Did Lin Ping get it right?
Never one to disappoint her fans, especially when they're offering bamboo, panda heroine Lin Ping agreed to put some extra effort into the party on Wednesday for her third birthday.
The scientists at the Chiang Mai Zoo know that celebrity animals have an instinct for predicting the outcome of sporting events, so they asked her who would win the semi-finals in football’s Euro Cup. After all, she correctly predicted that Spain would win the 2010 World Cup.
They set out the national flags and balls in the colours of the remaining teams – Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy – and let Lin Ping loose. She examined the omens and foretold that Germany would beat Italy and Spain would oust Portugal.
This column went to press before the Germany-Italy match but Lin Ping got the other one right. If she gets both correct, we can confidently make a prediction of our own: She’s going to be one busy psychic mammal. The zoo will be swamped with punters needing the results of Sunday’s final in advance.
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Veteran comedienne Anchulee “Noi” Pho-ngam climbed out of massive debt by selling her own brand of somtam – and she’s not about to stop now just because she’s out of the red and her daughter Ratha is doing well in show business.
Selling somtam is her “hobby” that happens to earn some spare baht, Noi told us at her new stall in the mini-market next to The Nation. “I normally sell at JJ Mall on weekends.”
Noi said selling somtam is fun and she doesn’t want to stay home doing nothing, as suggested by Ratha, known as “Yaya Ying”. And she swears that her customers buy “Noi Pho-ngam Somtam Inter” because it tastes great, not because of who’s selling it. “Sometimes they don’t even look at my face!”
She’s still not done with showbiz, appearing in the upcoming soap opera “Panyachon Kon Krue”, but she’s ready to “fade out” and make room for the kids. She’ll stick with somtam.
