CHIANG MAI`S ORIGINAL MONKEY SCHOOL ,THAILAND

CHIANG MAI`S ORIGINAL 

MONKEY SCHOOL ,THAILAND

Chiang Mai’s original monkey school was established in the Mae Rim district by former army sergeant, Tawee Pantachang. This small, friendly man, who left his home in Sukhothai some thirty years ago to settle in Chiang Mai, bought land in Mae Rim with a view to growing fruit and vegetables. However, the economic crisis of the late nineties created serious labor problems for Khun Tawee, and he faced the possibility of financial ruin. Never one to run from a problem, he went South and bought his first two monkeys, which he brought back to Chiang Mai and trained to help him pick tamarinds. The success of this venture led Khun Tawee to buy more animals from Southern Thailand, Laos and Vietnam; he now has a troupe of more than thirty monkeys and four gibbons at his school in Mae Rim

Before anything else, you would have to buy a baby macaque. This will cost you something between 1,000 and 10,000 baht. Once you have your own little monkey, you take it to Kadaejae Monkey Training School, where Khun Luesak Papthanawat will teach it various things such as recognizing a ripe coconut, taking it down from the coconut tree and responding to all sorts of commands. The classes take three months and in the end you take back home a qualified monkey valued at 50,000 to 100,000 baht.
There is high demand for schooling when it comes to monkeys and not all pupils come from coconut plantations. Some luxury resorts in Southern Thailand regularly hire monkeys to get rid of the coconuts which otherwise left to faith might fall and injure one of the guests – a major risk of trials and paid damages.

Normally you pay 10,000 for the monkey, 4,000 for the training, and you get yourself a Monkey Business. You can go further than this as Mr. Leusak also offers a Masters program. During this module of superior education, your macaque learns the Wai – the Thai greeting (front paws pressed onto each other while bowing), how to ride a bicycle or to untie complicated knots. By the time the Masters program is completed you already have a show monkey worth 100,000 to 300,000 baht. That is 6,000 euro for a monkey – not bad, not bad.
Khun Luesak had six students at the time of my visit, aged 1 to 3 years old. The practice took place every morning at 6AM. Monkeys had bananas for breakfast, milk as a snack, rice for lunch and mango and bananas for dinner. All inclusive.

I spent one night in Khun Luesak’s house, in the countryside. I washed my body using a plastic pot, I had (again) duck and chicken with rice and green curry and a spicy fish soup. We traveled together on his old saleng to get some beer and we talked. Mostly he talked. The roosters woke me up in the early morning.
How to get to Kadaejae Monkey Training School: from Surat Thani going to Donsak turn left at km 28, go straight for 3 km, turn left again, keep it straight and you arrive in Mr. Luesak’s garden (do not let yourself fooled by the curve on the main road, just keep it straight)

AI FUKUHARA , JAPAN TABLE TENNIS PLAYER GOT ENGAGED IN RIO OLYMPICS, BORN 1988 ,NOVEMBER 1

AI FUKUHARA ,

JAPAN TABLE TENNIS PLAYER GOT 

ENGAGED IN  RIO OLYMPICS,

BORN 1988 ,NOVEMBER 1

Ai Fukuhara (福原 愛 Fukuhara Ai, born 1 November 1988) is a Japanese table tennis player and Olympic medallist, winning silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics with the Japanese women's team. She is sponsored by All Nippon Airways.[3][4][5]

Table tennis career[edit source]
Fukuhara began playing at the age of 3 and became a professional at age 10. The following year, she became the youngest player ever to become a member of the Japanese national team. Because of her age, she has been regarded as a "child prodigy" in table tennis.[6] At age 13, in 2002, she became the youngest-ever Japanese representative for the Asian Games.[7] In 2003, she reached the quarter-final, losing to top-seeded Zhang Yining, in her World Championships debut in Paris.[8] In 2004, she took part in the World Team Championships and helped Team Japan finish third.

