Year: 2021

  • Thailand video news

    Thai corruption, Khlong san, Banter, Thai community help, Verandas | Thaiger Bites | Ep. 45

    Jay and Tim go through viewer comments from our Youtube shows, Facebook, Instagram and the Thaiger talk forum as they debate the difference between verandas and roofs.  

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  • Things To Do

    Everything you need to know about Loy Krathong

    Thailand celebrates a number of festivals throughout the year, including the beautiful Loy Krathong festival. Known as Thailand’s Festival of Lights, Loy Krathong is one of the biggest celebrations on the Thai calendar. This picturesque festival is a time for people to gather around rivers, canals, ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water to release lotus-shaped rafts onto the water.…

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  • Thailand News

    Huge quantities of used medical gloves shipped from Thailand to US

    Huge quantities of used medical gloves have been shipped from Thailand as shady operators seek to cash in on Covid-fuelled demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE, according to a report from CNN following a months-long investigation. With demand having skyrocketed around the world, an underground industry based around reusing PPE has emerged in Southeast Asia, with the shoddy medical…

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  • Thailand video news

    Thailand Top Stories | Thailand Pass required in lieu of COE | October 25

    Natty gives us a quick update on the national Covid-19 situation as well as the top headlines in Thailand and around the region: Thailand Pass website launching accepted from November 2, Tourism calls for Russia and India to be added to safe list, Curfew lifted October 31 for all or part of 17 Thai provinces, BOT plans real-world test of…

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  • Tourism News

    Foreign airlines give up 80% of their slots at Thailand’s airports amid uncertainty of next 5 months

    The managing director of Airports of Thailand says international carriers have returned around 80% of their slots at Thailand’s airports. Nitinai Sirisamatthakarn says around 80% of slots between October 31 and March 26 next year have been returned, indicating that airlines are uncertain about any imminent recovery in the aviation sector. Airport slots are the landing and take-off permissions that…

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  • Thailand video news

    Phu Quoc to re-open, Covid cluster prompts fear, Scrapping tradition | Good Morning Thailand | Ep. 115

    In today’s episode Jay and Tim talk about Vietnam planning to re-open the island of Phu Quoc next month, Covid cluster prompts fear in Hua-Hin/Chiang mai and students in Chulalongkorn have scrapped a long standing tradition.

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  • Thailand News

    Thai government presents actor Russell Crowe with “thank you” gift basket

    Hollywood actor Russell Crowe has met with Thai government officials during his much-publicised travels around Bangkok. The Bangkok Post reports that Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome presented the actor with a gift and flowers to thank him for his positive promotion of Thailand. Crowe, who is filming a movie in Thailand, has tweeted his 2.7 million followers about the friendliness of…

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  • Chiang Mai News

    Big vaccination push in Chiang Mai in bid to combat Covid-19 surge

    The president of the Tourism Council of Chiang Mai is hoping a ramp-up of vaccination efforts will help combat a surge in Covid-19. Punlop Saejew says health officials are pulling out all the stops in a bid to get the northern province ready for the November 1 re-opening. “The current clusters have affected local confidence towards re-opening. Everyone is working…

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  • Covid-19 News

    First batch of Moderna doses to arrive Monday

    560,000 long-awaited doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will finally arrive in the kingdom on November 1. According to a Bangkok Post report, their arrival has been confirmed by Dr Chalerm Harnpanich, president of the Private Hospital Association. He says once quality checks have been completed, they will be distributed to the hospitals and other institutions who ordered them. The…

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  • Tourism News

    Government under pressure to lift alcohol ban, allow nightlife to resume

    As Thailand prepares to waive quarantine for vaccinated tourists from low-risk countries, the government is coming under pressure to ease some Covid-19 restrictions. In particular, the Bangkok Post reports on calls to allow restaurants to sell alcohol and for nightlife to resume. Countless bars and clubs remain shuttered, with many operators questioning how Thailand’s re-opening can succeed under such conditions.…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Monday Covid Update: 8,675 new cases and 44 deaths

    Today, the CCSA reported 8,675 new Covid-19 cases and 44 coronavirus-related deaths. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA has reported 9,589 recoveries. There are now 100,042 people in Thailand receiving treatment for Covid-19. Since April 1, in the country’s most severe wave of the virus, the CCSA has reported a total of 1,830,294 confirmed Covid-19 cases.…

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  • World NewsCentral African rebel commander faces war crimes charges

    Central African rebel commander faces war crimes charges

    Mahamat Said is facing more than a dozen charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), including torture, persecution, enforced disappearance, and cruel treatment, over his alleged role in war crimes during the Central African Republic’s civil war. Judges will make a decision within the coming weeks on whether or not to confirm the charges against the ex-rebel commander, potentially bringing…

