Jon Whitman
- Food
If you can’t stand the heat, don’t ask for a refund
A Thai restaurant in England has been praised for a no-refund policy for customers who try to send back spicy dishes, but not everyone is convinced. Thai food is pretty hot. That is a fact. Chilis are a big deal. If you don’t like it, why not go to another restaurant (or country)? All too often customers like to boast…
- China News
Xi Jinping’s recipe for success – more of the same
As China’s immensely tedious political meeting drags on, nothing much is happening except droning announcements by unremarkable men in cheap black suits. So when Xi Jinping walks onto the stage in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, people pay attention, if only to the pleasingly tailored lines of the chairman’s apparel. There were no surprises. His address paid…
- World News
Engaged – Japanese driver reverses into ancient privvy
The front page of Tuesday’s UK Guardian features the sad story of Japan’s oldest toilet. A member of the Kyoto Heritage Preservation Association mistakenly reversed his car into the building’s 500-year-old bog door. The man damaged the communal toilet inside the Tofukuji temple in Kyoto when he crashed through the doors in reverse, ending up several metres inside the inconvenient…
- Politics News
Not so smug now – expat life in the grip of Truss
If you are British, and an expat, one of the few things you used to feel smug about was the government “back home.” The nutters may occasionally take over the asylum, but it’s a good strong asylum, fit for purpose. Mother of parliaments. The United Kingdom doesn’t usually have generals taking charge, water cannons in the streets, movie-star presidents or…
- World News
Border officials, tour operators carve up latest visa run bounty
Thai and Cambodian border police at Aranyaprathet and Pong Nam Ron detailed rules for those who wish to extend their stay in Thailand by 45 days. The new stamp can be extended for a further month at immigration offices for 1,900 baht (US$50). The scheme is popular with Brits, European Union citizens, Americans and Australians. Borey San, Cambodian clearance officer,…
- Bangkok News
Anti-drug in-laws gunned down in their home
A man has been arrested after shooting his father-in-law and a brother-in-law dead at their house in Bangkok’s Bang Kae district Saturday morning. Police say the man was preparing to kill his mother-in-law when they arrived on the scene. The deadly shootout took place inside a two-storey house at Ban Suk Samran housing estate in the Lak Song area, according…
- World News
Sweet smell of success – customs officers celebrate durian/heroin bust
Customs officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport snatched over 7 kilograms of heroin they say was bound for Taiwan. Thai customs have been working closely with international logistics agencies to lessen the flow of drugs through the country, greatly increasing with the massive increment in cross-border e-commerce and the billions of parcels now in transit from warehouses worldwide. The big bust…
- Entertainment
Tears in Hogwarts – Hagrid is dead
Robbie Coltrane, probably best known for his role as Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, has died aged 72. Born Anthony Robert McMillan in Glasgow, Coltrane went to Glasgow School of Art until he had second thoughts about talent, and switched to acting in and doing standup, taking his name from jazz musician John Coltrane. Coltrane started out with small…
- Northern Thailand News
Storm Sonca to hit today, if not already here
The Meteorological Department (TMD) issued a warning to people in the northeast, east and central regions of the country to brace themselves for heavy rain as Tropical Storm Sonca hits Thailand today. The storm will bring heavy rain and strong winds to several provinces in the Northeast including Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakham, and Ubon Ratchathani. The weather guys also warned…
- World News
No more Mr Nice Guy – dazed Putin seeks to emulate US glory in Vietnam
The United States had been secretly bombing Cambodia for years, though it wasn’t much of a secret to the Cambodians when The New York Times exposed the practice in May 1969. President Richard Nixon and national security advisor Henry Kissinger believed they had a game changer that would bring the victory the army failed to deliver, but of course, they…
- Visa Information
Are you a digital nomad, or on the run?
I guess it is an age thing. As someone who left the parental home as soon as he could and headed for “as far away as possible,” I have serious misgivings about digital nomads. Do they even know what a nomad is? Well, let me tell you… A nomad has no “home” to “go back” to, or even to come…
- Entertainment
Prepare to be spirited away by Ghilbi theme park
With only a few weeks left before the first Ghibli theme park opens on November 1, the world’s press has been allowed to take a look around. True to the Miyazaki vibe, the park in Nagakute has little of the razzamatazz or carnival atmosphere of Disney World. This is a much more quiet, low-key affair. Darker than Disney. There are…
- World News
Hindu husbands’ day celebrated around the world
Every year married Hindu women observe Karwa Chauth. It is one of the most important festivals for these women, a celebration of marriage, for the welfare of their husbands. The festival falls on the fourth day of Kartik month, the Hindu calendar’s equivalent of Libra in Western astrology. The women observe a day-long fast for the long life and good…
- World News
Bio, circular, green – Thailand’s BCG offers APEC sustainable economy
Thailand is preparing to welcome the 21 APEC members to Bangkok next month with a new business code of conduct that espouses a Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economic model. The BCG model is both environmentally-friendly and responsible, the Foreign Ministry’s senior APEC official Cherdchai Chaivaivid said during an interview with The Nation. The director-general of the Department of International Economic Affairs noted…
- World News
Woe upon woe – Suu Kyi gets more jail time
A court in Myanmar has convicted ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on two more corruption charges. Her two three-year sentences will be served concurrently, though added to previous sentences that now leave her facing a 26-year prison term. In February 2021, the military took over from Suu Kyi’s government. Her NLD party had won a landslide victory in elections,…
- Tourism News
Pockets jangling – 1,500-baht weekend in Bangkok
