Tim Cook Visits Bangkok, Thailand to Meet With Photographers, Students and WWDC Scholarship Winners

[MacRumors]

Tim Cook continued his tour of Asia this week with a trip to Bangkok, Thailand. The Apple CEO has been documenting the journey on his Twitter account.

Cook kicked things off with a visit to the Wat Arun Buddhist temple on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1205319108474130433

In a tweet, Cook thanked Thai photographer Jirasak Panpiansin for showing him the historic seventeenth century temple "through your lens." Jirasak's iPhone photography has previously been highlighted in Apple's annual World Gallery.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1205365662736146432

Following his visit to the Temple of Dawn, Cook traveled to Satit-Chula school to meet students using Apple's Everyone Can Create curriculum, which lets teachers integrate iOS device-driven drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into their lesson plans for a variety of subjects.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1205384742784393222

After that, Cook met up with the Thai women's gold medal-winning national volleyball team to witness how they use iPad and Apple Watch in their training.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1205439481928544257

Also today, cook spent time with two WWDC scholarship winners, and then met "studygrammer" Peanut Butter, "who brings intricate Thai handwriting to life on iPad."

During his Asia trip, Cook has stopped in Tokyo, Japan and Singapore to meet with local employees, developers, healthcare experts, plane pilots, and others. We'll keep this post updated as Cook continues his tour in Asia.

Article Link: Tim Cook Visits Bangkok, Thailand to Meet With Photographers, Students and WWDC Scholarship Winners

 

[rmoliv]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

 

[Glockworkorange]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

It's so obnoxious. He's almost bowing when he does it, too.

 

[Rafterman]

I see that its an iPad Pro in the picture, but at first glance, it looks like a Surface Pro. That would have been funny.

 

[Feyl]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

Especially when he does that after and during every sentence.

 

[pika2000]

It's so obnoxious. He's almost bowing when he does it, too.

In this context, that’s how you greet and respect people politely in Thailand.

 

[BootsWalking]

Will Tim be making a stop at Xinjiang on his tour of Asia?

 

[otternonsense]

Anything substantial coming out of this trip other than the vacuous, narcissistic Blonde Ambition Tour photologue?

 

[pika2000]

Will Tim be making a stop at Xinjiang on his tour of Asia?

Is there an Apple store over there?
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Anything substantial coming out of this trip other than the incessant Blonde Ambition Tour photologue?

Hopefully.
Jobs was focused so much on China (eg integrating Chinese services into OS X) that SE Asia was pretty much “neglected.”

For example, Singapore. During the early iPhone days, Singapore is pretty much an iPhone country. Literally everybody used one. Yet Apple didn’t even bother establishing their presence, no Apple stores. Then Samsung took over the country. It’s not until 2017 when Apple finally opened its first Apple store there. It’s too late in terms of capturing the market share again, but I guess better late than never.

The same with other SE Asian countries. But it looks like Apple started to pay attention, with the opening of its first Apple store in Bangkok on 2018.

A lot more work still need to be done. A lot of Apple services not available or working in the region, and only recently Apple Pay got some traction in Singapore. So I’m happy if Tim Cook decided to pay some attention to the growing region.

 

[kyjaotkb]

I came here for the picture of Tim having a beer and am disappointed there isn't one. Singha is pretty decent.

 

[benshive]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

I see people are getting creative with their reasons for hating the guy now. Soon we'll be getting rants about his shoe size or the number of hairs on his head.

 

[Bandaman]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

That’s an awfully silly thing to get annoyed about.

 

[lkrupp]

I see people are getting creative with their reasons for hating the guy now. Soon we'll be getting rants about his shoe size or the number of hairs on his head.

For whatever reason the perpetually negative Debbie Downers in this world tend to scream the loudest. And when it comes to Apple, whew, the screaming is even louder.

 

[decypher44]

And now I’ve had that song stuck in my head for 45 minutes...

? One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster! Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun da da dun dun dun?

?

 

[RumorConsumer]

Who is Peanut Butter?

 

[riverfreak]

First off, the article has a typo. it’s WAT Arun, not WAY Arun. Wat == temple.

As for the gesture Tim makes, it’s a wai, and while it does make sense in this setting, it’s really not typical or expected of foreigners who don’t know its significance and look stupid and awkward doing it 99.9999% of the time.

The degree to which it is executed and when and to whom is a measure of respect and authority, particularly how high the hands are raised and how low the head bowed.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

I mean, no fan of Cook here but are we really complaining about hand gestures now?
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As for the gesture Tim makes, it’s a wai, and while it does make sense in this setting, it’s really not typical or expected of foreigners who don’t know its significance and look stupid and awkward doing it 99.9999% of the time.

The degree to which it is executed and when and to whom is a measure of respect and authority, particularly how high the hands are raised and how low the head bowed.

What if the people he's with asked him, politely, to do it just to share with him a cultural custom?

 

[riverfreak]

I mean, no fan of Cook here but are we really complaining about hand gestures now?
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What if the people he's with asked him, politely, to do it just to share with him a cultural custom?

Nothing at all wrong with a foreigner doing it, and Thais are very respectful generally. But most foreigners don’t execute it with the grace it normally exudes. That’s all I’m sayin’

 

[yaxomoxay]

Nothing at all wrong with a foreigner doing it, and Thais are very respectful generally. But most foreigners don’t execute it with the grace it normally exudes. That’s all I’m sayin’

Got it.
(Very interesting to learn that there are protocols attached to the gesture, thanks for sharing the info)

 

[bigandtasty]

Rad to see Tim out on his lengthy apple tour.

I bet he’ll enjoy his time in Bangkok

 

[Jakexb]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

If this the level of thing that bothers you, the world must be an unbearable place.

 

[ultramagnus]

If this the level of thing that bothers you, the world must be an unbearable place.

And I share the point of a poster above about the gesture could be the way the culture there respect each other. I mean are people here so dense in their hatred towards Tim Cook to the point that they are dismissing a respected culture as “annoying”? I’m just baffled.

 

[44267547]

I can appreciate Cook traveling across the globe to visit with fans/WWDC base. It puts a sense of realism of who Cook is Versus just hearing about him. [Plus, it exposes to Cook other diverse cultures.]

Also, Phuket, Thailand is on my destination list to visit actually. Beautiful country.

 

[ericwn]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

Any time there’s nothing of substance to criticize you’ll now resort to be annoyed by someone’s hands? Maybe best to try to find something positive in your life instead. What a silly ad hominem post. Live and let live.

 

[Sp00k]

I can’t stand that praying hand gesture that he always does. I guess it’s supposed to mean thank you or show gratitude and appreciation but it’s annoying.

Imagine being this superficial and first world consumed to care about something so trivial