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  • World News

    Ho Chi Minh launches 3-stage reopening plan, international on January 1

    Shortly after announcing plans to restart tourism tentatively beginning with Phu Quoc Island, the Vietnamese government launched a road map to reopen Ho Chi Minh City to international travellers at the beginning of next year. The megacity and financial hub of Vietnam has a 3-stage plan for tourism recovery with strict Covid-19 safety measures in place. The plan is designed…

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  • Thailand News

    Border shacks to be demolished for aiding Burmese immigrants

    In a unique twist on a common encroachment story in Thailand, vendor stalls on government land in Kanchanaburi along the highway in Sangklha Buri are being ordered to be demolished. But this time it’s not a land ownership debate, rather the government suspects that the vendor shacks are being used to shelter people after crossing the Burmese border illegally. These…

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  • World NewsCriminal gangs smuggle sodas into Portugal to avoid sugar tax

    Criminal gangs smuggle sodas into Portugal to avoid sugar tax

    Customs officer Helder Mendes has lost count how of many trucks he has already stopped on this October day. “Good afternoon, your papers, please. What is your load?” he asks a truck driver. Since seven in the morning, he and five colleagues have been checking trucks en route from Spain at Vilar Formoso, one of Portugal’s busiest border crossings. The…

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  • Tourism News

    Tourism calls for Russia and India to be added to safe list

    Now that the 46 countries that can enter Thailand on November 1 without quarantine have been announced, many in the tourism industry are calling for some notable absences to be added to the list. Tourism groups in major travel hubs are calling on the government to add Russia and India to the list of approved countries, believing it will massively…

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  • Economy News

    Bank of Thailand plans real-world test of digital currency in 2022

    The Bank of Thailand recently announced plans to do some real-world testing of digital currency in the near future as the popularity of cryptocurrency continues to grow. They plan to test their Central Bank Digital Currency in a real-world environment sometime in the second quarter of 2022. The BOT has been studying the CBDC since 2018 and is aware that…

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  • Hua Hin News

    Hua Hin calls for delay in reopening amid Covid-19 infections

    Prachuap Khiri Khan, the Western province that is home to tourist magnet Hua Hin, may not be ready for reopening in just over a week. Amid spiking Covid-19 infections, some officials in Hua Hin are calling for a delay, pushing back reopening for the town until December. The province had 240 infections in today’s report, half as many as the…

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  • Chiang Mai News

    Chiang Mai Covid-19 infections swell ahead of reopening

    November 1 is fast approaching and with it a major reopening effort all across Thailand. But a few of the target Blue Zone areas that the government has focused on due to their popularity with foreign tourists are struggling, as Chiang Mai in particular has been battling a swell in Covid-19 infections. Chiang Mai has seen their daily infection numbers…

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  • Phuket News

    Thailand’s bars and beach parties remain strictly closed (cough)

    Will some of Thailand’s most popular hotspots ever come back to life? It appears that the bars and beach parties will never restart as these photos reveal darkened streets and deserted beaches. Last week’s Full Moon Party was curtailed after initially getting the go-ahead from Koh Pha Ngan police. It eventually went ahead but in a vastly reduced ‘covid-era’ form…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Covid-19 Sunday: Deaths fall to low of 56, provincial data

    Today, the CCSA reported 9,351 new Covid-19 infections, down 391 since yesterday, and a long-time low of 56 Coronavirus-related deaths, down 18 from yesterday. Since April 1, in the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, a total of 1,821,619 confirmed Covid-19 infections have been reported.     In the 24 hour period since the last count, the CCSA has…

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  • Tourism News

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs sings praises of Thailand Pass

    The promotion engines are rolling as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a global charm offensive to win over travellers regarding the new Thailand Pass that will replace Certificates of Entry for international travellers to Thailand as the country reopens on November 1. The Thailand Pass, a collaboration between the Department of Consular Affairs and the Digital Government Development…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Covid-19 in prison: outbreaks from overcrowding now subsiding

    The Thai prison system has suffered from an overcrowding problem for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic has starkly illustrated the dangers of it. In prisons, there have been 72,359 Covid-19 infections, making them more infected than any single province except Bangkok (1st) and its neighbours Samut Prakan (2nd) and Samut Sakhon (4th) and Chon Buri (3rd). Thailand has the 6th…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Covid-19 deaths receding, but still here; 1 month old baby dies

    Deaths as a result of Covid-19 in Thailand have fallen significantly from an average of around 250 at the beginning of last month, and today set a low over the past several months of 56 fatalities. But there is still a human toll to the tragedy of the pandemic, where 18,755 people have died since the beginning of the third…

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  • World NewsJoe Biden's Taiwan gaffes create concern in China and Asia

