Tour of beauty

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PHUKET GAZETTE 20/05/05

Tour of beauty

PHUKET: Picturesque Phuket provided the perfect backdrop for a visit by 81 of the world’s most beautiful young women today.

The competitors in the Miss Universe 2005 beauty contest came to Phuket to boost post-tsunami tourism, and they received a warm welcome from residents and tourists.

After lunch at FantaSea, Kamala, and seeing the “Amazing Kamala” show, one group of contestants went to Patong, to hand over a donation of 12 million baht to the hospital and inspect the resort’s new disaster warning system.

The other group was taken to Thalang Rd in Phuket City for demonstrations of typical Phuket handicrafts.

The group who went to Patong, which included reigning Miss Universe, Australian Jennifer Hawkins, created quite a stir. Tourists broke off from sunbathing and swimming to take pictures of the beautiful women as they walked on the beach and dipped their toes in the sea.

The beauties were clearly impressed by Phuke t. Miss Peru, Debora Sulca, 19, said, “Phuket is a beautiful island. The weather is warm and the welcome is warm, too.

“I’m very impressed by the beautiful beaches and the town. I’m sure that I will come to Phuket again with my family or friends.

“I knew before that the people of Thailand were supposed to be lovely, and today many people have smiled at us; Thailand really is the land of smiles.”

Jelena Glisic, the reigning Miss Croatia, was won over by the children who stood around to welcome her and her fellow competitors. “They gave us such a warm welcome, these lovely people in their beautiful clothes,” she said. “I love Phuket.”

Miss Russia, Natalia Nikolaeva, who was one of the competitors who spent the afternoon on Thalang Rd, said that as well as being bowled over by the welcome from the people lining the road, she had been impressed by the range of local goods available there. “There were many products I had never seen before,” she said.
The Miss Universe 2005 competition will take place in Bangkok on May 30.