Is Bangkok ready for the descent of an aircraft filled with penny-pinching Japanese tourists intent on eating out of the 7-Eleven and sleeping under bridges? Perhaps. Japanese travel site Soranews today sets out how tourists can spend a weekend in Bangkok for a “mere” 50,000 yen (US$340, 12,900 baht), which, from the parsimonious point of view and salary grade of…
- Tourism News
Big fat fraud – bear-faced cheating in Alaskan wildlife poll
Katmai National Park and Preserve have announced that Bear 747 is the winner of its annual Fat Bear Week contest. It is the bear’s second win. Tipping the scales at an estimated 635 kilograms, Bear 747 won 68,105 votes, beating first-time contender Bear 901 with 56,876 votes. Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament celebrating the park’s bears’ success in…
- Tourism News
Open road ahead – tourism board gives tips to travellers going it alone
A new self-drive tourism manual for ASEAN contains need-to-know information on driving in each country, as well as suggested tour routes, available for free download here. The guidebook was collectively produced by the 10 ASEAN countries. In Thailand, the Department of Tourism was the main coordinator. Yuthasak Supasorn, the Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor, said the manual for ASEAN’s self-drive…
- World News
No peace for Maddie as ‘prime suspect’ charged with historical sex offences
The latest of so many prime suspects in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has been charged in Germany with unrelated sex offences. Convicted sex offender 45 year old Christian Brueckner is accused of five offences in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is ongoing. Brueckner was identified as a suspect in the case in June 2020…
- Business News
BOT to mount rescue of crumbling baht
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) is attempting to steer the baht and the economy through some tricky times. As the government is apparently out of ideas to jump-start the economy due to high debt, the responsibility has fallen to the central bank. The central bank’s recent move to raise the key policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 1% has, however,…
- Central Thailand News
Unhappy days! More Haagen-Dazs destroyed in cancer scare
Almost 28,000 Haagen-Dazs ice creams worth 12 million baht were destroyed in Samut Prakan Monday, even though the samples had not been found to contain a chemical linked to cancer. According to today’s Bangkok Post, the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deputy secretary-general, Weerachai Nolwachai, said on Tuesday that a number of countries in Europe had recalled Haagen-Dazs ice cream…
- Entertainment
Son of a gun! Hunter Biden caught lying on pistol application
The hard drive that Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop is the gift to tabloid media that just keeps on giving. The New York Post yesterday claimed to have found a 4-minute, 30-second recording on a copy of the drive that has the United States President Joe Biden’s son begging his sister-in-law-turned-lover Hallie Biden for cash to…
- Crime News
Debt, drugs and death in Phatthalung midnight murder mystery
The story has emerged in today’s Bangkok Post of a Phatthalung woman who was making her way to the hospital after escaping the clutches of her abusive husband. Already in a state of shock, 26 year old Dararat Songnui was further traumatised by the site of her husband’s corpse by the road. Suphamit Chandee had been stabbed to death. A…
- Tourism News
Andaman Sea coast set for UNESCO recognition
Three conservation areas on the Andaman Sea are to be nominated for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognition by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa. As the islands prepare to welcome tourists on October 15, Varawut was inspecting a maintenance and waste collection project on Koh Miang of the Similan Islands in Phangnga province. Reports in…
- Crime News
Miracle at nap time – the girl who survived
Three-year-old Ammy slept through the whole thing. During the assault by the crazy killer who burst into her daycare centre, Ammy slumbered on, unnoticed by the man with the knives. Ammy has a habit of completely wrapping herself up in her blankets, and according to her mother, Panomphat Srithong, that might have saved her. Panomphat was working at an electronics…
- Crime News
Once bitten… English financial advisor who took chunk out of Thai investors
Foreign financial “advisors” have been defrauding the country’s ex-pats for decades. Does seeing the arrest of Briton Mark Kirkham mean that the Thai economic police are finally catching up with them? Probably not, and why would you expect them to? Kirkham, according to financial blogger Andrew Drummond, looked every inch the upstanding member of the community on his arrest at…
- Entertainment
Ring craft – Muay Thai referees saving fighters from themselves
Muay Thai has some amazing referees, lots of them being former fighters themselves. One referee has recently been showered with praise for his quick reaction that saved a fighter from a “kill shot,” an aptly-named illegal kick to the head. Refereeing can be an unappreciated task – especially in combat sports. As well as risking injury yourself, you’re never going…
- Crime News
Guns, drugs and mental health – questions for a grieving nation
Since at least 37 people were killed in Thursday’s daycare centre massacre, Thailand has been forced to ask itself some very uncomfortable questions. Gregory Raymond is a lecturer in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs researching Southeast Asian politics and foreign relations. Writing for Australia’s ABC News, Raymond identifies some areas that should be of concern to everyone…
- World News
Myanmar border monastery destroyed in air raid
A monastery in the Karen State village of Mekatha was turned to rubble in an attack by fighter jets on October 6. Airstrikes by the Myanmar air forces on Thursday destroyed the monastery and several houses in a village near the border with Thailand. The attack on the village began at around 2.30am and lasted about half an hour. At…
- Health
When snakes strike, why not call for the chicken-ass squad?
As a country where there are about 7,000 bites by snakes each year, leading to about 30 deaths, something that everyone who lives in Thailand knows, or should know, is that sucking out snake venom is a terrible idea. That John Wayne staple has long been debunked, as any boy scout could tell you. But what if you persuade someone, or…