    Joe Biden’s Taiwan gaffes create concern in China and Asia

    In August, ABC television asked US President Joe Biden what he thought of Chinese media’s claims that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan without a fight had shown Taiwan that Washington could not be relied on to come to its defense. Biden replied that the US’s commitments to Taiwan, South Korea and NATO were fundamentally different situations than what had happened…

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  • Crime News

    Van packed with 39 illegal burmese workers stopped in Phichit

    A tip-off led to police uncovering a van packed full of 39 illegal Burmese immigrants in the lower Northern province of Phichit. The van was stuffed tightly with 17 Burmese men and 22 Burmese women with one admitting that they had crossed the border illegally and were heading to Nakon Sawan to work at construction sites. The police in Phichit…

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  • World News

    Vietnam to test reopening starting with Phu Quoc Island

    Vietnam was one of the earliest countries to lockdown due to Covid-19, a strategy that had done it well until a massive outbreak in April, just like Thailand. And now, also like Thailand, they are looking to relaunch their tourism industry after close to two years of closures. Vietnam is now looking to reopen in late November, starting with the…

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  • World News

    Chinese law to limit homework and tutoring pressure on kids

    It’s been a common trope that Asian students keep their nose to the grindstone with long school hours, after school study, and mountains of homework. But China is taking action to address the stress of both homework and off-site tutoring in core subjects by passing a law requiring local governments to regulate these “twin pressures”. According to official Chinese news…

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  • Bangkok News

    Thai man takes grandfather hostage in Bangkok standoff

    A 70 year old Thai grandfather was taken hostage by his 35 year old grandson in a Bangkok hotel leading to a standoff that ended when police tased the man. The incident took place in the Charoen Krung area of Bang Rak in the capital city. The grandson had recently been released from prison one month prior after serving a…

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  • Thailand News

    Covid-19 forces 70 private schools out of business, 100 to follow

    With Covid-19 shutting down classroom learning for months on end, private schools are struggling, with about 70 going out of business in the past 9 months. The Office of the Private Education Promotion Commission has already received notice from nearly 100 more private schools planning on closing. The president of the Association of Private Education Promotion and Coordination Committee explain that…

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  • Northern Thailand News

    Covid-19 clusters prompt lockdown in 3 Korat villages

    In Nakhon Ratchasima, aka Korat, 3 villages in the Non Sung and Bua Yai districts are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks causing a lockdown until early November. Ban Don Faek Moo 8 and Ban Faek Pattana Moo 15 in tambon Phon Songkhram and Khuem Muang village Moo 13 in Bua Yai district were ordered into lockdown. The lockdown was put in place…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Thammasat University says vaccines slowed by government docs

    After striking several deals to import vaccines, Thammasat University has expressed frustration with how bureaucratic red tape is delaying the arrival of 3 million Moderna vaccines donated from Poland. They called for the government to expedite the process to get the Moderna vaccine into Thailand. The 3 million vaccines that Poland had donated to the university were scheduled to arrive…

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  • Covid-19 News

    Covid-19 Saturday: 74 deaths, 9,742 infections, provincial data

    Today, the CCSA reported 9,742 new Covid-19 infections, down 68 since yesterday, and 74 Coronavirus-related deaths, up 8 from yesterday. Since April 1, in the latest wave of the virus in Thailand, a total of 1,812,268 confirmed Covid-19 infections have been reported.   In the 24 hour period since the last count, the CCSA has reported 10,182 recoveries, up 331…

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  • Tourism News

    Thailand reopening roundup: What happens November 1

    Things are moving fast towards the November 1 reopening which in the last few days swelled from 10 countries being allowed entry to Thailand to 46 countries, 3 entry plans, replacing the Certificate of Entry, and even an attempt to reopen nightlife. Below is a round-up of the plans as they stand now. “TEST & GO”: COUNTRIES THAT CAN ENTER…

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  • Tourism News

    Thailand is open for tourism again, sort of

    OPINION The opening you have when you’re not quite open. Quarantine-free arrival, except that you’ll still need to book at least 1 night of stay in an approved hotel or AQ (alternative quarantine). No bars are open (officially) and, in most parts of the country, most shops remain closed. In tourist-dependent places like Phuket, more than 90% of the formerly…

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  • Thailand News

    Thailand Pass website launching, accepted from November 2

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun the process of replacing the Certificate of Entry with the new Thailand Pass which will be accepted from November 2. The Ministry announced that tp.consular.go.th will be live for people arriving in Thailand after November 2 to register for the Thailand Pass. The information comes from the Ministry of Interior’s Phuket office who…

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  • Business News

    Thailand’s chicken industry suffering from lack of migrant workers

    Thailand, one of the world’s major producers of chicken products, is struggling to keep up with exports. Japanese food companies, one of the major importers of Thai chicken, are feeling the pinch. Like many industries, it’s a labour shortage causing many of the issues. Around the world, supply chains have been severely disrupted by the Covid pandemic and labourers have…

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