue Ibu Meliza M Rusli, the president director of PermataBank, shares her insights into Indonesia’s economic advancement now and in the years to come. Later in the year, in November, Americans will be going to the polls, and in our Diplomatic Affairs column, we hear from the US ambassador to Thailand, HE Robert Godec, about what the embassy has been doing as the US and Thailand celebrate 190 years of bilateral relations. And in our cover story, we introduce you to the new director of UNESCO Bangkok, Soohyun Kim, and let her share with you her visions for the future of UNESCO in Thailand and the region.

Later, we take you to Si Thep, Thailand’s most recent UNESCO World Heritage List inscription, and we end this issue with our photo essay by Ezra Kyrill Erker on Thailand’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Historic City of Ayutthaya.

We also tell you about the “Read, Write, Review Literary Camp” hosted by Bangkok Bank and Praphansarn Publishing for high school and university students which focused on Seksan Prasertkul, one of the student leaders and a National Artist in literature since 2009, as 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the student uprising at Thammasat University. Later, we tell you about BGrimm’s efforts to ‘Save the Tiger’ as it celebrates its 145th anniversary.

Another recent celebration was the book launch of "Banteuk Neuk Aroi" (“The Recording of King Rama IX’s Palace Recipes”), a cookbook authored by Thanpuying Prasansuk Tantivejkul, which was held at Baan Suriyasai on Surawong Road, Bangkok, which we tell you about in our Dining column. In the lifestyle column, we have a very special story about specialty coffee produced and served at the Ministry of Roasters.

In Art & Culture, we introduce you to the new director of the Goethe-Institute Thailand, Johannes Hossfeld, and hear what he has and will be doing in the coming year. Then, Khun Pongpol Adireksarn takes us further on his adventure, exploring the High Arctic, before Anchalee Viva shows you how greed can corrupt in her short story, “The Downpour”.

Now, let me conclude by saying, on behalf of the entire Elite+ team, may you have a joyous holiday season and may 2024 be even happier, healthier and more prosperous than 2023.

Arthorn Techatada
Executive Editor