- Events
Covid precautions for New Year’s Eve in Bangkok
Nobody wants to hear it, but Covid-19 numbers are on the rise in Thailand, stoking governmental fears around the approaching New Year’s Eve festivities. Officials in Bangkok announced that New Year’s Eve countdown parties will be allowed to be thrown as planned, but face masks will be required wherever crowds gather. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will be laying out clear guidelines…
- Tourism News
Phuket hotels see labour shortages as tourism swells
Maybe hoteliers didn’t believe in the government’s rosy tourism predictions. Hotels in Phuket are reporting a labour shortage as Russian tourists pour into the holiday island. Now they are rallying the government to market hospitality jobs in Phuket to attract foreign workers. They say Thai people just don’t want maintenance, kitchen, and food and beverage jobs. The president of the…
- Crime News
Court awards torture victim 6.7 million baht
Justice was served today as a woman and her two accomplices were sentenced by the court to over 14 years in jail and fined millions of baht after ruthlessly torturing a male victim. The Sing Buri Provincial Court handed down the ruling yesterday for the horrific crime against her employee uncovered one year ago. Last year the brother of the…
- Crime News
Thai-led human trafficking sent 1,000 victims to Finland
About 1,000 Thai people were scammed in a human trafficking plot that sent them to Finland to work. Officials from the Thai police force teamed up with their Finnish counterparts to bust the ring that was enticing Thai people to Finland to pick fruit and trick them into indentured servitude. The scheme invited Thai workers to travel abroad to Finland…
- Phuket News
Vendors propose doubling space for chairs and umbrellas on Patong Beach
Authorities are figuring out a solution to find a balance between unrestricted beach space and the availability of sun loungers and beach umbrellas on Patong Beach. Vendors who rent these lounge chairs for customers to bask on the beach have asked for the space designated to them to be increased. They say there’s too much demand from tourists and not…
- World News
Woman returns home to Mali after birthing 9 babies
Last year a woman from Mali gave birth to a baby in a hospital in Morocco. And then another. And another. And another and another and another and another and another and another. In total, the woman became the proud mother of a record-setting nine children – the world’s first nonuplets. Yesterday, the woman and her new brood of babies…
- Health
Medical tourism the new muse for Thai government
The Thai government seems to flutter from demographic to demographic in search of a tourism get-rich-quick scheme. Now, the Ministry of Public Health has announced that medical tourism is the magic amulet that will rake in billions as Thailand recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. The ministry has created a new “Health for Wealth” campaign, which is banking on people in…
- World News
Air pollution threatens water supply in Tibetan Plateau for two billion people
The Tibetan Plateau – also known as “The Roof of The World” and the “Asian Water Tower” – is the world’s largest and highest plateau. As the third largest storage of ice in the world, it is the source of several important Asian rivers and a crucial source of water for up to two billion people. A new study reports that…
- Eastern Thailand News
Unable to find a temple home, monk living in bus terminal
The Thaiger recently covered “The Terminal, Bangkok Edition” – a story of a woman stranded in the terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport for two months waiting for her pickup. Now, in the Trat province, a uniquely Thai version of the Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks has transpired. A monk in the eastern province of Thailand found himself stranded in a bus…
- Northern Thailand News
Temple in Pichit wows with rainbow-coloured crematorium
A temple in the northern province of Phichit is turning some heads with some colourful new decorations. Instead of painting their crematorium in the modest traditional tones of white or cream, they have instead painted it with eye-catching bright rainbow colours. Wat Nong Plong in the Wang Sai Phun district of Phichit decided to brighten up an area overwhelmingly associated…
- Northern Thailand News
Charging elephant gores a foraging man to death
Two elderly villagers were foraging in a Loei province forest when, out of nowhere, an elephant burst through the trees. The charging elephant caused the men to scatter and flee, but one did not escape and got gored to death. The unfortunate incident took place within the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday. The two men in their seventies had…
- Visa Information
E-visas now available in 38 cities, 23 countries
Travelling to Thailand just got a little bit easier. E-visa services have now been launched by the Royal Thai Embassy and Consulates-General in 23 different countries. Some 38 cities around the world are now able to process applications and grant electronic visas for people to enter Thailand. The service is available in 19 countries throughout Europe, as well as in…
- Crime News
Indian man barely remembers murder he committed 50 years ago
You’d think murdering someone is something you’d remember. But a man in India recently nabbed for an unsolved murder nearly 50 years ago appeared shocked when he was arrested. He said he only had a vague recollection of the incident. A 70 year old woman was murdered in 1973 in the village of Saijpur in the Gujarat state of India.…
- World News
Libyan suspect in Lockerbie bombing in US custody
A Libyan man is in US custody now, allegedly involved in the deadliest terrorist bombing attack ever on UK soil 34 years ago. The US Justice Department confirmed yesterday that Abu Agila Mohammad Masud is in custody. He is accused of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Some 270 people…
- Crime News
Massage shop owners claim ignorance of underage sex
In Nontha Buri, a couple has been arrested for running a massage shop that was a front for underage sex trafficking. Police have been investigating online advertising that hinted that very young and possibly underage girls were available for services beyond traditional massage. After gathering evidence, police raided and found seven girls between the ages of 15 and 17 years…
