Floating book fair organised in Bangkok

BANGKOK, February 22 (TNA) - Mitr Phol Group, a most established Thai sugar firm, in collaboration with GBA Ships e.V., a German-based charitable organisation, has opened a floating book fair aboard the Logos Hope Ship, anchored at the No. T2 dock of the Klong Toey Port in Bangkok, as part of the capital's celebrations for being named as the World Book Capital of 2013. Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana presided over a ceremony to launch the floating book fair on Thursday, which is also aimed to encourage more Thais to enhance their reading skills and reading habit. According to GBA Ships e.V. Director, three main purposes of the floating book fair include bringing knowledge, help and hope for visitors. The director explained, by organising a book fair aboard the ship, the crew are able to bring books and books-means knowledge to every community they visit, which helps encourage more people, especially youths, to develop their reading skills, and promotes the reading culture that leads to a reading-based knowledge and wisdom society, in parallel with encouraging humans' self-value and dignity through the knowledge they gain, based on a globally-recognised concept that everyone born on the Earth is equally important and their lives are not hopeless. Apart from promoting the habit of reading, the director acknowledged, the ship’s staffs also provide unfortunate communities and villages they visit with assistance, such as, clothes donations, medical checkups, as well as food and water supplies. Held aboard the 430-feet-long ship, the event is the largest floating book fair in the world, offering selections of over 5,000 topics of more than 500,000 books on board. The ship has visited over 43 countries and 68 ports so far, docking at each port for about 2-3 weeks. During each stay, the ship is opened to the public and can accommodate 450 visitors at one time. The Logos Hope ship is staying anchored in Bangkok from February 21-March 11, 2013, during which she is opened everyday to the public, on Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10am-9:30pm and on Sundays-Mondays from 2pm-9.30 pm. with its entry fee set at 20 baht for each adult but free of charges for children, aged under 12, who are accompanied by adults. (TNA)