Olympic participation[edit source]
Fukuhara qualified to participate in the 2004 Summer Olympics in the Asian zone qualifying tournament.[9] The qualification entitled Fukuhara to compete in Athens, at the age of 15 years and 287 days, as the youngest-ever female table tennis player to debut in the Olympic Games.[10] She reached the round of 16 in her first Olympic Games, losing to bronze medalist Kim Kyung-Ah.[

Round	Result	Opponent's Country	Opponent	Score	By Match
1st	Bye
2nd	W	Australia	Miao Miao	4–3	5–11	7–11	11–9	11–6	11–6	9–11	11–9
3rd	W	United States	Gao Jun	4–0	11–3	11–6	11–8	11–9
4th	L	South Korea	Kim Kyung-Ah	1–4	8–11	5–11	11–7	13–15	6–11

In April 2005, Fukuhara replaced compatriot Aya Umemura and became the highest-ranked Japanese female on the ITTF World Ranking list.[12] She advanced to the semifinals at the 2005 Women's World Cup, losing to Guo Yan in the semifinals but beating Tie Ya Na in the third place match.[13][14]
Fukuhara was directly qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics through world ranking.[15] She was chosen as the national flag bearer for Japan at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.[16] Fukuhara teamed up with Sayaka Hirano and Haruna Fukuoka at the women's team event. They reached the bronze medal contest but lost to South Korea. In the singles event, Fukuhara advanced to round of 16, losing to gold medalist Zhang Yining.

She also qualified directly for the London 2012 Olympic Games with her world ranking in June 2011, but lost to Ding Ning on 31 July 2012, (13–15, 6–11, 6–11, and 4–11).[17] At the Women's Team Event semi-finals, she defeated Feng Tianwei (11–9, 11–6, 5–11 and 11–9) in the first match which eventually helped Japan reach their first table tennis finals in the Olympics over Singapore.[18][19] However, Japan failed to defeat China in the finals but Fukuhara got her first silver medal ever in table tennis.[20]
Fukuhara also qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she lost a close semi-final against Germany with her team and later won bronze together with Kasumi Ishikawa and Mima Ito on her side by defeating the team from Singapore.[21] She was also playing for Japan in the Singles event and reached 4th place after losing against Li Xiaoxia and losing in the game for bronze against Kim Song-i.[22]
Hong Kong 2009 East Asian Games[edit source]

Ai Fukuhara won Table Tennis Women's Doubles with Kasumi Ishikawa.[23]
ITTF Kuwait Open 2010[edit source]
The Kuwait Open 2010 would be Ai's most fruitful competition at that time. On the way to the finals, she caused numerous upsets.[24] Starting off, she upset China by defeating Guo Yue. Later on, she played Singapore's Wang Yuegu, where Ai eventually won 4–2. After two shocking wins, Ai went on to cause another upset to China by beating the experienced top-spin specialist, Guo Yan. In the highly lauded and suspenseful final, she nearly defeated China's top seed Liu Shiwen, but lost 3–4.
Popularity[edit source]
Her first name, Ai, means "love" and she is often referred to as "Ai-chan" (愛ちゃん) in Japan. Her youth and talent have made her a popular sports star in Japan. Ai Fukuhara has appeared in two Japanese table tennis video games, including Ikuze! Onsen Takkyū!! (Do it! Hot Spring Table Tennis!!), released on 21 December 2001 and Fukuhara Ai No Takkyū Icchokusen (Ai Fukuhara's Table Tennis), released on 24 June 2004, both for the PlayStation 2.[25][26][27] She carried the Olympic flame when it traveled to Tokyo in 2004.[28][29] She carried the torch once again for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, and was the flag bearer for the Japanese national team at the Opening Ceremonies.[16][30]

Since she has been playing table tennis in China from a very young age, Fukuhara can speak fluent Mandarin Chinese with a Northeastern accent. Therefore, she has greater popularity in China than most other table tennis players from outside of China.[31] In an incident widely reported by the Chinese media, she wrote down "中日友好" (meaning "Sino-Japanese friendship" in both Chinese and Japanese) when meeting Wang Yi, then Chinese ambassador to Japan (now the Minister of Foreign Affairs), at the height of the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations.[32]
In July 2005, Fukuhara guest-starred alongside Chinese actor Jackie Chan during the opening of a photograph exhibition, in Roppongi Hills, to celebrate 60 years of peaceful coexistence between China and Japan.[33] During Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Japan in 2008, Hu played table tennis with Fukuhara at Waseda University.[34][35]
Personal life[edit source]

Fukuhara attended Aomori Yamada Junior High School and graduated from Aomori Yamada High School in 2007. Both schools are located in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture. In 2007, she enrolled in Waseda University's sports science department; she decided to drop out in 2010 to focus on her table tennis competitions.[36]
Fukuhara married Taiwanese table tennis player Chiang Hung-chieh following the Rio Olympics