- Crime News
Two of four robbers still missing after gold shop shooting
Two out of four suspects remain at large after an attempted gold shop robbery that ended in a hail of bullets. Four people tried to break into a gold shop in the Muang district of the northern province of Tak on Thursday. But they did not expect to be faced with a shop owner who is a champion marksman. He…
- Thailand News
Tourism milestone: Thailand celebrates 10 millionth visitor
Yesterday marked a milestone for Thailand tourism as the 10 millionth international traveller arrived in the kingdom. Visitors were welcomed at each of Thailand’s seven international airports as well as two land immigration checkpoints. One lucky passenger was showered with gifts at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on hand for the festivities. The landmark was dubbed…
- Visa Information
South African man on 6-month overstay couldn’t afford to get home
A South African man was busted for an overstay of about six and a half months. The man was arrested in the Thalang district of Phuket and was found to have finished the stamp on his passport 196 days ago. When captured, he gave the excuse that he did not have enough money to get back home. The man was…
- Transport News
Dead passenger on Bangkok-bound flight had Covid
Passengers on a flight to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport discovered that the only thing more unpleasant than an unruly passenger is a dead one. A 71 year old Thai man died mid-flight as an aircraft travelled from Saudi Arabia to Bangkok’s main airport. Testing showed the man was infected with Covid-19 at the time of his death. Little information has been released…
- Crime News
Fearless Facebook page sells counterfeit banknotes
Maybe he didn’t know it was illegal? Thai social media is aflutter over my Facebook page that unabashedly offered counterfeit Thai banknotes for sale. With fake money being offered for sale so brazenly, some people are even questioning whether these counterfeit bills are already in their wallets. The popular Thai page Panda Lab Doctor brought attention to this website with…
- Tourism News
An Azur Air flight circles Phuket for hours, then aborts
An Azur Air flight intended for Russia never made and no one is saying why. The flight took off toward Novosibirsk after a five-hour delay but never made it past the Andaman Sea. It circled for hours and ended up back in Phuket leaving about 200 passengers stranded. Azur Air flight ZF3750 was supposed to depart at 3.50pm yesterday toward…
- Central Thailand News
Lost baby elephant recovering from multiple injuries
After being stranded alone in the jungle, a baby elephant is recovering from multiple injuries in the central province of Suphan Buri. The Bueng Chawak Wildlife Management Centre took in an elephant that is less than two months old. Her name is Nong Thanwa and she was found alone in the jungle and injured. The complex transportation to the centre…
- Crime News
UPDATE: Polish men identified after assaulting Cambodian woman
Police in Pattaya have now issued arrest warrants for two Polish men that have been identified in a brutal attack on a young Cambodian woman. She was violently attacked and tortured in Chon Buri province in eastern Thailand. The young woman says she was tricked by Polish men who said they wanted to pay her to draw something. She says…
- Thailand News
Is poor English proficiency holding Thailand back?
The government of Thailand has been working hard to make it a world-class destination for not just tourists, but digital nomads and business and technology innovators. But do the people of Thailand speak English well enough to fully attract these business opportunities? Thailand is ranked second to last among the countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations…
- Pattaya News
Man returns for bag with meth pills he left at restaurant
We’ve all done it, on our way home from a meal out when we realize that we left something on the table at the restaurant, such as takeaway leftovers or an umbrella. Sometimes we turn the car around and go back, sometimes we shrug it off and consider it a loss. One man in Chon Buri probably should have taken…
- Visa Information
Overstay crackdown uses facial recognition tech
Immigration offices around the country have been cracking down on foreigners overstaying their stamps or visas. A ten-day campaign from December 1 to December 10 is aggressively seeking out tourists who have remained in the kingdom long past the date stamped in their passports. And some provinces are using some creepy Big Brother technology to do it. In Surat Thani,…
- Thailand Weather Updates
Flood warning for 11 southern provinces
Southern Thailand has been soaked with rain over the past week. Now, the National Water Command Centre is warning 11 provinces of possible floods this coming weekend. They are expecting heavy rains from Thursday, December 8 through Sunday, December 11. Strong storms have been flickering power in some provinces in the south of Thailand, with high winds blowing debris and…
- Crime News
Everything stolen from Danish man’s 3 homes on Koh Samui
A Danish expat living in Koh Samui returned home from a five-month holiday to a most unpleasant surprise. Someone had ransacked his three homes and stolen nearly everything inside. The 43 year old man had been travelling abroad for nearly half a year with his Thai wife. Their homes are in Maenam on the northern coast of the popular holiday…
- Bangkok News
Safety systems at Central World found fully functional after fire
After Saturday’s fire at Central World shopping centre in Bangkok, investigators found that there was nothing wrong with the fire safety systems there. The building was inspected by district officials from Pathumwan who found that the fire alarm systems and the emergency sprinklers to combat flames were in proper working order. A small fire broke out in Groove, a semi-outdoor…
- Events
Father’s Day celebrated throughout Thailand today
Today, the people of Thailand celebrate Father’s Day. It is a national public holiday for schools and many businesses are closed. The holiday is celebrated on this day to honour and commemorate the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, father to the current king and a leader whom many revere as a symbolic father to all the people of Thailand. The holiday…
