Mrs. Ratanawadee Hemniti Winther presented the 45th Diplomatic Red Cross Bazaar 2012 to Her Royal Highness Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn at the official opening ceremony on Saturday 3 March 2012. After her speech, she accompanied the Princess on a visit to all the international booths selling signature products from 54 different countries.
After the opening ceremony, the public was let in and quickly the hall was filled with eager shoppers hoping for a bargain among the many items for sale.
At the Danish stand, it was good to see Carlsberg back and visible. Also Emborg cheese was popular and so was dz wine next to them. Further down the side of the large booth you found Scandproducts and Ecco. On the other side of the stand, Paradox displayed the impressively wide range of kitchen utensils that the company now sells in Thailand. Next you could find a delicious tower of Danish ‘kransekage’ and other bakery products created by Suppanai “Yu” Ratanaprakarn of Fyn Bakery and Ellegaard Trading who also imports and sells Danish Urtekram products in Thailand.
This year, Sweden participated for the first time. The stand was organized by Mrs. Theresa Ildefonso, the wife of the Swedish Ambassador. Agneta Bekassy representing Scandinavian Collection and Theresa Ildefonso were both dressed in traditional Swedish national dress. Other exhibitors were Electrolux and ScanDeli.
The Norwegian stand was swarmed with people trying to secure salmon raw, marinated, frozen and in any other shape and form that salmon can be enjoyed. The booth seemed constantly to have sold out as fast as new supplies could be carried in.
At noon, Danish Ambassador Mr. Mikael Hemniti Winther came on stage. He explained – in Thai – that he was originally supposed to have been playing with a band, but then plans were changed… It was a first for him to be playing guitar and singing in front of a public audience. He had chosen two songs to perform, the first was “I Won’t Back Down” because, he explained, this song expressed in many ways also what he stands for. The second song was “About time” which he wrote himself while living in Vietnam and performed with his band. It expressed his longing for his wife Ratanawadee when she was not with him.
