Our athletes in Myanmar are more overfed than starving

Photos of the Krua SEAGame (SEAGame Kitchen) lunchboxes our athletes at the Asean Games are carrying have gone viral thanks to captions that imply the contents are meagre and of poor quality – despite a generous number of sponsors for the meal packages. 

One of the photos shows the scrum of corporate logos on the lunchboxes, which led many people to jump the gun and declare that the food ought to be a lot more scrumptious if there’s that much money invested in it. 

Soopsip buttonholed the reporter from our sister newspaper, Kom Chad Luek, who’s covering the regional games in Nay Pyi Taw and learned that this online bad-mouthing is wholly unfair. “The portions aren’t that small, and anyway the food is in addition to the official meals served by the host country,” the reporter tells us. 

The Krua SEAGame hasn’t changed since it was introduced more than a decade ago. It started because, since foreign food is so foreign, Thais can’t survive without Thai food when removed from their natural habitat for any appreciable length of time. They end up eating Mama instant noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner and gradually wither away. So the government made sure our athletes were packing some home cooking. 

Our sister reporter (actually brother) insists that the size of the portion isn’t a problem. “We get the same amount and it’s fine!” he says. It’s a shame that misinformation is going round that demeans the hard-working staff that makes the meals, he adds. 

“Those gossipy people on the social media just twist the issue and say, ‘Here we go again – another corrupt politician is at it again!’ But that’s just not the case!”

 

Yui struts again

We have good news for a change about former fashion supermodel Rojjana “Yui” Phetkanha. She’s fully recovered from the destabilising effects of bipolar disorder and returned to work. Readers will recall her last appearance in the limelight, when she was very publicly described as “homeless and insane”. It was heartbreaking for her fans to see the erstwhile toast of Paris and Milan fallen so far from grace. 

But these friends and other well-wishers deserve credit for helped Yui get back on her feet. 

It was reported recently on her Facebook page that the 37-year-old had returned to the catwalk. Last week she was among the models at the Nine Fashion Week in Bangkok. “I’d like to thank everyone who helped me back,” Yui said afterward. She said her bipolar disorder had been completely overcome and promised to stop messing with bad habits like drugs, which certainly weren’t helping the situation. 

After Channel 3 broke the news of her recovery, her fans filled her Facebook page with messages of support. They were rewarded with a photo of Yui and her warm appreciation. “I’d like to thank all my fans,” she said “Please follow up and support my work in the future.”